Hi, I’m Matthew (Korean name: Donghyun Kim).
I moved from Korea to the US in 2021. I’m a software developer by trade — not a financial advisor, not a CPA, not anyone with letters after my name.
What I am is someone who had to figure all of this out myself. Credit scores from zero. Tax rules that assume you’ve lived here your whole life. FBAR filings nobody warned me about. The gap between what Korean immigrants actually face and what most financial content covers is surprisingly wide.
Why This Blog Exists
Settling in the US meant walking through every step on my own: applying for a Social Security number, opening my first US bank account, sending money between Korea and the US in both directions, and working through the green card process.
What surprised me at every step was how hard good information is to find here. In Korea, most procedures are centralized, clearly documented, and explained to you along the way. In the US, the answers exist — but they’re scattered across government PDFs, outdated forum threads, and fine print nobody reads. No one walks you through it, and small mistakes can be expensive.
So I started writing it down — in the way I wish someone had explained it to me when I arrived. If a post here saves you one confusing afternoon at a bank branch, or one filing you’d never heard of, it has done its job.
A Note on Advice
Everything here is researched carefully, but it’s not professional advice. It’s one person sharing what they learned. For anything that affects your actual tax return or financial decisions, please talk to a qualified professional.
Have a question or a topic you’d like covered? Feel free to reach out on the Contact page.