US Investing
QQQI Dividend Tax: What 1,000 Shares Actually Pays a Korean Investor
US dividends paid to Korean residents get 15% withheld in America before the money ever reaches your account. On my account, 1,000 shares of QQQI produced $651 before…
A Seoul dispatch
Korean markets, memory stocks, and US dividends — written from the inside.
Sanghyun Lee is a Korean investor and father of three. These notes cover Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, QQQI, the KOSPI, and the unglamorous tax reality of holding America from Seoul.
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US Investing
Dividend ETF vs Individual Stock: 3 Lessons From One Account
My QQQI dividend arrived today. $0.6518 per share, and with 1,000 shares that’s $651 before tax — $554 after the 15% withholding, or roughly ₩770,000. It landed quietly,…
US Investing
Memory Stock Correlation: Can I Front-Run Micron Using Korea’s Market Hours?
Here’s a thought that occurred to me while staring at my portfolio: Korea’s stock market opens roughly 13 hours before New York. If Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix…
US Investing
Palantir Earnings and Memory Stocks: Does Software Success Mean Hardware Demand?
Palantir just surged nearly 30% on what its CEO called an “otherworldly” quarter. As someone holding Micron and Korean memory exposure, my first thought wasn’t about Palantir at…
US Investing
Dividend ETFs by Price: What You Can Actually Buy With a Small Budget
If you’re starting with a small amount of money, one practical problem hits immediately: dividend ETFs by price vary enormously. Some trade around $10 a share. Others cost…
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KOR Investing
Samsung vs SK Hynix Earnings: Why ₩60 Trillion Fell and ₩89 Trillion Rose
Yesterday I sat through SK Hynix’s earnings call feeling frustrated. The company posted ₩60 trillion in operating profit — a genuinely historic number — and the stock fell…
KOR Investing
KOSPI Volatility Is Breaking Records — And That’s the Real Problem
Another day, another sell-side sidecar. This morning Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both plunged, the KOSPI cratered, and trading curbs kicked in yet again. At this point KOSPI…
KOR Investing
Nvidia Naver Stake: Why Jensen Huang Just Became Naver’s 3rd-Largest Shareholder
Nvidia doesn’t usually buy equity stakes in foreign internet companies. So when news broke today that the Nvidia Naver stake would make the chip giant Naver’s third-largest shareholder,…
US Investing
Micron Buyback: What UBS Actually Said, and Why It Sent the Stock Higher
Headlines have been flying around about a Micron buyback, and I want to clear something up first: Micron has not announced one. What actually happened is that UBS…
US Investing
AI Memory Shortage Explained: The Simple Math Behind the Squeeze
Everyone says “AI is causing a memory shortage.” But why, exactly? The AI memory shortage isn’t a vague supply-chain complaint — it comes down to arithmetic you can…
US Investing
Memory Shortage: Why My Micron Dividend Landed on the Day the Cycle Turned
Today, two things happened at once. My memory shortage thesis got a real-world jolt of confirmation — Micron surged 12%, and this morning Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix…
US Investing
If AI Demand Is So Strong, Why Are Memory Stocks Crashing? My Answer as a Holder
It is one of the most frustrating paradoxes in today’s stock market: AI hyperscaler spending is hitting record highs, High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is completely sold out through 2026…
US Investing
If AI Demand Is So Strong, Why Are Memory Stocks Crashing? My Answer as a Holder
I’m not writing about this crash from the sidelines. Memory stocks crashing is my daily reality right now — I hold Micron directly, and my Korean allocation sits…
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How many QQQI shares for $500 a month?
A tax-aware dividend calculator with 15% US withholding as the default — the number Korean investors actually keep.
Open the calculatorCommon questions
- Why do Koreans invest in US stocks?
- Many Korean households put a large share of capital into US equities because the KOSPI is concentrated in a handful of chaebol names, domestic real-estate locked up savings for a generation, and US markets offer broader sector exposure — especially in software and dividends. Read the note
- How is US dividend tax withheld for Korean investors?
- US-source dividends paid to Korean residents are typically subject to 15% withholding under the Korea–US tax treaty. Covered-call ETF distributions can mix ordinary dividends, section 1256, and return of capital. Read the note
- What is a covered-call ETF like QQQI?
- Funds such as QQQI, JEPI, and JEPQ sell call options against an equity book to generate monthly distributions. The yield looks high; the catch is that upside is capped and payouts vary every month. Read the note
- Why do Samsung and SK Hynix move with Micron?
- The three names sit on the same memory cycle. Micron reports in US hours; Samsung and SK Hynix often gap to that print when Korea opens. Read the note
- Who writes Ground Truth Korea?
- Sanghyun (Shawn) Lee — a Korean investor, father of three, and former project manager. He writes from Seoul in plain English. He is not a licensed advisor. Read the note