(A bombshell, perhaps?!) My take-home pay is 960,000 KRW.

I'm currently doing just enough work to match that pay. I work exactly four hours a day from home as a person with a disability, and I spend the rest of my time studying at a cyber university and working on several personal projects (web development), including this very website you're reading right now. I built this site to share thoughts and information on how people can find happiness. I'm also planning to create a web coding learning website, a musician's portfolio website, and a Korean food recipe sharing website. I'm not sure when they'll be monetized, but for now, I'm just exploring which project concepts I feel most passionate about rather than focusing on making money.

Anyway, I manage to do everything I want with that 960,000 KRW. I donate 30,000 KRW a month to Doctors Without Borders (I've been doing it for about a year). I'm a very introverted person with worsening visual impairment and a salary that's a bit too low to brag about, so I don't really meet people. But when an old friend gets married and reaches out, even if I don't attend, I'm so grateful for the thought that I'll send them a Korean beef gift set, filled with genuine wishes for their future. And... I recently reached the maturity date on my savings account where I was putting in 300,000 KRW a month!

I feel that improving my work skills is more urgent than consistently saving money right now (since my base salary is very low, I don't want to dedicate too much energy to saving). So I've been debating what to do with the money—whether to upgrade my current MacBook Air M1 to a model with a bigger, brighter screen or to buy new phones for my parents. I've been carefully considering which would be the more valuable choice.

This is a thought I solidified when I decided to donate a portion of my 900,000 KRW salary: the "I'll do it when I can afford it" mindset is the most dangerous one. If your intention is sincere, it's important to act on it now, regardless of the circumstances. My salary is 960,000 KRW now, but I believe my income will be in the millions in a few years. That's because the scale of the projects I'm currently conceptualizing and bringing to life is that significant.

So, I decided that buying phones for my parents before they get too old to use them is a much more valuable thing to do than getting a new laptop for myself! I've gone ahead and ordered them the Galaxy S25—one in Pink Gold for my mom and one in Blue Black for my dad. I got a student discount on a site called Galaxy Campus (I'm a cyber university student, even at my age, haha) and bought them for 1.04 million KRW and 1.01 million KRW, respectively. (I only had one 30,000 KRW coupon, haha.) The basic discount seems to be 9%.

For student verification, if you were born after '97, it's instant with an email, but since I'm a bit older, it took a day to get the text message saying I was approved.

My parents were using the S20 FE, which has a really pretty red color, so I thought they'd like a similar feel and I subtly showed my mom a picture of the Coral Red color. She said, "This is the prettiest, but I've already used one like it..." and chose the Pink Gold instead. I haven't even asked my dad if he wants a new phone yet; I just ordered it. I guess I'll see his reaction tomorrow...

After analyzing my mom's subtle tone when she said she liked the Pink Gold but told me, "Don't bother buying it," I read her mind and understood she would be grateful to have it. So, I hope they like it! I truly hope both my mom and dad like their new phones!