FIRE Progress Check | Dividends + USD Futures Passive Income

A baseline of 5.19 million KRW has been established. While deriving that number in Part 3, I left this question — so what is my passive income? Having been preparing for FIRE for over 7 years, I always knew the numbers on the income side. What I didn’t know was the spending baseline. Whether to use the 8.97 million KRW from May when taxes are concentrated, the simple average of 5.67 million KRW, or the tax-adjusted 5.19 million KRW — the conclusion changes completely depending on which number you use. Only after getting 5.19 million KRW was I able to place the two numbers side by side for the first time.

1. The Other Pillar of FIRE Preparation — Passive Income Calculation

While aiming for FIRE, I have always chased two numbers. One is the spending baseline, the other is passive income. The spending side was finally sorted out in Part 3. Now it’s time to pull out the number on the other side.

I have been building a dividend pipeline since 7 years ago. I’ve constructed a portfolio of domestic and international dividend stocks and dividend ETFs, and have disclosed its performance in settlement posts. What’s new in this post isn’t the dividend figure itself. The core is that because a spending baseline of 5.19 million KRW has been established, I can finally place the two numbers on the same table.

Converted to a monthly basis, the expected annual dividend based on the current portfolio looks like this.

Dividends alone fall short of the 5.19 million KRW by 550,000 KRW. “Almost there, but still lacking?” — This isn’t everything. Here, the second pipeline makes its appearance.

2. The Second Pipeline Complementing Dividends

One of the biggest weaknesses of dividends is the comprehensive financial income tax issue. It’s a structure where as dividends increase, the tax burden increases alongside them. I had been doing currency exchange investments for a long time, but spot currency investment had its limits: trading hours, spreads, and tied-up funds. Then, I discovered the core advantages of KRX USD Futures.

The instrument is KRX USD Futures — trading based on exchange rate directionality. I started the testing phase around August-September 2025, and currently, I am achieving my goal of 1 million KRW per month. I’m not trying to share “how to easily make 1 million.” The point is that it’s a structural choice to seamlessly fill the gap that dividends struggle to cover, without tax burdens.

3. Placing the Two Numbers Side by Side — +447K KRW Surplus

Now, let’s sum up the two pipelines.

Placing the two numbers side by side results in a +447,000 KRW surplus. But if you change your perspective once here, this number becomes clearer. What if I had just thrust the May ledger forward — subtracting the 5.63M KRW passive income from 8.97M KRW results in a -3.34M KRW deficit. FIRE looks far away. Looking at it through the 5.19M KRW baseline, it’s a +447K KRW surplus. With the exact same financial state, a completely different picture emerges depending on the lens you use.

4. Does a Surplus Mean Immediate FIRE? — Two Checks

Just because the numbers show a surplus doesn’t mean you can immediately declare “FIRE achieved.” There are two layers to check.

Financial Check — Is this margin sufficient?

This FIRE progress check calculation is based on my current spending structure. After FIRE, the spending structure changes. Looking at the estimates I’ve drawn up in my own way, it looks like this.

Expected post-FIRE spending is 5.26 million KRW. Compared to a passive income of 5.63M KRW, it’s +370K KRW — still a surplus structure. However, if we take one more step here, there’s a more fundamental question.

Actually, the hint to this question is already in this text. It was 3-5 years ago that I vaguely thought, “I could probably FIRE with 5 million KRW a month.” And back then, 5 million KRW wasn’t a result calculated this specifically, but an amount I set including my own safety margin. And now, as of May 2026, analyzing my actual spending shows the required amount is 5.19 million KRW. 5 million becoming 5.19 million — this itself is the effect of inflation. To maintain the same standard of living, about 190,000 KRW more became necessary over 3-5 years. I didn’t get the numbers wrong; the world changed in the meantime.

Then, the passive income of 5.63 million KRW at this point in time won’t have the same purchasing power 5 years from now. Can dividend growth beat inflation — is the portfolio structured to consistently grow dividends, or is it a structure that maintains high dividends while its real value slowly erodes? This is a more fundamental question than “Is +370K KRW enough?” This question is still ongoing.

The same goes for buffers against unexpected medical bills, market shocks, and dividend cuts. The conclusion isn’t “I need to accumulate more,” but rather a design problem of how much margin I will have when making the decision.

Philosophical Check — Does achieving the numbers mean FIRE?

FIRE is Financial Independence + Retire Early. “Financial Independence” can be measured with numbers. That’s what this series did right now. But “Retire Early” — preparing for a retired life is on a different dimension.

Unstructured time. The daily routine of not going to work. And this — the sense of security given by the title and business card I hold right now. Can I lay that down?

Earned income is not just money. It’s social connection, a sense of belonging, and an opportunity cost that is by no means small. Honestly, I also have this thought — if I maintain earned income while passive income accumulates, couldn’t I live much more abundantly than now? This greed, wrapped in rationalization, sometimes makes me postpone the FIRE decision. This isn’t simple laziness or fear; it’s a real question. And the answer to this question also comes not from financial numbers, but from life design.

Having the money ready doesn’t automatically generate answers to these questions. Only when the financial numbers are ready can you seriously ask these harder questions.

5. The Questions Changed by Numbers

Me from 1 year ago: “Wouldn’t FIRE be possible if it exceeds 5 million KRW a month?” — A vague feeling. The me now: 5.19M (Spending Baseline) + 5.63M (Passive Income) + 447K (Gap) — Concrete numbers. What has changed isn’t the financial state, but the level of questions I can ask.

This analysis right now is a snapshot of May 2026. Passive income is not fixed — the market changes, dividend policies change, and portfolio composition shifts. Spending is even more so — children grow, health conditions change, and life priorities shift. The number +447,000 KRW right now is a fact of this very moment. It can’t be the same number 1 year from now.

It’s obvious that a system tracking spending data helps find points to save. That’s the basics. But if that were the only purpose, there would be no reason to build it to this extent. Portfolios, spending, ways of living — they all keep changing. Even after achieving FIRE, you must be able to continue monitoring and responding to changes. That’s why this system is necessary, and that’s why I keep recording.

Series — Designing the Flow of Money