In my last post, I talked about the Korean kye. Many people may wonder why I would not just deposit the money into a high-yielding savings account or stocks/bonds. The thing is, a kye is more about camaraderie, trust, and the sense of jung (one of the most difficult words to translate - loosely, it means warm sentiments, emotions, and attachments - a very important quality in the Korean culture). Even if you don't profit at the end, you still join to help out your friends who may need quick cash to start a business, buy a car, etc. And it's another way for Koreans to stick it to The Man. Passively. Koreans generally don't trust financial institutions or government-endorsed solutions. With their tragic history, they have reason not to....

When I first started working full-time my parents knew that I would have trouble saving without a rigid plan in place. And so they asked me to join a kye. The Korean kye, which means contract or bond, is a credit rotating system built on trust and honesty. It dates back hundreds of years when it was first used to pay official grain loans and military taxes. Since then, the kye has been transformed to finance small businesses, weddings, and funerals. These days, the kye is not only a financial function but a social one as well, where members meet every month to socialize, choose the winner, and celebrate. A typical kye has fifteen members who contribute $500 every month. The winner of the jackpot (in this case,...