Day Trading Disaster! South Korean Bride-to-Be Loses $100,000 Wedding Fund, Takes $22,000 Loan, Considers Calling Off Wedding Out of Guilt

A South Korean woman in her 30s, scheduled to marry next spring, recently shared her painful experience online. She invested her entire wedding fund—55 million KRW (approximately 130 million KRW or $100,000 USD)—comprised of her savings and parental support, into the stock market, only to lose everything and accumulate several million KRW in debt. Overcome with guilt, she is now contemplating calling off her engagement with her well-qualified fiancé.

According to a report by South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo on the 7th, the controversial post originated from the marriage discussion board of Blind, a popular anonymous workplace community platform in South Korea.

Chasing Losses Leads to Margin Call and Forced Liquidation

The woman, referred to as A, admitted she had previously earned money through stock trading, which led to overconfidence in her investment abilities. "For the past two years, I was making 3 to 5 million KRW per month from stocks and thought I was skilled at investing. Looking back, it was just luck."

A confessed that last year, amid falling stock prices and global instability, she lost emotional control. After cutting her losses, she desperately tried to recover by blindly chasing high prices and selling low in short-term trades. This ultimately led to a forced margin call, wiping out nearly all of her 55 million KRW wedding fund after liquidation.

To cover the financial shortfall, A secretly took out a 30 million KRW bank loan without telling her fiancé, hoping to recoup her losses. However, she lost another 25 million KRW. She now has only 5 million KRW left and must repay the loan by deducting 470,000 KRW monthly from her take-home pay of approximately 3.2 million KRW (about $7,500 USD).

Online Advice: Be Honest and Let Him Decide

A revealed that while her fiancé knows she lost the original wedding fund, he remains unaware of the additional 30 million KRW in private debt. Overwhelmed by guilt, she has repeatedly suggested breaking up, but her fiancé has consistently refused to end the relationship.

"I really don’t understand why my boyfriend, who works at a major company and has such great prospects, would want to stay with someone like me," she wrote, expressing deep self-blame. "I feel so guilty toward him. I’d rather set him free. If it were just me, I could probably repay the debt in about a year, but I just don’t have the courage to tell him the truth."

The post sparked widespread discussion among South Korean netizens. Many argued that hiding the debt is the greatest betrayal in a marriage and advised her to come clean immediately: "Even if you tell him everything about the debt, it should be his choice whether to continue the relationship—not yours to decide for him." Others commented, "You won’t find answers by suffering alone."

However, some offered a different perspective, suggesting, "If she’s willing to hand over full financial control to him after marriage and vows never to touch stocks again, this level of debt isn’t severe enough to cancel the wedding. The key is honesty and a firm commitment to stop gambling."

The case highlights the psychological and financial risks of emotional trading and the importance of financial literacy, especially among young investors.