Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ghost]

I make 2.7 as a teacher trainer. I save between 1.5 to 1.7 per month. It would be more, but for Korean lessons (130.000 month) and travel to and from Seoul once a week.

So saving 1 million a month seems to be the norm.

Ghost

[naturegirl321]

But 1 million won a month isn't much, is it? On the Job Discussion Forum, everyone says that in Korea you can save about double that. So does that mean that you only save about 12000 USD a year?

[IlIlNine]

If you compare that 12,000USD net saved to savings rates in the US, well - you'll quickly see that actually putting away that kind of money is not that easy in the US. Canada is pretty similar. Not sure about other countries.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/sav/20060308a1.asp

The US actually has a NEGATIVE savings rate! People are spending more than they earn.

Also - if you're putting away a solid 12,000 USD a year, with compiound interest it would add up pretty quickly.

Use this:

http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm - Compund interest calculator.

Punch in 0 for Current principal, 12000 for annual addition, 10 years at 5% = ~$158,500. So in 10 years you could buy a whole house in texas somewhere. 5% ia pretty conservative too...

[naturegirl321]

Thing is here in Peru, we're saving that much. And we speak the language are legal to work and have connections. So for us to go to Korea, we'd have to be able to save more than we do here.

About the compound interest thing, do you really have a bank that pay 5%? My US bank pays 1% and my Peruvian one pays 3.5%.

[IlIlNine]

http://home.ingdirect.com/products/products.asp?s=OrangeCD

There you go -- a 5,35%/year with no market risk. That's why I said that I was being conservative. If you are willing to accept more risk, your earning potential grows (with funds, etc.)

[naturegirl321]

[jajdude]

[sojourner1]

Wow, I must be doing better than the average person by saving 1.0 to 1.2 mil won per month and putting it in an HSBC oline savings account based in the states that pays 5.05% interest with no fees. My take home runs about 1.7 mil won a month and then bills usually run another 100,000 won per month. Food and vacation are my major expenses here so far.

If I was in Seoul more often, I doubt I could save that much since Itaewon is so pleasant to eat, drink, and socialize in with there being good Erdinger beer, great food, and many cool foreigners and English speaking Koreans to hang out with. It's easy to blow 50,000 to 100,000 won a day in Seoul.

[ontheway]

I have no idea what the "norm" is for saving in Korea. I can assure you, however, that it is quite possible to save US $2000 per month and easy to save $1500 on a base salary of 2.2 million.

Since your housing and airfare are paid and you'll probably get a little overtime, an extra month's pay bonus, plus your pension payout when you leave (another 9% or about 1 more month's pay), you have to spend rather foolishly in Korea in order to NOT save $18,000 in a year.

Of course, it is much easier to save outside of Seoul (and probably a couple of other large cities). The cost of living is much lower in medium and small cities.

There are plenty of people who like to live the high life when they are young, and complain about being poor when they are older. There are others who enjoy being frugal and find frivolous spending to be tedious and boring. But, IF you want or need to save a lot of money, you can in Korea.

[hubba bubba]

[naturegirl321]