Korean Job Discussion Forums

[johninmaine]

we will be moving to S.K. in Nov, and were wondering how everything is going as a family and if you are actually able to save?

** NOTE** if you older kids, this wouldn't apply because older kids eat a lot more, do more activities, cost more...

im looking for teacher dads, stay-at-home moms, and a baby / toddler type family.

what city are you in??

[jaganath69]

[johninmaine]

...so, you are in our exact same situation with relative costs.

are you spending more than 1.2mwon in expenses / mo?

would you honestly suggest us as a family relocating to S.K. as
a moderate way to save and enjoy?

the situation we're in, we need to relocate: so we figured we might as well try S.K. instead of Atlanta, and stay 3-4 years....

any more families of this type??

[Typhoon]

My daughter is 2 years old and my wife is a stay at home mom. We do spend a lot of money here though. I would say we average between 2.0 and 2.5 spent a month. I think this is on the high end of things as my wife likes to spend money and we enjoy eating in nice restaurants quite a bit. We live in Daejeon so the cost of living is pretty low. I think you need to get a handle on how much you will spend and how much you can make. IMO, I think you would need to work private lessons (illegal to do) if you want to save money with a family. The average job for an ex-pat teacher in Korea (2.2) is not enough for a family to save money on. The salary is meant for single people passing through, not married people trying to save money. That's my two cents on it.

[excitinghead]

I'd pretty much say the same thing as the last poster, although my daughter is only 14 months , and according to my wife we spend 2.5 - 3 million a month. That's much much more than I expected, and we don't have any expensive tastes at all, so I've no idea where it all goes. I live in Busan if that means anything, and my job doesn't provide housing. You're definately not going to save anything if one of you doesn't work, and you plan to do more than just read books while you're here!

[Scott in Incheon]

Have you thought about staying in the US? You could get certified and teach in a number of states who really need teachers. Four years in New Orleans would be quite an adventure and you would be doing some good at the same time.

Also once you had your teaching certification, you could get work in international schools which is also nice.

[shaunew]

I have a new born 14 days old. The cost so far is not that bad. I'm married to a Korean so I got the f-2-1 visa advantages. For someone married here with kids on an e-2, you are looking at 2.3 million tops and a small apartment. I think are spending will be about 2 million a month or less. My wife will stay at home until February, then go back to work. So right now I make about 6 million give or take and we save about 4 million a month. We own an apartment and the only high cost for us is apartment fee's and electricity. My wife loves to save thank god. You can work 2 jobs on an e-2 visa if you get permission from your employer and immagration. So you could earn 3 million plus.

[johninmaine]

[quote="Scott in Incheon"]Have you thought about staying in the US? You could get certified and teach in a number of states who really need teachers.

...that actually is the other card on the table -- im fluent in Spanish, so i could start this Jan a fast-track certification program in NCarolina for "high needs" schools that need Spanish teachers.

but, here in the US if you are middle class with a one-income family, you just break even....so, we were figuring we could bank $30-40K in 3 years in Korea, if possible....

but, it looks like there aren't too many "one income" families in Korea saving 1.0Mwon per month??

[johninmaine]

You can work 2 jobs on an e-2 visa if you get permission from your employer and immagration. So you could earn 3 million plus.[/quote]

is this something new? and, how could you work 2 jobs, one 7-11AM, and the other 2-9PM at a hagwon??

[shaunew]

[johninmaine]

yes, it seems you would need a good boss to do something like that.

but, really, i don't see how monthly expenses for a family of 3 could exceed 1.2mwon per month...unless you take a trip once a month for 400,000??

[ttompatz]

[shaunew]

We spend about 1 million to 1.5 a month. If we have an unexcpeted expanse then 1.5 million. I'm doing my MBA here in Korea and we put away 400,000 a month to pay back my student loans. Mind you in Canada I'm considered poor and got full funding, with grants. We live very well on 1.0-1.2 million.

[indytrucks]

Our little one is 18 months. Both my missus and I teach at the same uni and our head of department kindly arranged our schedules so that when one is working, the other is able to stay at home and look after baby. Pretty good situation actually. As for monthy expenses, we don't really spend that much more than we would on ourselves, as little one eats what we eat etc. The only extras are nappies and baby wipes mostly. We live in Cheonan, Chugnam province.

[johninmaine]

Just get a public school job with some afternoon classes. 22 regular classes and 6 extra classes (per week) will get you 2.6-3.0 mil per month (depending on your pay grade) and no problems with visa issues or dealing with multiple hakwons.

-->most public school require afternoon classes, how are you adding 6 extra per week??


To those who are going through 2 mil per month, what the heck do you spend it on?

--> i say the same thing? in the US, i only spend $1200 a month, and that includes $800 for rent, electric, phone-dsl??