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twavelingteacher
Joined: 26 Jun 2007
Location: South Korea
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 Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject: dollar won |
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Just a few months ago 124000 won = 134 dollars
now 124000 won = 117 dollars
so basically with all the money i have in the bank i've lost over a thousand dollars?
why is the korean won falling?
is there a way not to lose this money? keep my money in korea? not send it home? |
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bogey666
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Korea, the ass free zone
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:13 pm Post subject: Re: dollar won |
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| twavelingteacher wrote: |
Just a few months ago 124000 won = 134 dollars
now 124000 won = 117 dollars
so basically with all the money i have in the bank i've lost over a thousand dollars?
why is the korean won falling?
is there a way not to lose this money? keep my money in korea? not send it home? |
welcome to living and traveling abroad. First time, is it?
only teachers in international schools sometimes get offered a dollar based income which locks in the dollar rate, but even then it's usually a percentage of their salaries.
when you get paid in foreign currency or save in foreign currency, you are subject to that currency's fluctuations in the interbank market.
sometimes you lose money, sometimes you make money. Sometimes if you wait. you will lose more money, sometimes you will make back your losses.
A person who truly would know the answers to these future questions would never post on Dave's, he or she would be in a hammock on their own Pacific island, being fanned and fed grapes by young men or women depending on their gender/orientation.
if this is a huge psychological challenge for you, you're not suited for overseas living.
out of curiosity.. what makes you think the won levels below 1000 to 1 were the "correct" levels to begin with?
perhaps the won was merely overvalued?
(that said, I do personally believe the performance of the currency has been quite crappy - and I think the performance of the Korean economy is in large part based on US consumption/demand, which makes me a little leery going forward, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it) |
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midian3x
Joined: 18 Sep 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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| The US dollar is junk compared to every major currency out there, for the won to be losing value to it is alarming. |
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twavelingteacher
Joined: 26 Jun 2007
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| yes, my first time living abroad and am wondering what to do. keep my korean bank account cause i'll probably come back in a year or close it. i'm also wondering if my international atm card will work abroad. |
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Big4Jerm3
Joined: 17 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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| I just traveled Europe. Talk about a horrible exchange rate! |
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Ramen
Joined: 15 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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Holding on to won is still a gamble. No telling how much more it will fall.
If you don't want to gamble with your money, you should exchange half of your won to dollar now. In that case, if won falls in the future, your damage will be minized with with dollar you are holding. And if won goes up, you still have half of your money in won to offset the loss with your dollar.
I always go 50/50 just to be on the safe side.  |
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bogey666
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Korea, the ass free zone
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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| twavelingteacher wrote: |
| yes, my first time living abroad and am wondering what to do. keep my korean bank account cause i'll probably come back in a year or close it. i'm also wondering if my international atm card will work abroad. |
nothing is for certain, but if you can afford to keep the money in the Korean bank and are coming back, that's probably what I would personally do.
or there is a variety of intermediate steps one can take, depending on your psychological comfort level.
one is to regularly transfer money back to US on a monthly level.
the other extreme is of course to keep in won based for as long as you can. Then of course there is everything in between... there are lot of ways to cut up 100% of something.
Personally I think if one has issues with 10% swings in exchange rate then they're counting too many pennies, but of course I understand everyone's natural desire to squeeze any possible milk out of the cow, especially if Korea is a one or two year deal for them. |
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bogey666
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Korea, the ass free zone
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| midian3x wrote: |
| The US dollar is junk compared to every major currency out there, for the won to be losing value to it is alarming. |
the problem with this analysis is that the won is not a "major" currency. Second tier at best. |
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midian3x
Joined: 18 Sep 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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| bogey666 wrote: |
| midian3x wrote: |
| The US dollar is junk compared to every major currency out there, for the won to be losing value to it is alarming. |
the problem with this analysis is that the won is not a "major" currency. Second tier at best. |
Where did I say the won is a major currency?
The US dollar is junk compared to the Euro, the yen etc. Hell even the Phillipino peso is getting stronger against it.For any currency to be dropping against the US dollar is not a good sign. |
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bogey666
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Korea, the ass free zone
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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| midian3x wrote: |
| bogey666 wrote: |
| midian3x wrote: |
| The US dollar is junk compared to every major currency out there, for the won to be losing value to it is alarming. |
the problem with this analysis is that the won is not a "major" currency. Second tier at best. |
Where did I say the won is a major currency?
The US dollar is junk compared to the Euro, the yen etc. Hell even the Phillipino peso is getting stronger against it.For any currency to be dropping against the US dollar is not a good sign. |
you said the US dollar is junk compared to every major currency.. ergo suggesting is shouldn't be losing ground to the the won.
but your second phrase is more interesting, and more correct.
if third tier currencies like the PI peso, and of more interest, the Thai baht (more of a 2nd tier) which has an economic model very similar to Korea's are strengthening against the dollar (and they have), then for the won to keep on dropping is not an encouraging sign.
Of course, it also depends on when you start to "count" which is the key point. One can argue that the won strengthened to the dollar on much faster basis than the others several years ago and now is simply correcting itself.
as for me, I'm basically counting on a 1000-1050 conversion rate to USD. I don't see it leaving those parameters anytime soon barring a major event. |
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maddog
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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| bogey666 wrote: |
| as for me, I'm basically counting on a 1000-1050 conversion rate to USD. I don't see it leaving those parameters anytime soon barring a major event. |
Give it a few days. The won/pound has been in steady decline for a while. It's gone from 1850 to 2050 in about 18 months (I could be wrong on exact numbers there). If the dollar strenghtens, you'll see your 1050 threshold breached in no time. |
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rsmm0224
Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Location: Changwon
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 2:03 am Post subject: |
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Wait, I'm confused. When I came over 10 months ago, my 2 million won salary equaled $2,160.00. Now it equals about $1,970.00. Doesn't that mean the won is stronger and the dollar is weaker?
By sending money home I "LOSE" money on the conversion. Putting dollars into won right now will "MAKE" money. I got like 80,000 won out of an ATM off of my American card and it only cost me like $76. 10 months ago it would have cost like $81. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 2:51 am Post subject: |
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| Crap, when I came here 6 years ago, it was 1250 won to the dollar. I'm still ahead. |
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Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 3:03 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Wait, I'm confused. When I came over 10 months ago, my 2 million won salary equaled $2,160.00. Now it equals about $1,970.00. Doesn't that mean the won is stronger and the dollar is weaker? |
If the won were stronger it would buy you more USD's - more than 2160. A weaker won has you getting more for the sale of your USDs.
It's weak which means the govt is dropping the cash rate, like the US did starting several months ago. Yet, interest rates are on the rise - perhaps not due to confidence in deposits but due to 'credit costs' so banks rising their loan rates. Not too good. Doesn't bode well. But then, maybe that's just the banks ripping people off.
Many other western countries are experiencing the same shit.
Which is wierd and it should be balancing out. But then, I hear that the US is picking up - however it does that. So Korean being pegged to it is supposed to rise too?? Arghh, where are the economy MBAs!?! How can it be understood without contra-bloody-dictions at every turn?
I'm pissed off because I'm a Kiwi and have to pay my main mortgage there so getting f&%^ed on the exchange for the last three years out of ten. It annoys me because I am earning more now than ever so with xrates back four years ago I'd be real pretty at this point. Instead I'm like a pauper who reads the Bible for solace. Now, that's a lack of security believing that I'll only make it better in the afterworld!
The growing spend up in China and India is my first thought for cause and blame. And Bush, too, for starting a very costly war that's got no end in sight and for losing the (economic) confidence of every nation on Earth. |
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rsmm0224
Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Location: Changwon
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 3:43 am Post subject: |
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| yeah, there's a lot of people not real happy with him for that. Even more so cuz he won't just say, "Whoops, my bad. We'll go home now." |
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