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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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ABC KID
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
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 Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:01 am Post subject: Forget The Dollar, What About The Pound! |
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Hey fellow Brits - With all the new threads about the dollar, let's have one for us too.
The exchange rate got up to just over 2200 won to the pound at one point today. I am no economist but I know it is bleak for us to send money back at the moment. It was only 1900 won to the pound in March.
Any informed people out there able to give an intelligent guess or good forecast about what's going to happen in the new few weeks and months and a bit further along say 12-18 months. Will it get back down to 1900 won or less or is destined to stay above 2000 won to the pound or heaven forbid, head towards 2500 won?
Also, it doesn't show up now, but I saw a Yahoo five year chart a while back and saw that back in 2001 or 2002 the exchange rate was 1200 won to the pound for an extremely short time (possibly a day or something - collapsed and then bounced straight back up again) What the hell happened? |
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Tobias
Joined: 02 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:18 am Post subject: You want answers? |
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| ABC KID wrote: |
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Any informed people out there able to give an intelligent guess or good forecast about what's going to happen in the new few weeks and months and a bit further along say 12-18 months. Will it get back down to 1900 won or less or is destined to stay above 2000 won to the pound or heaven forbid, head towards 2500 won?
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You're asking for an answer on Dave's ESL Cafe? I don't think even Warren Buffet foresaw what happened in Washington yesterday. Nobody knows what will happen. But we do know what will NOT happen. One thing you can be assured of--no 'meltdown' will happen. If the sky did fall, middle class people with everything to lose would be rioting and slaughtering each other in the streets. The elites will not alow such instability to happen. You're about to take a loss, but it won't be that much. Sure, it'd be better if we could have avoided this mess, but we're now in it and we have to accept it.
Besides....If somebody did know a way out, he wouldn't be on this site telling all. |
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fred_c
Joined: 08 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:32 pm Post subject: Re: Forget The Dollar, What About The Pound! |
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| ABC KID wrote: |
| Also, it doesn't show up now, but I saw a Yahoo five year chart a while back and saw that back in 2001 or 2002 the exchange rate was 1200 won to the pound for an extremely short time (possibly a day or something - collapsed and then bounced straight back up again) What the hell happened? |
It must have been a glitch in Yahoo's system. I checked historical exchange rates at http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory and the lowest rate during 2001-02 was 1770.43 (June 12, 2001) |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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| It was 1,550 a few months ago when I was thinking of buying them. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 2:55 am Post subject: |
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Taking into account the exchange rate on Jan '04, Jan '05, Jan '06, Jan '07, Jan '08 and today, the KRW average vs the GBP is 1,953 (or 1m KRW = �516, today = �470).
Considering EFL teachers in Korea get free rent and lower deductions, a 2.2m KRW salary is worth �1,035 today, or �942 NET.
Many people with a predisposition for TEFL will, even with this terrible exchange rate, struggle to find a NET + accommodation salary like that in the UK. Working in Korea is like being on a �20,000 job and renting a place/paying a mortgage in terms of NET salary.
So whilst hardly mega-bucks, it's not THAT doomy either. And saving 1m per month + severance = �6,580pa savings. So 3 years in Korea could see you taking home �18,000. |
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Tobias
Joined: 02 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:04 am Post subject: That's it? |
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| Justin Hale wrote: |
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So whilst hardly mega-bucks, it's not THAT doomy either. And saving 1m per month + severance = �6,580pa savings. So 3 years in Korea could see you taking home �18,000. |
18,000 pounds is low. Well, maybe not so low these days with the won on the crash. Anyway, I have about 20% more than that saved and have about half that three years gone. Three years here should mean about 55,000 USD saved at the minimum. I'm shooting for 60,000 including pension and bonuses, plus legal school projects, over three years. Would have about 66,000 and maybe even 70,000 saved, but with the won taking a dump on us and all..... |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:55 am Post subject: |
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�18,000 is pretty good from a job requiring at best a modicum of skill and intelligence. In any case, my 18k fig came from thinking about the average hagwon/public school-type person who does few if any privates (and an exchange rate the 3rd lowest in 5 years). I saved $50,000 in 3 years too, but I was very lucky with the contacts I met. Saving potential is much higher than �18,000 over 3 years, yes, but to your average hagwon jockey, 1m per month in savings is a realistic average I'd imagine (and even that requires frugality). |
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