Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kangnam mafioso]

How much money do you expect to take with you when you return to your home country to restart your life? I've heard some people mention $10,000 USD as a good amount to save each year in Korea. I wasn't able to do it because I travelled a lot and drank in Hongdae every weekend and took taxis everywhere out of laziness and bought a lot of dinners for people. I only saved 10,000 in two years and blew a large chunk on the way home in Europe.

I'm starting to realize that wasn't quite enough.

A co-worker of mine had about $40,000 saved up in mutual funds and another 10 million won in his korean bank account. he was in his mid thirties and more or less a lifer though.

[Tiger Beer]

This year I'll be able to save about US$10,000.. but of course $7,500 goes into past credit card debt.. just giving me a little bit for any kind of flexibility.

In addition, my preferred thing to do with $$ is to travel to the most desired countries I've always wanted to go. But then again that means I would have to come back and save up again.. *sigh*

[Homer]

Hard to say.

We save about 24 000 USD per annum.
some of it goes into RSSPs and other things like that.
Some of it goes into our travel account.

We clear about 19000 USD per annum I would suppose....not quite sure.

[Josh_Nyc]

I worked in korea for 3 years. Went home with about $10k. Didn't have a problem. But then again, I found a job back in the states so I was able to maintain the same standard of living without having to dig deep into my savings. Depends on what you consider "restarting".

[kangnamdragon]

I wouldn't go back until all my debts were paid and I had enough to live on for 6 months without a job.....that would be a good plan.

[Tiger Beer]

This time around I said in my head I'd pay off $7,500 in debt.. then accumulate $10,000 and not leave Asia until that were to happen.

But looks like I won't do the latter part.. going to Spain after this contract.. (with just a few thousand in the pocket)..

[dutchman]

I can remember back in my first year joking with my roommate that if we managed to stay here for 10 years we'd have X amount saved and thinking that was a huge amount of money.

I'm starting my 9th now and have almost three times the X amount saved(with the help of my wife). We're pretty happy with 3X. Approaching the point when I can pull a Tonto (see my signature).

[matthews_world]

I haven't been able to save 800 bucks a month yet as I have $30,000 in student loan debt to still pay back and another loan for 5 grand.

Perhaps a rich relative will pass away but I can't be that evil.

I've been in Korea for a little over a year and have managed to save, so far, 200 per month. However, the 2 debts I have are getting dented.

Will take a good 2 years extra to pay back that college loan.

In the meantime, grad school is knocking on the door next October.

[TECO]

$19,000 - $22,000 per year living and working in Tokyo.

Lots of beer drinking, 4 motorcyles and several trips to Thailand during that time also.

Tokyo is THE MOST lucrative location for EFL'ers in the World - next to a good contract in the M.E. wehre there aren't any girls or beer.

Taiwan is nowhere as lucrative for me.

[gmat]

TECO: Well done. What kind of hours did you put in in Tokyo per week. How expensive was your apartment?
TYIA

[Juggertha]

I'm shooting for about 10k to 15k per year. I'm not a drinker but boy do I eat alot.

[ohahakehte]

though its a different context, its interesting how people on here are saying they might be able to take home $10K after one year....when i was treeplanting, a very good planter could make the same amount of money in a two month planting contract! mind you theres fewer chances to spend money when you're planting (depending on how much you party and spend on the weekends) and even a decent planter should be aiming for about $1000 a week. i was never an outstanding planter who raked in $10K a contract, but thinking about the financial possiblities of planting could really bum me out while im sitting here in seoul doing BS english teaching and my stated reason for it is money.....<inner voice> "mustn't think critically, just teach stupid brats english, take home money eat kimchi" <inner voice>

[princess]

Oh well....I don't blow all my money like some people and I don't save it all and act all miserable like some people, either. After my first year in Korea, all I had was $50.00 in change plus my final pay which put me up to about $4200. I went back t the states and had no job for 5 months. I came back to Korea with about $3000 of that. I worked another year in Korea and saved $2000 on my own and with my final pay, I had abut $5300 total. I went back to the states and had no job for 10 months. I like shopping, going to Hongdae and traveling, so it is very hard to save big bucks. Now, maybe if I were married, with someone else helping me it would be different. But, I am not in the market for marriage now.

[Josh_Nyc]

how bout a sugar daddy?

[The Man known as The Man]