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brojamma
Joined: 04 Feb 2011
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 Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:15 pm Post subject: How To Bring Money |
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I am moving to Korea this Saturday and will be bringing around $1500 with me; what is the best way to bring the money over?
I feel like the following options are what come to mind:
1) Just bring cash - This is what I want to do but I am a little concerned it could get lost or stolen in transit.
2) Bring travelers checks - seems like a hassle, but safe
3) Wire transfer once I get there - once again seems like a hassle and I dont know what kind of fees there would be.
At the moment I am leaning towards just bringing cash, but I just wanted to post the question here to see if this is a really bad idea and if people had better ways that they had done it.
Bonus question: If I have students loans at Wells Fargo that need to be paid monthly, how difficult is this to do from my (soon to be) Korean bank account?
Thanks to all who comment, I really appreciate it. |
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Korangar
Joined: 07 Apr 2010
Location: MN
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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Well I'm no expert (heading out in a week), but was reading on footprints' website that a good way to do it would be to bring a few hundred dollars cash and change it out at the airport, then change the rest out at a bank with travelers checks.
As for the wells-fargo loan, what i've got it set up to do is bill my domestic checking account monthly, and planned on wiring over some money when I need to. |
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madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:52 pm Post subject: Re: How To Bring Money |
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| brojamma wrote: |
I am moving to Korea this Saturday and will be bringing around $1500 with me; what is the best way to bring the money over?
I feel like the following options are what come to mind:
1) Just bring cash - This is what I want to do but I am a little concerned it could get lost or stolen in transit. |
For $1500, I'd just bring it in cash. If you are concerned, buy one of those neck pouches, such as this:
http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Creek-Travel-Gear-Pouch/dp/B001M0NWTS/ref=pd_sbs_a_1
They usually run about $8-$20 and it would be really, really hard to lose your dough or have it stolen. |
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willteachforfood
Joined: 24 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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If you're that worried about carrying $1500 in cash,either get one of the travel pouches mentioned by madoka, or just wear a jacket that has a zippered inside pocket.
A wire transfer for such a small amount of money would cost you more in fees than just paying the higher exchange rate for cash (electronic exchanges are usually around 10 won/$ less) not to mention the fact that then you'd have to wait until you had a bank account to have the money.
This is Korea...nobody is going to pick-pocket you. The only way that you'd lose the money would be if you yourself were to literally lose it.
More importantly is this advice:
You need to borrow X amount of money from a friend or family member if at all possible:
X = (monthly student loan bill x 4)
Tell them that you'll pay them back in full, in one payment, in 4 months. Then, put this money into your Wells Fargo account, or whatever account you pay your loan from. Next, pay the loan each month out of this lump of savings. Finally, after 4 months you should have been able to save enough money in Korea to transfer back double what you borrowed....pay back the loan, and replenish X into your account. Do whatever it takes to live frugally for those first 4 months so that you can save up X.
One of the biggest mistakes that many young teachers here do is to get into the habit of sending money home every month. Each time you transfer funds home it will cost you about $40....so if you're sending home $400/month to pay bills in the states, this means that you're losing 10% of your money to fees....however, send $1600 and now you're losing 2.5%, send $4000 and you're losing 1%....I am sure that you can see the pattern that is developing.
I know teachers who literally piss away hundreds of dollars per year by transferring money home every month.
Now, I realize that some people honestly and truly don't have a friend/family member who can loan then 2 grand for 4 months (or whatever it is in your case)....so what these people need to do is to send enough in month 1 to last 1 month of bills, then send enough in month 2 for 2 months of bills....now you can skip month 3....send enough money in month 4 for 3 months of bills....and so on. |
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brojamma
Joined: 04 Feb 2011
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:26 pm Post subject: Thanks |
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| Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it. Its looking like I will just go for the pouch. Also, its good to know about the $40 per month fee. I am lucky enough to have parents who can do this for me... thanks for the idea; sheer genius. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| $500 cash and your bank card. |
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willteachforfood
Joined: 24 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:54 pm Post subject: Re: Thanks |
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| brojamma wrote: |
| Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it. Its looking like I will just go for the pouch. Also, its good to know about the $40 per month fee. I am lucky enough to have parents who can do this for me... thanks for the idea; sheer genius. |
It's not $40 per month....it's $40 per transfer.
If you could borrow 6 months worth of bill money this would save you even more money.
What you also need to keep in mind is that the WON/$ exchange rate fluctuates fairly wildly. It isn't unheard of at all for the exchange rate to be 10% better or worse at the end of your contract than it was at the beginning.....so it's a good idea to follow the rate (I use xe.com) so that when the rates take a temporary dip you can go to the bank and transfer cash....often you can make up the $40 and then some if the rate gets low enough. We generally only like to transfer $10,000 at a time to limit the amount of money we pay in fees....but we have a tipping point rate in mind at all times, meaning that if the rate drops below this point, it's more beneficial to go ahead and transfer what we've got at that point as opposed to waiting until we've got another 10 grand.
So in your case....say you plan on saving for 6 months before you send your first payment home....you arrive to Korea and the rate is 1125/1$...so you assume that this is a "normal" rate as you've never lived here before....so fast forward a few months and you've got 4 million in the bank and the exchange rate is at 1110.....if you assume a rate of 1125 at the 6 month point, you're better to send the money now....4 million won transferred at 1110 is worth $48 more than at 1125...so, in this case, it pays for you to transfer early.
Of course there is always the argument of "What if the rate stays at 1110, then I'd save even more money waiting to transfer at 6 months...now I get the higher rate and save myself a transfer fee?".....but this will always be the situation regardless of what/how much money you send....the rate could go up, the rate could go down....you can follow trends and make a somewhat educated guess....but if people KNEW for sure where the rates were going to go, then the rates would automatically go there....for example, if the whole world knows that the won is going to weaken against the dollar, then everyone will start selling their won for dollars, which in turn weakens the won versus the dollar....so the fact of the matter is that NOBODY knows what the future rates will be, and to a great extent the current rate is based on the cumulative guess of the entire market as to what the future rates will be.....this is a long-winded way of saying.....whenever you send money you take the risk that the rate could be more favorable in the future, but when you don't send money you take the risk that the rates will be less favorable in the future....you need to set a rate that you are comfortable with....and then transfer funds when the rate is at this point or lower, and hold on to funds when the rate is above this point. |
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brojamma
Joined: 04 Feb 2011
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 11:51 pm Post subject: Economics |
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| Willworkforfood; you make me miss me economics courses... compliments are your ability to clearly relay economic and monetary concepts so well. I really appreciate your willingness to go in depth on it to help me. Sorry that i misspoke on the $40 per transfer fee, I understood from your description, I just was not careful with my wording. Thanks again. |
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willteachforfood
Joined: 24 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:13 am Post subject: Re: Economics |
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| brojamma wrote: |
| Willworkforfood; you make me miss me economics courses... compliments are your ability to clearly relay economic and monetary concepts so well. I really appreciate your willingness to go in depth on it to help me. Sorry that i misspoke on the $40 per transfer fee, I understood from your description, I just was not careful with my wording. Thanks again. |
No worries mate.
Here is some more helpful advice for you.....Korea can be a lot of fun and quite interesting for approximately 24 months....come over, have some fun, save some money, travel, see some of Asia....and then get out of this crap hole.
Have an exit plan from day 1....don't end up being one of these poor saps who gets themselves stuck here, desperately deluding themselves into believing that Korea is indeed a great place to live.
I am not trying to be negative...you'll have a great time over here...but I am dead serious, you need an exit plan from day 1.
If you're interested in my fool proof way to save tons of money email me at [email protected] and I will send you the instructions. |
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lemak
Joined: 02 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:47 am Post subject: Re: How To Bring Money |
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| brojamma wrote: |
| I am moving to Korea this Saturday and will be bringing around $1500 with me; what is the best way to bring the money over? |
In the scheme of things 1500 bucks is nothing. Hardly worth worrying about.
Just bring cash and put it in a couple of places. Some in your pocket, some in your wallet. Korea is very safe, however maintain the usual precautions. |
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Hugo85
Joined: 27 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:55 am Post subject: |
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I have a similar question.
I want to bring 15000-20000$ with me to Korea and open an account over there. What's the best way to save money on transferring the amount? I don't think I can even bring that much through Canadian borders in cash  |
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lemak
Joined: 02 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:02 am Post subject: |
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| Hugo85 wrote: |
I have a similar question.
I want to bring 15000-20000$ with me to Korea and open an account over there. What's the best way to save money on transferring the amount? I don't think I can even bring that much through Canadian borders in cash |
Yes you can. Just make sure you declare amounts over 10,000 bucks at customs both on the way out and on the way into Korea and fill in a form. They won't tax you on it, confiscate it, and as long as it's not uber suspicious won't even question you about it. Loads of people do it every day and often in significantly higher amounts than you are planning. Keep that bag close though. |
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Hugo85
Joined: 27 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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| lemak wrote: |
| Hugo85 wrote: |
I have a similar question.
I want to bring 15000-20000$ with me to Korea and open an account over there. What's the best way to save money on transferring the amount? I don't think I can even bring that much through Canadian borders in cash |
Yes you can. Just make sure you declare amounts over 10,000 bucks at customs both on the way out and on the way into Korea and fill in a form. They won't tax you on it, confiscate it, and as long as it's not uber suspicious won't even question you about it. Loads of people do it every day and often in significantly higher amounts than you are planning. Keep that bag close though. |
And the cheapest way to transfer CAD to won? |
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liz88
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| how much money does it cost to transfer won to CAD? |
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johgraker
Joined: 08 Sep 2010
Location: KOREA
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| Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| when you exchange money do it at bank rather than airport you will get more out |
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