Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yaya]

I have to say getting myself into acres of debt was really easy. In fact, I accrued most of it during college. Some of it was due to paying for school, but the other part was my own stupid mistakes. Here's how I got myself into $80,000 worth of debt in eight years.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-person-got-myself-80-000-debt-163400779.html

[pkang0202]

I applaud you for doing your best to pay it off.

Credit cards are evil when you have no full-time job. I worked part-time during university and I had a credit card. I would always justify purchases like "Oh, I just gotta pickup some extra hours this week and it'll be OK".

Then you get the bill and all of the purchases you made add up. For college students, most of the credit card debt isn't big purchases. Its little things. Gas here. Food there. Books.

The stinker is that you don't have anything to show for it. Most of the purchases are not material things. Someone can ask you, "How the hell did you get into debt?" And you got nothing to point at. I'd say in University, most of my Credit Card debt came from gas stations, convenience stores, and deliver food.

[madoka]

[pkang0202]

[The Floating World]

[The Sherriff]

7 years down the line and you've only been able to pay off $10k?? It blows my mind how bad people are with money.

If you really want to make progress with your debt, start taking a good look at everything you spend your money on (I mean every damn purchase) and try to eliminate everything that isn't absolutely necessary. Stop living just under your means, paying the minimums on your debt payments and start making lump sum payments. Jebus.

[Chet Wautlands]

[Captain Corea]

[Weigookin74]

Actually in reading the blog, I noticed 10 grand of it was for medical bills. You Americans have an odd system of health care, I'll never fully understand. So, that is not his fault. One can never predict when an emergency will happne. Being a poor student prob prevents one from getting or buying good insurance coverage, I would assume.

So, in Canada nowadays, it would be easy to get 10 grand in credit card debts for 4 or 5 years. Not uncommon. I'd say average cost of a four year degree would be 50 grand (Tuition, books, fees, living expenses included). Could be more for a more exclusive school, though nothing like your Harvard or Yale.

At any rate, there's 60 grand. Plus some living expenses, more interest, and start up costs getting over here. Maybve another few grand. Not impossible.

Living in the west with a mediocre or even low paying job, virtually impossible to get that debt down. Coming here to pay it off might allow 7 or 8 years to get that paid off. (I'm guessing because you may be tempted to spend some once you get here too.)

If you've been mostly poor for several years and then come into money here, you really will be tempted to spend and to travel some. This is because you have something you haven't had in a long time. So, be careful about that. The cost of living has risen here and the exchange rate is not what it was two or three years ago. So, you are sending much less money home than before. What might have been a 3 or 4 year process will now become a 6 or 7 year process or repayment. In the west either no repayment or a 10 to 15 year repayment process.

The above scenario is for 60 to 80 k in debt. However, I keep meeting these US grads who complain about being poor and only have 15 grand or less in debt. I want to put my boot on their a$$! Those may be able to pay in 2 or 3 years their debts. Use to take one year.

Ideally, if you don't drink too much or have expensive tastes often, you leave yourself 700,000 won. This is for paying bills, taking the bus, buying food and whatever. You prob could have lived on less before, but living costs have gone up. Maybe 750,000 won. Salaries have stagnated and the exchange is down. A beginning salary of 2.1 Million won 3 years ago was 2300 to 2400 Cdn$. Now, it's 1800 to 1900 Cdn$. Do the math, it will take longer to pay debts.

Korea is still worth it, but not the grand deal it once was. My own minimum payments on student loans were once 400,000ish won, now more like 700,000ish won. Exchange rate caused this. If you get 2.1 million salary. 150,000 deducations. You keep 750,000 won in Korea. That leaves 1.2 to send home. A few years back you could have sent 1.4 home and it was prob worth 1600 bucks. Now you can send home 1.2 and it's worth 1000 bucks. Compounding interest on large loans, even with a decent interest rate, it's going to take a long time to pay these things down. I got here at the end of the curve, so I know what I'm talking about.

Only combat against this is to be cheap. Not easy for me. It's not in my nature. Get an EPIK job and stick with it. Same province, accumulate raises year after year. Ride it for as long as you can. Has partially compensated me for worsening conditions. But I feel for newbies with high debt and only getting offered 2.1 mil for an academy. It's rough.

[Weigookin74]

Oh, yeah, don't have a girlfriend. Ha ha. Had some, but have realized they cost. Avoiding one for awhile is also against my nature. You can decide your own on that one. Try to find one who's understanding about the cheapness??? Good luck.

[Yaya]

I say having a girlfriend lowers your expenses unless she's the free spending, going out type. Many times, a pizza and a movie on cable or VOD are far cheaper than going out to a bar or something.

[bobbybigfoot]

[bobbybigfoot]

[allovertheplace]

[Stan Rogers]