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cat12345
Joined: 28 Jun 2013
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 Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:40 am Post subject: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| Would I be able to save on that? My goal is 1200 a month. Some jobs advertise 2.3 or even 2.5 starting. Why is that? Is it because the jobs are further out? |
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munybse
Joined: 24 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:46 am Post subject: |
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After taxes and what not that is only about a $1700 take home (~1.9). $1200 is possible I guess but you would have to be very cheap.
2.1 is pretty standard in a lot of places with no experience and little to no credentials. |
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Times30
Joined: 27 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:27 am Post subject: |
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EDIT: Reasonable and doable, however in Seoul it's a little harder to manage. You would need to spend about only 800,000 won a month. Factor in 200,000 a week for groceries is really low. Take out phone, utilities, and household items, it's even lower.
Going out is going to be difficult.
Last edited by Times30 on Wed Aug 07, 2013 2:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:27 pm Post subject: Re: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| cat12345 wrote: |
| Would I be able to save on that? My goal is 1200 a month. Some jobs advertise 2.3 or even 2.5 starting. Why is that? Is it because the jobs are further out? |
Include your pension refund and your 1 month severance pay in your plan for the year, be frugal, every payday "save first" and $1200 per month savings for the year is not hard on 2.1 million won. |
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fromafar
Joined: 15 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 3:57 pm Post subject: Re: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| ontheway wrote: |
| cat12345 wrote: |
| Would I be able to save on that? My goal is 1200 a month. Some jobs advertise 2.3 or even 2.5 starting. Why is that? Is it because the jobs are further out? |
Include your pension refund. |
Hope the OP is not from the UK as we don't get jack back. Might be the same with South African's too.... |
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Allthechildrenareinsane
Joined: 23 Jun 2011
Location: Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 4:29 pm Post subject: Re: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| fromafar wrote: |
| ontheway wrote: |
| cat12345 wrote: |
| Would I be able to save on that? My goal is 1200 a month. Some jobs advertise 2.3 or even 2.5 starting. Why is that? Is it because the jobs are further out? |
Include your pension refund. |
Hope the OP is not from the UK as we don't get jack back. Might be the same with South African's too.... |
South Africans are exempt from paying into the pension scheme in the first place, so their take home pay is higher. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Sad. I started at 2.3 per month 11 years ago, and the cost of living was 60% what it is today. |
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IPayInCash
Joined: 27 Jul 2013
Location: Away from all my board stalkers :)
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:29 pm Post subject: Re: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| ontheway wrote: |
| cat12345 wrote: |
| Would I be able to save on that? My goal is 1200 a month. Some jobs advertise 2.3 or even 2.5 starting. Why is that? Is it because the jobs are further out? |
Include your pension refund and your 1 month severance pay in your plan for the year, be frugal, every payday "save first" and $1200 per month savings for the year is not hard on 2.1 million won. |
I'm not going to count pension because A) Most foreigners don't even get it even though they were promised it and never fight their employer for it OR they were unaware what pension is and signed a contract that didn't mention it .
And I'm not going to count severance because you're assuming he's going to finish the contract AND get his severance and if you've been here as long as I have you KNOW that's a big assumption to make as their are HEAPS of foreigners that never received their pension for tons of different reasons.
In a perfect world he/she receives them. But this is Korea so I'm (and anyone else who's been here longer than a year) not going to assume he receives those.
Like the person said before me, it comes out to about 1.9 in income after taxes. If you want to save $1200 a month it means you have about 600,000won a month spending money (1,900,000won - 600,000won = $1167(it's actually 565,000 since 1,335,000won = $1200, but lets round up for the sake of your argument)).
Utilities/internet/phone are going to be 100,000 AT LEAST.
Now you're at 500,000 a month. Your transportation costs are at least 50,000won and that's being frugal. You're going to be living in Seoul, so it will probably be higher. It's around 25,000 a month for me and that's just going to work, nevermind when I'm out doing other things.
Now you're at 450,000. Factor in food, which varies person to person but that's gonna be at least 300,000 if you spend 10,000 a day on yourself which is going to be crap kimchi, rice, and a ramen diet.
Congratulations! You get 150,000 for the entire MONTH to spend on yourself. At 38,000won a week as spending money, you have enough money for one dinner with a girl at a semi decent restaurant, two dinners with a girl at a Korean BBQ joint, two nights at a bar with your coworkers (ONE if you're like most drunks here), and ONE night in Hongdae if you don't mind walking home since you won't have enough money for the cab ride. Want to join a gym? Than you get 110,000 a month. A pair of decent jeans can be 70,000 and up. A bike is 200,000, and that's a POS one. And a smartphone contract will cost you 40,000 a month easily. You can get a girlfriend as long as she doesn't mind paying 99% of the time.
Yup... I agree. $1200 savings a month on a 2.1 salary is not hard! Enjoy your life as a broke monk! |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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Theres no harm in trying to negotiate an extra hundred every month, or say in 2 months if your performance is good.
If nothing else, you'd be doing the next guy a big favour. |
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maximmm
Joined: 01 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:09 pm Post subject: Re: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| IPayInCash wrote: |
Now you're at 450,000. Factor in food, which varies person to person but that's gonna be at least 300,000 if you spend 10,000 a day on yourself which is going to be crap kimchi, rice, and a ramen diet. |
You can have quite a decent diet on 300K a month. If you cook at home and buy stuff via g-market (especially meats/veggies/western type of food, since it's way too expensive at emart). |
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IPayInCash
Joined: 27 Jul 2013
Location: Away from all my board stalkers :)
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:25 pm Post subject: Re: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| maximmm wrote: |
| IPayInCash wrote: |
Now you're at 450,000. Factor in food, which varies person to person but that's gonna be at least 300,000 if you spend 10,000 a day on yourself which is going to be crap kimchi, rice, and a ramen diet. |
You can have quite a decent diet on 300K a month. If you cook at home and buy stuff via g-market (especially meats/veggies/western type of food, since it's way too expensive at emart). |
I find cooking at home to come out to the same as eating out (and mom and pop spots not restaurants).
I don't know man. I spend easily 50k at costco just for NORMAL foods like fruits, bread, and meat. Fruit is expensive in Korea. A trip to emart for bananas, plums, tomatoes, lettuce, pineapple, and some veggies for the week can easily cost 30,000won. It's one of the reasons I don't really get when people say the prices are so cheap in Korea compared to their home countries. What are they living off of kimchi and rice here? I have a costco membership too. Maybe I'm just eating really healthy compared to most foreigners and grew out of my living-off-of-ramen phase in college, I don't know. I hardly drink also, and most foreigners I've met are big drinkers, so the booze also needs to be accounted for.
I don't shop at Gmarket. Maybe I should try it out. My bank card isn't set up for online purchases though I've tried to set it up but the software thing was too much of a hassle and I just gave up. |
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wings
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| After tax etc you would have about 500,000 left after saving 1200 USD. it is doable, but not very fun. When I first came to Korea I lived off that for a while and payed off a lot of debt. I kept track of all my spending in a spreadsheet and stuck to a strict budget. I also ate well and went out enough. I have lots of tips and tricks if anyone is interested! |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 1:13 am Post subject: Re: Is 2.1 a low starting salary for Seoul? |
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| Allthechildrenareinsane wrote: |
South Africans are exempt from paying into the pension scheme in the first place, so their take home pay is higher. |
The overall pay for South Africans would be less if it's a public school. You pay half, the school pays half and you get the complete refund at the end of your stay in Korea.
As far as the goal of 1200/monthly. That will be easy. Just don't splurge too much.
Also 2.1 is generally the starting salary for an inexperienced teacher. |
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CP
Joined: 18 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 1:25 am Post subject: You can... |
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easily save about 10000$ after one year of work on 2.1/month.
BUT
1. You will have to cook at home or eat in small Korean restaurants.
2. Not get hammered every night.
3. Avoiding princess style girlfriends and/or prostitutes.
4. If you don't need the fancy new style phones your phone bill will only be 10$ a month.
5. Don't get cable or any tv hookups. Get internet hook-up and watch tv that way.
6. Don't use the heaters or A/C as that will jack up your utility bill.
At the end of the day it depends on what type of person you are and whether or not you can save that much money. |
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tophatcat
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Location: under the hat
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| Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 3:19 am Post subject: |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| Sad. I started at 2.3 per month 11 years ago, and the cost of living was 60% what it is today. |
Yup! Really sad. I started at 2.4 per month 10 years ago. |
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