Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bob V]

Hello, I plan on coming over in a couple of months from the US and was wondering how much you spend to live. How much does your monthly expenses come to (in won)? I know that this will vary a great deal but I am trying to get an average figure. Feel free to put up what your expenses are if you want that way I can get an idea of what I will be having to spend money on once I am there. Thanks!

Bob

[peppermint]

Living comfortably, usually runs me around a million won/ month (half of my pay)

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'm with Peppermint. I blow about half my monthly income. I go out for lunch every day and go out for supper once or twice a week. That alone accounts for W60,000 or more a week (W250,000 a month).

I'm pretty frivolous. And love it.

[VanIslander]

Wow. A million?

Maybe for a Seoulite.

Life in a less metropoolitan locale needn't be so expensive.

On a busy month I can eat out most nights (Korean food) and travel on the weekends and still not spend that much money.

I average about 500,000 W a month, less on a slow month.

(Reason 1322 why I'm glad not to live in The Big Smoke.)

[peppermint]

When I say living comfortably, I don't mean living like a Korean. Limitiing myself to Korean food would be pretty bland and possibly unhealthy ( vegetarian) so I spend a good chunk of change on imported foods, and books eat up another good bit. When I go out, I treat my friends once ina while. Oh and that includes paying some bills at home.

[Bunnymonster]

To live I spend about 200,000, not counting utilities (which run to about 200,000). But to *Live* I usually get through about 500-700,000 a months including gym fees, meals out, cinema, museums, random purchases, taxis etc.. If I don't save over a million a month from my paycheck (2.0 gross) something is very wrong and recently I've been banking nearer 1.5 a month, the low cost of living is probably the main attraction of being in Korea, that and the cool people....

[Badmojo]

Food would cost me 325,000, alone. Unbelievable. Apparently having a salad a day and some decent fruit adds up. The price of milk killed me, too.

Doing very little each month, other expenses totaled 225,000. Make no mistake, the cost of living is higher here than in the West.

Throw another 50,000 in there for the gym and that makes 600,000, doing little more than absolutely nothing.

"Absolutely nothing - say it again...!"

If I lived the lifestyle I do at home, I'd easily drop a million two without even breaking a sweat.

[ThePoet]

I *can* limit myself to 10,000 won per day. In fact, at each pay day I put an envelope with 10,000 won notes in it (30 or 31 depending on how many days are in the month) and take one out each morning and put it in my wallet. If I don't spend it, I don't take another one out the next day.

I also buy groceries in bulk at Costco with another 90,000 won at the beginning of each month -- this includes steaks, chicken breasts, cheese, canned tomatoes, etc. Over the course of a month I'll have a few BBQ's, make a few meals of stew or spaghetti and other western foods. So, I cook for myself and have leftovers about 10 days a month, and then eat korean or sandwiches or whatever the other 20. I eat well.

After bills (I allow myself the luxury of DSL, and I have an air conditioner) 100,000 won the rest can be savings. I make 1.7 after taxes, health insurance, pension, and my building management fee. so, I can literally bank 1.2 million won per month (IF I lived on bare minimum) if I wasn't sending so much of it back to Canada to pay off bills, I'd be saving at least 10,000 dollars a year here....I could never ever do that back home.

Poet

[Warfield]

Wife, 2 kids and me= 600,000 to 1m. depending on how many trips we make to the Dr. or In-laws....

[chronicpride]

What I've usually quoted to people, is to expect to operate on a budget of 20,000/day for the first month that you are here. If you drink, party, go to Outback a lot, bump that up to 30,000/mnth. Somedays, you might only spend 10,000, but the next day, you might spend 40,000. It often balances out.

After your first month or two, and you get accustomed to your surroundings, where to shop, where to eat, tricks on keeping expenses down, you can operate on 10-15,000/day budget.

If saving is your goal, you can buy a rice cooker and prepare food at home, shop smart, walk or use public transportation, and really cut corners, you can operate on 5-7000/day budget. But that's a tough routine. I've only done that for a couple of weeks at a time, but for tiding me over until paychecks.

I'm pretty comfortable on 20,000/day. I spend about 5000/day in Seoul throughout the week, because I walk to work and the company covers one of my meals, and I don't socialize much throughout the week. I save my surplus cash that I didn't spend in the week, for the weekend. Go visit friends in Daegu. Go on a trip with friends. Shop in Dongdaemun. etc...So if I was on a 2.0 net salary, that'd be 1.4 in savings/mnth.

[agraham]

The cost of living as a percentage of your income is about the same as in the west if you don't factor in the free apartment.
Yesterday for lunch I had big plate of kimcheebokumbap. It came with a side of pickled radish and miso soup. The store delivered it, and later came back to pick up the dirty dishes.
The menu said it was 2000, but they told me the price had gone up to 2500. I was like "what?" until I realized I'm eating a good lunch with real silverware, delivered, for $2 US instead of $1.50! What am I complaining about?
Since my furnished apartment is covered except for utilities and maintenance which is about 30,000 (bunny, did you mean 20,000 for utilities? 200,000 sounds awful high) a month, I figure I could exist here eating out for every meal but not having much fun for 300,000 ($270 US) a month.
Just my apartment in Vancouver costed three times that. I spent that much on motorcycle insurance every three months.
I also give myself 50,000 to 100,000 per week of walking around money and put the rest in the bank.

[JongnoGuru]

[agraham]

[Real Reality]

Consumer prices in Korea have increased the greatest among the world's major countries this year.
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=020000&biid=2004042799228

The National Statistical Office (NSO) reported Monday that consumer prices increased 4.4 percent year-on-year. It was the first time that consumer prices surpassed the 4 percent level since March of the previous year (4.5 percent). By item, the prices of vegetables rose 14.8 percent, fruit 33.1 percent, livestock products 15.4 percent, petroleum products 11.1 percent and personal services 4.3 percent.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200408/200408020045.html

Ms. Yang Moon-young, a 31-year-old homemaker in Sanbon-dong, Gyeonggi Province, said, "It scares me how these prices rose so drastically just over a year," and added, "I just get the bare minimum of stuff from the shop in front of my house and only when I need them." Also, the prices of processed foods and flour that common citizens enjoy are on the rise along with the recent price hike of imported crops, oil and shipping.
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004041558138

Korea's Increase in Consumer Prices Among the Highest in OECD
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200408/200408260052.html

College Graduates - High School Graduates' Monthly Wage Difference over 1,000,000 Won
According to the National Statistical Office's announcement on December 16, the head of a family with a college degree working in the city earned a monthly average of 3,494,000 won in the 3-4 quarter (July – September), an increase of 21.4 percent from the 2,877,000 won.
This is twice the average increase rate (11.9 percent) for a worker in the city. On the other hand, employees with only a high school degree earned a monthly average of 2,481,000 won in the same period, a 5.9 percent increase from the 2,481,000 won.
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2001121789168

[Bob V]

So it seems like I will be able to save what I wanted (around 10,000US a year). I guess it just matters how I live. I only drink once a week (at home anyway), and dont do much. Although the town I am in (upstate NY) kinda sucks so if I end up in Seoul maybe I wont be able to save as much as I had planned. Oh well, I guess we shall see.

Bob