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fatboy
Joined: 18 May 2003
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2003 10:49 am Post subject: Can you save money in Korea? |
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A lot of posts advertised say you can work, have a good life and still save money in Korea. Is that true? |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2003 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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As a general rule, yes it's true- but obviously a lot of factors can affect this.
In my experience the two biggest factors that allowed me to save more than I could have elsewhere were the low taxation rate and not having to pay rent. |
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Canuck
Joined: 05 Apr 2003
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2003 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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Oh yeah, you can save a lot of money. |
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kylehawkins2000
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2003 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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I've met people who have not saved any money. Generally these people have no idea of financial planning. The more they make, the more they spend. Are you the type of person that always needs the new gadget, the bigger and better computer, a nicer car, etc.? If so you'll probably never save money anywhere.
In Korea I find that I can cover basic expenses for about 600-700 000 won a month. So, I'm left with 1.5 million or more depending on how much I work, privates, etc. That's around $1700 Canadian. I generally use this money to save for vacation and pay down student loan debt. It is really quite easy to save a grand a month if you want to. |
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crazylemongirl
Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...
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hellofaniceguy
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: On your computer screen!
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2003 11:53 pm Post subject: |
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You can save money anywhere if you live within your means! Live foolish and it's gone! |
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chi-chi
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 12:04 am Post subject: |
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mods you may delete
Last edited by chi-chi on Sat Jul 30, 2005 8:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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fatboy
Joined: 18 May 2003
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 2:03 am Post subject: $1200-$1300 US not bad |
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$1200-$1300 US a month, not bad, is that the norm?[/quote] |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 4:44 am Post subject: |
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norm? I don't know. I save around $1,000 USD a month and I'm not exactly spending mad amounts of cash. I also only have one semi-regular private; if I had a couple more privates, I could probably save a couple hundred dollars more each month. |
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kateinkorea
Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Korea
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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chi-chi wrote: |
I lived in a small boring place.
My fiance was able to send home $1200-$1300 US home every month for bills.
I pretty much bought whatever I wanted, but there wasn't much to do there.
Trips out of town to the larger cities (necessary to save my sanity) did a good job of killing my funds quickly.
This is why I say it may actually be easier to save money in a larger city, such as Seoul.
Chi-Chi |
Hmmmmm...I just heard from someone that it is a lot harder to save in Seoul because everything is more expensive there. Seoul is where I want to go though. |
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rudyflyer
Joined: 26 Feb 2003 Location: pacing the cage
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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counting pension and OT we save about $800/month in reality though in actual savings its around $500-600 we keep $2-300/month for vacations. If we stopped taking 4 weeks in the summer and 4 weeks in the winter and going off somewhere we'd be rich but thats our reward for working here |
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alphalfa
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 7:31 pm Post subject: you bet ya!! |
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You can stay alot here and still live comfortably. It depends on your lifestyle. On a monthly take home salary of 1.8mil won, you can save about 1.2mil on average. With the end of the contract severence, you could have saved about 16,000,000 won. Of course, those people doing privates in addition to their hagwon duties can save more. On average , over 33 months I've managed to save 60.6mil won. Quality of life is important. Be a smart manager with your money and you'll do fine.
alphalfa |
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Canuck
Joined: 05 Apr 2003
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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kateinkorea wrote: |
chi-chi wrote: |
I lived in a small boring place.
My fiance was able to send home $1200-$1300 US home every month for bills.
I pretty much bought whatever I wanted, but there wasn't much to do there.
Trips out of town to the larger cities (necessary to save my sanity) did a good job of killing my funds quickly.
This is why I say it may actually be easier to save money in a larger city, such as Seoul.
Chi-Chi |
Hmmmmm...I just heard from someone that it is a lot harder to save in Seoul because everything is more expensive there. Seoul is where I want to go though. |
Seoul doesnt have to be more expensive. If you eat out at Outback a lot, if you shop at Lotte is Shinsegea or go boozing every night then yeah, it can get expensive. Seoul is only more expensive because it has a lot of expensive options for you to choose from. But Seoul isnt really more expensive. Food is not more expensive, clothes are not really more expensive, just dont buy your shirts and pants and Lotte. I havent had any problems saving money in Seoul. |
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waterbaby
Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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Canuck wrote: |
I havent had any problems saving money in Seoul. |
Ditto for me. |
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kateinkorea
Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Korea
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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Canuck and WAterbaby,
Good to know....thanks for the input.
Kate |
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