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Can you save money in Korea?
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fatboy



Joined: 18 May 2003

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2003 10:49 am    Post subject: Can you save money in Korea? Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2003 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2003 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh yeah, you can save a lot of money.
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kylehawkins2000



Joined: 08 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2003 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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...

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2003 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

saving money is easy... you just need to set a budget and stick to it... also limit your nights out drinking imported booze.

also this link may be of assistance
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=4495

CLG
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hellofaniceguy



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: On your computer screen!

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2003 11:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2003 12:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2003 2:03 am    Post subject: $1200-$1300 US not bad Reply with quote

$1200-$1300 US a month, not bad, is that the norm?[/quote]
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bucheon bum



Joined: 16 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2003 4:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Fri May 23, 2003 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Fri May 23, 2003 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2003 7:31 pm    Post subject: you bet ya!! Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2003 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2003 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2003 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Canuck and WAterbaby,

Good to know....thanks for the input.

Kate
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