Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TECO]

I've been at it a long time now and have been lucky to land a lot of lucrative part time positions in addition to not having to pay rent.

Roughly, I can put away $19,000 - $22,000 Canadian a year.

On the other hand, I was lucky to save $1,200 a year back home in the great white north.

Here, in Asia, they tax you less allowing you more take-home pay. However, it's expected that you you'll look after yourself when you get old.

No GST and PST here - 14%????.

This is in contrast to heavily taxed Canada and all the socialist benefits it offers retirees, heroin addicts, single mothers, natives, immigrants, French, and war vetrans.

[Paddycakes]

Thanks for classifying francophones in with the Indians....

Q. Why are toilet bowls made round?

A. So the stupid squareheads don't drown.

[Hobophobic]

Ah yes, the METIS...not to be confused with Australian friends/buddies...

....I think you could easily plug 500,000Won a month away in savings and still have a great time...

[PRagic]

bank your salary and make up the rest on the side. doable if you have paid housing and can stick to a budget. should be able to save 20K in a year if you try and don't mind working.

[Qinella]

[matthews_world]

Won/$ rate is a good 950 right now. I've been here 3 years and have sent home usually $1200 each month. I'm older and wiser, single, but still have those student loans which I could buy a Mercedes with.

[jacl]

The more you make, the more you spend.

[poet13]

on 2.0, i send home about 1.3 a month. I live in a very small town, go out drinking and to a restaurant perhaps once a month. I live on perhaps 10,000 a day. i still have tons of fun though. this weekend i rode with a friend about 75 kilometers to andong. it would be easy to go out a lot more (my adult students constantly ask), and it would be free, cause they insist on paying, but i dont feel right about that. once or twice is ok, but then honor demands my turn and it usually runs about two weeks budget for me, or 150k...

[ilovebdt]

I think it is all about location. The first time I came to Korea, I lived in Pohang and could save quite easily. Now, I live near Seoul and the cash burns a hole in my pocket. I think it is the lure of Seoul's bright lights.

[inspector gadget]

First year at a hogwan I easily saved over 20,000 CDN in a year. base salary of 2 million, I pretty much lived on my overtime pay and one private lesson per week.

This time I am working at a public shool with a base salary of 2.3 mllion out in the boonies. I work some overtime here as well but now privates. After three months here I am on target for saving well over 23, 000 CDN.

Alot does depend on your lifestyle if you go out to the bars everyweekend and blow away 100, 000 which is easy to do, or eat at western rest all the time you wan't save alot.

It all depenmds on your priorities.

[cbbjork]

Maybe a silly question, but I was curious on what methods people use to "send money back home", and what kind of cost are we talking about for those transactions?
thanks

[ajgeddes]

[poet13]

i send money home through KB bank. its a wire transfer. costs me 13 or 15 dollars i think. you are allowed to "remit" (thats the term for it) up to 100% of your visa earned pay. for those of you doing side work, if you try to send more than what you legally earned, it might raise questions, but i think that could only be discovered in an investigation and audit....
when you send money, it can be sent in some currencies, but not all. The country that i send money to doesnt have a direct exchange system, so its changed to US dollars first. You lose some on the exchange, but i guess thats the price of doing business.
someone told me last week that western union is now in korea, though i have yet to see one....

[jacl]

[TheUrbanMyth]