Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lastat06513]

I just found this information recently that might benefit those who wish to stay in Korea for life (and I know there are alot of them out there...)

In regards to the teacher's pension, most people think in the short term.
They only think about filing to claim their pensions after only being there for a few years.

But the pension can be accumulated all the way up to age 60 or 65 (I'm not sure though) and if the person teaches up to that age, they can get between 600,000 to 800,000 a month for the rest of their life while living in Korea.

But for Americans, after age 65 (maybe older later) you can also apply for Social Security at the same time as applying for your teaching pension and you can collect whle living in Korea!

This would give you a total that might be around million won during your retirement if you stay in Korea.

I asked if a person has to put into the Social Security system in order to collect and the person I talked at the S.S. office in downtown New Haven, CT said that in most cases, it is not necessary, though the amount a person would get would be tremendously small compared to the new 401K programs people are putting into now.

But I think that it would be enough to live on here if a person has saved up enough over their time teaching in Korea.

This might be good news for the lifers and the potential lifers working in Korea.

[dogshed]

Do I have to live in Korea after I retire to collect Korean retirement?

How do they calculate the retirement? What if I leave for a few years to go to school in China?

-Jeff

[lastat06513]

This is where the pension office is more efficient than immigrations- sadly so.

For example, lets assume you are an American.....

They don't go by your alien registration number, they go by your passport number. So everytime you work and you and your employer puts money into the pension fund, it adds up, no matter where you work- you can have 5 jobs in 2 years and if your employers contribute to the pension scheme, you still get money.

(WARNING- although some employers say they do put money into it, they actually don't. The best thing to do is to go to the pension office to see if your employer is indeed contributing to your pension [if not, that is an additional card for you to hold if you are getting screwed because it becomes a tax issue and a liability for your employer]. You should get a statement every year telling you how much you put into your pension.)

So, you can go off to where ever, and when you come back to Korea and start work again, you will activate your pension contributions.
And yeah, you have to be in Korea to apply for it, I am not sure if you have to be in Korea to collect it. I know you have to be in the U.S. to apply for social security retirement, but you don't have to be in the U.S. to collect it.

[Captain Corea]

Do you really think it will still be around in the same form 40 years from now?

[Ya-ta Boy]

I was told that you do NOT have to be in Korea to collect on your pension contributions.

[wylies99]

There are US veterans, (retirees), who live in Korea, (usually with a Korean spouse), and collect SSI and their pensions.

[OiGirl]

[lastat06513]

When I collected my pension in 2004, one of the things they asked for was a copy of my American social security card, so I think that even with a new pasport and new passport number, your social security number will never change.

[OiGirl]