Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Draz]

It doesn't matter any more because they are long gone.

[AsiaESLbound]

I forget, but I know I'll need to make a solid 40G's a year not counting taxes and other fees for the next 30 years to pay it off, own a house, be OK at the bank, and have a retirement. Since the economy in our time isn't panning out enough good paying opportunities, a huge portion of the loans will go bad due to a lack of finances and bad health or death setting in at some point. It can only be done if you are successful in cutting out your career through self employment or just pay it off with the $900 a month you save working and living frugally in a $30k a year job for about 5 to 8 years, but that doesn't leave much for you earlier in life when you really need it the most. I wish I'd applied that money to learn a trade in a 2 year tech school and the rest in investing a start up involving that trade after getting like 2 years work in for an employer. That's a very doable 4 year plan to becoming self employed and making $80K a year or more I urge my nephew to look at who just got out of high school. Couch surfing at friends and signing on an expensive traditional university program using debt doesn't pay off anymore, because employers aren't interested in that anymore.

[morrisonhotel]

Combined total from the student loans from my BA and the debt I accrued on my credit card during my MA was about 6,500 pounds. In two months I'll be debt-free.

[Capo]

I have zero debt and a massive credit

[methdxman]

Over 120k

[DeMayonnaise]

$0.00

The only money I had to pay back was the credit card bill I ran up my last semester in college and the summer before I came to Korea. Being unemployed in a college town was AWESOME. I paid it all back within 4 months though.

[thomas pars]

Most everyone has some degree of student debt. It is a growing crisis in America as these young people are figuring out that the education they were told to pursue would lead to a profitable career. Remember the old line people who go to school make about a million dollars more than those who don't? It isn't true BTW.

The debt on publicly financed loans are 8Billion. that isn't even including the privately held ones. This is a time bomb waiting to happen.

That being said. I owed ALLOT. I recently made a 20K payment. And I am working to have the rest paid off in 2 years or so. If it weren't for the low tax rate here and the ability to save massive shares of your paycheck I would never had made any progress on that loan. And I really feel that it was designed that way. Get you in debt, keep you in debt FOREVER.

I've meet some people here who owe hundreds of thousands of dollars. They're literally hiding out here. It is pretty sad too. They're screwed.

[fugitive chicken]

[recessiontime]

[SteveJobs]

I went to a public university and I now owe some $34,000. I move to Korea next week and will finally start making a little bit of change.

I am a bit torn though because I want to be responsible and honor my word by paying off this debt (luckily I have no credit card debt) but I also feel the need to start making some serious financial investments for my retirement.

they say to invest a lot while you are young because time is on your side. But I also need to save money for graduate school. arg.

I hope that I'll be able to find a balance. For those of you who have started investing while in Korea, how did you do it? Are you doing it online or are there any good investment firms that you can recommend?

I'm a new teacher at a Hagwon making 2.2 in a city of 200,000 people about 30 minutes outside of Seoul so I won't be in the big city except on weekends so I'll be able to save some change right?

[Captain Corea]

I had about $32,000 worth when I came to Korea.

[northway]

[thomas pars]

[knee-highs]

[Isehtis]

70 thousand dollars... owch :(