Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hugekebab]

Jesus, just as the Won finally has some balls, they have decided to weaken it should it strengthen dramatically.

I know they rely on exports, but this is so irritating. A source in the KT said they won't let it drop below 1200 to the dollar, so bad news for you yanks.

No link, read it on paper.

[crossmr]

Yeah its been okay for Canadians since our dollar tanked at the same time. The exchange hasn't been near as bad. A year ago it was 970, now its 1068.

[T-J]

I think Korea's inability to keep the Won from depreciating is only surpassed by its inability to keep it from appreciating. If world market forces push the exchange rate down there is only so much Korea can do to stop it. I stated this fear a ways back in the "Won is plummeting" thread. While a bad exchange rate has been difficult the overall economies woes here as a result of a strong Won during the global downturn could make our daily lives if not our continued employment more difficult.

[yingwenlaoshi]

It's ok because the longer you wait for the Won to go up, the longer you'll probably stay in Korea before transferring the funds home. The longer you stay here, the more time you will have using chopsticks and eating kimchi. Therfore you will automatically become more skilled than other humans and you will live a longer, healthier life.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Just transfer money back here when they "weaken" it. That is what traders will be doing and it will force the won to its natural level, anyway. The mechanism reserve banks use to manipulate currency is incredibly crude. It can only have a short term effect. It's not as if thy have a magic wand or anything.

[tfunk]

[hugekebab]

Of course it's bad for all foreigners, however, the pound has weakened over the last year while the won was dropping, so basically we have the same x rate from a year ago. The dollar however has got stronger. Thus it's worse for the yanks.

[moosehead]

I wouldn't hold this to be necessarily true - it could just be a ploy to try to get more people to exchange their won now rather than hold on to it and do it later - trying to make more profit now - would be typical.

hang in there as long as you can -

[Underwaterbob]

Anyone wonder how many Chaebols are in on this so they can make a killing exchanging foreign currencies?

[Gimpokid]

No and I'm not sure that I care. The chaebols could make money off Koreans with magic beans or orgone energy collectors.

I do know that I hate economics and yet have spent a majority of my adult life speculating on FOREX rates.

I wish the NWO/satan would get off their asses and implant that universal monetary chip/wicked satanism tattoo I keep hearing about so I could forget about this stuff.

[bassexpander]

[gregoriomills]

Anything between 1200 and 1250 is a fair trade for Americans. Although fluctuation WILL happen, seeing over 1400 in the near future is highly unlikely. I've done quite a bit of research on the matter (as I transferred about 10,000 USD earlier this week), and I think if you can wait more than 6 months to send money home, wait. If you need it within the next three months, send money home now. In between those two is a 50/50 gamble in my eyes.

[GreenlightmeansGO]

I may be paying a substantial amount in Pounds soon (depending on acceptance to an MA), so I hope the won can do okay for a little while. I'm already saving a mil compared to about a month and a half ago (when I checked the exchange).

[superacidjax]

Traditionally, the Japanese central bank has been notorious about affecting yen rates. It seems like Korea is getting more and more ambitious when it comes to controlling the Won. As time has routinely told, any time a country starts to meddle with the specific intent of manipulating foreign exchange, it usually backfires. Some of the Japanese recession that began in the 1990s was due to the overt and covert attempts by Japan to artificially affect exchange rates. They had a bad habit of dumping currencies.

That is one tradition that the Koreans should not try to copy. US Treasury Sec. John Snow did a good job of allowing the market to determine the value of the dollar. As the US dollar strengthens, it's a sign that the US equities market is struggling. The more instability within the US markets, the stronger the dollar because people are "selling" less dollars and "buying" less stocks, etc. The more scarce dollar supply drives up the value.

Don't worry Americans, with the $3.6 trillion (!!!) dollar federal budget and no way to pay for all of it, the government will print more money. While it will lead to inflation, it will also weaken the dollar. The government has already bought a number of T-Bills simply because their yield is approaching 0%. The government, in buying its own bonds must print money to pay for it.

As an earlier poster admonished, in 6months+ the exchange rate will become more favorable to send money home.

One other option is to keep an eye on the euro/won rates. If the Euro is substantially weak comparatively, then buy euros and then hold until the dollar weakens more. That strategy could insulate you some from the Korean gov's won suppression efforts. I would recommend www.forex.com to look at the historicals and trends and decide for yourself if a euro-intermediary-exchange makes good sense. Unless you're exchanging $10K+, I wouldn't worry too much about the Won/USD rates.. it's 1251 right this minute, a change from 1230ish earlier today, for immediate exchanges, pull the trigger whenever it drops below 1240. Otherwise, just wait around a few months..

[tfunk]

Is it possible to wire money from the Korean bank to my home account when I'm in Ireland or do I have to do it directly?

Is there any sense in doing this in the first place?