Korean Job Discussion Forums

[xCustomx]

I've been here nearly 5 years and feel kind of foolish for not investing my money earlier, especially since most of it just sits in my savings account not earning any interest. How have you invested your money either in Korea or back home?

[Beeyee]

I buy gold bullion from my local gold store. Because I buy it every month, they sell to me below spot price. I keep it in a secure safe at my apartment.

[redaxe]

Gold is pretty expensive right now.

I invest in stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). I typically buy a few shares (dollar-cost averaging) of SPY every month, which is an ETF that indexes the S&P 500. I'm also long on a few other stocks that are kind of defensive and pay dividends, like Altria (MO) for example.

If you open a brokerage account at any one of the major discount brokers, like ETrade, Ameritrade, etc. it's pretty easy to buy stocks, with a commission of like $12.99 or maybe even $9.99 per trade.

[420bro]

It has been discussed before but Id recommend some of the second banks. They have much better rates and the govt. guarantess up to 50mil. I put a bunch in around Jan of last year when they rates got as high as 8%. Last time I checked they were around 5%. Still way better than any savings acct either here or back in Canada.

[Raeddie]

I buy a c.d. at my Korean bank each month. I vary the maturity dates so I always have access to emergency money.

[Jane]

OP, i don't know what you want to use your money for or how long you can spare to invest it, but for the time being, I recommend staying away from anything related to the markets. I would invest in a safe interest bearing CD or GIC at a bank (shop around for the best rate). The markets will be tanking soon I think and it would be a shame to enter the markets now. Following the plunge, then invest.

If you invest in Korea, I recommend going to one of the bigger banks that have deposit insurance. The smaller 'savings banks' in Korea do too, but they go out of businesss at a higher rate than the bigger ones. Although this new market shatter coming up might prove that even this logic no longer applies.

Happy investing!!

And Raeddie, I like your idea about staggering your purchases of CDs...nice...

[winterfall]

[neil537]

"....going to be lowering rates so get your money out of T-Bills and put it all into *golf ball to the head* Waffles, tasty waffles - with lots of syrup"

I watch too much Family Guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyEU7R0AWr0


WOFFLE!!!