Korean Job Discussion Forums

[smithy]

Okay, I'm clueless about banking, I'm going to say that from the off. Please go easy on me.

I'm looking for a bit of saving advice really. I'm sending money back to the UK (where I'm from) to pay off a small debt, but after that I'll be saving hard for the next 18 months or so that I'm here. In the past, I have sent money home to my UK savings account but I don't want to do that anymore because a) I don't want to pay the fee for international transfers every month if I don't have to and b) Because after I'm finished in Korea I'm moving to Canada.

I have a KEB account. Would I be best off opening an account in USD and saving my money in that account? I've heard that's possible, but I don't really know what it means to open a USD account. Can I/Should I open it in CAD instead? I've heard with the situation with the Euro that USD and GBP are the safest currencies? Or should I just open a savings account in KRW and send it all home or to Canada in one lump sum when I leave?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I know this is newbie stuff to a lot of you!

Cheers

[Modernist]

My advice is to stop freaking out about currency valuations. Unless you're a professional at arbitrage, you will just get more confused and uncertain, and really for no reason. It's almost impossible to predict with any certainty the relative performance of the USD vs the CAD vs the GBP vs the Euro and relate any of that to the value of the won. Too many random events can and will happen over even just a few weeks. If you're super-paranoid but not stupid enough to buy metals, there's always Swiss francs.

Since you are planning to move to Canada, I can't see any reason to open a USD account [not sure you could, anyway, not being a citizen or physically present in the country]. Just open an account with a decent-sized bank that's not a behemoth, with good regional coverage in the province in which you're expecting to live.

Regarding sending schedules, personally I try to do it once every 3 months. I don't like to hold won over the long-term. I will wait sometimes if the chart shows a nasty trough but a lot of the time you just have to go ahead and jump. The fees are annoying but as a percentage of my total transfers they're not a big deal. If you do hate them, you could just pile it up in a KEB ESA, and then get a bank check with your plane ticket. It's really about your personal comfort level, which only you can know.

[jvalmer]

[smithy]

Thanks for the replies.

Does that mean that I would be unable to open a CAD account as I'm not a Canadian citizen?

Also, does anybody know, if I opened a KEB savings account - or multi-currency account for that matter - whether this would all be on my internet banking and I'd be able to transfer money easily between that and my current account online?

[nathanrutledge]

If you're looking for savings, just keep the money here.

I don't know what the rates are in Canada, but the rates in the US suck these days. Here in Korea, I've got money stashed away at about 5-1/4 percent. Who cares if they make 5-1/4 percent on dollars, pounds, francs, or won? In the end, you've made that percentage and when you convert it, you're at the mercy of the exchange rate.

I'd keep it here though because the wire fees are going to eat up any gains you make if there is a higher rate in canada than here. You can open up currency accounts at KEB - currently I have a standard account, a CD account, and a USD account at KEB. If I were you, I'd just stick my money into a long term savings account. Sure, you could do markets/indexes/bonds/stocks/etc, but you're not asking for that advice, are you?

Anyway, as others have said, ignore the exchange rate. Keep your money here. If the rate all of a sudden gets really good, sure, transfer some money, but it fluctuates so much these days, with the debt crises in Europe, the shaky economy, etc, that I would keep my money here and then transfer it in the end when you move.

Shop around - the banks here have some really good rates, and as long as it's under 50 mil won, it's insured. If you get into the savings banks, be careful - if you havent been paying attention, a spate of failures have been going on and people with more than 50 mil (some posters on this board) are out some serious coin.

[uklathemock]