Korean Job Discussion Forums

[motiontodismiss]

I'm thinking about buying some corporate bonds here, but I can't seem to find a securities firm whose website doesn't require a zillion ActiveX programs. I'm on a mac so these junk programs tend to crash my laptop (like crash the OS and have to wipe the hard drive crash). Am I out of luck (or will I have to go out and buy Parallels)?

So far I've been on:
1. KDB Daewoo (requires 4 security programs)
2. Shinhan (website crashes even on a PC)
3. Samsung (website sucks a bit less than Shinhan but wants to install a zillion programs)
4. Kiwoom, Hana Daetoo, Hankook (doesn't support Chrome)
5. KB Securities (doesn't require ActiveX but I haven't tried logging in or registering)
6. Woori (same old story with ActiveX)
7. Hanhwa (not sure yet but on PC wants to install a zillion programs)
8. Hyundai (not sure either but was fairly easy to use on PC)

If it becomes too much of a hassle I'll probably just open a trading account in the US and trade from that account...obviously that would involve buying US corporate bonds.

Anyways besides the pain in the ass that doing any financial transaction is in Korea, given the yields it's probably not even worth investing in bonds, but whatever.

[mike in brasil]

I'll bite because I'm in a similar boat.

As far as all the software they require, there's no way around it.

You could walk right into the branch and do the deal without the internet involved.

From what I can see, the companies whose corp bonds that are yielding more than 7% percent have horrible looking stock charts..... I wouldnt put my money in a chart whose company is hitting lows, thats just asking for trouble. From my account I can see the turnover of these issues and it scares me to see how thin the trading volumes are.

When I look at the 5% yields that many banks are offering for these installment programs, they are starting to look pretty good. If your Korean is good, you can find them under the 적금 category.

There are bloggers who post the most current rates like this one:

http://cafe.naver.com/happytrr/1563

Personally, I'm ready to keep my $$ in these accounts until the currency strengthens so that my $$ will get even more bang!

In 2007 the won/US$ hit 880. That could happen again..... Or maybe not!

[motiontodismiss]

Yeah....yields really suck right now. Samsung's yielding ~4% which is terrible considering Hana is offering 4.2% for a 3-year CD.

On the US side, Comerica Bank's offering 8% yields and their stock chart isn't too horrendous...and hell, they're callable. Too bad they're selling at a super-high premium and that 8% YTM is over like 20 years.