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How Much Money Did You Earn Last Year?
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How Much Money Did You Earn Last Year?

Less than 30 million won

11%

[ 8 ]

30 to 34 million

[ 5 ]

35 to 39 million

[ 6 ]

40 to 49 million

18%

[ 13 ]

50 to 59 million

[ 5 ]

60 to 69 million

[ 6 ]

70 to 84 million

[ 4 ]

85 to 99 million

[ 4 ]

100 to 149 million

[ 5 ]

More than 150 million

20%

[ 14 ]

Total Votes : 70

Author

Message

fustiancorduroy

Joined: 12 Jan 2007

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:47 pm Post subject: How Much Money Did You Earn Last Year?

... Last edited by fustiancorduroy on Sat Feb 21, 2015 4:29 am; edited 1 time in total

metalhead

Joined: 18 May 2010
Location: Toilet

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:59 am Post subject:

Yeah, because we all care how much an anonymous person earned on the Internet.

byrddogs

Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Location: Shanghai

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:15 am Post subject:

How about you go first with the specifics, op?

schwa

Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:15 am Post subject:

This guy only ever posts to brag about his income. Now he's made a poll about it. What does that say? Last edited by schwa on Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:26 am; edited 1 time in total

byrddogs

Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Location: Shanghai

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:26 am Post subject:

schwa wrote:

This guy only ever posts to brag about his income. Now he's made a poll about it.

He does seem to post about that a fair bit. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt with this poll and see if he'll poney up and put out the specifics about himself that he is asking for others to share.

fustiancorduroy

Joined: 12 Jan 2007

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:36 am Post subject:

schwa wrote:

This guy only ever posts to brag about his income. Now he's made a poll about it. What does that say?

Now, schwa, I don't only post about my money. Often, yes, but it's hardly constitutes the entirety of my posting contents.

As for me, based on my calculations, I made just under 89 million won last year. Most of my earnings were from my hagwon job, where I earned about 65 million won. This was thanks to the small pay raise I got and the decent amount of overtime I worked. The remainder was from my writing work -- four books and materials for a couple other projects -- which paid about 24 million won.

I would like to make more than 100 million this year, but that will only happen if:

A) My hagwon gives me a substantial raise (not too likely)
B) I find another hagwon which will pay me more (slightly more likely)
C) I write at least 6 books this year (difficult but possible)
D) I write 4 books again but they all sell about 50 percent more copies as the ones I made this year (a matter of the demands of the market more than anything)
E) I start a business that becomes fairly successful quickly (it could happen)

Barring any of these events, I'll probably make the same amount this year or maybe slightly less since I'm not getting as much overtime this year (but that just leaves more time to write, right?).

So what about you guys who've responded so far? I'm especially keen on learning how the folks who claimed to earn more than 150 million made their money. I assume that they are either business owners or straight up liars.

edwardcatflap

Joined: 22 Mar 2009

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:00 am Post subject:

Quote:

I assume that they are either business owners or straight up liars.

Ah, 'straight up liars' as in the kind of people who say this this at one time

Quote:

To give you some perspective, let me share my situation. I live with my partner who only has a part-time job at a university. Between the two of us, we make just 8.5 million won a month, which means we struggle a little bit when it comes to saving. Most months, we barely manage to put away more than 4 million won, but no one said life would be easy. Personally, I'd love it if my partner got some sort of full-time job making 3 million won a month or more. Then, we'd earn more than 10 million won a month and save 6 million a month easily.

After they said this

Quote:

I have a Korean girlfriend who works as a university lecturer. She makes
around 4 million won a month. She and I have also invested in stocks, which have given us about 500,000 a month return on average. Together, we make around 12.5 million won a month. But still, I'd like to get into a higher income bracket, as I mentioned above. It's possible to do it as a teacher, but, of course, it's quite difficult.

Or who say they're married in a post they wrote before the one above

Quote:

The few times I've caught myself driving around without my headlights on I've always had my parking lights on, meaning that my dashboard was still lit up. But I could see less confident or experienced drivers, such as my wife, concentrating so intently on the road, specifically all the cars darting around it, that they not notice their dashboard lights not being turned on. That's not such a ridiculous conclusion to draw, is it?

Or who claimed categorically that the people who wrote these two posts as Forgetmyusername on Waygook and Fustaincorduroy on Dave's are different people

Quote:

from Dave’s café on 27 Sept 2012 as Fustiancorduroy, who works in a test prep academy in Daechi and has a partner who works at a university.

I like the place I moved into not long ago. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, the master bath having a bathtub, and a spacious living room, not to mention a full sized refrigerator, oven, washer and dryer, real wood floors, and crown molding, along with a great view of the city.

From Waygook Jan 2013 as Forgetmyusername, who also works in a test prep academy in Daechi and also has a partner who works in a university.

But seriously, I live in a decent place. It's about 30 pyeong and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, the master bath having a bath tub. I also have an oven, a dishwasher, and a washer/dryer. The interior furnishings are nice, too. The doors are made of real wood, as are the floors. The wall paper has a texture and an expensive feel to it.

You mean that kind of 'straight up liar?' Laughing

Last edited by edwardcatflap on Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:36 am; edited 1 time in total

rainman3277

Joined: 13 Sep 2009

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:21 pm Post subject:

fustiancorduroy wrote:

schwa wrote:

This guy only ever posts to brag about his income. Now he's made a poll about it. What does that say?

This is priceless. Dude writes a post to boast about his income yet calls people liars if they are making more than him. Just feel incredibly fortunate you make that kind of money for teaching English.

AsiaESLbound

Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:28 pm Post subject:

I don't believe the top 17% making more than 150 million won here. Very few of these jobs pay even 40 million won a year. It's more like 30 to 35 million won.

Mr. Pink

Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:33 pm Post subject:

fustiancorduroy wrote:

schwa wrote:

This guy only ever posts to brag about his income. Now he's made a poll about it. What does that say?

I am finding it hard to believe that you make 5mil a month from an academy job. Are you a "straight up liar"? I can believe what you claim to have made on the books as I know someone who used to write them and got about 5mil a book. Your timing of them is about right, one every 3 months or so.

I put between 60-69 mil a year. That is after taxes income, and really not for a full 12 months a year. I get paid 13-14 weeks of holiday a year. Next year I'll be at about 70mil.

I work at an international school and honestly my pay is pretty low for my field. I am satisfied though with the cash as I can save like 40k+ a year.

Weigookin74

Joined: 26 Oct 2009

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:24 pm Post subject:

In calculating your yearly salary, you should include your housing and your year end bonus. Flight doesn't count as you'll use it to travel home. That would be the best way to compare annual salaries. Add on higher taxes back home and higher costs for some things to get a true picture.

Zyzyfer

Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:30 pm Post subject:

i made tree fiddy

fustiancorduroy

Joined: 12 Jan 2007

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:32 pm Post subject:

rainman3277 wrote:

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I never wrote that everybody who chose more than 150 million were lying. It is possible that all the responses are true. After all, there are people on this board who have been in Korea a long time and own businesses generating that much income. And I forgot to mention this before, but there are also people here who work in managerial positions in companies making that much money. To these people I say, congratulations. You are an inspiration to me and make me want to work harder to earn more money.

Even so, as someone else mentioned, it's a bit hard to believe that a full 20 percent of posters on Dave's are pulling in that much money. I mean, it's not hard at all to chose the more than 150 million option in an anonymous internet poll. In other words, there are basically no repercussions about lying in this situation.

As for you final comment, that I should be grateful for my income, I will say that I am grateful, but at the same time I know I can earn more. I teach test prep in a hagwon in Gangnam. It requires more specialized knowledge that most teaching jobs. And since my students are quite smart and fluent at English, I have to be articulate and charismatic, more so than teachers working in a typical conversation teaching job. So, I don't think my salary is undeserved. On the contrary, I genuinely believe I should be earning more money still.

Mr. Pink wrote:

I am finding it hard to believe that you make 5mil a month from an academy job. Are you a "straight up liar"?

Hi, Mr. Pink.

I know you worked in Korea for a long time and were approached by a hagwon in Daechi to teach AP subjects once. You even wrote about it on this thread I started a few years ago:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=171987&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

As you mentioned, it is possible to make as much as 10 million a month from a single academy job. At my academy, I get a salary, so I earn a consistent income throughout the year. Really, getting 5 million a month isn't unattainable in Apgujeong and Daechi-dong. It's maybe a bit above average for the area. But in my case, I only work 4 days a week, so it's all good.

For instance, one of my coworkers has a brother working in Daechi at another academy. He earns around 6.5 million a month, though he does work six days a week. Another guy I worked with during intensives who has been teaching test prep for over 15 years claimed to have turned down a job paying 10 million won a month. The reason? He considered 10 million won a month to be far too low of a salary. So, yes, you can definitely make 5 million won a month at a single academy job in Korea, if you teach TOEFL, SAT, AP, etc.

EZE

Joined: 05 May 2012

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:54 pm Post subject:

AsiaESLbound wrote:

I don't believe the top 17% making more than 150 million won here. Very few of these jobs pay even 40 million won a year. It's more like 30 to 35 million won.

There's another thread where people were talking about pretty co-workers making so much money from prostitution and pornos that they paid off their student loans in two months. Cool

edwardcatflap

Joined: 22 Mar 2009

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:14 pm Post subject:

Quote:

there are basically no repercussions about lying in this situation.

You'd know.

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