John Morgan Recruiting

For exchange rates between your country’s currency and the Korean won, check out the currency converter here: http://finance.yahoo.com/currency

Sending money home is quite easy to arrange. Wire services can transfer money directly into your home bank account. You will need all of your home bank account information including account number, branch number and the bank address. You should contact your bank to see if they charge a fee for receiving this money (some banks do, usually around $20).

When you wire money from Korea, you will need to bring your ID with you and the fee for wiring the money. The fee for sending this is around 15,000 won.

Opening a bank account is easy. You will want to do this soon after arriving in Korea (unless you plan on keeping all your money in a coffee jar). You can set this up once you get your Alien Registration Card. Someone from your school can go with you to help you set it up. Shinhan and Kookmin are both good banks to use as they have branches everywhere.

In accordance with Korean law, employers are required to provide one month severance for each year of employment. This severance is given at the end of the contract and is equal to a full month’s salary. If a teacher quits their contract prematurely, they are not entitled to receive this severance.

You will be required to pay local taxes in Korea. You should check that the appropriate amount of income tax is being deducted. You can confirm the amount that you should be paying based on your salary on the National Tax Service website at: http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/

In addition, you should be aware of the tax laws in your own country. If you have any questions or concerns about it, please contact your local tax office.

• Canada has a tax treaty with Korea and as such, by working there with a legal visa you qualify as a non-resident and therefore are not required to pay taxes in Canada. You can find out more information about this on the Revenue Canada website at: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/tmprry-eng.html

• American citizens can file to be exempt from paying taxes if they make less than $70,000/year. You should contact the IRS for more information: http://www.irs.gov/

• Australian citizens should visit the tax website to determine their status at: http://www.ato.gov.au/taxprofessionals/content.asp?doc=/content/64144.htm

• New Zealanders should visit the tax website here to determine their status: http://www.ird.govt.nz/yoursituation-nonres/tax-residency/

• Citizens of the United Kingdom should go here for information on their tax status: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/

You will need between 500,000-700,000 per month for living expenses. This will cover all of your monthly expenses including food, transportation, entertainment and utilities. If you are frugal it may be less than that and if you intend to buy a lot of expensive purchases, it could be higher. Most teachers fall within this range.

With a salary of 2.2 million, most teachers would be able to save between 1.3-1.5 million won. Also, at the end of the contract teachers will receive their severance bonus (one extra month pay) and they will also receive their pension contribution back when they leave Korea (which is close to another full month’s pay). It is quite possible for entry-level teachers to save close to $20,000 dollars per year. While the salaries may not seem that high, with major expenses like rent paid for, it is quite easy to save money in Korea.

The deductions from your salary will be income tax, health insurance and pension. These deductions break down as follows:

• Income tax: About 3%
• Health insurance: 2.59%
• National Pension 4.5%

All in all, the total deductions from your salary which include all of the above should be close to 10% of the salary. Therefore, if you make a salary of 2.2 million per month, your deductions should be in the neighborhood of 220,000 won and you should clear about 2 million per month.

You will be paid in Korean won and it will usually be once a month (most companies in Korea pay monthly). Some schools pay bi-monthly. The date that you will get paid and the occurrence (either monthly or bi-monthly) will be clearly stated in the contract.

Generally, the living costs in Korea are cheaper than in North America and much cheaper than in Japan. The most expensive items in Korea are housing, cars and gas and education. Fortunately, as your housing is provided for you and you are unlikely to purchase a car, the two biggest expenses in the country will not affect you. Your main expenses will be food, entertainment and transportation.

Korean food is cheap and going out for dinner is really quite inexpensive. I go out with my family regularly, something I would rarely do in Canada. If you eat at a lot of the expensive Western-style restaurants like TGIFridays or Outback Steakhouse your expenses will be higher. Drinking (alcohol) is also cheap in Korea as Koreans love to drink.

Clothing is cheap especially if you go to Tongdaemun market, which has great prices for clothes. In addition, there are lot of entertainment options in Korea that are very inexpensive. Most of the local tourist places, like the palaces, have very low admission fees (for Kyungbuk Palace the admission fee is only 1000 won).

Public transportation is quite cheap and very efficient. The basic fare for the subway is 1000 won, but you can purchase transit cards that make this even cheaper. Bus fares normally go between 700-1200 won depending on the distance. Taxi fares are much cheaper than in North America with the basic fare starting at 1900 won.

Some sample prices:

• Lunch at a Korean restaurant: 3000-5000 won
• Coke (can) 500 won
• Beer (can) 1500 won
• Subway fare (basic) 1000 won
• Bus fare (local) 700 won
• Movie ticket 7000 won
• Haircut 6000 won
• Taxi (basic fare) 1900 won
• Palace admission fee 1000 won