Financial Crisis Affecting Your Plans?
October 10, 2008
The current financial crisis / credit crunch has spread from the the USA to all over the world. How does this affect your plans to go abroad to teach English?
Most recently, the Korean Won is at a 10 year low against the US dollar. This means that your US dollars will go along way in Korea, but whatever amount of Korean Won you have saved is now worth less than what it would have been a few months ago if you are going to exchange it to US or Canadian dollars. This is unfortunate, as many teachers go to Korea to save up money to pay back student loans they incurred during university.
In contrast, the Japanese Yen is quite strong and steady at the moment. If you’ve been teaching in Japan for the last year, you probably have noticed that the 250,000 Yen you received the first month would have been worth about $2200.00 USD (approximate), whereas currently the 250,000 Yen is worth about $2450.00 USD (approximate).
So if you’re thinking about teaching in Korea or Japan, you’re thinking to yourself, “in which country would I be financially better off when I exchange the money I saved back to US dollars?” If you compare just the standard salary amounts, you would currently be better off going to Japan. But, when you factor in the benefits of free airfare, free housing, and a contract completion bonus given by every Korean school, then you’re probably close to even.
Please remember that I am writing this on October 10 2008. So who knows what will be happening with the currencies in the next year.
Money is important, but getting the experience you want is important as well. So if you have a particular interest in a country for whatever reason, then you should go to that country.
Any thoughts on this topic?
Credit: homesgofast.com
Tags: compensation, currency, English, foreign, money, salary, Teach, travel