First-Month Money Planner
Your first salary arrives weeks after you do, and the deposit goes out before that. Add up your real numbers to see how much to have when you arrive.
Every number here is yours. The tool adds them up and puts a safety buffer on top. If you don’t know a number yet, that’s the one to go get a real quote for.
| One-time cash (move-in + setup) | 300,000 KRW |
| Living until first pay | 2,071,346 KRW |
| Safety buffer (15%) | 355,702 KRW |
| Total to land with | 2,727,048 KRW |
A planning estimate from the numbers you enter. No cost-of-living averages are built in, and nothing you type is stored. Prices and deposits vary a lot by city and situation, so replace the defaults with real quotes.
How it works
How much money to have available when you arrive in Korea, before your first salary lands. It adds up the three things you enter: housing move-in cash, one-time setup costs, and living costs for the weeks until you’re paid. Then it puts a 15% safety buffer on top.
Because averages mislead exactly the people who need this. Deposits range from a few hundred thousand won for a goshiwon (a tiny single room) to tens of millions for jeonse (a lump-sum deposit lease), and living costs differ a lot by city and by lifestyle. Real quotes beat averages, and an empty field here is telling you what to go research.
Salaries in Korea are usually paid monthly, often around the 10th or 25th. So if you start mid-month, the first payday can land six or more weeks after you arrive. The gap you have to cover is measured in weeks, not “a month.”
No. There’s no login, and the math runs in your browser. Nothing you type is stored. It’s a planning estimate, not a record.
Read next
Questions new arrivals ask
No. Carrying everything as cash is a risk, and amounts over USD 10,000 must be declared at customs. A common pattern is a modest amount of cash for the first days, a foreign card that works in Korea for the rest, then moving money properly once your Korean account is open.
How the one-time costs stack up in week one. The housing deposit and first rent go out together, a phone line and household basics follow, and some landlords and shops want cash. The second surprise is how long the wait for that first payday feels.
Then treat housing as your research homework, not a guess: browse listings for your city and put a realistic move-in figure here before you fly. The housing guide explains deposits, and the jeonse vs wolse calculator compares contract types.