Your information is laughably inaccurate.
Define fine. Its all relative and we are comparing Taiwan and UK (and Europe at large). Taiwan is still growing at a decent rate while Europe is contracting in double digits.
Thatās just this year. You could handle Hitler but you canāt handle BoJo? Come on.
Iāll take it too! Plus I wonāt have to worry about rent. Iāll stay at my dadās!
Thatās not as unique a situation as you might think. Same here, but with no parents.
I donāt either, and we live fairly minimal. We just do it in as much comfort as possible.
Make your money when youāre young, hand over fist if you can. That builds a buffer for when you later want to downshift. I know too many adults who are sick and tired of what they do, but theyāve been spending whatever they made, going out, hanging with friends, and now at forty five, theyāre tired and thinking about starting an 401k.
My point to OP. Play it safe. London is the safe bet now.
Word.
Money is freedom. What are going to do in Taiwan on 75k? You can teach English and basically make that much with some additional subbing and tutoring. Thatās no living wage for someone past their mid 20s trying to build a life.
Build up some wealth in the UK and you can always move to Taiwan later with more money in the bank. Vacation here and ball out for a week with that UK salary and vacation days. The option to work in Taiwan is always open if youāre from a good firm in the west. You also can kiss retirement in the UK goodbye on 75k in Taiwan.
Thanks for the replies! They basically conform to my own thoughts. I would rather jump ship and go back to Taiwan, a country I associate with easy living, freedom, and adventure. But Iām in my mid-30s and need to use these years to build something stable. Thereās always ālaterā.
Yeah, donāt be a moron.
I never liked this expression. No offense to you Andrew. I prefer āMoney buys time.ā
What most people want is to be able to change little or nothing about their daily routine and not work. You canāt do that without a bankroll, or some kind of passive income rolling in regularly. So, the question is how much time can you afford to buy, not on creditā¦6 months? A Year. A forever?
You can keep whittling down your expenses over a decade or two or even three, but thatās a slow suicide. Ever met a 65 year old British beach bum in the Philippines? Thatās a sad fucking lot.
These two. 75K is fine to live on month to month when youāre younger. But youāre not building anything on that.
But it is more than fine if you already have investments/pension that produces 75000NT$. As long as you are happy with that standard of living (and have some sort of emergency fund as well).
That too. Nice.
Oh absolutely. You can live comfortably on that in Taipei, especially if youāve already got a place paid for - although even on that, accumulating money for international trips for a family would be tough. But if thatās all youāve ever made per month, and all youāre ever going to make, things are going to start getting darker as you get further into middle age and beyond.
Take London job! do what the fuck you can to pay off as much of a mortgage as quickly as you can. I cleared mine 11 years earlier even after extrordanairy divorce expenses.
I come from shit no money background.
I was a teenager Margaret Thatcher terms, set up our own business, buy your own home I DID!!!
My home is now being rented out, Iām not minted on rental money, can live happily in Taiwan on it.
No car, lotās of shit expenses I canāt think of, cheap living, how cheap? I do OK after rent, Ā£120 week spending money.
I can move back or sell to stay away.
Thankfully my Son understands, Inheritance didnāt happen in my family and possibly not likely to continue.
Nahā¦ I mean for when you want to chill. Yes those gigs will always be here but if youāve got a nest egg in hand, Taiwan is a good place to be.
My wife and I were where you are now a ways back. We chose to stay in the States. Weāve worked very hard and saved a bundle, and even with living in a high cost of living city are not far from zero debt and retiring to Taiwan. Our main considerations in our decision were: (1) wanting to live and work long-term in the U.S. Pacific NW, where the quality of life is high, (2) wanting our kids to go to school in the U.S., and (3) wanting to live close to my family. In a couple of years weāll be spending half our time in Taipei, half in the U.S., and weāll have the security of a house paid off. In the meantime weāve spent a few weeks in Taiwan every year - not as much time as weād like to, but itās OK.
Your priorities may be different, especially if you find that the work you want to do long-term is best done in Taiwan, not elsewhere. Or, you may want to be able to travel around Asia more. We donāt have that flexibility yet. But soon we will.
One trouble with retiring in Taiwan, for those who wish to reside in Taipei city, is the cost of property. Iāve heard it is harder to find landlords willing to rent to old retirees and finding a nice apartment in central Taipei, which is not too old, could easily set you back around 40 million NT. When you compare that with what you could buy many parts of the world, it makes one reconsider.
So what did OP do? This thread is pretty good btw. Lots of sensible advice. taking notes
Yes, real estate in central Taipei aināt cheap. But thereās good advice in various threads about looking in Xizhi, Sanxia, Danshui and elsewhere where thereās new or recent construction and you have relatively good access to central Taipei via MRT.
Take the job. After you get that on your resume, in 3 years try and get an internal transfer to Taiwan or get an expat package from a Taiwanese company. These jobs do exist and youāll have the best of both worlds.