Anybody want to open their own school?

Fox: Thanks. I understand the distinction now. My idea about going into such a venture would probably be that I’d like to be able to recoup my setup costs over the course of say five years, plus earn a little more than what my fianceee and I earn now. That way, it would be about doing my own thing more than anything. I know there’d be pressure, though of a different kind, and I think I could live with it if it were my own thing.

On my current track of earning/saving/investing, I’d be able to retire in Taiwan in ten years (though having kids in the future will put a serious hole in that plan), so if I could make a bit more than what I’m making now, I’d be happy enough. Of course, making more would be a bonus, and if I could get it to the point where I’d be in that position and let someone else work in it and even have a manager instead of my fiancee/wife, and pull 30,000-50,000NT/month, I’d be quite happy.

Loretta: I think some people are aware of the problems with education here and they’re open to new ideas. I’ve been having an ongoing discussion with my fiancee’s cousin who wants me to tutor her children. She’s aware that passing entrance exams and speaking English are not the same thing and she’s dealing with the dilemma now. I have no idea which way she will go with it, but she is aware of the issue.

So the secret is to show her how your way could also help in passing the tests. Memorising word lists is difficult if you don’t ever use the words, it’s hard to achieve fluency for GEPT if you don’t learn to speak naturally. She’s looking at either/or, so you need to present the test as a subset of the whole topic and your method as the way to master the whole topic in less time than traditional methods would require just to prepare students for the test.

Also, as someone pointed out, subsequent high school ‘education’ will pretty much negate anything you do anyway. Try and persuade her that focusing on basics now will give the kids something to work with in later life without impacting their high school performance much. (This advice is given by someone who never teaches young kids.)

We need a thread on the junior high test!

:offtopic: alert!

How many people would trade their wife or fiancee for a manager and NT$30-50,000 a month? It’s a tempting proposition. Nobody creating difficulties, someone taking care of problems, and enough money to buy a lot of blowjobs.

How long do traditional methods require to prepare students for the test?

[quote]Also, as someone pointed out, subsequent high school ‘education’ will pretty much negate anything you do anyway. Try and persuade her that focusing on basics now will give the kids something to work with in later life without impacting their high school performance much. (This advice is given by someone who never teaches young kids.)

We need a thread on the junior high test![/quote]

I think she’s well aware that getting the basics right now will be better in the long term. I guess a lot of this hinges on the answer to my above question and the time frame we’re looking at. People want fast, often highly unrealistic results. Having no experience with these tests other than a cursory glance at the tests kids in our school do every week (which may or may not be anything to do with what she’s talked very vaguely about), I would need to know more about all that, but also what her time frame is so I could realistically assess if the mission were plausible. I don’t want to burn anybody, but especially not one of my future in-laws. I also don’t want to put myself under immense pressure for something that may be unachievable and/or find I’m the second week into something and really have no idea about it. I’ll see her in a few weeks, so I’ll talk to her more about all of this face to face then and try to get more information, and then do further research.

Ask, and ye shall receive. The Junior High School Test

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]
On my current track of earning/saving/investing, I’d be able to retire in Taiwan in ten years (though having kids in the future will put a serious hole in that plan), .[/quote]

Slightly off topic here, but… what would you consider being the minimum amount of savings needed to retire in Taiwan? We all have different needs, and expectations for return on investments, but I’d be interested in knowing what you base your calculations upon.

[quote=“Mer de Chine”][quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]
On my current track of earning/saving/investing, I’d be able to retire in Taiwan in ten years (though having kids in the future will put a serious hole in that plan), .[/quote]

Slightly off topic here, but… what would you consider being the minimum amount of savings needed to retire in Taiwan? We all have different needs, and expectations for return on investments, but I’d be interested in knowing what you base your calculations upon.[/quote]

Well, you could live fairly comfortably off 50,000NT/month for a couple (this why I said having kids would put a serious hole in this plan). It would mean travelling in the developed world, not in the developed world, but that’s okay. My fiancee and I currently live off 30,000NT/month. That’s comfortable, though it doesn’t allow us a lot of room for luxuries (though a lot of our recreational activities involve free, outdoors stuff, not going to bars), though it does include rent. So, if you say you could get a 5% return on your investments above and beyond inflation and tax here, which isn’t unreasonable, then you’d need 50,000NT x 12 (12 months in a year) x 100/5 (5% over tax and inflation) = 12,000,000NT and you wouldn’t be eating into your principal. Given my/our current rate of earning (which is probably quite average for forumosa), we’d be on track right now for ten years (which would put me in my early 40s), and that doesn’t take into account any growth in our investments beween then and now, some of which we could put into buying a place outright – you can get decent apartments outside Taipei for two or three million.

It’s very doable here if you don’t lead an extravagent lifestyle (and I don’t drink, and we cook at home a lot, so that’s a large part of it). If you can basically live off the Taiwanese partner’s income and save/invest the foreign teacher’s income, it’s possible to save in the vicinity of 700,000-1,000,000NT a year, and certainly more if you’re running your own show or doing some lucrative privates. Like I said though, kids would put a serious hole in that, though again, it depends upon how well you rein them in too.

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”][quote=“Mer de Chine”][quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]
On my current track of earning/saving/investing, I’d be able to retire in Taiwan in ten years (though having kids in the future will put a serious hole in that plan), .[/quote]

Slightly off topic here, but… what would you consider being the minimum amount of savings needed to retire in Taiwan? We all have different needs, and expectations for return on investments, but I’d be interested in knowing what you base your calculations upon.[/quote]

Well, you could live fairly comfortably off 50,000NT/month for a couple (this why I said having kids would put a serious hole in this plan). It would mean travelling in the developed world, not in the developed world, but that’s okay. My fiancee and I currently live off 30,000NT/month. That’s comfortable, though it doesn’t allow us a lot of room for luxuries (though a lot of our recreational activities involve free, outdoors stuff, not going to bars), though it does include rent. So, if you say you could get a 5% return on your investments above and beyond inflation and tax here, which isn’t unreasonable, then you’d need 50,000NT x 12 (12 months in a year) x 100/5 (5% over tax and inflation) = 12,000,000NT and you wouldn’t be eating into your principal. Given my/our current rate of earning (which is probably quite average for forumosa), we’d be on track right now for ten years (which would put me in my early 40s), and that doesn’t take into account any growth in our investments beween then and now, some of which we could put into buying a place outright – you can get decent apartments outside Taipei for two or three million.

It’s very doable here if you don’t lead an extravagent lifestyle (and I don’t drink, and we cook at home a lot, so that’s a large part of it). If you can basically live off the Taiwanese partner’s income and save/invest the foreign teacher’s income, it’s possible to save in the vicinity of 700,000-1,000,000NT a year, and certainly more if you’re running your own show or doing some lucrative privates. Like I said though, kids would put a serious hole in that, though again, it depends upon how well you rein them in too.[/quote]

Yes, your numbers add up and I was kind of reasoning along the same lines. However, I was planning on a single income, and a life style involving some travelling which means that the pace of saving is slower, and 50000NT/month would be a must unless of course I buy and pay off an appartment (outside of Taipei). Which means that I will probably have to slug it out for longer if I want to get there.

Also, in retirement one has to be more conservative with investments, and returns of 5% adjusted after taxes and inflation are far from guaranteed.

You ain’t gonna get 5% above inflation by putting it in the bank. You have to invest it in some kind of business. So why not invest in owning a school that pays you a decent return while someone else manages it?

In theory, although I doubt in practise, you could set youself up with a nice little school this year. Train someone to run it for you and someone else to do the teaching. And retire next year, except for the obvious need to keep an eye on your investment.

Me, I’d get seriously bored if I was genuinely retired. And with all that time on your hands you might find yourself spending more money. I know I would.

I guess it is easily done if you are prepared to live like that, however, we tend to do the opposite and save the taiwanese income and spend the foreign >_<

Plus, a visit to the UK costs about 200k so I’d much prefer to try and bring my income up above the 1million mark to 1.5-2million than live on 30k/2. Also note that kids wont just blow a hole in your figures, they’ll destroy it and leave you waiting outside the poor house

Also note that maoman (or someone else) said he got about 40k a month from a cram school so its not the gold mine intended

Also property is not “free” even once owned, in fact since buying a house my money “invested” in the house has gone up since when renting you are prepared to “stick it out”, but when its yours you buy all sorts of expensive things, like an oven, AC curtains, then house maintainence, like painting, furniture, general DIY…

Maybe you could afford to semi-retire on 12million after owning your own home if you dont buy a vehicle, dont travel outside taiwan, dont have kids, dont drink, download your entertainment and are generally tight and hermitized, but to live a normal life you need to work till youre 60, which i dont mind, just prefer to do something I enjoy

Back to the drawing board…

[quote=“Loretta”]

Me, I’d get seriously bored if I was genuinely retired. And with all that time on your hands you might find yourself spending more money. I know I would.[/quote]

Therein lies the paradox. I could never ever be bored with no work to do. So I’ll never ever have enough cash to comfortably retire. :laughing:

‘You can choose time or money’ to paraphrase a writer I like.

I’m another one that would easily find things to do if retired.

For those that wonder how much it takes to retire, I think the Trinity Study is worth perusing. They concluded that for a 30-year retirement, you should have a safe withdrawal rate of no more than 4% (assuming a stock-heavy portfolio of about 60% stocks). So, if you amass 25 X what you expect to spend annually in retirement, you should be OK for 30 years.

Thus, if you want to spend NT50,000/month = 600,000/year? This implies saving up 15,000,000.

If you think you and/or your spouse might live longer, lower your SWR (safe withdrawal rate). If I were in my early 40s and married, I’d plan on a 45-to-50-year retirement.

Warning: I am no expert, so if Edgar Allen or someone else who knows better sees this, please, chime in.

That was someone else, I think. :laughing:

It’s purely theoretical. I wouldn’t stop working at that age. Inflation and tax are low here, so it wouldn’t be that hard to get 5% on top of that. You’re talking another few percent, which brings it to the historical average returns of the stock market.

[quote=“itakitez”]I guess it is easily done if you are prepared to live like that, however, we tend to do the opposite and save the taiwanese income and spend the foreign >_<

Plus, a visit to the UK costs about 200k so I’d much prefer to try and bring my income up above the 1million mark to 1.5-2million than live on 30k/2. Also note that kids wont just blow a hole in your figures, they’ll destroy it and leave you waiting outside the poor house.[/quote]

This bit I’m still not so sure of. If you resist a lot of the keeping up with the Jones’ attitude that applies to having children, they’re not as expensive as people make them out to be. Sure, an added expense, but they don’t have to cost an arm and a leg if you do it properly. I know they do all these studies (in the West, where kids change their mobile phones more often than they sit down to eat with their parents) about the cost of raising children, but I think they’re not so applicable here because of the cost of living.

I actually wouldn’t buy a house outright, I’d still owe money on it and be in no hurry to pay it off. A house is a liability, there’s no doubt about that, and you do have to consider all those extras you talked about (which might actually make it better to rent under some scenarios). I was merely pointing out that you could buy one if you wanted that peace of mind (though you’d pay for it). Or, you could try to get a 30 year loan and watch the repayments get eaten away by inflation while you invest your money elsewhere. I think following the 70(+)-20-5 rule is an achievable objective – have 70% (or more) of your net worth in investments, no more than 20% in your house, and no more than 5% in your (depreciating) stuff, including any vehicles. People get caught up in having a lot of stuff, which is actually something I’m not afflicted by.

[quote]Maybe you could afford to semi-retire on 12million after owning your own home if you dont buy a vehicle, dont travel outside taiwan, dont have kids, dont drink, download your entertainment and are generally tight and hermitized, but to live a normal life you need to work till youre 60, which I don’t mind, just prefer to do something I enjoy

Back to the drawing board…[/quote]

Even with the revised figure of 15,000,000NT (which I could probably be at in 10-15 years easily if I didn’t have kids, or if did and had a business) suggested by someone else, I don’t think living on 50,000NT/month would constitute a hermitised life (you could certainly have at least one holiday per year in south-east Asia), and it certainly wouldn’t necessarily require working until sixty. A semi-retirement where you supplemented your investment income with some money doing something you want to do and not being ground into the ground would be the way to go. I know there’s no way I could work as a teacher (at least as it currently stands) until I’m sixty, nor would I want to. A state of semi-retirement would probably be the way to go.

Getting married is the key factor. You have to be seriously smart/focused/whatever to be a single woman with a ton of cash. How many do you know?

Yup. I know three or four. All in financial services. All divorced.

Yup. I know three or four. All in financial services. All divorced.[/quote]

So … all previously married, then. Proves my point. You can probably think of one or two single women with money. Or your friends can.

You need to be exceptionally smart, in particular industries, have a male wife, and no children. Obviously, generally speaking. In my country, women still earn 70% less than men, over a lifetime. It’s hard to believe there’s more parity in Taiwan, hearing some of the stories about maternity conditions, etc, that I’ve read on flob.

Buttercup: Men are also something like 16 times more likely to die on the job than women.

If you take anyone out of the workforce for ten years, the lost income (directly and through promotions) will be significant. I’m not sure if it’s enough to account for 70%, but it’s still a large part of the issue. Women have kids and it basically kills their careers. Having said all that, you might be surprised that I’m somewhat in favour of much better maternity conditions simply because otherwise, the lack of childbirth is going to wreak havoc on demographics and the long term prospects of an economy for an ageing population.

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]Buttercup: Men are also something like 16 times more likely to die on the job than women.

If you take anyone out of the workforce for ten years, the lost income (directly and through promotions) will be significant. I’m not sure if it’s enough to account for 70%, but it’s still a large part of the issue. Women have kids and it basically kills their careers. Having said all that, you might be surprised that I’m somewhat in favour of much better maternity conditions simply because otherwise, the lack of childbirth is going to wreak havoc on demographics and the long term prospects of an economy for an ageing population.[/quote]

Well, I’m not going to go off topic about the politics of women and financial equity. It’s not all about kids; it’s about the value we put on ‘women’s jobs’ (nursing, school teaching, admin, etc. Women teach; men own and manage and lead educational institutions), educational issues around why women choose ‘women’s work’, care for the elderly (women in developed countries live longer than men) and support. Also, while that woman is taking care of the kids, she’s also taking care of her husband. Single women don’t have anyone in a support role. Children are also a factor, obviously. A woman has social responsibility for their entire development, and also by default, their financial upkeep if the father declines. It’s also socially taboo for a woman to leave her family and start a new one, and just send a check and visit on Saturdays (or not), getting a new support system in later middle age.

It’s all good; we’ve made progress in the past fifty years. We just aren’t finished yet.

Sorry, I took this off-topic!