[quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“j99l88e77”]I literally have monkey’s flying out of my ass.[/quote]I’ve heard about that…never seen it though.
Skeptic…Chateau Blanc Men’s Club I’m very familiar with. Like their guys, like their pink elephants and used to like waltzing there. The clientle always reminded me of the bar scene from ‘Police Academy’ but I was occasionally one of the closet members of it.
Louisville (Lou-ih-val)brings sweet memories.[/quote]
Didn’t know.
[quote=“j99l88e77”][quote=“tinman”]j99l88e77,
I plugged 2 million won into my currency convertor and I got TW$64,147.08. Where do you get the extra TW$36,000 from? Certainly not free rent – 'cause Taiwan employers pay all that other stuff.[/quote]
Taxes here are only 2% at most. Some say 3.3, but foreigners get a 30% reduction. I believe that Taiwan’s tax is 13%. 20% the first 6 months and 6% the last 6 months. So, you’re saving a good 10% more (at the very least) in taxes. If you’re from Canada or the States, you pay into pension. You pay half and the boss pays the other half. You both contribute 4.5%. You get that all back upon leaving Korea. So tack on 4.5% to the 2 million.
Basically you can tack on 15% to your Korean salary when comparing it to Taiwan’s.
I was unaware that Taiwan buxibans pay rent. I think maybe some do but I think it’s probably rare. Also, you get one month’s severence pay at the end of your contract and flight to and from Korea are free. Again, I don’t think Taiwan is doing this. If so, they take it out of your salary.
Without the severence and free flight, it’s about 75,000 NT/month. Starting salary plus other benefits. With the severence and free flight, it’s about 100,000 (gross). That’s teaching at one school with no overtime at a starting salary of 2 million.
I shit you not.[/quote]
Man, he’s got it tough over there. Seriously, he should think about leaving. Wait, it’s a paradise there and if he came to Taiwan he’d spend more time on Forumosa. So, yeah, ok, you’ve got it made.
Here, I know a guy that paid about $40,000NT or so in tax and got $32,000NT back. I dunno, do they give rebates like that in Korea?
Taxes in taiwan are 6%. It’s 20 for the first six months of your stay, not every six months of a new year, AND, you get this money back if you stay a year. So yes, taxes are 6%. In addition, many many people teach at other schools or kindies where you often pay no taxes.
My second year teaching I made about NT95,000 and paid about NT3000 in taxes. Oh, and my rent was 5,000. Hardly even entered the equation.
Korea is no utopia. One of my closest friends worked there for 5 years. During the period when I was working here, and he there, our finances were always comparable. Quality of life was not. I was able to obtain spacious housing in my own name, motorcycles and a car, time off when I wanted and–best of all-- life free of the growing anti-western sentiment/xenophobia occuring in Korea.
You can’t compare Korea with friendly Taiwan. I have lived in East Asia for years but the stories keep me away from Korea…sounds like a xenophobic place. Having said that, I will visit Korea for the first time in my life Jan. 3rd on a stop-over (1 day). Wonder what my real-life perception will be (not just a load of hearsay).// I THINK, when you get right down to it, the salaries in Korea are a little lower than Taiwan because you are tied into one school, whereas in Taiwan the laobans are like 'Can I have you from 9 to 2`? So you can work in a couple different places, which is really really nice. I used to work at this bushiban out in the countryside on Saturdays and that was fun…easy…extra cash…and I had a night job at a university, in addition to my daytime kindergarten gig…made some good coin there. Pulled down about 100 000 TWD per month without trying too hard. Rent was 8000 in Hsin-Tien. Good times. Currently, I work for the Japanese gov. and I pull down about 80 000 TWD per month but there is no opportunity for extra work (no bushiban in the country) and then my rent is insanely high on top of that…you could argue that I have a better quality of life, though, with no air pollution. //
You guys are dreaming. You don’t make as much in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s taxes are 13% for the first year. I’m not sure what they are the second year, but I think it has to do with you leaving the country or something. You have to be there for 6 months before the 20% rate goes down to 6%. If you leave the country after your first year, do you get taxed 6% the next year. Do they forego the 20% tax your second time around? I don’t know.
Korea’s taxes are really low. From the beginning to the end.
I’m not saying that Korea is better than Taiwan. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not really sure which place is better. I just know that you can make more money here than there. I don’t really think there’s much of an argument there. You get free rent and free flights. It’s what the market provides. Taiwan’s market does not provide this. If school’s do provide this, then it’s a cut in your salary. Add on the pension benefit of 4.5% of your salary and we’re talking big bucks. A first time teacher usually gets 2 million Won/month. Add 4.5% to that and add the tax difference of 10% (at least that) in your first year. There you have 14.5. I factored it in as 15% because taxes here are actually lower than 2% (includes income and resident tax). Let’s forget about health insurance. It’s cheap here anyway and maybe comparable to Taiwan’s. So, 2 million is actually 2.3 million (75,000 NT) in Taiwan. That’s excluding the free rent, the one month bonus and the free flights. One month bonus pay. Think about that. Free flights are like another month bonus (at least). Free rent is a fortune.
I’ll admit that you can get other jobs in Taiwan that are tax free. I don’t think that those factor in that much though given availablity of these jobs, cancellations, time it takes you to find this type of employment, guarantees of these even becoming a possiblity, location (location, location, location - good location means higher rent 
, etc., etc., etc.
I currently make 2.2 million, pay 44,000 in taxes, get 240,000 in OT (not taxed), free rent, work in one place, have an ARC, get an extra 1.1 million in August (not taxed), free flights, one month severence and a 4.5% pension bonus. I get picked up for work everyday and a drive home if I want.
Do the math.
We’re talking about now. Taiwan was better about 3 year ago. Money-wise. The xenophobia. I don’t know. Locals are weirder in Taiwan so they kind of offset each other there. Xenophobia exists in Taiwan.
One major negative about Korea is that bosses are quite a bit more scammy here. Having the know-how about how to deal with this type of thing is a plus. It can be quite a headache though.
OK, you made your point. The bonuses are certainly nice. BTW, how many hours do you teach a week? And paid vacation?
Easy access to hiking trails?
Yes, but you have to do research before coming over here. Make sure about the school where you’re going. If you’re well-armed with information about what kind of benefits you can get and how to convince your boss what you’re entitled to then it gives you an upper hand. A lot of bosses will try not to provide things that are in the contract and you have to bug them about it. First timers can also get screwed around a lot easier here.
2 weeks paid vacation plus all national holidays paid. Don’t know how many national holidays there have been, but there are quite a few. Could add up to an extra 10 days off a year. If they fall on the weekend, they’re unpaid. My contract is for 30 hours/week. My contract hours are 2 to 9, M-F. I teach 29 hours/wk within that contract time (all hours except for one are 50 minutes). My three hours of OT are from 9 to 10, 3 nights a week. No weekends.
I live in the country and there are smaller mountains where I am. Trails and paved paths with fitness areas along the way up one mountain (exercise bars, etc.). No big deal though.
[quote=“Muzha Man”]Taxes in taiwan are 6%. It’s 20 for the first six months of your stay, not every six months of a new year, AND, you get this money back if you stay a year. So yes, taxes are 6%. In addition, many many people teach at other schools or kindies where you often pay no taxes.
My second year teaching I made about NT95,000 and paid about NT3000 in taxes. Oh, and my rent was 5,000. Hardly even entered the equation.[/quote]
3000 in taxes is good. I know about 5000 in rent. That’s what I was paying when I left Taiwan. Pretty cheap. Rent’s a lot higher here, but I don’t know what it actually is since I’ve never paid it. It’s in the 10 to 20000 NT range. Real estate is expensive here though. My place is pretty nice. Not one of those hot boxes. Pretty big, actually.
Teachers who like working in Taiwan often adopt a “Korea is a terrible place to work” attitiude. There are loads of people who like living and working there. The biggest reason is that it’s easier to get set up there, and as such, it’s probably true that in the short run it’s easier to save money. I have lived in Korea before, but I prefer living here. But then, I prefer living here to living in Japan.