OK, cfimages and Mucha Man. Thanks. 
That will save me 4k a month. I fail to see how that 4k will contribute to the bigger picture, though
Wasn’t really thinking about the big picture, just letting you know you could save a bit.
Wasn’t really thinking about the big picture, just letting you know you could save a bit.[/quote]
Thanks, mate. You’re good bloke. Love you. 
Wasn’t really thinking about the big picture, just letting you know you could save a bit.[/quote]
Thanks, mate. You’re good bloke. Love you. [/quote]
Here’s a free “a” for you as well. You seem to need one.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]
Here’s a free “a” for you as well. You seem to need one.[/quote]
BITCH! Still love you, ah, though!
Google voice offers free calls to numbers in the US (and I think Canada, too) if that’s where you’re from. Skype is cheap all over the world. FaceTime on iPhones/iPads/Mac computers is free and includes video. This expense can be easily overcome.
As I mentioned, I’ve never made more than the 40ks. I’ve worked at an investigation company and translating in a news room, but the salaries at both of those jobs were in the 30ks, about 10k lower than when I taught English. The GF’s family has always considered that salary high, but it’s honestly pretty tough to live on. My monthly expenses on average follow:
[]10,000 a month on rent for my tiny 10 ping place where I lived with my gf, plus 1,000 in guanli fee
[]1,000 a month for electricity, 150 for water, 500 for cable, 900 for internet, 1200 for my cell phone
[]300 for transportation (I ride my bike a lot – it’s good for the environment, my health, and my pocket book!)
[]8,000 on food each month (kitchen wasn’t adequate to cook… and I have no culinary skills)
(For very personal and private reasons, my gf was entirely incapable of contributing to the rent and it was I who convinced her to move in with me.)
Those basic fees come out to 23,050, leaving me with over 10,000 in “savings” each month. I’ve saved up by very rarely doing expensive things – I don’t drink, I don’t frequent KTV, I don’t travel too much unless I can stay at a friend’s place. But of course, every time I had to pay tuition for my matser’s program, or every time I went out to buy new clothes or shoes, or the semi-annual trip home, the savings basically disappeared.
Combine that with modest (by American standards) credit card and student loan payments back home and the fact that I’d like to propose to my gf, and it really isn’t enough.
I do translations on the side which can as much as double my monthly income, but it’s also a feast-or-famine sort of situation, with famine being the much more common of the two.
it’s impossible to live even close to the bread-line on 40k per month. I can’t believe that Abacus continues to say that it’s possible. I make, on average, 80k per month, and NEVER go out. I seriously struggle. 
Check out my itemized list above…
As I said, people should be trying to save about 40,000 - 50,000 NT a month for retirement etc… That obviously makes living on a 40k a month salary impossible. I think if one were truly frugal you could get by on SPENDING 40k a month. But that means you’ll need to earn at least 80k if you want a comfortable retirement or be able to provide for kids education in the future.
As a single person try to earn 80k a month, live frugally and save 40k of that every month.
As a couple try to earn about 120k a month, live frugally and save 60k of that every month.
I’m with JP on this. 100k is the minimum. Sure, one could get by on 30k without saving anything and pretty much not having a life. For us (wife and 2 kids), 130k a month takes care of all matters related to living costs, rent, school fees, transportation and savings. We have credit cards but seldom use them, so cash is the main float. Savings are an important part of it since flying the family home every 2 years is quite costly.
It depends on your future plans. Of course, you can get by on a Taiwanesevsalary, but are you expecting to marry and live in the family home or are you going to buy your own place in Taipei and also save for your retirement? On 30000, you’re also saying goodbye to seeing your parents much, if that’s an issue for you.
I always had a pretty good salary in Taiwan, but I was in my 20s and spent a lot of it on seeing my family, travelling and socialising.
If you’ve just finished your education, chances are you won’t be living they high-life elsewhere for a few years either. Just try and learn to do something moveable so if you do have to go and take care of older relatives, you have a career that translates into something back home. Money’s not as important as becoming really good at something saleable.
Saving for retirement as an expat is a major issue and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Most of us won’t get any sort of retirement from our home countries and need to depend on ourselves to save what we need to survive.
My husband and I (no kids) have pretty much come to the conclusion that we will need to have somewhere between $1.5 - 2 million in cash and assets before we can retire when you take inflation and longer lifespans into account. That’s not easy to attain, but we think it will be necessary to retire with some semblance of a life (a bit of travel, being able to socialize sometimes). If we were to retire in Taiwan, that figure would surely be a bit lower, but for people with kids it’s probably pretty much bang on.
One of the biggest factors of course is how much return you get on your investments. It can make a very dramatic effect on the outcome of a retirement fund. Here are a few examples:
Example 1) Save 30,000 NT every month for 30 years and earn 0% a year on investments. Retirement fund is worth 360,000$
Example 2) Save 30,000 NT every month for 30 years and earn 5% a year on all investments. Retirement fund is worth 701,826$
Example 3) Save 30,000 NT every month for 30 years and earn 10% a year on all investments. Retirement fund is worth 1,490,577$
So building a retirement fund is both about saving money every single month for a long time AND earning a decent return on your money.
Guy In Taiwan always put a minimum figure of NTD20million as a bare minimum for retirement. 25m would be good and 30m would be very good. That seems like a good rule of thumb to me.
As for monthly expenditure Ipay for all the fixed bills and groceries and burn through 75k a month (me, wife, and ankle biter). My wife seems to blow a further 20k a month on average. So, we’re pretty much in JP’s ballpark of 100k a month. We’ve tried cutting back but it seems to be beyond us. We still save a fair amount, but around half what I’d like.
The problem is getting a steady return on investments until you retire (as we have just seen in the recent recession). It’s so hard to know where and how to invest your money!
We just purchased two student housing units with a guaranteed 8% return over the next 5 years from a company that takes care of everything, it is completely hands off. That’s the best return we could find at the moment. Hopefully it will all work out and we didn’t just blow our money!
I don’t know what you are spending it on but several people have mentioned that they live on 50K/mo or around 75,000 for two. I’m single with ZERO debt (kind of) and I make 65,000-70,000/mo while spending about 40,000. If I allowed myself to spend an extra 10+K/mo I would be living very comfortably but I restrict myself a little so that I can save close to 1000USD/mo. And that has been my issue all along with someone living comfortably while MAKING 50k/mo. Most teachers in Taiwan making 40-60K/mo don’t save anything. This is a terrible idea and it’s actually why you can’t live comfortably on 50k/mo.
I honestly have no idea what I would spend 100K/mo on. cool toys? scuba lessons? booze? fancy clothes? a newer car? it would probably take all of the above for me to hit 100K/mo as a single person without a drinking problem.
[quote=“Abacus”]
I honestly have no idea what I would spend 100K/mo on. cool toys? scuba lessons? booze? fancy clothes? a newer car? it would probably take all of the above for me to hit 100K/mo as a single person without a drinking problem.[/quote]
I spent it on a nice, quiet apartment in Xinyi district, clothes for work, taxis to and from work, tickets to visit my family, one other foreign hol a year, somewhere like Thailand, my cleaner, and savings.
It was a source of great comfort to me that I could then spend those savings on chipping in with my sister for full-time care when our grandmother’s time came (when I was a kid, my cousins paid to bury my father because I was fucking about doing cramschool in Asia and it burned me up). It may be just pride, but I would have been very ashamed of myself if I hadn’t been able to match my sister’s financial contribution to taking care of her. For me, I have to have savings to take care of my obligations. It’s not about stuff and entertainment, it’s about contingency, and that’s why, ultimately, I need more than 30000NT a month. Money’s also about independence for me. I’ve never been in debt, and I’ve never spent what I earned. I just can’t do that ‘consider the lilies’ shit!
[quote=“Ermintrude”][quote=“Abacus”]
I honestly have no idea what I would spend 100K/mo on. cool toys? scuba lessons? booze? fancy clothes? a newer car? it would probably take all of the above for me to hit 100K/mo as a single person without a drinking problem.[/quote]
I spent it on a nice, quiet apartment in Xinyi district, clothes for work, taxis to and from work, tickets to visit my family, one other foreign hol a year, somewhere like Thailand, my cleaner, and savings.
It was a source of great comfort to me that I could then spend those savings on chipping in with my sister for full-time care when our grandmother’s time came (when I was a kid, my cousins paid to bury my father because I was fucking about doing cramschool in Asia and it burned me up). It may be just pride, but I would have been very ashamed of myself if I hadn’t been able to match my sister’s financial contribution to taking care of her. For me, I have to have savings to take care of my obligations. It’s not about stuff and entertainment, it’s about contingency, and that’s why, ultimately, I need more than 30000NT a month. Money’s also about independence for me. I’ve never been in debt, and I’ve never spent what I earned. I just can’t do that ‘consider the lilies’ shit![/quote]
There’s a big gap between 30K/mo and 100K/mo and I have no idea how much you were spending based on your long spiel.
Wow, thank you people for sharing all this, it makes me feel better about not having an arc or a job here in the country, and somehow I can still pull every month. I just made some numbers and yeah we spend between 60-70k a month but I really haven’t even seen that money together once since my stuff is all freelance and 99.7% of my costumers are on another countries, but also makes me worried about paying taxes, I know in China they put a bullet on your head if you ignore that detail. But also we don’t live on Taipei.
Looks like I’m gonna be living the high life on 20k p/m scholarship stipend.
Drinks on me lads, always.