so people just save up…needs a lot of discipline!
It’s a gamble though, seeing as my parents’ generation seem to be falling off the perch in their fifties. I don’t want to tithe my salary to the church of British pension mismanagement, if due to poor genes I’ve only got another twenty years on the clock…
[quote=“divea”][quote]Very true. And I think many of us here tend to forget about the retirement thing…
[/quote]
So most people here don’t have pensionable jobs??? Or pension accounts that deduct money directly from your pay?? wondering aloud is all…[/quote]
yep, only government jobs offer pensions. They just started -like 2 years ago- a pension plan, but it’s too early to tell if it’s working, especially with so many people losing their jobs because of the “economic crisis”.
I probably have 19 years to go but in Taiwan you need to make your own savings. As mentioned, requires a lot of discipline.
[quote=“TheGingerMan”]If one is Canadian, I highly recommend this trust fund.
cst.org/public/en/url/home[/quote]
Reading the charges section at page 38 it looks reasonable - the tax benefits are a red herring IMO, as you can get the same effect by investing offshore, and the returns look terrible.
Something like the TM fund with Friends Provident would have a higher charging structure but consistently returns 7% plus and has done so over a 21 year period.
I didn’t read all the brochure as there was a lot of it and as usual it was fairly obtuse. If there is genuinely no charge for early withdrawal then it may have a significant benefit over most of the offshore savings plans - which charge huge penalties if you withdraw in the early years.
[quote=“TheGingerMan”]If one is Canadian, I highly recommend this trust fund.
cst.org/public/en/url/home[/quote]
Yip, the Canuckys out there should maximize RESPs (government contributes free money here), RRSPs, and TFSAs. That along with a private pension means gravy upon retirement.
I thought that if your child is not a resident of Canada then the government doesn’t contribute any money.
Can you still set up these funds if the parents and children don’t live in Canada? Last time I was in Canada, I talked to a fund manager at the Royal Bank last year and she said that I couldn’t do it. She didn’t seem all that well informed about the issue but I didn’t have time to check out other people and planned on doing it on the next trip back. We were planning on heading back this summer but then found out that my wife is pregnant again(the baby arrives next week) so that put a damper on travel plans.
Are education funds available in Taiwan?
to answer your original questions, i think a lot of people live with their parents that lived with their parents that lived with their parents and so on. so if you don’t have to worry about a mortgage, a great chunk of your income can go into savings. sock away for 18 years and even on an average NT salary, you’d have a good chunk of change… not enough for private schools, but enough for a state. junior college is also an excellent option. if your kids have citizenship, then you can use those 2 years in a j/c to establish residency and lower your tuition for the final 2 years.
In the U.S. if you are an independent and have very low income then you can get grants from the government as well. I was emancipated from my parents at the age of 19, and being a waiter in a restaurant, my income was low enough to get my college paid for with grants. I still took out loans though to pay the rent.
[quote=“Chewycorns”][quote=“TheGingerMan”]If one is Canadian, I highly recommend this trust fund.
cst.org/public/en/url/home[/quote]
Yip, the Canuckys out there should maximize RESPs (government contributes free money here), RRSPs, and TFSAs. That along with a private pension means gravy upon retirement.[/quote]
Indeed. So far as I am aware one cannot get free government cash from investing offshore. While offshore investing might have higher returns, it does not offer the same stable security as a government-subsidized RESP.
[quote]I thought that if your child is not a resident of Canada then the government doesn’t contribute any money.
Can you still set up these funds if the parents and children don’t live in Canada? [/quote]
One only needs to have citizenship and a social insurance number for the applicant.
Does it have to be a US college? It might be worth to consider the UK and Ireland as well. Also universities in Sweden, Norway and Denmark offer degrees which are taught in English. I did a quick search, and found in Stockholm and Oslo there are no tuition fees, not even for international students.
Even if you have the money, I think it makes sense to consider if spending it on an expensive degree is really the best use for your child. They could study at a cheaper place and you could give them the money towards a down payment on a house or something like that.
[quote=“StefanMuc”]Does it have to be a US college? It might be worth to consider the UK and Ireland as well. Also universities in Sweden, Norway and Denmark offer degrees which are taught in English. I did a quick search, and found in Stockholm and Oslo there are no tuition fees, not even for international students.
Even if you have the money, I think it makes sense to consider if spending it on an expensive degree is really the best use for your child. They could study at a cheaper place and you could give them the money towards a down payment on a house or something like that.[/quote]
There are no tuition fees in several European counties. It’s a great opportunity.
UK used to have free tuition…gone. Ireland currently has but will quickly disappear. Fees are low compared to N.America but this is usually limited to local residents or EU citizens/residents. The emphasis on a certain university for a child is a mistake I think, there are so many good universities worldwide now, for most average or even better than average students it’s hardly worth it to spend so much money on an ‘elite’ college.
May be useful for some
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Taiwan universities PAY foreigners to study here. Free tuition and a “salary” for living expenses.
The original question is really clueless. The poorer the country is the more people send their children to foreign countries to study. Most international students in the US are from poor countries like China, India, Vietnam etc.
China and India send the most, but that’s because they are by far the most populated countries on earth, and they are sending their rich, not their poor. After those two, it’s mostly rich countries— Saudi, Korea, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, etc. Nobody who is poor is attending US universities unless they are Americans who have some sort of scholarship and/or loans. (Often a LOT of loans, unfortunately.)
The original question is a valid one, and the answer is often family money. A lot of people in Taiwan have low salaries but significant inherited wealth. It’s often the grandparents paying the education bill.
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Not many elite universities in Taiwan, so I am not surprised.
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That is totally wrong. There used to be way more students from Taiwan and Korea when Taiwan and Korea were poor.
Many people take a loan.