How much do you make?

Discussion Open Forum
1

How much money do you presently earn per month in Taiwan?

  • less than NT$50,000
  • between NT$50,001 and NT$75,000
  • between NT$75,001 and NT$100,000
  • between NT$100,001 and NT$125,000
  • between NT$125,001 and NT$150,000
  • between NT$150,001 and NT$175,000
  • between NT$175,001 and NT$200,000
  • over NT$200,001

0 voters

I hope you don’t feel I’m being nosey, but we’ve already discussed why you chose your avatar, your name and your signature, whether you’ve been circumcised or cheated on your spouse, how you feel about war, sex, religion, plastic surgery, mormons, French people and bing lang, so there seems to be little left but money. Besides, this is Taiwan, so fess up – how much do you earn in a month in Taiwan?

(Add up your total annual compensation earned in Taiwan, including bonuses, extra months pay, etc, and divide by twelve.)

2

Good question. The more people discuss what they earn, the less likely they are to get screwed over.
I just went from 530 to 570 an hour teaching adults. I work pretty light hours and take home about 30,000/month. I also earn about 6,000 a month from book royalties; basically beer money. I live in Chiayi and my costs are very low. I’m very happy with my present situation. I have a good boss and total freedom over my classes, tonnes of free time to pursue my own projects and I can still save about 12,000 a month.

3

Moreover, with a sense of perspective, we might try to get a balance between having a life and earning money… It could be interesting to see the results…

Kenneth

4

I make a nice living with a full-time job with lots of bonuses and benefits from my generous boss and a private to boot.

5

On a full 20 days of work for 1 month, I pull about $85,000NT. Because I take frequent trips and have to pay for non-compulsory chinese lessons occasionally. I would say my average pay after visa extensions(beats paying taxes) would be about $70,000NT month and I get to save about $2000USD every 3 months. It works out to about 4 weeks of vacation a year.

Now you might say, why do you do it. I really need those trips(love teaching kids, but I need breaks) and I figured that it’s cheaper to do it this way than pay taxes(I did the math). I also enjoy visiting Hong Kong and I never have to deal with the TECO office there. Next time I’m thinking of going to Okinawa.

CYA
Okami

6

My last year there I made about $85K/month from my office editing job (about 26 hours/week) and another $20K-$40K from freelance work. I made more (150K+) when I also taught, but I was working ridiculous hours.

7

FWIW, here’s an article on how much teachers make (and should make?)in the United States.
encarta.msn.com/column/teacherpaymain.asp

The average salary is about 43K/year, which is [i]roughly[/i] NT 125K/month. It varies quite a bit from state to state–about 30K/yr in S. Dakota, and about 53K/yr in Connecticut, for example.

8

I would make much, much more than what I polled if good looks and a sparkling personalilty would figure into the money…sigh…

9

I don’t care too much about money, and don’t go out of my way to earn it. But it flows in at a steady rate that’s more than enough to meet all my reasonably frugal needs. It’s a fraction of what I’d be making if I’d stuck to my career in England, but that really doesn’t bother me at all – I’ve traded in affluence and status there for things that have greater value to me here, and I don’t believe I made a mistake.

I can’t put an exact figure on my income now, as it fluctuates quite a lot. My afternoon job brings in about 60k, which is not a lot but is acceptable - I keep that job for reasons other than the salary, which hasn’t been adjusted in many years because government regulations don’t allow it (my employers have tried to raise it but have not been allowed to do so). I get a better rate of pay from various translation assignments that come my way. I don’t solicit assignments in any way, but accept a limited number of requests, mainly from government agencies, to help them out by doing important translations for them. I never negotiate a fee but just leave it to them to pay whatever “honorarium” they feel is appropriate. A substantial, challenging translation that takes up fairly large wedges of my time for a week or two can pay anything from 20 to 80k. That may be below the market rate in other parts of the world for work at that level, but it’s good enough for me.

Many people here find it very hard to understand why I don’t want to spend more time working to earn more money. I’ve had many offers of jobs to fill my “empty hours” in the morning, and when I explain that I specifically keep those hours free for studying Chinese and going up to the mountains for my daily swim and “communing with nature”, it elicits more puzzlement than understanding. But being able to maintain that precious balance is worth much more to me than (almost) any amount of money in the bank - and I feel lucky that I have the chance to arrange things that way.

What on earth am I doing revealing all of these “private” details on a website? So amazing, the power of Segue to draw these things out!

10

I understand, Omni. As a lawyer, I made the rounds in suit and tie when I first arrived, dropping off resumes. No one hired me, so I settled into a nicely balanced life of exercise, chinese classes and teaching english. Except for standing at bus stops in the heat and pollution it was a good life. So when a law firm finally contacted me and offered me full time employment, it didn’t seem worthwhile to slave in an office all day for those wages so I said no. When they almost doubled their offer I changed my mind and am glad I did. I’ve since moved on to other employment and, while I am cooped up in an office all day, the pay’s good and I really enjoy the work – reading, writing and learning about lots of interesting new subjects.

Now that I’m past 40 and have screwed around for so long, it seems like time to buckle down, develop specific professional expertise and save some money (start acting like an adult? :? ). But it sure would be nice to have more than a week off for hiking in the mountains, swimming in the ocean and exploring the world. Some day. . .

11

come on Tigerman, I know you’re reading this. Tell us, spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag, what do you make? :wink:

12

Almas,

I well understand your contentment with your current situation. For my first few years in Taiwan, I was living in pretty much the same way and very happy with my lot. During those years, I taught English to adults in the evenings, thoroughly enjoying almost every minute in class, and had all the rest of my time free for doing my own thing (including writing teaching materials, which was a source of great satisfaction). I would have been more than happy to go on living that way if circumstances had not conspired to nudge me on into a different groove. I sometimes still pine for those good old days, contented though I am with my current arrangements.

And MF,

It seems we have a lot in common, including, alas, the over 40 bit (though I keep that a closely guarded secret from most of my friends and acquaintances).

13

I guess my answer is also a question - related to the thread about giving up f/t work.

I quit my first job a while back (NT$58000pm, with 2 wks off annually) and wasn’t sure what to do about the ARC issue. Then I stumbled across a salary position that seemed OK for the short term and enabled me to get a new ARC.

It’s a high school position, which gives me weekends and evenings free, but only pays 55000. Factor in two weeks holiday, plus another 1 day/month for sick leave which can be accumulated and taken as holiday at the end of a year and it’s an ‘OK’ package for what is expected of me.

It’s certainly not great money, but it leaves me time to have a life and I get extra pay - a measly 500/hr - if I work more than 100 hrs a month. The work is easy easy easy but will probably me mind-buggeringly boring too.

The job doesn’t start properly 'til next week, and for the past two months I’ve been filling in with whatever my boss could find for me - some subbing and a lot of 1-1 stuff. Many of my students are senior managers, administrators, financial controllers, scientists, etc. who are paying over the odds for quality instruction.

I enjoy that kind of work a lot more, and in theory it should be a lot more well paid. I’m qualified and experienced enough to do it, but I’m basically earning the same as a college grad in a buxiban.

I also teach a private corporate class at 1000/hr, so why the hell am I accepting half that to do tedious depressing stuff? For the last two months I’ve been getting full salary for 15-20hrs a week so I didn’t mind too much, but now I’m starting to get antsy.

The ARC/visa issue is part of the problem. I’m nervous about yet another visa run (my fourth in a year) and suddenly becoming a student after being employed legally twice. Another is that my employer actually seems to be a reasonable person that I can have a decent relationship with. I’ve given a commitment and don’t want to break it.

On the other hand, I’ve now been scheduled to work high school 20hrs/ three days a week, and they want me to keep on with most of my other stuff over the other three days/wk. I’m looking at teaching over 100hrs in February, even though I’ve had a week ‘paid holiday’ for CNY. I see it as a week’s enforced inactivity, followed by three weeks of overwork that doesn’t leave me time for a life, or outside classes. I’m not really getting a holiday, so suddenly the alleged benefits don’t look so attractive.

Of course, it’s just a short term problem because they don’t have enough teachers right now. But they didn’t have enough teachers two months ago. I don’t see why I should have to deal with their problems. I have directed a few people to my school, but none of them have taken f/t positions because it’s not an attractive enough offer. So I don’t see them having more teachers in the future.

I feel that they should improve the offer instead of overloading the people who do work for them. I’m going to be having a bit of a discussion with them about this on Friday, and any input from you long-termers would be appreciated.

I can quit inside the first 90 days without losing anything, right?

14

TMWC, in my work (English Consultancy/Recruitment), I get a good idea fo the market rates for teaching, and it seems to me that 55000 a month for a fulltime high school job is pretty low. You could get the same or more teaching kindergarten which is usually easier (smaller classes, less actual teaching). High school should pay more. I don’t deal with anyone teaching high school, but some elementary schooll teachers I deal with or have met earn more like 70-90K (albeit for a long busu schedule).

On the other hand, I feel that if you’ve accepted the job, then you’re not realy in a position to renegotiate until next semester at least. I don’t know what’s in your contract, but if you have a month’s ‘probation’ or something, serious;y consider looking for another job, especially if you have experience which will allow you to find a good job.

Lastly, I think there are always other factors ot consider. I stayed in one average job a long time, because it was less than 5 mins from my house, and worked at only 500 an hour in another job for 2 years because it was ncredibly easy, fitted in perfectly with my schedule and gave me an ARC for 12 hours a week. So there’s always other things to look at apart from the contract and basic conditions.

Brian

15

How much do pwople in non-teaching and non-editing jobs make?

16

Jeff, did you really make 85K for part-time editing work?

17

I make 90 for 30 hrs as an editor for a publishing co. But I’m not just “any” editor. I’m a development editor. So my job entails many things that regular editors don’t do. Like creative concepts, text development, proposal review, loads of research, and occassional public speaking.
I think i’m worth it, but would prefer a raise at end of contract.

18

More or less. I was making 800/hr.

19

just under 40k a month (600NT per hour)

I work around 3.5 hours a day, 5 days a week in a kindergarten in Lungtan.

But I would love to have a job in retail, I love retail… how to obtain such a position? I would gladly work 30 hours a week for the same pay in a large retail environment.

20

I work in China, but I work for a Taiwanese company and my contract is in NT$. I get paid NT$43,000 per month (about 10,000rmb). I work for anywhere from 3-6 hours a day, 6 days a week. It is a very easy English teaching job with no preparation required. Although the salary is not huge there are a number of benefits. Accommodation and all meals are provided as well as airfares to the value of NT$30,000. The best benefit though is two months paid holiday per year :smiley: