Damn it, I finally have more now than I came with. Unfortunately wife transferred it all back to Germanistan, even on my name, because she thought [insert long boring explanation here] and now I am worried to lose it all because of the Euro crisis. Either it’s your own wife endangering the money or the damn b… who is chief of gov. at the moment. 
i came here at 19 with -$4700 line of credit in my bank. but had a woman, so it worked out. we were making about 10-15k/month total for 2 until about 10 months later it bumped up to 20k, then things rolled along to a very comfy life.
I’m amazed at just how cheap you can get by without actually suffering here. we were not partying, but even on 10k months for 2, we never starved and we were always dry with internet.
That doesn’t compute, it’s not that cheap here
Not much to do in Pingdong. 
[quote=“Pingdong”]
I’m amazed at just how cheap you can get by without actually suffering here. we were not partying, but even on 10k months for 2, we never starved and we were always dry with internet.[/quote]
Yeah. Then wait until you have kids and the parcels with the latest European baby fashion and the latest eco-tested toys start rolling in. I knew I was in trouble when the first blue bag with AEROPORT PARIS started rolling in. Had to return the bag to the delivery man, I guess he made a lamp out of it or something…
Haha you got it Bob, online shopping, 'tis a curse.
Not much to do in Pingdong. [/quote]
hence the extra need for a wife 
heheh, ya. actually Pingdong has quite a lot more to do than most of the rest of Taiwan if you are into nature (which i am). Its not a party place for sure, but for nature lovers, the going is cheap. Taiwan is certainly that cheap, just depends how cheap we choose to live. for my first 4 years we never owned an AC. its pretty easy to get a place for $3k/month and food down to 6k/month, elect/phone depends on you, we stay under $1500 a month for electricity/phone/cellphone/internet even now. i swear Taiwan has one of the best cost of living to quality of what you get around. I am convinced of it as we bought a house and 5 acres back home without a loan saving up here (we both teach).
So ya, if th emind is willing and the body able, the amount you cna live on here comfortably is pretty low.
Wow, English teaching with a stable woman, a house, some acreage, and no mortgage.
I guess money and energies dissipate in the cities in myriad ways.
Who would’ve thought to look to the sticks for examples of good financial planning.
a good woman can grow your fortune, a bad one can make you a millionaire (provided you started with ten million).