Hi all!
New to the Forumosa community, though I’ve been lurking for about 9 months, gathering information about Taiwan.
Currently, I’m a public school EFL teacher in South Korea. Bachelor’s in publishing/English lit, TEFL certificate, about 6 months into my contract here in Korea. American female in my mid-20s. I’ve had a pretty decent Korea experience, but the climate, food, cultural history, etc. is just not as interesting to me as China/Taiwan’s. The Korean winter was especially brutal for me (from a more temperate part of the U.S.) I’m considering making the move to Taiwan. I have some friends who are moving to Taipei as teachers, and I am hoping to split rent with them (2 other people).
I’ve read a lot of disparate things on Forumosa and some other sites about the increased cost of living in Taipei, and the lack of hours at most buxibans, and how Taiwan isn’t the best place to save a lot of $$ anymore.
That said, I’m wondering if you think someone who is splitting rent with 2 others, gets into a chain like HESS or something with a decent number of working hours/wages, and limits their social life to pretty low-key, cheap things could save around $500-$600/month. That’s what I’d like to be putting away to pay off the school loans/save up for grad school. I understand I won’t be living a high life in a penthouse and drinking cosmos every night–I don’t want to! But I would dearly love a warmer climate and prettier country to look at/explore a bit.
Good grief, tomthorne! Maybe if you’re working a 40 hour week, eating toenail clippings and drinking water from the tap. Hard to find such hours as a newbie.
If you want to save $$, have you thought about trying Kaohsiung instead of Taipei? The cost of living is much lower and as a 20-something American female you shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting a job that gives you between 20-30 hours a week (although the english teaching market is a lot tighter than it used to be) at an average of 600Nt per hour. You can get a decent enough room (sharing an apartment) for as low as 5000NT a month. I know a few people who are paying 3000 a month for rooms in nice (but not brand new obviously) 3 bedroom apartments.
You can pick up an old but useable second-hand scooter for 10000-15000 (or a bicycle for less than 1000 if you don’t mind sweating it out in the heat). Kaohsiung also has a MRT, but its not nearly as extensive as the Taipei MRT. It’s still handy to get around though.
There’s a pretty large foreign community down here these days, lots of new parks, lots of great restaurants (both foreign and local), lots of sun if you enjoy hot weather, close proximity to Kenting for great beach weekend getaways, also close to mountains if that’s more your thing. Plenty of pubs and a few clubs if you’re into clubbing and partying, sure it’s not Taipei but these days Taipei is only a 2 hour HSR trip away if you really wanna party it up for a weekend.
check out the Yahoo Groups page for Kaohsiung Living. There are always ads for jobs, scooters for sale, apartments for rent, etc.
Good grief, tomthorne! Maybe if you’re working a 40 hour week, eating toenail clippings and drinking water from the tap. Hard to find such hours as a newbie.[/quote]
I’m married with a kid and my wife doesn’t work. Without really trying our total monthly expenditure is below 50,000NTD (that includes 18k a month rent plus car repayments of 7k). Surely a single person who actually aims to save money, live in cheap digs etc, can manage on much less than that? I mean, after rent and bills how much do people need to spend on food and booze each week? We spend around 6k a week, and live a relatively lavish lifestyle IMO. I certainly wouldn’t consider my lifestyle to be frugal, although I do avoid bars these days (I’m one of those drinkers outside 7-11 and proud of it ).
I figure that if the OP can learn to live on around 30k a month then saving 15k should be easy, even allowing for the reported terrible pay teachers are getting nowadays.
I would suggest Taoyuan/Hsinchu as the area that seems to be least affected by the changes in Taiwan’s EFL economy. Warning: these areas are also among the least redeeming to live in Taiwan but they do have character.
tom: I agree. I don’t understand how people can’t save 15,000NT/month here unless they’re either 1) barely getting hours, 2) partying it up. Maybe that’s the thing though: you and I are both old farts and live what must appear to be terribly boring lives to the young uns.
Where do you live though? That’s a lot for rent unless you’re in Taipei. Have you looked at a rent vs buy calculator? Unless you’re a doomsday prophet like me and think the arse is going to drop out of the market at some point in the not too distant future, you might be better off buying.
[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]tom: I agree. I don’t understand how people can’t save 15,000NT/month here unless they’re either 1) barely getting hours, 2) partying it up. Maybe that’s the thing though: you and I are both old farts and live what must appear to be terribly boring lives to the young uns.
Where do you live though? That’s a lot for rent unless you’re in Taipei. Have you looked at a rent vs buy calculator? Unless you’re a doomsday prophet like me and think the arse is going to drop out of the market at some point in the not too distant future, you might be better off buying.[/quote]
That was the point I was making about the OP. If she genuinely wants to keep her expenditure down then it’s pretty easy in Taiwan. It’s simply a case, as you say, of not partying. Earning enough in the present climate may be another matter, as jimi pointed out.
I’m still living in NanKan. Our rent is very high for the area, although our apartment is pretty plush. I don’t want to buy for different reasons than future market changes. Every apartment we’ve rented has shown massive wear and tear within a short period of time. The building quality over here is, quite frankly, atrocious. The builders move on before leaving time for anything to set. Consequently, cracks appear in the walls immediately after the first small earthquake after we move in. The landlords clearly redecorate after a tenant moves out and cover up the cracks before renting to a new tenant. I would hate to see what these new apartment complexes look like by the time a mortgage has been repaid.
I also like renting because it gives us freedom to move. People say to me: why not just rent to someone else? Well, NanKan is full of unrented apartments. It seems to be very difficult to find tenants. What I see around me simply doesn’t equate to the price rises I see in the realtor shop windows. I guess that comes back to your opinion of a massive market correction being on the cards.
[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]tomthorne: You’re right about the poor quality of construction here. So what, if anything, is your long term plan in that regard then?
Taiwan Luthiers: Sure, but you’d think that at some point, someone would demand quality. Maybe not.[/quote]
Well, the problem is, they are very good at hiding shoddy construction, so they wouldn’t be apparent until years later, after which the construction company is nowhere to be found. Also, do you really want to complain to the Mafia? its not like they listen to reason.
Taiwan Luthiers: Well, it’s a deeper problem with the legal system then. It should be possible to trace builders years later and take them to court. Likewise, it should be possible to stamp out the mafia. There’s such a fatalistic attitude towards these things here though. If people demanded better politicians and a better legal system, things would change.
[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]tomthorne: You’re right about the poor quality of construction here. So what, if anything, is your long term plan in that regard then?
[/quote]
I’m saving and renting; the plan being to continue renting for ever with enough savings to pay for living when I retire/get retired due to being old . As you know, it’s not such a strange concept in most European countries (other than the UK). I’m not as clued up with the financial stuff as you are, but I think that the wife and I are on the right track so far.
just about every politicians here are in cahoots with the Mafia, and some would say that they pretty much control the economy here, so without them the country might actually be in trouble…
I guess it’s one reason why I can’t seem to buy wood here… everything here is controlled by a cartel like organization.
A year or so ago my wife and I were considering buying cheap studio apartments to rent out, but we just looked at the condition of a few and decided against it. It looks like it’s just going to have to come down to money in the bank for me. I can’t think what else to do other than save.
Hi all,
Just checking in (not to disrupt a very valid discussion on renting vs. home ownership )
I appreciate the feedback, and it seems to be that the issue isn’t so much crazy-expensive costs if things are budgeted wisely and you’re living in the right area–but making sure you have a school that guarantees enough hours to be able to save up. I will keep that in mind and pass the information along.
To the poster who described Kaohsiung, thanks a lot, while I have been kind of set on Taipei Kaohsiung sounds like it has what I’m looking for in Taiwan.
[quote=“Cassiopeia”]Hi all,
Just checking in (not to disrupt a very valid discussion on renting vs. home ownership )
I appreciate the feedback, and it seems to be that the issue isn’t so much crazy-expensive costs if things are budgeted wisely and you’re living in the right area–but making sure you have a school that guarantees enough hours to be able to save up. I will keep that in mind and pass the information along.
To the poster who described Kaohsiung, thanks a lot, while I have been kind of set on Taipei Kaohsiung sounds like it has what I’m looking for in Taiwan.[/quote]
I’m going to stick with my first reply, Cassipeia. Assuming you can get enough hours to earn at least 50k a month, saving 15k should not be much of a problem.
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. As you know, it’s not such a strange concept in most European countries (other than the UK). I’m not as clued up with the financial stuff as you are, but I think that the wife and I are on the right track so far.
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