Interesting story I saw on Yahoo with Blog link. Many comments have doubts its enough money, but I think its very possible with low Taiwan rents and living costs (compared to say Seattle)
And medical care is readily available and relatively inexpensive… Awesome.
You have to be willing to live in the 8 ping prison cells to get cheap rent (or share a room and have no stuff).
Taiwan rent is not cheap for apples to apples comparison. 60,000 NTD in Taipei gets you about 900 - 1000 square feet (25 to 28 ping, excluding common area). For that much back home, I could buy a 3000 to 5000 square foot (84 to 140 ping) house with a yard and garage (though not in town, have to be in the suburbs). What shocked me upon first getting here (and still does) about Taipei was how expensive the rent was (and still is)
Renting a real house about 3000 square feet (84 ping) in south Yangming Shan (around Tianmu) will cost you around $7000 to $10000 USD per month. That is not cheap.
But what we are discussing is how the woman in the article saved more than half her salary, convinced her hubby to do the same and now they retired and travel around the world. She was able to do so -saving half her salary-in Taiwan, despite all obstacles. I don’t think she lived in Taipei, though. I know many foreigners who still manage to save quite a bit.
Reminds me of that couple -a German guy and a Taiwanese woman- who traveled around the world in a boat, where they also raised their daughter, until she was ready to go to school, so they docked.
When your paycheck is $140,000 a year this does not seem particularly hard to do.
It really depends on how much money you require to live in reasonable comfort.
Assuming you own your house I’d say the bare minimum one would require would be around 60,000NTD per month, with that you could take a holiday every few months (albeit not a very big one)… but even then you’d only last 10 years on a million bucks… What is required is a steady stream of income (rental properties / dividends / business)…
Well, it was harder for the Western guy, who gave up his car and switched to a bike.
Pfff… I read another article like this saying you could retire in the Philippines for about $200,000 USD.
Eh, they are not retiring in Taiwan, they are traveling around the world with money earned in Taiwan.
I hope that I do not come across too negative, but even with a million, retiring at the age of 38 is risky.
Wow! Less than $2,000 a month. They are some real penny pincher.
That’s 24 000 a year and 240 000 in ten.
Since the interest rates are close to zero right now and the inflation up to 7%, their money will worth half in ten years.
It will worth about a quarter in 20 years. By then, he’ll be 58 years old.
I wish I had a million though.
Eh, they are not retiring in Taiwan, they are traveling around the world with money earned in Taiwan.[/quote]
Yeah, didn’t read the article before posting that, just the first post. Sounds like he made most of his money working for Microsoft in Seattle though.
As an “early” retiree the biggest decision for me as to whether I could retire was health related costs. My wife and I have no children so the biggest cost factor was not an issue. If that couple is traveling around the world with no health insurance that would be a risk. If they do have insurance I would be curious how much they are paying.
The guy earned well over over a million USD in paychecks. It doesn’t even mention how much his wife made…which was probably very little. Then invested a bunch of it in stocks and fortunately for many in the US stocks were rescued by US government QE.
Now if they have kids, and they need to go to school, and pay for all the other incidentals of living…of course they are going to have to work…which is not a big deal anyway since they are still young.
Many Americans are incredulous about the low cost of health insurance here…it’s true…but you need to be a resident for 6 months minimum. Also I don’t think it’s going to be that cheap to pay for a boat and expenses to go around the world for a couple of years.
Anyway it’s the sensible way to live a more relaxed life, earn lots of bucks in a high paying country…and stretch it out in a cheaper place. It’s not rocket science. They’ll be working again sooner or later but they’ve got a nice nest egg so they don’t have to bust their ass…which is the problem of trying to make money in a developing country.
[quote=“nonredneck”]You have to be willing to live in the 8 ping prison cells to get cheap rent (or share a room and have no stuff).
Taiwan rent is not cheap for apples to apples comparison. 60,000 NTD in Taipei gets you about 900 - 1000 square feet (25 to 28 ping, excluding common area). For that much back home, I could buy a 3000 to 5000 square foot (84 to 140 ping) house with a yard and garage (though not in town, have to be in the suburbs). What shocked me upon first getting here (and still does) about Taipei was how expensive the rent was (and still is)
Renting a real house about 3000 square feet (84 ping) in south Yangming Shan (around Tianmu) will cost you around $7000 to $10000 USD per month. That is not cheap.[/quote]
Taiwan rent is cheap. Taipei rent is not. Yangming Shan and Tianmu are two of the most expensive neighborhoods in Taipei. Obviously you could buy a house in the suburbs pretty much anywhere in the world for the rent one would pay in a mansion on Yangming shan. Your comparisons are hilarious.
Try comparing the cost of renting in the suburbs of Taipei vs. the cost of renting in the suburbs of New York, or Toronto, or Los Angeles. There, you’ll notice the difference. 18K NTD for 33 ping in a new community in Xizhi, for example, still feels like a bargain to me. For this price and this proximity to the city, you’d get a windowless basement room in the suburbs of Toronto.
[quote=“wudjamahuh”][quote=“nonredneck”]You have to be willing to live in the 8 ping prison cells to get cheap rent (or share a room and have no stuff).
Taiwan rent is not cheap for apples to apples comparison. 60,000 NTD in Taipei gets you about 900 - 1000 square feet (25 to 28 ping, excluding common area). For that much back home, I could buy a 3000 to 5000 square foot (84 to 140 ping) house with a yard and garage (though not in town, have to be in the suburbs). What shocked me upon first getting here (and still does) about Taipei was how expensive the rent was (and still is)
Renting a real house about 3000 square feet (84 ping) in south Yangming Shan (around Tianmu) will cost you around $7000 to $10000 USD per month. That is not cheap.[/quote]
Taiwan rent is cheap. Taipei rent is not. Yangming Shan and Tianmu are two of the most expensive neighborhoods in Taipei. Obviously you could buy a house in the suburbs pretty much anywhere in the world for the rent one would pay in a mansion on Yangming Shan. Your comparisons are hilarious.
Try comparing the cost of renting in the suburbs of Taipei vs. the cost of renting in the suburbs of New York, or Toronto, or Los Angeles. There, you’ll notice the difference. 18K NTD for 33 ping in a new community in Xizhi, for example, still feels like a bargain to me. For this price and this proximity to the city, you’d get a windowless basement room in the suburbs of Toronto.[/quote]
I think you missed my point. A normal house like the ones in Yangming Shan Costs 10000 USD to rent (You can’t really find a real house in Taipei, only apartments or condos). I could buy the same house in the USA (I don’t include cities like NY, LA, Toronto which are overpriced to begin with) for around $250,000 USD. Even if I rented it, it would be about $2000-$3000 per month. I am comparing apples to apples for the same item, same size, same type, and trying to estimate the same quality of life. Xizhi is not exactly near amenities. Though I will admit that size is reasonable for the price. If you want to reduce your quality of life, you can find cheaper sure, I agree with that. But to get the same quality of life I had back home I would need to be a millionaire in Taiwan.
Reducing your quality of life is the only way you will live cheaper in Taiwan.
They are probably living at wife’s mommy’s house in Taiwan for free, and will have the baby in Taiwan, both of which are huge money savers. Not all Taiwanese wives would be willing to go along with the scrimp and save game. I am skeptical and don’t think things will always be as rosy for them as the tone of this article would suggest.
Not really a fair number. 60,000 can get you 25-28 ping, but so can 25,000. It’s a question of where you’re living, even in Taipei, and what standard of living you demand. If you move out of the city, let’s say to Sanzhi or Jinshan, you can do a lot with just over 10,000. And besides, if you’re retiring, why live in the big city? Find a nice countryside home.
[quote=“Hamletintaiwan”]I hope that I do not come across too negative, but even with a million, retiring at the age of 38 is risky.
Wow! Less than $2,000 a month. They are some real penny pincher.
That’s 24 000 a year and 240 000 in ten.
Since the interest rates are close to zero right now and the inflation up to 7%, their money will worth half in ten years.
It will worth about a quarter in 20 years. By then, he’ll be 58 years old.
I wish I had a million though.[/quote]
Interest rates in a traditional savings account are close to zero but there are places to put your money that can earn higher returns (with some risk). I also don’t think you can assume that 7% inflation is going to be a long term rate. If it is then we are all fucked regardless if we are working or retired (more so though if retired). Additionally retired doesn’t mean making zero dollars/mo. Retired means not having a traditional job anymore. I would be surprised if they didn’t have little stuff on the side to help pay monthly expenses so they aren’t depleting their savings every month.
60,000NT/mo is not a bad lifestyle in Taiwan at all. You are living modestly but you don’t have to live with family or in a tiny shoebox.
As far as insurance goes they talk about it on their blog. They were a little vague about what they ended up choosing recently for health insurance but it sounds like an emergency medical policy that covers huge problems but they pay for small things themselves. This is actually a really efficient way of doing it and so many have been conned into thinking that medical insurance needs to cover every little expense. She is from Taiwan so I believe that they are also able to enroll in Taiwan’s NHI if they wanted. And emergency travel insurance is not expensive and it covers emergency care. I just got a quote for $335 for a single traveler paying for 6 months. I sign up for this policy when I travel for shorter periods of time (more expensive though).
[quote=“Abacus”][quote=“Hamletintaiwan”]I hope that I do not come across too negative, but even with a million, retiring at the age of 38 is risky.
[color=#FF0000]Wow! Less than $2,000 a month. They are some real penny pincher. [/color]
That’s 24 000 a year and 240 000 in ten.
Since the interest rates are close to zero right now and the inflation up to 7%, their money will worth half in ten years.
It will worth about a quarter in 20 years. By then, he’ll be 58 years old.
I wish I had a million though.[/quote]
60,000NT/mo is not a bad lifestyle in Taiwan at all. You are living modestly but you don’t have to live with family or in a tiny shoebox.
[/quote]
Wow! Less than $2,000 a month. They are some real penny pincher.
That was supposed to be a joke. I should mark them as such in the future.
People here really don’t get my sarcastic sense of humor.
Edit: all I wanted to say how proud they were to have accomplished a lifestyle above anyone else’s spending.
And in the future, exactly this is going to cause them some serious problems.
That’s just my prediction, unless they change.
I apologize on missing your sarcasm when your next thought was that their savings won’t be worth anything in 20 years. It’s not risky. These aren’t idiots. They managed to save 1M in 15 years (or less). If they see their bank accounts declining too fast they will be successful at something else to build up their savings again.