So I came to Taiwan to work, save some money, and finish my degree. (yep I came here with 2 year AA degree and TESOL certification.) Although my degree was in education but when California fell off a cliff and education was the first to get slashed I had to find a way to continue my education.
Anyways I came here with the intention to teach English, finishing my degree online and saving some money. Most foreigners that I meet here say they came here to save money but what I have noticed from the long timers are that:
they came here lost track of time and 10 years later and they cannot leave.
they get married and decide to stay.
they become alcoholics who teach to support their dependency.
they never actually save any money.
My question is do you know anyone who came here to work and save money, who have actually accomplished that goal?
I know Ive been here for less than 1 year and I decided that the “work and save money” line I always hear is a shill for “I’m stuck here.” Also the four things that I listed above are not mutually exclusive and I often notice a lot of overlapping. There’s also some more that I just cannot remember as I write this post.
I know there’s a wealth of knowledge on this board and I’ve been prowling for a while. I just wanted to hear what ya’ll got to say bout it.
It’s all about priorities and consistency[/quote]
Saving is a life habit and doesn’t depend on geography. I’m not a saver, I admit. Fortunately my partner is. Good balance.
I probably fit numbers 1,2 and 3 but I do actually save money. I always wonder what people spend their money on here when they complain that they can’t save any money. On a teacher’s salary, I support my wife and two kids, I bought and paid for a car and an apartment and still have some saving. We also go visit my parents every two years. Granted, I’ve been here for quite a while but even when I just started out here I was saving money to continue my travels.
So, saving money is possible, escaping marriage, alcoholism and the 10 year trap may not be.
Y’all need to get out more. Most people I know don’t fit into any of those categories, although Chewy’s 5th point does sound alarmingly like someone I’ve heard of.
I was a shocking saver until i started earning enough money not to be looking down the back of the couch for coins towards the end of the month. Another big incentive was having to pay taxes here in HK in one godawful lump once a year. Got caught short the first year, and made a point of never letting that happen again.
The thought of enduring HK with nothing to show for it is enough to drive a person to slash their throat with broken glass.
[quote=“Chewycorns”][quote=“daddyphatsaks”] There’s also some more that I just cannot remember as I write this post.
[/quote]
They tend to move to Jiayi and have unhealthy attractions to sheep (this deviant behaviour particularly affects Kiwi expats).
They join local bands.
They attend all of the DPP rallies
They still can’t get tenure.[/quote]
Define “unhealthy.”
Welcome to Forumosa Daddy Fat Sacks,
God, such brutal insightful honesty (note to self: “don’t invite this guy to a party”)
[i]
they came here lost track of time and 10 years later and they cannot leave.[/i]
Yes, most long-termers did not originally plan to stay that long. “Cannot leave” is a bit strong but has more than a grain of truth to it.
2. they get married and decide to stay.
Once again very common, especially foreign men marrying local woman. In contrast, it is extremely rare to find a foreign couple you have stayed here a long time.
3. they become alcoholics who teach to support their dependency.
Would be better reworded as “drinkers with a healthy thirst who spend much of their potential savings on this hobby”
4. they never actually save any money.
Many - myself included - save very little.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Y’all need to get out more. Most people I know don’t fit into any of those categories, although Chewy’s 5th point does sound alarmingly like someone I’ve heard of.
I was a shocking saver until I started earning enough money not to be looking down the back of the couch for coins towards the end of the month. Another big incentive was having to pay taxes here in HK in one godawful lump once a year. Got caught short the first year, and made a point of never letting that happen again.
The thought of enduring HK with nothing to show for it is enough to drive a person to slash their throat with broken glass.
HG[/quote]
Nothing but unfounded rumours spread by the local farmers who are jealous of my… um… way with… er… anyway, back on topic.
I guess the storage of coins in couches and bills left in pockets could qualify as a kind of saving. God, there are few feelings better than the joy of stumbling upon a long forgotten NT$1000 when you are down to your very last coins.
Everyone, thank you for your responses. Sandman why all the heat? (although your post mysteriously disappeared)
I was just stating what I saw during my time here. I actually meet people here who are happy with that the lifestyle they choose and I am neither upset nor making fun of them, its just what I see. Do you want me to walk around on egg shell’s and give you face?
Like most I came here to teach and save money but I realized that the pressure put on your shoulders by the buxiban bosses can be crushing and often leads to one of the lifestyles I mentioned above.
CraigTPE had a good point, saving is a life habit and I do save a lot. I know that I came here with a little experience teaching and I was making crap/ decent pay depending on how you look at it. I made 55,000nt after taxes each month and I was saving about 40,000 per month, luckily I did because after a short period I had the realization that the way I was taught to teach and the way that you are supposed to teach in Taiwan don’t work well together. Now I just have to figure out what to do next. I really like Mandarin and I think that I’ll set aside a year or two to study at one of the major universities down here. That’s a good goal to tide me over.
I do think a part of the problem is the cash culture, we walk around and we see this for 30 dollar, 50 dollars, 100 dollars. We just buy stuff (myself was included) and then we end up with a house filled with stuff and we bleed money. I’m sure everyone here can look around their house/ apartment and see stuff and think, man did I REALLY need to buy that?
[quote=“jacktorrence”]Mods - what happened to Sandman’s post. Perfectly valid comments.[/quote]I removed Sandman and Big John’s posts. Personal insults are against the rules. Sometimes I do delete the personal insults and leave the rest of a post. But in those two posts, there wasn’t much “rest”, and it was quicker to delete them.
I’m working overtime this weekend and don’t have time to get involved in a discussion, but do feel free to start a thread in Feedback or PM Maoman if you disagree.
Personal insults? Long timers are broke, stranded alcoholics seems pretty insulting to me, but what do I know? I guess my shattered liver has made me too sensitive.
Well, you don’t need much of a budget, if you just try not to buy many things. I’ve been here two years, and I think the only two things I’ve bought over 10,000NT have been a computer and one round trip ticket to the US. I live in a mostly furnished apartment, and might move out soon, so that might change.
I USE the cash culture as a way of limiting my spending, though. I put most of my money in the bank when I get paid. I try to get as little out as possible.
It also helps that I don’t really have any interest in clubbing, and don’t have much of a social life.
[quote=“sandman”]Personal insults? Long timers are broke, stranded alcoholics seems pretty insulting to me, but what do I know? I guess my shattered liver has made me too sensitive.[/quote]The rule isn’t about making those kinds of comments in general. It’s about making them specifically to another poster. If I tell someone that he’s a broke, stranded alcoholic, then my post should be flamed or that comment deleted.
Preaching to the choir. Sheesh, and does it ever make it a pain in the arse to move! I came here with a suitcase and a carry on bag and the last time I moved house (January 2010) I needed two days to pack, a huge blue truck to make two trips and a week to unpack. I still have crap in boxes…
If I had saved all the money I spent on books, DVDs, booze etc I would be able to buy a house, or at the very least put down a huge deposit.
Ah well, who was it who said, “I spent most of my money on booze and women. The rest I wasted.”?
I’m one of the blokes who came here for two or three years to save money and study, before returning home to bigger and better things. Somewhere along the line life happened. I got married. Had a kid. Bought a car (for the kid - traffic is crazy and I don’t relish the idea of him flopping around between my legs on a scooter with people zooming up the wrong side of the road and speeding out of blind alleys), baby stuff, baby clothes, toddler stuff, toddler clothes and now kindergarten. It never stops.
Most of my savings (that is the money that I didn’t piss out, spend on crap, traveling etc) got eaten up by getting married and having a baby. But that’s also partially because I didn’t plan stuff properly. And, I’ve never been good with money. Fortunately, my wife is, so we seem to be saving much more now.
That said, I have known quite a few people that have come here for 2 to 5 years, saved a bundle and moved back home. I’ve known at least three South African couples that did that (they were all teachers back home), moved back home and bought houses cash or paid off homes they had bought before coming to Taiwan with huge savings for a “rainy day”.
I also know another South African couple who just recently left who came here and worked their tails off for a year saving, then cut back on the teaching to study post grad degrees (on scholarship - which also offers free Chinese classes) with minimal teaching on the side. They saved a fair bit, and recently left Taiwan for China where they both found corporate jobs (companies with business in South Africa and the rest of Africa).
So it can definitely be done.
I wont blame getting married for staying or not saving enough. That (saving) comes down to my personality, and I don’t think I ever really planned on leaving. Not in a hurry anyway…
Besides, I’m quite happy in Taiwan. As my BIL (my sister’s absolutely awesome husband) remarked to me the other day when we were talking about these sort of things, “Everyone has their own road to travel. Every journey is different.”
You seem to have your plan set out for yourself, and regardless of other things that enter your life (love, marriage, other opportunities), if you stick at it I’m sure you’ll get where you want to be.
My roommate made NT$75,000 a month working illegally at a kindy (and he didn’t even have a degree0, and saved NT$50,000 of it every month for two years. He didn’t go out much, but seemed to have a pretty good time anyway.
Just try not to buy anything - books were my big problem. Possessions make it hard to move, and inconvenient to move back to your home country. If you consider Taiwan a provisional place to save money, then you don’t need much anyway. Once you start thinking of it as home, you will start spending more.
Don’t go out to eat or out drinking - or strictly limit yourself.
So I came to Taiwan to work, save some money, and finish my degree. (yep I came here with 2 year AA degree and TESOL certification.) Although my degree was in education but when California fell off a cliff and education was the first to get slashed I had to find a way to continue my education.
Anyways I came here with the intention to teach English, finishing my degree online and saving some money. Most foreigners that I meet here say they came here to save money but what I have noticed from the long timers are that:
they came here lost track of time and 10 years later and they cannot leave.
they get married and decide to stay.
they become alcoholics who teach to support their dependency.
they never actually save any money.
[/quote]
There’s also those who continually enrol in Chinese classes and lose some of the money that way.
Those who feel the need to travel and quit their jobs to travel and then return with the intent of saving more money only to leave again.
Sandman It wasn’t my intention to upset you I apologize about that. Bismarck your story is fascinating to me just. I met a few people who said they were working and saving money but their life seemed so irrational and crazy. They would work extra jobs but then spend a lot of money on food or just other things that would eventually tie them down in Taiwan(clothes, furniture, electronics). It just seemed like they were running on a hamster wheel.
I ask them do they like their situation they say no but they have to save. I always thought why not just relax and enjoy the ride instead of being in a rush and making yourself more miserable. Bismarck’s story was cool to me because even though he didn’t save much he seems to have a much better quality of life. I agree with the above mentioned statements that in Taiwan you really don’t need much to get by. I recently looked on some of the major local job boards and the average pay for a college grad is about 25,000. that’s a little less than half of what a person from overseas makes as a teacher even if they have no experience.
[quote=“Matchstick_man”]
There’s also those who continually enrol in Chinese classes and lose some of the money that way.
Those who feel the need to travel and quit their jobs to travel and then return with the intent of saving more money only to leave again.
I guess my shattered liver has made me too sensitive.
:bravo: