My salary was not that ābigā and got 2 old folks + 1 sick brother that need some financial assistance. However did manage to invest small amount on funds at Fubon + few drops of TWD to time deposit for 7 years (thinking to finished it first and put in other investment fund at Fubon).
Manage ānot to spend or buyā extravagant stuff just learn to have a frugal life.
Land and house at Manila was done at my early age and now need some repairs which also manage but need more renovation.
This year my target investment is to prepared to buy burial lot and for my parents and next siblings, next for myself.
My landlady is always complaining about how much she has to pay in land tax. i doubt the placeās value has been updated since she bought it 50 years ago. There was soem kind of survey going on a few years back and I was given precise instructions not to let anyone in.
Varies. Farm land as mentioned donāt think about it. House taxes exist in Taipei, especially in cities, and commercial zoning taxes are obviously higher.
The last 10 years has seen the biggest inflation in land. We missed the boat, but east coast is likely going to grow as the population ever more values health and happiness. And as things develop, the current migration to the east from the west will explode.
For farmland, 1 million doesnt buy much now. Whittier areas you can still maybe find 600k/fen if youāre lucky, but generally its 1 mil plus/fen which is over double the price 5 years ago. The southern west side is seeing it go higher faster than the east though.
Icon, landlords are a special breed. They complain about cost, doesnāt mean its high. But one should expect higher rates for high density areas/buildings. Everywhere I have lived, there was no tax at all. Likely not legal. But the countryside is a different world in many ways.
The price you can get for land is highly variable, depending on if you can get away with building property on it and getting it rezoned. Just like almost everything here prices went kind of crazy because itās assumed almost everything could be built on eventually.
There is this shack here just at the corner of Zhongshan and Beiping. Nothing lasts there, the rent is too high. Next to it there is an uglier shack selling pinglan, right in teh middle of Taipei. The whole corner, as a matter of fact, that whole block, including the ugly corner building and the ones behind it, should be blasted to smithereens and rebuilt. It is the main artery, the first thing tourists seeā¦ and they see that.
Yet it will never happen, at leats in my lifetime. It is way too valuable property to sell, even though the best thing to do is to condemm the whole block.
There are legal and moral reasons though that prevents people from destroying someone elseās property based on personal preference. Unless thereās crime or public health problems, nothing would happen. Plus, the good people of the capitol need binglang tooā¦
Zoning is trickier, especially if your not in the flat lands and/or on residential/factory land. Farmland.For example.needs 2.5fen to build, need to be a farmer with farmer insurance which as of the latest I understand to get that yourself you need to either be on a farmers household reg. Or you need to buy farmland yourself and then.you do the process to get farmers.insurance, which proves farming status and thus you can build a house on farmlandDonce you jump the hoops. This is obviously a much discussed topic amongst young farmers who do it have farmer relatives and due to land prices cannot buy land that easily, and rented land seems not to work for these purposes. Me being a foreigner canāt buy farmland anyway, but ihave gone through the process of gaining and losing farmer k insurance status based on marriage. The gov is having the conversations about this issue of basically people without land are sort of recognized as non farmers despite their actual history and qualifications. No idea where it will go, and with so much corruption and illegal buildings its easy to see why they have strict laws. But due to a lack of enforcement the laws only have affected the few honest folks trying to build a farm.life and home legally. So with the gov discussing the clearly horrible situation in food security here and the total legal sabatoge of future agriculture industries here I think they are realising that the laws need to open future prospects while also upping the the game for diligence in upholding.the regs. This is one area I am ok.d of hopeful on for the next few years, for those that are really interested in farming.
Mountain and aboriginal land I think is also about to get a ride awakening in the next years as it just canāt stay like this for long. But if buying.land, be aware if its considered mountainous and falls under that gov area, everything from clearing to digging is heavily regulated. Just not.enforced, but we are seeing.much more.enforcement in these areas, especially in the east.
So basically buying land is an absolute pain in the arse as well as being expensive .
Great. :).
Seriously thanks for the insights. My in-laws also have some farmland in an area which is rapidly being consumed by one off housing .
Why is everything so damn expensive now. Any idea about what assets could be relatively cheap to buy here?
Ya, but not impossible. Buying land is easy if you are either buying res/commercial zoned land or not planning on building on it. That takes away many headaches. But the logic, which is quite rational on paper, is to protect farmland. Think ALR style if you are from NA.
Assets that are cheap but also worth lotsā¦? million dollar question bro. I like land cause its real and more relative in more ways than trinkets and toys.
There is a reason Chinese buy gold. Unlike land, it can be carried around, battered. It can literally save your ass.
Dunno if you guys have seen the Japanese movie Survival Family. Basically a worldwide EMP blackout strikes. In one scene they barter a bottle of whisky for a bicycle so they can reach the coast and safety.
In case of emergency, war, etc, gold -not 18k though- jewelry, watches, trinkets can save your behind. Liquor too. Add those to an emergency fund to invest.
Although I agree in a zombie apocalypse, or just a likely future nuclear Fuck up, bartering items are more useful and land isnāt traded, your just shot and robbed of it. But thatās not in my immediate plans for my investment portfolio. Though I agree it is probably a fantastic idea to keep emergency supplies, especially water and good on.hand. less so for zombies, more so for natural disasters and things like extended road/transportation closures. Especially those living in more āremoteā areas and heavily populated areas.
Will check.out the movie. Though the news is serving my weekly paranoia fix just fine for now.
And silver. I keep both gold and silver, as I believe in an apocalyptic world it will better to barter my 1 ounce bar of silver for some food, than trying to melt off a bar of goldā¦
For everyone who wants to invest and is having problems with accounts in Taiwan, etc., open an account with Interactive Brokers, and invest however you will:
Just an FYI, with the online investment accounts, you are responsible for being aware of your tax requirements, primarily based on your country of residency.
I can also recommend IB. Withdrawals are fast as well, although not sure how long it takes to make a withdrawal to a Taiwan account, at least to a HK account you receive the funds the same day.
Not sure what you mean by this, as in my experience this would be the case with any normal bank as well.
Last year when I changed my correspondence address to taiwan at the banks where I got an account I was sent a month or two later a request to inform them of my updated tax residency status(if needed)
I am thinking more like war and having to leave in a hurry.
A boat might be an usueful investment too in that case.
Do check out the movie. be patient with teh family. It is different from most post apocalyptic movies as it is set in Japan, but teh escape to the hills is way too familiar for anyone whoās been caught in a civil war, for instance.