Definitely. Depends what sort of 50-year-old you are, though.
Friend of mine is 50 and dating a woman in her late 30s.
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How did you find a picture of my long lost twin?
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Sounds like you know you are giving up a lot, and you might get what you want in return…
Are you unhappy where you are? If you’re unhappy, that’s worth changing your situation.
Compared to my other experiences abroad, Taiwanese are the hardest to make friends with and the women are the least intetested. The factory Filipinas are nice, though.
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It’s been said that we regret the things we don’t do more than the things that we do.
A little story. I’ve moved countries a couple of times to follow work and life opportunities without much hesitation (but with due planning). A former colleague of mine contacted me once about an overseas job opportunity and asked for my opinion. I said go for it. My colleague hesitated some weeks, and finally decided that it would be good to move overseas for a while. By that time, the job offer had expired. My colleague ended up staying at the same job, and is still there now, decades later, as far as I know.
Do you have any in-person expat friends that you can consult with?
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There is a good lesson there about seizing the day.
You gotsta recognize the opportunities as they come.
Good advice from Finley at getting them to up the offer . Put the cards on the table. They often have discretionary add ons like flights and accomodation allowance. Costs have gone up in Taiwan for rent these days.
You say you are keen to make it happen and enthusiastic to be there but it’s still a huge decrease from what you are on , if they can help with the costs this will make all the difference .
Once moved to Asia forget about the pension stuff (be aware that at least one poster that gave you advice is on a nice pension and another has millions in the bank lol), make yourself some kind of expert and be prepared to work longer but it could be part time and costs are cheaper here anyway in reality.
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That’s an interesting way of looking at wants/needs/ what is right. Good luck with that.
Rab C is doing well for himself.
Makes sense tho, i’m nearing 40 and some foolish young women are still interested, dunno what’s wrong with them!
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I think it’s worth mentioning that the Western premium is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. These days you’d be much better off being Korean or Japanese. Not to say that you won’t still be able to find women looking for something a little different, but finding someone you can really connect with (and being able to put up with all her family baggage) is certainly not a given.
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A few thoughts:
- The work places, even universities, can be dystopian. You may need to be in your office all the time, teach terrible courses, and have an overbearing boss. At least sniff around and get a sense of the environment.
- If you are at a university, is there anyway you can form a relationship or partnership where you spend a couple of months a year here? That might give you the cosmopolitanism, chance to meet people, etc.
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I was going to disagree with you, but then I asked my daughter and she says you’re right.
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That would be better, maybe unpaid leave for half the year, or at least a sabbatical in Taiwan to start and see what it is like living here (visitng a place is often a different experience)
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You might remind her that not all white guys are balding middle aged know it alls. 
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Yeah, the year leave thing might be a possibility. I remember some academics do this more or less as a matter of course. If you’re on your way out you take a leave for the year and see how the new place goes. Not sure if your current employer allows this, but would give you a break, new perspective and some time to see how it feels being here.
Place matters also. In Taipei you don’t need a car and there’s lots of Western amenities. Some people love city life, others not so much, but just make sure that you’re not leaving one small town for another.
Not needing a car would also reduce your cost quite a bit too.
Thanks for your responses. No, I did mean the salary, that’s what I’ve been told by someone who would know (actually they said 80-100K). Perhaps it depends on the discipline. So, I’m wondering about standard of living (in Taipei) on that salary, and whether saving out of it for pension years is viable.
Thanks for your responses. No, I did mean the salary, that’s what I’ve been told by someone who would know (actually they said 80-100K). Perhaps it depends on the discipline. So, I’m wondering about standard of living (in Taipei) on that salary, and whether saving out of it for pension years is viable.
This is the scale at NTU. You can also keep a small percentage from funds you bring from outside plus some money for some other things like attending some events, defenses, etc., overseeing research/publishing papers, administrative responsibilities and so on.
In my opinion, and for me, 80k a month for a single person is actually quite lavish, many Taiwanese living on less than half of this. Just watch out for places to rent. Rent in Daan and Xinyi district is nuts, even for a run down craphole. If you don’t mind commuting you can find very luxurious places in Danshui for less than 10,000 a month.
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You can easily get 80k a month in Taichung for example.
Cost of living cheaper than the big smoke.
Check out the east cost too.
Haven’t found Taichung to be any cheaper to live in apart from maybe rent? Cost of everything is the same as Taipei.
And you’ll definitely need a scooter too.