I don’t see it in the horizon for his country. Like I said, it’s as close to a guarantee as most people come to.
it is close, but not 100% guaranteed. Though, yes, if it is cut, there must be bigger issues.
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i know you have a family to take care of, so that might change perspective a little bit. but in general, if your work worsens your life quality meaning your mental and/or physical health is affected by it to a certain degree, you should change something sooner than later. it’s up to, if you think you can make it another 4 years then go for it. but be honest to yourself and listen carefully to what your body is telling you.
if you doubt you can do it for that long, i would start looking for alternatives.
Ok, to answer some questions without going into specific details:
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It is a government position that you must do something criminal to get fired/ laid-off from. Even if there were lay offs, I have 10 years of seniority and am miles away from that possibility.
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Can the government try and mess with my pension? Yes, of course; actually, they are trying right now. But, with a strong union, it is not so easy and it is currently before arbitration which most people believe the government will lose. Even if they win, it only impacts me by $2000 - $3000 per year less, but it will impact the junior members much more (especially with retirement dates). Still, it doesn’t look like the government will win, but anything is possible.We should find out the ruling before the end of March.
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Do I have a huge pile of money? Depends on your definition of huge (I certainly don’t think so). I have over $100K in investments, but that is something I do not want to touch until 60 or so.
I guess another way of looking at it is: do I tough it out for 4 years, maybe in a desk job that makes it more survivable, so my family can move to Taiwan in 4 years and live the easy life … Or, move now and have to work 5 hour days as an English teacher for 13 years until 60? There are other options of course, but that is where it is at right now.
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That 200k gives you a lot freedom and will last you and grow if properly managed. Money is freedom. The more money you have, the more options you have in what you want to do. Do the desk job and you can maybe look for some job in Taiwan as a security consultant or something like that.
which of Taiwan and Canada gives a better environment for your child during the 4 years?
@tando You’ve hit the nail on the head there. For my son, both have their pros and cons. Canada has his friends and a good social network built up for him (and my wife) from the families in the neighborhood around the school. However, the school system is not great for him (he flourishes with a one-on-one teaching style), and he is getting left behind with a lot of things. We are trying to help him with homework, but it is an uphill battle.
In Taiwan we will homeschool (for the most part), which will allow him to do things at his own pace with one-on-one instruction. It would also allow us to do classes that he would never have time or opportunity to do in Canada (Chinese, coding, robotics, weiqi, etc.).
However, the social side of things would lack until his Mandarin gets to a decent level, which would likely take a year or two. He can also takes gym classes, etc. with the local school, so that should be good for him I think.
There is also the issue of moving an 8 year old to a new country (not too bad) vs a 12 yr old (a much bigger problem). This is a whole other issue though.
One thing that has been great during this difficult decision is that my wife has been very supportive of whichever decision we make. Even considering she has an online business that is doing pretty well that we would have to run from Taiwan - which should not be an issue visa wise if I have the Gold Card visa. She isn’t crazy about the waiting a decade for a pension versus 4 years, but she knows we are good with money, frugal, and good savers, so we could make do.
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Sounds like a oil rig job. No.
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Would I do a crap job for 4 years? Yes.
Would I advise anyone else to do a crap job for 4 years? No.
Depends on your definition of crap. I have an office job. Hate it, had two major illnesses during working there (stress related)
Previously worked in warehouses/factories and enjoyed coming to work then even though I was lifting stuff that weighed more than me and it was a very dirty environment.
Really don’t like office work
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My first time posting here. I have had a similar experience to yours so I thought I might share my thoughts with you a bit. I apologize ahead of time if I come across as being too blunt but I’m not a great writer so no offense. Unless you have some solid job connections from before when you were living here, I seriously doubt that you’ll be able find yourself twenty hours a week in a cram school. At fifty years old, I would say that your chances are next to nil. Not impossible but very, very low. After some time, maybe six months or maybe a year or so you might be able to squeeze out 20 hours. Really, it’s not at all like it was ten or fifteen years ago. Low birthrate and bad economy. Also there are many thousands of international students in Taiwan now and I would guess that most of them are teaching at least some hours each week. There’s a friendly Filipina college student that works every day at the cram school next door to where I live. The ideal candidate for most schools is two years experience and under age 35, blond hair, blue eyed, blah, blah, blah. Same old crappy jobs advertised on Tealit for the past 15 years. If you do get invited to a decent school for an interview, the boss will literally have a stack of applications on the desk. It has been this way for a long time. So honestly, I don’t think moving yourself and the family back here without something very solid lined up is an option. I’m telling you what my personal experience and observation has been as a 50 year old returnee. If you were single, well that’s another story. I do have some friends that are older and are doing pretty well as teachers but they’ve been at their same jobs for a very long time and are part of the organization now.
As far as your current job, yeah, you’ve gotta ditch it. Night shift alone is a killer. Rotating shift is the worst. People that work night shift live ten years less than the average person. Tons of research on this. Add to that the daily dangers associated with your work, I can understand why your looking to bail as soon as possible. I’m guessing that most people recommending you stick it out have never had a dangerous job nor have they had to work night shift. Especially a night job where you can’t sneak off somewhere and catch a few winks. When your up all night and have to be fully alert, worried about personal safety, very bad for your present and future health. As I mentioned, I’ve had a similar experience so I can empathize. My job wasn’t as risky as yours but it was risky enough that I didn’t want to do it any more. Plus that rotating night shift. Brutal. I did walk away from a pension with five years to go before I was vested. However, it was not nearly as generous as yours could be. There was nobody around any more and in the end, it wasn’t worth it for me to stick around so I moved on.
You clearly want to leave and return to Taiwan but it’s not an option right now. You’ll burn through that 100k real quick while your looking for a decent job. I agree with some of the previous posts. I would probably do just about everything possible to try and shift your job responsibilities at work. If a desk job or some other not risky position is available, try to switch over. That goes for night shift as well. I don’t know, perhaps you’ve considered this already and it’s not an option. I’m also guessing that you can’t switch to another completely different job within the same government and still keep that nice pension. Probably not or you would have done so. If you really want to return to Taiwan, and you do, you need to get yourself a teaching license/certification. That pretty much is the key to the kingdom here for a not so young teacher. The certification will allow you to work virtually anywhere in Taiwan. North, south, east, west, big city or country town, the certification will allow you to work here. Do you have a fast option of getting a teaching certificate where your from? Say one or two years? If so, maybe you can do that. Would your wife be willing/able to do the same? You’d be to pulling in 140k a month together. Being frugal with money you could bank 25k US a year. That could be worth half of what your pension is going to be in four years. Anyway, something to think about. Don’t mean to be so negative. I do wish you good luck because your in tough situation.
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That will be tough to move.
That will make it harder for him to make a social network here IMO. Especially if you’re going to retire here
About your job. I say move here now. I did the rotating shifts twenty years ago at a factory. Horrible. I love teaching and would choose teaching over not working and being retired. I’ll probably work until about 70. I’ve had two co-workers in the past few years that are pushing 75. Get an adult class that allows you a more relaxed environment. Go in and chat. Or get a few privates.
this is an honest and true description of the situation.
I dont teach English, but I’ve seen it among my friends.
the teacher certificate is essential for good teaching jobs, not an online tefl course, but a real certificate.
you have 4 years left, if you or your wife can get one it will solve a lot of problems.
I appreciate the candid reply - this is what is so great about Forumosa. I don’t know how long you have been lurking, but another big problem is how much I hate the city I live in (Winnipeg, Canada), and how much I love Taiwan (which has been stated at length in my other posts).
I am not saying you are wrong, but the ads I have seen on websites and Facebook seem to contradict what you are saying (there are a lot of jobs advertised). Maybe not though, I am not there in Taiwan, and I don’t really know what the teaching scene is like now. However, I also need to help homeschool my son, which is necessary for additional reasons I have not gone into, which makes it very desirable that I only work afternoons/ select evenings if at all possible. The Buxiban route is the best option in this regard, but if it doesn’t work there are other options, some of which have nothing to do with English teaching but require full-time hours.
After a close look at our finances, as long as I can make 50- 60K NT$ per month we are fine. 70-80K would be ideal and be very comfortable for us. I am not exactly picky in relation to jobs when it comes to teaching as well. We should also have additional income coming in from our online business as well. So, I like the fact that you felt motivated to let me know your take on things, but we may have made our minds up at this point. I will definitely take what you have said into consideration, and do a fair bit more research and try and set something up before hand if at all possible.
That 200k in addition to whatever you can save from the 4x75k or however much is massive in your situation. Four years isn’t a lot in the scheme of things. But finish it and you’ll be setup for life. You’ll have freedom and financial security. You can work whatever or not work, spend time with family, and ensure that you’ll be able to live out the rest of your life in taiwan while taking care of your kid until he grows up. You could even help with college and other such expenses.
Come now and you’ll have only 100k which you don’t want to touch until you’re 60. What if you can’t get a steady gig? What if your wife’s business can’t make as much as you guys hope? It’s too much risk IMO, as the reward is 4 years of taiwan life but the risk is having little money when you are old and leaving your kid disadvantaged.
Obviously you’ll have to decide but I would sacrifice the four years so I can guarantee that I can take care of my family rather than risk being in a terrible financial state in 10 years.
Is getting a job to make 50000 NT a month in Taiwan that difficult right now? Really? Or do I need to start begpacking to supplement my income?
All this being said, I am still working on how I can change to a Dayshift based position within my organization. It will likely require a doctor’s note, but with my myriad health issues, hopefully this can happen - it just may take a bit of time.
Well, switching to day shift would be much better for sure. It sounds like it would be the same dangerous job though in cold Manitoba. I’d recommend firing off your resume and photo to the chain schools to see what kind of responses you get. That may help you to get a clearer picture of what your market value is. Your flexibility is a definite plus and should make hitting 50k at the low end much more doable. It seems like you’re raring to go and I don’t blame you one bit.
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I would need more details on what “crappy, dangerous job” means exactly, but most likely it’s something I would have done in my 20’s. Nowdays I wouldn’t do it because it would be a net loss for me when you factor in cost of living and tax differences (and healthcare if you’re going to the US), without even considering the “crappy dangerous” part.
It seems that Covid-19 may have made my decision for me - it looks like it will be very difficult to leave Canada at this point and possibly for the next while. A year to decide isn’t the worst thing in the world, I guess.