Craig
Working in Taipei, Taiwan
Monthly Earnings 55,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I'm semi-retired and only teach about 50 to 60 hours per month. I work for a management training company and travel to client sites training managers and execs 1:1. I make on average 55,440.92 baht a month. Most trainers work 80 hours. English teachers at an EFL school tend to start in Taiwan at 66,987. Business English is only a small part of what I do
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
None because I'm semi-retired. In Taipei an English teacher can usually save at least 15,000 baht per month I'm told. That of course means living in a shared apartment, a small apartment or one in a bad location. Ones outside of Taipei, tell me that they save half or more of their salary so over 35,000 baht after taxes
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
The cost of real estate is very high here. To get a quiet, non-cramped, partially furnished apartment with a view other than 5 feet to the next building, I pay over 31,000 baht a month. That doesn't include utilities except garbage. Salaries have gone down here since the early 90's but real estate has gone up 3 to 6 times. Rents went up 25% 2015 to 2016
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
2,626 baht (that is only personal use)
Utility bills
Utilities are cheap. I run the AC a lot and all utilities come to 3,851 for electricity, water and high speed internet.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
15,000 baht. I love a lot of the street food in Thailand and can be satisfied with a 40 baht meal. I don't like most street food in Taiwan so eat mainly non-Taiwanese food when I eat out: Japanese, Indian, US, Mexican. I cook at home half the time. If you love noodles in broth you can eat very cheaply here. Most Taiwanese eat out 3 times a day
Nightlife and drinking
Very little. I mainly go on group hikes and meet for coffee. Taiwanese are not big drinkers, especially women.
Books, computers
I have a Kindle unlimited and read on average 9 or 10 books a month. I probably spend quite a bit on books. Bought a new MacBook last year for 51,000 baht but I hadn't bought one for 5 years
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Comfortable. I spend a lot more here than I have in other countries because of the exorbitant rents and not being a fan of most of the local food. Most apartments that go for 21,000 baht would go for 7,000 or at the most 10,000 in Thailand.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Transportation, food (if you like the local cuisine) and medical facilities (one of the best countries on the planet and cheap)
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
The average net salary in Taiwan is supposedly 1,191,872 baht per year. I doubt that is true. I think someone can live well with bringing in 45,000 baht a month if they are reasonably frugal. They can survive on a lot less actually (maybe 31,000 baht??) If they are willing to live VERY frugally, they can survive on less than that. Get outside of Taipei and the cost of living plummets
Phil's analysis and comment
Nice to hear from another teacher in Taipei. The biggest nightmare and expense certainly sounds like accommodation. Perhaps we don't know how lucky we are in Thailand with what we can get in the 8.000 to 10,000 baht a month price range.
I was in Taipei for a week at the beginning of the year and it didn't really strike me as a nightlife place (not that I went out looking for it) so Craig's comments didn't surprise me there.
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