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Jmbf
Joined: 29 Jun 2014
Posts: 663
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 Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| theoriginalprankster wrote: |
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| Private tutor + freelance editor / copywriter. |
Ah, I've got plenty of experience doing those, tutor in Asia, editor and copywriter before I left for Asia over a decade ago. Would like to get back into the publishing world again. Joined Elance.com recently.
| Quote: |
| Consultant + IELTS examiner. |
I was an IELTS examiner for four years in China (based in Xiamen, HQ in GZ), but stopped when they instituted the new full time/contracted system. I might rejoin them in the future, but the idea of regular travel on the mainland (which is required as an examiner) is not my cup of tea.
To the best of my knowledge, HK examiners were working through the GZ office, no? Or are you with IDP?
Examining was a great money spinner, albeit a mind numbing job.
I quite like the idea of tutoring + examining + copywriting/editing/writing, keeping in mind some tutoring and publishing work can be done online these days, thus cutting out travel frustrations, costs and time wastage.
I'm in my late 30s and intend making Asia my base of operations indefinitely, serving the Asia/Asia Pacific region, and to a lesser extent the entire world (with what can be done online).
I'm peering into the crystal ball, and trying to gauge which city is best to set up shop for the next 5-10 years. Love or hate China, it's a major world player these days, with an insatiable demand for the services we provide, as are the other countries in Asia.
HK would be great, but I'd dearly like to live in a place like Discovery Bay, and head over on the ferry to HK proper if and when I needed to.
Any suggestions? |
If you want to tutor and earn a decent income while having a sustainable work / life balance, you need to tutor from home, not go out to students. I've done both, and travelling out to a lot of students leaves you exhausted at the end of the day. Now, tutoring from home, I can easily handle 8+ teaching hours per day and still have energy for family and other things.
Regarding tutoring from home, you need to choose your location carefully. It needs to be in a fairly affluent and high density area in order to support a decent number of students (who are willing to pay good rates). For this reason, Discovery Bay, the outlying islands and some parts of the New Territories are out. I've seen other tutors try to make it work in some of these locations, and mostly they fail. |
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timmytopee
Joined: 18 Nov 2012
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:43 am Post subject: NO! |
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NO!
You'd be a fool to try!
HK is CRAZY expensive, damn near 3rd-world living accommodations for anything under 15k HKD per month rent… seriously… DON'T |
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Jmbf
Joined: 29 Jun 2014
Posts: 663
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:59 am Post subject: |
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| Depends on what your objectives are. If it is to gain experience and then use it as a stepping stone onto better things then you can definitely 'suck it up' for a year or so on 12K. In terms of improving your career it's still a viable option. |
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GLeigh
Joined: 18 Feb 2016
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:20 pm Post subject: Great advice |
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Thanks for the info folks.
I've signed a $23,000 HKD/month contract with a school in Kowloon.
I'm looking to find roommates and plan on sending money home every month.
Questions:
1) Is it actually possible to save lots of money on that salary?
2) Is it actually cheaper to eat out consistently than cook at home? |
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CEB
Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Posts: 41
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| Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:55 am Post subject: |
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1) this depends on what you consider "a lot of money". Rent might eat up 6k - 7k or so with a roommate. So right there I wouldn't consider 17k minus food, transportation, entertainment etc... Ok for saving.
2) I don't really know anywhere in the world where eating out is cheaper than eating in. You can certainly eat out cheaply but whether it's quality food or healthy is another matter. |
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Jmbf
Joined: 29 Jun 2014
Posts: 663
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| Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:02 am Post subject: |
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Gleigh - congrats. You can definitely save money on that salary but how much you can save will depend on how frugal you are.
Shop for food in wet markets. Buy in bulk when you can. Don't bother splurging on an expensive phone plan, some of the 3G and limited 4G plans cost much less.
It IS possible to eat out very cheaply (it's debatable whether its actually cheaper than eating in), just look for the small local restaurants with set menus for breakfast / lunch / dinner. However, I'd hate to do it consistently long term. It's not healthy and I'm pretty sure you'd soon get sick of it. |
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Spelunker
Joined: 03 Nov 2013
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 11:27 am Post subject: re: hmmmmm |
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| Quote: |
| HK is CRAZY expensive, damn near 3rd-world living accommodations for anything under 15k HKD per month rent… seriously… DON'T |
I've seen perfectly decent bachelors rooms for around 3,000 hkd a month or a bit more. If with a family/wife of course that is different. |
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