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kovac
Joined: 12 Apr 2003
Posts: 78
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 Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:30 pm Post subject: What am I doing wrong !? |
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Im working for one of the big three in Chiba ken, after 9 months I was kind of hoping I might begin to save some money and started to wonder where my money was going...what in hells name am I doing wrong !?!?
Pay
�250,000
Tax
�10,660
Insurance
�6,600
Rent
�71,000
Total Deductions
�88,260
Additions
Bonus
�6,000
Transportation
�9,760
Take Homepay
�177,500
Bills
Jphone �3,895
Line Rental �1,800
Phone bill �4,371
Electricity �9,929
Water �2,163
Gas �2,703
Tuition �14,000
NTT �5,459
Bills Expenditure
�44,320
Leftover �133,180
this averages out at 4,000 yen a day, thats on a good month with a small overtime bonus, I know I blow 14000 yen a month on tuition but its what Im here for, now considering it costs me 1000 yen to get to my work each day, and say 700 to 1000 yen for lunch, juice, cigarettes,etc (hey thats one yoghurt, one bottle of lemon water, one pack of mild seven, a snickers and a cup noodle) in a working day, that leaves 2000 yen everyday as "spare" money roughly translating as 10 pounds per day...so am I working for 10 pounds a day profit margin in a TEFL job in Japan....?now that is before I have bought household essentials such as food, washing powder, sanitary items, etc, etc
Ive been here 9 months and dread to think when the time comes I have to buy items such as clothing, nevermind luxury items such as CD's, beer, videos, etc
Anybody else have a similar situation ? or any advice ? or perhaps a sobering measure for those considering coming to Japan ?
Im perplexed by the budgets of fellow teachers...some seem to be able to manage nights out overy 2nd night, buy luxury items, etc
Without a doubt I do think some people here on gap year graduation jobs must be bankrolled by their parents to afford the lifestyles they lead....I mean how else do they manage ? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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Having 133,000 left over after the expenses you cite is exactly in line with what I and others have been pointing out for years. Figure another expenditure of 30,000 yen for basic groceries, and you are still on target.
You cited about 9000 yen per month for transportation costs that you get reimbursed for. That seems terribly low, but you didn't describe your location or work situation. So, when you wrote later that it costs you 1000 a day just to get to work, you are clearly getting the short end of the stick, and I would ask for more.
Obviously, how much you save depends on how you spend that money on your vices and extravagances (even to the tune of a Snickers bar). Don't know what kind of "tuition" you are paying with that 14,000; perhaps it is gym membership or fees to some schooling of your own whim (Japanese language, calligraphy, kendo, etc.), but it is an extra. If after your cup noodle, smokes, and other luxury snacks, you have 2000 yen/day left, that means 30 x 2000 = 60,000 yen/month is in your pocket for other sundry expenses.
Most people who go out a couple times a week end up with about 70,000 to 90,000 yen to tuck away in the bank (or use to pay off debts back home). So, you are pretty much the "average Joe" as far as I can see. How much did you think you would have?
Read the thread I started on cheapskates to see how some people save or scrimp on money.
Stop smoking.
Stop snacking.
Stop whatever tuition you are paying for.
Cook meals at home in large batches and freeze them in portions for later.
Get more transportation money reimbursement.
Don't drink or go out (or do so moderately).
Get supplementary work.
Nobody said EFL teachers would be raking in the dough, but then again, there are some who get that notion before they come here. I also posted a thread about that question, and only one person really answered it. He/She said thirdhand information told him/her it was "easy" to make lots of money teaching here. Foolish thought when you consider that Japan is the most expensive nation in the world. |
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kovac
Joined: 12 Apr 2003
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject: I cant believe this advice ! |
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This type of advice re-enforces my ideas that TEFL teaching is some scrimp end bottom of the food chain job...
"And other luxury snacks" says glenski ? Extravagances ? A frikkin snickers bar is an extravagance !!?
a sad, sad day indeed...I mean I switched to KitKat chunky from snickers cos it was 6 yen cheaper...but as a fully grown adult, with 8 years working experience, working a 9hr day with a min of 6 hr teaching hours should I really be counting my pennies when considering a chocolate bar purchase ? Yet Glenskis cheapskate thread reads like undergraduate advice ? Ummm yeah my momma didnt teach me home economy basics....christ...such basic advice....course I know to cut every corner possible...christ Im hopping in a circle I cut so many corners
Perhaps this is a reflection of Japanese employment policy and prospects for foreigners and the dead end eikaiwa mentality....
Sadly the only opportunity I had for moving to Japan was through an Eikaiwa school, yet having elementary Japanese ability I still cannot be employed by a proper japanese company, yet within my company despite showing them what skills I have available for them to exploit ( I single handedly developed one of the UK's top Investment trust websites) they ignore them.....ummm wait a minute..I have to start another thread for this rant...please see "Road to know-where" |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Perhaps this is a reflection of Japanese employment policy and prospects for foreigners and the dead end eikaiwa mentality |
That pretty much sums it up. Don't blame Japan or anyone else but yourself for not researching into this before you came. Nobody put a gun to your head to work here, did they?
| Quote: |
| Extravagances ? A frikkin snickers bar is an extravagance !!? |
Perhaps I need to explain. There are basic needs, and everything else is either labelled an extravagance, a luxury, or a vice. Take your pick. I consider 30,000 yen/month sufficient to cover basic grocery costs (including things like soap and personal hygiene items averaged in). Anything else, and I mean anything from a pack of Kents to a Snickers bar to a copy of The Japan Times to be an extra item. Forgive me for using such irritating words as luxury or extravagance. Just being technical.
I have posted hundreds of times that I offer a breakdown of expenses. I do this on half a dozen web sites. My breakdown covers basic needs as well as the "luxuries" of snacks. This web site and others offer a neat search function which you can use to find such things. This is part of the basic research I expect people to do to prepare themselves and become informed before leaping to Japan in hopes of saving tons of money.
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| Glenskis cheapskate thread reads like undergraduate advice ? Ummm yeah my momma didnt teach me home economy basics....christ...such basic advice |
Hey, I didn't write those responses, I just started the ball rolling. Those are your peers. I found some of their advice amusing, some sound. Take it for what it is...free advice. I take no personal ownership of such a thread except to have started it. That was because so many people had been posting earlier about how to save, or how much they could save.
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| as a fully grown adult, with 8 years working experience, working a 9hr day with a min of 6 hr teaching hours should I really be counting my pennies when considering a chocolate bar purchase ? |
As a fully grown adult living in the most expensive country in the world on a fairly minimal salary, I would have to say yes. I know of many people who spend and spend and spend on big and little things while they are here. Those who don't watch their pennies end up with nothing to save. Are those "adults"? Age-wise, yes. Financially speaking, well, you answer that one. Back home, some people never seem to save money, either. You just have to watch yourself more carefully in Japan.
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| Sadly the only opportunity I had for moving to Japan was through an Eikaiwa school, |
The same holds for hordes of other people who have no teaching background. Again, who forced you to come here to work on a minimal salary...and then complain about it? |
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Brooks
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1369
Location: Sagamihara
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| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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well that is why some people go to Korea or Taiwan to teach.
Taxes there are six or seven percent of salaries. And the cost of living is less. Often it seems that people with MAs or connections can do better in Japan。That is why I am in Japan. |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:00 am Post subject: What are you griping about?! |
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Kovac,
You wrote
| Quote: |
| what in hells name am I doing wrong !?!? |
You're griping, that's what you're doing wrong!
That's after you pay tuition? You're winning.
My expenses work out to about Y170,000 each month because of the tuition I pay. I figure I put away about Y100,000 a month, and I figure I'm doing really well. The job earns more than Y250,000 and I fought to get it. It's how I support my habit, study of a traditional Japanese art.
On my budget, I still eat out a lot, go for drinks with my coworkers and neighbours a few times a month, have a healthy budget for a work wardrobe of suits, go to the movies occassionally, and yes, sip a few guilty Starbucks lattes.
In my hometown, Vancouver, my earnings were Can $250,000, taxes and health care premiums clobbered me at a whopping $300, I had to pay my own transportation, about $80 not including occasional cab fares for grocery runs, eating out costs about $20 before beer, so I couldn't do it much, and all my out of town trips were backpacker style. I lived in a grungy, crumbling apartment building in a cool neighbourhood and paid about $500 a month for it. And to make it all worse, the sales tax on a lot of goods is nearly 17%.
On top of it all, the International ESL schools pay about $17-25 an hour, and usually max out at 25 hours a week. Most full time teachers have to top up their income with tutoring and other part-time gigs to get by. And then there are the brutal winter months when many teachers who are low on the roster are laid off for lack of work. The real earnings for an ESL teacher in a privately owned ESL day school are much lower than here in Kanto Region.
Jump across the Pacific, and my take-home earnings are about Y320,000 with paid transportation, my apartment, partly furnished and some bills included, costs Y60,000, and on weekends I can jump on my mountain bike and ride in the countryside in Chiba or pull an allnighter in Roppongi.
As far as I know, the cost of living in London, Birmingham or Glasgow is actually higher than Vancouver.
I can't gripe about what I take home. I earn it, and it funds my travel and artistic habits.
Count your blessings. |
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