Job Discussion Forums

[stejskalova]

Where is the best place in the world to save money while teaching?

[tedkarma]

My opinion: Korea

I saved a bit more when I was in Saudi Arabia (5 years), but the quality of life there s*cked. And would be particularly difficult for a single person.

Korea, if you make a few friends - can be quite enjoyable - and there are ways to uh, "supplement" your income that can push your savings even more.

I saved only slightly less in Korea than Saudi - with much more vacation time, and a much higher quality of life.

A lot though, depends on your qualifications and the type of job you get. But, I'd say for both - MA/MS/M.Ed. levels and just newbies - you can probably do better in Korea than most anywhere else.

Just finished a three year stint there - back to Thailand!

[JZer]

I have just started teaching in Korea and am enjoying it. I already sent back $700 US and am going to send back another $700 this week. My pay is very low so you could save more if you were earning more but I took my university job for the 10 weeks paid vacation. So I don't mind earning less and hope to find a job for 2 million next year. One thing is for certain, you can save at least $3700. Even if you spend every dime you will have your severance pay and your pension refund. That is around $3700. So no matter what you will leave with some money.

I plan to save $900 a month + the severance + pension. So I should be able to save around $14,000 and I am still going to Thailand on Saturday and I plan to go to Laos in the summer.

I think the biggest factor in determining how much you will save is how much alcohol you will drink. There are few other ways to blow your money in Korea. If you like Korean food you can eat in the restaurant all the time and only spend around 250,000 Won a month ($250 US). I just got my electric bill and it was a whooping $6. The internet is around $40 US.

[Gordon]

Utilities can kill you. I live in a 3 bdrm house in Japan and my utilities (gas, electricity, water, internet and basic telephone) last month came to about 80,000 yen or $800 CDN. This is for one month and it is a pretty small house.
I also think Korea is a better place to save than Japan and have worked in both countries. However, I think the quality of life is better in Japan than Korea. Money isn't the most important thing for me.

[stejskalova]

I worked in Korea for awhile, and would have to agree � but what about Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other high paying places in the Middle East?

How would people measure those up: salary/cost of living/quality of life?

[JZer]

If you want to know about the wages in Taiwan go to www.tealit.com Check out the jobs on that site and you will see how much they pay. I think that the usually starting salary is 55,000 NT ($1706 US). The one draw back is that is without housing. In Korea most jobs provide housing. One up side to Taiwan if you are trying to make money is that one does not seem to get in trouble if they tutor privately. Also, I don't think there is much problem with getting two employers one one visa if you want, meaning you can get two part time jobs if you want to work hard. You can look for one morning job 8-12 and one afternoon/evening job 2-6 or 4-8. If you really want to make money it is possible to teach 8 hours a day. I don't think you could pull this off in Korea. If you want to teach 8 lessons a day you can earn about $3200 a month. You can also find the price of apartments on www.tealit.com as well. You can rent a shared apartment from $200-400 U.S.

[JZer]

Here is an excerpt from Reach and Teach who advertised today on Dave's. This will give you an idea of how much teachers in Taiwan are getting paid.

From the moment you land at Chiang Kai-Shek airport, your host school will be waiting to greet you.
Your benefits while teaching English in Taiwan will include the following:

- A monthly salary of between 50,000- 60,000NT (approx. $1,600- $1,900)
- Up to four weeks vacation
- Airport pickup
- Free temporary housing for your first few weeks in Taiwan
- Assistance in finding a permanent apartment to your liking
- An ARC (working visa to legally teach English in Taiwan)
- Health insurance coverage

At Reach To Teach, we support you throughout your year (or more!) teaching ESL in Taiwan. Taiwan is one of the most rewarding and interesting places to teach English in Asia. If you have a question you would feel more comfortable asking a fellow westerner, you may contact our Director of Recruiting, Mitch Gordon. Likewise, if you have a question which requires expert Taiwanese advice, you can contact our friendly Taiwanese specialist, Joanne Chiu. We have many years of experience teaching ESL in Taiwan and will always do our best to assist you in any way possible.

[ls650]

A former co-worker has been teaching in Taiwan for six months. He has banked an average of just under $1000 US per month in that time. Granted, he is pretty tight-fisted, but you can definitely save money there.

[Glenski]

Gordon wrote:

[Sweetsee]

I'm with you Gordon. We also live in a 3-bedroom unit and I was a little surprised to hear that our expenses were about the same, if not more than the rent. You get to a point when if you can have what you want, you just don't think about it anymore.

[Gordon]

I guess, it depends where you live. Where I live, I'd say 80% of people live in houses.
Yes, most teachers should expect to live in an apt, I did too when I first came to Japan. In my city, Nova puts its teachers up in houses which they share. Each teacher pays almost the total rent for the entire house and then 1/4 of the utility. Great deal for Nova.

BTW, rent on my 3 bdrm house is 10,000 yen more/month than my 1 bdrm apt. Go figure!

[gaijinalways]

Wow, Gordan, that is high. In the big house we live in, the utilites are not quite that high. Kerosine is maybe 8000 yen a month, natural gas maybe 2-3K, and electricty another 11k (we have a cat, so we need to keep some heat on downstairs when he is alone). Water is pretty neglible, maybe 2k for 2 months.

As to saving money, I do all right, but then again, I didn't just arrive. We try to save between 1000 to 1500 dollars a month, but we also don't skimp, traveling abroad and eating out 1-2x a week.

[Sweetsee]

Wow, GA, I would never think to leave the heat on for pets, guess that's why I have none. Poor cat would probably have to stop being a cat if you didn't leave the heat on.

As far as heating goes, our gas bill was 17, 000 last month. I attribute that to many hot baths to stave off the cold.


Meow-meow,
s

[Gordon]

Our gas and electricity was 25-28,000 each and water another 15,000 and internet/phone about 9,000. Mind you we have 2 little kids, do at least 2 loads/day of wash and oil heaters are on all night on low for the 2 kids in each room. Very expensive, but we don't want to have a repeat what happened our first winter here. Our daughter, then 11 months old got frost nip during the night and this was in a down sleeping bag!
Other months, our utilities are much less, I am just in a bit of shock at the moment at the high cost.
You know it is almost cheaper to spend a month in Vietnam (which we are about to do) then live in Japan and pay the utilities AND far nicer too.

[JZer]

If you are single in Korea or are living on two incomes, you can eat out as much as you want. You can have Korean barbeque for 4000-7000 Won, other Korean dishes for 3,000-4,000 Won, and kim bob for as little as 1000 Won a roll. Just don't eat at Outback 20,000-40,000 Won too much and you will be able to save. Like I said, I spend about $8 U.S. a day on food and I eat out at least once a day. Sometimes I will splurge on weekends and go to Outback or Pizza Hut but I live in a small town so it is impossible to eat at American restaurants everyday. If you don't like Korean food it might be hard to eat so cheaply. You can also buy Chinese food very cheap.