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0k, No Debt, and A Bachelors: What To Do?
04-02-2013, 04:56 PM
You're very lucky to have found this forum, I was in your shoes last year with $20K in savings. Decided to work while living with a friend before enrolling in graduate school; pretty much breaking even. For me it was a rough transition, I blew my savings, didn't go to graduate school and may have burned a bridge or two. Eye opening experience that I needed to get my shit together.
I would advise you to check out Alberta first for a month or two. If you don't like it, bounce back to family and build yourself up - hit the gym, boost the resume and make some money until winter. You'll have some time to reflect on whether graduate school, white collar or blue collar is your thing having experienced all three. If you haven't figured it out by then, travel for a month or two to broaden your horizons.
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0k, No Debt, and A Bachelors: What To Do?
08-15-2013, 08:51 PM
I thought I'd give an update to this thread.
I chose the easy way out. I've got ~15k banked now (after buying a few things I'd been wanting for a while). I've only made a few hundred on the stuff in my "selling stuff" thread, but the big payoff will be at the start of october. I've also got ~5k in stuff I could sell relatively easily.
That being said I weighed the 2 options I felt were the most beneficial short term. It was a toss up between goin hard in the mac and teaching english.
The mac would be very beneficial $$$ wise. I'd be making a ton more than I am now with the same lifestyle (where I'm living is unreasonably boring). The downside I see is that I have extremely limited life experience. I've barely traveled at all. I realize guys like scotian are only working part of the year and traveling the rest, but I need something new as soon as possible. If I head to the money now I know I'll just stick there and get into a bad habit of all work and no play. I don't want to just travel to a country for a few weeks I want to live there for an extended period, immerse myself in another culture and reflect on how life was in a place many call the most beautiful in the world. I plan on getting my foot in the door in either some sort of entrepreneurial venture or networking to work for some kind of interesting genetics lab cloning people with alien technology or some shit. Essentially I'm following YMGs "hacking student loan" debt but instead I'm calling it "hacking a life experience deficit"
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08-16-2013, 12:09 PM
YMG: No debt and $15k in the bank. I'm going into this not expecting to make great money, but also not to lose any money. I've read the threads about teaching english abroad here on the RVF and it sounds like anywhere you'd be making enough money for a decent lifestyle.
I'm not sure yet what country I'd want to go to. Id be going primarily for the experience (travel, culture, women) rather than making a lot of money and from what I've read being a tall white dude will be a huge plus in asia. I think japan would be ideal, but from what I've read it seems like entry level jobs are hard to find. Thailand might be cool, but I have a degree in biology so I think somewhere in China as I've read there is lots of science funding (I'd want to get my foot in the door in some kind of genetics related lab). I also know I don't really want to work for someone else in a typical 9-5, but right now all I know is that I want to do a working vacation abroad and I'm currently researching the different paths I Can take once I'm there.
T&A Man: ""failing to identify what you want out of life is a bad habit" I definitely agree. As of now I only have a broad concept of what I want out of life, but am seriously lacking in life experiences and perspective. I've never traveled more than 10-15 hours driving out of my hometown. If I head to fort mcmurray I'll be making the same mistake I did when going to university. I had no real knowledge of what I was getting into, I really didn't know anything about university all I knew was that I got great marks so I just went with what I was good at. Once I got there and started trying new things I realized the path I was on was very underthought. If I head to the mac now I fear I will just stick with it, make good money, but not know what life is like outside of my little bubble. I'm going abroad to burst that bubble.
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0k, No Debt, and A Bachelors: What To Do?
10-01-2013, 09:31 AM
WC, as long as you're willing to go to Russia, Middle East, S. Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam...you can make decent money teaching and in some places big money if you have a little experience and work hard.
Chances are you'll struggle to break even in places like South America and Thailand (too few local economic resources, too high supply of teachers there).
"...it's the quiet cool...it's for someone who's been through the struggle and come out on the other side smelling like money and pussy."
"put her in the taxi, put her number in the trash can"
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0k, No Debt, and A Bachelors: What To Do?
10-03-2013, 11:44 PM
I'll rep the ESL China option here...
You can make money teaching in China with some experience, hard work, and smarts. You have to make China work for you, however. You can't be working for China. You'll get dicked around all day.
I can clarify that if need be.
I spent August doing a well-paid summer camp but last month was my first month of full-time teaching here. Between my FT job and 3 side gigs, I pulled in RMB 31,800. Spent around RMB 1200-1500 for all of September but didn't do much except eat, work, sleep, drink a few beers, and shoot some hoops in my limited free time. No time for gaming beyond several meetings and bangs with a Ukrainian girl that I already knew from a couple years ago. Not sure of the exact spending figures because I wasn't really worried about it. The spending will definitely go up this next month because I won't be trying to chase down part-time gigs all over Shanghai and will have more free time. I'm all lined up now with part time work and should pull RMB 36-38,000 this month, depending on cancellations.
On Monday, I negotiated a private training course with a car headlight manufacturer for 3 days a week, two hours per session, starting in mid-October. I'm getting RMB 450/hour for it. That's $73-74 per hour. These are the kinds of numbers that are possible if you apply yourself.
You can make money in ESL in first-tier China. Don't listen to people who have never taught ESL or have never taught in a country they seem to know so much about. The forum is full of conjecture about what various places pay and what their benefits are. After working in Korea and Thailand, I'm telling you this:
China is where it's at right now. You can build a nest egg here.
Forget the Korea option for ESL. I saved 4 times as much this month here in China than I did in a normal month in Korea. Chinese people seem to be much more down-to-earth than Koreans, also.
I'd budget RMB 3000-6000 for spending money if you get a job that takes care of accommodation and you want to have a pretty good time in Shanghai or another first tier city. Of course, you'll spend tons more if you plan on going to rooftop bars on the Bund or in Xintiandi and ordering table service at RMB 2500 a table. If you don't feel the urge to blow all of your money pretending to be a baller, then RMB 3000-6000 should be more than enough. If your job doesn't take a care of accommodation, budget RMB 1000-2500 for a nice, room in a shared apartment, or 2500-5000 for a decent, clean 1 bedroom apartment. Of course, there's some variance within those numbers depending on the district you choose to live in.
I just went to the Shanghai Fabric Market yesterday and got fitted for some nice Autumn attire. I negotiated a custom-tailored suit, two fitted dress shirts, and a kashmir overcoat for 1000 RMB. All custom tailored. I thought that was a pretty good deal. I hope to be looking good when I step out this month.
Don't go teach in Thailand for $1000 a month at your age. I did that two years ago. I'm 29 now and don't regret leaving there for one minute. It sucks only being able to put a few hundred USD in the bank every month. It severely limits your options. Make your money first then go out and have a good time in SEA on your 3 months of holiday.
Anyways, the forum is full of other info about gaming Chinese girls, data sheets on Beijing and Shanghai, etc. I won't go there. This is just some additional info about what kinds of things you can get done here in China.
EDIT: WesternCancer, I see you have a biology degree. Search for biology teaching positions on echinacities.com. I know the average salary at my company for bio and chem teachers is about 20-23k per month plus housing, insurance, flights, and bonuses. Could be an option while you look for a lab job. Then again teaching pays pretty decently, too. Something to think about.
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10-04-2013, 12:20 AM
Western Cancer, I'm almost in the exact same position as you, from Vancouver, just finished my degree. Though I have done quite a lot of travelling since my major was up.
I'm not going to suggest that it flicked some light within me and I found my passion. Actually more of the opposite, you start to understand how much is out there and how many ways people live their lives to get self fulfillment. When a taxi driver works 12 hours a day just to see his kid go to school and is happier than me it puts things into perspective that every decision you have is a good one.
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0k, No Debt, and A Bachelors: What To Do?
10-04-2013, 04:40 AM
ten grand is a lot of money and it isn't.
It's a lot of money if you have connections everywhere and people will happily take you in. Pick you up from the airport. Split the cost of logistics for going out. Already know girls and have invites to house parties where you only need a cheap bottle of vodka to have a good time.
It's not a lot of money if you have no connections and have to pay cash for everything always.
If you're in the latter category then go to Alberta.
