bitofarambler

@ bitofarambler @crazypeople.online

Posts

403
Comments

1033
Joined

11 mo. ago

I like to travel, learn and tell stories.
Travel podcast here
Travel community here

Moderating

bitofarambler crazypeople.online

Travel crazypeople.online

We all liked it a lot!

If you know anyone interested, send them my way. I love talking about traveling and taught in China for 7 years.

Or you, friend English speaker! Another prime candidate.

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

The numbers are very much the reason for me sharing this information.

People can live better lives by teaching English. I've helped people do it before, and I hope other people are inspired to take control of their lives in similar ways.

I mean seriously

Me too! Most teachers probably shouldn't invest so much time for lower pay into that career if they aren't entirely devoted to the craft of general education. If the goal is to earn enough to stop working(as my goal was) and you happen to speak English, I highly recommend the ESL route instead.

Your questions and comments are welcome and I think could be helpful for others, but I have to remove your unproductive and entirely inaccurate misinformation.

The numbers are correct, those jobs are real, there are over 1.5 billion ESL students and 250,000 ESL teachers. High demand means high pay and good benefits.

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

Foooo sho, thanks. As time has gone on, I tend to underestimate benefits and overestimate hurdles when introducing travel concepts; I'm always playing defense against general travel skepticism.

I wager that If I used 52 weeks there would be a lot of weekends/holiday talk and since I didn't account for those, travel itself must be impossible!

Like $56 is good pay, but I and many teachers were paid significantly more than that. Very few index funds return as low as 5%, those job listings are from posh schools with high requirements, but I think erring on the side of realistic humility serves the positive message as much as possible while staying accurate.

I promise that much of the time I have like sixteen other things rattling around my skull that I am struggling to reign in, haha

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

The numbers are the numbers.

There are over 1.5 billion English language students and 250,000 available ESL teachers, so there are at least 6,000 students per available teacher.

ESL jobs pay a premium, and if you check those posts, offer many additional benefits like free flights, provided curriculum, salaries paid weekly, holiday breaks.

At least 6000 students for every willing ESL teacher means a huge demand and consequently, high pay and benefits.

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

This is accurate, sourced, publicly available information that has helped people already and I hope can help more people.

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

I understand this information is surprising, it's why I post it, but there is nothing sketchy about teaching English. You are not accurately representing your former comments and your assertions about ESL teaching requirements and pay are incorrect.

no one is making 100k USD a year as a fresh-off-the-boat with a TEFL at a training center

The linked jobs and pay scales are accurate and it is very possible to earn $52 an hour with a TEFL certificate in China.

ESL jobs in China are paying 400 RMB per hour.

400 RMB = ~$57 USD

$57 x 40 hours = 2280

$2280 x 4 weeks = 9120

$9120 x 12 months = $109440

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

Nope, all you need is to speak English to start teaching, although a TEFL certificate maximizes pay quickly.

Teaching English is perfectly legal, an English teacher is like any other language teacher.

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

China. That linked position pays $56 an hour, which is 9k a month at 40 hours per week.

You should, it rocks. I'm seriously considering going back for another couple years just to beef up my passive income and also because it's silly comfortable and convenient living in China.

There are thousands of ESL jobs across China, here's one for $5000 per month from yesterday in the Beijinger, a popular magazine in China. And another. More. There are a bunch on that site, but in the actual country there are practically limitless job opportunities for English speakers.

I'm happy to talk you through the process or answer any questions you have.

China is more a $500 per month cost of living, but if you want a very nice private apartment nearer to the city center and never want to cook or clean, $1000 is more realistic.

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

tldr: that GBG price list is very inaccurate.

$400 won’t even get you notoriously cheap places like Hungary or Croatia.

Croatia and Hungary are known for being expensive(very tiny countries with severe housing crises), but

even Croatia:

It's important to remember that most index funds outperform 5%, your actual ESL pay can be higher(my regular tutoring pay was closer to ~70 USD per hour and the highest I've received was a little over $100 per hour), and 2 years is not a deadline.

Work 6 more months and have $1000 in passive income. Every month, your leftover income can be reinvested and your passive income will create a little more passive income.

The property guide you've provided focuses on a few population centers around the world, a miniscule sample of the housing market.

List claims 1-br in Medellin is $860 per month.

Real world, private 1-br apartment in Medellin is $369 per month:

List claims 1-br in Mexico City is $1290 per month.

Real world, private 1-br apartment in Mexico city is $275

Casablanca, notoriously expensive city, $900 on the list.

Real world: private 1-br apartment in Casablanca is $423:

and $256 in other Moroccan cities

3w ago

How to retire in 2 years teaching English and living abroad, a recent conversation:

You may have misunderstood the math, although you are correct that $56 per hour earns you over $2000 per week.

$56 USD per hour, 40 hours per week

56x40 = $2240 per week.

2240x4 weeks = $8960 per month.

It's very comfortable living on $960 a month in China.

Invest the other $8000 each month.

After 2 years, 24 months, investing $8000 per month, you'll have $192,000 invested.

A 5% annual return on $192,000 is $9600 in annual passive income.

That is $800 USD per month.

That’s enough passive income to live in most of the world in a private house/condo/apartment with utilities/wifi included with $400 left over for food and entertainment.

After 2 years, you're retired comfortably.

Can you please update your comment with an acknowledgement? Your comment is currently misinformation and I'll have to remove it without an edit or update so that nobody gets thrown off, thanks.

3w ago

Very good animation

I like it a lot, good find

3w ago

It's good to be back in Asia, land of bidets

Absolutely, I am very excited for the day people from all countries can hygienically hold hands and look back on the Toilet Paper Folly(TPF) with amusement and appropriate, forgiving scorn.

3w ago

It's good to be back in Asia, land of bidets

Haha, truth! It's under control in Asia for the most part, handhelds are adjustable depending ion lever pressure.

4w ago

China installed 10 million EV chargers in the last 18 months. Has anyone seen the EV revolution over there firsthand?

1-1.5km up, I guess they'll just be a dot at best above with massive cables trailing down.

Looks like they actually have two types, turbines and then kites that somehow crank a generator or pull a generator on the ground.

4w ago

China installed 10 million EV chargers in the last 18 months. Has anyone seen the EV revolution over there firsthand?

It really is difficult to grasp the scale of their infrastructural development.

Every time I go back I just try and measure the ratio of electric cars on the road versus the last time I was there.

And every couple of years it jumps by 10%.

I saw a large solar farm, but nothing like you're talking about, although I completely believe it.

Thanks, it's fascinating to hear about.

Did you see any of those balloon wind turbines yet?

4w ago

Anyone have tips for working with peppers in your brews?

Cool, sounds like a fun why-not.

4w ago

Anyone have tips for working with peppers in your brews?

Is this for beer?

I've brewed a lot of wine with a lot of ingredients but chile pepper isn't something I've tried adding yet.

A little goes a long way with any flavor, a single vanilla bean or half a cinnamon stick completely changes the flavor, so the only practical advice I can offer is to start small.

I was wondering about the capsacin affecting the yeast, but plenty of people online are saying they cut the peppers in half and throw them in, and I've had any number of spicy brews and wines, so it must not be too much of an issue.

4w ago

China’s firm unveils EV battery with 1.5-million-mile life, 12-minute fast charging.

Last time I was in Beijing, the newest BYD was under 8,000 USD equivalent to buy in person before haggling.

The new 2026 economy sedan on the BYD .com website is publicly listed at $11.5k and 13k USD equivalent for 80 miles and 135 miles of range respectively.

Considering they have EV chargers every other block throughout the country and installed 10 million EV chargers in 18 months, that's plenty of range for a great price.

4w ago

Alexis Ohanian walked out of the LSAT 20 minutes in, went to a Waffle House, and decided he was ‘gonna invent a career.’ He founded Reddit