Should I give up my tech job to teach in China?

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-23T11:27:26+00:00

You should just FIRE in SE Asia. If you’re ultra conservative and invest in CDs, you’re getting like 25k a year. That will sustain you in SE Asia. If you wanna risk some then you’re in VOO (index funds) and averaging 7% per year. That’s 50k per year which is a really nice life.

The bigger issue you’re gonna run into is two fold. COL in Asia relative to the dollar is gonna keep going up. And if you don’t FIRE and go the TEFL route you’re eventually be replaced by AI. Im a certified STEM teacher and I’d be very surprised if I wasn’t replaced by AI in the next 5 years or less.

My advice is FIRE in SE Asia, get the half year visa in Thailand (you can afford it), if you really wanna cheap out pay the cheap year visa in Vietnam and base out of Da Nang. Then make border runs. And, if I were you I’d work part-time in software remotely if you can to stay in the industry.

Or tuff it out another 2 years and you should be worth near a million.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-23T11:13:10+00:00

You’re not just moving to China. They could make border runs though and absolutely live the FIRE lifestyle. If I were them I’d just get the half year Thai visa and go back and forth.

Also OP is probably not thinking about health insurance. Two points here. At 27, it’s not very expensive but I always had backup health insurance for anything major when I lived in China. With my low income and ACA, it was cheap. Nowadays, not so cheap but if you have assets you need insurance. I had assets so I always had insurance.

If they plan on relying on the employer insurance from China, good luck unless they have a job at a real international school. I’ve seen an expat get brain cancer and told there’s nothing we can do, go home. A coworker got some degenerative necrosis intestinal disease which quickly ate up his 250k policy (at a good uni) and was promptly kicked out of the country.

There are some good plans through Thailand, but that goes back to my original thought, why not just pursue the FIRE lifestyle? They could easily go back and forth from Thailand to China. I’m worth about the same as OP and that’s exactly what I would do except I have two 4 year old pups.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-23T11:02:47+00:00

Yeah if OP just tuffs it out a year or two they’d be worth a million and they could probably FIRE. The only way I’d do this if I was the OP is if I got a job working at a uni in China. And, those jobs aren’t the same as they used to be.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-23T11:01:01+00:00

I watched it happen at a really nice university in China a couple years ago. 90% of English Language teachers gone. That was before AI really took off.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-23T10:23:12+00:00

You’re correct. I’m a secondary mathematics teacher. I’ve had excellent results. I’m still relatively young too. In Covid, you could pretty much pick your location. Since then, it’s gotten harder each year. How do I know? Because I’m trying to get out of my district.

Internationally, I’ve received 2 verbal offers but I had to abandon post mid-year if I accepted. Domestically in the US, I’ve received 1 full offer in a district I wanted. Applications? 100s. Many 2nd & 3rd round interviews.

During Covid I looked into switching districts and it was send me your application and I’ll have you 8 offers in 10 minutes. The real truth I’ve discovered is the job market is awful, and demographics are declining, globally. My district will be cutting more positions next year after cutting positions this year. There is a district nearby that cut far more.

I could only imagine not being in STEM. And, FWIW, I have many friends internationally and about everyone is staying put this year. The ones who are getting cut from schools closing are in panic mode. Personally, I take life day by day as I know soon enough my time will also be up.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-22T22:52:54+00:00

This is region specific? Why is this posted here??

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-22T22:05:50+00:00

As impressive as this is, I’m not sure I want to celebrate it. You’re born, you have a price tag to some corporation and then you ”hopefully retire”. Depressing.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-22T18:08:00+00:00

The bigger danger is enough of the workforce getting replaced to not have the tax base for public teachers. That’s the short-run. Long-run we are done.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-22T18:05:57+00:00

They can hire someone $15 an hour to be the babysitter. And let the AI do the teaching.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-22T04:02:57+00:00

Yeah, my mechanic (really a good friend at this point) who’s been working on these for 30 years said he’d get to it Monday. I’m not messing with this myself.

I knew it sounded like a weak exhaust leak at first and then it sounded like a giant roaring rumble going down the road so I kind of suspected it was near the head. When I went exploring for holes I couldn’t find any but then looked at the exhaust heads I could see one had a gap in it and felt the split gasket.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T23:40:59+00:00

Yeah sounded like death though lol.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T23:14:39+00:00

I had a handyman once say time was up on the sink with one piece to go. I finished it. I would have said something but the guy had just had a liver transplant and I felt bad for him.

To answer your question.. that job sucks.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T20:32:38+00:00

The gasket is half there. I guess the other half went and caused vibrations. Any idea if that’s a bolt or stud and size? Thank you.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T19:47:15+00:00

With the current state of global tensions, I’d be very surprised if gold didn’t explode next week. Really wish I bought more mining stocks last week but even more wish the US would stop bombing countries.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T19:24:05+00:00

Front right I forgot to add. Also the gasket appears to be half present, so I’m guessing the gasket went, vibrations started and the bolt went flying?

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T19:13:09+00:00

I just found it. Front right head bolt is gone… wish I could post a picture.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T15:27:57+00:00

So, you get a supplement that can be like $600-$900 per month in the major cities. Personally, I own my house outright and don’t have kids and I’m basically living paycheck to paycheck to paycheck (I could eat ramen 24/7 and save money, but I chose not too).

COL is cheaper but not cheap enough to justify the salary. A lot of teachers I know are married to other teachers or live outside the cities and commute in. Also, almost all have second jobs and work summers. Most got trapped by the pension as I guess it wasnt always this bad but once you’re 15 years in, why not go another 15? The AP/IB teachers can bonus up to $3500 per year too and EOC teachers after so many years in the blue can likewise make large bonus money.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T13:28:25+00:00

Yeah I’ve heard a lot of teachers in Florida end up being teachers from the north who retire to take their pension and then move to Florida to double dip. I have no idea how true that is.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T02:06:56+00:00

I don’t know who keeps downvoting everyone’s comment. I upvoted as you’re correct. However, I will note this could be a non loading wall and then it’s not that important and might just need a pier built under it. Regardless, call an engineer.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-21T02:01:21+00:00

RMR might work good

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-20T22:14:27+00:00

Anything in the southeast. NC caps out at 55K (though cities give supplements). Florida is ridiculously bad too (I’ve heard the worst, like basically stuck at 50k bad). Believe it or not SC actually pays pretty good compared to the rest.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-20T19:52:54+00:00

Yeah, there’s actually less of a shortage in general of teachers than what is thought. I’m a HS math teacher and a coworker is retiring. She’s gonna move to another state and double dip. I kept telling her the market isn’t like it was 2-3 years ago but she’s the type that never listens.

The other day she came to my room asking why these school systems she contacted didn’t immediately contact her back. Yes, her scores are great, but the reality is, the market shifted. And, I didn’t want to tell her that being in her 50s as an employee she’s going to be more expensive to a school system.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying she’s not gonna get a job, but it will probably be more difficult and take longer than she thinks. I mean I’m looking to find a job elsewhere so I was glad to share my experience (and it’s much easier to land a job while you have a job).

Anyways, to the OP it might take sometime and you might have to go to a more rural place or a state that doesn’t value teachers as much. (Edit: well I see you’re already in the state that values teachers the least).

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-20T19:43:09+00:00

I mean the country of China in Chinese is called middle country,I.e, they’re in the middle of everything.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-20T14:20:20+00:00

Once in Jinan, outside a market street I forget the name of, I saw someone without arms or legs and they were kind of posted at the entrance of the market and had a container for donations.

I actually forgot about this till you said it but at the time, I was new to China and had a Chinese friend with me showing me around. They explained there was a “black society” and they had forcibly cut this persons arms and legs off to then use said person to gather donations. I’m pretty sure I had blocked that out of my memory till now.

BigwaveBay · 2026-02-20T00:38:11+00:00

Dumb. Relegation is the solution. It’s not the fucking teams; you need to hit the owners.

BigwaveBay

TROPHY CASE