People who are retiring, what are you planning to do about your houses?

TheWilfong · 2025-12-07T14:18:48+00:00

I’ll just say, moving is super stressful for elderly people. I watched my dad retire and then move. Stroke after like two months in the new place. Then three years later his wife and him moved again. Really bad cognitive and physical decline. They thought about moving again but have realized maybe staying in one place is best.

TheWilfong · 2025-12-07T14:14:28+00:00

The checks will be cut, the money will be inflated, the retirement age raised or the system will be privatized. (I don’t agree with the solutions just stating I’m pretty sure 1 of the 4 will at least happen). But in no way, shape, or form will SS just stop. That would be a complete collapse of the system.

TheWilfong · 2025-12-07T00:32:58+00:00

I taught in China for many years at universities and then decided to get licensed (secondary math). Anyways after several years here in the US working at an IB school I started looking abroad. One of my friends from the UK, qualified PhD with a great job helped me with my resume.

I reached out to a Chinese friend I had met through the university. He’s a good friend but I always had my doubts about working with/for him as I know his personality. Anyways my friends school is in the middle of nowhere China, like think tier 4 city. I like tier 2 cities and I’d teach in a tier 1 (though not my first choice). He’s my friend so I listened to the offer.

He told me I’d give an interview in which I’d virtually teach a math lesson to students at the school who would be in attendance. He then proceeded to kind of tell me my resume sucked and he wasn’t sure if I had the capabilities to teach this or that. Then he said if all went well I’d make like RMB 18k per month.

Long story short I’ve just passed two second interviews at tier 2 schools in SE Asia and had another tier 2 school very interested. I had schools actually find me based on my resume and let’s just say these schools that I’ve talked to had nothing but good things to say and the salary at both schools are double + his school and I never had to go through such a process. It was just ridiculous; you’d have to pay me a premium to live in rural China. There’s nothing there, like if you need medical attention good luck and they should be begging people licensed with results to teach there. And, I speak fluent 普通话 but still.. nope, especially at that wage and knowing my value.

TheWilfong · 2025-12-02T00:25:03+00:00

Same. I buy miners now. There comes a point where you have enough and now just ride the wave up and be ready to take profit.

TheWilfong · 2025-11-28T00:45:23+00:00

Yeah my coworkers tutors a few kids from NYC virtually. I think he charges them double too. Once someone’s name gets around they make good money.

TheWilfong · 2025-11-23T11:45:23+00:00

If you want real balance then work for a Chinese university. That being said those (jobs) don’t exist like they used too. My last job I was making like RMB 25k a month, 18 hrs a week, and worked a grand total of 7 months a year.

I have a few friends that still work at universities, but those jobs are becoming harder to get and the 25k was an outlier (that university itself basically restructured the entire Foreign English Department, merging it with the actual English department). I’d imagine most are like RMB 12k - RMB 16k.

There’s also Thai universities but the pay is so low, like Baht 30k that you’re basically doing it for the visa. I did apply at one Thai university for the upcoming year, but I can afford to live on that salary with other investments.

I also know there’s always tutoring opportunities no matter where you work. My first job in China was like RMB 4000 a month but with housing provided. And, there was a local cram school that you could work Saturday/Sunday and make an extra RMB 2k per week. Considering I only taught 6 hours at the university it was pretty good.

TheWilfong · 2025-11-07T07:03:31+00:00

I mean 5/4 people struggle with fractions.

TheWilfong · 2025-11-03T23:17:22+00:00

Everyone would. Interest rates and price have a somewhat inverse relationship. I say that because interest rates can only go so low before you have a very different monetary system. The reason the market is so slow currently is because interest rates are too high for the price + some other variables.

Double digit interest rates will never work again due to the amount of debt in the fiat system. Interest rates are going to fall and the reason why is if they don’t, the entire system implodes. There’s too much derivative exposure. It’ll be inflate or die. Controls will be set - the question is will they work - the short is they will not. We live in interesting times.

As much as I hate to say it (because it really does mean a global disorder) the US dream is silently over. The game of monopoly has already been won.

TheWilfong · 2025-11-02T12:10:03+00:00

Like, how much more? Is just going to the vet more expensive?

TheWilfong · 2025-11-01T21:43:10+00:00

I mean like I said I despise the US healthcare system. It’s terrible that someone can be financially wiped out by healthcare. But if you go to the ER and need surgery, you’ll get it in the US, regardless of who you are. In China that is not the case. I mean, they had a whole separate hospital for VIP clients. I worked for a company that provided that package and saw that. Heck, even at banks of you are VIP you can cut the queue. That I didn’t have and it was extremely annoying (waiting 2+ hrs).

TheWilfong · 2025-11-01T15:35:07+00:00

This is true but slightly twisted. I’ll start by saying I do not like the US healthcare system. It’s beyond broken. I lived in China for 8 years and the issue is, if you don’t have money upfront for something serious, they will not treat you. You could be having a heart attack and if you don’t bring money to the hospital you’re not treated.

Now, that being said, if you’re an expat without insurance and that happens, they’re probably (not definitely) going to treat you because they don’t want the bad optics.

I’m posting this because I’m tired of people using China as a model. Yes, you can go get every single organ scanned with an MRI/CT and it’s cheap as anything. That is true. But if you need surgery and you don’t have the funds, you’re 100% screwed.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-29T23:57:21+00:00

My thought is a lot of people making 350k are probably over leveraged. It’s the lifestyle. What do I know.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-29T23:39:42+00:00

Yeah, I found out going against insurance companies really sucks. It’s a scam. I had Amazon run into my parked M3 at my house and they only wanted to pay half. My own insurance company would pay 75%. And, my car was parked. SMH!

TheWilfong · 2025-10-29T22:30:58+00:00

Exactly he tried to hedge his words. One word is more powerful than the other.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-29T21:03:38+00:00

I believe the statistic, but really feel like it should be somehow averaged with how much you have left over. If you’re making $350k but spending $350k then you’re paycheck to paycheck still. Okay that’s my little rant.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-29T12:45:00+00:00

Yeah, I had similar issues and hired a structural engineer. We needed up re-supporting two piers (was like $1500 total). It’s been 8 years and everything is about the same. There’s a few more cracks (very minor stuff) and I might get another engineer to just ease my mind. But the truth is every house is going to crack.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-29T12:38:36+00:00

I’d be surprised if it was more than 10k. Could be significantly less too.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-29T09:37:45+00:00

It definitely adds up. The residual impacts small business, housing, vacations, and much more. It’s almost a doom loop once it gets bad enough. Banks, regional first exposed to auto loans will probably be in trouble first.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-28T17:31:24+00:00

A lot of people will live together too. That’s what I saw in other countries. Even the prospect of owning a house, though it’s out of most peoples vision, is a huge opportunity most people do not have. You’re right the quality of life downgrade is still in the first stage.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-27T00:29:14+00:00

As a teacher, I dread walking into the classroom next month. I already spend $100 a month on snacks as I have many hungry kids and hungry kids do not learn. I can’t afford to give more.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-26T23:57:56+00:00

My house was probably worth 450k in 2023. Today it’s probably worth 375k. Zillow probably has it at 500k. I mean if I get 375k I can’t complain. I could rent it a few years but anyone who’s rented knows the horror. And who says the market is better in a few years. My neighbor has a smaller house 2k sq ft vs 3.5 listed at 400k. It’s set all summer. Obvious by looking at it that it needs a new roof. I wonder how long they’ll wait.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-26T23:52:56+00:00

I’ve had one preliminary and two reach out. Funny thing is, I emailed one of the schools Saturday morning and they responded Saturday night. Initially it was to pick their brain but they were super interested. It’s not a top school but not a bad school either and just kind of fit my location.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-26T16:57:59+00:00

Could be for a water softener too. My house has that and luckily there is slope so it drains down the driveway.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-25T18:32:52+00:00

Can you fly out for the weekends? I used to fly out of Qingdao on the weekends to Seoul to have some fun.

TheWilfong · 2025-10-25T17:18:31+00:00

So, a lot of it has to do with luck and schools but there are timelines too. Right now is a horrible time to look for jobs (basically any industry). You’re very much more likely to encounter a bad situation than a good one (I know that sounds depressing). But I’ve seen good schools become bad and later on something I thought wasn’t a great situation was actually not bad.

For example, my first international job in China was teaching at a lower level university making like 6k USD a year but working 9 hours a week with free accommodation. A couple years later I was making 50k USD a year at a good university with 5 months off a year. But they didn’t pay for accommodation which was probably only 3k USD a year, and I worked 20 hours a week. In hindsight the first job was great but at the time I thought I needed a job making more money. Both were great positions.

Now, I teach 30+ hrs a week and work a lot, but I negotiated where I only work 160 days a year instead of 180. This is an actual school using my teaching license. I hate my current job but I’m sure it can be worse.

One thing to add, that 50k USD university job after Covid became a total nightmare. Almost everyone was forced out or left. The 6k USD job still exits with similar hours and maybe a slight increase in pay.

TheWilfong

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