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If you leave Taiwan to live in the UK, will you be better off financially? The average wage in the UK is approximately double that in Taiwan. That sounds good, but how much money will you spend in the UK? The bad news is that it is a cold country and therefore you need to heat your home for 7 or 8 months of the year. In fact, if you may want to heat it in summer too, occasionally. Worse still is that heating costs more than cooling, so you will definitely use more energy than in Taiwan.

Rent is more expensive than in Taiwan, maybe around twice the price. So, with both wages and rent being about double, maybe you will be equally well-off in either country.

What other things do you spend your money on? Food is one of the major things. Unlike Taiwan, there are not many places to eat other than formal restaurants, and they are very expensive. Therefore, you will have to eat at home, so you better be able to cook. Buying food in the supermarket in the UK is a little more expensive than in Taiwan, but not a lot more. Bread and milk, though, are cheaper in the UK.

Do you smoke cigarettes? If so, the fact that your salary in the UK is twice that of Taiwan suddenly doesn't look so good, because the price of cigarettes is up to six times the price in Taiwan!

Travel, especially by train is more than twice the price of Taiwan. Travel by coach (long distance bus) is a little cheaper, but it is very slow and they are not very frequent, so not many people elect for this form of transport.

If you live in London, the underground (metro/subway) system is very expensive - the cheapest ticket being about five times that in Taipei, although a distance equivalent to Taipei to Dan Shui may be only three times the price. In addition, being the world's oldest underground, along with London being more crowded than Taipei, travelling by underground is a very uncomfortable experience.

The cost of buying a car may be similar to the cost in Taiwan, and the annual costs may also be similar, except gas, which is about twice the price in the UK.

To sum up, your wage may be twice as much as in Taiwan, and the cost of many things is also about double the cost in Taiwan, for example rent, buying property, and buying gas for your car. So, if you only spend money on these things, you won’t find much difference in either country. But there are a few things in the UK which cost less than twice that in Taiwan, such as milk, bread, and maybe alcohol, which makes it slightly advantageous to live in the UK if you consume these items regularly. However, there are many things which cost more than twice that of Taiwan, for example cigarettes, travel, and heating (as opposed to cooling) your apartment, which make it less advantageous.

In addition to financial considerations, you might like to know that even though you earn more money in the UK, you have difficulty spending it, because most shops are closed after 5:30 p.m.