I need financial advice

[daveblax]

I have been saving up my money here doing a lot of part time jobs at night and on the weekends. By the time I leave China this summer, I should have around 35-40K saved up.

All of my money is deposited into my Chinese bank account. I am not sure how I should transfer my money back to the United States. Should I use Paypal? Western Union? Bank wire transfer? I feel like they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Another option could be to leave a large portion on my money in my Chinese bank account. The Chinese Yuan has been appreciating, and I believe it will continue to do so.

When I return to the United States, I will be student teaching and finishing my masters degree. This is a huge time commitment, and will not allow me to earn a lot of money during this time. I am not sure what my wife will do for work during this time. What kind of work have other people's Chinese wives found?

My biggest problem is that I have a massive amounts of student debt. How much of it should I pay off? I enrolled in the income based repayment program, so at this time my payments are really low. I know debt is terrible, but I am not sure if I should use all of my money towards this. I would love to save up for a house sometime within the next five years.

Any advice for me would be greatly appreciated.

[Randy W]

 

I have been saving up my money here doing a lot of part time jobs at night and on the weekends. By the time I leave China this summer, I should have around 35-40K saved up.

All of my money is deposited into my Chinese bank account. I am not sure how I should transfer my money back to the United States. Should I use Paypal? Western Union? Bank wire transfer? I feel like they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Another option could be to leave a large portion on my money in my Chinese bank account. The Chinese Yuan has been appreciating, and I believe it will continue to do so.

When I return to the United States, I will be student teaching and finishing my masters degree. This is a huge time commitment, and will not allow me to earn a lot of money during this time. I am not sure what my wife will do for work during this time. What kind of work have other people's Chinese wives found?

My biggest problem is that I have a massive amounts of student debt. How much of it should I pay off? I enrolled in the income based repayment program, so at this time my payments are really low. I know debt is terrible, but I am not sure if I should use all of my money towards this. I would love to save up for a house sometime within the next five years.

Any advice for me would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Be careful - you might find yourself accused of having worked illegally. If this is ¥34-40K(CNY), though, you may be able to simply fly under the radar, especially by keeping it in a Chinese bank account. If you want to convert to US dollars, you may want to get your wife to do the conversion or to initiate the transfer.

 

Add to your list of options that of carrying it with you when you travel. This is the least expensive and simplest option, even if it IS $35-40K(USD).

 

It sounds like you already know the advantages and disadvantages, and simply need to decide which one is best for your purposes.

 

If you want to invest the money, I would advise doing so in the U.S. (in dollars, NOT in RMB). There are Chinese stocks (ADR's) listed on the American stock exchanges, and mutual funds (such as MCHFX) which specialize in Chinese investments. I personally advise AGAINST investing in the Chinese market for now, even through the American exchanges.

 

If you simply want to keep the money in a bank account, then yes, the Chinese bank account may be your best option.

 

Employment in China seems highly transitory. Everytime we go ANYWHERE, it seems like they have "new" employees.

 

Pay off your loans at the highest interest rate first, as you have available money. I had one loan at around 1% that I simply paid the minimum and took the full 10 years to pay off

[daveblax]

I have been working at some different schools part time to make extra money. How can I be more careful so I don't get accused of working illegally?

 

Since I should have around 35k USD saved up, I wouldn't be able to carry that amount of cash into the United States, correct? Even if my wife and I both carried 10k each, I am not sure what I should do with the rest of my money. I am leaning towards sending it to myself using paypal.

 

Thanks a lot for your advice. Your help is always greatly appreciated.

 

-Dave

[Randy W]

I have been working at some different schools part time to make extra money. How can I be more careful so I don't get accused of working illegally?

 

Since I should have around 35k USD saved up, I wouldn't be able to carry that amount of cash into the United States, correct? Even if my wife and I both carried 10k each, I am not sure what I should do with the rest of my money. I am leaning towards sending it to myself using paypal.

 

Thanks a lot for your advice. Your help is always greatly appreciated.

 

-Dave

 

 

You can get your wife to convert it for you, or get her to initiate the transfer in her name. I'm not sure that that's necessary - just bringing it to your attention. You apparently DON'T have a working visa, since that would tie you to a single employer.

 

To carry more than $10,000 with you on your return, you would simply need to declare it to customs in the U.S.

 

You are required to report your Chinese earnings on your income tax return, but would most likely owe $0 tax on it, thanks to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, UNLESS you also have U.S.-based income to report which pushes you into a higher tax bracket. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion does not allow you to EXCLUDE Foreign Earned Income - it gives you a tax credit based on the lowest American tax brackets.

[dan1984]

 

I have been working at some different schools part time to make extra money. How can I be more careful so I don't get accused of working illegally?

 

Since I should have around 35k USD saved up, I wouldn't be able to carry that amount of cash into the United States, correct? Even if my wife and I both carried 10k each, I am not sure what I should do with the rest of my money. I am leaning towards sending it to myself using paypal.

 

Thanks a lot for your advice. Your help is always greatly appreciated.

 

-Dave

 

 

You can get your wife to convert it for you, or get her to initiate the transfer in her name. I'm not sure that that's necessary - just bringing it to your attention. You apparently DON'T have a working visa, since that would tie you to a single employer.

 

To carry more than $10,000 with you on your return, you would simply need to declare it to customs in the U.S.

 

You are required to report your Chinese earnings on your income tax return, but would most likely owe $0 tax on it, thanks to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, UNLESS you also have U.S.-based income to report which pushes you into a higher tax bracket. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion does not allow you to EXCLUDE Foreign Earned Income - it gives you a tax credit based on the lowest American tax brackets.

 

 

Just to clarify, if you carry more than $10,000 with you on your return to the U.S., this is just declaring it, and you won't need to pay taxes on it, correct?

[Randy W]

 

 

I have been working at some different schools part time to make extra money. How can I be more careful so I don't get accused of working illegally?

 

Since I should have around 35k USD saved up, I wouldn't be able to carry that amount of cash into the United States, correct? Even if my wife and I both carried 10k each, I am not sure what I should do with the rest of my money. I am leaning towards sending it to myself using paypal.

 

Thanks a lot for your advice. Your help is always greatly appreciated.

 

-Dave

 

 

You can get your wife to convert it for you, or get her to initiate the transfer in her name. I'm not sure that that's necessary - just bringing it to your attention. You apparently DON'T have a working visa, since that would tie you to a single employer.

 

To carry more than $10,000 with you on your return, you would simply need to declare it to customs in the U.S.

 

You are required to report your Chinese earnings on your income tax return, but would most likely owe $0 tax on it, thanks to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, UNLESS you also have U.S.-based income to report which pushes you into a higher tax bracket. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion does not allow you to EXCLUDE Foreign Earned Income - it gives you a tax credit based on the lowest American tax brackets.

 

 

Just to clarify, if you carry more than $10,000 with you on your return to the U.S., this is just declaring it, and you won't need to pay taxes on it, correct?

 

 

 

Yes - on your income tax, you report money actually 'earned', and don't need to report money that was simply "carried with". Possibly an important distinction there.

 

There is no other tax that would apply, nor is there a fee when declaring the funds.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[wanbinwang]

After networking with other Chinese wives who have found work in the US, I find many have chosen a career in nursing.Some are working as CNA for experience and some are in nursing school. I am also planning on going this path.

Does your wife speak good English? what did she do and what was her degree in China. I think if she is young and wants a good career, she will eventually needs to go to school in the US.

[credzba]

We talked about choices, and she wanted to try massage therapist, so we went to an orientation and when she saw the 6 HUGE book she had to learn (in english of course) she said it was too hard.

 

My wife first got a cna license, because it was fast and she was not patient (3 week course).

She cried for the first 2 weeks it was so hard. She had to move old people that weighed 200 lbs, when she only weighed 100.

Still, she wouldn't give up.

 

She saw that CMA (certified medication aid) just handed out medicine, so she got that certificate (3 months).

Got a CMA job, and hated it from day 1. While it wasn't physically stressful, they had to hand out medicine to 50 people 4 times in 4 hours (between 8 am and noon). I once figured up the time allocated, and she had about 2 minutes to get to each room, record the medicines being given, pop the medicines into a cup, or prepare solution if it was a drink, give it to the patient, wait for the patient to take the medicine.

It was all but impossible.

 

Finally, she decided to try massage therapist again (9 month class).

She graduated, took state exam, and found jobs were easy to get, pay was more than cna or cma, and people gave you tips and said thank you instead of cussing you and complaining (major issue with cna).

 

Now, she really enjoys massage therapy. She STILL works very hard. and I have to have food waiting for her when she gets home as she is just ravenous from working so hard, but in 1 year she is the top therapist at her original job, and she now works 2 days a week at one of the top businesses in the area.

 

She would advise AGAINST nursing, she hated dealing with people who were not happy with her work, no matter how hard she tried.

[daveblax]

My wife's English is very good in my opinion. Her speaking and listening is much better than her reading and writing. She is only 23, and graduated two years ago with her Bachelor's degree. She studied music education and has all of the Chinese teaching papers. She is currently working as a pre-school teacher.

 

Her goal is to be a teacher in the US. She would love to be either a Mandarin teacher or work in a pre-school. Do you know what kind of additional education would this would require?

 

I will have a discuss with her nursing and other career options.

 

Randy, thanks for the advice on carrying more than 10,000 with you into the US. I thought I read somewhere that I needed to pay additional taxes on it, but I must of read it wrong.

[Greg.D.]

Also, if you are back in grad school (you said "Masters", right? and, student teaching is for credit), you are eligible for a deferral again. Why rush to pay this off now?

Sorry if I missed something,
Greg

[daveblax]

You are right, I am going back to grad school this fall. I will have another deferral and when the deferral ends, I will go back to my income based repayment plan, so my payments right now are really small.

 

It is just that I am looking at the big picture and my debt is really overwhelming. I am not sure how I will ever pay it off making a teachers salary, and at the same time possibly buy a house and start a family.

[Greg.D.]

It is just that I am looking at the big picture and my debt is really overwhelming. I am not sure how I will ever pay it off making a teachers salary, and at the same time possibly buy a house and start a family.

Pray for MASSIVE inflation!

 

Well, you know, student loans are forever and non-dispatchable other than to pay it off. So, it's in your budget for a long time. Despite any regrets, it did allow you to get to this point and place in your life, which I think you're happy for. You may choose to augment teaching or leave teaching - you can never know! I have heard some pretty crazy life stories regarding student loan debt of people who spent it on a career path less remunerative than teaching.

Greg

 

Greg

[unmepbmn]

My wife's English is very good in my opinion. Her speaking and listening is much better than her reading and writing. She is only 23, and graduated two years ago with her Bachelor's degree. She studied music education and has all of the Chinese teaching papers. She is currently working as a pre-school teacher.

 

Her goal is to be a teacher in the US. She would love to be either a Mandarin teacher or work in a pre-school. Do you know what kind of additional education would this would require?

 

I will have a discuss with her nursing and other career options.

 

Randy, thanks for the advice on carrying more than 10,000 with you into the US. I thought I read somewhere that I needed to pay additional taxes on it, but I must of read it wrong.

 

 

Hey Dave,

 

I hope you are doing well with your studies and have started paying out your debt as well!

 

I found this post only after I have posted similar post regarding taking money out of China. Anyway, I have few more questions there..

 

It has been over a year since you posted this, I am guessing you did figure out something when you left China. Can you share a bit? Did you eventually declare customs for taking more than 10K? Please let me know how it went. Thank you so much!

 

I only work in one company, I should be able to get the tax certificates as well.