2026年，改變我人生的台灣 My Predictions for Taiwan in 2026 (And Why It’s Personal)

2026 is shaping up to be an awesome year for the country of Taiwan. From the economy and politics to technology and society, there are some trends that are really looking to shape the year positively for the country. And not only for the country, but for me personally, there are some big changes on the horizon that are going to have a massive effect on the year of 2026. So with that being said, in today's video, I'm going to try something a little bit different and I'm going to be making some predictions for the country of Taiwan and for my personal life. Things I think might happen, certainly will happen, certainly won't happen. And then at the end of the year, if I'm still alive, during my Christmas trip to the UK with William, we'll revisit them and see how accurate I was. Enough talking, let's get started. But before we truly get started, let's address the elephants in the room, this mustache. It's proving very divisive amongst my friend group, so I need your help voting in the comment section down below. Keep the tash or lose the tash. It's up to you and I'll do whatever the majority of you guys vote. So yes, get your vote in now on whether to keep or lose the mustache. But as for talking about my predictions for this year, there's no better place to start than family. My son William is back in Taiwan. A prediction I made nine years ago when he left has finally come true. He's going to be attending junior high school here in Taiwan. So my predictions for him are that he is going to adapt quickly, fit in well with his international schoolmates, and of course, learn Chinese. He is attending an international school up in Hsinchu, where there's not as much pressure on his Chinese ability, but I certainly predict that he will do much better when it comes to learning the language than I did as he's going to have a formal education in the language rather than just trying to pick it up willy-nilly as I have done over the past 17 years. We'll see how his Chinese ability goes. And I've not included him in many videos yet since he's been back as I really want to give him a chance to settle in, find his feet, become comfortable here in Taiwan. What did you just eat? But I'm sure you'll be seeing more of William on the channel throughout 2026. But talking of international schools, I do want to make one more prediction regarding this subject, because at the moment, there's about 1 million foreign workers in Taiwan, many of whom have children in the public sector and the private sector education. So what I predict with the new rules that Taiwan has introduced regarding relaxing the visa requirements on skilled foreign workers, I predict a big increase in the number of foreign international students attending Taiwanese schools and international schools. Apparently, at the moment, 7% of all students in Taiwan are made up of international students. I'm predicting this is going to increase. Just a small prediction for you related to the school system. Now that I've got a son here in Taiwan's education system, which I am so happy to talk about, so happy to be able to finally say William lives in Taiwan and 2026 is going to be his year to find his feet in his new country. And talking of William adjusting to life here in Taiwan, something that makes adapting to life in any foreign country much easier is going to bring me to today's video sponsor, NordVPN. If you live in Taiwan long term, you'll soon discover that life here is very digital. I'm constantly using online banking, online payment systems, which all depend on a safe, secure internet connection, especially as I'm often using the public Wi-Fi in coffee shops, co-working spaces, or when I've got the money to stay in one, hotels. Another big reason I use NordVPN is access. As an expat living overseas, you often bounce around between systems from the two different countries. Sometimes I need my UK services to work in Taiwan and when I'm back in the UK, I need my Taiwanese services to work there. And NordVPN keeps that process as smooth as possible and not frustrating at all. And it's not just the important adulting stuff. Sometimes it's just about entertainment and accessing the right content. When I'm outside of Taiwan, I still want access to Taiwanese content. And in the same vein, when I'm in Taiwan, I sometimes want to access UK TV shows. And NordVPN allows me to change my IP address to hundreds of different countries around the world. So wherever I find myself, because of NordVPN, things just work the way I want them to. NordVPN is just one of those tools that sits quietly in the background on your computer, making these tasks much more convenient, much more simple, and of course, much safer. And right now, if you sign up for Nord's two-year plan, you'll not only qualify for the already amazing discounts, but when you use my code LIFEINTAIWAN at checkout, you'll qualify for four months completely free extra service. I think that's enough about NordVPN. So thanks to them once again for sponsoring this video. But as for now, if you're back to the video, my predictions about 2026 for myself and this awesome country of Taiwan. So yes, thanks to NordVPN for sponsoring the video. But onto the next prediction. And that's going to bring me to my health. Many of you may already know that I was diagnosed with Parkinson's a couple of years ago. Okay, that's not very good news. And that had a massive impact on my 2024 and 2025. And actually, I've come off medication for the past few months because I was suffering with some really bad side effects. And I just wanted to see how bad my Parkinson's actually was without medication. And some of you may or may not have noticed in some of my videos, my right hand is very wooden, very stiff, basically useless when it comes to typing and fine motor skills. I can live with that as for now, rather than dealing with those side effects that were causing me some really big problems. But my predictions for 2026 are that as long as I keep active, stay healthy, do my best to eat as healthy as possible, exercise a few times a week. Despite the fact that one of the main symptoms of Parkinson's, dopamine receptors cause incredible tiredness. I have not known tiredness, laziness like it in my life. So I've got to force myself to stay active, get outside, still keep filming videos, take William for walks, ride bikes, play badminton as much as I can just to make sure that I stay active and just make sure that I don't let the disease take over me, define me. I'm sure many of you will have noticed that I'm trying to stay positive, not letting the disease become a definition of who I am. That's largely in part to the fact that I've got to stay active, I've got to keep earning money for William's education. The international school is not cheap. I can't just give up. I don't have a retirement plan. I don't have any life insurance or serious illness insurance that pays out upon diagnosis. So I've got to keep working. So I'll keep doing that. And my prediction for the year for my disease is that it just stays stable. I really hope that I don't deteriorate any worse than I already have. A lot of people keep asking me, Hi, how are you? I feel really guilty when I have to say, I won't get better, but I'm staying stable. Stable is the only answer that I can give to people when I answer them about my condition. So, yeah, key words when it comes to a prediction for Parkinson's and my health is just stay stable. Stable so that I can keep earning money. Thank God for sake and word money that keeps us all under pressure. And talking of money, that's going to bring me to business and my business in particular being YouTube and now English teaching once again, as I've gone back to Amazing Talker to pick up some extra income that should be covering William's increased school fees. But I've always been open and honest on this channel and made videos about how much I've made each year. And 2025, other than the first year I started, probably the lowest income I've ever made from YouTube at just over $10,000 for the year. That's $300,000 for the year. Oh my God. Absolutely shocking. Barely scraping by on minimum wage. Yes, of course, there were some sponsors to throw into that, but it wasn't even double the $300,000 when all the income was included. So my financial situation is not as good as you may think for a YouTuber with over 300,000 subscribers. But again, as I said, Amazing Talker helped me pick up a little bit of extra income. But I am predicting that in 2026, I will move away from Amazing Talker and move students into my own private one-on-one personal English teaching course. And I already have a website. You can see it on the screen right now. And you can click the link in the description down below to go check out my English consultancy business. Whether you're looking for one-on-one English lessons online, face-to-face if you're in Taichung, of course, or indeed, whether your company or business is looking for some kind of English consultancy, I do pride myself on having a pretty perfect English ability as well as a good standard of teaching that I've learned over the past 17 years. So if you're interested in that, links in the description down below. And yes, just to give you a measurable prediction, I plan and predict that I'll be earning equal amounts from YouTube and from English teaching by the end of the year. Hopefully, both of which numbers are significantly higher than the US$10,000 I earned this year. And talking of my own economical business situation, that's going to bring me on to some predictions that I can maybe make about Taiwan's economy. And yes, of course, it's easy to predict Taiwan's economy is going to grow, especially with the importance of the silicon chips and the use of AI. And here in Taipei, economists are feeling upbeat about its 2026 as well. NVIDIA is growing, TSMC are growing. And I'm not going to stand here and say that I'm some kind of perfect economist with some insider knowledge. Just because I live in Taiwan doesn't mean I know more about the economy than the next guy. But it is being said, the economy will grow by as much as 3.5, 4.5. I've seen all kinds of numbers. So let's just say my prediction for 2026 is that Taiwan's economy, the TaiX, the Taiwan Stock Exchange is going to continue to grow. And if I was in a better financial position, I would definitely know where to be investing my money. But as for now, I'm investing everything I've got in my son to hopefully see if he can pay it back in the future when he becomes a whiz kid, computer engineer, software engineer or computer programmer, whatever his heart desires. Now, one thing I know equally as little about the Taiwanese economy is the Taiwanese political situation. Yes, I'm fully aware of the basics. And most people around the world have some inkling as to the tensions between China and Taiwan. China says it has started large scale military exercises around Taiwan. And it's a subject that my family and my friends from back in the UK often ask me about and what my opinion, what my predictions on it. So I'm going to put it on record right now. The 2026 will see some increased tension between the two countries. It's getting more and more tense every year that the DPP is in power. But despite the fact that some experts online predicted invasion before the year 2027. 2027 is a year that we need to watch out. Xi Jinping is likely to go into his fourth term. I disagree. As I said, I'm far from an expert on the situation. If you're looking for an expert, then Uncle Tofu Meguro Susu is your man. So the fact that this is happening is not a surprise at all. But my prediction is that Xi Jinping will never press the big red button to start an invasion. He doesn't want to take the risk of losing Taiwan in a war. The possibility of starting a war and winning it is there, of course. But the possibility of losing a war and formally losing Taiwan officially on paper would just be too much for him to handle. And in his mind, Taiwan is already part of China. The status quo is being upheld in his mind. So for him to risk his legacy, shall we say, with losing a war is just not going to happen. That's my prediction. This is my channel. I'm prepared to put my neck on the line and say it. Of course, we never know the future. If things do go wrong, I'll have to re-evaluate my situation and William's situation in Taiwan. But I think Taiwan remains one of the safest countries in the world, despite this overhanging sword of Damocles that China have hanging over us. Pretty much nothing for us to worry about. And the general consensus here in Taiwan is that life just goes on. No one is talking about it, really. No one is worried about it. The international community are talking about it much more than they are here in Taiwan. Well, every year China is ramping up these drills. And what we're seeing now is the same pattern we've seen over recent years. Yes, there was some dick swinging and military drills a few weeks ago. And they are going to happen all the time. I predict more and more military drills throughout 2026. But an actual invasion with troops on the ground, almost certainly no chance. So there you have my predictions for 2026. Some personal, some related to the country of Taiwan and the situation here. And if you have your own predictions for 2026, then please let me know in the comment section down below. I do really enjoy replying to comments. And Super Chats can now be responded to with a voice message. If you leave me a Super Chat, I'll be able to respond with a personal voice message to you. So give it a go. Why not? As for now, it's time for me to say goodbye and quickly remind you to go check out that link to NordVPN in the description down below to get four months extra free service when you sign up to one of their two-year plans. Super good deal. Go check it out. As for now, it's time for me to say goodbye. I'll see you next time in my life in Taiwan. Peace. Bye-bye.