[quote="stateside"]I'd like to pose a question, first: Do you teach overseas for the money, experience, or both? And are you committed to the education profession of and advancing with it? [/quote]

My husband and I are definitely doing it for the experience of living abroad and experiencing another culture. Well--if we couldn't make a living teaching abroad and save some money as well, at least on par with what we could do if we stayed put, we probably wouldn't be doing it. We didn't get into teaching for the money of course, but you have to make a living. We consider teaching abroad as the best way to combine two things we really love, teaching and traveling. Being able to save money and plan for the future--a necessity, but not the motive for teaching overseas.

I'm actually pretty new to the teaching profession, and just finished my M.Ed. I wasn't thrilled with my experience in a public school here in the US--most of the teachers I worked with were very dedicated and passionate about teaching and their love of their students was evident. BUT, they were being constrained by the system they were in and by NCLB. They had so little freedom to do what they knew to be best for the kids. I'm hoping my experience abroad will be different and I'll have more freedom to teach they way that I believe is best.

Overhere--thanks for the caution. I suspected as much. We've put our loans on deferment for a year for that reason--we're not expecting to be able to save much right away. We're also not planning on much travel the first year, except perhaps in-country. Though we do hope to do a bit of traveling elsewhere at some point.

I'm also very interested in this subject. My husband and I are heading overseas for our first international teaching positions this year. We are in our early 30s and have a young child. We also have some debt (student loans mostly). Although our starting income will be good, I doubt it will be enough to both save and pay off our debts--let alone begin to save for retirement.

We knew we wanted to go overseas to teach, but didn't think through the savings part very much. Now that I am, I'm starting to feel a bit worried. Although I think we will be happy at our new school, we will probably be going to another fair in a few years to look for a school that offers a better package, where we can then stay for a number of years and save more money.

I know some schools offer a retirement fund contribution (ours, sadly, does not). Can anyone share their experiences with those funds? Is it possible to carry them from school to school? If not--what happens to it if/when you leave your school? Is it a smart investment to put the maximum amount allowed into such an account, or is it better invested elsewhere?

I appreciate the tip about looking for schools that pay into US SS. I hadn't thought about that before. Other than that and a retirement fund, any other such benefits that I should really be looking for on the next go round?