I would recommend investing in broad based index funds that follow the US and international stock market with an allocation roughly 65% stocks and equities and 35% bonds. Check out Andrew Hallam's book, "poor Teacher"

Nothing is risk free but without some risk, you will not get any return. By diversifying properly (such as index funds), you minimize risk and volatility.

Do not invest with an investment firm as these funds are actively managed, not properly diversified and most importantly, will charge upward of 2% of your returns.

Leave the funds in for 20 years, continue to add in every year and you will have a very nice nest egg by the time you are 55+

Prepare yourself for the new head Tony Harduar. He was the ES principal at ISKL and from my friends' reports, he is autocratic, conservative and inexperienced as an international admin (came straight out of the US prior to ISKL). Perhaps a bad school deserves a bad leader?

[quote="mbovi"]Thank you, lifeisnotsobad.

I just ignore Psyguy actually. It's quite funny how artful he is at concocting stories or egging people on with disagreements. It doesn't take much to figure out that he's probably an unemployed educator who sits at home all day, reads the forums, reviews, internet material and artfully constructs it together to put it on here as " fact ", thus, providing self-affirmation that he still matters in the profession....because there's a mental disorder that lies behind the obssessive compulsive need to comment fanatically at EVERYTHING.

It's sad really. One has to wonder what type of mental disorder he might actually have. It's actually fascinating. I mean, after all, the moderators have kept him on here for so long. He must be a cause of entertainment. It's like, " Hey, look what kind of fantastical crap Psyguy has come up again ( guffawing ) ".

What's seriously troubling is this though : There are many newbies who go on here who would take his advice or " knowledge ". For us "old" international educators bounding around the world, we laugh at him. But for the bright-eyed newbies...I fear the worst.[/quote]

Agreed whole heartedly!

[quote="Ddd"]Bangkok Patana School
NIST Bkk
Alice Smith KL
Tanglin Trust School Sg
British School of Manila[/quote]

NIST is the only one there that is a tier 1. I've been to Alice Smith and Tanglin.. not even close.

My list after living in Asia for more than 10 years and have worked at several of the below:

ISB (Beijing)
WAB
ISB (Bangkok)
NIST
Yokohama
Taipei
ISM
ISKL
SAS
UWC
JIS
HKIS
Shanghai American

Good, so we have established that you pay a membership fee to find out statistics about a school. Don't you think this data would be helpful to new teachers? Wouldn't you think it would be helpful ahead of time to find out such things as salary, housing, benefits etc? So now we know you don't actually practice what you preach.

Okay, I will stop saying 270 schools are listed with Search, 272 are listed. Why do you think the remaining 378 schools aren't listed? Why on the fair does it say the following? So any "client school can recruit at a fair", why do they need an invitation then?

[quote][quote]How to apply for a place as a Recruiter at Search Associates' Bangkok-Spring Fair:

1. Contact Michael Williams to request an invitation. MWilliams@searchassociates.com.

2. Once you receive your invitation, register your school's vacancies electronically. This will allow teachers to see that you will be interviewing at the Bangkok-Spring Fair. [/quote]

Those schools do not apply because they know that they can't compete with tier 1 and 2 schools and also because they will not receive invitations from the recruiters.

So your claim is that these schools are perfectly well known amongst...the international teachers who work at the school? LOL I assumed that much. Why don't we broaden those stats to a wider demographic.

Again, I never said those 5 schools you listed in France, weren't international in the same way I said that any language school can be "international" simply by putting that on their school logo. This doesn't suddenly make them Tier 1 or 2 schools. Like you said, there are 2000 World IB Schools out there and you wouldn't start telling new teachers with 3 kids to start applying to each of them would you?

Now I suggest you stop trolling these boards with your arrogance and condescending opinions. I'm quite sure you wouldn't be so forthcoming with your rude comments if your identity came out....[/quote]

So if it is so easy to get hired without Search Associates, why hasn't the almighty PsyGuy taken his own medicine instead of paying Search Associates to be a member? Why would you tell 2 teachers who have never been overseas before to just wing it without the help of recruitment agencies when a so called experienced international teacher such as yourself, doesn't even do it? You're a joke and a hypocrite.

The list of the 270 schools on Search Associates is a list of reputable well-known schools. The ones that register through the database are one you include in your loosely defined definition of an "international school" which include the likes of the Victor Hugo School or the International Bilingual School of Providence that no experienced international teacher has ever heard of. There is a reason that they don't get invites to a fair.

I have not abandoned the 271 schools. There are 271 schools posted on the Search Associates website, 75 of them are from Europe. I do not have access to the database so cannot check your "stats".

LOL at your choices of tier 1/2 schools. Those schools would barely be considered a tier 3. Some of them don't even have an employment page. None of them have even been reviewed on ISR. Just because they have been authorized by the IBO, does not make them a tier 1/2 school. Keep trying though...

There are 75 [i]reputable[/i] international schools from Europe registered with Search according to their website. Of course there are many other "international" schools but any language school can simply slap an international in front of their name. That's why I brought up the importance of being accredited. Do you really think that a teaching couple will save anything at these smaller schools? The point was to recommend them to reputable tier1/2 schools from Europe.

Please Psychguy, if there are so many other hidden gems, give me a list of 5 quality tier 1 schools from Europe not registered with Search? Didn't think so...

I'll even help you out a little, glance down the stats of all international schools from ISC and find them [url]http://www.iscresearch.com/internationa ... the-world/.[/url] Of course, Spain claims to have 185 "international schools" so are you trying to tell me that by not paying Search the fees, they are missing out on these hidden gems?

To the OP, the point is by at least registering with Search, you are making yourself known to the international community where they can check your credentials, experience and references. Sure you might get lucky and get an interview or two by applying to them directly, but it is unlikely, especially if you are new to international teaching. I would increase your chances by registering with Search and then if no bites, attend a job fair. [/url]

Ignore PsyGuy as per many threads ([url]http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v ... php?t=2833[/url]) discounting his arrogant opinions.

According to the Search Associates site, there are 75 EU schools registered with Search out of a total of 271 schools in their database (28%) which comprises of all big EU international schools and many smaller ones. There simply aren't other EU schools out there so Psy's little stat actually is irrelevant and taken out of context. 28% is the total number of EU schools out of all international schools.

It would be very difficult to get hired without international experience through any other ways outside of a recruitment agency. I'm not sure what other sources PsyGuy alludes to other than email or internal connections. Your probability decreases quite a bit if you rely on these means.

Also, just because you have kids, certainly does not mean that your "probability drops to zero". PsyGuy is not a administrator and does not know how recruiters make decisions. I have plenty of friends with kids who are working in Europe and those schools pay free tuition. If the school likes you and feels that you are a good fit, they will hire you.

Good luck with your search.

[quote="nkraai"][quote="Snowbeavers"]This is not a common practice and I would not recommend this as it could jeopardize your professional career. You could be blacklisted from ever signing up with ISS or Search again. Don't do it.[/quote

My wife and I are elated about where we are headed. We have no desire to break our word. However, we still get contacted by other schools, some new, some we had applied for earlier. Do schools poach candidates who have made commitments to other schools?[/quote]

Not reputable ones...Again, this could affect the school's reputation and chance of being invited to the recruitment fairs.

[quote="micki0624"]I am wondering what documents do we need to bring/scan when living abroad?

Obviously we are bringing our passports, but should we bring or scan these:

vaccination records
US ID
US Credit Cards - yes I know we can use these, and may want to bring 1, but all of ours?
marriage certificate
birth certificates

Is there anything else you would recommend or delete from this list?

Also, once there, do you purchase a safe for these documents? Do you always keep your passports on you at all times? (I am moving to S.Korea)

Any tips on how what to bring and keep it safe is appreciated. Also, anything scanned I am passing on to our family in the states so they can have it just in case.[/quote]

I would do both. Make copies but you may need the originals of US ID Cards or birth certificates as if you need to get a new passport, generally you need 1 of these. Personally, I bring all originals of them with me and keep them locked in a safe. You can always get replacements if lost/stolen but chances are, you will need originals at some point.

Bring all your credit cards for emergency purposes and keep 2 of them locked in a safe.

This is not a common practice and I would not recommend this as it could jeopardize your professional career. You could be blacklisted from ever signing up with ISS or Search again. Don't do it.

Some of the abbreviations you might run into:

IB-International Baccalaureate: Refers to the IB program and is an internationally accreditation body for many international schools. Within that framework are IB Diploma Program (HS), MYP (Middle Years Program) and PYP (Primary Years Program). Many IB schools will be looking for candidates with "IB experience"

CIS and WASC-Other accreditation bodies. Council of International Schools and Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Generally you would want a school that is accredited by one ore more of the international bodies.

What abbreviations have you been running into? There are tons of acronyms out there!

First of all congrats on taking the plunge overseas. You will love it!

With both your experience, education and skills, you will have no trouble finding jobs overseas. As it is your first international post, you might not be able to get into some of the top schools as they may opt to go for experienced international teachers but really depends on the school. May I ask how many kids you have? If 2 or less, you shouldn't have a problem but more than 2, some schools will not provide free tuition for all of them. Again, this varies from school to school.

I would definitely recommend joining Search or ISS and sign up for one of the upcoming fairs. This is a good way to connect with other int teachers and learn about international schools. You might be too late for this year though as most of the prep starts in the fall and job fairs tend to fill up fast. You might be able to get into some of the late fairs (one in London in April) though. Check out the schedule here: http://www.searchassociates.com/Job-Fairs/Default.aspx

Rough step by step process if you were to start next fall:

July-Aug 13'-Begin researching potential schools and locations and get a rough idea of where you might like to live. Update resumes, take care of financials back home, ask for reference letters (the earlier the better). Read some of the reviews on here (but take with a grain of salt)

Sept-Register with Search or ISS. Get all paperworks submitted, pay fees, etc. Register for one of the early fairs (Bangkok ,San Francisco, Boston or London)

Oct-Send out resumes and emails to schools. Don't expect much of a response but it still worthwhile. Keep a list of schools that you have contacted and their responses (if any)

Nov-Dec Continue researching schools. Book flights, hotels, etc

Jan-Feb-Recruit! Interview with 8-12 of your top schools. Keep an open mind, you might end up going to somewhere you completely didn't expect. Relax and enjoy the ride!

Could anyone give a realistic picture of how much you can generally save at the best schools in Europe per year for a teaching couple with over 10 years exp + masters? We have no children or mortgages or debt and live a comfortable lifestyle.

Specifically Western/Northern Europe:
Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Prague or Switzerland?