The International Schools Review Forum

I would kill for 7%.... Saying that my life is awesome!

Great family, great school, awesome trips.

Money can be blessing or a curse. Quick side note, I went to check on the local nursing home for my dad a couple years ago. The woman in-charge asked how much the old man had in his bank account. I gave her the number and she said, "That's too bad because we will take it all and then its free."

Morale of the story... I am not sure???

7% is possible . . . one word for you . . . Vanguard! When I dropped my finance guy (yes, I paid the penalties but I'm still "relatively" young), and started up a Vanguard account, it was readily apparent to me how much I was paying in fees. 1 - 2% per year can really put a dent in your retirement over the lifespan of a fund.

I find a lot of these posts to be disheartening because of their low expectations. As a couple living and teaching abroad as long as you don't end up in countries where the standard of living is incredibly high the salary vs. living costs ratio should allow you to save at least 20,000 a year without even thinking about it. Double that if you actually concentrate on savings and even more if you work at one of the better schools. Lets assume you put away 20,000 a year between the two of you. It would take you 30 years at 7% interest to reach over 2 million. As someone rightly pointed out, who knows what cost of living will be then, but if you conservatively take 4% of that each year you will be getting 80k. Sure, inflation happens so that wont be worth the same, but you will be much better off than most and able to live a reasonably comfortable life.
If that doesn't sound good to you then there are easy things to do like putting away just a bit more now and/or reducing your overall spending. Life doesn't have to be about caviar dreams. You can get by pretty well on not too much.
Yes, 7% is possible. Lots of Vanguard funds will give you that.

Seven percent was only sustainable during the recent bubble-driven growth. I don't know if we will see that again. Additionally, is 30,000/year decent for two people? Is it reasonable to get 30k/year for a single earner?

Unless you either teach at an elite school or are admin, can a young person ever really get to point where saving 20k+ a year is realistic? Older teachers seem to have gotten in when salaries were better and CoL in much of the world was lower. With no pension and no social security, young teachers seem to be in bad shape. Not to mention that no one is probably going to hire me after I turn 50. Even in the ME the cost of living is going up and up.

And no, I don't think you can pay Vanguard or anyone else to get you 7% on a yearly basis.

I am CURRENTLY getting over 8% on my vanguard account. Also, I am not an admin or at an elite school and yes, I can put away about 20k a year. Both are possible. Maybe you guys should be reading and researching more about your options. Here is a good start.
http://andrewhallam.com/2012/10/singapo ... -it-looks/

I haven't read all the posts on this thread. I think there were some from the self-righteous. Glad it seems to have turned to a little more nuts and bolts. I think most if not all teachers who talk about wanting top dollar is because they are smart and planning for the future. How are we going to put food on the table? How will be pay for medical costs? Rent, etc?

It is disheartening seeing the cost of living going up around the world. But the way I look at it is that I presently live in south-east asia in a poor country. And to tell the truth I wouldn't be terribly disappointed living roughly the way the people live here. And I should be able to afford that on getting old age pension. I mean a motorbike, a room with a fan or basic aircon and tv, and 3 small healthy meals a day. But I'd have plenty of sunshine, blue skies, beautiful trees and flowers, animals, nature, smiling happy people with heart, beliefs, culture, etc. That would beat living back home in my city of concrete, glass, steel, terrible weather and people glued to the tv.

HereThereEverywhere wrote:
> I am CURRENTLY getting over 8% on my vanguard account. Also, I am not an admin or
> at an elite school and yes, I can put away about 20k a year. Both are possible.
> Maybe you guys should be reading and researching more about your options. Here is
> a good start.
> http://andrewhallam.com/2012/10/singapo ... -it-looks/

The example in the link you provided only earned a 4.95% compound annual growth rate over the 6 year period. Certainly nothing for him to boast about. A term deposit in many countries could have earned roughly that without the risk. Although, it's probably a good return for US citizens.

Besides, 6 years is only a small sample for most people saving for retirement to gain a reliable average annual growth rate. Investments must contend with multiple bull and bear market cycles, sometimes over a 30 year time span (for the younger amongst us) to have some degree of validity.

Banks where I am in a developing country, pay 10% or more on term deposits :-)

Cha ching!

shadowjack is right. Unfortunately, the problem with asian currencies and their time deposits is inflationary risk. The maturity amount may not be as much worth as it appears to be. Added to that, there is always a risk of currency devaluation based on the state of economy and asian currencies are the worst when it comes to this. May be Singapore dollar and malaysian ringgit might be exceptions.

As they always say, gotta diversify. Mutual funds, blue chip stocks, government bonds, buying property with cash in tier 2 cities with growth potential, and a small chunk of foreign currency time deposit, say in Swiss franc, CDN$, Aus$ etc. To do so, you need a solid USD 30-50K savings a year. However, if you can make it to an elite school in your twenties, you can do even better.

KAUST or ARAMCO, Saudi Arabia for salary/package alone.
Qatar Academy for salary + tutoring sidelines.

35k being dollars or pounds? If dollars, plenty of places...

Yep, 35k in dollars after tax is the minimum I'm willing to teach for, assuming housing is paid.

Teaching just like anything else is hard work. I need to get paid. There's nothing really wrong with my current school, but at the end of the month, I have maybe a few hundred bucks in the bank. Even fast food feels like a splurge, I can't go anywhere because I can't afford a car, etc. That's why I'm saying I need to get to the Middle East, even if it sucks. But according to Search sometimes the salaries aren't much better there, especially at the 3rd tier places.

Can the 1st tier schools in undesirable places still afford to be picky? I'm hoping that I will be picked up by a good school in a not-so-nice place just because no one else wants to live there. Also thinking about secondary cities in China, but China is popular.

jakegittes,

China is not as popular as you think. More and more people are realizing the pollution issues make it a less desirable place. Also, the gov't has cracked down on visas, so it is not as easy to get into as it once was.

What do you mean by cracking down on visas? Who does that effect? People with kids, I assume?