Investing while Abroad

What Should I do with my Savings?

Only my opinion, I am not a financial consultant, but unless you plan on spending a long time overseas, invest in your home country.

There will be times when you might become aware of unusual or special opportunities for investment in your new country.

I would advise staying away from them unless you have lived there for several years and have a strong understanding of the financial and legal system where you are.

Most of us don’t have that understanding, and foreigners are often fair game for a good fleecing.

Yes, you can always check websites that offer global financing tips like the popular Motley Fool, but nothing beats first-hand experience and knowledge.

Your researching can only take you so far, when it comes right down to the nitty-gritty detail of investing, you’re better of doing damage on a territory you’re familiar with and have connections on.

Long-Term Investing

If you plan to live in a certain country for the rest of your life and perhaps to retire there, then, and only then, should you consider investing in that country.

And first, be sure to listen to the old “war stories” of people who have gone down that path before. You work hard for your money, be careful not to blow it on something you have not researched carefully.

The Discussion Boards

I often read people talking about investments on the TEFL discussion boards and they often, sadly, have no idea what they are talking about. I have an MBA, have invested carefully for thirty years in real estate and in the stock market, yet often hear 21-year-olds tell me which way the US dollar is going to move against the Korean won.

Flip a coin – even experienced traders with years of Wall Street experience rarely really know.

TED’s Tips™ #1: Get your investment advice from your own personal research, pay a professional for good research, or don’t invest.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Don’t get your investment advice from English teachers. Just my opinion.

What’s up in China? Learn about a great internship program on offer if would like to Teach English in China

How to Teach English Overseas and Secrets to Success Abroad
TEFL Boot Camp  is offering a free download of their new publication Seven Secrets of Success Abroad - and along with it comes a bi-weekly installment and revision of their eBook called How to Teach English Overseas.

Great reviews for the Secrets of Success eBook – in spite of the hokey name – and the How to Teach English eBook is being updated and rewritten and sent out in installments as it is ready.

Here they are – click on the eBooks to get your FREE copies! Great information and the price is right, from our friends at TEFL Boot Camp – CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE EBOOKS.

Please let me know what you think of the ebooks – use the comments section below.

I confess both eBooks are written by yours truly – hoping to inspire others to head overseas and live life BIG out in the real world. I would value your feedback!

Teaching Abroad for Long Periods of Time

An overview of things you should be thinking about while overseas

Think networking, at home and overseas, and think about continuing or improving your credentials. Think about all the things you would do if you were still back home.

Networking

Networking is even more important overseas. You can, at times, line up good jobs via friends, often with only cursory interviews. Contacts and networking work for you even better overseas than back home.

Keep in touch with people you work with. They will move on to other, often better jobs, and so will you. You never know when your paths may meet again. Or, when you might be able to help each other.

Back Home

Don’t forget to keep in touch with your contacts and friends back home. You never know when you might want to head back. Invite them to visit you, be a great host, give them the vacation of a life time!

It could well pay dividends if you were to need a job back home on short notice. But, also, just do it for fun, not just to create an obligation.

Visit your Friends, Bosses and Coworkers

When you go back home, make sure you visit your old coworker, bosses, and friends. Nothing is worse than coming back home “cold” – having lost all your old contacts.

The work/job hunt environment back home, to me, is much more difficult than it is overseas. Much more impersonal, much more dehumanizing. Do your best to keep it personal, with a good list of personal contacts.

Improve your Credentials

Take another training course, get another degree. Some jobs overseas are only four days a week and you may get long vacations if you are lucky. Use that time to improve your credentials – so you can continue to move up the ladder and improve your wages, benefits, and free time.

Double Check Validity

Any course you take via distance learning, online, or even partial residence, may or not be considered valid where you want to go/teach next. Double check. Ask on the boards, ask potential employers what they accept and don’t accept.

Some countries and employers are very strict and some accept almost anything. Some countries will have liberal acceptance policies that hiring authorities don’t always follow and aren’t legally required to follow. Double check the reality on the ground.

TED’s Tips™ #1: Just because you are abroad doesn’t mean you don’t need to network, improve your credentials and maintain contact with old friends and employers. It is even more important.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Networking abroad is critical if you are to stay overseas a long time. Networking will especially help smooth out any rough spots caused by bad economies, bum employers or miscalculations on your part. And it is always good karma to help a friend in need find a new job. I’ve done it a few times and I know those friends, especially, would help me out if I needed it.

What’s up in China? Learn about a great internship program on offer if would like to Teach English in China

How to Teach English Overseas and Secrets to Success Abroad
TEFL Boot Camp  is offering a free download of their new publication Seven Secrets of Success Abroad - and along with it comes a bi-weekly installment and revision of their eBook called How to Teach English Overseas.

Great reviews for the Secrets of Success eBook – in spite of the hokey name – and the How to Teach English eBook is being updated and rewritten and sent out in installments as it is ready.

Here they are – click on the eBooks to get your FREE copies! Great information and the price is right, from our friends at TEFL Boot Camp – CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE EBOOKS.

Please let me know what you think of the ebooks – use the comments section below.

I confess both eBooks are written by yours truly – hoping to inspire others to head overseas and live life BIG out in the real world. I would value your feedback!

Living Abroad From Your Family

What about Aging Parents?

This is one of the toughest issues to face and with no real answer except the one that only you can provide.

While living overseas both of my parents died (about four years apart). I wasn’t able to be present at exactly the time of death, for either one of them. I think they would have liked that and I truly regret not being there.

Surely, if your parents or other family members are getting quite old, you are aware that their passing may come about. But usually, we are not able to time these things, and most parents don’t or wouldn’t want you to sit a “death watch” – at least not for an extended period of time.

I knew this would come up as I had planned to live overseas for the rest of my life and I made a real effort to go home more often, to write and call my parents more than I ever had, and to let them know that I loved them.

I told them that I loved them regularly and purposefully. I didn’t want to regret that I had not done all these things, once they were gone. I am glad I did.

Both of my parents were ill for extended periods of time before their passing. The only way I could really have been there would have been to quit my job and move back home – for years.

I think they understood my choice to not do so.
But, it still hurts when you are not there at the right moment.

TED’s Tips™ #1: If you plan on staying overseas a long time, and your parents are still alive, straighten things out with them. Get your relationship on a sound footing so you won’t later regret not having done so.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Make an extra effort to let them know you love them and settle any outstanding issues from childhood. It’s worth the peace it will bring you later. I promise.

What’s up in China? Learn about a great internship program on offer if would like to Teach English in China

How to Teach English Overseas and Secrets to Success Abroad
TEFL Boot Camp  is offering a free download of their new publication Seven Secrets of Success Abroad - and along with it comes a bi-weekly installment and revision of their eBook called How to Teach English Overseas.

Great reviews for the Secrets of Success eBook – in spite of the hokey name – and the How to Teach English eBook is being updated and rewritten and sent out in installments as it is ready.

Here they are – click on the eBooks to get your FREE copies! Great information and the price is right, from our friends at TEFL Boot Camp – CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE EBOOKS.

Please let me know what you think of the ebooks – use the comments section below.

I confess both eBooks are written by yours truly – hoping to inspire others to head overseas and live life BIG out in the real world. I would value your feedback!

Teaching English Abroad: Short- and Long-term Jobs

Is it possible to find jobs teaching English
for only a few months?

For a few years? For the rest of my life?

Yes!

Short-Term EFL Teaching Jobs

In many countries there are considerable costs for schools, in terms of money as well as in time and headaches, to get their EFL teachers legal residence visas and work permits. Therefore, you will find a smaller pool of TEFL employers who wish to employ you for short-term employment.

In the last few years though more and more short-term positions are becoming available. Some even include airfare. Head over to TEFL Temp to scout short-term jobs. If you have trouble finding short-term work (less than one year) in countries where you would like to be located, consider volunteer work in those same countries. TEFL Temp has a page on volunteer programs as well.

One Year – or a Life Time Teaching English Abroad

One-year TEFL jobs are very easy to find and if you wish to spend the rest of your life teaching EFL around the world you will find it quite easy to do so.

One caveat is that age discrimination is much more open in most of the world, but as I write this page, at 58 years of age, with white hair and a wrinkled face, I would not have trouble finding good jobs in several countries. I started in EFL at the age of forty and had no problem at that time either. But, know that the older you get, you may need to use more direct tactics, such as showing up on the scene and interviewing personally rather than applying from abroad.

What about Older EFL Teachers?

Many EFL teachers start teaching English at an older age. I did. In Korea a few years ago I saw many teachers in their 40s, 50s and even a few in their 60s. The same is true in Thailand, Taiwan, and China. If you are concerned, go on the discussion boards and ask about the countries in which you are interested.

Typically, the people who ask get positive responses from older people already teaching there or who have taught there before.

Younger EFL Teachers?

Even more demand for them! Though, you may sometimes find yourself stereotypically slotted for teaching younger students. They will think that you have the energy that kids require and schools often worry that younger teachers will not command respect from their adult students. As the great majority of students at languages in most countries are children, you are all set.

TED’s Tips™ #1: Short-term or long-term, it’s up to you. Go get it!

TED’s Tips™ #2: Older teachers, let’s say 50s and up, might need to show up on the scene to interview to avoid blatant age discrimination. Interviewing in person gives you the opportunity to demonstrate that you are energetic and positive and it will not be unusual to be offered a job on the spot.

What’s up in China? Learn about a great internship program on offer if would like to Teach English in China

How to Teach English Overseas and Secrets to Success Abroad
TEFL Boot Camp  is offering a free download of their new publication Seven Secrets of Success Abroad - and along with it comes a bi-weekly installment and revision of their eBook called How to Teach English Overseas.

Great reviews for the Secrets of Success eBook – in spite of the hokey name – and the How to Teach English eBook is being updated and rewritten and sent out in installments as it is ready.

Here they are – click on the eBooks to get your FREE copies! Great information and the price is right, from our friends at TEFL Boot Camp – CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE EBOOKS.

Please let me know what you think of the ebooks – use the comments section below.

I confess both eBooks are written by yours truly – hoping to inspire others to head overseas and live life BIG out in the real world. I would value your feedback!