I am Canadian, living in S. Korea and recently married on paper, but saving for an actual wedding (she is Korean). We have no kids, but want them soon. I’m currently teaching English. Most of which is private lessons(quite lucrative). I have a Kinesiology degree and no other credentials aside from teaching English for 12 years.
I’m trying to decide what the best move would be for my family. Being that I’m 45 the idea of pension/retirement is on my mind constantly.
These are my options as I see it right now.
1. Continue teaching English and likely open a study room/ English academy
2. Return to Canada to earn my Education degree (considering programs that range between 10 to 18 months. I have found 5 worth considering).
3. Going the alternate route of attaining a teaching license. Teach-now seems to suit me best.

The first option scares me as it’s a competitive market and pretty risky as Korea has a declining birthrate. But the rewards could be great. Even at my age I’m in pretty high demand to teach private lessons to kids from K-6 grade.

Option 2 is what I want to do in my heart, but it’s expensive and really doesn’t put us in a great situation to start a family. Plus, my wife will have to apply for permanent residency and wait months for a work permit while I’m studying. Then when finished…possibly be on a sub list for years. Although, my hometown is screaming for teachers and a few of my friends are teachers and administrators there. So, I will have a leg up. Also, the pension upon retirement would be great. Although, it won’t be all that much as I won’t have the years to contribute. Roughly 25k/yr if I’m lucky. Going this route my wife will have to find some sort of work as well…not sure what her prospects will be.

Option 3 would be the easiest in the short term. I could do the program while still working so won’t cut into our savings. She is interested in it too and she graduated from a US university so we would both get our teaching credential at the same time. We could use our savings for a wedding and get our lives started. My concern here is that we won’t be able to save enough for retirement. And how competitive would we be for potential jobs at international schools? We would both be going the primary route. Although I may be able to teach higher grades if I’m teaching phys ed. And could possibly do some coaching. And how likely is it that we would both find positions in the same school….especially as I get older(she’s 12 years younger than me)? Must be tough to find work after 60.

Probably worth noting that if we do decide on option 3….then that would pretty much preclude us from ever moving back to Canada as they don’t recognize the licensure that goes along with teach-now. I don’t feel the need to move back, but with aging parents I may want to at some point.

So what would you do in this situation?