Search found 350 matches

by buffalofan
Thu Mar 17, 2022 1:32 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: UWCSEA Workload with young kids?
Replies: 16
Views: 15993

Re: UWCSEA Workload with young kids?

I filled their application form once. So painful it probably shaved a few months off my lifespan. Submitted it and was never contacted.

I think other posters have reported here that they tend to avoid teachers who are above the age of 35.
by buffalofan
Sat Feb 26, 2022 1:59 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Employer doesn't show up to scheduled online interview, what do you think happened?
Replies: 10
Views: 10702

Re: Employer doesn't show up to scheduled online interview, what do you think happened?

Consider it a bullet dodged.

One thing has been true for every job I've had (teaching or otherwise) - pay attention to how you are treated at the interview stage because you aren't going to be treated better than that if you take the job.
by buffalofan
Sat Jan 29, 2022 11:17 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Vaccination Requirements
Replies: 7
Views: 8289

Re: Vaccination Requirements

It's more than just "what country". You also need to work out which schools.

In the last two places I've worked, it's not mandated by the government (yet). But the schools I've worked at would drop your resume directly in the bin once they figure out you are not vaxxed.
by buffalofan
Mon Jan 03, 2022 3:28 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Should I get Vaccinated?
Replies: 14
Views: 17393

Re: Response

PsyGuy wrote:
>There was a Christian DS in the US that dismissed
> a DT for getting vaccinated and the HOS of the DS made a statement that
> vaccination does not conform with the DSs religious ethos.

LOL...what??? Is there a link to this story? Off the top of my head, my guess is either Florida or Indiana...
by buffalofan
Sat Dec 25, 2021 4:22 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: US Citizen - Retirement Saving...?
Replies: 12
Views: 19999

Re: US Citizen - Retirement Saving...?

[quote=Beg-1 post_id=62472 time=1640371729 user_id=242704]

Doing a Roth while abroad is the holy grail. How did you set that up?!
[/quote]

If you are paying a good whack of foreign taxes, it is pretty straightforward by using the FTC.

I disagree somewhat that it is the holy grail. Obviously the tax treatment is ideal, but contribution limits are only 6k or 7k USD per year. Compare that to finding a school that offers a 401k with matching where you can stick in up to $20k USD or so a year + the match. Or saving in a taxable brokerage account that has no limit, and the standard deduction will take care of any tax liability in most situations.
by buffalofan
Fri Dec 17, 2021 10:39 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: US Citizen - Retirement Saving...?
Replies: 12
Views: 19999

Re: US Citizen - Retirement Saving...?

If you find a school with a 401k for US citizens with a match, that is the best you can hope for. Not common but they do exist.

Otherwise your only option is a normal (taxable) US-based brokerage account. This can be tricky, as I think you still need to be physically in the US and have a US address to open the account online. You also need a US phone number that can receive texts in order to log in but there are apps for that. Then you can buy ETF index funds. Never mention anything to your brokerage about being an expat or having a foreign address.

Whatever you do, do not buy foreign-domiciled mutual funds or ETFs, the tax treatment and tax filing requirements for US citizens on these are insane.

The foreign tax credit route to fund an IRA may work only if you are actually paying significant foreign taxes. If you are working in a no tax or low tax country, or your school pays your foreign tax for you, this will not work.
by buffalofan
Sat Dec 11, 2021 2:18 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Search Job Fair Demise
Replies: 38
Views: 54945

Re: Search Job Fair Demise

Their model worked fine 10 years ago...it doesn't now. Whether it will work post-covid in normal situations remains to be seen.
by buffalofan
Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:23 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: New to The Game...
Replies: 64
Views: 215018

Re: New to The Game...

You need to broaden your search.

Thailand and Vietnam are great, but not if you are stuck in a crap school (and there are MANY in both countries).

I know people at the top tier schools in both. What they have in common is 15+ years of experience and several stints at other top schools in different countries.

Someone posted years back on this board about a certain school in Bangkok that would refuse to even talk to you at the job fair unless you had 6+ years of IB experience...
by buffalofan
Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:23 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: The only school *I* would consider working in...
Replies: 8
Views: 15285

Re: The only school *I* would consider working in...

Some people have been burned by for-profit schools or don't believe in the for-profit education model, and in some countries this is going to narrow your choice down to 1 school. Also if you have debts/mortgage back home in USD/GBP/EUR, etc., going for a school that is paying you in an unstable local currency probably isn't going to work. In some countries only the elite/embassy school is paying in hard currency.
by buffalofan
Sat Oct 30, 2021 3:41 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Vaccination and other issues.
Replies: 54
Views: 169105

Re: Vaccination and other issues.

shawanda wrote:
> It's very clarifying to know that, for all the talk here, most of the
> posters on this forum are the same. You're sheep. If you were born in the
> US in 1820, you would have been all good with slavery because having slaves
> "is just the right of landowners." If you were born in Germany in
> 1900, you would have been fine with the Jews being slowly but surely turned
> into second class citizens and then not citizens at all, because,
> "it's just the right of private businesses to determine who to let
> enter," yada, yada, yada.

Please expand on your intriguing stories equating vaccine requirements with slavery and genocide at your next IS job interview. This will surely impress the director, report back here and tell us how it went...I hear plenty of positions available in Bumfcuk, Midwest America, might be more up your alley.
by buffalofan
Thu Oct 21, 2021 8:34 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Skiing and International Schools
Replies: 11
Views: 21911

Re: Skiing and International Schools

Yeah your yearly savings in either Norway or Beirut would be approximately $3.50. And in Beirut these days your probability of actually getting paid at all is in question. As I said, you better LOVE skiing...
by buffalofan
Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:48 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Skiing and International Schools
Replies: 11
Views: 21911

Re: Skiing and International Schools

Moscow

Ulaanbaatar

Beirut

Istanbul

Azerbaijan

Norway

Seoul

You better LOVE skiing to live in some of those places though...
by buffalofan
Sat Oct 16, 2021 12:31 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: new EF (Education First) school in Pasadena, CA - would love info!
Replies: 3
Views: 7283

Re: new EF (Education First) school in Pasadena, CA - would love info!

With the housing costs in that area being what they are, free housing may be worth the same as your salary there...
by buffalofan
Thu Oct 07, 2021 6:42 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: It's raining jobs in SE Asia.
Replies: 8
Views: 17849

Re: It's raining jobs in SE Asia.

Any chance of this happening in Japan too??? I've never even sniffed an interview for a top school there.
by buffalofan
Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:46 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Vaccination and other issues.
Replies: 54
Views: 169105

Re: Vaccination and other issues.

All this before an interview?

1) Ok I get it, if they can't process a visa without you being vaxxed. No reason to move forward if you are an anti-vaxxer.

2) If you are registered with any recruitment agency, they have the contact info already. Otherwise I'm not providing this before an interview.

3) Major red flag. I would reply back with "USD 250,000/year" and see what they say.

4) Red flag as this puts you at risk for identity theft. No way am I sending this prior to interview.