Search found 387 matches

by IAMBOG
Mon Aug 10, 2015 1:23 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Canadian Tax Question
Replies: 20
Views: 34387

Re: Canadian Tax Question

I doubt if the Canadian and UK governments care about whether expats can maintain their diver's licenses.
by IAMBOG
Sun Jun 28, 2015 10:04 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Eagle Ridge International School in China
Replies: 5
Views: 13150

Re: Eagle Ridge International School in China

Have to agree with Sciteach, it doesn't look great. The town seems like a remote trading outpost for North Koreans. Seems a bit odd. Why are they recruiting now? Why are they targeting you? I would pass.
by IAMBOG
Sun Jun 21, 2015 6:08 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai
Replies: 27
Views: 52498

Re: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai

When I was a student at a Chinese university, almost 20 years ago now, white bathroom tiles on the outside of buildings were all the rage. That and blue tinted windows. I suspect they probably still are out in the boonies.
by IAMBOG
Sun Jun 21, 2015 1:54 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai
Replies: 27
Views: 52498

Re: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai

I rode past HQIS on my bike today. They have a shiny new campus, however I noticed the following;

1. The building seems very square, without finer details (i.e.: cheap to build).
2. All classrooms on all floors seem to open onto open hallways (the hallways are not internal, they are external balcony style), which I would imagine would lead to issues moving around the school when it's raining (and it rains a hell of a lot in Shanghai).
3. The school gates are made of wood, the kind of slatted wood you would use for a garden fence. It looks cheap.
4. The Chinese experimental school and Yew Chung International School, both of which are very close, look far more impressive.
5. The area around the school is very nice, but I'm pretty sure there are many apartments for 7,500RMB.

Hope that helps.
by IAMBOG
Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:01 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: investing for Canadians
Replies: 14
Views: 27002

Re: investing for Canadians

The point of investing is to get maximum profit with the minimum possible risk. I can achieve maximum profit by keeping my fees to a minimum, by paying less than 0.5% for index funds. I can minimize risk by diversifying across markets. I have shares (through index fund) in 2000 plus companies.

It is an advisor's job to at least keep up with the market they are investing in, in fact he has to beat that market year after year to cover his fee (salaried or not). If they can't do that, what is the point? The amount of advisors who consistently beat the market for, lets say, a period of 20 year is in the 1% range. So, picking an advisor becomes a 1 to 100 shot. Let's be generous and say it's 5%, so in becomes a 1 in 20 shot. It's a gamble, and I don't like ..

Charles Schwab and Fidelity don't offer free advice for nothing, they are peddling products. You may be able to resist the temptation to buy after your 'consultation', but many can't. Managed mutual funds are never free. Somebody has to pay for salaries for the management and the swanky offices in London / Tokyo / New York, and that person is you. The vast majority of advisors will not suggest index funds, because there in no money in it for them. And once again, if it managed, it someone with a crystal ball trying to predict the future.

So, compare this to a couch potato index fund portfolio. Let's say you start with 30% in a broad US index fund, 30% in a worldwide index fund and 40% in a bond fund (all charging less than 0.5%). You make the commitment to rebalance to this percentage at the end of each year (it doesn't matter when, just pick a random date). At the end of the year your US fund is 35%, your worldwide fund is 40% and your bonds are down to 25%. Preferably you would pump new savings in the bonds and US funds in order to bring back your original 30/30/40 balance. If you can't, you might sell some of the worldwide fund or maybe US to pour into the bond fund. No speculation involved, just sell the stuff that's gone up (sell high) to pay more money into the stuff that went down (buy low).

All investments have risks, just keep them to a minimum.
by IAMBOG
Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:15 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: QSI Summer Recruitment Fair
Replies: 17
Views: 32413

Re: QSI Summer Recruitment Fair

Shadowjack speaks the truth. There won't be any European jobs, mostly just the stans and China.
by IAMBOG
Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:38 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: investing for Canadians
Replies: 14
Views: 27002

Re: investing for Canadians

What would they recommend? Long term regular savings into low cost well diversified funds, rebalancing once a year back to your original percentage allocation for each index. When you rebalance, you are always selling high and buying low. But most importantly, don't speculate.

Perhaps your advisor is one of the awesome ones in the 1%, but many of the others are leading naïve (usually young) investors into poor quality retirement funds and overpriced mutuals. This seems particularly true at international schools. I have fended off 'advisors' in my last two schools. Both advisors wanted to sell schemes from Friends Provident, Zurich International and others, which have extremely high cost, are inflexible, and difficult to escape from without being fleeced.

As teachers we are, on the whole, intelligent people. I would hope we could educate ourselves enough to take control of our own finances. I wouldn't advise anyone to plan the rest of their financial lives based on one book. But, I would advise people to read books by Burton Malkiel, Charles Ellis, John Bogle and Bill Schultheis (among others). Andrew Hallam is just the latest in a long line of index fund enthusiasts. He just happens to package it in such a way as to make it appealing and readable to international teachers and expats.
by IAMBOG
Sat Jun 06, 2015 8:19 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: investing for Canadians
Replies: 14
Views: 27002

Re: investing for Canadians

I'm pretty sure we are talking about index bond funds, not individual bonds. Of course there are no guarantees. Just make sure your index funds are diversified as much as possible to capture the performance of the whole market. Split your money between bonds and stocks according to your taste for risk. Bonds go down, stocks go up, and vice versa, it helps to smooth out the bumps. Make sure you're not paying more than 0.5% for your funds and preferably closer to 0.2%. It's about keeping it simple, leaving the money for the long term, diversification, and keeping your costs to a minimum.

Very few financial advisors beat the market, and even if they do, they need to beat it by a margin that also covers their fees and the fees of any actively managed ETFs you may have, before it becomes worthwhile. Odds are, that won't happen.
by IAMBOG
Sat Jun 06, 2015 2:15 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: investing for Canadians
Replies: 14
Views: 27002

Re: investing for Canadians

You would be buying the same indexes (bonds or stocks, whatever you choose) off the same exchange. The only difference is the broker.
by IAMBOG
Sat Jun 06, 2015 2:11 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai
Replies: 27
Views: 52498

Re: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai

Same as Mr. DepTrai, I think, we needed a copy of the contract to process our Z visas in Canada. Not sure if it was actually signed though. The school sent a whole pack of documents to us by courier, which we then took to the Chinese embassy. In China everything needs a big red stamp on it to make it official.
by IAMBOG
Thu Jun 04, 2015 8:50 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai
Replies: 27
Views: 52498

Re: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai

Ok, in light of that information I'm going to back up. I really don't know how that would go. I suspect life in Shanghai would be good, without two many financial restrictions, but you might be choosing between vacations and savings. It works well on two salaries. On one? You will lose a lot of the benefits of being overseas. That said, many of spouses of people we know end up in subbing or part/full time teaching / admin positions.
by IAMBOG
Thu Jun 04, 2015 5:35 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: investing for Canadians
Replies: 14
Views: 27002

Re: investing for Canadians

DO you mean a non-resident TD Waterhouse account in Canada, or TD International in Luxembourg? I would be wary of using an account in Canada. It might be tax free now, but who knows what might happen in the future. I would go with TD International http://int.tddirectinvesting.com/ . Buy your funds through the Toronto Stock Exchange. It might be more expensive, but a while back I saw an article, and there is very little between the two in the long run.
by IAMBOG
Wed May 20, 2015 5:42 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai
Replies: 27
Views: 52498

Re: Hong Qiao International School Shanghai

Didn't this school recently kind of change its name? I say 'kind of' because I think it used to be called Rainbow Bridge, which in Chinese is Hongqiao, which is the name of the area the school is in. I doubt the salary is less than 20,000RMB, unless you're straight out of your B.Ed.. I don't know anything about the school, but it seems to have gone through a bit of a marketing overhall. Hongqiao is a decent area to live in. A decent 2 bedroom in that area is going to cost you 8000RMB+, although you could get away with 6000RMB within a commutable distance.

Also, I suspect they are able to take both local and international students, but the majority will be local.