The International Schools Review Forum

If I was completely focused on making money and saving as much as possible without regard to location, quality of school, quality of life, etc. what schools should I be looking at?

If money's that key, try a different career.
I like money as much as the next guy, but if I reach the point where nothing else matters in choosing how I will spend 5 days a week for years to come, I'd be asking myself some tough questions.

Qatar Academy

I'm actually interested in hearing the answer to this question myself, since my savings goal is rather ambitious ($300,000 in 10 years).

Saudi Aramco Schools. If your single, it could be a boring post but you'll save a lot of cash.

We did it in 5 so you could do it in 10. Hook up with someone working for one of the Education City universities and you'd do it faster cos they get paid even more money than teachers for doing strikingly less work.
And apply for one of the meaningless MYP jobs going like AoI co-ordinator, or TIF or some such nonsense and you can laze around all day and not even teach any classes. The MYP people at the IB don't know what the @#$@ they're doing so you needn't.
And you wouldn't really be selling out, and quite a lot of people actually like Doha.

Wuhan China: cheap living standards, big big sallaries.

Would I want you to teach my kids? Probably not to be honest-- like someone else put much nicer than I did above: it is imperative you have some passion for teaching. I am optomistically assuming you are passionate about teaching, but you are just trying to find a spot to bank some good dough.. =)

Be well

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To be honest, I asked the question for the sake of discussion and a bit of curiosity. If I was really about only money, I would not be a teacher. FYI, my wife and I turned down Saudi Aramco the last time we went recruiting for a school paying about half of what we would have made. Stupid, possibly. We however, are much happier in our current place and love being able to live and interact with the local community instead of stuck in some compound somewhere.

Ahh I see what you mean! Actually your post reminds me of what someone esle said about tiered schools, and about being happy in a certain spot. Where does one draw the line? happieness, or cash? Still, if you are looking for china, I'd highly reccommend Wuhan. Cheap living expenses, fairly modern, happy and helpful people who adore you if you can say hello in their native language. I've only ever taught in Wuhan, so I'm obv biased as heck

Good luck-- and be well! =D

I think you need to save 30,000 just to have a chance at a decent retirement.

If you can't save that you need to find a better paying school or just go out and teach for a few years and head back home.

We have been doing this 20+ years and have saved around 700,000$. That might not even be enough according to many financial advisers.

Mike, it is not about the total amount of money you have, it is about residual income. What do you have coming in monthly vs expense. You could have 5 million and live too lavish a lifestyle and live beyond your life expectation and be broke. 700k wisely invested and living in an adequate surroundings could very well be enough!

What do you need?

My financial adviser would tell you I need about 2 million! At 4% that is 80,000 grand a year in the year 2025. Not sure I am gonna make it!

Just from my own perspecitve, I have noticed that each year I get older, I find that I can live on less and less money. 100 bucks can last me a lot longer in my 40's compared to when i was in my early 30's.. Im in the same boat..want to find a school that will allow me the most enjoyment of working with good kids and positive behavior coupled with the highest salary I can make.. as a teacher with only 2 years experience in he US.. I will be looking at tax free salaries and most probably the Middle East due to my inexperience

Well Mike, if you start with a principle of 700,000 and add 2000 per month (I'm assuming by "we" you meant that you're a married couple) for the next 11 years at a return of 7%, you will almost make your $2,000,000 goal. In the year 2025, who knows what the cost of living will be like. 80K seems like enough to get by on right now but if you want to live a full life of vacationing in faraway lands or visiting your grandchildren and regularly showering them with gifts, it doesn't seem like a lot. As international teachers, we could be in a far worse situation. Think of all those carrying student debt and insurmountable credit card bills. Crazy to think about what the future holds for them. Walmart greeter at 85 years old?

Marieh, I don't think 30,000 per annum on average is too out of reach even with sticking to average schools, not necessarily those 'outliers' such as Aramco with their salaries. I've been in reasonably average schools and managed this fine. Depends on a couple of things: not accepting a position at a school that is obviously under the average, and then your lifestyle. The first may be out of your control for your first contract or so, but after that all things being equal you should be ok. And as for your lifestyle, depends on you...