Late start working toward a retirement

trending1967
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:47 am

Late start working toward a retirement

Post by trending1967 »

I would appreciate some advice.
I'm 51 years old, divorced and my children are grown and out of the house. The divorce has been costly. I'm hoping to work towards a state pension but with the present climate returning to the USA is not an option for me. I have taught in South America, Asia, and Europe. I have a lot of energy but my TAT days are done and I'm looking for that final special place where I can work towards some sort of state pension that I can count on. I'm partial to Asia and warmer climates but would also love to return to safe Europe. If fact I would go to any region of the world to secure something stable. I am even interested in the Middle East.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

None of the Asian pensions are worth very much, and they typically require long periods of service, and then you have to find an IS that participates in those programs. Even a region like Japan that relatively recently lowered the vestment period from 25 years to 10 years, its not very much.
Its usually at this time in an ITs career that you have to be somewhere in the WE so that you have enough service by the time you reach retirement age that you would have a retirement thats enough to go somewhere with a very, very low cost of living that you can afford, or a region that has minimum benefit programs you can take advantage of once you have citizenship so that the various social insurance programs you can take advantage of will afford you your basic needs.
The other option is you fund it yourself, and aim for regions such as the ME (the Kingdom) where you can make 6 figures and then bank the majority of that for 5-10 years and then retire out somewhere cheap like the LCSA, or Asia but you get to live well.
mamava
Posts: 320
Joined: Sat May 11, 2013 7:56 am

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by mamava »

I would agree w/Psyguy. We did China for 5 years and then Saudi for 2 and in those 7 years we'll be able to send our 3 kids to college debt-free. There are some bennies as a working couple, but if you are careful, it should be easy to sock quite a bit away in the ME. Good luck!
trending1967
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:47 am

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by trending1967 »

Thank you.
Which countries in WE should I seek out schools for the best teacher pension? Is there a ranking of these counties with their pensions for teachers? Would there be a big different between the pensions in the same country between international schools and state schools. I taught in Japan many years ago and enjoyed my time there. I think in general it is a country well suited to the needs of women. If teaching there for 10 years could provide me with a modest pension to live in an inexpensive country I would welcome that opportunity. By the way what is LCSA? Are there countries I should not bother with because I am 51? Would Korea be a good option for me? I'm sorry, many questions. :)
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@trending1967

There isnt a master tier 1 list, there isnt a master tier 1 pension list.

Yes, though the municipal pension scheme tends to be the same, the higher the tier the IS the more likely your contributions and thus benefits will be greater, but more importantly once your looking at elite tier ISs they typically offer reasonably advantageous retirement/pension schemes that are independent of the public programs.

Japan would provide you a very small pension, it wouldnt even be modest, considering that the bulk of retirement burdens are fulfilled by the younger family generation and generally involve a family home that stays in the family. A 10 year pension in JP wouldnt even provide you enough coin to pay rent on the cheapest 1K apt. Maybe a very small 1R, but even then it would leave nothing extra.

LCSA = Latin, Central, South America.

SK (South Korea) has the same issues long vesting/service times and then retirement burdens involve substantial resources from a family.

You want to focus on NE 9Northern European) regions that have substantial social insurance programs and arent poor or broke.
trending1967
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Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:47 am

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by trending1967 »

Thank you for this valuable information.
Are there countries, especially in Europe, where I need not bother apply due to my age which is 51?
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@trending1967

Asia is more the region that has hard visa and immigration rules, but your at the age range where you need to be wherever your going to be, and retire out of.
Heliotrope
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Joined: Sun May 13, 2018 1:48 am

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by Heliotrope »

51 is not old.
Haven't you heard? 50 is the new 40.
trending1967
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:47 am

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by trending1967 »

Heliotrope, I am liking you more and more. :)

If I do not manage to secure a vacancy in a country that can offer a pension at this stage of my life, presumably a European country, would accepting a 2-year contract in another region of the world to try again two years later be a mistake? Would I be best to try to spend one more year in my current location then try one year from now?
Frenchie
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:11 pm

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by Frenchie »

Ha! Im 55 and still have a lot of life left in me. Europe retirement is 67 or so, they are less strict than Asian countries.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@trending1967

Whats your aversion to risk and whats the reward? You want to be where your going to retire in a municipal social insurance and pension scheme at 50ish so that when you reach retirement between 64 and 67 you have about 15 years of service. If the 2 year opportunity is going to help you save a significant amount of coin to privately or independently fund some portion of a retirement program you self initiate, than it may very well be worth it. If not, than whats the benefit of delaying even later?
Illiane_Blues

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by Illiane_Blues »

Go somewhere where you can earn a lot of coin, try not to spend a lot, invest your savings in low-cost index funds every month or so, and supplement your pension with the gains you'll make.
Yes, after two years you can try again, 53 is still not old, or if you like your new place, stay longer and save (invest) more. Remember to getting settled somewhere new can be costly, but it doesn't have to be – some schools provide furnished apartments, or give a nice settle in sum.
falconeer
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Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:44 am

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by falconeer »

To echo what many on this board have said, you first need to go somewhere where you can save a lot, likely the Middle East. Earn as much as possible, save as much as you can. But this won't be enough. You'll need the market. Index funds are one approach, but if it is possible, you should attempt to learn to trade. The margins are much higher if you can learn to trade individual stocks, learning to recognise trend reversals and take advantage of volatility. This can be learned.
Heliotrope
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Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by Heliotrope »

I would strongly advise you to NOT attempt to learn how to trade.
Just go with low-cost index funds (which basically represent the market as a whole), it's a whole lot less time consuming (couple of hours per year), and the yields are definitely higher over time.
The vast majority of hedge funds and private investors simply fail to outperform the market as a whole, and the few stories you'll hear about people who were successful at this are the exception, and oftentimes it's just luck that made them beat the market and they're only able to do it for a few years. Over time virtually nobody outperforms the market, and if you think you can learn how to do it reading some books during weekends, evenings or holidays, think again. You'll make more money if you use that time instead for tutoring rich ME kids after school, and put that money in your index funds as well.

'Expat poor' by Andrew Hallam is a good book that will illustrate the above with verifiable numbers, and gives sound, down to earth advice. He used to be a international teacher himself, so his book is written for people with a similar background. After reading it I did some more research to see if his story and his message can be debunked, and I've found that it's actually right on the money. It's easy to read, gives you all the information you need, and he doesn't have anything to gain by steering you in a certain direction.

Trying to trade actively yourself will expose you to waaaay too much risk than you can afford right now, at 51, and for every success story you hear there are many more stories where people lost most of their money and were forced to worked many more years than they wanted to.
Learning to recognise trend reversals is what investment companies try to do, with a lot more (wo)manpower, experience and smarts than you have, and they still fail to make their clients more money than the a good mix of index funds would get them.

But read the book yourself, check the numbers if you're wary of them, and draw your own conclusions. Just don't let the odd success story convince you to gamble away your money.
IntHopeful
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:28 pm

Re: Late start working toward a retirement

Post by IntHopeful »

I don't know anything about Andrew Hallam but +1 to all the advice in Heliotrope's post.
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