The International Schools Review Forum

Hi Guys,

I know there is quite a bit of debate about pensions/retirement etc. on this forum.

However, can anyone recommend good pension providers that work for international teachers that intend to retire away form their country of birth.

Which ones are good?

I am an EU (Ireland) citizen.

regards,
Ari

P.S. Thanks for any info.

My background is in international banking / finance, but my plan is to mostly invest in low-cost index funds (Vanguard comes to mind). I’m an American with steady available capital for contributions and a lot of time for interest to compound and to see markets steadily increase. That may not be your situation.

A number of questions here...

What timeline are you looking at? How many more years will you be contributing to said fund? How much do you plan to contribute and what kind of returns do you expect? These are all questions that will help someone guide you on your retirement investments. Even if you don’t invest with one, it may behoove you to discuss your questions with a financial advisor. Also, you have to consider your citizenship and the resulting tax implications as they apply to your investment vehicles and particular timeline.

Managed funds like the ones you may be considering could have substantial fees associated that take away from your investments. I’m not suggesting that anyone try to teach themselves to day trade, but investing steadily in index funds (passive) with clear, low fees is generally safe and sound advice.

Thanks for the reply. Answers below
>
> 1.What timeline are you looking at? How many more years will you be contributing to
> said fund?
20 years

2. How much do you plan to contribute and what kind of returns do you expect?
I plan to contribute about 400usd a month.

>
> 3. Even if you don’t invest with one, it may behoove you to discuss your questions
> with a financial advisor. Also, you have to consider your citizenship and the resulting
> tax implications as they apply to your investment vehicles and particular timeline.
I think this is good advice. I will look into it.
>

International pensions have a terrible rep. Dont trust pension peddlers who come to your school. I would suggest reading Andrew Hallam's book, 'poor Expat'. If you really need a financial advisor look up Mark Zoril. He charges a set fee of $96 a year and doesn't work for commission.

Stick with diversified index funds. Both the sources above will show you how to do that.

Helen Back wrote:
> I would suggest reading Andrew Hallam's book, 'poor
> Expat'.

The book is called 'MiIIionaire Expat'. This forum changes the word 'MiIIionaire' into the word 'Poor' (I used two capital i's to circumvent).
First read the book, then consult Mark Zoril. He's mostly there to help your set up your account and help you with managing it, and less for financial advise.

Heliotrope, thanks for the correction, and yes, read the book first.

I concur with @Helen Back, the forum has discussed this several times in the past with extensive coverage, but to summarize international retirement funds have an extremely poor reputation.

MiIIionaire Expat is okay, its worth a read, but you can do the work of setting up the account yourself, there is no need to pay someone USD$100 to setup an account for you.

For most people hiring Mark Zoril is well worth the $96 to help set it all up. It takes away a lot of stress for a lot of people that haven't invested before.
But yes, of course it can be done without his help.

I have read both of Hallam's books. I find them mainly geared towards North American expat teachers, however, they certainly awakened me to the benefits of ETF'S and index funds.

How are they geared toward north Americans? They have sections for Brits, Canadians, Americans, Australians and other nationalities. Sensible investing knows no borders, but it might struggle with the vocabulary.

I am not any of those nationalities. I have actually talked to Hallam personally, and find him affable. Also, I do know my vocabulary. Thanks for your input.

Heliotrope wrote:
> This forum changes the word 'MiIIionaire'
> into the word 'Poor' (I used two capital i's to circumvent).

Um....why?

GrumblesMcGee wrote:
> Um....why?

According to @PsyGuy, it's meant for "content filtering for spam against all those get rich quick scams".
Not sure if that's indeed the actual reason, as I don't see how that would help much, and those scams are easily identified anyway. But then again, I can't think of any other reason, so it might just be true.

@GrumblesMcGee

It filters out and reflects poorly on all the get rich spam scams. Its one issue to filter them out, by converting the term though its dissuades them from continuing to do so, as it reflects negatively on them.

Usually the get rich scams already reflect poorly on get rich scams.