As my financial literacy grows, I am curious about how others are planning for the retirement. If you'd like to join in the conversation, please share:
1) How do you save for retirement when working outside of your home country?
2) What percentage of your salary are you able to save towards retirement? What would you ideally like to save?
3) Do you have a teacher pension in your home country (if you have worked there) and if so, what will it look like?
4) Do you have any passive income streams, and what are they?
5) What are your best tips about finances and retirement?
-------------------------------------------------------------
To answer the above questions, I am using Interactive Brokers and index funds to save for retirement while living abroad, and save 30% of net monthly income. I'd like to increase this to 40%, and that will take a lot of focus to do. I do have a teacher pension in my home country with about a decade of service, and I am still investigating what this means. I do rent out a house in home country, and one day hope to maybe purchase a second property if I plan well. My tip is to remember that it is never too late to get into finances, even if you feel you have lost some time!
Retirement Planning
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ncteacher23
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2025 6:55 am
Re: Retirement Planning
In my opinion, everyone should be doing the following
1) funding market tracking index funds preferably in tax advantage accounts eg roth ira (the more the better)
2) assuming you are not buying a house abroad, buy a house in your home country for 0-20% down and rent it out to build equity
3) researching / planning for retirement eg move back home or a place where you can get a govt pension after 20 years
for an American, an ideal situation would be reaching 65 and having a house paid off and getting social security check, teaching pension check and safe withdraws from their roth ira / 401k etc
1) funding market tracking index funds preferably in tax advantage accounts eg roth ira (the more the better)
2) assuming you are not buying a house abroad, buy a house in your home country for 0-20% down and rent it out to build equity
3) researching / planning for retirement eg move back home or a place where you can get a govt pension after 20 years
for an American, an ideal situation would be reaching 65 and having a house paid off and getting social security check, teaching pension check and safe withdraws from their roth ira / 401k etc
Re: Retirement Planning
I second this. I also use IBKR. I do not have a teacher pension, so I aim to save enough to bridge to my retirement.
zenteach wrote:
> As my financial literacy grows, I am curious about how others are planning
> for the retirement. If you'd like to join in the conversation, please
> share:
>
> 1) How do you save for retirement when working outside of your home
> country?
>
> 2) What percentage of your salary are you able to save towards retirement?
> What would you ideally like to save?
>
> 3) Do you have a teacher pension in your home country (if you have worked
> there) and if so, what will it look like?
>
> 4) Do you have any passive income streams, and what are they?
>
> 5) What are your best tips about finances and retirement?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To answer the above questions, I am using Interactive Brokers and index
> funds to save for retirement while living abroad, and save 30% of net
> monthly income. I'd like to increase this to 40%, and that will take a lot
> of focus to do. I do have a teacher pension in my home country with about a
> decade of service, and I am still investigating what this means. I do rent
> out a house in home country, and one day hope to maybe purchase a second
> property if I plan well. My tip is to remember that it is never too late to
> get into finances, even if you feel you have lost some time!
zenteach wrote:
> As my financial literacy grows, I am curious about how others are planning
> for the retirement. If you'd like to join in the conversation, please
> share:
>
> 1) How do you save for retirement when working outside of your home
> country?
>
> 2) What percentage of your salary are you able to save towards retirement?
> What would you ideally like to save?
>
> 3) Do you have a teacher pension in your home country (if you have worked
> there) and if so, what will it look like?
>
> 4) Do you have any passive income streams, and what are they?
>
> 5) What are your best tips about finances and retirement?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To answer the above questions, I am using Interactive Brokers and index
> funds to save for retirement while living abroad, and save 30% of net
> monthly income. I'd like to increase this to 40%, and that will take a lot
> of focus to do. I do have a teacher pension in my home country with about a
> decade of service, and I am still investigating what this means. I do rent
> out a house in home country, and one day hope to maybe purchase a second
> property if I plan well. My tip is to remember that it is never too late to
> get into finances, even if you feel you have lost some time!
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louiseravot
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2025 1:30 pm
Re: Retirement Planning
Great questions!
I save through international retirement accounts and personal investments.
I currently save about 15%, but I aim for 25%.
No teacher pension in my home country.
Yes—dividends and digital product sales.
Start early, diversify, and automate savings.
I save through international retirement accounts and personal investments.
I currently save about 15%, but I aim for 25%.
No teacher pension in my home country.
Yes—dividends and digital product sales.
Start early, diversify, and automate savings.
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ILMathTeachr
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:38 pm
Re: Retirement Planning
ncteacher23 wrote:
[snip]
> for an American, an ideal situation would be reaching 65 and having a house
> paid off and getting social security check, teaching pension check and safe
> withdraws from their roth ira / 401k etc
Social Security is often not an option for American teachers if they're paying into a pension system as a career teacher. I, for instance, last paid into social security when I was 23 years old and working at Sears. So, I will not have enough quarters to qualify for a social security, unless I decide to go back to work at a job that pays into SS until I have the 40 quarters required. And even then, you'd be talking about payments of maybe $200-300/month?
But a solid, fully vested pension and Roth/401k payments should be fine.
[snip]
> for an American, an ideal situation would be reaching 65 and having a house
> paid off and getting social security check, teaching pension check and safe
> withdraws from their roth ira / 401k etc
Social Security is often not an option for American teachers if they're paying into a pension system as a career teacher. I, for instance, last paid into social security when I was 23 years old and working at Sears. So, I will not have enough quarters to qualify for a social security, unless I decide to go back to work at a job that pays into SS until I have the 40 quarters required. And even then, you'd be talking about payments of maybe $200-300/month?
But a solid, fully vested pension and Roth/401k payments should be fine.
Response
The Windfall Elimination Provision was discontinued in January 2025. DTs may collect both a SS benefit and a state pension and not be penalized on their SS benefit based on their state pension benefit. The issue however is you can only collect SS if you paid into it and if your paying into a state pension you are very likely as a US DT not making SS contributions. You would in essence have to have another form of employment either through an employer that paid SS contributions and collected the DTs portion of their contributions or engage in a form of self employment where you made all of the contributions.
IRAs and 401Ks require taxable income that you have to pay US taxes on to make contributions. If you use the Foreign Income Exclusion or Foreign Tax Credit unless you have taxable US income in some part you cant make contributions to either retirement vehicle. Further, a 401K would require a participating employer, which there are few in IE.
Social insurance pensions are not solely limited to the US/UK, many ITs would qualify for the regional pension system where they are employed. The issue is mobility rather than availability. Most ITs move around rather frequently between host nations where their pensions are not transferable. Once an IT settles on a location they can plan requirement around whatever social insurance pension scheme there is. Outside of Europe however many would not be very well off with pension schemes in Asia.
Thee are various other investment products available globally that an IT can use. This often means establishing some form of investment portfolio, and understanding that the IT will be fully funding whatever investments made without a guarantee.
IRAs and 401Ks require taxable income that you have to pay US taxes on to make contributions. If you use the Foreign Income Exclusion or Foreign Tax Credit unless you have taxable US income in some part you cant make contributions to either retirement vehicle. Further, a 401K would require a participating employer, which there are few in IE.
Social insurance pensions are not solely limited to the US/UK, many ITs would qualify for the regional pension system where they are employed. The issue is mobility rather than availability. Most ITs move around rather frequently between host nations where their pensions are not transferable. Once an IT settles on a location they can plan requirement around whatever social insurance pension scheme there is. Outside of Europe however many would not be very well off with pension schemes in Asia.
Thee are various other investment products available globally that an IT can use. This often means establishing some form of investment portfolio, and understanding that the IT will be fully funding whatever investments made without a guarantee.
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Heliotrope
- Posts: 1179
- Joined: Sun May 13, 2018 1:48 am
Re: Retirement Planning
zenteach wrote:
> As my financial literacy grows, I am curious about how others are planning
> for the retirement. If you'd like to join in the conversation, please
> share:
>
> 1) How do you save for retirement when working outside of your home
> country?
>
> 2) What percentage of your salary are you able to save towards retirement?
> What would you ideally like to save?
>
> 3) Do you have a teacher pension in your home country (if you have worked
> there) and if so, what will it look like?
>
> 4) Do you have any passive income streams, and what are they?
>
> 5) What are your best tips about finances and retirement?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To answer the above questions, I am using Interactive Brokers and index
> funds to save for retirement while living abroad, and save 30% of net
> monthly income. I'd like to increase this to 40%, and that will take a lot
> of focus to do. I do have a teacher pension in my home country with about a
> decade of service, and I am still investigating what this means. I do rent
> out a house in home country, and one day hope to maybe purchase a second
> property if I plan well. My tip is to remember that it is never too late to
> get into finances, even if you feel you have lost some time!
Currently saving around 30k USD per year, without any additional income streams. I have no intention to alter my lifestyle or switch schools to save more. All of it goes towards my portfolio of globally diversified ETFs, also using Interactive Brokers for that. Nowadays on average that portfolio yields a lot more annually than my teaching income, but I don't have a teacher pension back home so I plan to continue teaching until I hit my financial goal (2.5 million) that allows me to retire the way I want to.
I feel too young to retire anyway, and I still very much enjoy teaching. In 5-10 years when I hit my target I'll have to see if I feel like retiring then, and I have until then to figure out where I actually want to retire (my short list is way too long).
My only tip is too start investing early.
First apply for jobs in undesirable locations that allow you to save and invest, so that compound interest can do its thing. Starting early will mean you can retire early. It's advice that few will take though - most teachers start investing later and have to work for more years than they want.
When you're still young it's too tempting to go for more attractive locations, which are usually so competitive that you will have to settle for a school where savings will be minimal. The realization that saving for retirement is important usually comes to teachers in their late 30s.
> As my financial literacy grows, I am curious about how others are planning
> for the retirement. If you'd like to join in the conversation, please
> share:
>
> 1) How do you save for retirement when working outside of your home
> country?
>
> 2) What percentage of your salary are you able to save towards retirement?
> What would you ideally like to save?
>
> 3) Do you have a teacher pension in your home country (if you have worked
> there) and if so, what will it look like?
>
> 4) Do you have any passive income streams, and what are they?
>
> 5) What are your best tips about finances and retirement?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To answer the above questions, I am using Interactive Brokers and index
> funds to save for retirement while living abroad, and save 30% of net
> monthly income. I'd like to increase this to 40%, and that will take a lot
> of focus to do. I do have a teacher pension in my home country with about a
> decade of service, and I am still investigating what this means. I do rent
> out a house in home country, and one day hope to maybe purchase a second
> property if I plan well. My tip is to remember that it is never too late to
> get into finances, even if you feel you have lost some time!
Currently saving around 30k USD per year, without any additional income streams. I have no intention to alter my lifestyle or switch schools to save more. All of it goes towards my portfolio of globally diversified ETFs, also using Interactive Brokers for that. Nowadays on average that portfolio yields a lot more annually than my teaching income, but I don't have a teacher pension back home so I plan to continue teaching until I hit my financial goal (2.5 million) that allows me to retire the way I want to.
I feel too young to retire anyway, and I still very much enjoy teaching. In 5-10 years when I hit my target I'll have to see if I feel like retiring then, and I have until then to figure out where I actually want to retire (my short list is way too long).
My only tip is too start investing early.
First apply for jobs in undesirable locations that allow you to save and invest, so that compound interest can do its thing. Starting early will mean you can retire early. It's advice that few will take though - most teachers start investing later and have to work for more years than they want.
When you're still young it's too tempting to go for more attractive locations, which are usually so competitive that you will have to settle for a school where savings will be minimal. The realization that saving for retirement is important usually comes to teachers in their late 30s.