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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you're a fed and abroad in a high COL area, consider bidding on a next assignment someplace less lovely and more cost effective.  Places with high differential make it easy to pay off debt at home.  I paid off $50K in debt in my first three years of foreign service (all at differential posts), as I was not paying housing costs and was careful to manage my other expenditures.  While it's a bummer not to be in Europe or someplace fancy, my family is so much better off without ugly debt hanging over our heads. [/quote]

Would you suggest this over a grade increase? DH has an opportunity for this but in an even higher COL area of Europe. Otherwise I think what you suggest is wise.[/quote]

Maybe.  You need to run the numbers.  You get hardship pay in some countries that are actually quite nice to live in.  The benefit is that in addition to hardship pay domestic help can also be quite cheap so you can often afford support that would let you work more for a fraction of what you'd pay in Europe.  In addition to the extra $ with grade increase, make sure you factor in the extra $$ you will spend in high COL area in Europe.  You may very well be off somewhere off the beaten path, but it will depend on your particulars.[/quote]

A grade increase might net me about $10K extra a year, which would disappear pretty quickly in a high COL area. Moving to a high differential post could easily bring in two or three times that, while also lowering your COL. There are fine reasons to take assignments in Europe - but if you're looking to pay off debt, someplace with a low COL and high differential can't be beat.  W

We are currently saving for college for three kids, and putting aside almost $30k/yr off of my government salary by serving in an interesting but challenging part of Asia (25% differential). We live off the salary, which is easy because we don't have housing costs and child care is way less than home. And the entire differential goes into college savings.  You guys could do a three year tour and almost pay off the full load of your debt. [/quote]

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