Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The IRS taxes US citizens on global income.

For many overseas places, but not for every overseas place, a tax treaty means that the US IRS gives credit for foreign taxes that were paid. The specific language in tax treaties also varies widely. One needs to check carefully into what the tax implications are for each country being considered.

This.

The fact that you said this: "What are the U.S. tax implications?

[b]None, paying taxes at local country eliminates Uncle Sam’s authority"

Shows to me you don't understand the tax issues of living abroad as a US citizen. You will still need to file a US tax return.

Technically, yes but your income will probably be below the foreign earnings threshhold and then it gets pretty easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The IRS taxes US citizens on global income.

For many overseas places, but not for every overseas place, a tax treaty means that the US IRS gives credit for foreign taxes that were paid. The specific language in tax treaties also varies widely. One needs to check carefully into what the tax implications are for each country being considered.

This.

The fact that you said this: "What are the U.S. tax implications?

[b]None, paying taxes at local country eliminates Uncle Sam’s authority"

Shows to me you don't understand the tax issues of living abroad as a US citizen. You will still need to file a US tax return.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are actually respected more overseas. No nagging parents or disrespectful kids. I say go for it

I've been teaching overseas for 20 years. Unfortunately, this is not true everywhere. For example, I can tell you from direct experience that the wealthy elite of the Middle East generally do NOT especially respect teachers, and their standards for acceptable behavior when addressing the poors (servants, who are basically slaves, and school teachers, who are a step or two above the South Asian house servants in the ME, is...like something you have never seen in the US). Consider too that the wealthy elite class in many developing countries got that way by methods/standards that are corrupt in ways you have never seen in the US, those families form a small society/community in which they all know each other and socialize only with each other, and they tend to view the teachers at the international schools as just a higher form of servant, someone they are paying to give their kids high grades. I have never seen "grade inflation" like what I saw in "international schools" (now full of mainly wealthy local kids) in the Middle East and Brazil anywhere else (ie, school admin would regular change all grades of kids who were failing to As/Bs, and parents paid for transcripts to be altered and for "agents" to falsify pretty much everything for college admissions: and top US universities, including Ivies, routinely accept them).

Yes, Japanese/Korean kids are, in general, well-behaved and respectful, as are their parents, though. I would not go back to Japan to teach, however, because the international school salaries/packages are very low there these days. The most desirable locations with the best behaved local population kids have generally stopped offering teachers the kinds of packages that allow much savings these days, as there are a lot of teachers flooding the market as they try to escape the hideous teaching conditions in the West.

This is fascinating to me as I have taught foreign educated students in higher education in the US and the middle eastern students absolutely were the most disrespectful to me. I never thought of it as they were treating me as the help, but now that your described it, that's exactly it. The Korean, Chinese, and Japanese were the most respectful. I found South Americans delightful to teach as well because they tended to participate a lot in class.

Does anyone have any other information on this psyche? As an American outsider, it's completely impossible to be "inside" this mindset that you're better because of your birth/family/money, somewhow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are actually respected more overseas. No nagging parents or disrespectful kids. I say go for it

I've been teaching overseas for 20 years. Unfortunately, this is not true everywhere. For example, I can tell you from direct experience that the wealthy elite of the Middle East generally do NOT especially respect teachers, and their standards for acceptable behavior when addressing the poors (servants, who are basically slaves, and school teachers, who are a step or two above the South Asian house servants in the ME, is...like something you have never seen in the US). Consider too that the wealthy elite class in many developing countries got that way by methods/standards that are corrupt in ways you have never seen in the US, those families form a small society/community in which they all know each other and socialize only with each other, and they tend to view the teachers at the international schools as just a higher form of servant, someone they are paying to give their kids high grades. I have never seen "grade inflation" like what I saw in "international schools" (now full of mainly wealthy local kids) in the Middle East and Brazil anywhere else (ie, school admin would regular change all grades of kids who were failing to As/Bs, and parents paid for transcripts to be altered and for "agents" to falsify pretty much everything for college admissions: and top US universities, including Ivies, routinely accept them).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are actually respected more overseas. No nagging parents or disrespectful kids. I say go for it

I've been teaching overseas for 20 years. Unfortunately, this is not true everywhere. For example, I can tell you from direct experience that the wealthy elite of the Middle East generally do NOT especially respect teachers, and their standards for acceptable behavior when addressing the poors (servants, who are basically slaves, and school teachers, who are a step or two above the South Asian house servants in the ME, is...like something you have never seen in the US). Consider too that the wealthy elite class in many developing countries got that way by methods/standards that are corrupt in ways you have never seen in the US, those families form a small society/community in which they all know each other and socialize only with each other, and they tend to view the teachers at the international schools as just a higher form of servant, someone they are paying to give their kids high grades. I have never seen "grade inflation" like what I saw in "international schools" (now full of mainly wealthy local kids) in the Middle East and Brazil anywhere else (ie, school admin would regular change all grades of kids who were failing to As/Bs, and parents paid for transcripts to be altered and for "agents" to falsify pretty much everything for college admissions: and top US universities, including Ivies, routinely accept them).

Yes, Japanese/Korean kids are, in general, well-behaved and respectful, as are their parents, though. I would not go back to Japan to teach, however, because the international school salaries/packages are very low there these days. The most desirable locations with the best behaved local population kids have generally stopped offering teachers the kinds of packages that allow much savings these days, as there are a lot of teachers flooding the market as they try to escape the hideous teaching conditions in the West.

This is fascinating to me as I have taught foreign educated students in higher education in the US and the middle eastern students absolutely were the most disrespectful to me. I never thought of it as they were treating me as the help, but now that your described it, that's exactly it. The Korean, Chinese, and Japanese were the most respectful. I found South Americans delightful to teach as well because they tended to participate a lot in class.

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s certainly worth considering, OP. I’m guessing the packages are best in places like China and UAE. I will say that as an Arabic speaker, it’s a very hard language to learn, especially in a place as diverse as UAE where most of the population is an expat. Locals tend to keep to themselves. Most operate in their own bubbles. Western expats tend to congregate. Very few expats leave Dubai having learned any Arabic beyond shukran. A friend currently residing in Dubai with her husband is strongly considering leaving the country because she feels the education (even in private schools) is not rigorous enough.

I have a friend (single mom) who is raising her daughter in China at a very highly regarded private school. They love it and have been there for a decade now. Both speak Mandarin pretty well.

I’m not sure of the income threshold for a family but I think you are exempt from taxes on the first 100-120K you earn outside the US. I’m guessing you won’t exceed that on a teaching salary. You will still need to file a US tax return. If you do own, be aware specialized accountants are required and those are expensive.

European countries have extraordinarily high taxes in comparison to the US. I doubt you would be exempt from local taxes and would likely pay more than you do in the US.

It could be a great experience for your family. I do agree with others that you likely won’t save much money because you will quite obviously want to experience lots of adventures while abroad. But then again, there are state departments families who crack the code and save a boatload while overseas. Perhaps learn about those families and their methods.

Finally be aware that being outside the US will make it financially hard to return. We moved to Europe six years ago and life in the US is insanely expensive when we come back to visit. We still own a house that we rent but it would be really hard to re-enter the US housing market with the way prices have increased if we didn’t already own. Plus we’ve taken a pretty sizable pay cut to leave.

Please keep us informed. I hope it will work for you too. In the six years I’ve been gone, I’ve probably one had regret less than a handful of times. It’s hard but worth it.

Anonymous wrote:The DoDEA jobs are Federal civil service jobs, so salaries are not super high, but they do have good benefits. Retirement is a combination of TSP (like a 401k with a good match) and a small pension component.

While working -overseas- for DoDEA, one has access to military on-base health care, commissary (grocery), and the Base Exchange (everything else).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are actually respected more overseas. No nagging parents or disrespectful kids. I say go for it

I've been teaching overseas for 20 years. Unfortunately, this is not true everywhere. For example, I can tell you from direct experience that the wealthy elite of the Middle East generally do NOT especially respect teachers, and their standards for acceptable behavior when addressing the poors (servants, who are basically slaves, and school teachers, who are a step or two above the South Asian house servants in the ME, is...like something you have never seen in the US). Consider too that the wealthy elite class in many developing countries got that way by methods/standards that are corrupt in ways you have never seen in the US, those families form a small society/community in which they all know each other and socialize only with each other, and they tend to view the teachers at the international schools as just a higher form of servant, someone they are paying to give their kids high grades. I have never seen "grade inflation" like what I saw in "international schools" (now full of mainly wealthy local kids) in the Middle East and Brazil anywhere else (ie, school admin would regular change all grades of kids who were failing to As/Bs, and parents paid for transcripts to be altered and for "agents" to falsify pretty much everything for college admissions: and top US universities, including Ivies, routinely accept them).

Yes, Japanese/Korean kids are, in general, well-behaved and respectful, as are their parents, though. I would not go back to Japan to teach, however, because the international school salaries/packages are very low there these days. The most desirable locations with the best behaved local population kids have generally stopped offering teachers the kinds of packages that allow much savings these days, as there are a lot of teachers flooding the market as they try to escape the hideous teaching conditions in the West.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are actually respected more overseas. No nagging parents or disrespectful kids. I say go for it

I've been teaching overseas for 20 years. Unfortunately, this is not true everywhere. For example, I can tell you from direct experience that the wealthy elite of the Middle East generally do NOT especially respect teachers, and their standards for acceptable behavior when addressing the poors (servants, who are basically slaves, and school teachers, who are a step or two above the South Asian house servants in the ME, is...like something you have never seen in the US). Consider too that the wealthy elite class in many developing countries got that way by methods/standards that are corrupt in ways you have never seen in the US, those families form a small society/community in which they all know each other and socialize only with each other, and they tend to view the teachers at the international schools as just a higher form of servant, someone they are paying to give their kids high grades. I have never seen "grade inflation" like what I saw in "international schools" (now full of mainly wealthy local kids) in the Middle East and Brazil anywhere else (ie, school admin would regular change all grades of kids who were failing to As/Bs, and parents paid for transcripts to be altered and for "agents" to falsify pretty much everything for college admissions: and top US universities, including Ivies, routinely accept them).

Yes, Japanese/Korean kids are, in general, well-behaved and respectful, as are their parents, though. I would not go back to Japan to teach, however, because the international school salaries/packages are very low there these days. The most desirable locations with the best behaved local population kids have generally stopped offering teachers the kinds of packages that allow much savings these days, as there are a lot of teachers flooding the market as they try to escape the hideous teaching conditions in the West.

Anonymous wrote:The DoDEA jobs are Federal civil service jobs, so salaries are not super high, but they do have good benefits. Retirement is a combination of TSP (like a 401k with a good match) and a small pension component.

While working -overseas- for DoDEA, one has access to military on-base health care, commissary (grocery), and the Base Exchange (everything else).

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are actually respected more overseas. No nagging parents or disrespectful kids. I say go for it