{"id":8067,"date":"2020-09-19T08:01:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T08:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=8067"},"modified":"2024-01-26T16:58:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T16:58:51","slug":"be-a-financially-empowered-expat-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/be-a-financially-empowered-expat-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"Be a Financially Empowered Expat Teacher!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My name is Sorcha Coyle and I\u2019ve been teaching in the Gulf (Qatar and Dubai) for the last 8 years. I have always taught local students and I love the unique cultural insight that this has given me. Outside work, I love travelling (not at the moment, of course! #flattenthecurve) and the sunny expat lifestyle! In my time abroad, I have been fortunate enough to save six figures, which I have used to purchase 2 properties (a 4-bedroomed house in my home country and a 3-bed apartment in Spain), start a profitable investment portfolio, complete my Masters, set up a side business, and travel the world. Today I will talk about my \u201cwhy\u201d and how it pushes me to save more and more each year. Then I will share my \u201chow\u201d with you, so you can boost your savings too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

9 years ago, when I lived in the UK, I was working at a lovely school but because of my long hours and low pay, I was incredibly stressed and overwhelmed. I was spending well over 50% of my salary on rent (in a shared apartment) and after council tax and bills; I was barely breaking even each month. Meanwhile back in my home country of Ireland, we were facing our worst economic crash. In 2008, the construction industry collapsed. Businesses went bankrupt. Property values plummeted. Almost overnight, hundreds of thousands of citizens lost their jobs. Honest hardworking people couldn\u2019t repay their mortgages. Many lost their homes. From that moment on, I swore to myself that I would be financially empowered. I wanted to have peace of mind no matter the state of the economy. Soon I realised that I had to take a drastic step to fulfill this goal, so after much research, I moved to the Gulf region in 2011. As an expat there, I have job security, a great salary, zero rent, and zero tax- what is not to love about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis true that the expat life has so many wonderful aspects- the high salary, the\njob security, the sun, and the standard of living. However, it has one\ndownside- it is unpredictable. We might plan to teach here forever with its\ntax-free salary and perks, but life here can change in the blink of an eye. We\nmight lose our job (sadly more common since COVID reared its ugly head), do\nsomething silly and get deported, or we may have to go home for family reasons.\nWhatever the reason, we want to have something to show for all our hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover,\nmany of us are no longer paying into our private teaching pension at home,\nwhich means we must have alternative methods to fund a comfortable retirement\nthat will allow us to lead the kind of life we have now. Speaking of pensions,\nright now we have longer to work before retirement (until 68 instead of 65) to\nqualify for the state pension. Unfortunately, by the time we get closer to\nretirement, the state pension age may even have been pushed up to 74 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nthe day I began teaching abroad, I realised the incredible saving potential\nthat this situation gave me and made a decision there and then to maximise it\nto its fullest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless\nof where we work, us single teachers have a great opportunity to save tonnes\nand set ourselves up for life, financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\nmuch you save all depends on 2 factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) How much you want and\nplan to save<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Your desire to do\nextra to save as much as you can<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\nme go into more detail\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1) How much you want and\nplan to save<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saving\ndoes not happen by chance; you must absolutely plan for it. You need to set a\nfinancial goal, make a budget, and then work hard to stick to it to achieve it.\nI highly recommend setting SMART financial goals. This means that your goals\nare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n