Properties

Before moving overseas I really tried to acquire everything I thought I had to have to live the American dream. Enter two condos. I purchased two condos, one of which I lived in and the other which was an investment. When I moved overseas I rented them both out and made it a goal to pay them off as soon as possible. I paid off one over three years ago then about two years ago I paid the second one off in full. Between both condos I paid just over $200,000 total. And I can honestly say I struggled to make any progress towards that debt while living in the US.

I ultimately sold one of my condos as soon as it was paid off. It was a complete headache and had been vandalized to the tune of $50,000 so I was ready to let it go. But I used the money from the sale to put a sizeable down payment on a larger house in Puerto Rico.

Student Loans

Although it pained me to make these payments and education really should be free, I also started making larger student loan payments as soon as I moved abroad. And I did so, aggressively. When I sold my house I used some of the proceeds to make a large final lump sum payment to knock out that student loan debt once and for all. In total I paid off about $70,000 in student loan debt. Luckily I was able to get one smaller loan forgiven, otherwise it would have been about $10,000 more.

Investments

Now here is where I wish I was able to make more progress. And if not for so much debt in the first place I am sure I would have made more progress. But still I have to take some pride in the fact that even with so much debt I have still been able to save $59,500 towards retirement.

Getting Back Into Debt

My husband and I are big believers in investing in real estate as part of our retirement strategy. He owns two homes and I own two homes, and we have just purchased a home in Singapore together. But this strategy involved us taking on more debt. As I have stated in previous posts, one of the major perks of being on an expat contract is that your employer takes care of your housing. So we figured why not take that perk and rather than give it to a landlord every month we can put it towards our own mortgage. We are very happy so far with this decision and have already accumulated a good sum towards our principal, but we had to be creative with the downpayment. Singapore is not like the US where you can sometimes find 100% financing. Instead we had to come up with a 23% downpayment. 23% of about $875,000 Singapore dollars to be exact. So while we are able to chip away at the principal every month with just what we would normally pay for rent, we are also having to pay off a huge debt towards the down payment which we creatively managed to come up with. We also paid a pretty penny to renovate it, which I won’t include in these numbers. Hopefully, the renovations have increased the value of our home. It has not been a year yet and we have already paid $39,748 Singapore dollars or roughly $29,350 US dollars towards the debt. And this number does not include any of the money we have gained towards the equity of our home, which already is about $15,000. It has all gone toward the down payment.

Interest

Who knows how many tens of thousands of dollars I have spent in interest? I haven’t counted, nor will I. I know it’s a lot, but I know without the debt I wouldn’t have been able to go to college or buy a home. In the future I want to be more conscious of the amount of interest I’m paying, but I know that sometimes it is a necessary evil. That being said, there is some debt I’ve sworn off forever; for example credit cards and car loans.

Expat Factor

While I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do financially since becoming an expat, this is no where near what I wish I’d tucked away. But what I will say I’m pretty proud of and what I’ll call the “expat factor” is how much I was able to travel while also paying off this debt. In the past 9 years I’ve saved/paid off a grand total of about $358,850 USD and have done all the traveling listed below.  In this time I’ve been blessed to go on safaris, a cruise, have two destination weddings, island hop, scuba dive, surf, spend summers traveling with my family and just genuinely enjoy life. I haven’t really had to cut back or go without.

Even though I want to be able to say I’m financially ready to retire, I’ve already had life experiences that people work and wait their whole lives for. I’m not sure where the future will take me travel wise, especially with a baby joining our family any day now. But I hope that in another 9 years I’m fully prepared for retirement and to actually move into one of these vacation properties to enjoy it and enjoy the fruits of our labor. It’s a big goal, but hopefully I can share the journey along the way. Thanks for reading!

The post So, How Much Debt Have I Paid Off? appeared first on Maya the Explorer - Expat Blog | Travel & Lifestyle.

For a long time now I’ve been traveling like crazy and spending like crazy. Okay, so I paid off a ton of debt this year and haven’t let it reaccumulate, but I haven’t gotten ahead as I had planned, because well, life happens. But what I have done is line up some creative ways to get some serious cash stashed away.

Acorns

One thing I know for sure is that no matter how much I try to save, I have to spend money at some point. And since I try to put as many expenses on my credit card as possible to rack up the frequent flyer miles, I decided to try Acorns to invest the rollover amount for me. This app is not new at all, it’s just new to me. Say I spend 4.01 on a purchase, .99 cents is invested on my behalf. I also turned on the multiplier option which multiplies any roll over change by 2. In my first two weeks the app has already invested about $55 for me. The great thing about the app is that it’s easy to forget you’re even putting money aside and you don’t miss the change at all. The app also shows you how much you can make over the course of years. If I continue with just my roll over change and a $5 a month deposit from my savings account, the app predicts I’ll have about $100,000 tucked away for retirement. Not bad for spare change. For many investment funds you have to have a minimum amount to start investing, but not with Acorns. The only thing I don’t like is that I can’t pick what stocks the money will be invested in. For some that’s probably really appealing…not having to think about it…but I’d like the option. If you’re interested in signing up, click here.

Qapital

When I mentioned Acorns to my little brother, he immediately fired back with Qapital. Qapital doesn’t invest it for you, instead it’s a savings account app based on the same idea of saving your spare change. You can set savings goals and then select how you want to fund your goal.  It allows you to get creative with how you fund your goal. You can set rules. For example every time you spend money at Starbucks it will automatically put a little money towards your goal. I’m currently saving for an emergency fund and I’m funding it with $1 this week, $2 next week, increasing  by a dollar for each week of the entire year. I’m also funding it with roll over change. The app also has ways to discourage you from spending money. For example, now anytime I spend money at Trader Joe’s, Target or Uber, $10 automatically comes out of my account and into my savings fund. This is my incentive to not go crazy at Target when I’m back in the States and to take the train even when I don’t feel like it. Qapital also allows you to share goals with your friends and invite them to the app. For every friend who joins, you get $5 and they get $5. Again, I don’t miss the change at all and I can transfer the money back into my account whenever I want. In one week I’ve saved $35.

Financial Advisor

Ok, so this one is not as common or as cheap. My employer has paid for a financial planner to meet with those of us who are interested. I have had 3 meetings so far and she has been very thorough and has made me think about a lot. How many of us have seriously thought about how much money we need to put aside for caring for our parents as they grow older or how much our social security check will actually be? Is your life insurance enough? Does it have a critical illness rider? Do you have a trust? I didn’t even know if I had worked enough in the US to receive social security, let alone factored that into my retirement plan. Obviously not everyone can afford a financial planner, and I can say for certain that I would not hire one if it wasn’t free. But what I will say is that talking about retirement and saving money in general is healthy and everyone should do it more often. So I’m consciously trying to engage in more open conversations about money in an effort to keep myself motivated to save and on target to retire.

Got any strategies or apps that work for you? I’d love to hear about it! Comment below.

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Don’t Fill Out That Credit Card Application

As a freshman in college I learned that everyone and their mother will try to offer you a credit card. They will offer you anything from a free pizza to a t-shirt in exchange for your signature on the dotted line. The same is true for the airport. Sign-up now in exchange for 50,000 miles. But are you selling your soul for these 50,000 miles? Luckily I avoided all of these pitfalls, but what I didn’t say no to was Gap, Old Navy, or Express. I’m not sure why it seemed like a good idea at the time, but I was that girl with all of the store credit cards. I caught on quickly though and cancelled them pretty early on, but the moral of the story is that I did not need them. Of course you want to hold a credit card or two so you can build your credit history, but because you don’t need that many (it will bring your credit score down), you should do lots of research before committing to one. What rate are they offering you? What perks does the card come with? Do they protect their customers against fraudulent charges? Does it have an annual fee? Do your research before committing to a credit card.

Pay Your Bill In Full

If you can’t afford to buy it in cash, don’t buy it. Let’s say you purchase a new television with your credit card for $1000, but don’t pay it off before the end of your billing cycle. In fact you pay just $60 per month with 18% interest. The total cost of the television would actually be $1160 and by the time you pay it off 20 months later you’ll probably want a new TV. To build your credit score and to avoid throwing away lots of money in interest you need to pay your bill in full every month. When I was fresh out of grad school, struggling to find a decent job, I made the mistake of getting by on my credit cards. Some of the things I bought I didn’t actually need. It took me longer to get out of this hole because I couldn’t keep up with the interest. I wish I had known how hard it would be. If you’re in a similar situation I suggest you do the math so you can figure out how to get out of this situation as soon as possible, but also so that you know what you’re up against.

Don’t Buy A House (Or Create New Debt) If You’re In Debt

Step number one in getting out of debt is to avoid creating more debt for yourself in the process. Every bit of your money should be going towards your debt. Once I started my career and wasn’t just working a job, I started saving for a house. Mind you, I had student loan debt. As soon as I was in a position to buy a house I did. Then I bought another. Well they are both condos, but you get the idea. Instead of having to make just student loan payments, I was now having to make student loan AND mortgage payments. I can’t tell you how much money I threw away in interest. It would probably make me cry to know the exact amount. Of course there are some situations when this would be okay, say for example when you’re spending more in rent than you would on your mortgage, but in my case I was just being impatient.

Start Investing Earlier

Every year in Math we do a unit on interest. And every year I kick myself for not saving money earlier. Just as the interest I mentioned above can be a pain to deal with as a borrower, it can be a Godsend as an investor. Don’t believe me? Play around with this calculator and see how. Even just saving a small amount per month but starting at say age 18 could have been huge. But as the saying goes, you’ll never be as young as you are today, so if you haven’t started saving yet, now is the time to start.

Track Your Spending

When I finally got around to tracking my spending, I noticed something very important; I had no idea how much money I was really throwing away or where it was going. Tracking your spending will tell you a lot about yourself. Maybe you live more extravagantly than you thought, or maybe you have a really expensive Starbucks habit. There are some great sites out there that will do it for you. Now I get alerts to tell me when I’ve spent more than I did this time last month or even last year. But on the bright side, it also tells me when my net worth has increased and it’s free. Nothing like a virtual pat on the back to tell you that you’re doing a good job saving. I love these little notices and it helps keep me on track.

Budget

I’ve always been pretty good at restricting myself. But why hadn’t I been restricting my spending more? Once I actually started tracking my spending I knew that wasn’t enough. So what I started doing was going to the ATM at the start of every month and pulling out $500. That’s all I allowed myself to spend. Cell phone bill, taxis, movies, food, hair appointment, etc. I wrote down every cent I spent and forced myself to make the $500 last until the end of the month. My only regret is that I didn’t start earlier.

Now I know we are all different, so I’m interested in hearing from you. What financial advice would you give your younger self?

The post The Financial Advice I Would Give My Younger Self appeared first on Maya the Explorer - Expat Blog | Travel & Lifestyle.

One of the questions I get asked the most is, “How were you able to teach abroad?” Most people think I teach English, but I can’t reiterate this enough; I don’t. I’m certified to teach special education and Spanish in New Jersey for grades 5-12. The schools I’ve worked at internationally deal with an expat population and the kids are TCK’s or third culture kids. Not sure what a TCK is? Check this out.

Did that pique your interest? Well, if you’re interested in working in this type of environment or with kids with more passport stamps than most flight attendants, you’ll need a teaching certificate. I wanted to provide everyone with information on how to become certified to teach, as that is the first step. This post is primarily for those with a bachelors or masters degree, but without teaching experience or teacher education.

If you have already graduated from college, the best, but not the quickest route is an alternative certification program. I say it is not quick because it will take you months if not a couple of years. That’s just the reality of it. Anyone with kids can tell you that they want their kids to have qualified teachers, and so do all good schools.

These programs will allow you to get your certificate while gaining crucial experience as a teacher. The programs also pay you to teach, which is perfect for those who cannot afford to stop working. In some cases they also help pay for a master’s degree in education.

Teach for America

The benefit of doing Teach for America is that you could end up in one of many different cities in the US, perhaps even close to home. It’s good for those looking to make a move or who need a change. TFA prides themselves on diversity and list their latest pool of teachers as 51% people of color. If accepted you will be a full-salaried employee of the school district you’re hired in with full benefits. TFA has their own benefits that you could be eligible for on top of that, such as annual education awards (monetary rewards), payment of your student loan interest during the time you’re teaching, or postponement of your student loans. For more information on TFA, click here.

New York City Teaching Fellows

This is the route I took towards certification and becoming a special education teacher. I worked full-time for 2 years in Brooklyn and earned another masters degree while working. My degree was subsidized by the program, with just a small amount coming from my salary. As the saying goes, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. It’s not an easy job, but the kids are amazing and you truly feel as though you’re making a difference. The salary also helped me to begin managing my debt and it is very feasible to save, while also taking in such a magnificent city. For more information on NYCTF, click here.

While these programs help walk you through the certification process, it is possible to do it on your own. Teaching requirements vary from state to state. If you need a certificate to teach abroad it can be from any state, so do some research and find out which state certification works best for you or is the easiest. Just about every state has an alternative certification option. This site has everything broken down state by state, including salary information, as does this site.

Lastly, let me say that it’s impossible to prescribe a one-size fits all approach to advice on certification. It depends heavily on the individual course work you’ve taken. It also comes down to the state you’re looking in, so if at first you don’t succeed, try another state. In fact, Utah actually just announced that you don’t need a teaching certificate to teach there. Click here to read more on this. The Department of Education in most states will evaluate your application and tell you what steps you need to take to be certified and list the steps (usually) in an easy to understand format. If you are motivated, you can absolutely find a way to make it happen. And the end result is so worth it.

Are you certified to teach? Drop a comment below and tell us about the route you took.

The post How To Get a Teaching Certificate to Help You Teach Abroad appeared first on Maya the Explorer - Expat Blog | Travel & Lifestyle.

But what if you don’t have a bachelor or masters degree? This post is specifically for those wishing to teach overseas as soon as possible and who are not trained teachers.

What is TEFL?

TEFL is an acronym for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. The minimum of a 120 hours certificate is required for English as a second language teaching jobs abroad. This qualification concentrates on learning the skills needed to teach English in a country where English is not the native language. Any program that offers this certificate should help you gain confidence in teaching and prepare you to have your own classroom while completing the certification course. For most positions you simply need to be a native English speaker and be at least 18 years old. Of course having applicable experience teaching helps, but it’s not mandatory for many jobs.

If you want to teach English as a foreign language, this can be done rather quickly. It is possible to become a certified teaching English as a foreign language instructor quickly, affordably and conveniently online. Of all the TEFL courses I found online, My TEFL was the highest rated. The reviews also highlighted the job placement help, which is pretty important.

For a discount with My TEFL, use the code MAYA35.

Why Teach English As a Foreign Language?

• TEFL will give you the opportunity to teach in the very near future, without having to obtain a bachelors or masters degree first.
• While you may not feel comfortable teaching in a subject specific area, if you’ve grown up in the United States or an English speaking country, you are an expert at speaking English.
• TEFL contracts are often shorter and can give you more flexibility if you’re testing the waters in a particular country or want to travel more.
• Before investing tens of thousands of dollars on a teaching degree, you can teach English as a foreign language first to make sure you actually like teaching.

Update: Give away closed. Thanks so much to everyone who participated and congratulations to our winner, Tempestt!

The post What is Teaching English as a Foreign Language and How Can I Do It? appeared first on Maya the Explorer - Expat Blog | Travel & Lifestyle.

Credit Cards
There are many good credit cards out there that allow you to redeem for travel and some that even give you a bonus amount of miles just for applying. However not all of them are actually worth the trouble. When looking for a great credit card there are a few key perks they should all have. Ideally you want to have no annual fee. After all, it’s not travel hacking if you’re simply paying cash for all of the perks each year. Read the fine print. Some offer no annual fee the first year, but after that you’re out of luck. Some cards with an annual fee may be worth it if they offer the option to wave the fee in return for dollars spent. In an effort to earn as many points as possible, I put everything on my credit card so this is actually easy. Think about how many everyday and big ticket items you can use your credit card for. I am even planning on paying my Singapore taxes with my credit card this year which is thousands of points in an instant. You also want to make sure your card has no international fees. Even a small fee can add up with lots of transactions. Lastly, you want to make sure that there are no black out days. My favorite card, Capital One, allows me the opportunity to book my own flight and they credit my account as soon as its booked. Even when I don’t redeem travel with my miles, I still sometimes book travel through this card as they are often able to get me a cheaper rate with their search engine.

Be careful with credit cards. Travel hacking is great, but not at the expense of your credit. If you are American, opening any type of credit card will impact your credit score. So don’t go crazy opening up cards in exchange for miles. When you’re ready to finance a house or car you will be kicking yourself if this was your strategy to fly for free. If you are an expat, you may be interested in looking up local options for credit cards. These accounts may not show up on your American credit report, but you’ll need to double check. I’ve just opened up a credit card in Singapore that does not impact my credit score, has bonus points just for opening an account, and gives you triple points for every travel related purchase and for overseas purchases. I can transfer my miles to Singapore Airlines when I’m ready to redeem.

Airline Miles
This is a no brainer. There is no fee for collecting frequent flyer miles. You can sign-up for as many alliances as you like and provided the fair class is eligible, you will be credited. In each alliance, I signed up with the airline I fly most often. And when booking I always pay attention to the airline and make sure it belongs to one of those alliances. In most cases this is easy, and as long as you remember to book with your frequent flyer number you will be credited after each flight. I’ve had quite a few free flights this way on just about every major network; Star Alliance, One World, and Sky Team and even some of the airlines that operate alone such as Philippine Airlines.

Fare Errors
Benefiting from fare errors is perhaps the hardest travel hacking category for me. If you live in a larger U.S. city, these errors happen all of the time and you just have to be quick and in the know. There are plenty of Twitter accounts to follow or websites to read that provide updates, such as Airfare Watchdog, The Flight Deal or Secret Flying. I’ve yet to hear of one within Asia aside from the budget airline sales that happen from time to time, but remain optimistic.

Buddy Passes
Buddy passes are the hardest for most people to get because as the name implies you have to be friends with someone who works for the airlines. But if you happen to make a friend, this is a good option. Rather than pay a full fare you pay for the taxes and if the flight has the space you can fly business class. You won’t accrue any frequent flyer miles, but did I mention you could go business class? When traveling a long distance this is huge! This method of travel comes with a gigantic catch. You really have to know and trust the person with the passes. If someone offers to sell one to you, walk away. Trust me, it’s not worth the trouble. If you are traveling a great distance the fees add up, and you have no control over what day you actually get to travel. You may show up at the airport ready to board your flight only to find that it’s full and will be full for days to come. Be warned, those taxes and fees also add up. My whole summer vacation was nearly ruined because of all of the variables out of my control, not to mention the price. In my opinion, if you’re going to pay that much, you should have less uncertainty.

One-Way Fares
Last but not least, one-way travel offers great savings. If you have time and creativity, you can put together a great itinerary. On my current trip to South Africa I booked a one way ticket. Rather than fly straight back though, I booked three flights totaling what I would have paid for my direct return trip to Singapore. Instead I’m stopping to visit Abu Dhabi and India. One tip though, if you’ve been searching various routes for a long time and are now ready to book, clear your cookies. Sometimes flight fares go up when the search engines know you’ve been looking for one-way travel.

I hope you enjoyed the tips. Comment below if you have some travel hacking suggestions to share.

The post Travel Hacking: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly appeared first on Maya the Explorer - Expat Blog | Travel & Lifestyle.

Have you ever thought about how the language we speak impacts our ideas about saving? Chen looks at countries that have futureless languages and discovers how not talking about tomorrow adds up to bigger savings over time.

Shlomo Benartzi: Saving for Tomorrow, Tomorrow

“Self control is not a problem in the future, it’s only a problem now.” Benartzi was dead on when he said this. How many of us talk about the changes we are going to make tomorrow, only to make the opposite choices today? Benartzi goes on to say that if we take away the choice of squandering money in the future when we are making more, we won’t really miss it. I think he’s right and it inspired me. As teachers we usually go up a step on the pay scale with each year, so what I did after watching this was to take the extra money I’ll be making next school year and hide it from myself. I set it up so that this increase automatically goes into my investment account. Genius. I doubt I will even remember I set it up once the increase kicks in. I’m so glad I watched this Ted Talk.

One Life-Changing Class You Never Took: Alexa von Tobel at TEDxWallStreet

In this Ted Talk the speaker discusses how lack of personal finance education leads most of us to make mistakes early on that affect us throughout our lives. Most Americans don’t put away enough money towards retirement and miss out on the power of compound interest. Most Americans also don’t get rid of debt right away, which eventually leads us to build more debt over time and to ultimately pass this debt and responsibility on to the next generation. What I loved most about this TED Talk is that it is short but powerful. It’s the type of video you may want to add to your playlist to remind you of the right decisions to make everyday, even if it’s not the popular one or doesn’t give you instant gratification.

Graham Hill: Less stuff, More Happiness

If you have a shopping problem this is the video for you. And it’s only five minutes so hopefully you can watch it every time you’re in line at Target. If you do, I think you may find yourself putting back some of the items that you clearly don’t need and saving a bunch in the process.

Jessi Arrington: Wearing Nothing New

When the video first started, I said to myself this woman is crazy. Her bright purple grandma dress made me seriously question her sanity. But as she kept talking I really liked what she had to say. So while I may not really want to buy everything I wear second hand, I don’t want to create an expensive, unhealthy attachment to stuff. She does have a point. Plus, she did have a few items of clothing that seemed fun, and everything was inexpensive. So perhaps this is something everyone could experiment with.

Why 2.5 billion heartbeats might change the way you think about money: Preet Banerjee at TEDxUTSC

Would you spend $45,000 on a $35,000 car? Well when you finance something that simply loses its value over time, that is exactly what you’re doing. In the TED Talk, Banerjee is asking you to change the way you think about debt. Instead of thinking about it as a means to get what you want or need, think about it as borrowing from your future self. Some people end up paying tens of thousands of dollars over their lifetime just in credit card interest. He gives some other great statistics that really make you think about debt, particularly for items that have zero worth after time. He left the audience with a quote that really has me thinking about borrowing money in a negative light. “Think of borrowing money today as negotiating a pay cut with your future self.” Now that’s deep!

TEDxAsheville – Adam Baker – Sell your crap. Pay Your Debt. Do What You Love.

Adam Baker points out to the audience how many of us are living a script. We get an education, try to find a good job, get married, have kids, then work until retirement. We are acting out a script that many of us don’t even believe in or enjoy. He challenges you to get rid of the possessions that are keeping you tied to this script and instead get out of debt and go do what you really want to be doing.

I hope you find these TED Talks as useful as I did. What resonated with you? Comment below?

The post 7 TED Talks to Challenge the Way You Think About Money appeared first on Maya the Explorer - Expat Blog | Travel & Lifestyle.

Financial Goals

I’ve made so much progress towards my financial goal since moving abroad, although sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. I still look at the big number and get so overwhelmed I could cry. But then I look at how far I’ve come and am proud and renewed to keep going. While I’m not lounging on a beach somewhere with passive income rolling in while I read for pleasure YET, I have paid off one and a half of my mortgages, eliminated all credit card debt and I’ve started chipping away at my student loan debt. So what’s left?

• By January 1, 2017 I want to completely pay off the mortgage on my second condo. Currently I have about $47,000 remaining. This is an ambitious goal, but not impossible.
• As soon as I pay all of that I want to turn my attention to my student loans. By January 2018 I want to pay off all of my student loan debt. I have about $64,000 left to pay.

These goals may seem gigantic, but I’ve come a long way. I started with close to $275,000 in debt and didn’t even scratch the surface until I started working and living abroad 6 years ago. And while I’ve cut out a lot of spending, I still indulge quite a bit by allowing myself to travel often.

Travel Goals

• I want to spend a significant amount of time traveling abroad, particularly in Latin America.

This probably seems strange since I’m an expat, but living abroad and traveling freely abroad for an extended period of time are two different things. I’ve worked non-stop since the age of 14. During college I studied abroad, but even that was work in a way. So I’d like to have a period of time where I’m free to pick up and go where I like, doing whatever I like. I say Latin America because that is the part of the world I love the most (so far). I’d like to be free to study Spanish the way it should be learned, in just interacting with people everyday (and maybe getting hooked to a telenovela). I’d also like to volunteer during this time and give back to those truly in need. It’s so important for my personal growth to be able to connect with my culture and get to a level of Spanish where I’m completely comfortable, and I believe that will come with extended time in a Spanish speaking country. As a Latina, I think we can be judgmental towards each other, with the level of Spanish proficiency or where you were born often being the main criteria for judgment. It’s been an area of insecurity for me, an insecurity that I’d like to leave behind once and for all and just be comfortable and content with where I am. To be clear, I do speak a lot of Spanish, but I think anyone who knows me would say I’m hard to please, even to please myself.

My grandmother was born in Puerto Rico and helped raise me. Growing up I’ve always been extremely close to her and feel even closer to her through learning more Spanish and traveling throughout Latin America.

• I want to organize and lead trips for those traveling abroad for the very first time.

I’ve gotten so much enjoyment from introducing parts of the world to my family. There is nothing like witnessing others fall in love with travel and see something new. I’d like to not only inspire people to do it, but to be an integral part of the process. I’d like to be the person to guide them through the experience, making it a little less frightening.

With my cousin, a first time traveler, in Indonesia. She took her first trip abroad with me in October and has since gone on a solo trip to Panama. I’m very proud of her.

Now here is my question for you. What are your goals? How can I help you to move towards them? I hope you are led to share. Only through speaking our goals aloud can we begin to move towards them and have people support us through the journey. Please comment below or feel free to e-mail me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Update February 19, 2017:

While I wasn’t sure how I was going to meet my financial goal when I wrote this post a year ago, I’m happy to say that as of the first week of February 2017, I’ve not only met but exceeded my goal. I’ve paid off every cent of debt I had. It didn’t happen the way I thought it would (I had to sell one of my condos which was badly vandalized), but I’m thrilled that for the first time in my adult life, I’m completely debt free.

I’m still working on the personal goal I set of perfecting my Spanish and spending more time in Latin America, but am more determined than ever. I lost my grandmother this month, which has been incredibly difficult, but I think wherever she is she is proud. My brother and I will be traveling through Latin America together this summer and I’m looking forward to showing him where in Puerto Rico my grandmother was from. I’m also in the beginning stages of purchasing a home in Puerto Rico for my family and myself, where we can stay close to our roots together.

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Thankfully, one of the best gifts I ever received while living overseas was in the form of a book, Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. My boyfriend is friends with the author and told me how good it was then put a copy in my hands. And once I moved to Singapore I came to know Hallam also and was fortunate enough to hear his advice in person as well as read more of it. Reading it made me a believer. It is the best financial planning book I’ve ever read, and I’ve tried many only to give up after growing more confused with each page read. But the Millionaire Teacher, written by a millionaire teacher, is straight forward and to the point. It tells you exactly what to do and why you should do it.

If you are struggling to figure out your finances I highly recommend it. If you are an expat farther along in the process of planning your retirement I also suggest Hallam’s second book, The Global Expatriate’s Guide to Investing: From Millionaire Teacher to Millionaire Expat. And trust me, you don’t have to be a teacher to benefit from this book. Happy reading!

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Doing some service learning in the Philippines my first year teaching abroad.

If you want to teach English to those learning the language, click here. If you want to teach children in an international school, in most cases you have to be certified. I say in most cases because there are some schools out there that will hire you with a college degree and no certificate, but this is not as common. You can also find schools that will hire you as an intern if you are still completing your degree or teacher certification. To find teaching, administration or counseling jobs there are a number of hiring fairs all over the world run by companies.

Search Associates

This is the company that I used to find my first job overseas. I signed up with them (for a $225 fee) and was assigned to an associate that helped guide me through the process. They have a large database where you create a profile. Schools can see your profile and vice versa. Their profiles are complete with all of the school’s information, including current openings, how much you can expect to save if hired by them, housing and other benefit information. Based on the list of openings you can begin to contact schools and schools will contact you as well if they think you’re a good fit for them. Along with the online database, attendance at one of their hiring fairs is included in the price you pay for them to represent you. I signed up before I was really ready to move overseas and had a job offer without even attending a fair. When I decided I was ready to move, I attended their Cambridge, Mass. fair and received 4 offers in one weekend. It was a great set-up, as I got to meet the representatives from the schools (usually the superintendent), hear their pitch, and I had access to my search associate to ask questions. He was very supportive in helping me weigh the different offers and he also gave me his personal experience in some cases. Search Associates has fairs in Cambridge, San Francisco, Toronto, Melbourne, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Dubai, and London, and they help place administrators and counselors as well.

The view from my job to my apartment. International schools have some great facilities and coaching opportunities as well.

ISS

International School Services, or ISS operates similarly to Search Associates. I know people who have used their services and found placements, but I don’t have any personal experience. The cities where they have fairs differ, so that would be one reason to use them instead.

University of Northern Iowa

The University of Northern Iowa fair has a reputation for having a lot of newer teachers. But I know veteran teachers who have been to this fair as well. The location kept me from giving it a try, as I don’t know anyone in Iowa, but it has a solid reputation.

Latin America

The Association of American Schools in South America fair was in Atlanta this year. It only caters to schools located within Latin America (the Caribbean, Central and South America) and is typically held very early in the hiring season. I haven’t been to their fair either but very much want to see what it’s like. The feedback that I’ve heard from friends who’ve attended is that it’s too early so some schools do not know all of their vacancies yet. But I believe it was a couple of weeks later this year, which may have been better for recruits.

Sankowski, Dariusz (Photographer). 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016 from: https://stocksnap.io/photo/CG0LZC3FSI.

Last but not least, you can look online. With more schools moving to hiring by Skype this is definitely an option. I was hired for my current job over Skype. I filled out an application online and they contacted me soon after to interview. It was great for me because I had already visited the school and knew what it was like, but this may be more difficult if you’re just starting out, as you may not know which schools to look for. The International School Review is a website dedicated to reviewing schools, so if you are interested in knowing what schools are out there, give it a try. You have to pay for a membership to see some reviews, but in my experience you can find some of their reviews just by Googling international school packages and reading through their discussion thread.

If you decide to go with one of the fair options, make sure to select a fair that has a lot of schools attending, especially the schools in which you are most interested. But in my opinion it’s most important to be open minded. I had my heart set on Latin America but would have went home jobless if that was all I was willing to consider.

Any readers out there who have been through the process? Share your experience with the process in the comments below.

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