HI,

I am 33 and currently studying to become a primary school teacher (qualify in July 2008). Husband is a newsagent. Looking for options go getting out of the UK for a slower pace of life with more time to spend walking and chilling. Want to live somewhere warm - ish. WOuls love to live in a village commmunity again. Looking for ideas - not done any research yet as we are just considering our options - thought about Oz and Canada.

Thanks
D

Hi, D, and welcome to the forums here.

There sure are lots of us looking for a slower pace of life these days. Not sure if it's primarily a matter of where you go, or more just how you want to live your life (and what "inconveniences" you're willing to deal with - like a lack of money).

The thing you're up against as a primary school teacher is the difference between the various educational systems. For example, I can recommend small town France for a slower life style (and great food!), but teaching is considered part of the civil service here and I'm not sure you would be considered qualified. (Never mind the language issues.)

For either Oz or Canada, you may want to look into the British schools (generally private) or any International schools (also private), though these are usually located in or near the major cities. It might not be quite the village environment you're looking for, but it could be a way to put your teaching qualification to good use.
Cheers,
Bev

Welcome to the forum,

We are pleased with Portugal unfortunately there is a surplus of teachers here and the pay sucks...........
besides the need to speak the language.
Hope you find your way!

Diane aka Mamacats
Ragdoll Breeder
Portugal

Hi Bev,

There are so many ways to make money online that as long as you're in an area with internet access you should be able to make money - if that's what people want to do of course . I'm still learning about various ways and I don't mean getting involved in scams either!

Regards,
Karen

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Money-Magnets: The Blog - How to get your money to work for YOU

We're in South Australia and we are loving it.
We live in a community of about 25,000 people and it is a community. It can who you know rather than what you know that helps you here though.
I think that teachers are in demand in Australia but if you check out the "please read.." thread towards the top of the Australian forum that has a link for the skills in demand.

We live on the side of an extinct volcano (it really is extinct though ) and in the centre of it in a beautiful blue lake. It's lovely to walk around and if you prefer mountains there are the Grampians in Victoria nearby.

In the winter (we arrived in July) we only had frost once and it only lasted for about an hour. The warmer days if winter reminded me of summer in the UK!
The summer so far has been quite warm with a few days in late 30 degrees C and one over 40 (which is rare here).

If you choose Australia make sure that it's somewhere with water. Parts of Australia have had a drought for years and water is in short supply. The local firefighters have to take there own water if they are going to fight a fire in Victoria since Victoria (or the parts near us) don't have enough!

Where we are has plenty of water but we didn't think about that when we moved.

Regards,
Karen

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Money-Magnets: The Blog - How to get your money to work for YOU

Making your living on the Internet is certainly one option, but it pays to remember that, Internet or no, working from home (legitimately ) involves running your own business. Some folks just aren't really set up to run the whole show themselves.

To run your own business (on the Internet or elsewhere) requires a certain level of self-discipline and organizational skills. Then, there is the matter of handling the "paperwork" side of things - taxes, social charges and (where necessary) properly registering your business.

For expats, especially, there is the need to get integrated into the local tax and social insurances systems and that isn't always easy with a home or Internet business. Just as a side note, I hear that the French authorities started doing sweeps of eBay France to try and find people who were subject to VAT assessment and registration. Haven't been over there in a while, but when I last visited, I noted that eBay France has far fewer full-time online vendors than eBay UK, and I suspect it relates to the ease of registering that sort of business.
Cheers,
Bev

I agree that some people aren't cut out to run a business. And if they are thinking that doing it online is an easy way to avoid tax they are mistaken!
However it's an option that most people just don't consider especially those of us who didn't have computers around when they were younger. And as for doing it yourself that's why we have accountants (or bookkeepers), hire secretaries (by the hour in some cases) etc. I guess I've had my own business for so long (since 1996 in one form or another) that after a while dealing with accountants etc. becomes second nature.

And yes I've been to an accountant since arriving in Australia saying this is what I want to do how do I do it in Australia? I knew the UK rules (when the government wasn't busy changing them every year ) but had little or no idea about the Australian ones but that's where a good accountant comes in.

You rarely have to do it all on your own - it's just a matter of finding the right resources. I know it eased the pressure from us by having an online business when we first moved to Australia, since we had money coming in every month and didn't have to get jobs immediately.

Regards,
Karen

__________________
Money-Magnets: The Blog - How to get your money to work for YOU

I used to moderate on a forum about working from home, and there are lots of people out there with very unrealistic expectations about the "ease" of doing so. One thing some folks forget is that, if you aren't prepared to do the taxes and paperwork yourself, you have to make sure your are bringing in enough money to pay for accounting or secretarial help.

We used to advise over on the working from home forum that the rates you charge (online or as an independent business) should be about twice what you made as an employee, in order to cover all the extra costs and overheads that your employer was handling for you. And that formula probably has to be adjusted by country. I know I was shocked to find out what we had to pay in social charges for my husband when he went from being an "employee" of our company to being the "majority owner artisan."
Cheers,
Bev

And of course they are going to be earnings millions in their first week

I started my online business while I was still working full time, and then it enabled me to go part time, and then very part time. If possible that is one of the better ways of doing it since then you don't have a sudden income drop plus the pressure of setting up a new business.

Regards,
Karen

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Money-Magnets: The Blog - How to get your money to work for YOU

If you are looking for a warm(ish) place, Canada is not much of an option. It's cold there, more the way England would be if the Gulf Stream died. Vancouver weather is moderate, though.

Australia sounds like a much better option for you, and your qualifications are more likely to be accepted. There was a thread on the Australia forum (down there in the By Country section) about finding an international school. There are only a few in Australia, since expats are usually looking for a school in their own language. English speaking expats can just put their children into the local schools for that.