Job Discussion Forums

[natsume]

[Justin Trullinger]

It would be worse if you could hear it!

I don't actually do a Sean Connery accent- that was sort of my nod to the way Irvine Welsh spells Sean Connery's accent in Trainspotting...

sometimes I wonder if I read too much.


Best,
Justin

[Otterman Ollie]

Scot, comeon, everyone knows that the money you don't give on rent goes towards your building insurance and can even top up your pension. Btw, 54 square meters is hardly an abundance of space to live in, I've seen bigger toilets than that!

Do you really want to spend your last years on some windswept rock?

[Hod]

Some of you should google a pension calculator such as this one.

http://www.h-l.co.uk/pensions/interactive-calculators/pension-calculator

Currently I pay 1000 Pounds a month into my pension and �hope� to do so for the next thirty years. My final pension is estimated as the equivalent of 25000 Pounds a year gross, which is not a lot considering.

Paying in 400 Pounds a month over the same period, you are looking at a gross pension of 11000 Pounds a year.

To put that in perspective, the UK�s minimum wage is �5.80 per hour. For a thirty-eight hour week, this is 11460 Pounds a year. People argue that pensioners have lower overheads and all that, but very few OAPs today will have live on that pittance.

I�m only using the UK as a reference point. I don�t plan to live there. It�s just for information if anyone thinks a 54 square metre apartment is not quite living the dream.

------

And sorry Scot47, but buying property is not tosh. Yes, you have to repair your own windows, which being honest is no hardship, but in the worst case and pretty depressing scenario, house owners can sell their property to pay for long-term care in old age. Who will pay this in the case of a tenant? The State?

[scot47]

54 sq meters is more than enough for me.

Hod is clearly an American and has an antipathy to the State doing things for people. I take the contrary viewpoint. The State is not simply a tool for waging war. It is there to make life better for the citizen.

Given the choice between the Swedish Model and the Neo-liberal American model, I know which one I prefer !

As for living on a rock, it depends how big the rock is. I found a fairly big one which I share with about 8,000 other people.

[nickpellatt]

Retire?

Im amazed no one has suggested they will be EFL'ing until their dying days.......Ill happily take a little council flat back home, a meagre state pension, and supplement it with Easter/Whitsun/Summer teaching.

[scot47]

Means-tested pension in UK for a single person over 60 is currently 132 pounds a week. Housing costs will bv covered on top of that. Savings up to 10,000 pounds will be disregarded.

[Hod]

[naturegirl321]

[Otterman Ollie]

Hod, thats quite a heavy monthly commitment. so you are going to pay in about 360,000 over the next three decades and get a 25000 annual income plus your full U.K pension of 100 a week or so, should be enough to live on. Wonder what that will be worth in 30 years time?
The wisdom of home ownership will clearly make a big difference no matter where you live.
Scot, you sound happy enough with your plan, but it does have flaws, I think like Hod that relying on the state is not a good long term strategy. One of the reasons for that can be that with so much taxpayers money being given out on benefits what will be left for the next generation of dole wallahs and unemployable, do you want to be lumped in with them? How many of your 8000 or so neighbours are going to be like that?
I had this impression that after a life of tireless toil a little cottage or bungalow on a tropical isle would be more to your liking. Does the State always have to provide?

[scot47]

Funny that they do not seem to have problems finding the money to pay for two new aircraft carriers !

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,

So, would you prefer to take your chances with the ace Al Qaeda Air Force?

And who knows when those Frenchies will get the urge to cross the Channel again?

Regards,
John

[Hod]

[Dedicated]

Hod,

You have painted a very black picture of EFL in the UK, probably because you haven't lived there for 11 years. You must be looking only at those at entry level (ie.a 4 week CELTA)

If you have the right qualifications (DELTA/MA) there are lots of fairly well-paid jobs. At present, EAP is the booming market. I work at a top-ranking university and have DELTA/MA/MSc/and EdD. My salary is just over �40,000 for 14 contact hours per week. I supplement this with IELTS examining, item writing for the Cambridge main suite of exams, some private lessons with Japanese businessmen at �40-�50 an hour,editing/proof-reading of dissertations, and teacher training (CELTA/DELTA). This doubles my monthly take-home pay.

Even pre-sessional courses offer �650-�700 a week, plus subsidised accommodation (if needed).

Those who accept �10 an hour are those who have no appropriate, advanced qualifications. They think a 4 week introductory certificate entitles them to mega-bucks.

[Hod]