But Japan isn’t clean because it’s Westernized. It’s clean because that’s the culture.

I work overseas and have two small children (8 and 3). We lived in Japan when our eldest was 2 to 6 years old (our second was born during our last year there). Since then, we’ve moved back to the States and then on again to Germany.

Our kids have adapted well, better than us in most situations. With email, Skype, and internet in general; we can easily connect back with people at home. And in the meantime, our children have the opportunity to learn firsthand about other cultures, lifestyles, and dietary options.

The key, as others have mentioned, is having an open mind. For us, thus far, the rewards have been well worth the opportunities we may have given up back home.

If I had the money to get there and back right now, I’d be jumping on it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the money to spend on the actual travel–otherwise most of my expenses would be the same or cheaper than they are right now. Living somewhere cheaper than I’m currently living is always a tempting prospect.

I would more be in your wife’s boat, though, since I’m seeking self-employment as one of those crazy artistic types. As soon as it becomes profitable *crosses fingers* I’m out of here.

Big picture, is it more important to conserve your capital (get as high a price as possible) or to eliminate the mortgage payment? No “right” answer, but thinking about it may help clarify any action you wish to take. Great work on paying down the mortgage, that gives you more flexibility than most sellers.

A few ‘action’ ideas (there are many more variations & possibilities, these may give you a general idea)
1-do the math, are the carrying costs high enough to justify cutting the asking price a bunch to sell sooner rather than later?

2-consider taking the house off the market, make a few cosmetic or functional upgrades (anything to help the buyer think “I could move in tomorrow), and put it back on the market (same or slightly lower price)

3-consider turning your home into a rental for the time being, and sell it later. Or, if you have friends/family nearby that you trust, make it a house sit until you return. Or close up the house (if you have someone who can check from time to time that it is secure) and make a decision when you return

4-if you like real estate as an asset class but want to be financially independent of a mortgage payment, you could offer the house as rent-to-own or ‘regular’ sale with seller financing (possibly wrapped around your existing mortgage). This could create a cash-flow positive situation where you have a set time line to no mortgage at all (and could increase the number of potential buyers). This might be a wait-until-return idea, since regulations for real estate vary by state & there are recent federal regulations for seller financing to abide by as well.

Good luck!

Good question and I can discuss taxes a bit but it really varies by your location. Some countries have very generous agreements with the US on how to treat taxes and some not so much so this will all be general.

Most companies will assist you with tax preparation as this can be quite daunting during and after your assignment (as some commenters mentioned already). That said, your total taxes owed can be a huge problem and it’s usually helpful to reduce your taxable income as much as possible as many benefits you might receive are taxable.

My company has a tax equalization policy so they calculate what I would have owed if I received my standard salary in the US and make up any difference. Very helpful for us but not every company will do that. It’s a nice thing to negotiate for if you are considering an international assignment but your company doesn’t offer it. If you have a deal like this, don’t forget to check the tax paperwork to make sure the calculations are correct!

In general, filing your taxes is quite complicated and while we always filed our own taxes in the US, I would never dream of handling this on my own. Make sure to get a clear picture of how this aspect of an assignment would be handled! And don’t just take off-hand comments as gospel either. I can’t tell you how many people told me I would owe no taxes as I was working outside the US or that I only paid Chinese taxes on money made in China or other random things. None of these are true but you need to do a bit of research to make sure you understand the true tax impact on you.

No offense meant to Japan or some of the other cities you mentioned! I’ve been to Hong Kong and Seoul and they really are very Westernized and quite nice cities to visit. (We particularly loved Seoul!)

My general experience in Asia though is that this is the exception and not the rule. That said, there are definitely international opportunities in these more Westernized cities as well and if this is more to someone’s liking then I’m all for it!

I would say that the experience has definitely been amazing as well (you can see some of the great times on our blog too if interested). If the conditions were really bad all the time, the money wouldn’t be enough.

It’s more that I can have a truly unique experience and get to travel in a part of the world that I would never have enough vacation time to visit at length, while getting paid a substantial amount. As Mike mentioned, I think the combination of things is what a lot of people might not think is possible.

As a quick note, I didn’t mention it in the original post but our apartment here is actually bigger and a small bit nicer than our house in the US. We don’t have the yard but the day to day living is actually quite nice. For some colleagues in more western cities (Beijing or Seoul) it’s even better.

Very much agreed that this is one of the biggest risks (if not the biggest). I’m probably less worried than most based on my age. And if I really get a bad deal when I come back, I think I’m substantially more employable with my accomplishments now than an additional 2 years in my previous role would have made me. So I do have the option to walk. If I had been with the company for decades already though and was fairly attached I might be a good bit more worried.

Definitely a key point for people to consider when thinking about a choice like this.

Good questions. From the retirement savings topic, we already save roughly 15% of our income in long term accounts. We generally have another 15% in short to medium term savings.

When we looked at the overall savings we would have, it turned out to be surprising close to our remaining mortgage balance. After some long discussions, we decided that having no house payment would really give us tremendous flexbility in the future. If you took out our savings and housing payments, we could survive on roughly 40% of only my income. This means that essentially, I could get almost any job where we live in the US (fairly low cost of living area).

I’m sure that there might be some more optimal choices available, but the very real possibility that by the age of 30 we could have a paid-off house seemed too good to pass up.

From an overall valuation standpoint of our house, we had roughly 30% equity from the original cost and appraisal. The 12% came based on an offer we had gotten to sell it about 6 months before we decided to move (aka 6 months too early!). So, we never seriously considered walking away as it’s not really underwater.

We also have friends that admit that they spend a good bit but are over here so that they can “live like kings”. I think that if you’re generally frugal at home you would stay that way abroad and vice versa.

This is a good follow-up point. I would second what Bon said in that most families I know have a stay at home spouse taking care of children.

One additional benefit with kids this young is that they can easily learn a second language that will likely stay with them the rest of their lives with only minimal work.

I would say that as long as you ask good questions you’ll find that the key topics are usually all right – health care access, schooling, general living conditions, etc.

A good place for you to start gaining information would be looking at other companies in your field that offer these types of packages. Find out what they offer and you have something to compare, a starting point for what to expect.

When it comes to specifics, the most important advice I can give you is to pay special attention to TAXES. Complicated is an understatement.

Don’t get me wrong, overseas assignments can be very beneficial in many ways (career, financial, worldly experience), but go into them as prepared as possible so you can make the best decision for you own situation. Best of luck.

How lucky are you? Prague! May I ask what you do for work to be this fortunate? I want to live abroad as well

I was an expat to England, and I am still dealing with taxes. This is even with the help of my company.

I am always curious to see if tax burden is always an issue from other expats.

Highly recommended even though island living gets tedious (no seriously) after a while. Still more patatable than mainland China I’d imagine for most Americans. And it’s first world living, too!

As for how kids adjust-my parents went to europe when I was ten and I loved it for six years. We went to europe when my son was entering middle school and he adjusted well. All I had to do was promise him that our first vacation would be a week on the beaches of normandy-this for the child that watched the Longest Day in black and white at seven years old without getting up to pee

This strikes me much more as a story about being open to and taking new opportunities in life vs building a pile of wealth. But if you’re just looking for the financial side of it, I felt he covered it very well by describing all he’s managed to do with the extra pay. What he specifically did with the money is less important overall than the fact that he had it to put it towards financial goals he felt were important.

For many, getting an awesome experience AND making significant financial progress is a pretty darn good reason to do something like this

Neither of those two are true for Japan (lived there for 3 years). Cleanliness and food safety are impeccable, probably better than in many places in the West.

In addition, one shouldn’t down play the risk surrounding reintegrating upon return, especially given the situation Joe describes with major changes happening in the department. Two years will seem like an eternity has passed when returning to the ‘old position’, you may find it hard to fall back into line.

Ultimately for me the biggest decision point revolves around family. My wife and I returned to the western US to be within ‘easy’ travel distance of our families so we can share more time and experiences with them. That is hard to do from the other side of the world.

I just visited Singapore this summer and loved every second of it. It is by far the cleanest city I’ve ever visited and it is very easy to get around. Westernized a bit and since everyone speaks some English it is easy to get by. Also a very diverse city-state. My dad has two years remaining of a three year assignment there, and I hope to make it back before he leaves. If the opportunity to work overseas presented itself, I would have a hard time saying no.

I grew up overseas — Saudi Arabia. My parents moved there when I was three years old. We didn’t live on the local economy (Americans didn’t then) but in an American camp. The school was far superior to the schools I went to when we returned to San Francisco (I was 13 then). When we got back to the states, I tested three years ahead of my classmates even though I’d been out of school for six months.

My father was not an educated man and so could not have earned the kind of money a young college graduate would. But because of the housing allowance, the paucity of places to spend money, the low cost of living, and much higher pay than he would have earned stateside, he did pretty well. Despite not even having a high-school diploma, he managed to retire at the age of 50. I grew up knowing a heckuva lot more about the world than most American kids do, and my mother…??? She didn’t complain.

Today, now that I’m old, I would recommend that any American college graduate look overseas for work. It could be the most reliable way to stay in the middle class.