I start substitute school teaching this week. Pray for me.

Subnubilus...In some parts of Asia you can probably teach English private lessons, but you won't make much money. Being a hostess in Japan brings in good money. I'm not saying it's a good idea or bad one--but lots of western women do it. I'm not sure if you need a degree or not. I believe Japan requires a degree for a working visa.

I met a bunch of Australian women who were hostessing when I was there, but I'm not a girl so that's not an option.

Oh well. I'm going to do things the hard way and it might pay off.

quote:

Teach English in Japan!!!!!
I was dead broke...I mean broke and bankrupt after losing a business. I had lived overseas before and I was ready for a big change in my life and a way to make some money quickly. Getting a job teaching English was easy and it was all arranged for me from the U.S. prior to leaving. There was basically no risk. The reward was fantastic--not only financially. I had a great apartment ready for me when I arrived, I worked in a great school with lots of nice people, I was able to travel around the country with other teachers and students, and I was able to save a lot of money that funded my travel after my contract was over.
As long as you have a college degree, are responsible and have a good personality, you can get a job teaching English. Then once in Japan, you have to explore and do cheap things to have fun because it's easy to drink, smoke and party your salary away.

-How did you go about getting the job?

I have found a great if not strange way to make money for travel although it may not suit everyone. I work as a live in carer for elderly people, you get your board, lodgings and minimum £340 a week which is all yours. They welcome people from abroard as long as you have a working visa. although you do completely give up your life for the duration of your assignment (2-4 weeks) you save lots of £££. Like I say its doesn't suit everyone, but I've saved loads doing this.

Tyler Durden...
I got hired by AEON Corporation. It's been a while and maybe their hiring process has changed but back then they had interview locations in LA, Chicago, NY, London, etc. You can look them up on the web. The interview is pretty intense but you'll do fine if you are good at public speaking and have a happy personality.
I was very satisfied working for AEON--I did it for 2 years at 2 different schools. My husband also taught for them and was happy, too.
NOVA is another school that hires in the U.S. for Japan. There's also the JET program if you are young, but it's a 2-year commitment.

hankat could you give me more details? It's tough for me to save a lot because I'm obsessed with guitars. Also I like to weight lift so all of that food costs a lot of money. I need to find a better paying job. =(

Annie and Scuba... I was looking at the ING Orange account.... how do you get your money out? It explains everything but that. Same process as getting it into the account?

Hi stephen Not sure how it works in the USA. But I went onto google and put in live in care agencies and it came up with a load of agencies and I just joined one and off I went. In the UK the cost of nursing homes for the elderly is very expensive so to get live in care works out a lot cheaper. Good luck!!

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Mattison:
hankat could you give me more details? It's tough for me to save a lot because I'm obsessed with guitars. Also I like to weight lift so all of that food costs a lot of money. I need to find a better paying job. =(

quote:

Originally posted by nerokerr:
Annie and Scuba... I was looking at the ING Orange account.... how do you get your money out? It explains everything but that. Same process as getting it into the account?

I've been looking into this because I plan on opening a few cd's with them when my savings hits certain levels. This should help me save more and will definitly keep me from touching my money. Also, because you can get them for various lengths of time I can make it so that several (or a few really) all end around the same time, about 6 months before my trip.

I believe that the actual savings account gets tied to your exsisting checking account and that you should be able to move money around pretty easily from it.

quote:
Originally posted by nerokerr:
Annie and Scuba... I was looking at the ING Orange account.... how do you get your money out? It explains everything but that. Same process as getting it into the account?

I apologize in advance if this post looks kind of weird - I'm a newbie -

I have an ING account and it takes approx. 3 days to do a transfer into your linked checking account. Also, there is a limit on how many times you can transfer out per month (I think 5?) - they don't want it to be used as an interest-bearing checking account...

Cindy

quote:

Originally posted by nerokerr:
Annie and Scuba... I was looking at the ING Orange account.... how do you get your money out? It explains everything but that. Same process as getting it into the account?

Just repeating what was said by others. The link to your checking account (or other I guess) is the same. It works both ways. It usually just takes a day to get mine transfered. You can also set up transfers in advance.

I don't use the account for a lot of transactions, I just move money in bigger chunks to my checking account where I either transfer to my credit card (always run things through that to get the frequent flyer miles) or put in my bank savings if I'm not needing it right now. With my regular bank I have a savings, checking and credit card connected so I can easily make transfers between any of them.

Personally, I prefer HSBC which offers the same type of account as ING with a higher rate (promotional rate is 4.80% through the end of April 2006, 4.25% after) and comes with a free ATM card.

In addition, HSBC is a HUGE international bank with branches and ATMs in tons of countries across the world. That way, you can use your ATM card free at any HSBC to access your savings.

Cool, thanks everyone. And just to be sure... I'm guessing since people here are recommending these, it's not the case, but... are there any fees or anything with either ING Orange or HSBC that caught you off guard or that you didn't know about?

When I set my HSBC account up, I called customer service and asked about every possible scenario that would incur a fee, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary (the usual fees for not using their ATMs, etc.) except that only 6 withdrawls per month can be made from their high-yield online savings.

To get around this, I opened a free HSBC checking account (no minimums, no direct deposit req'd). So each month, I'll move what I expect to spend in that month into my HSBC checking (using their online banking which automatically links all your HSBC accounts) in one lump sum. Then I can withdraw using my checking ATM card or checking debit card (also free) as much as I want.

Be forewarned that from the time I went online and started my application to the time my final PIN was sent in the mail for my ATM, it was at least 2-3 weeks. You'll get about 10 mailings from them, one will have your account number, one will have an ATM card, one will have a PIN, one will have your online account number, one will have your online password, one will have your phone password, etc.

So far I really like HSBC. They have incredible rates, a nice online interface, ATMs worldwide, and if I lose my ATM card when traveling, there's a good chance I'll be able to find a local branch.