Nov

Expat Daily: Aging Parents, International School Boom

admin Baby Boomer, Education, Expat community, life abroad 2009-11-03

Aging Parents & Your Expat Career

With the economic down turn more us our faced with the decision to move abroad. Or if you are already living overseas you may be faced with having to move further away from your home country. Increasingly this choice comes amidst caring for an elderly parent and by the time 2020 hit 1 in 3 Americans will be caring for elderly parents. This article follows three executives who were faced with the dilemma of how to care for an elderly parent while trying to move forward with the career. “…Because of extended life spans, Americans increasingly confront elder-care issues. About one in eight employees is involved in caring for someone over age 65, estimates Andrew Scharlach, a professor of aging at the University of California at Berkeley. By 2020, one in three people will have to provide care for an elderly parent, he predicts…Yet even without a generous employer, you can craft creative solutions for a “trailing parent” problem. Consider the approaches pursued by three top executives. One is Catherine Wolfe, an American whose Dutch employer, Wolters Kluwer NV, transferred her and her 83-year-old mother to London. Gillette Co.’s Chief Executive James M. Kilts used a corporate apartment near its Boston headquarters to avoid uprooting his elderly mother-in-law. Safeco Corp. CEO Paula Rosput Reynolds moved her sick 93-year-old father to Seattle on a company plane soon after assuming command.” Read more from The Wall Street Journal

Good Economic Times For International Schools

International schools are not feeling the affects of the economic down turn like other industries. Even schools that have seen expat families sent home early have been able to remain stable by pooling from their student waiting list. They are also having their pick of candidates who want to teach at their school where in the past this was not so. “International schools are becoming increasingly valued institutions in a globalized world, equipping students with the mobility to pursue university studies almost anywhere in the world. Recent research shows that, despite hefty tuition fees, many have not only survived but prospered through the global economic crisis… Schools developed contingency plans to cut optional extracurricular activities and froze expenditure across the board; but no major building or development programs were canceled, though some were delayed, Mr. Brummitt said…” Read more from NY Times