The financial benefits of tutoring comparesd to teaching

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Mike
Posts: 625
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:29 pm

The financial benefits of tutoring comparesd to teaching

Post by Mike »

Hi

An interesting off-topic debate elsewhere may provide interesting discussion.

Tutoring as a business does not produce high returns in the early years.

Most parents who send their children to a private tutor do so by word of mouth.

A new tutor coming into the market would have to generate students from an already concentrated market and prove themselves capable of tutoring a range of subjects.

It is unlikely that a teacher could leave the teaching profession and immediately "make a killing" in the private tutoring market whilst maintaining contributions into a private pension scheme commensurate with their existing pension rights.

It is even more unlikely that a single subject tutor could earn as much as a multiple-subject tutor.

Any teacher thinking of setting up a tutoring business should consider their wider skills i.e. a Mathematics graduate with a PGCE in Mathematic Education should have the capacity to learn the skills required to tutor a child for 11+ Mathematics, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning and, with a little time, English.

Regards

Mike
perplexed
Posts: 490
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:18 pm
Location: kent

Post by perplexed »

I presume one also might have to consider other elements of "diversification" too such as a tutoring agency where one takes a percentage of other tutors' fees, writing and selling learning materials etc.

It does not sound easy to me, but very fulfilling if you really enjoy teaching one to one or in small groups
Mike
Posts: 625
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:29 pm

Post by Mike »

Hi Perplexed

It is also necessary to consider start-up costs; where will you tutor from, local authority planning legislation, running a business from home, where will you obtain resources, how will you pay for start-up resources, if you employ tutors are you liable to charge VAT, self-employed self-assesment tax returns where you have to make tax payments in advance of earning an income, the risks of falling student numbers due to changes in LEAs provision of after school teaching.

Regards

Mike
Mike Edwards is a co-author of The Tutors product range.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

But clearly some people manage to make enough to cultivate olives in sunny climes :lol:
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Ah, but the cost of living is so much lower there. :lol:
perplexed
Posts: 490
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:18 pm
Location: kent

Post by perplexed »

I think having enough money to move to sunnier climes is as much to do with state of mind as the bank balance.

I have not persuaded my husband yet ..... but hopefully I have another 15 years or so in which to persuade him. Depending on our life expectancies .............
Another worried Mum
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:12 am

Tax Returns

Post by Another worried Mum »

As a former small business advisor with the Inland Revenue, I just wanted to point out that under self-assessment, you do not pay tax in advance of earning the money! Furthermore, depending upon when you start up in business, you may not have a tax payment to make until 20 months after you start up. AND there are lots of organisations out there who help with the practicalities (Federation of Small Businesses, Business Link) as well as help from the Inland Revenue itself - so don't let that aspect put you off! :)
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Post by yoyo123 »

as both paye and self employed , I just claim back my tax paid from supply teaching at the end of the tax year, a sort of saving scheme....!
Mike
Posts: 625
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:29 pm

Post by Mike »

Hi AWM

Accept what you say is correct. However, you are probably aware that when the tax changes were made self-employed people paid the tax owing fior the previous year as well as a paymeny on account for the following year based on the previous years accounts. If the following years income is less than the previous year then the person still has to pay the amount and reclaim it back.

We chose to down-size our business in the UK, as there was no significant difference in our profits in having two centres running rather than one, due to staff wages and the exhorbitant costs of utility bills in the UK.

Okay, as we owned the premises of the centre we closed down, it was sold and the profits used to buy a property in Spain.

However, this also coincided with the start of our relationship with elevenplusexams.co.uk that offered us the opportunity to write 11+ related material.

I based myself in Spain whilst Jan, the co-author of The Tutors, communted back-and-forth between Spain and the UK.

To give you an insight into how we now operate. Jan and myself are based permanently in Spain. The Tutors ceased trading as a private tutoring business as of April this year. Our home here has no electric, no mains water, no telephone and we have no worries.

To access the business centre so that I can read and respond to forum messages I travel 8km down a rough country track then a further 12km to the nearest town.

We are currently drinking our way through 60 bottles of Conde Noble red wine that we purchased from Lidl at Cambrils for 29 centimes a bottle, that is about 21p in foreign money.

Our council tax bill was 35Euro for the whole year, we have no utility bills as we pay for what we use, no standing charges, i.e. propane gas, petrol for the generator (74-80p a litre), water comes form the hillside and is stored in a cisterna so that is free, waste water goes to a biological soak-away.

Jan´s at the hidressers and I am going to be in trouble for picking her up late.

Regards

Mike
chewy
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 12:30 am
Location: essex

Post by chewy »

that sounds like a nice lifestyle enjoy it
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