Wonderlink Program Costs for Teachers

If you have any questions about these costs, please contact the Wonderlink team through the Contact form on this website or at contact@wonderlink.org

Salary and taxes
Your starting salary is approximately $4,800 USD gross (or “brutto” in parts of Europe) per month (about $57,000 per year). As a J-1 teacher who is a nonresident for tax purposes, you generally do not pay FICA (certain American Government retirement taxes) during your first two years. You will still pay federal and state income taxes, which in practice are usually about 12–17% of income, depending on your personal situation.

Retirement
The employee contribution to mandatory retirement savings is about 8% of gross. At the end of your program, you will request a refund of your contributions plus ~3% annual interest. If you take the refund as cash (not a rollover to a retirement account), there is typically up to 20% federal tax withholding at payout and potentially other taxes at filing.

Example totals: about $13,900 over 3 years or about $24,500 over 5 years, before any tax withholding.

Initial flight
Lattice Global pays for your initial flight to the United States.

Interest-free loans (optional)
You can request an interest-free advance of up to $5,000, repaid over 18 months. The monthly payment is $278, starting after you receive your first month of salary. This is designed to help with housing deposits and car down payments.

Monthly costs and savings
Typical monthly costs—housing, food, car payment and insurance, utilities, health insurance, phone, and, if applicable, the advance repayment—are usually 50–75% of your netto income. This depends on whether you live alone or with flatmates and whether you own a car or share one. Many teachers are able to save about $500–$1,000 per month.

Estimated total savings
Depending on lifestyle and program length, you can expect to save about $14,000 to $65,000 over 3–5 years.

More information
We explain all of these items in detail during our webinars, which we highly recommend. If you still have questions afterward, please contact us—we’re happy to help.