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I moved to China at 30, and in my 7.5 years there, was extremely financially successful, got married, and started a family.
You should look into international schools; I know dozens of people who moved from small towns in the US to live all over the world, and were compensated decently. You can easily rent your house out and most likely sell your car back to the dealer for what you owe with the markets being what they are now.
I moved from France to the US when I was 28, that was in 1990. You're not too old. But I strongly encourage you to NOT move to Europe for many reasons, but here are a few:
Europe in the next years, oh let's say within 20 years is going to experience a huge economic contraction. You have to realize one thing, Europe, has no natural gas, no oil, no coal and half of the nuclear plants in France are down for various reasons. France has I think 56 nuclear plant, only 27 are working this year and it could get worse. Consider that solar and wind will NEVER supply any meaningful quantities of electricity and that coal, natural gas and oil are not available, very rough times are coming up. I don't think we should be burning fossil fuels anymore, but I'm sure you know that countries without energy and strongly dependent for energy on others are slowly going to go down. The US, by comparison, with all the problems we're supposed to have here will be fine. I know, it's crazy uh, but the day the US collapse the rest of the world would have a long time ago. In you're in the US find yourself a nice community in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Oregon and forget about Europe.
I'm 26, am 4 years into a teaching career, 1 year into a 15-year mortgage, 1 year into a 5-year car loan, and am kind of settled where I am. The past few years, though, I've been watching a lot of videos about Berlin and Paris and have been wondering what it would be like to live in those two cities, but I feel like moving would be starting over, as simultaneously exciting and scary as that is. I guess if I moved, I would move to Paris first to try to get dual citizenship with France since France allows dual citizenship and Germany doesn't, but Germany allows French citizens to just settle in Germany without needing any special visas or permits. I feel like in my mid-sized American town of Shreveport, the only interesting thing to do here is eat, so I just eat all the time and am getting fatter and fatter. Moving may be good for my health. I am unmarried and have no children except my 3 toy poodles.
I am not sure what jobs I could do abroad with my current specifications as a teacher of who also holds a pharmacy tech certification and a general studies bachelor would be, but if Germany offers free programs in English for education in areas that pay well and are in high demand, I wouldn't mind going back to school, the only thing question would be how I'd handle my living expenses while I did that.
When you are 26, you can do anything in the world. Still really young, really.
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If you know the language...
The biggest hurdle you will have is truly knowing the language.
Next is the job you will have to sustain yourself.
It has been my experience that you live easier in the USA on a low budget than in Europe.
--4 years into a teaching career, 1 year into a 15-year mortgage, 1 year into a 5-year car loan, and am kind of settled where I am.--
Very few people your age in Europe can say the same thing!
I am not aware of all the perks you get of being a native versus a guest worker in all European countries.
So you may be able to survive until you have a decent long-term salary to guarantee you a comfortable life.
If you can get a job here in the USA with an International company, that would be a definite plus. You can then possibly transfer to a European division. From your background, you are mainly a teacher. In what field? Even if you think that you can teach English as a second language in Europe, it takes more than just knowing English and being a teacher. You must know the proper grammar in the language area you are teaching!
In my case, I am originally from Europe, was educated in Europe and thus was trained in different languages. I then came to the USA, was fluent in four languages and I was working for a company which had European divisions.
I transferred to the main European Division and stayed for many years until we found it necessary to return to the USA due to the kid's education needs.
Rather than moving to a European country, a pipe dream that many people have, because it sounds romantic and adventurous, why not make the decision to go often to Europe on extended vacations? When you run out of money (you will!!), you can always go back to your secure home area in the USA.
I am not saying it will not work. You can make it work but you have a lot of "homework" still to do!
We just made the move abroad as a family. Late 30s with two toddlers. 26 would have been much easier (not that it was particularly difficult or traumatic for us)
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If you know the language...
