The years that you spend living and working abroad will be some of the best of your life. People living abroad get to experience new cultures and diverse environments. It is an adventure that very few people get to enjoy in their lives. Sometimes the excitement of being an expat causes us to forget the important things in life, such as our financial future.

For most of us, when we work in our native country the government takes part of our salary and puts it towards our retirement. The contributions are mandatory and go into these state-run welfare plans before we receive our salaries. These plans are very restrictive; you cannot make investment decisions or access them before your retirement. The government makes these plans restrictive because they know how important it is for everyone to have some planning in place for their future. For this reason, there is no way to opt-out of these plans, or is there?

In most cases, when you move abroad you will stop contributing to your state-sponsored retirement plan, the one thing your government would not let you do because they care about your future. Furthermore, many of the countries where expats work do not have an equivalent system, making it impossible to keep up with your basic retirement planning. Understand that this will have a direct impact on your retirement income unless you take care of it yourself.

It is ironic that most expats move abroad for a higher salary and standard of living, yet they return home with a poorer retirement lifestyle. If you are an expat working in Asia and you have not put in place plans for your future, then talk to one of our advisors today.