Most expats are woefully unprepared for retirement

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The sceptical amongst you might think that, as a Retirement Planner, I would say that. However, the statistics back it up, with HSBC’s Expat Explorer survey revealing:

• Nearly 50% of expats do not have a dedicated retirement plan
• 70% of expatriates believe they are under-saving for retirement
• All this, despite 60% saying that retirement is one of their top 3 goals

The mañana mentality

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Last week, Jane came to see me for the first time. Jane has worked as a Business Development Director in Asia for 10 years. She’s been earning big bucks, living the high life, and enjoying everything that the continent has to offer, from Michelin-starred fine dining to weekends in exclusive resorts by some of the world’s most beautiful beaches.

Sadly, Jane has procrastinated on getting a retirement plan together. Now that she’s in her late forties, Jane is starting to panic. Suddenly, retirement doesn’t seem so far away and there is precious little time to amass a pension pot to sustain her luxury lifestyle when she stops working.

This realisation prompted her to make an appointment with me.

Jane has fallen prey to what I call ‘the mañana mentality’, and her situation is far from unusual.

Like many expatriates, Jane has always assumed there would be time later to think about retirement. After all, she enjoys a great salary and has few immediate financial worries. She told herself she’d sort it out ‘tomorrow’, next year or when she hit the next milestone. But the years passed, and now, as she approaches the later stages of her career, Jane is realising she hasn’t set up the financial safety net she needs to be sure that she can retire with dignity, and never run out of money.

Until now, she has assumed that as long as she was earning well, everything would work itself out. But without a concrete plan, Jane faces a reality many expatriates don’t anticipate: the possibility of being unable to maintain her current living standards when she stops working or even outliving her savings.

Fortunately, it’s not too late for Jane and we are now working on a clear roadmap for the future together.

The biggest retirement mistakes expatriates make

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Believing she still had plenty of time to sort out her retirement was Jane’s biggest mistake, but there were others.

Perhaps you are making similar mistakes. To find out, ask yourself the following questions:

• Have you any pension provisions outside of state pensions?
• Have you even been taking the steps to make sure you qualify for a state pension?
• Have you started saving and investing for retirement?
• Is your financial plan inflation-proof?
• How will you deal with the effect of exchange rates and currency fluctuations on your retirement savings?
• Do you have a funded strategy for long-term care as a retired expatriate, should the need arise?
• Do you fully understand the tax implications of cross-border retirement planning?
• Have you considered the lifestyle changes that will occur when you retire?
• Are your investment return expectations realistic, and is your portfolio diversified to make sure that even if there is a crash in the market (for example the property crash in 2008) you will have retirement income?
• Have you built yourself a “war chest” as part of your portfolio to ride out the storm in the case of prolonged market downturns?

If you can’t categorically answer ‘yes’ to all of these questions, there are probably flaws in your financial planning that need addressing.

Retirement planning for expatriates

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What Jane didn’t realise was how different her retirement planning needed to be as an expatriate. She hadn’t thought about where she would retire, the different tax implications in various countries, or the costs of healthcare outside of a corporate insurance plan. The absence of a home country pension, coupled with potential currency fluctuations and the complexities of managing multiple international accounts, were all issues that need to be addressed in her financial plan.

The most important thing is simply to start – and don’t leave things to chance, and have a plan.

Jane’s story is not unique. Many expats underestimate the financial planning required for a comfortable retirement. They make the mistake of thinking they’ll be able to save later or that their high earnings will take care of everything. But the reality is, without a proper strategy, they could end up struggling in their retirement years.

Financial planning for expatriates isn’t just a ‘nice to have’, it’s a necessity.

Unfortunately, the traditional international financial services industry also hasn’t been in the position to be able to effectively support expatriates in complex areas like retirement planning. The industry needs to focus far more on the plan, and far less on the product – investments are a tool we use to achieve our goals, not a goal in themselves.

Make sure you’re working with a team who takes the time to listen and understand what you value – the life you want to lead, and the legacy you one day want to leave behind.

Are they talking to you in terms you understand, and is everything built around a long-term plan?

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