Expat Financial Advice in Dubai & The UAE
As one of the world’s most famous destinations, Dubai's weather and lifestyle attracts thousands of expats every year. Earning a tax-free income and salary packages that often include rent, cars and education fees, expats often find themselves with more excess liquidity than they anticipated.
This change in circumstances can also change spending habits, it also creates the opportunity to invest wisely and make a real difference to your financial future, but doing your research first is essential to avoid making costly but all-too-common mistakes.
Some of the thousands of expat financial advisors in the UAE offer qualified, fee-based financial advice, while others take advantage of less investment-savvy expats by selling costly, poorly regulated products for huge rewards at the expense of investors. This can mean the difference between securing your retirement or losing large amounts of money.
Dubai is infamous for poor standards of expat financial advice. Expensive savings plans, lock-in periods, offshore bonds and suspended investment funds have caused chaos for investors over the years, but change is slowly happening and with improved regulation, new products entering the market and good expat financial advice is becoming easier to find.
Choice of Currencies
Many Middle Eastern countries are oil producing and have USD-pegged currencies. Oil is traded in dollars and so the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman and Bahrain all peg their currencies to USD to lower volatility in exchange rates.
With most salaries effectively being paid in USD therefore, it makes sense to invest in USD. However, the UAE is a transitional destination, so capitalising on exchange rates in currencies that may be useful in the future can be beneficial, especially if you expect to retire somewhere like the UK, Europe, US or Australia.
Multi-currency platforms allow transfers between currencies in GBP, AUD, EUR, SGD and HKD. So you can easily purchase assets in other currencies if FX rates look favourable and sell again whenever the funds are required.
Remove Doubt From Investment Decisions
There are now multiple investment options available for expat investors, with low custody and underlying fund costs, daily-traded liquidity and easy-to-understand charges. Always remember the golden rule of expat investing - if you can’t withdraw your money quickly and penalty free, don't invest.
Choosing an Expat Financial Advisor
As with investments in any country, it is vital you speak with qualified and regulated advisors to ensure you get the best advice. It's also crucial your advisor works on a transparent fee-basis and not by taking undisclosed commission from your investment, so always clarify the following points:
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If fixed periods and redemption fees apply or the advisor is 'paid by the institution', confirm how much they get paid and how
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Look for fee-based investment advice with transparent and understandable set-up and ongoing fees that are fully disclosed and agreed beforehand
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Advisors should look to reduce platform charges and receive remuneration only for the services they provide, not from institutions
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Clarify underlying fund charges. Your advisor should minimise these to give you every possibility of a positive outcome
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Do due-diligence on funds being recommended and check regulations, track record and key statistics
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Take a look at our page on 5 simple questions you should ask you expat financial advisor
To speak to a locally qualified and regulated advisor to help invest in the UAE or anywhere else in the Middle east, get in touch today to remove all of your expat investment concerns and get the expertise you're looking for.