Good News For Expat Savings

by DIY Offshore on May 4, 2012 in Expat savings with No comments

Good News For Expat Savings

A bit of good news for expat savers who have taken care of their offshore investments. Recent data showed U.S. manufacturing was stronger than expected in April. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of manufacturing activity rose to 54.8 last month from 53.4 in March (a figure above 50 indicates expansion).

The US S&P 500 reached the heights last seen in 2007 in April and will test these gains again this month. Recovery from the recession is still far from guaranteed, but offshore investors who used dollar cost averaging and other offshore investment strategies through 2009 have come out well ahead to date.

by DIY Offshore on April 12, 2012 in Expat savings with No comments

Get More from Your Expat Savings

When discussing expat savings we tend to focus mostly on getting maximum benefit from our international investments. And while our offshore investments are very important, investing is only half of the wealth generation model. The other half is of course saving.

Take a look at all the things you do in your daily life. The costs associated with these things can undoubtedly be reduced, adding up to huge gains over several years. As an example, one adviser went to his cell phone company at the beginning of each new year to see if they had any new deals. His cell phone bill dropped for 8 consecutive years, adding up to thousands of dollars in savings.

We all have ways to make our expat savings dollars go further. Can you think of 3 ways you could reduce your personal expenses without compromising your quality of life?

Student Loans Affecting Seniors!??!

by DIY Offshore on April 4, 2012 in Uncategorized with No comments

Student Loans Affecting Seniors?

Interesting article out this week in the Washington Post that suggests student debt is an even worse epidemic than we thought. It turns out that seniors over the age of 60 still owe about $36 billion in outstanding loans. That’s a lot of debt to be saddled with for your entire life! Unlike other forms of debt, student loans don’t disappear in the event of bankruptcy in the US. This coupled with the fact that in many cases the expected benefit from higher education never materialized, has created a debt epidemic in the US. So, while some of us are trying to maximize our expat savings to ensure a healthy retirement, others are facing a lifetime under the shadow of debt.

Not a happy read, and a great lesson to save hard, invest, and adopt as little debt as possible throughout our lives.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/senior-citizens-continue-to-bear-burden-of-student-loans/2012/04/01/gIQAs47lpS_story.html

Student Loans – the new mortgage

by DIY Offshore on February 25, 2012 in Education Savings with No comments

Expat Savings for Education

Recently in the office we were debating the optimal mix of debt repayment vs international pension contributions. We made hundreds of calculations and observations about behavioral finance. It was a fun discussion but also explained why we aren’t invited to more parties.

Eventually the topic of student loans as the new mortgage for young people came up. We all have friends, relatives and clients who are in their 30′s and still paying off the student debt they acquired during their 20′s.  It’s quite remarkable, and a rather scary trend (for those of you with children, start investing for your kids’ education NOW!).

This week Business Week came out with an article this week taking the idea one step further. They pointed out that student debt wasn’t just the new metaphorical mortgage, it was beginning to replace mortgages. Simply put, young people have acquired so much debt that they aren’t getting approved for new mortgages. This is hurting the recovery of the US real estate market, and hurts young people’s chances of building home equity.

The article can be found at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/student-debt-is-stifling-home-sales-02232012.html If you are an expat savings towards your children’s education will save them and you a lot of grief in the future.

Expat Retirement Panic Solution

by DIY Offshore on February 13, 2012 in Expat Retirement with No comments


Expat Retirement Panic Solution tag

We ALL know we need to take significant action to create the retirement we deserve. This is particularly important for expat retirement. In many cases expats need to substitute a national pension scheme with an international pension solution, and expats may not have any home equity they can tap in their later years.

There is an interesting article in Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper this week about what to do if you missed the bulletin to save for retirement. It’s meant for Canadians, but applies to everyone that has some home equity they can access in their future years. The idea is to sell your home and invest in equities paying a good dividend. A home sold for $375,000 invested in dividend paying equities can generate a low tax income of over $13,000 per year.

Sadly, $13,000 is not a lot even when combined with national pension assistance. Another option might be a reverse mortgage, but the results from that option might be substantially worse!

Obviously the important take away from the article shouldn’t be what you can do to barely survive in retirement, but the importance of investing early and often. Expats should maximize their contributions into an international pension solution to ensure that retirement works out the way it was meant to, and you don’t need to sell your home. You can view the full article at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/portfolio-strategy/a-retirement-plan-if-you-missed-the-bulletin-to-save/article2334647/

Merry Christmas! All the very best for the coming year

by admin on December 21, 2011 in Uncategorized with No comments

All the Best to International Investors in 2012

To all our friends and clients, we would like to wish you a joyous and prosperous 2012. This year international investors can expect to see lots of market volatility and opportunity as events in Europe continue to unfold. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the situation and taking action to adjust expat pensions as required.

We wish you all the best for the year!