Financial Advice for Expatriates in Dubai and the Gulf

The financial landscape in the Persian Gulf Region is changing for expatriate workers, the majority of whom relocate to countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Dubai seeking higher salaries than their peers earn back home, as well as a chance to save substantial funds towards their future financial security.

The fact of the matter is, rental rate increases and annual rises in the cost of living in locations from Dubai to Qatar are seriously outpacing wage increases and a growing percentage of expats in Dubai and the greater Gulf Region are failing to save anything at all towards their future.  Specialist financial advice for expatriates in Dubai and the Gulf is needed at this point to help those committed to contracts and dedicated to remaining overseas to afford to maintain their lifestyle and be able to set something aside for their future financial security and that of their family.

The rate at which rental rates have risen in Qatar is particularly significant…they have gone up by 83% in just two years in Doha.  In Dubai they have increased by a staggering 60% in the same period whilst inflation has shot up by 8.5%, and in both locations wage increases have been nowhere near as high meaning that in the past two years disposable income has declined significantly and has led to most expatriates giving up on any long term savings plans that they may have once had.

Of those surveyed by GulfTalent.com in a recent review of the financial status of expatriates living in the Gulf Region 28% had ceased to save in Qatar, whereas in the UAE where property prices have been consistently rising along with rental rates for far longer, the number of expatriates failing to save anything from their salaries had reached a frightening 43%.

When you consider that out of all those who expatriate to live and work in the Gulf 41% move there for the perceived financial benefits then there is something going wrong at some level.  Nowadays rent accounts for 33% of an expatriate’s salary in Qatar, 30% in the United Arab Emirates, 29% in Kuwait and 24% in Bahrain, and there is a growing feeling among expats that they are going to have to move on if they are going to be able to afford to save.

48% of expatriates living in Qatar are thinking of leaving for affordability issues, 60% in Oman and 52% in Saudi Arabia said the same thing.  So financial advice is required for expatriates in the Gulf Region to help them save to offset inflation and rental rate increases in the short term, to afford to relocate or repatriate in the medium term and to actually have achieved some form of financial status increase from their efforts whilst working abroad for their long term financial health.

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