If you’re thinking about retiring abroad or just moving overseas to find a new job or a new way of life, perhaps you have an idea of where you would like to live. Maybe you’ve been on holiday to the Mediterranean and imagine living and sunning yourself overlooking the sea in your retirement. Perhaps you’ve always dreamed about going to Australia and have decided to emigrate there to live and work. Or maybe, just maybe you want to leave the UK and go in search of an improved lifestyle but you have no idea where best to live abroad!
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could know where you should live abroad for a better life – maybe you want better healthcare, a better work/life balance or even a better salary? Well, we can today reveal the locations around the world that you may want to consider if you’re seriously thinking about moving abroad and you have a particular motivator for doing so. Thanks to the Expat Explorer series from HSBC we can reveal everything from where you can earn more to where you can save more, from where your children will be better educated to where the commute to work will be a thing of the past.
It will then be up to you to identify your most important motivators and perhaps research more into the countries that come up as offering you the best opportunities overseas according to the criteria you set as being of importance in your life.
When Money Matters for You as a Would-Be Expatriate
If you’re motivated to move abroad by money – whether that’s because you’re really a greedy consumer (!) or you’d simply like to earn more for the hard work you do or invest more significantly for your financial future, where should you be thinking about moving to live abroad? You need to leave Western Europe and Australia out of your thinking if you are purely motivated by money because it’s Asia where the expats are wealthiest!
According to HSBC’s findings, the highest number of expats earning more than 250,000 US dollars are in countries and locations like Russia, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland (okay, so that’s Europe!) and India – with those living in countries like India and China also reporting that their cost of living is exceptionally low, thus making their high salary go even further.
Expatriates living in Russia and the Middle East in locations such as Qatar and Saudi are able to save more of their wealth though, perhaps because of their ability to maximise their positive tax status as expats in these nations.
Achieving a Better Work/Life Balance by Living Abroad
If you want to cut out your commute you should move to Australia where transportation issues barely factored in an expat’s life, however, Switzerland offers expats the best transportation improvements because of the quality of both the roads and the public transportation system. Hong Kong follows hotly on Switzerland’s heels and both are probably good bench-markers for locations such as Dubai to emulate when they are in the process of sorting out their transportation infrastructure.
Switzerland is again a very popular destination with expatriates who have gone abroad seeking an improvement in family life, as is Canada. Both nations have a strong emphasis on outdoor activities and family time, therefore both are worth considering if you want more time with your kids and they want a potentially better childhood.
If you’re worried about their education then you need to move east – Malaysia and Singapore seem to offer expatriates more in terms of education and childcare benefits. But then we’re back to Switzerland and also France and Belgium for healthcare improvements. Seemingly therefore it may not be possible to find the best nation in the world to cover every single aspiration you have for your family and your wealth’s wellbeing.
All Work and No Play Makes for a Dull Life
If you want to escape a heavy workload and have more time for yourself then the likes of Bahrain or perhaps the Netherlands and Germany will offer you more free time. But if you want to have the most fun spending your free time then you need to be in South Africa or Canada to pursue hobbies or the UK (yes, the UK) or Thailand if you want to have access to the best entertainment!
France and Japan are a gourmet food lover’s preferred destinations or if you just want to enjoy your time away from work in your own home then Canada, Thailand and America offer expatriates a high improvement in the quality of their accommodation.
Conclusions…
So, there you have it – unless you want to be well entertained you have no reason to remain in the UK! But there is a real divide internationally speaking when it comes to where you will find improvements in your life – this means that you have to work out what your priorities are and go from there. For example, if you’re motivated to go abroad and earn a strong salary to set you up for life then certain countries will be of more appeal, but if you’re relocating for an improved lifestyle and you’re taking your family with you, perhaps countries such as Switzerland or Canada will come out on top of your list.
Wherever you think about moving to abroad, make sure you do plenty of research into what life will really be like for you living there. You need to ensure that you and your family can be happy overseas, that you will achieve the lifestyle you expect and that you’re forewarned about anything less than ideal about that nation so that you are ready to cope with it – whether that be the red tape you will encounter, the waiting lists for the best schools or a more expensive lifestyle perhaps.
