Are you a so called ‘trailing spouse’ or accompanying partner, are you moving abroad for the sake of your family, have you taken time out of your career to help your husband and family move abroad to find a better life?
If so, you’re a woman who cares more about others than yourself – and this is absolutely typical of most women. We will put our careers on hold to help our husbands – and we’d put our whole lives on hold if it helped our children…
However, the trouble is, in so doing we damage our long-term financial health. So, in this report I’m going to show you how we can stop expatriate women getting the worst financial deal, without undermining their integrity or asking them to turn their backs on their family. If you’re a woman or you’re the significant other of an expat woman, this article is for you – it will show you how expatriate woman can still get a better deal when it comes to retirement than their onshore counterparts.
According to industry calculations, women who retire this year will be earning about 38% less than male retirees – and this is a pattern we see every year – in fact, the financial gender gap in retirement is widening.
Why?
Because a traditional pension needs time to gently grow, mature, blossom and bear the fruits of a long term and consistent savings plan. And this is the sort of savings and investment path that women don’t do so well on! Men traditionally stay in employment right through their working life – barring unexpected events of unemployment or sickness – but even then, professional men often have insurances in place to cover them financially speaking in the event of such an occurrence.
Women, on the other hand, have less than straight paths of employment experience, that are far less conducive to building up a long-term savings pot of wealth for retirement. They take career breaks to have and raise children – expatriate women often take time out of work to support their husbands and help their family settle in abroad. Women are less well paid, advance up the career ladder more slowly as they are considered to have their priorities lying elsewhere if they have children – and as a result of all of these undeniable facts, they spend less time earning big bucks and enabling them to contribute in a drip feed manner to a pension pot.
And that, my female friends, is why we fare far worse than our men-folk when we come to retire.
But the good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way…
Traditional pension plans may not suit you, they may not suit your style of working, earning and saving…but there are many offshore options and alternatives – from classic QROPS (qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes – or offshore pensions) – to high yielding bonds, fixed term deposits and tax free or tax advantaged investment schemes. All of these are solutions you can pay into as and when and how you wish. So, if you have a lump sum to transfer from onshore to offshore when you expatriate, there may well be a solution for you. Additionally, if you want to contribute regularly or irregularly to a savings scheme towards your longer-term goals, there will be a solution for you.
The best bit about choosing a path other than an onshore pension path, is that you have maximum flexibility potentially available to you. So, you husband can pay in for you if you take a career break, if you go back into work and receive a golden hello, you can invest that. If you’re leave your job and have a golden handshake, you can put that in for the long-term.
In other words, you, as an expatriate woman, do not have to be restricted and controlled by the restrictions of an onshore pension pot. It is not the style of investment strategy that likely suits you – as proven by the fact women never get out as much as men – and so why go for something that is not tailored for you.
Instead you can use the services of an offshore financial adviser or expatriate wealth manager and find the right solution to match your goals and expectations with your financial ability to save…
Clearly the earlier you start saving the better, because the longer your pot has to grow and benefit from interest and dividends added. What’s more, if you take time out for your family’s sake, talk to your partner about contributing to your savings schemes because you are taking time out for the good of the whole family…and your work and sacrifice should not go unrewarded. And finally, as already explored above – always think outside of the traditional pension box…as women can nearly always find a better solution for their long-term retirement savings once they are living abroad and no longer entitled to any of the onshore pension tax relief from the British government.
If you’re an expat woman and you want to take control of your financial future, get in touch with us today and we will find an expert who can give your finances an overhaul, and find you the right path for your money’s future development and positive advancement.
