You may be keen to start learning new skills and exploring the world. Alternatively, as an expat, you may have had enough exploring the world and may be keen to settle in one place. You may have lost your job or may need to stop working due to health reasons. Or you may need to retire in order to care for loved ones. Whatever your reason, the question that you have on your mind is “can I afford to retire?”.
With many of the UK’s biggest private-sector employers struggling with pension deficits, growing numbers have approached their workforces with pension increase exchange offers. These proposals, also known as PIE offers, are deals to buy out some of the inflation proofing on your future pensions, in exchange for a bigger starting, but flat, income.
If you have been making social security (ZUS) payments here in Poland, then you need to claim your UK state pension here too. If you have not made social security payments in Poland, then you will need to claim your pension through the International Pensions Centre in the UK.
For better or worse, we now know that Brexit is definitely going to happen (or has already happened if you are reading this after 31st January 2020). As a result, I want to look at how expat pensions might be affected now that Brexit “is done”. In particular, I will review the potential implications for expats who have UK pensions and who have already retired or plan to retire in the EEA.
Are you in danger of letting your expat retirement plans fall prey to a financial assassin? It is always prudent to have a reasonable amount of cash on deposit to cover emergencies and short term expenses. However, having too much of your portfolio in cash can lead to, at the least, a loss of purchasing power in retirement and at the worst, you running out of money in later life. Why? Due to inflation.
Have you ever wondered what proper financial planning for retirement looks like? Before answering that question, let’s start with another. Do you actually need a financial adviser? A strange question to see on a financial adviser’s blog, right? You could be forgiven for thinking that my answer may be ever-so-slightly conflicted.
If you are one of the more fortunate expats that retain membership of an employer pension scheme, it is possible that you are not taking full advantage of the benefits that are on offer. You see, the way a typical pension works is that staff pay a fixed percentage of their wage into the scheme and then the employer pays in as well.