expat retirement planning

How much money should I have saved for retirement?

Unfortunately, there is no reliable rule of thumb when it comes to the amount of money that should be saved for retirement. It all depends. Every situation is unique, so this number is different for every person, and it depends on your individual circumstances.

Expat retirement planning: Beware the silent assassin

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.

If it is too good to be true… How to learn from past investment scams

There was a story on the BBC website last week about a couple who invested their pension fund in a firm producing truffle trees; not surprisingly, the story didn’t end happily. The story reminded me of a similar incident involving the equally exotic Quadris Environmental Forestry Fund. This fund, which was launched in 2001 and was managed by a company called Floresteca, invested into teak plantations in Brazil. In total, they invested more than GBP100 million from 1,200 people