Money Mistakes UAE Expats Make Before Retirement

**Tim Elliott** (0:00)
It's The Morning Drive at Mira Business FM, thinking your pension home is enough? Question mark. As more UAE expats rethink retirement after living costs and market volatility, we're now joined by Michele Carby. Michele is the founder of the Michele Carby Practice, and she's here to break down the biggest pension blind spots, the retirement risks, and what expats should be doing now to protect their future. So just a very small topic for you, Michele.

**Michele Carby** (0:31)
Oh, nothing like Mount Everest.

**Tim Elliott** (0:33)
I'm telling you. Welcome back. It's been a while. It's good to see you.

**Michele Carby** (0:36)
It has. Thank you, Tim. Thanks for inviting me back.

**Tim Elliott** (0:39)
You're more than welcome. So why are pensions becoming even more of a major talking point for expat workers at the moment?

**Michele Carby** (0:49)
Do you know we found that since 2020? And think about those couple of major events that have happened. COVID, I think, really catapulting that, is rarely when we feel that clients actually sat down and thought, wow, the world is a different place. Because you think about the world pre and post COVID, right?
And you've then had this natural point to reflect, because a lot of people lost their jobs, a lot of people became ill. And it was a natural point that people reflected and thought, you know, have I done enough? You know, if I am without employment, what will happen to me? What will happen to my family? So it created that natural reflection point where people thought, actually, I need to become more responsible. I need to think about these things that I've put off, like retirement, because people always thought it was on the never never, you know, I'll do it next year, I'll do it in two years, or I'll do it in five years. But it was that point that people actually thought, I need to take this into my hands and do something with it. You know, then you had the Ukraine War that again affected a lot of people, especially across Europe. And that was another reflection point. And then more recently, you know, with what has happened in terms of the conflict in the Middle East this year, that's caused a lot of people to reflect and rarely take their financial planning perhaps more seriously than they've ever done before. And it's quite a newsworthy topic. It's been spoken about at length in the UK, for example, certainly for the last six or seven months, because they're talking about the triple lock and what drag that has had on the economy and the finances in the UK, you know, creating that safety net.
But depending on which side of the fence you're talking, if you look at what the conservatives did in 2010, you know, they say they took over a desperate pension situation, especially with people in retirement. There was a lot of poverty, and they wanted to do away with that, so they brought in the triple lock. And so all these things cause one to reflect. You know, when you see things in the media, you hear things, you have these natural reflection points, and it really does make you set up and pay attention.

**Tim Elliott** (3:26)
Well, it does. I mean, it's as though, you know, COVID and the Ukraine War, these global events are like a kick, aren't they?

**Michele Carby** (3:36)
It is.

**Tim Elliott** (3:36)
It is.
You know where, but I mean, sometimes that's what it takes. Do you think expatriates and expatriate workers in this country, from all over the world, of course, do you think we suffer from a full sense of security about retirement funds at home?

**Michele Carby** (3:53)
Absolutely. I think, you know, people think that employment, perhaps in the Middle East, or wherever they currently are, is forever. And, you know, they can plan to do something about retirement next year, or I'm too young, you know, retirement is for old people, I've still got 20 years to save. And they don't do it. And they just put it off and put it off, and then, you know, suddenly it's on their doorstep, and they've got a massive mountain to climb. You know, a lot of people, I learned this very early on, and I'll share it with you.
Not many people think about this, you know, how long do you have in your working life? And then, you know, if the average person retires, what is retirement these days? But with medical science progressing so well, and for people living longer, a lot of people find that they will spend longer in retirement than they have in their working life. So making sure that you've got provisions for retirement or your post-work, post-fill time work lifestyle can be sustained for yourself and your family. And you know, Tim, a lot of people think retirement is going to be cheaper.