Retirement planning

[trakow]

Hi there,
I think it's high time for me to start thinking about retirement planning - I was wondering if you have any suggestions / recommendations for expat who does not know where he and his wife will end up in a few years and where they want to retire. Is there any financial advising company that can help with expat retirement planning?

[Strong Eagle]

What is your nationality? Where is your current income tax home? Where might your future income tax home(s) be?

If you are talking about Singapore "financial advisors", I'd be very very careful in hooking up with any of these people... they are mostly product peddlers, trying to convince you that investing in a Scottish Widows and Orphans bond fund is simply the best investment you can make.

No one knows better than you, what your current financial situation is, how much you could sock away each month, and how much money you think you will need at retirement. There is a wealth of information available on the web about retirement planning, and some basic metrics can show you what you will need to do.

Finally, while others will probably say 'never', if you are a passive investor, you'll never do better than investing in exchange traded funds (ETF's) or mutual funds that track major stock indexes. It has been proven over and over again that managed funds do worse than simply staying with the index. Since I am USA based, I use the S&P 500 which encompasses about 75 percent of all stocks traded. The Russell 2000 encompasses about 95 percent of all stocks traded.

You may also wish to consider commercial property investments through REIT's or limited master partnerships. However, this is much more dependent upon your country and tax situation, and it is helpful to have a sense of the market in which you are investing. For example, in my region of the USA, there is so much money chasing commercial properties that the returns are not very good at all.

[aki01]

get a copy of Andrew Hallams second book - "the global expatriates guide to investing". This will give you a good foundation to make any decisions. It was a huge eye-opener for me.

[joemeow]

If you are planning for retirement, do this and start doing business