British Expat in Dubai. Savings plan - advice req'd

chr24

Hi folks,

I am a British expat living in Dubai.

I came here to save money so that when I return to the UK I'd have a decent deposit to put down on a flat/house.

Hoping the financial guru's on this forum could answer a few questions and point me in the right direction.

My situation is.........I'm in my late 20's. I bank with 1 of the Emirati banks which my salary is paid into directly here in the UAE.

Other British expats in my company advised me to get a Lloyds international account or a HSBC international account (I believe HSBC you need either £100k salary or deposit £60,000 to have that, leaving me with Lloyds in the Isle of Man as my only option).

I keep a current/savings accounts with RBS which I still have a couple of small direct debits coming out of also.

I'm sure the question of "What I save, could it be taxed?" has been asked before but I just want to keep myself right with my personal situation.

At the moment I have no property in the UK. I rent in Dubai. I save a fair chunk of my salary per month and just want to plan for the future.

So....

1 - Should I be transferring from my Emirati account to Lloyds in I.O.M and keeping the savings there until I leave Dubai to come home?

2 - Should I transfer it to Lloyds in I.O.M then my RBS account in the UK to keep my savings there?

3 - Any advice on companies like Swissquote for offshore savings? - should i consider them or steer clear?

Basically I'm just looking for safest option to keep my savings secure for when I get home so any help/advice/tips is greatly appreciated and I apologise if these questions have been asked before.

PS - if anyone can point me in the right direction to any reading material related to this or recommend a good financial advisor for the this field i'd also be extremely thankful.

Kind Regards

xylophone

You expect to be returning to the UK within the next couple of years and expect to have saved (and hold in your UK account) less than £75,000?

If so, if I were in your position, and knew the savings were for the purpose of a house deposit, I'd be inclined to repatriate the cash to the RBS account.

Thrugelmir

chr24 wrote: »

I came here to save money so that when I return to the UK I'd have a decent deposit to put down on a flat/house.

You'll have no UK credit history. So options may be limited initially in terms of obtaining a mortgage.

chr24

If I stay for 5 years i was aiming towards 100k

Initially when I return I'd be more likely to rent until I found the right place and had some sort of credit history behind me again.

Just curious if what i save out here is liable to have a chunk taken out of it by HMRC when I return

xylophone

Just curious if what i save out here is liable to have a chunk taken out of it by HMRC when I return

You may pay tax on on interest earned on capital but not on the capital itself.

colsten

Have you tried a Dubai expat forum? You are likely to get a lot better info there on this subject.

Voyager2002

If you are unlikely to buy property (that is, to need your savings) in the next five years then it would be sensible to consider investing in stocks and shares.

Jonbvn

xylophone wrote: »

You may pay tax on on interest earned on capital but not on the capital itself.

Unlikley. He is non-resident for tax purposes.

OP there are several other UK banks & BS's which have Jersey/IOM branches. Suggest you google.

xylophone

Unlikley. He is non-resident for tax purposes.

He said

Just curious if what i save out here is liable to have a chunk taken out of it by HMRC when I return

I think he means will he lose a chunk when he comes back and repatriates his savings - if he transfers the money to his UK bank account, there is no tax liability at that point - if he starts to earn interest there may be, depending on how much.