Savings plan across two countries

ryanandamy

Hi all,

Apologies if this is not the right thread but i couldn't find a dedicated international/expat one.

My wife and I are moving abroad for at least two years (although we suspect it may be more) to Bangkok, Thailand. Having received salary and expenses info from our employers and done some research around cost of living etc we think we are likely to be able to save £3.4k a month (40.8K pa). Trying to account for the unknown and any holidays we may take per year let say this is 30k pa.

Our question is where is best to have this money saved?
Keep it in Thailand or move back to UK or a mixture?
Are there any specialist products for expats that exist?

Also would you recommend seeing a FA before the move and if so is it best to find an expat specialist or would any decent FA be ok to speak to

Thanks in advance

ryanandamy

No ideas? guys?
Or is there a better forum to post?

Thanks

pin

Hi, one word of advise, stay the hell away from any FA in Bangkok trying to sell you a long term insurance wrapped investment product.

You are probably best off investing in low cost ETFs through a broker like Interactive Brokers or Saxo.

TheTracker

Pins reply is good. Beware of expat-community stalking sharks. They are in all countries with expats. Having lived and worked in various countries and spent time in many others, my advice is be wary of expat-communities full stop. They just happen to have a similar passport to you. As a rule of thumb: specialist products for expats are scams.

General advice is to keep money where you think you’ll be when you need that money. So probably send home the money at the right time. Of course, you need more of an emergency fund close by as emergencies are more expensive. Eg the usual pulse of unrest that means you need to take an unplanned month or two of leave out of country.

I enjoyed living in other countries. I found the best return on investment for saved money was personal end professional enrichment. Bangkok is smack bang in the middle of Asia and you have the opportunity for very cheap but plentiful short distance holidays to wonderful places. Many expats will use savings for extended long holidays.

Finally, many people end up loving where they live and never go back. If you’re going for two years and think you can save 30k per year your average balance will be 30k so maybe 3k market return. It’s a minor concern against the backdrop of a significant life change.