Working abroad looking to save for a house

MRLRMJR

Hi

I am hoping someone can help with the following query. my wife and I are living in Shanghai China and we are beginning to save for a house with her tax free earnings from there. We want to put our money somewhere safe of course (and don't feel like China is the place, plus our living there is temporary). 

We kept our uk bank accounts, in which we both have an normal savings account and an ISA. However of course we are aware that since we are living abroad we cannot deposit into our ISAs. We wondered if someone could advise the best and most appropriate place to put our savings. For example, would it be ok in my wife normal savings account (i.e., non-ISA) even though she earns her money in China (and its tax free)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks in advance

M & L

eskbanker

There's nothing from a UK tax/legal perspective that prevents your wife from depositing into her non-ISA savings account, as long as the bank is aware of her current address, but she'd need to ensure that doing this complies with any local Chinese regulations.

She'd find it challenging to open new UK accounts from there though, although NS&I do offer some that are available to non-residents.

Thrugelmir

How easy is it to transfer funds out of China? 

steampowered

You could consider using an international bank with a presence in China such as Citi or Standard Chartered.

Putting the money into a UK bank account is a good option. If you are saving for the long term, stocks & shares are almost certainly going to beat savings. 

Remember currency issues. The international value of the pound has tumbled in recent years given that we've had successive conservative governments and now Brexit. £1 was worth about 15 Yuan in 2008, 10 in 2015 about 8.5 today. 

That doesn't matter so much if you are planning to return to the UK. But if you are planning to stay in Asia I would be putting my money into USD rather than GBP.