Fund Advisers Dubai Spencer Lodge. Spencer Lodge MD ad fund-advisers.com. Spencer Lodge has been at the pinnacle of international financial services sales and management for over 18 years. His company Fund Advisers are one of the leading financial services companies in the Middle East.

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A Beginner's Guide To Successful Retirement Planning:
Creating a brighter future for you
Introduction
A growing number of professionals of all nationalities have been moving to and
working in different countries in the last decade. Whether you are a young
executive or already have a diverse portfolio of global assets, you will have
specific financial goals and objectives. The growing range of offshore financial
products and services can help you achieve financial security and provide you
with the quality of life you want when you decide to retire.
Investing in international accounts is no longer the sole premise of the rich and
famous; all expatriates living abroad may now enjoy flexibility, among other
benefits, by investing their money overseas. The offshore financial industry has
become more popular and financial institutions from around the world have
entered the offshore market as a result of rising demand. There are now many
providers that offer a broad range of services ranging from saving schemes to
pension and retirement plans, wealth management accounts to lump sum
investment products.
Fund Advisers has developed strong partnerships with some of the world’s leading
investment houses and insurance companies, which provide some of the most
competitive products in the marketplace, offering real flexibility, good growth
potential and/or capital protection.
In this guide, we set out some of the basic information you need for effective
retirement planning as an international investor or expatriate. In addition, one of
our experienced financial advisers can assist you further and take you through
some of the options available to you that will help you start saving for your
retirement.
Right Now is the Best Time to Start
Planning For Your Retirement
They say the best time to plant a tree is ten years ago, and the second best is
right now. However young you are it is important to understand the negative
impact that not planning properly for your retirement will have on you and your
family. Even if you have just started your working life, it is essential to start
thinking about making regular contributions to set you up for the future. The
younger you start to contribute to your pension, the more opportunity you will
have to secure yourself an enjoyable retirement.
Unfortunately for those starting out in their career now, their retirement outlook
looks bleak. They could be facing an uncertain future relying on company
pensions instead of taking steps for themselves to secure a sizeable personal
pension. As a result of the global downturn many pension schemes have huge
deficits, meaning that a number of companies are closing final salary schemes
and even the majority of existing schemes have major solvency issues.

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It pays to start thinking about your retirement options as soon as possible to
ensure that you have enough to live on when you start drawing your pension. For
example, if a 25 year old and a 35 year old started saving towards retirement
with the aim to retire at 55, the 25 year old could invest £300 a month, while to
create the same return, the 35 year old would have to save £803 a month. You
may feel that your retirement is a long way off and that you do not really need to
think about it just yet. However, if you look at your pension in terms of how
many pay days remain until your retirement at 55, you will see that you do not
have long remaining to save an adequate amount.
State Pensions
If you continue to pay your contributions towards your state pension and decide
to move abroad, then it could prove problematic when investing for your
retirement. You can continue to pay class 2/3 contributions to the UK state
pension scheme, but your final entitlement will almost certainly not keep you in a
luxury lifestyle in your retirement years. Another issue is that the age of
retirement for state pensions will be rising in the coming years, meaning that you
will have to work beyond the current 65 year old threshold.
On the other hand, if you do not continue to pay contributions into your UK state
pension (since you don’t have to if you move abroad), then this could potentially
reduce your entitlement completely. This would mean that you would have to
start saving towards your pension through other means if you have not been
investing already. In order to overcome these problems with state pensions, you
will need to start saving or investing towards your retirement as early as possible.
Women Will Benefit From Saving Too
It is a hard reality to consider, but statistically, one marriage in two will end in
divorce, and women who have not planned for their retirement could end up with
nothing to live on. So do you rely on your husband to support you through your
retirement years, or will you start saving and investing in your own pension fund
for yourself?
Only about 20% of all women will receive an adequate pension when they retire.
The large majority of women are approaching retirement without any financial
security measures in place leaving them open to potential hardship should their
marriage break down. Even in this day and age, a woman’s earnings will typically
be much less than any man’s meaning that they will automatically have lower
pension benefits. That is, if a woman has a pension in the first place. Around 50%
of working women do not have a company pension plan and are less likely than a
man to receive an adequate pension.
So, what can you do to ensure that you are financially secure when you retire?
Start planning your pension while you are young and begin investing as much as
you can each month into your future pension fund. Although your spouse will
more than likely have a larger pension fund to retire on than you, at least you
have prepared for the worst with your own retirement plan. Above all, your
retirement could be more luxurious than planned.

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Retirement Facts
A man who retires at age 65 can expect to live a further 19 years in retirement
on average. A female at age 65 has 22 years left. This means that you could
potentially spend 25% to 30% of your life in retirement and will therefore need a
substantial fund to support yourself. According to recent figures, individuals aged
between 25 and 44 are saving only about one third of the amount that they
should be in order to support their current lifestyle in retirement. In countries
other than the UK, people are required by law to make sure that their pension
provisions will meet their needs in order to live comfortably, but the UK are
behind in this thinking.
A good, well constructed personal offshore retirement plan should allow you to do
the following:
• Reduce or increase contributions — usually after an initial period of
about two years.
• Switch investments between different funds to respond to changes in the
market, without penalties
• Have the option of retiring when you choose to.
• Allow you access to what you have invested, after an initial period.
• Be realistic about how much you should be contributing.
• Provide you with regular status checks to ensure that your prospective
plan is suitable for your individual requirements.
To make sure that your pension covers you for your retirement lifestyle you
would be wise to seek advice from a financial consultant who specialises in
retirement planning. It is essential that you explore all avenues available so that
you can live comfortably in your retirement years.
SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension SIPP
A SIPP is a personal pension plan that is suited to the more sophisticated pension
investor. There are very few restrictions on what is available to invest your
money in, meaning that you will have complete control over your own funds. With
that comes full responsibility for its performance, which is why sound advice is so
crucial.
With a SIPP plan you are able to invest in most funds, listed shares or commercial
property, both in the UK and internationally. All assets within a SIPP fund benefit
from IHT mitigation, but can be subject to the death benefit charge of 55% on
death.
Investing within a SIPP can have great benefits for those who regularly pay into
the fund, such as:

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• You can claim full tax relief on contributions based on an annual income
of £50,000 (2012/2013) if you have relevant UK earnings.
• You do not need to purchase an annuity— the earlier quasi-compulsion
to purchase an annuity has been abolished.
• Prior to taking benefits, the fund can be made available to your
beneficiaries free of the death tax charge should you die.
• If you retire abroad, you are able to move your SIPP to another
jurisdiction using a QROPS scheme.
• Having a wide choice of investment options available to you creating
greater flexibility, but you need expert advice to ensure good
performance.
• You may also benefit from staggered or phased retirement.
Further information on SIPPs can be found in the SIPPs guide.
QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme
QROPS schemes allow you to transfer you UK accrued pensions to another
jurisdiction if you decide to retire/reside abroad.
Any individual can qualify for a QROPS if they are between the ages of 18 and
maximum age of 70/75 and have retired/reside, or are seriously considering
retiring abroad to another country in the next 12 months. You must also have
accrued a pension of over £50,000.
If you are planning to move abroad, a QROPS scheme can offer you greater
benefits than by leaving your pension in the UK, especially after 5 years of non
UK residency.
• The pension income is more tax efficient.
• You can take a lump sum of up to 30%.
• There is much greater investment freedom.
• You can take income and benefits in the currency of your choice.
• All unused pension funds can be left to your beneficiaries.
• No need to take an annuity or pay a UK tax charge upon death.
Further information can be found in the QROPS guide.
How To Find What's Best For You
Although researching and investing in pension schemes yourself may seem like
the best idea, sometimes it is just not practical especially if you are new to
investing. You must also consider whether you will have the time, patience and
expertise to make important decisions about your future.
Retirement planning is essential, as is gaining valuable advice that will set you up
for your retirement years. Help yourself by finding the right pension solutions for
your circumstances.
At the Fund Advisers Group we take positive steps to help you gain the most from
your retirement planning with a group of professional retirement planners based
globally. For more information, contact us on the details below.
About Fund Advisers

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The Fund Advisers is a large independent financial consultancy group with g;obal
operations. We work with international investors and expatriates to find financial
services products that best suit their medium to long-term requirements for
investments, savings and pensions.
With in excess of US $2 billion of funds under administration and management,
Fund Advisers has more than six thousand clients in twenty countries. Our
independence and ability to offer financial products that are tailor-made to fit an
individual’s needs are behind our success, and our work ethic is without equal in
the industry.
As a result we now have offices in over six countries. You can find us in Abu
Dhabi, Geneva, Johannesburg, Dubai, London, Brussels and Moscow among
others.
The advice we provide is free and without obligation.
All opinions expressed in this Guide constitute the author’s own
judgement as of the date of the Guide. Please note that as we have only
indicated the general position, and whilst every effort has been made to
ensure the accuracy of the information, we can accept no responsibility
for any act or failure to act based upon its content. The views expressed
herein are purely those of Fund Advisers employees and are not to be
construed as instructions.
Contact Us
www.fund-advisers.com
This material is for information purposes only and does not contain (and should
not be construed as containing) investment advice or an investment
recommendation, or, an offer of or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial
instrument. Always seek independent financial advice before investing in any
product. The information provided and contained in this brochure are believed to
reliable, but are subject to change without notice and Fund Advisers makes no
representation as to the completeness or accuracy of the information or of any
opinions expressed.
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