A few clients have contacted me to ask about whether their protection plans, their life insurance policies, are still valid considering the current situation in the UAE, and wider GCC.
In this article I explain the situation and give you some facts. Reassuring facts.
A change in UAE law affects expats who hold bank accounts, property, or other assets in the UAE.
I have written about the many reasons why you need a Will in the past (see 15 reasons here) but this is something new.
If you pass away without a registered Will, your assets are now classified as “unassigned.”
I am currently helping out someone in a tragic situation. Gemma (not her real name) is having to deal with a legal and financial nightmare.
Her husband died in an accident a couple of months ago, leaving her with two young children.
Apparently, they had said in passing that they needed to get their family finances sorted, to get wills and some life insurance, but they never got around to it.
Now she has to deal with the mess left behind and needs to support herself and two children on one income.
It is going to be hard.
But it didn’t need to be this way.
Moving to the UAE is a big change. Living in the UAE, or even the wider GCC, is not quite like life elsewhere.
It is not uncommon for expats for make a few financial mistakes but proper planning, some research, and the right advice will make for a better experience, and a better life generally.
This article has a list of the most common errors and while some may seem obvious, they are all made regularly. Knowledge is power so have a read and make sure you aren’t making mistakes that you could easily avoid.
Arranging suitable wills is an important part of financial planning and one that is too often overlooked or not addressed as it seems complicated – but can be much easier to organise than you might think.
Wills are important and if you don’t have one this is something you need to address.
Here are 15 reasons why you need a will:
When you have children, you get lots of advice and tips from everyone but one area that tends to be overlooked is the financial aspect.
In the excitement of impending parenthood, or the crazy first few months – and years – you may never get around to taking some important financial steps. It’s too easy to forget this essential topic so this article is designed to be a useful guide to some of the issues you need to consider.
Multiple surveys have put the cost of raising a child at eye-watering levels over their first 18 years and expats working in the UAE have the added cost of education and medical bills to contend with.
Factor in university or college costs and the fact that many young adults may not be fully financially independent until closer to age 25, and you can see just how important it is to plan sensibly.
Let’s look at some of the financial steps you need to consider.
Whether or not you make formal resolutions at the start of a year, I am willing to bet that you have certain hopes when it comes to your financial situation.
You may dream of retiring at age 55. Perhaps you want to buy a holiday home or an investment property? Do you want to take a year off to travel the world? Maybe you know you need to put a few things in place to get properly organised?
You need to take action to turn these hopes into reality.
Invariably we could all do a little better and a little focus rarely goes amiss. With that in mind here’s a list of 10 steps you can take to get yourself financially fitter in 2024.
The times, they are a-changing, to quote Bob Dylan, and that is the case in the UAE as Muslim expats can now write UAE wills and distribute their assets exactly as they wish, in the same way as non-Muslims.
This is a huge change, and very welcome for many residents, especially those who have bought property in the UAE. Provided a will is set up correctly, and formally registered, assets will no longer be subject to distribution according to Sharia Law.
Many of us make New Year resolutions, but how many of those are about our finances? And how many of them do we really keep?
2020 and 2021 have been tough years for large numbers of people and we can’t be sure of what else is in store, but knowing you have taken all the right financial steps will put you in a good position to weather any future storm.
Invariably, we could all do a little better and some focus rarely goes amiss. With that in mind here’s a list of 10 steps you can take to get yourself financially fitter in 2022.
This article is designed to give you an overview of the sensible and practical steps that you should take to protect yourself and your family while resident in the UAE. I have written about each of these topics before, on this website, in the press, talked about it on radio and in presentations but it is so important that everyone understands what they should do to plan – just in case – and this article brings these topics together.
Sometimes in life the worse does happen, people die, and it is essential to be prepared, even more so when living in the UAE.
In 18 years in the UAE I have been involved in a number of cases where a client has died and it is a particularly stressful experience due to local complications. Planning ahead and doing all you can so that you or your family are not left without access to money matters a great deal. This is not about being maudlin, but about looking after your family.