My girlfriend who is a Laos national; asked me why UK people were so good at Geography and why we traveled so much. She added that the education we received must have  been very good and that we have more expendable income for travel, which led to a deeper discussion. It ended I hope, with her having a deeper understanding about the UK climate, food, the lack of disposable income, and many other things that lead UK Expats to travel and settle all over the world, not just the money and schooling.

Biz-find beach party

Getting yourself a steady income abroad is quite a challenge, which I have blogged about on many sites. The majority of long term expats from all over the world struggle with making a living when they have decided to settle abroad especially in South East Asia. The majority of expats in this part of the world fall into 3 categories:

English language teachers who go on a TEFL course and then are able to teach mainly young children in schools and are paid around 1000 U.S.D. a month

The lucky people on a well paid foreign employment placement given to them by a company in their home country.

The rest who are receiving funds from their home countries, via a pension, savings, or are making a living online.

Thailand for example, due to numerous factors has become a haven for many expats who fall in love with the entire package this tropical country has to offer, and the country receives around 10 million tourists a year, to which a lot are staying more than 2 weeks.

From this number many expatriates are actually struggling financially,  for this reason; the authorities have made getting a visa a lot harder for those who want to just hop across a border each month and get a stamp for another 30 days. The powers that be feel this is a way to get rid of those expats who are less well off.

In fairness to the Thai government; the laws are relatively easy to stay if you can demonstrate some regular income or savings and that you are actually contributing to the economy.

If, a lot of these UK expats living abroad did a little research, they could find that they could be the ideal age to get a little bonus courtesy of the UK treasury!

If you are an expat, especially a UK expat, and you are at the ripe old age of 55 and can think back to when you worked at that ‘so and so company’ in the UK a few years back and you had some money taken out of your salary every month into a pension, well; 100% of that money can be yours in raw hard papaya salad money!

This windfall is called a pension transfer or if it’s less than 30,000 pounds sterling; a trivial commutation. (Thirty grand of her Majesty’s mullah is not trivial to me either, but it is trivial if it was your pension pot and you had to draw down a few percent each year.)

It appears Mr. Osborne and previous chancellors have decided that the average Briton is smart enough at 55 to be able to do what he wants with their money and instead of investing in your old age you can spend it now.

DID YOU KNOW THAT:

• YOU CAN TRANSFER YOUR UK PENSIONS OUT OF THE UK INTO AN OFFSHORE (QROPS) SCHEME
• YOU COULD ACCESS 30% OF YOUR TOTAL UK PENSION FUND AT AGE 55
• A FAR HIGHER INCOME CAN BE TAKEN FROM A QROPS TRANSFERRED PENSION – UP TO 3 X HIGHER IN SOME CASES
• YOUR TRANSFERRED FUND WILL BE FREE OF ALL UK TAXES (AFTER A QUALIFYING PERIOD)
• UPON DEATH 100% IS PAID TO YOUR BENEFICIARIES, COMPARED TO ONLY 45% IF LEFT IN THE UK.

There are many websites that will find your pensions, all you have to remember is the company you worked at and the dates , your name and national Insurance number, come on you do know your national Insurance number don’t you!?

If you, like me, can see a lot of problems for the future in this, and a lot of people destitute in old age, because they blew their pension money on a mid life crisis sports car, and a few years with a  very hot gold digger.

Biz-find sports car

Sadly, apart from learning about Geography in school, the average UK Expat was never taught how to manage money, in fact a recent survey asked working class people what the first thing they would buy if they won the lottery, and the first thing most said was; property. They then asked some millionaires and the last thing they said was property.

So point is; yes you can get this pension money and buy your  sweet Thai girlfriend and her lovely family in the North East of Thailand a house and a buffalo, to which you will be kicked out of within a year and lose all the property  if you are stupid and you read the Daily Mail.

Biz-find beauty

Or, you can get hold of your cash and do what your parents did; and save it for a rainy day and they start to come thicker and faster as you get older.

You could take some advice and deposit it in a QROPS scheme which is recognized by the UK government, take some of the cash and get a much better tax deal.

To find out what pension you have and have an expert look at it for you and tell you how to get your cash and save the majority of it and just get a better deal for yourself contact Asia Pacific Pensions here .