Saving lump sum + regular smaller deposits

Hi,

I live in Dubai and am in a position where I am saving 20 - 30k euro per year.

I am starting from a low point. Before I moved to Dubai 11 months ago, I owed 9k euro for a student loan and had no savings or assets. I have now cleared this debt and will save a lump sum payment of 20k euro at the end of this month plus another 3k before the end of the year.

My questions is: should I save the money in Dubai or transfer it to Ireland?
If I move it to Ireland, I can use the online deposit accounts 7 and 21. Interest of no more than 1.75% is paid annually and is subject to 33% DIRT.

However, if I keep the money in the UAE, I could put it into a similar online deposit account with Emirates NBD, with interest rates of 1.5% up to 20k euro and 1.75% above 20k. Interest is paid monthly (rather than annually) and is not subject to taxation.

I would love some advice here. Is it a bad idea to keep money in Dubai, or would it be a worse idea to put it into AIB?

EDIT: Or should I consider opening an off-shore bank account somewhere like Jersey?


I will have this savings potential for at least the next three years.

Thanks,

Hi Desert,

Do AIB know that you are non-resident? Officially speaking, I don't think those accounts are open to non residents.

Hi Desert, most of us out here don't keep any money in the UAE other than for necessities and maybe enough to get you out of the country if you need to, roughly 20k dhs should be enough. Try Lloyds off-shore, it has been useful to us. Hope that helps

Hi homecoming,

Can you tell me a little more about why expats don't keep money in the UAE, and what the advantages of a Lloyd's offshore account are compared with moving the sum to my Irish AIB account?

@ Ciaran: AIB know that I am nonresident.

The Financial Sector is not highly regulated if you have issues with a Bank it is difficult to get it resolved with the bank and very little other options. We lost AED800 on a failed fund transfer, now we had done nothing wrong but could not get the bank to reimburse us. Result closed account. The offshore account provides use with flexibility we can work in another Country and still have access to our funds. If you have a Partner or wife/husband and one of you dies the account in the UAE is automatically frozen and the remaining person will not have access to the money.

I hope that this helps you, feel free to respond.

Thanks, it does help. I've also experienced a failed transfer with a Dubai-based bank and paid for it. I will seriously investigate an off-shore bank.

Do you pay any tax on accrued interest on your off-shore bank account? Also, how easy was the account to set up from Dubai?

As a Resident of the UAE you are not required to pay tax on the interest accrued on an offshore account, clearly if you move back to Ireland and work this will change. I was recommended LLoyds Bank over HSBC for the Offshore by a Financial Consultant who personally used LLoyds. HSBC require you to deposit and hold GBP25,000 which is not conducive to our plans, set it up from the website and they will email requirements.

Thanks, homecoming. I do have one other question for you about the financial consultant. Do you think it was a good idea to see one? I want to go meet one, but my wife doesn't see much need. That said, she's willing to do it. Would you recommend going to see a consultant and, if yes, what was the best thing about it in your opinion?

Hi Desert, please accept my apologies for not relying earlier, my husband has been unable to access the Internet for a while and I am conscious he hasn't replied. We occasionally have spoken to financial advisors over our lifetime with a view to keeping our eye on the market and to check where to invest money. We would not consider ourselves risk takers, having said that we have a portfolio of properties almost by default as we have moved over time and all that required us to do was to contact mortgage advisors about current deals and we understand enough about the housing market to run it ourselves. If you are interested in investments, fund and markets, pension funds etc and wish to invest then meeting a financial advisor will give you some insight. I can only speak for myself and don't wish to be shot down, but I have never wished to invest in anything that I don't run myself and for me personally 'cash is king' and always has been. We have met several in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, they check your current position and assess your risk and basically offer products and services and contacts if you wish to take things further. Two we met (PIC) offered free advice then services with commission. Nothing interested us and we they were unable to resolve a tax issue, so we sorted it out ourselves. So in short, speak with them if it's free, commit to nothing unless you are sure and if you are accumulating savings as you are then you can 'paddle your own canoe' quite satisfactorily. Feel free to respond to get a concise version from my husband, he will be back next week. The details we offered about the offshore were from an advisor we met by chance at one of the Rotana's, as you know you bump into people from all different backgrounds here, but he was solid enough and his recommendation was good. All the very best.