Set Out Your Goals: Write down your future goals whether they be paying for your child’s education, retirement or saving for that special day. By clearly stating your goals you can track your progress on a regular basis and ensure that you’re on the right path.
Affordability: Ensure that your saving strategies are affordable and manageable for you. To achieve a certain financial goal may mean that you have to reduce your expenditure, which is a trade off. You should consider whether this is sustainable for you and what adjustments you need to make. By ensuring flexibility in your regular savings, you also have the comfort and peace of mind in knowing that you can reduce this amount if you find it’s not a sustainable level.
Family: Encourage your family members to also start saving today. Start teaching your children about the value of money by teaching them to save towards a range of their own financial goals. One good strategy is to have three separate ‘money boxes’ for your children, one for their own savings, one for spending and one for donating to charities and causes that they care about.
Flexibility: As an expat, you have already been through at least one substantial change, moving abroad. It is important that while your saving strategies allow you to achieve your financial goals that they are kept flexible should your circumstances change. Ensure that there are no hidden charges or penalties for increasing, decreasing or even changing the frequency of your regular savings strategies.