Why do you want to read this book?
This book is all about investing for expats – it teaches you everything from the basics of finance including various investment vehicles to how you should invest your hard-earned money aboard as an expat using specific strategies depending on where you’re from.
Even before I became an expat, I was always money-conscious. That doesn’t mean I’m counting every dollar I’m spending or tracking every single coffee I buy (although I do know some personal finance experts do recommend that for clean budgeting). I just trained myself to become a long-term financial planner. That meant thinking 10, 20 years ahead and trying to picture what I want my life to be like.
Do you have an idea of what your retirement life looks like?
Working in your home country is great – your employer will most likely provide some sort of pension plan or stock options that you build up as you increase the number of years you work there. For pensions, that meant the more you contribute from your paycheque, that same contribution amount is matched (or close to matching). For stock options, your company would pay you shares of the company’s stock as incentive for you to work harder, which in turns, collectively will hopefully increase the stock price and everyone wins.
When you decide to turn into an international expat on a relocation package, and not a local package, your personal financial options change, like mine. No longer am I entitled to an ongoing pension plan. I am not given any stock options either because the company isn’t publicly traded. Instead, I’m simply paid a monthly pay cheque with some allowances bundled in.
Here’s what it teaches you
What I do with that money is now in my hands – all of it.
I then started to do some research and came across this book by Andrew Hallam. The same day I picked it up, I finished it because I just couldn’t put it down. It’s not a heavy book even though it’s over 300 pages long (hear me out!).
The benefits and knowledge you gain from the book is so substantial and puts your mind into an expat’s perspective around managing and planning your future. Here are a few topics it covers:
- Building Your Own Pension
- Truth about Stocks and Bonds
- Financial Advisors
- Growth without Risk
- Investing for <INSERT YOUR NATIONALITY> Expats (he covers 8 different nationalities and their recommended portfolios)
Just from the topics, you can get a good idea of what to expect. Honestly, I learned a lot in that one day than I could in a semester at school. The great thing is that the book is to-the-point and the author writes in a very easy to understand way that you can relate to. He provides advice and explains why you should avoid this or you should consider that. He goes into detail on how you can start and open a brokerage account (with recommendations on which broker to use). In the later chapters, Hallam recommends 3 methods to invest, all of which revolve around low-cost ETFs (exchange-traded-funds):
- Couch Potato Investing
- Permanent Portfolio
- Fundamental Index Portfolio
For more details into what these portfolios look like, you can try searching online or just buy the book.
A lot of other personal finance blogs also reviewed this book, you can read them before making the decision yourself to purchase:
If you are interested in getting a copy, you can find it on:
- Book: Amazon, Indigo
- eBook: Google PlayStore, Apple AppStore
NOTE: Remember to purchase it from your country’s respective store to reduce shipping costs!
Did you read the book? If so, what did you think of it? Are there any other good reads around investing for expats?
