More than half of Britain’s over 50s would consider living overseas during their retirement, according to a survey conducted by deVere Group.
A total of 59% of those surveyed have ‘seriously considered’, ‘are thinking about’, or ‘would be tempted’ to retire abroad – a significant jump from the 49.5% who said that they will consider leaving the UK in a similar survey carried out last year. The top five countries being considered as possible destinations for relocation in retirement are Spain, Australia, the US, France, and Thailand.
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According to the founder and CEO of deVere Group, Nigel Green, the prime motivator for this shift is of a financial nature. "The combination of the UK’s burgeoning pensions crisis, the looming care crisis, the UK’s cost of living, high taxes, low interest rates, and the scrapping of some age-related benefits are, say our respondents, the main push factors," he said. "Other reasons include standard of care for the elderly, quality of life, crime concerns and the weather."
Green said that more and more babyboomers seem to be coming to the realisation that the only way to maintain a comparable lifestyle throughout retirement is by moving abroad and relocating to a different country. "There is also growing awareness of the financial ‘pull factors’ amongst would-be British expatriates," he said. "Not only will expats, in most cases, benefit from lower costs of living and lower taxes, there are specific expat-exclusive financial vehicles that can make them considerably better off than their contemporaries back in Britain."
Amongst these tools are HMRC-recognised QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme), an overseas pension which allow expats to mitigate the 55% liabilities of inheritance tax, to access flexible high-return investments, have their pensions paid in the currency of their choice, and to secure 30% as a cash free lump sum, amongst other considerable benefits.
"Whilst destinations such as Spain and Australia topped this survey of the over 50s, a similar poll last year focusing on the under 40s – those who are typically looking to further their career – the top destinations included Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Shanghai and Tokyo," Green concluded.
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