No Regrets, Say UK Expats
Friday, August 27, 2010

Despite a belief that a significant number of British retired expatriates are regretting their decision to retire abroad and are planning to return to the UK, retiring abroad is very much still a popular decision according to the third annual NatWest International Personal Banking (NatWest IPB) Quality of Life Report.

The report, in conjunction with the Centre for Future Studies, incorporates expats’ real life perceptions and experiences and gauges their personal assessment (satisfaction or dissatisfaction) with their circumstances abroad.

The majority (71%) of retired expats are happy with their chosen retirement route and consider they made a good decision to retire abroad. Encouragingly over half (58%) describe their experience as being better than they expected. A further 32% of expat retirees rate the experience of retiring abroad as meeting their expectations.

Furthermore a quarter of all retired expats rate their quality of life as excellent and the majority (67%) are happier now than they would have been in the UK.

The study cross analyzed two categories of British expats: those who have spent their working lives in the UK and have chosen to retire abroad, the so-called ‘silver expats’; and those who left the UK to work abroad and subsequently retired in the country in which they had been living, often referred to as ‘lifer expats’.

The NatWest IPB analysis revealed that more than nine out of ten (91%) of those living in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA (the lifer expats) do not foresee returning to the UK. However, those living in France, Portugal and Spain (the silver expats) are far less certain with 19% saying they are undecided and 16% envisaging a return to the UK. Thus, those expats who worked abroad before they retired there seem happier with their decision than those who have had no work experience in their chosen retirement country.

Overall, silver expats retire in Western Europe, principally in Spain, France and Portugal. The lifer expats are spread throughout the world, principally in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the USA. When it came to choosing locations, surprisingly, 92% do not live in an established expat community. Of those that do, the majority (56%) did not consider this to be a determining factor in their decision to locate where they did. This is interesting, particularly when taking into account that silver expats have had no experience of living in the country and are happy to throw themselves into the deep end of foreign life.

Dave Isley, Head of NatWest International Personal Banking commented: “Our latest UK expatriate study has revealed that retiring abroad is still very much a popular choice and expats are happy with their chosen life paths. It’s encouraging to see that the majority of expats believe they made the right decision in retiring abroad and are living their chosen dream.”

Almost nine in ten (87%) of retired expats own their home outright, helping their financial stability. Furthermore, 38% describe themselves as reasonably well off, 47% state they are able to live within their means.

Expats remain optimistic and over a third (37%) expect their financial position to have improved whilst living abroad. Those in New Zealand are the most optimistic with 53% thinking their financial position will have improved. Interestingly the most pessimistic are those in Spain with 29% thinking it will have deteriorated.