Living and working in Abu Dhabi has been financially rewarding due to a higher, tax-free income. This means I can keep more of what I earn compared to living in Michigan. With this extra money, my family and I managed to pay off student loans, travel, and save for the future.

Now, when it comes to saving for retirement, it can be tricky, especially for expats like me who don’t have the usual pension or social security benefits. In the U.S., when you’re a regular employee, you and your employer contribute a portion of your salary to the social security fund, which helps support you when you retire.

Since I’m overseas and not contributing to social security, I needed a plan. Experts say we should save around 15%-20% of our income for retirement, not counting social security. As expats, we need to add about 12.4% more to make up for the social security we’re missing out on. So, in total, I aim to save around 27.4% of my income for retirement.

To put it simply, it’s like having a plan for the future by putting aside a good chunk of my salary. I invest this money in a special account just for retirement. Imagine a friend of mine who had trouble finding a bank that would work with them overseas. I will post about this later. They decided to invest in a mix of stocks and bonds, and it worked well for them.