Spotlight On … Karen Ogilvie – Head of Compliance

Private school education offers many benefits outside of the obvious statistical performance advantages. As much as anything it is about allowing for personal growth, developing confidence, providing opportunity and building beneficial networks and skills that will last and serve for a lifetime.

But it can be expensive, and this is why intelligent use of expat regular savings together with a holistic wealth management strategy can help both parents and grandparents make the necessary plans to ensure that their descendants are able to enjoy a first-class education with only the minimum of stress.

Of course, the cost of fee-paying schools varies depending on which school is attended, whether the pupil is a boarder and, indeed, whether the pupil is living in the same country as its parents. But regardless of whether the cost is just €5,000 a year for a single pupil or €60,000 a year for two pupils, meeting these costs is going to require you to optimise your expat regular savings towards your education fee planning needs.

The days of the “job for life” with a single employer are, for most of us, long-gone and we are now far more likely to have multiple jobs paying into a number of different pension schemes. This means tracing old pensions when you retire – whether defined benefit, defined contribution or private stake holder. In order to get an accurate and full idea of your pension wealth it is essential that you begin finding lost pensions to factor every single one into a total valuation.

Pension transfers are a hot topic at the moment, especially if you’re an expat and want to transfer pension pots overseas. And if, like many, you have lost track of the various pension pots you have amassed throughout your career, it can be hard to gather together all the information you need to decide whether a pension transfer would be in your best interests.