Expats 'happy with life'

Expats are less likely to return to their home country if they have worked and retired abroad, new research has shown.

Almost three-quarters (71 per cent) of expatriates questioned by the NatWest International Personal Banking (IPB) Quality of Life report said they were happy with their retired lifestyle and believed they had made the right decision to move abroad.

However, the research noted a significant split in attitudes between those who had taken up the expatriate lifestyle upon retirement - the silver expats - and those who relocated abroad to work and had since retired in the same country, classed as lifer expats.

Lifer expats tended to move to Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand and nine out of ten (91 per cent) said they could not envisage themselves moving back to their home country. In contrast, silver expats who have had no experience of working in their adopted country tended to move to France, Portugal and Spain and 16 per cent could foresee returning home.

Dave Isley, head of NatWest IPB, commented that financial stability is important to the livelihood of retired expatriate medical insurance customers.

"Moving abroad at any time of life is a life changing decision and not one to be taken lightly, so the findings of our study are hopeful" he added.