SJP Money On The Move 2026 Report – United Arab Emirates Edition
Money on the Move is St. James's Place's latest thought leadership study exploring how expats manage their finances across borders and how global mobility is reshaping wealth creation, financial planning and retirement outlook.
The inaugural report offers a glimpse into the lives of expats in the UAE, their plans to settle permanently, and the complex financial needs of people working and living in the city, which remains one of the world’s largest expat communities and global financial centres. It finds that living in UAE offers significant economic opportunities but also brings cross-border complexities.
Key findings from the report:
An overview of the report:
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1. Expat life is no longer a temporary stop overseas
The traditional model of expat life as a short-term overseas assignment is changing. Many expats are staying abroad longer than expected, putting down roots, with wealthier and long-term expats are the most likely to settle overseas permanently.
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2. Life abroad accelerates financial progress
Living abroad provides a powerful financial uplift for many expatriates, with higher earnings and stronger savings capacity than they would achieve at home.
The benefits are not only monetary: respondents highlight improved career prospects, quality of life, cultural experiences, and opportunities for their families.
Over time, the compounding effect of increased income and disciplined savings abroad reshapes financial planning, allowing globally mobile individuals to bring forward milestones that might otherwise have taken years longer. For affluent expats, the impact of international life is felt both in their current wealth and in the future security they are able to design.
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3. Wealth management becomes more complex when it crosses borders
While expatriates often feel financially stronger abroad, managing wealth across borders introduces significant complexity.
Income may be earned in one market, invested in another, held in multiple currencies, and ultimately passed on to family members living elsewhere. This creates challenges around tax systems, pensions, property, healthcare, and regulatory compliance. For globally mobile individuals, financial planning must account for uncertainty across multiple jurisdictions, requiring clarity, coordination, and trusted advice.
The traditional model of expat life as a short-term overseas assignment is changing. Many expats are staying abroad longer than expected, putting down roots, with wealthier and long-term expats are the most likely to settle overseas permanently.
Living abroad provides a powerful financial uplift for many expatriates, with higher earnings and stronger savings capacity than they would achieve at home.
The benefits are not only monetary: respondents highlight improved career prospects, quality of life, cultural experiences, and opportunities for their families.
Over time, the compounding effect of increased income and disciplined savings abroad reshapes financial planning, allowing globally mobile individuals to bring forward milestones that might otherwise have taken years longer. For affluent expats, the impact of international life is felt both in their current wealth and in the future security they are able to design.
While expatriates often feel financially stronger abroad, managing wealth across borders introduces significant complexity.
Income may be earned in one market, invested in another, held in multiple currencies, and ultimately passed on to family members living elsewhere. This creates challenges around tax systems, pensions, property, healthcare, and regulatory compliance. For globally mobile individuals, financial planning must account for uncertainty across multiple jurisdictions, requiring clarity, coordination, and trusted advice.
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4. Financial literacy shapes how expats manage opportunity
Expats with stronger financial literacy are significantly more likely to take proactive steps in managing their finances and planning for the future and have experienced in improvement in financial position.
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5. Retirement and succession planning are top priorities
For families who live and work across borders, proactive, early planning around wealth succession creates security, flexibility and choice for the next generation. While this is already on the agenda for expats, many have yet to put key measures fully in place.
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6. The importance of financial advice
As expatriates’ financial lives grow more complex across multiple jurisdictions, trusted professional advice is becoming indispensable.
Managing tax rules, pensions, investments, property, and succession across borders demands expertise, clarity, and local market knowledge. Many expats already rely on advisers to reduce the time burden of managing finances abroad, to align decisions across home and host markets, and to ensure long-term goals remain on track.
Importantly, the findings show that advice is most valued by the most financially literate expats. For globally mobile individuals, advice is not a substitute for financial confidence but a complement to it.
Expats with stronger financial literacy are significantly more likely to take proactive steps in managing their finances and planning for the future and have experienced in improvement in financial position.
For families who live and work across borders, proactive, early planning around wealth succession creates security, flexibility and choice for the next generation. While this is already on the agenda for expats, many have yet to put key measures fully in place.
As expatriates’ financial lives grow more complex across multiple jurisdictions, trusted professional advice is becoming indispensable.
Managing tax rules, pensions, investments, property, and succession across borders demands expertise, clarity, and local market knowledge. Many expats already rely on advisers to reduce the time burden of managing finances abroad, to align decisions across home and host markets, and to ensure long-term goals remain on track.
Importantly, the findings show that advice is most valued by the most financially literate expats. For globally mobile individuals, advice is not a substitute for financial confidence but a complement to it.
“For many expats, the UAE offers significant opportunities to advance their careers, build wealth and reach financial goals sooner. As their time abroad extends, their financial lives can also become more international, with assets and future plans spanning multiple countries.
That makes decisions around investment, tax, retirement and succession increasingly interconnected – and long-term, cross-border planning increasingly important.”
Daniel George,Head of Business, Middle East at St. James’s Place
About the research
Money on the Move is based on an online study of 450 affluent and high-net-worth residents in the UAE who have lived and worked in multiple jurisdictions and have multi-jurisdictional wealth management considerations. The field work was completed in May 2026. The respondents were aged 25 to 54 from a wide range of international backgrounds.
Respondents were segmented using a derived wealth classification based on annual household income and investable assets into mass affluent, affluent, and high net worth (HNW). In the UAE, HNW respondents were defined as those with annual household income of at least 700,000 AED and investable assets of at least 700,000 AED.