Gulf News readers save for the future

Dubai: To survive in this world, people need to work as hard as they can and the reward they look forward to is retirement.

It does not come easy though. In order to live a laid-back life, saving up years in advance is necessary.

Gulf News readers share their retirement plans.

Beverly Jensen, a 66-year-old Al Ain resident, left for her retirement destination just two days ago.

Jensen has been saving for her retirement for the past 15 years and while planning in advance about saving up, she did not make a plan on where to go until recently.

"I decided that my last destination would be Mexico. I never really had a master plan but I thought of this recently and think it is a good option," she said.

This decision was made based on cost of living. In her home country, the United States, Jensen thought it would be too expensive to retire and felt she would not be able to live a proper lifestyle there.

The recent global financial crisis has set Jensen back, as her retirement portfolio went down along with the company she had invested her money in.

"The investment organisation's stocks fell about 25 per cent and so did my savings."

Kim Thompson, an Australian expatriate, is not planning to retire anytime soon.

"I think I still have around 10 years until I would think of retiring," she said.

Thompson has been saving money ever since she started work 30 years ago.

The 50-year-old Abu Dhabi resident said: "It is part of the law in Australia that a portion of the salaries go to retirement savings, so I think I am on the right track for my future."

When Thompson and her husband moved to the UAE, they hired a broker to advise them on how much money to save depending on their salary, the kind of retirement lifestyle they wished to live, and the taxation retirement in their home country, where they are hoping to retire.

While many are saving for the future, 69-year-old Malcolm Kemp is living for now.

Although he has saved enough money to keep himself comfortable, he is not planning to retire anytime soon.

"I believe there is no future with retirement," he said.

Kemp, an English expatriate, said that if he ever planned to leave Abu Dhabi he would move to another country and work somewhere else.