The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the fourth top destination of Filipinos abroad.
According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), there were about 636,254 Filipinos in UAE as of 2010.
However, a report of the news site Emirates 24/7 on Tuesday said many expatriates in UAE commit "some mistakes, which are easily avoidable."
Some of the mistakes said to be committed by expats in UAE include:
(1) Living beyond means
A poll conducted by the news site found that majority (45 percent) of the respondents said living beyond their means was perhaps the "worst mistake that expats make" in UAE.
“People tend to splurge when doing up their house, they take up personal loans for unnecessary things and buy a bigger car than is required. And, in the end they fail in maths,” said one respondent.
The UAE has a tax-free environment but "people often underestimate the cost of life in the country," the report said.
Expats tend to overlook some costs when relocating to UAE such as the costs of rent, education, and car payments, the new site said.
(2) Poor employer selection
M. R. Raghu, Senior Vice-President-Research at Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said many expats tend to find an employer through placement agents who tend "oversell" the company they represent.
Most of the companies in the Gulf area "tend to be family holdings with very strong management involvement by family members," Emirates 24/7 said.
The report said 90 percent of the expats "come to UAE in the hope of joining a company that is professionally run and find that it is not the case."
(3) Poor job selection
Raghu said many expats make poor job choices because most of the jobs "have very generic designations" i.e. financial analyst, accountant, etc.
He noted that these generic designations often do not have proper job descriptions and expats "discover that the job has nothing substantial to offer in terms of learning and growth, especially relative [to] what they have been doing back home."
(3) Emulating peers
Being new to UAE, "there is a tendency on the part of expats to just emulate what the peers are doing," the report noted.
The report said expats tend to imitate what they see other people are doing in UAE and fail to make choices that are appropriate for their own situations.
"Emulating the peers can also be due to poor networking with professionals elsewhere in the world. It may be a good idea to become members of professional associations that can provide you with choices that others are making," the report added.
(4) Poor savings, investment choices
While earning tax-free salary, expats in UAE tend to have little savings as "most of the expats tend to remit money back home," the report said.
It added that many expats tend to make poor investment choices "due to geographical distance and quality of information and analysis being made available in UAE."
Expats in the Gulf "tend to make inferior choices based on what friends or relatives say or did," it report said.
(5) Poor self-confidence
The report noted that many expats "do not make that much of an effort to change jobs" to another Gulf country or the United States or Europe because of "regulatory reasons."
"This is primarily due to poor self-confidence as a result of staid job functions. This is a strong negative feedback loop," the report said.
Source: GMA News
According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), there were about 636,254 Filipinos in UAE as of 2010.
However, a report of the news site Emirates 24/7 on Tuesday said many expatriates in UAE commit "some mistakes, which are easily avoidable."
Some of the mistakes said to be committed by expats in UAE include:
(1) Living beyond means
A poll conducted by the news site found that majority (45 percent) of the respondents said living beyond their means was perhaps the "worst mistake that expats make" in UAE.
“People tend to splurge when doing up their house, they take up personal loans for unnecessary things and buy a bigger car than is required. And, in the end they fail in maths,” said one respondent.
The UAE has a tax-free environment but "people often underestimate the cost of life in the country," the report said.
Expats tend to overlook some costs when relocating to UAE such as the costs of rent, education, and car payments, the new site said.
(2) Poor employer selection
M. R. Raghu, Senior Vice-President-Research at Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said many expats tend to find an employer through placement agents who tend "oversell" the company they represent.
Most of the companies in the Gulf area "tend to be family holdings with very strong management involvement by family members," Emirates 24/7 said.
The report said 90 percent of the expats "come to UAE in the hope of joining a company that is professionally run and find that it is not the case."
(3) Poor job selection
Raghu said many expats make poor job choices because most of the jobs "have very generic designations" i.e. financial analyst, accountant, etc.
He noted that these generic designations often do not have proper job descriptions and expats "discover that the job has nothing substantial to offer in terms of learning and growth, especially relative [to] what they have been doing back home."
(3) Emulating peers
Being new to UAE, "there is a tendency on the part of expats to just emulate what the peers are doing," the report noted.
The report said expats tend to imitate what they see other people are doing in UAE and fail to make choices that are appropriate for their own situations.
"Emulating the peers can also be due to poor networking with professionals elsewhere in the world. It may be a good idea to become members of professional associations that can provide you with choices that others are making," the report added.
(4) Poor savings, investment choices
While earning tax-free salary, expats in UAE tend to have little savings as "most of the expats tend to remit money back home," the report said.
It added that many expats tend to make poor investment choices "due to geographical distance and quality of information and analysis being made available in UAE."
Expats in the Gulf "tend to make inferior choices based on what friends or relatives say or did," it report said.
(5) Poor self-confidence
The report noted that many expats "do not make that much of an effort to change jobs" to another Gulf country or the United States or Europe because of "regulatory reasons."
"This is primarily due to poor self-confidence as a result of staid job functions. This is a strong negative feedback loop," the report said.
Source: GMA News
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