Finance writing for UAE expats
Practical, Boglehead-grounded posts on FIRE planning, Sharia-compliant investing, currency risk, and what we learn from talking to users every week.
How long until financial independence? A FIRE guide for UAE expats
A no-nonsense walkthrough of FIRE math, the 4% rule, dynamic withdrawal guardrails, and what's different when you're a UAE expat. Includes a free interactive calculator.
Mint replaced: a clean migration playbook for 2026
Mint shut down in 2024. The replacements are not all equal. A practical, opinionated guide to picking a successor — and migrating your data without losing the categorization work you spent years building.
Building a Sharia-compliant portfolio: ETFs, Sukuk, and the math
A practical guide to Sharia-compliant investing for the long-term Boglehead: HLAL, ISDW, SPSK, Sukuk allocation, and how to think about purification.
The 30% you didn't know you were paying: US ETF withholding for UAE expats
If you hold VT or VTI from a UAE brokerage, the IRS takes 30% of every dividend before it leaves the US. UCITS-domiciled equivalents cap that at 15%. Over 30 years, the difference is six figures. Here's the math, the migration path, and the gotchas.
When to remit home and when to stay invested: a UAE expat's framework
Should you send your savings home, or keep them invested in your residence country? A decision framework with currency-risk math, tax timing, and goal alignment.
The savings-rate spreadsheet every household should keep
You don't need a finance app to know your savings rate — you need a spreadsheet, ten minutes a month, and an honest accounting of what counts. Includes the template we use, the categorization edge cases, and why a 35% personal threshold matters more than any other single number.
Is the 4% rule still safe in 2026? A re-examination
The 4% rule is older than most retirees who'll use it. We replay the math with current bond yields, equity valuations, and longer life expectancies — and explain when 3.5% beats 4%.
Why Monte Carlo retirement simulations beat the spreadsheet
Static "years to FIRE" calculators give one answer to a question that has a distribution of answers. Here's why Monte Carlo modeling matters and what the typical 95th-vs-50th percentile gap reveals.
How big should your emergency fund be as a UAE expat?
Standard 3-6 month advice doesn't account for visa risk, end-of-service variability, and currency mismatch. We propose a 9-12 month framework specific to expat circumstances.
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