Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Are expats damaging their home nations?

In a previous post I commented on the fact that the average age of expats has dropped dramatically in the last two decades. This means that more people are cashing out early and moving into full or semi-retirement in a foreign country, but what of the effects on their home nation? First, let us make the logical assumption that a person who has managed to accrue sufficient independent wealth, enough to allow them to end their working life up to 30 years early in some cases, can be deemed to be fairly successful. By ending their working life prematurely they are quite possibly giving up the opportunity to become affluent business owners, supplying employment and revenue to their local economy.

The simple fact is that it takes a certain type of person to consider becoming an expat - most are intelligent, skilled and highly capable, in many ways the bright sparks of the economy, the go getters, the movers and shakers. It stands to reason that the increasing number of these successful people who decide to move to foreign shores, instead of staying at home and continuing to build their sphere of affluence, is nothing short of a loss to their home nation both economically and culturally. What do you think?

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