On 20 June, Umami Comms DMCC (Umami Comms), a creative communications agency based in Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), hosted a financial wellbeing session for its employees.

With rising living costs becoming a top-of-mind concern for many UAE residents, Umami Comms’ initiative was indeed timely and thoughtful, to guide employees and give them ways to think about real-world day-to-day financial challenges and how to save and build wealth.

“We want our people to be as free of financial stress, as possible, so they can thrive in their roles and focus on doing great work,” said Umami’s Comms Founder and CEO, Colin Hutton. “More companies need to recognize that employee financial wellbeing is the baseline of a healthy workplace.”

The session was led by Ruan van Rensburg, Board member of Pensions Monitor and CEO of Lux Actuaries Financial Consulting (a UAE SCA-licensed Category 5 firm) with support from Jacques Visser, Certified Financial Planner at Expat Legacy – Wills & Estate Planning.

The speakers walked attendees through the fundamentals of investing and explained how employees, regardless of income level, can begin to build long-term wealth in the UAE’s distinct economic environment.

“In the UAE, there is no personal income tax, no capital gains tax for individuals, and no dividend tax for residents. This allows for much faster wealth compounding, and is uniquely advantageous compared to the rest of the world”, said Jacques.

Interestingly, the session gravitated towards the UAE EOSB Savings Scheme that is expected to become compulsory in the next year or two.

While the topic was originally intended to be addressed briefly, a wave of thoughtful questions from employees, many of whom appeared to have been previously briefed, sparked a lively discussion about the implications of these changes. Participants were particularly keen to understand how both legacy and new EOSB systems would work in practice, including aspects like access, fund transfers, and the preservation of these personal financial assets. It was a pleasure to field interesting financial questions from this enthusiastic group of people, many of whom are at the outset of their career.

“The new EOSB Savings Scheme is a big change for employees. Most don’t take daily interest in funds and stock markets but they clearly care about what this means for their EOSB.” said a spokesperson from Umami Comms. “It’s important for them to get comfortable with these changes early on, so that HR may smoothly implement these changes when appropriate.”

Here are the top 3 learnings from the session

Many think that “saving” and “investing” are the same. They are not.
Many employees save some part of their salary, but saving alone does not protect wealth from say, the rising cost of living (inflation) or unexpected expenses. It also does not grow wealth meaningfully unless it’s directed into an investment product like a time deposit, a mutual fund, stocks, property, etc. Investing does involve risk, but it offers potential for growth that is important to achieve long-term goals like buying a home, or retirement.

Many don’t know that debt is not always bad. There is good debt and bad debt.
The thinking that debt is harmful is common. Most employees don’t know the difference between good debt (like education loans or property mortgages that build future value) and bad debt (like high-interest credit cards or impulsive car loans). Learning how to manage good debt wisely is just as important as avoiding bad debt.

Many don’t know that the UAE EOSB Savings Scheme is a powerful financial planning tool.
Many attendees were surprised to learn how much their EOSB could grow if invested thoughtfully. With funded schemes, employees have a real opportunity to grow their savings and give a further boost with Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs). This is especially powerful if employees can make use of employer cost subsidisation.

The lively session closed with a key message to attendees that to build wealth, you need consistency and some self-knowledge and discipline. Through examples, the speakers showed how small, regular savings can compound into significant wealth over time, even with modest but regular contributions.

We might even say that ‘consistent saving habits extract the most financial Umami in life!’.

Want a similar session for your employees?

Pensions Monitor will be pleased to discuss with you how we can run a similar session for your workforce, with the goal of increasing their financial literacy and understanding of the new savings scheme.

To learn more or schedule a session, reach out to us at info@pensionsmonitor.com. Let’s help your people take confident steps toward financial wellbeing, today and for the future.

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