In this article by Mark Maplesden, Novia Global’s Principal Representative Officer in Dubai, he looks at how platforms and advisers can help expats in light of the rising cost of living.
As you can hardly fail to have noticed, the cost of living keeps rising. As much as we might wish to ignore this unhappy reality, we’re repeatedly reminded that in this sense, unfortunately, it seems the only way is up.
Take my recent visit to the UK, where the Consumer Prices Index climbed by almost 3.5% in the 12 months to May 2025. Awaiting my flight home, I was genuinely shocked to learn a pint of beer at the airport would set me back £8.50.
And what about Dubai, where I’m based? The cost of living reportedly went up by only 0.5% in 2024, but that’s still a significant amount when you consider how expensive life here can be in the first place.
For instance, I recently paid the equivalent of £6 for a tiny cup of black coffee at a hotel. It wasn’t just the caffeine rush that put me on edge that day.
All this underlines the supreme importance of people getting the most out of their money at every turn. From an investment perspective, it’s vital that wealth is put to work effectively and efficiently.
Platforms can play a major role in this respect. Yet there’s still a widespread perception – especially in a market such as the UAE – that they’re suitable only for those who have already “made it”.
It’s not particularly hard to appreciate why this misguided view persists. It stems both from an outdated grasp of demographics and from limited appreciation of the full scope of platforms’ capabilities.
Let’s deal with the demographic side of things first. There’s probably no better illustration of this issue than Dubai, whose expat community is typically thought of as being comprised exclusively of multi-millionaires.
If only! Dubai is undoubtedly a go-to-destination for overseas wealth, but it’s wrong to infer everyone who resides or works here falls into the ultra-high-net-worth category – or even the more modest high-net-worth bracket.
The truth is that many expats have to manage their finances with care. They need to balance the books in order to settle their bills, pay their children’s school fees and stay on top of a host of other day-to-day living expenses.
This means they could benefit enormously from expert financial advice. It also means they could benefit enormously from the resources that are available through an advised platform.
That brings us to the second point, which is that many of these individuals have little or no notion of how a platform could assist in meeting their needs. They see platforms as beyond both their reach and their requirements.
This really isn’t their fault. It’s ours. Like advisers, platforms need to be perceived as approachable and affordable – and many financial services providers haven’t always succeeded in making those qualities crystal-clear.
In my opinion, many more expats would fully recognise the appeal of platforms if the basics were obvious to them from the outset. So which fundamental features should we seek to showcase at the outset?
Perhaps the ideal pitch could be summed up as follows: platform users have to know not just what they’re paying but what they’re paying for. In other words, transparency, value and dependability should be top of the list whenever we’re highlighting key attributes.
Crucially, so should flexibility. The best platforms continue to evolve, reflecting users’ ever-changing needs.
For example, when I first arrived in Dubai in 2013, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) still had a reputation as a place where an expat might spend only a few years. The principal goal was often to make some money and then return to “home.”
The picture today is markedly different. The region is now seen as somewhere to spend a decade or more or even as somewhere to retire. More and more expats like myself regard Dubai and other parts of the UAE as being home.
As a result, the financial services arena as a whole is now less likely to focus on relatively short-term objectives. Products and services – including those offered by platforms – are instead more geared towards what clients and their advisers hope to achieve over the long run.
Relatedly, it’s also well worth acknowledging there are only so many multi-millionaires to go around. The advice gap is a far-reaching phenomenon, and platforms have a big part to play in closing it.
Wherever in the world they might be, people are feeling the squeeze. It would be very much to the advantage of multiple stakeholders – the advice industry included – if we could get across the simple but essential message that platforms are here to help them.
Mark Maplesden is Novia Global’s Principal Representative Officer in Dubai.
