Red chips, BRICs, frontier markets, and now dim sum bonds―at various times, all of these emerging market subsets have been touted as the next great investment idea for expats. After all, if emerging market economies could be expected to generally grow faster than their developed market counterparts, it would seem to follow that you could earn better returns by putting your savings in emerging markets than you could by sticking with developed markets―or so the thinking went.

For Thai tax-paying expats, contributing to Retirement Mutual Funds (RMFs) and Long-Term Equity Funds (LTFs) can be a good way to lower your annual Thai income tax bill  (see our previous blog post, "Tax Saving Tips for Thailand Based Expats"). But with all the RMF and LTF choices in the market, how do you narrow your selection? Below are some tips that, when combined with Morningstar (Thailand)'s screening tools, can help you decide which RMF and LTF is right for you.

It's that holiday time of year again. If you're looking for a gift for your favorite expat, there's no need to stand in long lines. Instead, have a look through our annual list of 10 highly rated books from 2011, each selected with the expat reader in mind. All can easily be purchased on the Internet. While some are more serious, some are just for fun. And to make acquiring and reading these choices more convenient, consider purchasing an e-version and a Kindle or iPad to go with them.

Living overseas or pursuing your career hopping from country to country can be exciting and filled with adventure, but it can also add several layers of complexity to your financial affairs. Even if you're assisted by your company's HR department, the added complexity can make day-to-day management and long-term financial planning a time consuming and often overwhelming burden.

Below are a few tips to help simplify the management of your finances, save time and remove some of the stress so that you can focus on the more enjoyable aspects of expat life.