Your first million
in Dubai.

Put in what you earn, what you invest and what you already have. See when you’d reach AED 1 million, what it takes to get there sooner, and what fees, inflation and waiting really cost you.

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01 Where you are now

Your net worth is what you own minus what you owe. Count property at what it would realistically sell for, minus the mortgage. Not sure? Use the worksheet.

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Work it out with the worksheet

What you own

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What you owe

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Fill in the boxes and your net worth updates above.

Leave your gratuity out here. It has its own section below.

02 Your target
AED
7years
7more years
03 What you invest

Pay yourself first: a fixed transfer on payday, into an account used only for building wealth.

AED
25% · AED 10,000 a month

Above 50% is hard to keep up for years. Make sure the plan survives a school fee rise.

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Spend half of every pay rise and invest the other half. Your lifestyle still improves, and your savings rate climbs every year.

04 Your gratuity

End-of-service gratuity is worked out on your basic salary, not your total package: 21 days’ basic pay for each of your first five years, then 30 days a year, capped at two years’ pay. It isn’t a pension. If you’re in DIFC’s DEWS scheme, add your DEWS balance to your net worth instead.

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YEARS
05 Your safety net

Your job, your visa and often your housing are tied together here. After a work visa is cancelled, most people get roughly 30–60 days to find work or leave, so the emergency fund comes before investing.

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Essential costs means rent, school fees, bills, food, transport and loan payments. Leave out holidays, eating out and anything you could stop next month.

More assumptions
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Returns are assumptions, not forecasts, and real returns can be negative. Fees are everything you pay each year: fund, platform and adviser charges. A low-cost index fund can be around 0.2%. Expat savings plans often charge 2% or more. Dubai inflation was 5.3% in July 2026, and UAE-wide inflation about 2% in late 2025.

Four questions before you sign anything

  • What exactly am I buying?
  • What does it cost me every year, in total?
  • Who regulates the firm holding my money?
  • How do I get out, and what does it cost to leave?

If you can’t answer all four, don’t sign. Check a firm’s licence on the register of the Capital Market Authority (onshore), the DFSA (DIFC), the FSRA (ADGM) or the Central Bank of the UAE (banks and insurers). And ask any adviser: “Are you paid by fee or by commission?”

“The first million isn’t built with clever investments. It’s built with a transfer that leaves your account on payday, every month, for years.”

Ralph Orena · Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA, CGMA)

The yearly checklist

0of 18 ticked

Run through this now, then once a year. Each box you can’t tick is your next job, roughly in order. Ticks aren’t saved.