I'm currently a resident of the US, and I work here on an L1 visa. Prior to this I resided in the UK for about 2 years and I expect to move to Switzerland sometime in the next 10 years for work reasons.
Given how pension can be seen as an investment that compounds, I can see that I might stand to lose some of the compounding benefits by moving around. Are there any guidelines to effective accumulation of wealth for people who have to move around geographically for work?
I can see that I might stand to lose some of the compounding benefits by moving around
Not really. You may pay more fees if you have more plans, but the $x I left in my IRA in the USA is now a little over $2x. UPDATE: I just received a message from Wells Fargo asking me to close my IRA, so make sure your bank is OK with keeping it open for you when you leave the USA.
On the other hand I did consolidate the £0.1x I had in a UK contracted-out-of-SERPS plan with a similar plan here in New Zealand, as it didn't seem worth keeping it separated and there was no penalty for doing so.
