4 days ago
I made £30m in Dubai and was blown away by the architecture, the riches and how safe it is - but this is why after just two years I HAD to leave
An entrepreneur has revealed why he quit Dubai after living there for two years and making an incredible £30 million.
Charlie Morgan moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2023, as a 'business decision' more so than a personal one, thanks to Dubai's lucrative tax-free earnings.
The businessman, who coaches people online to make money, was a fan of the area at first.
In a video on his Youtube channe l, he praised Dubai for promoting a healthy lifestyle, with its strict laws on heavy drinking.
Pornography and the use of drugs is also outlawed on the gulf, as well as gambling, which Charlie said 'is a good thing'.
He explains: 'If you struggle with any bad habits, then you know it's illegal to do them and you will have to face the book of law if you do partake in stupid things.'
The businessman also enthused about how 'safe' Dubai is, and has never seen an example of violence or crime in the two years he was resident there.
He said: 'It is so safe, you feel incredibly secure, even in rowdy pubs or rowdy bars. There's no fighting, there's no swearing.'
However, his cons outweighed the good, and Charlie has revealed all the reasons he eventually decided to break up with Dubai.
Charlie said Dubai is 'so safe, you feel incredibly secure, even in rowdy pubs or rowdy bars. There's no fighting, there's no swearing.' However, his cons outweighed the good
'Impossible' to settle
Charlie started by revealing how it's 'impossible' to put down roots in Dubai.
He said: 'Living in Dubai feels like a holiday or in an Airbnb because in order for you to have a healthy life, you need to have people love and you need to have a social life and you need to have a love life.
'You need to have a family life and stuff like that.'
He continued: 'The issue with Dubai is everyone plans to leave. It's a revolving door of a city which means that people come and people leave.'
Charlie added that up to 95 per cent of people he knew in the city had planned to leave at some point.
Air quality
Charlie explained how 'nobody talks about the air quality' and how you can 'smell' the pollution in the summer months.
He said: 'You can taste it. In the morning, your throat congests.
'You'll wake up in the morning with stuff in your nose that you will have to blow out of your nose, like you've got a cold or something.
'In the summer and even in the winter you can see it. I used to live on the Palm [Islands] and I would be able to see buildings a mile or two away from me.
'And in the summer, where the pollution is so bad that you can't see the buildings a mile or two away, there's just this thick layer of polluted fog that surrounds the city and it's really unpleasant.'
Construction
Dubai's construction sector has seen strong growth over the last decade.
But the noise of workers erecting striking new structures and houses eventually got to Charlie.
He revealed he lived on a quiet street, but those living in apartments complained about the 'relentless' noise.
Charlie said: 'If you live in an apartment block or a high rise, there's always someone changing windows and drilling, and that's a huge problem.'
Dating
With more men than women in the region, Charlie admitted he struggled to find a partner in Dubai, and found the dating market 'difficult'.
The number-savvy businessman attributed it to the 'type' of woman that is 'attracted' to the UAE and its lifestyle.
He explained: 'I hate to use the words "market" and "dating" in the same phrase, but Dubai does attract a certain type of woman.
'You're less likely to find a wholesome, maternal figure in Dubai, when you think about the kind of girl who is attracted to Dubai.'
Water
He went on to reveal how the water is undrinkable and you always have to consume filtered or bottled water instead.
The problem with bottled water, he said, is the sodium has been removed from it - and he claimed it's left those in Dubai with an electrolyte deficiency.
'So all the electrolytes in the water are removed from all the drinking water,' he said. 'What happens is you end up dehydrating yourself because these electrolytes hydrate you.'
To counter this, Charlie took Himalayan pink salt by using a funnel so he could have electrolytes.
Heavy traffic
In Dubai, driving or public transport is the typical way to move around, with Charlie highlighting how it is difficult to walk or cycle anywhere.
He said: 'It's very much a car-dependent city, which is fine if that's your thing, but I wouldn't mind it if the driving experience was actually okay.
'The driving experience is not great if you want to have a car there, it is very much every man for himself, and there's lots of traffic all the time.'
With heavy traffic on the roads, Charlie said journey times could be doubled or even tripled at rush hour.
'The main thing I like about Europe is I can walk out my door now,' he said as he compared home life to the Gulf. 'I can walk to the supermarket if I want to go to the supermarket.
'I can walk to a park, I can walk to the pub, I can walk down to see my friends.'
Unclear tax rules
Despite many assuming earnings are tax free in the UAE, Charlie said the rules are actually 'totally unclear'.
He added: 'For example, there's a 9 per cent corporation tax and I've spoken to many accountants and lawyers that are experts in UAE law and taxation, but no one really knows who has to pay it and what it's for.'
Charlie continued: 'I don't like tax jurisdictions that don't have clear-cut rules, because then, before you know it, you're liable for a fine.'
Dubai's aesthetic
The professional criticised Dubai's entrepreneur aesthetic and how 'everyone looks the same' and 'conforms' to the same identity.
'Everyone wears the same stuff.', he said. 'It's weird, everyone conforms to this identity that I don't really like.
'Prime example, I saw a large group of entrepreneurs at an event, but it wasn't an event that I was attending and there was 40 or 50 of them and they all looked identical.'
The professional criticised Dubai's entrepreneur aesthetic and how 'everyone looks the same' and 'conforms' to the same identity
He added there is a tendency for people to almost 'morph into this one single high-value human being.'
'In these cities in Europe, there are individuals, people are very bold with their fashion or what they wear, or how they look, or how they speak,' he added.
Isolation
Charlie went on to reveal how he struggled with isolation while in the capital, and how you 'can't just meet your mates down the pub'.
He said: 'Dubai is incredibly isolating and social circles are incredibly hard to break into and they're very cliquey.
'I had a good group of friends in Dubai, a couple of different groups that I would play football with or go for dinners with, and I met some amazing people in Dubai that honestly I'll be friends with for the rest of my life.
'But there's no sense of community in Dubai, none.'
And, although he went on networking dinners, Charlie branded them fake, insisting they are merely just a 'transaction'.
Time
Charlie had a team that was dotted around the world - from South Africa and Europe to the USA.
This meant he and his colleagues were working across multiple time zones and his team would start later in the day.
'I found myself working until 11pm and then naturally waking up at 11am or 10am and finishing at midnight', he recalled.
'Now I'm back in the UK, I'm back to my usual schedule of waking up at 5:30am or 6am and then I finish work at like 6pm or 7pm.'
Nature
Despite living on the beach, surrounded by palm trees, Charlie said Dubai lacked nature and green spaces.
He said: 'It was quiet and peaceful and there were birds and crickets and stuff but it still lacked nature, no green space.'
However, Charlie did praise the UAE for its beautiful canyons and deserts, but stressed how it's not integrated.
While admitting city chiefs are working on addressing the problem, Charlie said: 'You can't just walk through a field or be in some meadows or something'.
Police authority
Finally, the entrepreneur addressed the well-documented police authority in Dubai and how 'significant' it is.
He said: 'The government is obviously autocratic, which means it's not a democracy.
'I don't know quite how they run it but this issue is the final con, that everyone lives in constant fear.'
He went on to clarify how he and others constantly had a 'slight fear' in the back of their minds that they would do something wrong, end up arrested and 'put away in jail'.
He added: 'I never did anything wrong, but a lot of people I spoke to over there shared this same sort of fear and you'd hear all these stories aren't probably true about p**sing off the wrong local and getting imprisoned.'
He went on to clarify how he and others constantly had a 'slight fear' in the back of their minds that they would do something wrong, end up arrested and 'put away in jail'
While praising Dubai's leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, he said because the police and government have 'full control' there's less accountability.
He added: 'You just need to be aware that there are real consequences to your actions'.
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