Forget Florida, Retirement Paradise is Located in Asia
If there were a better place to spend their retirement years, Harold and Mary Richards would have found it. These British retirees surveyed the globe, drawing upon their years of living outside the United Kingdom for his career in education. They considered overlooked spots such as Croatia and Bulgaria. They even gave promising contenders a chance, first trying out South Africa and then Spain. Ultimately, they picked Phuket, an island on Thailand’s west coast blessed with sunshine, tranquility and friendly people. The price of entry also worked in their favor: For about $500,000, they got a four-bedroom luxury villa with a private pool, courtyard and garden. They figure that’s less than half what it would have cost in similar spots in most European countries.
The Richardses aren’t the only retirees from abroad happily settling into Southeast Asia. More people from around the world are coming to the region, drawn by word of mouth, incentives from regional governments vying for retirement nest eggs, and affordable living, including housing and relatively inexpensive medical care. According to Mercer’s 2006 cost-of-living study, Kuala Lumpur ranked 114th out of 144 cities, while Bangkok was 127th and Manila came in at number 141. By comparison, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong ranked as the second, third, and fourth costliest places (behind Moscow), while London and New York were in the top 10. Sydney was the 19th most expensive city, Madrid ranked 53rd and Monterrey in Mexico was 103.
Thailand doesn’t have an official retirement program in place, but the number of retirement visas is climbing. In 2005, Thai officials say nearly 1,500 visas were granted to overseas retirees. The final tally isn’t in yet for 2006, but they say it will show a big increase. Already, Malaysia is benefiting from the growing middle class in China with the largest single group of retirement visa holders — about 2,000 mainland Chinese.
Jack Simon, a retired swimming coach from Florida, chose to settle on Penang, an island off Malaysia’s northwest coast. The 68-year-old bachelor, who is fluent in Spanish, considered settling somewhere closer to home, such as Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay or Chile. But he had attended a work conference in the region a few years back, and on a side trip to Penang was impressed by the island’s food, friendliness, climate — and low costs. Mr. Simon describes Penang as “unbelievably inexpensive,” noting he gets by mainly on his U.S. Social Security checks. He pays about $350 a month for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo that overlooks the Andaman Sea and is surrounded by tropical jungle. He plays golf frequently with friends, and dines out four or five times a week. A maid cleans for him once a week. All told, Mr. Simon says he lives on less than $1,500 a month, adding that he could never enjoy his current lifestyle on the Florida coast spending the same amount. How sweet life is.
