Southeast Asia lures stock market victims with cheap lifestyles
Southeast Asia lures stock market victims with cheap lifestyles
Lawrence Bartlett, Agence, Kuala Lumpur
First World investors whose dreams of retirement crashed along with the stockmarket may still be able to quit the office for the golf course if they are prepared to relocate to Southeast Asia.
Three countries in the region offer special deals that could enable even those with badly shrunken savings to find a place in the sun, where their dollars will go a lot further than they would at home.
Malaysia runs the "Silver Hair Program", Thailand has what is popularly known as the "geezer visa", and you're welcome to retire in the Philippines as long as you've hit the ripe old age of 35 -- and have a little cash to spend.
In Malaysia you will need to deposit 100,000 ringgit (US$26,300) in a local savings account and have a monthly income of 7,000 ringgit ($1,800).
That buys you a five-year extendable residency in an equatorial land of jungles, beaches, modern cities, cheap golf and a multi-cultural population of Malays, Chinese and Indians where English is widely spoken.
Housing, food and recreation are much cheaper than in more developed countries, with a round of golf costing from around 60 to 150 ringgit ($15 to $40) compared with Hong Kong's minimum green fees of around 1,200 Hong Kong dollars ($154).
The age requirement of 50 years was recently dropped under a revamp of the scheme, which is now formally called "Malaysia my second home", but still known as "Silver Hair".
More than a thousand people have come into this former British colony under the program since 1996, from countries around the world including Britain, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, Singapore, China and Taiwan.
"They like the climate here, the people are friendly, the property is cheap, medical facilities are advanced," said Candy Yap of Country Heights, one of the government-appointed sponsors of the scheme who help applicants deal with the paperwork.
"On our national day (Aug.31) a contingent under the silver hair program will parade in front of our king."
One of the more than 50 U.S. citizens who have settled here under the scheme, Leslie Armstrong, told AFP how he ended up leaving Washington State for a life in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital.
"I thought 'Where can I go with my limited funds and live a decent lifestyle without the stress of having to go to work every day', and my research brought me to Malaysia.
"I came for a visit and discovered 'My god, Southeast Asia is modern, its not just jungle huts, its got real cities. I checked the prices of housing and other things and I said 'That's it, I'm coming, and I pulled up all my roots."
That was in 1998, and Armstrong, a former real estate manager who is 56 years old, says he has no regrets.
To qualify for Thailand's "geezer visa" retirees must have at least 800,000 baht ($19,000) in a Thai bank account or a regular transfer of 65,000 baht a month guaranteed by their embassies.
They are not permitted to conduct any business but they can buy a car and a condominium and after three years they can apply for residency.
The number of retirees living in Thailand is hard to estimate. Immigration authorities were not able to say how many "geezer visas" had been issued, and many people stay in the country for years or decades on temporary permits which they regularly renew.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand says that 93,583 retired and unemployed people visited Thailand in 2001, but the organization has no way of knowing how many are long-stayers.
However, anecdotal evidence shows that the resort towns of Pattaya and Phuket, with its energetic nightlife, are packed with retirement-age men from abroad who spend part or all of the year in the country.
Many move to the "Land of smiles" after holidaying in Thailand, and often after meeting a Thai woman.
The Philippine government offers a special resident visa to foreign pensioners under a program managed by a state-run firm, the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA).
The program was launched in 1985, and the PRA has processed "less than 10,000" applications since then, a PRA spokesman said.
Applicants must be at least 35 years old. Those aged over 50 are required to open a U.S. dollar time deposit of at least $50,000 for a term of six months, while those under that age need $75,000.
Incentives include exemption from customs duties and taxes for imports of personal and household goods worth $7,000, travel tax exemption, and conversion of the required time deposit to active investments including purchase of condominium units and proprietary golf membership shares.