MALAYSIA - A RETIREMENT HAVEN?

Hiroko, 64, and her husband Hiroyuki, 67,
find Malaysia an ideal place for a second home.
Pic: The Star

My retired friends, kindly take note. Some of you may find it hard to believe this, but Malaysia has consistently been voted among the top places in the world to retire in. I know the grass is always greener on the other side, but if you look at Malaysia through the eyes of a retiree from a country where the winters are long and cold, where the cost of living is high and where natural disasters are common, it is easy to understand why Malaysia My Second Home Programme has been quite successful. It has attracted over 18,000 foreigners to settle in Malaysia as of March 2012.

Of all the best places to live in Malaysia, Penang captures the top spot hands down. It's not only the hawker food, the sunny weather and the friendly people, but also the relatively low cost of living. It is among the cheapest places to set up home. That's according to Living International Magazine which recently voted Malaysia 3rd on the list of the world's top Retirement Havens 2013. I share this write-up by Keith Hockton.

For a complete list, you can read the full article here.

3. Malaysia: Asia’s Most Desirable Destination

By Keith Hockton

“Go back to New York to live? Never!” says 65-year-old Lorna Taylor. “We moved to Malaysia because of the weather, the golf and the low prices; our costs are now a third to a quarter of what they were in the U.S. We even have a maid come in and clean four times a week. We couldn’t do that in New York. No, we’ll never leave Penang.”

I’m 30 years younger than Lorna and her husband John, and yet they still manage to beat my wife Lisa and me convincingly at tennis. They have a coach who comes twice a week, and for $10 a lesson I can see his efforts are clearly paying off.

I also completely understand and agree with their view about Malaysia. It has everything. Its weather is a tropical 82 F all year round and its beaches, islands and jungles are pristine. It has some of the region’s best street food, great restaurants, bars, shopping malls and movie theaters—and it’s all affordable.

Lisa and I rent a sea-view apartment for $1,000 a month—it comes with a shared pool and gym. We eat out five nights a week, keep a small sailboat, and our total budget is $1,719 a month. Two people can have a three-course meal here for $10.

A bagful of fresh fruit costs around $4. We also have a maid that comes once a week for four hours at a cost of $12.

Malaysia’s an easy place to make friends and integrate as English is the unofficial first language. Lots of expats live in Kuala Lumpur and Penang and numerous organizations here can help you get settled and integrated. For example, the International Women’s Association (formally The American Woman’s Association) has just over 500 members who organize activities on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. On Mondays there are jungle walks, Tuesdays mah-jong (a type of card game), Wednesdays sewing. They sponsor trivia night once a week at a local pub and put on a ball once a year. 

Penang and Kuala Lumpur are also medical centers of excellence and every day two planeloads of medical tourists arrive in Malaysia for various treatments. Not only is the health care amazing but it’s among the world’s cheapest. And prescriptions here cost a fifth of what you pay at home.

The last time I was at the dentist I got a filling and a cleaning, which cost $22.50. In the U.S. this would set me back around $180. We can also buy property, land, and houses and condominiums freehold—something you can’t do elsewhere in Asia.

The streets of old Penang. Trishaws are still a common sight.

And here is a typical monthly budget for a couple living in Penang, taken from International Living magazine. (Currency: USD)

Rent: $500
Electricity: $100
Water: $10
Cell phone: $10
Gas: $4
Internet: $30
TV: $40
Maid (four hours a week): $15
Transportation: $34 for gas
Health insurance: $33
Dining out/Entertainment: $300 (and that’s eating out five nights a week, alcohol not included)
Monthly total: $1,076

Hard to beat such prices

An entire bagful of fresh fruit, including mangoes, bananas, apples, oranges, and pineapples costs just $4. High-speed Internet is reliable and costs $30 a month, and a premier cable TV package for $40 includes favorites like HBO, CNN, and the BBC. And a couple can eat out well for less than $10. Go to night bazaars, and you can dine for much less than that: Chicken-and-rice meals are often only $1.

Expats from rich developed countries can easily retire to a life of comfort and luxury for $2000 a month. No wonder our close cousins from neighbouring Singapore have been snapping up property in Johor.

For more about why these expats have chosen Malaysia as the ideal place to retire in, click here.

Now aren't we blessed to call Malaysia our home?

A NEW YEAR, A NEW ME?

It's the first day of a brand new year. That means time to start working on your resolutions for 2013 if you haven't done so yet. For many of us this has become an annual ritual of reflecting on how successful or not we have been with the previous year's resolutions. The more cynical among us will say why bother? I say why not? We need goals to aim for, to challenge us so that we can do better.

Looking back on the 365 days that have passed, most of us can give thanks for all the good things that have happened to us, and for the lessons we have learned from the not-so-good experiences. One thing we can all be grateful for is the world didn't end on 21 December 2012, not that we believe in Doomsday.

This can easily be me or you, if we don't watch
what we eat, and don't exercise enough.

I have made only one personal resolution for 2013, and that is to take better care of my health. My top priority is to lose some weight. The mere thought of tipping the scales at 60kg (132 pounds) horrifies me. No, I am not obese or even fat. I would love to say I am far from it, but why wait till I am on the threshold of obesity? More pounds means more effort needed to get back in shape.

Being obese regardless of our age puts us at risk of multiple health problems as the diagram below shows.

Some may find this image offensive, but when it's a matter of life or death, it's better to be shocked into action than lulled into complacency.

We are all aware of the health risks when we allow ourselves to accumulate fat. Being aware is one thing, understanding the message is another. But as long as we don't lift a finger or a muscle to do anything about it, we will continue to remain as we are - overweight. Chubby is not cuddly, unless you are a baby. Neither is plump cute, unless you are a rubber doll.

And while we are on the subject of health, it's time for that annual blood test, and other medical check ups that are recommended for older adults. I recently had my blood tested, went for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy, CT-scan, ultra-sound, ECG, mammogram and a dental check-up.

I still need to go for a pap smear. I have been given a clean bill of health by the doctors. That's reassuring news. But that doesn't mean I can take it easy. Having been under the knife twice, I need to be vigilant about my health. So should everyone. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to live long and in good health.

Source: WebMD. Click on the link to calculate your BMI

A one-stop website for health and wellness that I would recommend is Dr Oz's 10-step Ultimate Health Checklist. Check it out. :-)