Hello from a long time lurker now ER in Malaysia

[physdude]

Hello all! I just recently ERed at 41 to Kuala Lumpur. I chose it because of its ethnic and cultural diversity, good infrastructure and low cost of living (for the icing on the cake, it has gotten -really- low now as the currency crashed last year due to political uncertainty) and the MM2H program which makes ER painless and tax-efficient. I like reading, traveling and appreciating nature and culture. Kuala Lumpur is probably the best base for traveling around SE Asia due to the enormous competition between the budget airlines here (one of the best deals I recently struck was a return flight to Medan to visit the amazing Lake Toba for the grand sum of US$30). My retirement with my DW is hardly extreme as we live in a decent 3 br condo right next to the train station but is probably more MMM style as we exclusively use public transport, have the incredibly cheap local food (expat Western "premium" food can easily be 5-10 times as expensive with no corresponding increase in quality AFAICT), and generally avoid spending money for luxuries which we don't really appreciate or to keep up with the Joneses. Local living is cheap enough that one can live rather well on US$1200/mo for a couple and doing it on 2/3 of that should pretty easy without compromising too much and the rest of Malaysia is considerably cheaper than Kuala Lumpur so living on US$600-700 per month is actually not a particularly difficult task here. Since I calculated my expenses to be a fair bit above this level, the rest is going to traveling at this point which is quite fun.

I should note that a surprising thing about Malaysia is that infrastructure is really good - almost first world level - and way beyond what you would expect from a middle income country. This makes travel etc more comfortable than one might guess at first glance. OTOH, it seems a bit of a cultural desert especially in comparison to neighboring countries.

One point which hasn't been discussed much IMHO : I know Jacob's not really into short term traveling like this but long term travel can have severe tax consequences if you end up becoming tax resident in a place with capital gains taxes. Malaysia is pretty nice in this regard and I essentially pay very little tax (mainly withholding taxes on dividends) and no capital gains tax at all).

[wolf]

Hello physdude. Congratulations to you and your DW! Wow, I look up to you. I am just in the middle of the journey to FI/RE/ERE/FF (I cannot decide at the moment Well, but I am turning 35 this year and I want to achieve my goal around 42 years old (like you). I have been to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia once. I can recommend you Langkawi the Island and of course the many old forests and jungles and the highlands where they grow black tea.
If you don't mind can you share something about your journey? Where have you lived before? What did you work? How did you achieve ERE?
Take care and be aware of the wild monkeys, when you got something to eat.

[physdude]

Thanks! I have been to Langkawi a couple of times and it is a really nice place with great seafood and a lovely beach among other things.

I was in finance in HK for the last few years which helped a fair bit financially because it is has low tax rates and no taxes on passive income. Apart from some great hiking and scenery, it isn't a great place to live though and it is the unhappiest rich country in the world http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/educ ... -happiness. All in all, a great place to get to ER quickly because the best things to do (hike and appreciate nature) are free, it provides the right financial environment and also keeps you motivated due to the high stress and tensions that you keep seeing around you.

[Did]

Welcome. Were those costs for a couple or single to live monthly in Malaysia?

[physdude]

Those were the costs for a couple. It helps a lot if you like or are willing to have the local Indian/Malay food, particularly if you are going to eat outside most of the time like the locals. An unlimited vegetarian Indian meal which is actually sufficient for the whole day costs only about US$1.5 to US$2 for example while just a basic small coffee at a Western chain like Starbucks would cost more than that (a coffee at a local place is about $0.40-$0.60 here though it is not Arabica). The price differences between the local places and the Western chains are almost unbelievable when you first see them.

[physdude]

My earlier surmise that KL was a cultural desert was not really accurate - it is just difficult to find the cultural programs. The Indian High Commission runs a cultural center and partially funds a fine arts institute in the city center (where a lot of Indians also happen to live). There are regular performances over the weekend which are often free (for mostly local artists who are usually surprisingly good even if they are not famous) or relatively cheap (under US$10 and this usually involves relatively famous Indian classical artists who are among the best in the world). Even more amazingly, they often serve good free food at these concerts!

There is also a decent symphony orchestra but the cost is a bit higher (US$25 or so for a concert) but they are obviously not the New York Philharmonic.

Surprisingly, I haven't yet found any Malay cultural programs which is a pity since I really like gamelan music.