Choosing a place to retire

[chenda]

I live in Singapore.

You might actually be better off in Singapore than any other Asian country, all things considered.

[guitarplayer]

For Scotland you forgot:
+s: whisky

Yeah true! Have not thought about it because we don't drink. I went to a whisky tasting once though. @jollyscott has some entries on the forum on Scottish whisky I believe.

[nouzen86]

You might actually be better off in Singapore than any other Asian country, all things considered.

For retirement? Yeah, but I think you would need to accumulate a lot more for retirement.

[Did]

We relocated to rural Ireland from Australia where we lived for over 5 years. When Covid blew up we came back while things settled.

Our current thinking is we like sunshine and to a lesser degree family. I like to look to animals for inspiration and I’ve had both a dog and cat who are happiest just snoozing in the sunshine, or, in the case of the dog, swimming in the pool. Throw in a homebrew and I pretty well have my daily needs covered.

So we are looking to Australia for our long term plans. With travel on the side.

[chenda]

A friend of mine has just moved to South Africa, Cape Town area.

Pros:
English Speaking
Western culture (in parts)
Very low COL (probably 40-50% lower than US/Northern Europe)
Beautiful landscape, sun, beaches, food
Very friendly culture, ethnically diverse
Lots of open space

Cons:
Horrendous levels of violent crime, you can't even drive a car without the high risk of being car jacked.
Water shortage and other climate related problems
Political instability, extreme poverty and inequality