If The World Was Your Oyster !!!!!

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There has recently been discussion about violent crime & various hassles/scams in Malaysia. Against this background, but not exclusively relating to these issues, I wish to pose the following:

1. Would you still opt to live in Malaysia if you had say $2.5 Million US ?

2. If no, where would you decide to live & what are the 2 primary factors that would impact your decision to exit Malaysia ??

I appreciate these may be provocative questions & thus require objective consideration i.e. assuming you could live in almost any country.

Cheers,

James

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Not so provocative for me, it took me less than 1 minute to think about it.
1. Having so much money? Then Malaysia will be a genuine 2nd home, just to escape cold winters.
2. A nice seaview appartment in France at the Mediterranean Sea.
Why? Not because of the crime, but better food, mild climate and the beautiful cities of Europe within reach.

Danny

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hi,

If I was a bivalve mollusk I'd go for the brackish marshes around Ravenna. I've always wanted to live in Italy and think that Ravenna is probably far enough away from all the Brits in Tuscany who are writing books, and restoring farmhouses.

To the north of Ravenna are the 3 Vs', Venice, Vicenza, and Verona. And Ravenna itself was the capital of a reduced  "Rome" during the troubles with the barbarians. And all those 6th century mosaics from Justinian and Theodora. Mamma mia.

And west there's Forli and Florence. And to the south the Abruzzo region of beaches, mountains, fortresses, and towns with a renaissance church in the central square, as it is supposed to be.

I've only been there once.  Wonderful, and the food is almost as good as Perak.   



For sale : Ravenna vicinity. The main building front elevation of a group of monastic buildings built in 1562 by the Camaldolese Friars. 1,600 square metres of buildings on 100,000 square metres of land. Has renaissance chapel, and only needs a bit of restoration work.

Sublime at Euro 4.2M.     

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2.5 USD?
I'm in my 40s with 2-3 mouths to feed over the years. So that's alot of money but not when you think about early retirement.
So in that sense Malaysia is still a perfect place to settle down to keep costs down.
The big expense is the house and car. Once you have the house covered the rest of the cost of living is easy in Malaysia.
I'd drop most of the money into a decent house in KL. Something like http://www.seputehgardens.com/
With that the rest of story falls into place.

I think this applies globally these days. The big hurdle to early retirement is the house.

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If the world was my oyster...this would be a nice start

http://www.firstnationalsanto.com/index.cfm?pageCall=property&propertyID=1434759&realestate=_Paradise_beach_(JW)_AORE_ISLAND__1010

Something like this would be just right with the boat parked out front.

Need a fair bit of extra money  as it is relatively remote and getting supplies, medical and what most would consider to be essentials could be problematic  but my god, it is an amazing part of the world to be in.

Reality dictates that I'll need to be somewhere a bit more "easy".

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riskyrisk,

Those houses in Seputeh Gardens will swallow up a good chunk of your $2.5million! And surely, you've omitted schooling from the cost equation as well?

For retiring on $2.5 million, I'd be looking at splitting my time between a RM1.5million semi detached in Malaysia and a £150k apartment somewhere in the Med.


John

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If I had US$2.5 million dropped in my lap today, I would probably invest the bulk of it, and then quit work.  Or at least go to working part-time only.  I am tired of 8-9 hour days; I could easily get used to a 3- to 4-hour day.  Mornings only, or afternoons only.

Malaysia would be okay for that amount.  Nicer places are still too expensive even with US$2.5 million.