I HAVE read many negative comments on the plight of Singaporeans retiring abroad and I would like to share my personal experience.

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I would surely like 2 things to happen from this letter:
1) A reporter from Straits Times to take up the invitation from the writer and spend 1 month with him each in Vancouver and Guangzhou
2) The SG government to take in this letter and have some internal reflection; for example, the letter writer being expelled from school and a shipyard apprentice, making it well in Canada and most probably not in Singapore. This ties in with the recent letters to the forum page on identifying and developing talent.

Just to add another 5 cents' worth, if someone is from a developed country(high cost) and retires in a less developed country, costs of living in the latter will definitely be relatively cheaper.

I am sure people from London will find Singapore cheap; a ride in zone 1 of the London underground train (the Tube) costs a flat rate of GBP1.6(about SGD3) back in 2002.

The average Chinese city dweller in China will not find China cities a cheap place to retire.

There will always be cheaper places to retire to (much like manufacturing, there is always a cheaper country) and Singapore is not helped in its case by its small size. Places like Canada and US are so big, there will always be pockets of low cost regions for retirement without actually leaving the country. A New Yorker for one, will find it much inexpensive if he chooses to retire outside of New York.

Based on what qualifications was Mr Cheong granted immigrant status to Canada? Where did he get all the money to invest in properties? Obviously he has already made good in Singpapore before he could be accepted elsewhere, especially Canada, USA or Australia, which have strict points systems.

And I doubt how often he is in Guangzhou - the cities of Zhongshan and Foshan are not even spelt correctly.

Make the world your oyster if you are internationally mobile when your time comes.

But please don't bring the anti-social habits with you due to lack of GP and AP values when you are at your next destination in life.

Mr Cheong was responding to Mr Philip Lee's article. Pls read this on Philip Lee's experience on Vancouver. Seems to be contradictory.

http://travel.asiaone.com/print/Trav...0523-8480.html

Kaffein

assuming the long letter wasn't (substantially) edited, i'm somewhat embarrassed by the letter-writer's claim that "a Singaporean who speaks proficient English can easily get a part-time job teaching English and earn 3,000 to 5,000 yuan a month." i've been there, done that, and don't give me that bull. i have professional qualifications, incl teaching english as a second language, and yet, when i explicitly told potential employers - bec they can't tell from my otherwise "british" accent - that i was s'porean, i was like treated like "second-class" at best. i know there are many, s'poreans and foreigners alike, who believe, quite erroneously of course, that anyone practically can teach english, even english as a second language. i pity such souls, and more so, their students, bec they do not even have the fundamental knowledge, much less pedagogical, to do a competent job. tesl is a specialized field within applied linguistics and education.

the author sounds like he speaks some english, yet he writes in such a convoluted fashion, with certain grammatical miskakes. yes, anyone can apply to teach english, esp if s/he has a token white face, but not everyone is good enough.

and like domi said, zhongshan and foshan are mid-sized cities near guangzhou, which the learned letter-writer probably has not spent and/or does not spend much time in.

finally, including the requisite roof over one's head - whether in terms of rent or mortgage, it is impossible to live comfortably on a 2000-yuan budget in gz (i know he said "survive" - why would anyone from sg want to move to another country, esp china, merely to "survive"?). a 2-bedroom apartment in the suburbs would easily cost that much to rent, and including a moderate lifestyle, one would likely spend around at least 4000 yuan per month, including utilities, management fees, food and some "luxuries" like the weekly massage. what is a salary of 5000 yuan, before taxes, going to do for one? in gz, typically, esl teachers with some training/practical background earn at least 10k yuan a month, on a teaching load of up to 20 hours, with benefits including housing and roundtrip flights.

even with a 10k salary, one is not left with much. supposing one is able to save half, it only amounts to 1k sgd, big deal!

The cost of living for retirees like Mr Cheong overseas in Vancouver is greatly subsidized by the working class citizens who pay more than 40% of their annual income in taxes, and whom in general are healthy and don’t require regular health treatment.

However, it’s extremely unlikely that the Canadian Govt. would accept any retirees without significant pre-requisite conditions. What Mr Cheong failed to mention are the drawbacks. These include lack of sunshine during winter, which triggers depression in many single and lonely elderly folks. Cold weather also creates problems in their joints, makes travelling on icy road dangerous, you can experience power / water cuts in extreme bad weather conditions.

Eating out can be costly since tipping in restaurants aside from self-serve can add 15% or more to your tab, aside from the astronomical cost per meal, per person. Power costs during winter can easily triple, and these are not subsidized.

Yet, many people continue to migrate there, and to other places out of Singapore. I agreed with Mr Cheong, that life overseas can be good. In Singapore, as kids, we compete with each other for grades, to enter top schools. We mug books and absorb like sponge. We do not challenge authority nor question knowledge and ‘values’ taught to us. As adults, we compete with ‘foreign talents’ who are willing to do more work, but lesser pay. As a migratory adult, supporting their family back home, foreign talents are willing to draw lesser pay, after currency conversion, which still pays significantly higher then what they earned in their home country. I am 32 years old this year, and I cannot fathom what life can be like, when I am old, 72 and requires intensive medical healthcare to get by. Yes, there are government policies and insurances that will assist with these difficulties, but all require extensive paperwork, applications, processes, red tapes which are designed not for the average person to understand.

In Singapore, life cannot be as simple. Will we get free healthcare for all Singaporeans. To achieve this, everyone must play a part to reform the system totally. Which means having the working adults pay more income taxes so that the surplus can be channeled for free healthcare for the young and elderly. But increasing taxes means added burden to the already frustrated working class who have to compete wages with the ever increasing foreign talents. This equilibrium of imbalance is already in play, and not likely to rectify anytime soon. Just my 5 cents worth of opinion to add on.

Based on the writer's experience, what are the chances of a would-be mmigrant getting a job in Canada with overseas finance professional qualification and an MBA? No need for a top high-paying job but just a job that can cover the monthly operating expenses.

I agree with writer that once decision has been made to emigrat, no point complainng and bickering.

Things are very different if you are an Australia citizen and looking for a job there, so I don't know the extensiveness of disparity in job seeking between Australia and Canada? Perhaps, the writer can share ith me more of his experience there.

What are the chances of moving from Australia to Canada?

> finally, including the requisite roof over one's head - whether in terms of
> rent or mortgage, it is impossible to live comfortably on a 2000-yuan
> budget in gz

I guess what the author meant is after retiring, one can use his or her savings to buy a house, and then survive on 2000 yuans a month. The person can do that in Singapore too, but the quality of life is expected to be lower than what is achievable there.

I pity the writer.