Malaysia just removed itself from the list of FIRE destinations for most people.

r/financialindependence • u/almost_retired • Aug 11 '21

You can find my original post about retiring and moving to Malaysia here

The "Malaysia My Second Home Program" (MM2H) targeting foreign retirees had been suspended since August last year. The Malaysian government has just re-launched the program, but with some very steep requirements:

Demonstrable monthly offshore income of $RM40,000 (~US$9,500) vs 25% of that previously.
Bank deposit in Malaysia of $RM1 Million (~US$235K) vs 25% of that previously.
Must spend at least 90 days a year in Malaysia vs 0 days minimum previously.

Malaysia used to be a very desirable FIRE destination because it was inexpensive, safe, English speaking, had good infrastructure and it was relatively easy to get a retirement VISA.

That last item is pretty much gone. If you are FIREd and pulling $10K a month, you probably have better options than Malaysia.

Oh well.

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u/scorp171 Aug 11 '21 edited Aug 11 '21

I don't know the prices now. I was there in 2016. My company got bulk rental discounts. I think mine was between 2k-2300 per month back then.

Edit: and I wasn't looking to particularly FIRE that time. I was still saving. This was just my deputation allowance and I still got my full salary in my base country which I saved 100% of it(I also got low taxed as a non resident loophole that year). So I made a decision to spend all of deputation allowance to maintain my travels and standard of living.

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u/ZaviaGenX Aug 11 '21

Ah the edit makes sense.

I was a SEA expat at about rm10k+ and I definitely was far from kingly life. 2k is a really good deal BTW. Its crazy expensive especially with a klcc view iirc.

(if anyone is hiring for ops, do PM, miss expat life ) xD

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u/scorp171 Aug 11 '21

True, I think sea expats makes the most sense. You can enjoy 40-50% of the days completely free and make a ton of money. I knew sea expats who were only on deputation, so they received their base salary in base country and 10k+RM there. It would be magical for somebody trying to FIRE.

(Even people from any Big4 consulting firms from developed countries had a similar situation).

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u/ZaviaGenX Aug 12 '21

Im, uh, from SEA myself. The rm10k was (almost) the whole package 😆. Im like the discount expat.

But yea, had more free time while I was a director then at any point in my career. Was really weird experience when my boss was like "don't work so hard, don't have to be in office all hours" n took a while to get use to.