Jays & Rainer – Retiring in Malaysia

I think it is good to feature stories of couples who are happily retired and living a bigger and better lifestyle of choice. This post is to showcase the many paths and possibilities of retirement lifestyle that can be achieved.

For the first in this series, I contacted Jays, who have been living in Malaysia with her husband Rainer Tischler since retirement. This is their story.

Would you care to share a little about yourselves?

Rainer has both German and Liechtenstein passports as well as Singapore permanent residency status as he was based in Singapore for 11 years for his work. He used to travel quite a bit within Asia for his work and he develops a huge fondness for Asia. He cannot see himself living in Europe full time and decided to set up a base in Singapore.

I am a proud Singaporean. I had always been open to the idea of living elsewhere but Malaysia had not crossed my mind. 

When and why did you decide to retire?

Climbing the corporate ladder vs climbing mountains. It was an easy choice.

We both retired in our late forties, after a good friend had planted the seed earlier in our minds. We were both working in regional roles and travelling much of the time. I recall one year where we only spent three months (non consecutively as well) in the same place. We have no children and one day it dawned on us – why were we working so hard and not enjoying the fruit of our labour more? 

We figured if we pooled our resources and moved to a country where the cost of living wasn’t as high (as Singapore), we would have sufficient to stop working. 

It was not an easy decision as work had been a huge part of both our lives and our identities and self worth were pegged to it. We were also both making good money. But there comes a moment in life where a change in the course of direction is needed and we headed into uncharted waters!

Why did you choose to retire in Malaysia?

Malaysia offers a good retirement programmer called Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H). It offers a 10-year multiple entry visa at a time when there were not that many such visas.

Proximity to Singapore was important to me. My parents were in their twilight years and I wanted to be able to visit them at least once a month and get on a flight whenever the need arose.

Malaysia seemed less volatile than the other neighbouring countries and both Rainer and I are familiar with the country given our regular work travel and posting there.

English is widely spoken and understood. We could easily replicate and significantly improve the quality of life we had in Singapore. We didn’t retire to have ‘less’ of a life, so to speak. It was important to us that we could still have a beautiful living environment and a place we would be proud to hang our hats.

 

Medical facilities are important when choosing a place to retire and Malaysia has some good hospitals. 

How did you prepare for it?

Doing the sums, crunching lots of numbers. We started by making an estimate of our expenses very month. 

Ensuring that we had sufficient insurance coverage was paramount and that when we combined our resources, we had sufficient to take us through the rest of our lives. Looking at the best way to get returns on our investments to maximise our passive income. We lean towards being as risk averse as possible. Getting all credit cards acquired before retirement as without proof of stable income, it gets more difficult.

We also made multiple trips to Malaysia and checking out various cities and towns to find where feels most ‘home’ to us. Lots of mind work and legwork.

Have there been surprises and how did you overcome them?

We had planned to retire and move to Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia). Initially we had not planned to buy a plot of land to build our own tropical paradise. That decision sort of came about as a natural progression.

Building the house gave Rainer something to sink his teeth into. It turned out to be one of our best experiences. The house turned out so well that it was featured in multiple magazines and we had so many nice moments from all the entertaining, truly enjoyed it. It felt like a puzzle fell into place perfectly when we sold the house and moved to Penang, where we now live. The congestion and security in Kuala Lumpur were inhibiting our lives. This is a decision that was the most pleasant of surprises.

Now, living in a spacious apartment with breath-taking views gives us the freedom of mind to wander into the vastness of the sea in front of us is awesome. I still pinch myself… it is real.

 

How do you spend your days now?

Routines are important for us. We are both morning people. We start the day with some form  of exercise. Pretty much close to half a day goes into such activities. I have exercise classes and walk 10km daily and alternative between tennis, yoga, gym circuit. We hike whenever we can.

Rainer took up kite boarding after retirement. It’s so convenient for him to just walk with his dear down to the beach and launch. He is on his paddle board a few times a week. He also runs, cycles and swims pretty much every day as he is aiming to do his third Ironman event at 60 years (this year in 2021).

We entertain fairly often and have a wonderful supportive circle of friends. 

What is your honest view about retirement?

I thought I was busy when I was working. Retirement has me just as busy. As they say, time flies when you are having fun! 

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For the first time in years, we found ourselves spending 24 hours a day together. Having an interest or activity certainly helps. However, it is also crucial to have different interests and friends that take you away from each other.

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There is a life after leaving the work world…and it can be fulfilling and as nurturing as I want it to be.

Any advice or parting shot for folks who are planning for retirement?

Getting involved in some form of activity that brings you in contact with like-minded individuals is important. Stimulation of the mind and body: reading, discussion, exercising, eating healthy, doing something for yourself and something for others that puts a smile on your face and theirs. 

And the rest is happily ever after….

 

If you’d like to share your retirement story, do reach out to me at: sm@rt.today