To be continued..........
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The Straits Times
25 Aug 2008
Two-thirds of S'poreans think of retiring abroad: PollBy Theresa Tan
ALMOST two-thirds of Singaporeans have considered retiring abroad, according to a new study.
They are attracted to a
slower pace of life and a lower cost of living, said the survey, which gauged how Singaporeans felt about getting older.
Dr Mary Ann Tsao, president of the Tsao Foundation, which commissioned the study, said: 'What struck me was that so many young people thought of growing old abroad. Singapore has so much to offer and it's a desirable place to live.'
The foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to helping the elderly, released the results of the online survey yesterday. It queried 300 Singaporeans aged 21 to 55.
The desire to retire abroad was
highest among Singaporeans aged 21 to 34, three-quarters of whom have entertained the idea. In the 45 to 55 age group, only one in two thought about spending their golden years overseas.
But Mr Guy Hearn from research agency TNS, which did the study, said it is hard to gauge the true intentions of respondents. 'We don't know how serious those thoughts are,' he said.
Australia is a popular destination for Singaporean retirees, said agencies providing migration services. Cities like Perth, Melbourne and, increasingly, Adelaide boast large numbers of retired Singaporeans, they say.
Agencies that handle migrations Down Under say Singaporeans are attracted to the relaxed pace of life, the gentle climate and the fact that big-ticket items like houses and cars are much cheaper.
'One house in Singapore can buy you two bungalows in Perth,' said Mr Phillip Sim, one of the bosses of
Ntrust Australian Immigration Specialists.
He estimates that there are tens of thousands of Singaporeans living in Perth. 'There are entire areas...that are filled with Singaporeans. People there have time to chat, cook curry fish head and invite their friends over. How many people in Singapore have time to invite people over to their homes?'
Besides Australia, Malaysia also houses a sizeable number of Singaporean retirees.
Meanwhile, the study released yesterday also found that:
# 60 per cent of respondents say they are prepared for retirement.# 57 per cent say they are saving 'a bit' for retirement, but do not know if it is enough.# 50 per cent feel uncomfortable with the support Singapore provides for seniors. Their worries include things like housing and social activities.# 92 per cent of respondents said they do not expect to live with their children in their old age.Dr Tsao said the last figure was a shock. 'This is surprising considering we are an Asian society where children have lived with their old parents for thousands of years.' She said many seniors have told her they fear becoming a burden to their children and do not expect support from them in their later years.
Sociologist Paulin Straughan is not surprised, saying values of the younger generation are very different from those of their parents. 'Children are not so much seen as social safety nets now,' she added.
The findings have serious implications for society, said Dr Tsao. For example, the state has to examine if there are sufficient services for elderly people who live alone.
'I think for many people, the cost of paying for health care in their old age is a big concern,' said Dr Tsao. The 53-year-old was born in Hong Kong, trained as a doctor in the United States and is now a Singapore permanent resident.
'I think people considering retiring abroad is a very real issue. I'm not leaving Singapore, but I have considered moving to the US to tap the social security system there, which will pay for the bulk of my medical expenses.'
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New Paper
31 Aug 2008
Retiring abroad ain't bed of rosesBy Philip
THEY are day-dreaming, those young Singaporeans who said in a recent survey that they wanted to retire abroad. A make-believe Utopian world is always more pleasant than the real one.
Harmless reverie, I suppose. A form of escapism when all roads here seem to lead to ERP gantries. But we need to also get real. It ain't all hunky-dory in the US. G'days come with bad ones too in Australia. And there's no milk and honey aplenty in Canada, Malaysia or China.
Who needs this reality check? The poll result showed that a desire to live abroad was the highest among those aged between 21 and 34.
They probably had in their young minds attractive lures such as cooler climate, cheaper housing, lower cost of living, wide open spaces and so on.
Pardon me, while I burst a few bubbles.
First, housing abroad is not as cheap as we once thought, except perhaps for sub-prime property. Nor is the cost of living. And by the time these youngsters retire, costs would have soared even higher.
A change of weather? Yes, spring, summer and autumn are nice seasons, although in many countries early spring and late autumn are as chilly as winter. Winters can be so severe that old joints ache, parched lips crack and aged minds go into depression.
The last is the result of a phenomenon known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This is believed to be caused by the deprivation of sunlight during the short winter days.
I was a sufferer when I lived in Vancouver for 10 years. Some are afflicted year after year and may need exposure to artificial sunlight. Some feel suicidal.
When one has reached retirement age, making new friends is not going to be easy. Set in their ways, they cannot discard their idiosyncrasies accumulated over so many years on earth.
Idiosyncrasies and new friendships don't mix. Don't believe that everyone ages gracefully. Many are cantankerous, irascible, suspicious and anti-social.At a time when you most need the sight of the familiar faces of family and friends, you'll find yourself among virtual strangers - living in a strange land and feeling like a second-class citizen.
I know of friends who migrated to the West years ago after renouncing their Singapore citizenship, only to regret this after a few years.
Immigration: Many countries in the west and in Australia today prefer young, qualified immigrants, not oldies with money.
So the picture is not as rosy as the young imagine. Let's hope they wise up.
- The writer is a seasoned journalist with decades of experience in various newsrooms. His enduring columns have been compiled in a new book, Fridays with Philip, and it is available at Borders, Kinokuniya, MPH, Times the Bookshop and Harris.
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The Sunday Times
31 Aug 2008
THE EX-PAT FILES
Message from the dark sideBy Linda Collins
Sometimes, you can tire of Singapore.
An expat starts to view his old life back home through rose-tinted glasses. He hankers for the familiarity of kith and kin. Or some Singaporeans might think the grass is greener.
Yet, leaving can be a mistake. I ought to know - I am one of those who succumbed to this feeling.
It was post 9/11, a time when Westerners felt vulnerable and unsettled. I lasted only eight months back home in New Zealand. Luckily, I was able to return to Singapore.
The weeks before my ill-fated departure were focused, not on what my new life would be like, but on buying things for it. The spending frenzy included: linen sheets (from Chinatown), value-for- money furniture from Ikea (the Swedish firm isn't there yet), and a claypot from a mini-mart.
But for my Filipino maid, homeward-bound preparations were somewhat different. One day, I found her carving a hole in a pair of wedge-heeled shoes. She comes from the strife-torn southern island of Mindanao, and explained that it is common for mini-vans to be held up by gun-toting bandits. She was planning to hide jewellery and cash in her shoes.
I thanked my lucky stars that it was unlikely anyone would shove a Kalashnikov in my face and demand money back home.
However, while that did not happen, returning to my home city of Auckland was a shock.
Within days of moving into rented landed property in an upmarket area, I received a phone call from a cop asking if I was Linda Collins. 'Yes,' I replied, puzzled. He said thieves were going on a spending spree with a credit card in my name. Copious purchases of jewellery and watches had triggered a credit alert at the bank. Turned out that my bank had posted me new cards - which had been intercepted either by a 'bent' postal worker, or by someone keeping a watch on my mailbox.
It was creepy to think of a crook staking out my home.
But that was nothing. It was the nights I came to dread. The real estate in the area may have been worth multi-millions, but the city fathers stinted on basic services like street lighting. At night, parts of the road were pitch black.
Outsiders would come over under cover of darkness, prowling around for houses and cars to break into.
As I lay in bed late at night, I could hear the guffaws and calls of teenage guys - no doubt high on drugs - as they made their way down the street, setting off car alarms. Their scampering footsteps resounded on the nearby public footpath and even past my window - they seemed to regard my backyard, in fact all yards, as handy shortcuts.
It was futile to call the police, who were usually too busy with boozy brawls and knife attacks. Problems involving just property came further down the list of their priorities. Still, I'd sometimes hear the whump-whump of a police helicopter - copper chopper, as locals called it - on night patrol, and be dazzled by its spotlight shining on our houses.
What I really came to dread, what had me awake at night with a lump of terror in my throat, was hoodlums banging on the doors and windows of the house. I would pray that the locks held.
Singapore is a haven of safety in comparison. We moved back, even managing to rent the same unit as previously. And we tracked down our same maid, who agreed to return to us.
The decision nearly killed her, though.
She had to pick up her flight ticket at Davao International Airport a week before travel. Fifteen minutes after getting her ticket, she was leaving in a mini-van when a bomb blast ripped through the airport. At least 15 people were killed.
We heard news of the blast in Singapore and were in agony before her relatives were able to tell us she was unharmed.
Six years later, we are still in the same part of Singapore, with the same maid.
In Mindanao, government soldiers battle the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Artillery rounds are crashing into the hills directly above our maid's town as I write this. Thousands of people have been displaced.
In New Zealand, our worry now is not crime, but the effects of Mother Nature on a rural holiday cottage we own. Severe winter storms this year caused coastal erosion, and part of a main access route to it has fallen into the sea.
In Singapore, my thoughts are on the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. The neighbourhood holds a lantern-making contest for kids. Have I kept aside enough egg cartons for my daughter?
Ah, the luxury of small concerns such as this.
The writer is a copy editor with The Straits Times and has been living in Singapore for 15 years.
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