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<\/p>\nRay Merlehan and his wife are thinking about moving to Malaysia, Spain or Greece when they retire.<\/p>\n
Financially, it may be a better option for the couple than staying in Australia.<\/p>\n
“I feel a little bit disappointed,” Mr Merlehan said.<\/p>\n
“I never believed that our country would become as expensive as it has.”<\/p>\n
The 64-year-old said he would need to keep working until he was 70.<\/p>\n
He has a modest superannuation balance, which he will use to pay off his mortgage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Each country will have its own visa requirements and rules around how long you can stay without residency. (ABC News: Patrick Williams)<\/p>\n
With the high cost of insurance and utilities, Mr Merlehan believes his future in Australia is bleak.<\/p>\n
The couple is considering selling and buying a modest house overseas for a “comfortable retirement”.<\/p>\n
Pensioner finds cheaper life in Thailand after rent squeeze<\/a><\/p>\n Peter Stevenson says moving to Thailand has allowed him to live more comfortably on his Australian Age Pension after struggling to cover rent and essentials in regional Victoria.<\/p>\n A “golden visa” program in Greece, for example, offers residency in exchange for investments, primarily in real estate.<\/p>\n “They’ve got regional towns that are struggling to survive, where the government of Greece has offered golden visas to people who bring at least $250,000-plus into the country,” Mr Merlehan said.<\/p>\n But there are drawbacks to an overseas retirement.<\/p>\n Mr Merlehan and his wife are worried about moving away from their family.<\/p>\n They also have concerns about accessing health care overseas.<\/p>\n Access to healthcare, visa requirements and financial considerations vary between countries and should be carefully researched. (Reuters: Cathal McNaughton)<\/p>\n ‘See how you feel after the holiday excitement wears off’<\/p>\n Australian Mark Rooney lives in Cambodia.<\/p>\n He said moving to South-East Asia could reduce costs “massively”.<\/p>\n Mark Rooney says people should consider how they’d manage if something goes wrong in a foreign country. (Supplied: Unsplash<\/a>\/Vanna Phon<\/a>)<\/p>\n Mr Rooney said eating local food in Cambodia cost a maximum of about $15 a day, transport was cheap, and beer could cost as little as 90 cents.<\/p>\n He said it was not just about living more cheaply; many people were retiring overseas for reasons including warmer weather, a sense of community and a slower pace.<\/p>\n “I would not describe it as a simple trend of people leaving Australia,” Mr Rooney said.<\/p>\n “I would describe it more as Australians becoming more open-minded about how retirement can look.”<\/p>\n His advice is not to confuse a holiday with living somewhere.<\/p>\n “You need to understand the weather, health care, visas, banking, transport, language, internet, community, food, safety and how you would manage if something went wrong,” he said.<\/p>\n That could mean a try-before-you-buy approach.<\/p>\n Mr Rooney advised people to “stay outside the main tourist strips. Try and use local services”.<\/p>\n “See how you feel after the holiday excitement wears off,” he said.<\/p>\n He also recommended integrating into communities.<\/p>\n “You are not just buying a cheaper lifestyle. You are entering someone else’s culture, community and way of life.” Some countries have barriers to what foreigners can do with property. (Supplied: Flickr\/Dirk Werdelmann)<\/p>\n Health care overseas<\/p>\n Mr Rooney said one of the biggest mistakes people made when retiring overseas was not having serious medical cover.<\/p>\n The federal government’s Smart Traveller website<\/a> provides general advice on retiring overseas.<\/p>\n Healthcare standards in some countries may not be the same as in Australia.<\/p>\n And the cost of health care could be higher.<\/p>\n Is retirement all it’s cracked up to be?<\/a><\/p>\n While time is retirement’s great gift, it can become a curse, writes Matt Eaton.<\/p>\n Medicare does not pay for medical treatment overseas, nor do Australian private healthcare providers.<\/p>\n Australia has reciprocal healthcare agreements with some countries, including New Zealand, Italy and the UK, but co-payments may be required.<\/p>\n Medical repatriation can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n International health insurance may cover some health care and the cost of repatriation to Australia.<\/p>\n But it can be costly and may not cover pre-existing conditions.<\/p>\n Australians living overseas can access Medicare for treatment in Australia for up to five years after moving overseas.<\/p>\n Can I still access my age pension or superannuation overseas?<\/p>\n You can still get the age pension living overseas, but there are rules<\/a> around it.<\/p>\n And it may be less than what you receive in Australia.<\/p>\n You should get expert financial advice before making arrangements to move overseas. (ABC News: Claire Moodie)<\/p>\n The pension supplement will drop to a basic rate, and the energy supplement and rent assistance will stop.<\/p>\n The pensioner concession card will be cancelled.<\/p>\n Glen James. (Supplied: Glen James)<\/p>\n Superannuation income and lump-sum payments may have tax concessions in Australia, but could be taxed in other countries.<\/p>\n Glen James hosts a podcast on retirement and said he frequently received questions about the financial implications of moving overseas, particularly in drawing on superannuation funds.<\/p>\n “If you are looking at a particular country, you really want to make sure that it’s not going to be a hindrance,” he said.<\/p>\n It is recommended that retirees seek expert financial advice.<\/p>\n Retirement visas generally require proof that you can support yourself financially. (Supplied: Unsplash<\/a>\/Mariana Jordan G\u00e4rtner<\/a>)<\/p>\n Visa requirementsPensioner living in car while on social housing waitlist feels ‘invisible’<\/a><\/p>\n Despite upcoming changes from the WA government to overhaul the housing waitlist, a 68-year-old living in his car says he has lost faith in the system as an advocate calls for faster action.<\/p>\n Each country has its own visa requirements and rules on how long you can stay without residency.<\/p>\n “It is one of the areas of financial advice that is unique to the country you are going to; how long you will be there, how you are drawing an income,” Mr James said.<\/p>\n Retirement visas generally require proof that you can support yourself financially.<\/p>\n Thailand, for example, offers a retirement visa that requires about $35,000 in a bank account or a monthly income of about $2,800.<\/p>\n It must be renewed each year, or Australians who enter with higher incomes can obtain a 10-year visa.<\/p>\n A police check or medical certificate may be needed in some countries.<\/p>\n And some countries require visa applicants to have health insurance.<\/p>\n Visa conditions and costs can change.<\/p>\n “Some countries \u2026 might be a little more robust in how they treat people who overstay visas, compared to how things happen in Australia,” chief executive of National Seniors Australia, Chris Grice, said.<\/p>\n Dying overseas<\/p>\n It’s a morbid thought, but retirees who move overseas should make provisions in case they die.<\/p>\n You should have all your affairs in order in case you die overseas. (Supplied: Unsplash<\/a>\/Pourya Gohari<\/a>)<\/p>\n Repatriation of remains to Australia can be complicated and costly.<\/p>\n Different countries have different laws around estate management if you have bought assets or property overseas.<\/p>\n It’s advised that you review your will and get legal advice before making significant purchases overseas.<\/p>\n And it is important to have up-to-date identification documents, should authorities need to contact your next of kin.<\/p>\n Being away from family and friends and other support is one of the big drawbacks of retiring overseas, especially during emergencies.<\/p>\n Mr Grice said it could be difficult to re-establish friendships and a sense of community in a foreign country, particularly when language barriers were present.<\/p>\n “It’s understandable that older Australians are certainly considering it [overseas retirement], but it is something that you need to go into with open eyes,” he said.<\/p>\n “Consider all of the aspects, not just ‘Oh, I can save a little bit of money on my rent’, or ‘I can save some money on meals’.<\/p>\n “It’s these other considerations that you have to take into account.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ray Merlehan and his wife are thinking about moving to Malaysia, Spain or Greece when they retire. Financially,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5806,45,49,48,267195,133,3057,54676,9611,131,132,1705,14818,3592],"class_list":["post-745980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-asia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-emigrate","tag-finance","tag-greece","tag-overseas","tag-pension","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-retirement","tag-superannuation","tag-thailand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Brightly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/210adc85aec3cf2f1f6c8bf82d0eba81.jpeg\")
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