I have been working in KL for nearly 4 years, after working in Penang for 14 years after my graduation. I think if I were to ask 10 different friends where would they prefer to retire, most would answer their hometowns. I used to also think the same, that Ipoh would be my most preferred city of retirement. These days, I would like to place Ipoh as one of those cities where I would spend at least 30 percent of my time after I retire. The remaining 60 – 70 percent? Well, at this particular moment I am thinking of these few places. Sandakan, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Langkawi and even ISKANDAR. Percentage wise, Sandakan has to be the number 2 place lah since it’s my wife’s hometown. It’s still a long way till my retirement. I believe I still have time to slowly get a small high-rise in these places that I would love to frequent and just relax and do nothing. Not now lah, I need to work hard from now till the day I retire. I still love my current role and all my awesome colleagues. 🙂
This brings me to a question an attendee asked me after my session during the recent ‘Property Outlook Forum 2017 by BLT’ He asked if he should buy in his hometown, Perlis first before buying in KL where he was working. I asked him for his main reason to buy in Perlis. He said he was worried that the prices would become way too high for him to buy in future when he goes back to retire there. I told him that I do not know anything about Perlis property market BUT I would personally retire in Ipoh and yet I have no plans to buy any property in Ipoh yet. My retirement is at least 18 years away. I would however buy in KL because it is growing very fast, in fact fastest in Malaysia as the capital city. My personal belief is that the property price will rise faster in KL compared to other smaller cities or towns. So, when we really do need to go back to our hometown, selling our KL property should enable us to still buy a property back in our hometown in future.
In essence, I did not answer his question. I merely shared with him what I am currently doing. By the way, he was still renting a place in KL because he did not know how long he would stay in KL. I encouraged him to get his own place and if needed,just rent out one or two of the rooms in the property that he would be buying. Let others help us to own our home. It’s more beneficial than helping the owner own his property from our rental payments. The question we should be more interested to ask ourselves is this. Are we ready to rent out the rooms. If the answer is not, then perhaps renting can still be a good option until you have really saved enough for a home you like instead of just any home. Happy buying for your retirement, wherever it may be.
written on 1 Jan 2017
Next suggested article: My little goals in life: Chill at hometowns, enjoy vacations more often
