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Americans are retiring to Vietnam

latimes.com

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Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#61

Post by shantly »

labster wrote: post #27
starpilot wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that price is similar for places you can find in the rural midwest US.

Yeah, but then you’d have to live in the rural midwest US rather than a beach city. The rural life just isn’t for some people. Also, old people like to retire to warmer places so they don’t feel cold all the time.

They also want to be able to afford housekeepers, gardeners, and cooks at a rate so low they can afford to have all three and still come out cheaper than having one of those in the US.

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#62

Post by fxtentacle »

That guy must have been incredibly lucky with the timing.

When I researched housing prices in the nice areas of Saigon in 2018, 50 square meter 1 bedroom apartments were sold at $300,000+. And "sold" here means you rent it perpetually from the development company to circumvent that 50-year land ownership limit. But that can put you at risk in case said company folds.

Oh and I've also heard a lot of stories about Vietnamese women becoming rather disenchanted of hip cool American backpackers, the latter of which presumably read articles like this and decided to try their luck. The backpacker area of Saigon is considered more like a slum that you try to avoid at night.

One other thing that the article dangerously omits is the fact that food hygiene and/or safety testing is still pretty much non-existent even in the richest parts of Vietnam. If you're old, a bad food poisoning could well kill you. And in Vietnam, you'll probably have one per year. That said, food is super tasty and impossibly cheap.

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#63

Post by underpand »

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #31
bane wrote: post #29

Something many people (especially Americans) forget to consider when selecting a place to retire is the almost guaranteed need for lots and lots of high quality medical care wherever you end up. I suspect many people here on HN will retire with large enough retirement savings (and other assets) to settle down like kings in many places in the world. But the distribution of high quality care for ahem people of advancin…

Based on my medical care in the USA I can assure you Asian doctors are, at the very least , at the same level as US doctors. It sounds like an insult to my ears.

Can you expand?

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#64

Post by ethbro »

chrisseaton wrote: post #30
colechristensen wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand this. Max out-of-pocket for insurance plans now is very reasonable. If you can afford a $250k house, you can afford the max out-of-pocket cost for many many years.

Don't you also have to pay the actual insurance premium as well? Before you even get to the out-of-pocket costs? I have friends in the US who pay thousands a month for health insurance premiums.

At 65 you're eligible for single-payer, government-supported Medicare.

I'm not old enough to be keeping an eye on the numbers, but it looks like ~$450 / month for hospital (free) + doctor (subsidized) + prescription (pay).

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#65

Post by Rebelgecko »

wavefunction wrote: post #43
colechristensen wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand this. Max out-of-pocket for insurance plans now is very reasonable. If you can afford a $250k house, you can afford the max out-of-pocket cost for many many years.

I am just about to sell my father's $320,000 house so I can pay for his nursing home care. He sadly did not have the foresight to acquire long-term disability insurance or put his assets into a trust so we'll be paying out of pocket until his money runs out and he goes on Medicaid, which will still only cover 60% of his care. $320,000 / $8000+ a month (not including rising costs) means he has 3.25 years of care cover…

Is he not eligible for Medicare? I thought even the pricier Part C plans would be less than $8k for a whole year's worth of premiums + the out of pocket maximum

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#66

Post by nodemaker »

colechristensen wrote: post #41
chrisseaton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you also have to pay the actual insurance premium as well? Before you even get to the out-of-pocket costs? I have friends in the US who pay thousands a month for health insurance premiums.

All except the smallest employers are required by law to provide health insurance to full-time employees and may have employees contribute up to only 10% of their household income. I did some random shopping for a typical family of 5 and found a max rate of ~$1600/mo for insurance premiums. You would only pay this if you were self-employed, part-time employed at a pretty shitty job, or unemployed and run out of the v…

I find the idea that employers should have anything to do with healthcare quite revolting. Healthcare should be a deal between you and the government for which you should pay taxes. This and some other reasons are why I cannot fathom living in the US under 250K a year.

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#67

Post by fxtentacle »

axaxs wrote: post #26
starpilot wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that price is similar for places you can find in the rural midwest US.

Yeah, but you can't find an 18 year old woman to marry you as a modern day indentured servant in the midwest. Ninety percent or so of the old white men I encountered in SEA had his arm around some poor childlike girl.

While that is a horrible thing to say, I wouldn't disagree. I also saw some rather worrying couples when I was living in Saigon.

That said, some Asian women also just look young even at a surprisingly high age. I recently had Germans mistake my Asian mother in law to be my younger sister.

But sure, it is a big plus that in Saigon the $2k in retirement money pay not only for one person, but for an entire family. So if you're old and lonely, that might be a very attractive reason to go.

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#68

Post by pixelperfect »

fxtentacle wrote: post #62

That guy must have been incredibly lucky with the timing. When I researched housing prices in the nice areas of Saigon in 2018, 50 square meter 1 bedroom apartments were sold at $300,000+. And "sold" here means you rent it perpetually from the development company to circumvent that 50-year land ownership limit. But that can put you at risk in case said company folds. Oh and I've also heard a lot of stories about Viet…

Is there a big disconnect between buy and rent prices? My brother was living in a nice area for a few hundred dollars per month just a few years ago.

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#69

Post by vntx »

teamwork007 wrote: post #37

One piece of information the article doesn't acknowledge is that property rights in Vietnam aren't the same as they are in the US. So if a foreigner "buys" an apartment in Vietnam, they can only have it for up to 50 years. In other words, it's an asset that is steadily decreasing in value, and not one that the "owner" can necessarily hand down to the next generation at a higher or the same value unless changes are ma…

Right.

Vietnam still is a communist country in that respect.

The government still owns all the land and is legally leasing it to its citizens and foreigners. In reality, now that Vietnam is increasingly open to the world economy the government has to treat property rights better or else it'll scare foreign investment away.

The lack of private property rights and the Vietnam's Communist Party stranglehold on the economy with their state owned enterprises is a huge drag on productivity and innovation.

Fortunately, it seems like things are improving.

Re: Americans are retiring to Vietnam

#70

Post by axaxs »

fxtentacle wrote: post #67
axaxs wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but you can't find an 18 year old woman to marry you as a modern day indentured servant in the midwest. Ninety percent or so of the old white men I encountered in SEA had his arm around some poor childlike girl.

While that is a horrible thing to say, I wouldn't disagree. I also saw some rather worrying couples when I was living in Saigon. That said, some Asian women also just look young even at a surprisingly high age. I recently had Germans mistake my Asian mother in law to be my younger sister. But sure, it is a big plus that in Saigon the $2k in retirement money pay not only for one person, but for an entire family. So if…

Absolutely, but I hope my comment was not taken as an endorsement by any means. I don't think most folks know how rampant it is. It was something I had read about and knew existed, but seeing it in person is eye opening. I know it's not my business and I shouldn't care, logically, but it makes me disgusted in some way every time.
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