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by Strong Eagle » Tue, 11 Aug 2015 1:19 am
You have many financial elements to take into consideration before actually moving. First, you have been paying into social security for many years and certainly have enough quarters to qualify for benefits. You can live anywhere and collect benefits. However, if I can do the arithmetic, I guess you to be in your early to mid 50's, and that would mean more in SS benefits as your later earning years are usually the highest income. If you move to Singapore and cease paying into SS, which you must, unless employed by a US company, you will effectively set your monthly benefit in concrete.
With 40 quarters of FICA contributions you will also qualify for Medicare, and unlike social security, there are no medicare benefits available if you are living overseas. You'll have to provide for your own long term health insurance, and it's a bit of a double whammy in that you will not have been contributing very much, if anything, into your CPF for medical support in Singapore. It is true, however, that medical insurance that doesn't cover the USA, except for occasional trips back home, is substantially cheaper than in the USA.
My sense of Singapore is that it is not a good retirement destination unless you are very well off because the cost of living is only going to rise over time. You are in IT, and my sense is that as MNC's increasingly globalize their ICT operations, the high level IT skills won't be found in Singapore because most company HQ's are not in Singapore.
There are two other things to consider as well. First, you son will probably have to do NS. Both your son and daughter, when they reach 21, or when they move out, will have to be able to maintain PR through their own employment, etc.