Going to China to retire?

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1

I reside in USA and is an American citizen, but I always wanted to return to my roots and retire in China. I was born in China, immigrated to US during middle school. I never felt like I fit in the American society, and dreamt of returning to China. This idea further cemented when I visited China this year, first time in 10 years. The change to the country was breath taking. The cities are so clean and modern, with very well developed public transportation system. I remembered the feeling that was lost for too long, the feeling of being part of a large family, the smell coming out of street food stalls, and the noise of the bustling night life.

I noticed the big difference in the cost of transportation and foods. I was there for a month and was having the time of my life, but I only spent less than 3000 USD. That was living in hotels, dining out, purchasing high speed rail tickets, etc. If I were to just live in a tier 3 city renting a house, and do a few trips each year, I think 15k USD is enough.

I have wanted to retire early in the US, but I will need around 2 million USD using the 4% rule. Comparing to retiring early or semi retire in China, I would only need a nest egg of 375k USD at a minimum. Meaning I can retire at least two decades earlier.

Here comes the plan:

I have the 10 year Q2 visa that grants me 120 days in China, with unlimited entry. I have read that you can do visa runs to Hong Kong, which I plan to do if I were to stay in China for the long term. My estimate of 15k USD roughly equal to 100-110k CNY. I have lots of relatives in China, and I can just live with them and pay them 2000 yuan a month for rent. That leaves around 80k yuan left to dine out, clubs, gym, and tourism.

I am a Registered Nurse in US, so I don’t think I will be able to find a job in China. If money isn’t enough, I can come back to the US and work a travel nurse contract and make enough money to last me a year in China. Which will allow my nest egg to grow without tapping into it.

Long term goal is to marry a Chinese girl and settle down.

Please pick apart my plan or add some pointers! I would love to hear the feedback.

2

Did I get this right:

26 year old saved some $$$ in the US, hasn’t been back to China in 10 years until a vacation this year where they noticed how clean the cities are now, and how well the public transportation works: so they want to retire there by entering on a Q2 visa where they need to leave and re-enter every 120 days, but wait; that’s not a problem because they will eventually “marry a Chinese girl”.
Well, okay then.

This must be the weekend and chinalife Reddit…check.

Edit:
OP comment from two months ago;
“Overall, recommendation on touring the country for 1-2 months, I’d give it a 8/10.
On living for an extended amount of time, I’d give it a 5/10.”

3

Visiting as a tourist and living as a resident are different experiences. China has changed a lot and is very diverse. Before making this decision, I recommend staying at different places in China for a month each to see which one you like better. Each place has their own character. A week may not be enough to get the complete feeling of living there.

4

Living with relatives long term is a very bad idea. If you cherish your relationship with your relatives get your own place.
I would also stay and make that $1M before moving. The idea is the longer you work the higher your pay, so overall you will end up working less in a lifetime than if you work and pause and work and pause.

5

Everything was fine as a plan till I read that you want to marry a Chinese girl! That part is going to be the iceberg to your Titanic!

6

You may have trouble finding a partner who accepts that you are retired so early without being remarkably wealthy. As you said, it’s a very different country from what it was even 20 years ago, and people’s financial expectations are similarly different. Your yearly budget would barely cover a dowry in most Tier 3 cities, and you will almost certainly be expected to pay one.

Otherwise, I’ll just say that it’s a crazy plan, but crazy doesn’t always mean bad. If I were you, I’d do it for a year with the mindset that you’re trying it out before you burn all your bridges and tell everyone that you’re retiring to China.

7

I’ll offer a contrarian opinion.

Give it a try for a year.

You’re still young, 40 years away from when most people retire. A lot of guys your age are still spending their days chasing surf in Central America, or living in camper vans in the rockies, or just hanging out in mom’s basement playing video games. In the greater scheme of things, you taking off for a year to play retired peasant in rural China is no biggie. There will still be a nursing shortage in the US after a year and you will almost certainly be able to step back into a full time position or a lucrative travel nursing assignment, just with a little more perspective and life experience.

I do predict that after a few months the honeymoon phase will fade and you’ll realize that China isn’t the earthly paradise you imagined, especially when you have to count your pennies and you realize everyone is judging you for being an unemployed 26 year old with no apparent ambition. But if you don’t go you’ll always wonder what if. I expect it’s easy enough for you to imagine how dull and unfulfilling the next few years would be in the US if you just kept up your current lifestyle.

8

OP’s profile is very different from many in this sub. He lived most of his life in China. However if the goal is to find a wife and settle down, 1 million USD is probably enough in 2nd or 3rd tier cities. The problem is then what? He still needs to work to support himself and his family. Being a nurse does not pay much and working condition is pretty bad.

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Hi fellow Chinese American male nurse! I don’t have much to add to your topic of retiring in China but wanted to say hi since we are not common.

10

Living here and visiting are going to be very very different. I loved it when I moved here, now over 5 years later I’m looking forward to leaving. Can you read and write Chinese fluently? That will make a huge difference to your long term experience.

Regarding marrying a local, if you’re just bumming around living at families houses and travelling a lot, I think it would be very hard to find someone that you’d be well matched with. You should budget for renting a place at least, plus dates and stuff. Never mind if you struggle to find a girl who’s not traditional at all, in which case they’d expect you to buy a place in China or take her to the US and buy a place there. Then again if you’re this young and planning to retire already/have such savings I guess you’re pretty rich, so maybe not an issue.

As others mentioned you’re still young, what you want and need will change for sure.

I’d say as of now it’s a good plan to live a life of leisure for 2, 5, 10 years or whatever. But long term? I don’t think it sounds viable.

11

Uh… yeah no. Your plan makes no sense. Nobody retires at 26 unless you’re already a multi-millionaire. Your cost of living and visa situation can also change at any time in the future if a war breaks out. Keep working and stacking – revisit this idea in 10 years and you’ll be in a much better situation.

12

I love your idea and this is my goal too. The idea why to go back home is everyone looks similar and you will normally not be discriminated. in the country I’m in now you will be every time a foreigner even you have their citizenship.

My luck is we own a place in China so I calculated with less money than you.

13

You can get a green card by being of ethnic Chinese origin. Probably get that first to keep options open. I intend to “retire” in China in 40s (30s now) and have setup most of the infrastructure already.

However I do intend to keep my global infrastructure in place given things can turn on a dime here for good or for worse.

On retirement cash flow, you’ll need a nest inside China as well. Interest rates are so-so, like 1-2.5% for foreigners. If you get married you may have access to higher yields through your spouse.

Otherwise you’ll need to make bank runs, about 50K limit per year. But given your cost of living expectations this should be sufficient.

If this limit is a concern for buying a home - they do allow purchases through a FCY mortgage (e.g hsbc) to overcome this limit. You’ll be paying USD for a mortgage in China.

14

Jesus Mary and Joseph. If you’re asking a bunch of ESL teachers if this is a good plan, you need to reconsider who you take advice from.

Edit. Hang on… “Left in middle school”, “haven’t been back in ten years”.

I see. Wow.

15

don’t respect the opinions of commenters who don’t respect you. you’re not hurting anyone, yet they’re being rude af. ignore them.

my two cents is go try it out. if you don’t like it, no big deal, you can always come back. if you don’t already have the money saved, maybe go there for a while to see if it’s something you want to commit saving towards. you might be able to find a job and get a z visa while you’re there

16

I don’t know why everyone is being awful. Compared to the usual numskulls who post here (ill-qualified English teachers, broke white guys with yellow fever), you’re actually in a good spot.

You’re young, single / childless, skilled, Chinese-speaking, with Chinese family support. You hold a valid visa and have some savings. That sets you up well.

For those with 10-year, multiple-entry visas, runs to Hong Kong / Macau are easy and, frankly, fun. Border guards don’t bother Q2s so much, especially since you’re Putonghua speaking.

Also, you have backup plan. With an American passport and a needed skill, you can always go back to your nursing job.

Go see how it is for a year or so. I agree that – despite my many gripes with Chinese politics – the development of physical infrastrucuture is amazing. I remember even rich cities like Guangzhou looking like some developing country when I was a kid – with potholes and child beggars at the station – and it’s astounding how quickly that changed.

Edit: I don’t know specifically about nursing. But there are a small number of private clinics / hospitals in T1s with English care. While I don’t think you’re considering Hong Kong, there are English-speaking foreign nurses working there.

17

If you have a BSN, take a TEFL course and get a job as a teacher for a year. You’ll still be earning money and you’ll get an idea of normal life on the ground.

18

Your plan falls apart with the bit about your long term plan - marry a Chinese girl.

You will be expected to be a provider and you can not do that on 15K USD (110K RMB) per year. Most women will expect you to have income earning potential in the future. You will need to purchase a house 600K (minimum) to 2 Million RMB (a nice 3 bedroom in a tier2/3 city and a car (not some cheap brand - you will need an Audi or VW at least (150-300k). Don;t forget taking care of the parents in their old age and maybe even the grandparents. And you will expected to get some little ones yourself.

You will need to save enough money for medical costs, vacations, family emergencies, and your retirement and it looks like you will be blowing through your retirement. Not gonna normally fly with a Chinese girl and her family (there are exceptions of course) – I am just saying.

But you could probably live a modest lifestyle in a smaller city on your 120K per year unless you have to pay rent, of course. I spend about 6,000 per month on food, clothing, entertainment, transportation, gym, etc. This does not include travel on vacations or back home. I live in a big city so my rent is 7500 per month for a modern modest studio apartment (that’s 90K right there - in a smaller city I was paying 3-4K/month for a comfortable place.

Good luck!

19

I’m a foreigner married to a Chinese wife:
- Depending on where your Chinese girl/wife/fiancee is from, you’ll have to dish out money for the wedding, along with buying some kind of apartment + car + different gifts
- People will be curious ask you what you do and how much money you have, or have questions around why you’re not doing shit in China and just “retired”
- Even as a Q2 visa, you’ll have problems getting around and will be a constant foreigner, as seen by the government.

As a registered nurse in the US, you can probably still have a second career doing something else in China.

Just my 2 cents

20

China isn’t stable when it comes to visas and visa rules. A Chinese friend married a British guy. I think he’s about 65 now. They had a pretty nice and quiet life in Suzhou. He lived here on a marriage visa. Then, with zero explanation they wouldn’t give him another marriage resident visa. He and she went to the UK as they exhausted their attempts to get him a new visa. No luck. Last year I tried to get a two year marriage visa. They said no even though the two year visa for marriage is an option. Asked them why? They just said no. This year asked for a two year marriage visa. They said no. What reason we asked ? They just said no. Asked for a superior. Was busy. Didn’t want to talk to us. Asked again. He was busy. They would call us back. 3 days later they still hadn’t called back. Wife calls them. They say they have no answer. So they have my application. Passport. But they can’t give an answer. An outsider really can’t really retire here. And trust me. Going to HK every 3 months will get tiresome unless you live in Shenzhen.