Is Singapore a good place to retire to?

This is a question, and my answer for non-Singapore citizens (or residents) considering retiring to Singapore.

The short answer is: No.

The conditional answer is: No. Not unless you have some ties - emotional, historical, financial - with Singapore.

The slightly longer answer is: Singapore is.a 'working' country. Without a steady stream of income to finance your retirement here, you would quickly run out of cash to live here.

Singapore is like a fast-paced urban society like New York City - housing/accommodation is expensive, as is the cost of living. One can live in New York City if one is working, and wages in New York City would be rather high and one can afford to live there. If one is working and earning an income. 

But if you are retired, one should move out of the city to the suburbs or even the rural areas, where your retirement funds will go further. Unfortunately, there are NO rural areas in Singapore. So some people have moved to Batam, or Johor.

That said, if you are incredibly wealthy, say a deca-millionaire, at least, you could make your retirement nest egg last for a while. 

I would estimate that a citizen with a home (fully paid up), and with modest needs, with savings of about half a million to a million (Singapore dollars), could retire in Singapore, with a monthly expenditure of about S$3500 to S$5000. 

That would be about S$50,000 a year, and S$500,000 would last about 10 years.