My Thoughts On Geo FIRE

Just recently, the thought of Geo FIRE came to mind. I asked myself, “What if I move to a cheaper country to retire in?”

By moving to a cheaper country, I can live the same lifestyle on significantly less, which means I’ll need fewer investments, meaning I can retire sooner.

Or I can live a much more luxurious lifestyle on the same expense here in Australia, especially in places in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand.

Those destinations have become more popular amongst Westerners over the last 10 years, especially with the rise of digital nomads and WFH employees.

I just read an interesting article from International Living, which mentioned that you can live comfortably in a 3-4 bedroom apartment beachside in Penang, Malaysia, for $ 2,500 USD per month for a couple.

$2.5k USD is the equivalent of $3864.94 AUD as 28th of August 2025.

For a single person, that’s around $1.9k per month, or $23k per year.

And reading a few articles and asking a few friends who’ve done this themselves, you can even live on less than $20k per year if you rent a cheaper apartment, and don’t spend as much on eating out.

I gotta say, the idea of living on $23k per year very comfortably sounds very enticing, and I want to at the very least “trial” living in one of those cheap SEA countries after I reach my full FIRE number.

For example, I found this apartment for 1500 RM = $547.94/month

$547.94/month for a 3-bedroom apartment! That’s so incredibly cheap!

Compare that to Sydney, or even Perth, where a 3-bedroom apartment itself will probably cost anywhere from $3,000 to $ 5,000 per month.

That sounds like a dream!

If I need 2-2.5x less than my original FIRE number goal, then I’ll shave a couple of years off my retirement.

Whilst I don’t fully plan on completely moving out of Australia, I’m very open-minded to try this Geo FIRE thing, where I trial it for 6-12 months, see how it goes and go from there.

The only downsides I can think of are that I’ll be away from family and the humidity in Southeast Asian countries is dreadful to say the least.

But hey, I can’t have everything, can I? And if I can live a luxurious lifestyle for $20-$25k, then I’ll take that any day of the week.

It got me thinking what the average inflation rate has been in Malaysia for example long-term, and especially the last few years.

Since 2017, inflation rate has been very low, with the highest inflation rate only reaching 3.9% during that time, which is a lot lower compared to Australia.

Overall, I’m actually super on board with the idea of living abroad in cheaper countries. After all, there are so many options when you reach FIRE, and it’s not set in stone that I must live in Australia.

Instead of complaining about the inflation rate, I can just as easily move to a different country. Now, don’t get it twisted. Australia will still and always be my forever home, but it just recently came to mind that I also want to travel to different countries when I reach FIRE.

Do I see myself doing Geo FIRE long-term?

Honestly, I don’t know what the future holds, and I can easily see myself changing my mind.

But if I were to give an honest answer, I don’t see myself doing this for the rest of my life, but I’d 100% be on board with trialling it for 1 year and seeing how it goes.

Worst case scenario, I enjoy a nice time in a new country, and I can easily come home to Australia anytime, so I got nothing to lose really. The worst that can happen is me not trying and living to regret not travelling to different places.

I would love to travel to different places around the world ONCE I reach FIRE. For now, I’m okay putting off my travel plans, but once I reach FIRE, then I plan to travel more in the future.

And as for if you’re deciding whether to Geo FIRE, just trial it for 6-12 months after you reach FIRE, then you can decide for yourself if it’s for you or not. I don’t know if it’ll be for me. I might end up loving it, or it might not suit me. Either way, the beauty of FIRE is about having options, and that’s something nobody can take away.