World Top 10 Retirement Havens for 2009

The International Living magazine has produced a special report to introduce the World's Top 10 Retirement Havens for 2009.

Those selected are places that can offer us a lower cost of living and with a huge improvement in our quality of life.

Excerpt: "An overnight stay in a private hospital in Mexico for as little as $35...the world’s number one retiree program in Panama...the best value for you second home dollar in Uruguay...live in the lap of luxury on a pensioner’s budget in Ecuador...hire a maid for $120 per month and enjoy beautiful Caribbean beaches in Nicaragua...enjoy the convenience of speaking English and banking privacy in Belize...experience la pura vida in Costa Rica...discover why European expats have been flocking to Brazil...learn where to find the best health care system in the entire world—France...and finally, hear about la dolce vita (at affordable prices) in Italy. "

And the world's top 10 retirement havens for 2009 are:

• Ecuador - living large on little money
• Mexico - live right on the beach for pennies on the dollar
• Brazil - 5,000 miles of beaches, fantastic weather, stately colonial cities, and mountains with spring-fresh weather
• France - good food, good wine, haute couture, a good climate, unspoiled countryside, glittering culture, excellent health care, colorful traditions and history
• Panama - you will never find yourself bored
• Nicaragua - one of the most beautiful countries in the Americas
• Italy - beautiful sceneries and quality health services
• Costa Rica - tropical climate, modern cities, Caribbean beaches, Pacific coastline, rainforests, lush valleys, and mountains
• Uruguay - First-world infrastructure and Third-world prices
  
• Belize - living and doing business made easy

"Broaden your horizons and you can dramatically change the way you live—for the better. "

Click here to read the full report on World Top 10 Retirement Havens for 2009 and find out more about the beauty of those places.

The 2009 Quality of Life Index reveals best country to live in

Founded in 1979 by Bill Bonner, the International Living magazine is a monthly publication for subscribers detailing the best places in the world to live, retire, travel, and invest.

In order to reveal the world’s best places to live in 2009, they have ranked and rated 195 countries by benchmarking on the following considerations: cost of living, leisure & culture, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, risk & safety and climate.

For the fourth year running, France comes first in the index, and Switzerland comes in second place for the second year.

Click here to read the article from International Living and find out why France and Switzerland are chosen.

Among the ASEAN countries, Singapore ranked the 80th, Malaysia 90th, Brunei 113th, Thailand 134th, Philippines 136th, Vietnam 143th, Indonesia 145th, Cambodia 154th, Myanmar 162nd and Laos 178th.

The top 20 are:

• France
• Switzerland
• United States
• Luxembourg
• Australia
• Belgium
• Italy
• Germany
• New Zealand
• Denmark
• Malta
• Sweden
• Uruguay
• Lithuania
• Czech Republic
• Norway
• Austria
• Netherlands
• Canada
• United Kingdom

Click here for the complete 2009 Quality of Life Index with detail scoring info.

Result of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2009

In the latest Robert Walters' Global Salary Survey 2009, 3 new countries namely China, Switzerland and Thailand have been included from 2008 coverage in their download page.
Malaysian companies were found to be more cautious in their hiring strategy with slowdown in recruitment activity. This slowdown was particularly seen in the FMCG and manufacturing sectors while the telecommunications, IT and oil & gas sectors were less affected. It continues to be a favourite place for MNCs' business process outsourcing (BPO) particularly for accounting and finance sector. There is an increase demand for risk management professionals in financial services. High demand for technology services continues across the board, particularly in software development, system implementation, technology consulting, system administration, IT security and compliance.
Annual salary for permanent staff in some of the roles in Malaysia for the year of 2009 are found to be as follow:

• Accountant (3-5 years experience): RM42-66k
• Auditor (8 years experience): RM85k+
• Chief financial officer: RM250-460k+
• Finance director - large organisation: RM220-270k
• Finance director - small/medium organisation: RM180-240k
• CIO/CTO: RM320-380k+
• SAP consultant: RM100-120k
• Software development manager: RM95-110k
• IT security analyst: RM100-110k
• Software developer: RM55-65k
• Marketing director: RM240-300k
• Sales director: RM240-300k
• Product manager: RM90-96k
• Account manager: RM90-96k

In Singapore, skill shortages were found in the areas of cost accounting, internal audit, financial planning & analysis and taxing. The financial services sector is affected by the economy downturn and salaries are seen to be lesser than 2008 in general. In the engineering, human resources, IT, sales and marketing sectors, salaries are seen to be about the same as 2008. However, a slight increment were still seen in the salaries in legal & compliance sector.

The comprehensive report of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2009 covers the following regions:

• Australia
• Belgium
• China
• France
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Japan
• Luxembourg
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Thailand
• The Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• United States
  

Click here to go to the download page of the Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2009 report.
 
You might probably also be interested to read on:

• Result of ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark 2009
• JobsDB Compensation and Benefit Survey Report 2009
• Malaysia Employment Outlook & Salary Guide 2009/2010 from Kelly Services