He left the US and moved to Malaysia to retire a decade ago. Now, he lives in a $620-a-month apartment in the capital.

At 60, Andrew Taylor retired and left the US to move to Malaysia. Taylor, who used to do administrative work, started thinking about retirement when he was in his mid-fifties. However, the high cost of living in the US made it feel like a pipe dream. "I realized that I was probably not going to be …