Lifers...how do you plan to retire?

It's not a fee to enter the country. Americans that choose to live and work abroad for 12+ months have the option to declare themselves non-resident. Maintaining resident status while working abroad has tax implications. So, many people give up their residency status (nothing to do with citizenship). American citizens are free to enter and leave the country as they please with or without residency status. But once you have given up residency status there is a fee to regain it. Changes to residency status are optional. However, if an American citizen is living and working in the US it makes life much easier to regain the residency status. Simple things like access to new bank accounts, health insurance, etc require this status.

While I don't know all of the details of this person's situation, there seems to be a lot of misinformation here.  If you are a citizen of the US, you cannot give up your residency status to avoid being subject to US taxation.  US citizens and residents are taxed on their worldwide income and therefore required to file a tax return every year to report their worldwide income.  It does not matter how long you have lived abroad, or where you are considered a resident abroad, as long as you maintain your US citizenship, you will be taxed on your worldwide income.  You can of course, apply the foreign tax credit or the foreign earned income exclusion to mitigate double taxation.  As a green card holder or non-citizen, you may be able to give up your permanent residency in order to avoid taxes in the US, but as a citizen, you would not have that right unless you gave up citizenship.  As to re-establishing your residency in the case you gave up your permanent residency, I can imagine that the fee would be around 5,000 USD, because you would be reapplying for permanent residency.  As a US citizen, this would not be required, and giving up citizenship would probably not be advised if you were planning on moving back to the US in the future.   If you are a citizen, I am not sure who is charging you this fee to "establish residency," but I would consult a CPA before paying anything.  Also, as a US citizen you cannot file a nonresident tax return in order to mitigate US taxation.
 In order to file a nonresident tax return, you would have to expatriate (give up your US citizenship). 

Additionally, the South Korea-US tax treaty also allows for Americans to avoid Korean taxation for 2 years if teaching English at a public school in Korea, but technically they can not avoid US taxation.  An individual still needs to file a US tax return and declare their foreign income, although they would most likely qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, eliminating any taxes owed to the IRS unless they make over approximately 100,000 USD.

Trudeau may be a hack.  But I thought the CPP was independantly managed and at arms length from his free spending government.  The CPP was in fine shape, though if it starts making bad investments or the amount paid out is raised without extra premiums or investments to pay for it, that could be.  However, the Old Age Pension (OAP) which is not a contribution pension could be reduced if Canada experiences a debt crises 10 to 15 years from now.  Perhaps the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) with prescription drug coverage, which is attached to OAP could be vulnerable too.   

But, the CPP, which is individually contributed to, would probably be fine, even with an incompetent free spending borrowing PM.  My guess is the OAP and GIS would get cut back or reduced if not eliminated completely.  So, we will all get something.  No politician would gut it entirely.  They would have to cut other things in the future though to make up for all the free wheeling spending today. 

This said, it may be better for me to get Korean Pension too.  The public would revolt against their political leaders here if they tried to get rid of it.  That said, we will need to work longer or get some other income or investments to add onto these.

Canada is on the brink of a revolt. Alberta and Saskatchewan have separatist parties that are gaining popularity. If either province has a referendum on leaving it honestly could pass.

The USA is getting close as well but the two party system is holding it together somewhat.

While I don't know all of the details of this person's situation, there seems to be a lot of misinformation here.  If you are a citizen of the US, you cannot give up your residency status to avoid being subject to US taxation.  US citizens and residents are taxed on their worldwide income and therefore required to file a tax return every year to report their worldwide income.  It does not matter how long you have lived abroad, or where you are considered a resident abroad, as long as you maintain your US citizenship, you will be taxed on your worldwide income.  You can of course, apply the foreign tax credit or the foreign earned income exclusion to mitigate double taxation.  As a green card holder or non-citizen, you may be able to give up your permanent residency in order to avoid taxes in the US, but as a citizen, you would not have that right unless you gave up citizenship.  As to re-establishing your residency in the case you gave up your permanent residency, I can imagine that the fee would be around 5,000 USD, because you would be reapplying for permanent residency.  As a US citizen, this would not be required, and giving up citizenship would probably not be advised if you were planning on moving back to the US in the future.   If you are a citizen, I am not sure who is charging you this fee to "establish residency," but I would consult a CPA before paying anything.  Also, as a US citizen you cannot file a nonresident tax return in order to mitigate US taxation.
 In order to file a nonresident tax return, you would have to expatriate (give up your US citizenship). 

Additionally, the South Korea-US tax treaty also allows for Americans to avoid Korean taxation for 2 years if teaching English at a public school in Korea, but technically they can not avoid US taxation.  An individual still needs to file a US tax return and declare their foreign income, although they would most likely qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, eliminating any taxes owed to the IRS unless they make over approximately 100,000 USD.

Canada is on the brink of a revolt. Alberta and Saskatchewan have separatist parties that are gaining popularity. If either province has a referendum on leaving it honestly could pass.

There is absolutely no way a separatist party would win in Saskatchewan, or Alberta, today. Remember like 80% of people live in urban areas, and there is no way a separatist party would  get more than maybe 10% in metro Calgary, or Edmonton, voting to separate.

I went to university in Alberta.

Albertans love Texas.

For those who have gone the investment route, did you invest in Korea or your home country?
I've been looking to start investing myself - however, all the investment companies, and even banks, within NZ need me to be in NZ or planning to relocate back to NZ in the very near future before they will let me invest. :o

Get a NZ bank account and invest through it.

Canada is on the brink of a revolt. Alberta and Saskatchewan have separatist parties that are gaining popularity. If either province has a referendum on leaving it honestly could pass.

The USA is getting close as well but the two party system is holding it together somewhat.

I have a cousin living in Alberta.  I think he joined the separatist party the day after the Federal election.

Korea is a great for retirement in that here, unlike in the Anglosphere, the older you get the more you’re respected. Plus functional healthcare. Safe. Healthy food. Saw a report that Korea is projected to become the highest life expectancy in the world. Just in general, once you have money Korea works for you, all becomes possible!

I'm asking about finances. How do you plan to live a comfortable lifestyle when you either choose to not, or cannot, work anymore.

Same as anywhere else. First buy an apartment, ours has appreciated almost 100% since 2017. Pay off any mortgage. Then you need 1B won in financial investments that pay 5%, so 50M per year living expenses (or less if you can supplement this with social security payments, or don’t mind digging into your lump sum).

Also everyone should be preparing for WWIII and the collapse of the American Empire. Yes, this is clearly happening and when the crazy monetary policy of the West implodes, many of our assets are going to return to their real price, which is MUCH LOWER than current prices. A lot of wealth is going to evaporate (personally I don’t trust my apartment price, or any American stock valuations). Best to be conservative and prepare for the worst.

“The average selling price for an apartment in Seoul exceeded 1 billion won.”

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2020/09/28/business/economy/apartment-price-jeonse-Hong-Namki/20200928180300534.html

1.03 billion is average; less than that is below average?!

Mind blown 

How many of us are gonna spend a billion won on an apartment?

Most English teachers live in below average apartments- small, noisy, and sometimes / oftentimes moldy. Maybe bugs inside, too.

Most English teachers live in below average apartments- small, noisy, and sometimes / oftentimes moldy. Maybe bugs inside, too.

“The average selling price for an apartment in Seoul exceeded 1 billion won.”

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2020/09/28/business/economy/apartment-price-jeonse-Hong-Namki/20200928180300534.html

1.03 billion is average; less than that is below average?!

Mind blown 

How many of us are gonna spend a billion won on an apartment?

That article is from 5 months ago. That figure must be higher by now. However, ''average'' is a not a great tool to measure things. The most expensive places pull up that figure a lot. Just like with average salaries. You will find that the majority of people make below average and many make significantly less.
Also, this figure only includes apartments in the Korean interpretation of the word. So it doesn't include other, typically cheaper forms of housing like villas and 3 storied houses. Moreover, this is the price of a particular size, not all apartments.

There are also plenty of significantly cheaper areas outside Seoul, but still close enough.

Moreover, this is the price of a particular size, not all apartments.

Where are you getting that? Nowhere in the article does it say that.

The article said average apartment price in Seoul:
2017: 0.6 billion
2018: 0.7 billion
2019: 0.8 billion
2020 March: 0.9 billion
2020 September: 1 billion

Prices are goin’ up!

Rereading the article I can see how it could have been referring to apartments of a specific size, that is, average size. Still, the point remains- spend less than a boatload of money on an apartment in Seoul and it’ll be way below average- smaller, dirtier, moldier, and noisier.

Also, the above poster is correct that housing outside of Seoul is cheaper... but in rural areas there are fewer big money making opportunities. Less people speak English. Hospital quality is lower there. Etc.

Also, the above poster is correct that housing outside of Seoul is cheaper... but in rural areas there are fewer big money making opportunities. Less people speak English. Hospital quality is lower there. Etc.

I meant places like Anyang, Suwon, Bucheon etc. I wouldn't call them rural.

”average'' is a not a great tool to measure things. The most expensive places pull up that figure a lot. Just like with average salaries.

Yeah, not really. People like to say that to themselves and others because admitting to being below average would be too painful. It’s a coping mechanism.

Article from a year ago:

“the median price of Seoul apartments reached 912.2 million won”

https://www.google.com/amp/m.koreaherald.com/amp/view.php%3fud=20200130000643

“The median price has nearly doubled in the past decade“
_____
Average and median, pretty much the same.

For an outlier - massive house much bigger that others - to pull up average prices significantly, there’d have to be A LOT of them. But there aren’t. So they’re not swaying prices in huge way. Rather, housing prices in general in Korea are going way up. (So are salaries across the board. Except for English teachers.)

For an outlier - massive house much bigger that others - to pull up average prices significantly, there’d have to be A LOT of them. But there aren’t. So they’re not swaying prices in huge way. Rather, housing prices in general in Korea are going way up. (So are salaries across the board. Except for English teachers.)

Indeed they are going up, I'm not arguing with that.
My point is, there are still some affordable areas even within Seoul. They are less desired by most, hence they are cheaper. Although I would argue with your statement that they are dirtier or noisier or lesser quality. They are built with the same technology. The location makes all the difference.

You don't need to have a lot of expensive houses to pull up the average. Say they average is near 1 million dollars. It doesn't really start at 0 because even the cheapest one will be a couple hundred thousand dollars. So there is only so much the cheapest apartments can affect the average. On the other hand, there are plenty of apartments in the 2 million dollar+ range. And there are many more expensive ones. If there is one that's worth 4 million, you will need 9 other ones worth 650k to bring the average down to a million. So yes, the crazy expensive ones do a lot of pulling.

I know f all about investing but do people usually decide what country they want to invest in? I just give my money to a company and they decide what to invest in. Some of the stocks are in China, some India etc. I don't really pay attention as long as it's going up

Wow!  Good luck with that.  If you can trust the Chinese numbers.  When it crashes on a corruption pile and your money is gone.  Time to get a bit more educated boy!