Steve Mollman

If there was a better place to spend their retirement years, Harold and Mary Richards would have found it.The British retirees stepped back and surveyed the globe, drawing upon the years of living abroad that Mr. Richards's career in education had…

Facing age 40, Paul Luciw decided an extensive health checkup was in order. It was for more or less preventive maintenance, though, so his medical insurance wouldn't cover it. His local hospital in Hong Kong said it would cost the…

HIDEO MORITA SPENDS MUCH of his time in the air. The 53-year-old chief executive regularly flies around the globe doing business on behalf of Morita Co., a centuries-old, family-owned sake and condiment maker based in Nagoya. (Mr. Morita's late…

ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF ago I splurged $260 on a sleek new cellphone. The color screen was remarkably vivid. The speaker sound was crystal clear. But best of all, the phone was really, really small.Too small, it turns out. Riding in a taxi one night,…

FOR KAREN TOK, it's important to have a set of wheels handy. One day late last year, in a rush, she drove a car full of exhibition materials across town for an event. She kept the car at a nearby parking lot all day, but she paid no parking fees. At…

MR. SIM LEADS TWO LIVES. In one, the 30-something Singaporean is a market researcher living happily with his wife and a young son. In another life -- a secret life -- he's a stressed-out debtor. Unbeknown to his friends, acquaintances and even his…

WHATEVER HE'S BUYING, Rajesh Wilson usually has a strategy for how best to pay for it. Movie tickets? His OCBC Visa card gives him a 15% discount at theaters in Singapore, where he lives. Fine dining? His UOB Visa card gives him "incredible deals at…

Jordan Young, who lives in Hong Kong, doesn't always make wise personal-finance decisions. Like many of us, he often chooses to spend money needlessly instead of saving it. A few months ago, the consequences of such behavior caught up…

SUNITA ABRAHAM IS 39, single and has no children. But she has written a will, just in case. "Basically to make things easier for my family," she says.A professor at a major university in Asia, Ms. Abraham had heard "horror stories" of people trying…

Mukul Asher, who lives in Singapore, has played the markets pretty well. Now 60 years old, he plans to retire in three or four years. To get ready for this day, he's been investing wisely for the past 20 years -- in India.Mr. Asher has…

A FRAMED PHOTO ON JENNIFER MOYER'S desk says a lot about her. Ms. Moyer, an executive director at a global investment bank in Hong Kong, enjoys hiking through remote parts of Asia. And whether it's in Bhutan or Cambodia, she particularly likes…

EFFIE BAOUTIS has lived happily in Hong Kong for eight years. As regional director of Excerpta Medica, a medical-journal publisher, she defends it as a great place to live. "But it is expensive," says Ms. Baoutis. "I would like it to be cheaper, and…

Tim Simpson is annoyed. A communication and new media professor at the University of Macau, Mr. Simpson doesn't understand why it costs him so much to transfer money from his Macau bank account to his U.S. account. The…

INVESTMENT SAVVY If you're in the market for point-and-click 401(k) advice, you've likely heard of two Web upstarts: Financial Engines and 401k Forum. Both deliver quick, customized counsel on how best to allocate the money in…

MARKET INTELLIGENCE Spend any time online chatting about stocks and you'll see a lot of "DD." As in, "Do your own damn DD!" DD, of course, is shorthand for "due diligence," the less entertaining, more time-consuming side of…