Best place to buy and run a small B&B

First of all, I doubt you can find anything for that price - certainly not 10-15 rooms. Secondly, if you could, the complexities of opening it in a place like, say, the Philippines would mean your money would soon be gone in hidden fees. Either that or there would be restrictions against foreigners. For HK$4m, you could just invest the money (50% bonds/50% shares) and rent a place in rural France. What nationality do you and your wife hold?

Malaysia is troublesome and Taiwan and Japan are way too expensive. If you had HK$40 million, it would make more sense. There are also visa questions. HK$4m isn't enough for you to qualify as an investor as far as residency is concerned. If you don't want residency hassles, stick to Europe. I'm not pushing France as a place to buy but you can live very cheaply and eat fresh food in some of the rural departements. You would need a car though. However, it you want out of the rat race buying there is safe as it all has to go through a notary. However, there is no secondary market and inheritance laws mean the property has to be divided up fairly amongst your heirs.

You may want to have a long hard think before buying France. Once you buy there, that's it for life more or less. Personally, I would just bank your capital and travel around for a few weeks. Find an area you like, then rent for a year. With HKD 4m, you are only going to be bringing in HKD 10,000 per month (about 1,000 euros) assuming you are getting a 3pc return (I have taken the Hong Kong Tracker Fund for reference though I am not advising you buy that). The gite business is very tough. You have to meet certain safety standards, be able to repair and then get enough business. You also have to deal with a lot of people, a large percentage of which will be idiots. I would preserve my capital, find a place where I want to settle then try to find any job to bring in more income.