gamb00ler

Since investment opportunities in Thailand suffer in comparison to most of the world, you could keep those funds outside Thailand. It would seem likely that those funds would remain as non-assessable even after remittance to Thailand because they were earned/received when you were not a Thai tax resident.

Way of topic, but.... Originally in blackjack the player's initial two cards were dealt face down and subsequent cards were face up. If a player wished to "double down" he would turn up his initial cards, add an extra bet and then receive one card face down. When I was learning to be a BJ dealer, the casino switched from old style face down dealing to all cards up format, so I learned both styles. The picture included in the OP could be blackjack dealt in the old format. But, since the there is a pile of disordered chips (the "pot") in front of the player's hand (KK) I believe a hand of Texas Holdem is what's being shown in the photo. The three Aces are part of the five community cards used by all players to make a five card poker hand. To address the actual topic.... I have spent a LOT of time in casinos and it became obvious to me that many people do become addicted to gambling. I think easy access to a casino will make that problem worse than it currently is. I also think the ability of the Thai government to effectively oversee any casino licensing and regulation is very suspect. I saw many casinos violate the stringent government regulations in Nevada and when customers complained the outcome of the investigation was rarely in the customer's favor.

Instead of doing your withdrawal from ATM, go to Bangkok bank branch and do a “cash advance” at the teller. I have done this many times and I got the same exchange rate as the ATM and no additional fees. VISA or MasterCard set the exchange rate, not the bank. Check if your credit union adds a foreign transaction fee which would apply at the ATM as well.

A USA.GOV page disagrees with you about SS payments being ended upon renunciation of US citizenship. https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship

I use almost the same strategy as you do. Except I just go to Bangkok bank and do a teller cash advance using Schwab debit card and then deposit into my savings account. SWVXX is a flexible investment that pays about the same as 9 month CD's without the hassle of a fixed term or having to renew.

I moved to CM 3½ years and I have done teller cash advances with my Schwab debit card about a dozen times. I used the proceeds to pay for our house construction. I always took the maximum withdrawal. I only had a problem one time and that was because the manager was not available at that branch that day. The last such transaction was about 6 months ago. I always checked the VISA exchange rate web page and calculated how much ฿ to withdraw before heading to the bank. I never have been advised by anyone at Schwab to notify them in advance. Have you used that branch before for a cash advance? When was your last successful transaction?

Did you try tying your clothes in knots before loading them into the washer? Maybe the washer would untie them.😆

Not quite on topic..... If you want a disposable email address, you can just make up some unlikely combination of characters and use it together with "@yopmail.com". Then you can check if you got any mail on the yopmail.com website. There is no password or any type of security so only temporarily use it to protect your real email address from getting spread around.

Is that the same foxnews that had to pay $800,000,000 for lying about a voting machine company? You won't find CNN, MSNBC paying that kind of judgment... can you figure out why?

I tried to get gmail account called fupped_duck. Did you beat me to it?

Matter is preferred because it hopefully makes it easier to integrate devices from different manufacturers. Thread has the advantage of using IPV6 so that communication is more direct and less complicated than other methods. I know at this point there is less selection of devices supporting those new standards, but I am patient. It shouldn't be too long before more manufacturers get on board. I'm willing to go through the hassle of retrofitting a few switches/plugs. Our house is new and has neutral available at every switch/plug. My first actual device will probably be a Sonoff MINIR4M to convert existing switch from dumb to smart. https://sonoff.tech/product/diy-smart-switches/minir4m/

@sirineou, you have 2 7.5cm AAC layers for your internal walls? Our house's internal walls are a single layer 10cm thick plus render and our WiFi is rather weak after passing through 2 walls. A Thread network uses the same frequency of 2.4Ghz as normal LAN but is described as a low power mesh network. Thread devices don't use the normal 2.4Ghz network, only the Thread network. A Thread router is required to function as a bridge between the Thread mesh network and the normal WiFi or ethernet LAN. Initially I won't have so many Thread devices on my mesh so range between devices may be an issue.

I've been reading as much as I can about the new home automation connectivity standards of Thread and Matter. Anyone have first hand experience using a Thread network in a house with 10cm AAC block walls? I'm afraid I would need several Thread routers to cover the entire single storey house, garage and potentially to the front gate as well. I would like to see some of the switches/plugs so I can really get a good idea how much effort will be required to fit them into the small electrical boxes used in our house. I don't see any Sonoff vendor in CM only in BKK. Any other manufacturers have a presence in Thailand?

We used International Sea & Air Shipping for a 20-foot container from USA to CM. The Thai end of the move was handled by Boonma. Things went more smoothly on the Thai end than the USA end. Boonma got our goods through Thai customs with no problems. Shipment was in my Thai wife's name as she qualified for the duty exemption for a returning Thai citizen. They did not open the container for inspection. We submitted a somewhat detailed inventory and were charged 1200฿ duty on 3 items (1 of 2 sets of golf clubs, a medium size tool box of tools and a 8' step ladder). I guess those didn't qualify as household goods 😆😆. I suggest you contact Boonma as I'm sure they have worldwide contacts that they deal with.

@Yellowtail is grasping at shadows of straws now. That .33% of James' campaign contributions really set him off! Maybe he's frustrated that his political voice is limited to this backwater chat forum.

And you are so certain of this because......? Can you not put 2 and 2 together and get the obvious result?

I used OLT last year and also will again this year. I already filled in the info for 2023 but have not submitted to IRS. I need to do one more check on my figures. They do accept a Thailand address. https://www.olt.com

I wish it were likely to succeed. However, there is probably just too much wiggle room that will allow them to escape.

I have a weakness for alliteration... I'll call Smirnov an FBI fabulist.

The exchange rate is exactly the same for purchases, ATM withdrawals and teller cash advances. Like you, I don't use the Schwab debit card for purchases or ATM withdrawals.... scanning QR codes is just so much easier and greatly reduces my need for cash from an ATM. I've had no complaints in 35+ years as a Schwab customer. Once on a 7 week long motorcycle tour, I came across a barely used 10 year old Goldwing that I had been lusting over for years. My Schwab debit card made the purchase a breeze.

Since 2021 I've used my Schwab debit card more than 20 times. I used it to fund the building of our house in CM. Several times I did a "cash advance" at a Bangkok bank teller for the max of 15K US$ (more than 500K ฿). I always told the bank to put the ฿ into my savings account with them. No teller ever raised any issue with any of my transactions.

When did you last get a "cash advance" or do an ATM withdrawal using the Schwab debit card? I've done it many times since 2021 and my experiences have been 100% consistent. My experiences using Schwab's debit card have been different than yours. It is VISA who sets the exchange rate, not Schwab. Currently, VISA's rate is 35.76 per US$, Bangkok bank's rate is 35.70 and Wise's effective rate (after fees) is 35.57. Since using the debit card incurs exactly 0 fees it is currently the BEST rate of those I checked just now. How did you determine the exchange rate that you were given for a Schwab debit card transaction? What was the source of the rate that you used in comparison when you determined that the debit card rate was terrible? When planning to get a "cash advance" on my Schwab debit card, I always comparison shop to Wise and Thai banks. I get the Schwab exchange rate from the VISA company's website at : https://www.visa.co.uk/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html When the cash advance hits my Schwab account, the exchange rate I receive is 100% in agreement with the VISA web page rate.

Should we have a beauty contest for 83 year old "women"? Who's the top contender on your list? Plus she probably spends less on makeup than #45.

I agree but great is hard to find. Thai Town in LA has lots of very good Thai food. Las Vegas now has quite a large Thai population which has led to much better Thai fare being easier to find. I tried Thai food several times in Canada... barely recognizable, especially in smaller cities where Chinese restaurants make what they think is Thai food.

Noodles are originally Chinese as well, but Italians scored a lot more hits with them than the Chinese ever did or will. Pretty much every country in Asia counts fried rice as part of their own cuisine.