gearbox

FDI and FDA are not closely related, Vietnam attracts investments due to its educated workforce and work ethics, not whether a country has a FTA with it. Anyway, straight from the official Vietnam sources about the FDI in first half in 2023: https://www1.mpi.gov.vn/en/Pages/tinbai.aspx?idTin=58156&idcm=122 Singapore first, Japan second, China third, South Korea forth, EU doesn't even get mentioned. Tremendous seems to be only your imagination.

What do you fail to put in your calculations is the opportunity cost of owning your condo. I don't know what the rents are in the area your condo is, but judging from Australia if you get 5% return on investment of the value of your condo you may cover all your Thailand expenses and have the $1600 extra for spending.

I answered a post about FTA, not FDI. Do you know the difference between these two?

How the home country protect you from being ruined financially except emergency health care? Are you saying that $100k in your country would last longer than in Thailand? The retirees who deplete their funds in Thailand are free to move back to their home country and get the same benefits as if they never left the country before.

You may live even rent free, but the hard facts are that the average rents are way way higher than your $240 per week. It would be a poor decision someone to move back to Oz with the expectation to pay what you currently pay.

Thanks God.

Most of the subsidies are already included in his pension numbers. Health care is free for emergencies, but try to do things like hip replacement....the waiting period is probably 2+ years. Yes you can get big discounts for public transport in the cities, but what's the point of moving endlessly around in the same city? There are no airfare discounts for pensioners. I just read a feedback from one cyclist going from Gold Coast to Sydney...at Brunswick Head they wanted $76 from him for a camp site. Here you'll get 4 star hotel for that much. Barring the emergency health care, the dollar goes much much further in Thailand, at least for the Aussies.

That's not the truth. His rental numbers are way off down. https://mozo.com.au/home-loans/articles/what-is-the-average-rent-in-australia In the article above the numbers are weekly rents. His pension is good enough to only rent and then live on tap water...at least the tap water is drinkable in Oz.

If there are too many of us, the prices will rise and negate some of the financial benefits, and the home countries may put extra restrictions on pension portability and fund transfers.

Big success for who? The Vietnamese don't have multinationals and big brands. It will be used by the Chinese and others to set up manufacturing there and funnel goods to EU tariff free, same way as Australia gets a lot of "Thai" cars.

Eventual Putin visit is a non event for most Thais, they don't know who Putin is.

A bunch of broke retirees are threatening to leave.

Ubuntu....use a LTS version like 22.04

Not true that you don't pay tax as non resident. You lose all the franking credits, and many dividends are 100% franked. If you are resident and have dividend income around $20k and if all is franked the ATO will give you a few thousands back. https://atlaswealth.com/news/tax-treatment-of-dividends-as-a-non-resident-australian-expat/

Another angle to consider is that if you are non-resident for tax in Australia how does this play with the DTA agreement with Thailand and the proposed tax changes here. I'm not a tax expert at all, but "resident" is mentioned quite a few times in the DTA agreement.

Do you have a pink card? Last 3 parks I went to charged me Thai rate.

What cancer do people get from the recycled oil?

Changed! It was posted in the Oz forum but these days people seem very sensitive wrt tax residency 😃

The article is behind a paywall, but displays a few paragraphs for the people who can't access it: https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/business-travellers-tourists-could-be-caught-in-new-tax-rules-20231017-p5ecvy Basically anyone who spends more than 45 days in Oz may be classified as a tax resident. This is an ongoing discussion but if an article appears in a well connected paper as AFR maybe something is on the table for the next budget or soon later.

I watched 10 minutes...this fella has no idea what he is talking about. The investment banks have much more resources and access to data to make a call.

I don't have a subscription, I use Skype credit to call businesses in Oz including banks, you can use virtual phone keypad to select from menus. The rates are 2-3 cents per minute to landlines, and when you dial the number, it displays the rate before you place the call.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/chinas-growth-beats-forecasts-as-consumer-spending-improves-18083021.htm Many of the big banks like Citibank upgraded their China forecasts for this and next year.

Step in the right direction but IMO much more is needed. They should extend the visa exempt to 90 days to all visa exempt countries, and increase again the VOA stay to 30 or even 45 days. The situation in the world is not favorable for the tourism businesses, multiple wars, inflation, protectionism. Even poorer tourists need accommodation, transportation and 3 meals per day. Right now in Samui is very quiet, probably the quietest October in recent years excluding Covid times.

There is no such thing as a private beach in Thailand. All beaches belong to the king and are essentially public property. Only the land behind the beach can be private, but you can still access the beach with a boat or kayak.

I've met quite a few people, many of them Germans, who stayed for months camping on the south islands national parks campsites. Many are coming almost every year.