KhunHeineken

If still working, one could financially recover from The Issan Hustle. It's the retired guys that have a set amount of money to last them until they pass, or a small pension. They put a significant portion of it into a Thai family, and into rural Issan, in a country where laws are not favorable to foreigners. I don't need the bright lights of a city such as Bangkok, but I need more options for leisure time activities in retirement than what Issan can offer.

As discussed in previous posts, it turns from "choice" to "no choice" because they have ploughed all their life savings into a Thai family, and rural Issan. In effect, they made a rod for their own back, and they have every day until they die to deal with the consequences of this.

What part of my post do you see any "assumption" in? In your own words the house must be sold in 12 months, the house can be left to family, and a farang can't own land. Put one, or a combination of these together, and how does a foreigner maintain access, that is, living in the house, that sits on land, that he paid for, should his Thai wife die before him? He has to sell it in 12 months, and he can't own the land it sits on, or, it's left to a Thai son, for example, who gives notice to the foreigner because he wants to live in it himself or sell it and keep the money. How often do you think the foreigner could sell it to the Thai family for 1 baht, and the family allow him to live in it until his demise?

There are a lot of toxic relationships / marriages based solely on the exchange of money here. I have no problem with that. There are many western women in "kept relationships / marriages" as well. If one enters into a financial agreement with a Thai lady, that's fine, but they should pay as they go, not buy land, build a house, throw in a bar, shop, or farm, all up front, and expect the Thai lady to then uphold her end of the deal, especially when it's all in her name. Often, when the Thai lady accepts the financial agreement, and thinks now she got the guy on the hook and start to go to work on him, she can manipulate that agreement and he will bend. As you say, guys don't put their foot down. I suppose it's guys feeling comfortable in the relationship and are too afraid to start again, so, they bend, and it's all downhill from there. So funny to hear the threat, "I'll have to go back and work bar again." I'd be saying, "See ya." ???? A lot of guys don't call their bluff, and even if they were serious and did go back to the bar, what's that say about the relationship or financial agreement you entered into? Neither were real in the first place. Foreigners can't own land here, but there's some ways to cover yourself. One way is to have the Thai lady take a mortgage out on a property and you pay the bank every month. Paying the loan interest can be looked upon as insurance. The money in your own bank earns some interest, so it's only the difference you are paying. She leaves, you stop paying the mortgage, the bank can have the house back, and both can move on. The guy you met is correct. It's his house, just not the land it sits on. It's my understanding he would be perfectly entitled to put a bulldozer through it and face no criminal charges. Another phenomenon that you see in these relationships if when the Thai lady starts to compare the money, assets, or wealth of one of their friends or family's foreign partners. The Thai scammer version of "keeping up with the Jones" and what does the foreigner do, he goes and buys a bigger car, or more expensive gold, or more land etc. The two Thai ladies play the foreigners off on each other for spending on them, because each foreigner doesn't want to be seen as not "taking care" as good as the next guy. Too funny. ????

I would try that also. Like I said, rather than updating drivers, roll them back to a working driver. Could roll the machine back to pre windows updates using a restore point, and then be selective with the windows updates.

Yes, could try that, from the manufacturers website, not Microsoft. The OP said he did some updates, so I would start with a roll back first.

Try rolling back the drivers for the keyboard and mouse.

If you have someone you trust in Australia, you could have your mail sent to them, they can scan it and email it to you. You would get the document in a timely fashion. Not that accountants are so trustworthy, but if you still use the services of an accountants, I'm sure they will offer this service to you. Most accountants know the financial position of their clients, so privacy in that regard is not an issue. There are secretarial services that offer similar services as well. For something like this, it would be cheap. You get your mail sent to their office, they scan it and email it to you, then post it to you, if you need the hard copy. You could set up a pay as you going billing with them, so everytime they do a small job for you like this, they bill you a few dollars. Pay the bill via internet banking.

I call it, "The redistribution of wealth." For a lot of these guys, they go from having assets and cash based in their home country, setting up a decent retirement, and leaving an inheritance for their biological children upon their demise, to liquidating their assets, with the cash being distributed in Issan, for the benefit of an extended Thai family. It's their money to do with as they please, but in most cases, these guys leave no legacy to their children upon their demise. Many will tell you their children don't care about them, but the reality is, they burnt all their bridges, including family ties, back in their home country. From my observation, the extended Thai family don't show a great deal of respect to these guys anyway. I laugh at how many bought farms in Issan, with zero knowledge or experience in farming. When I ask what are they growing, and how is the price of it per kilo going, they just have a blank look on their face. They have no interest in the farm. Many of these guys drink to excess everyday out of boredom. All of this would be fine, if the foreigner was very wealthy and the farm was employment for the Thai family, and if their marriage went south he could start again, but that's not usually the case. Many plough their life savings into a farm, new house, and a new car in Issan, thinking they are now set up for retirement, but all they have really done is dug a hole for themselves. Many will tell you, or post on this forum, they are happy in Issan, and a small percentage would be, but how many ever aspired to live in rural Thailand in their later years when they first discovered Thailand, I would say very few. Many survived messy divorces, but they won't climb out of the hole they dug for themselves in Thailand so easily. This is because at their age, they can not work and recover from the financial loss, like they did after their divorce. I spent a few weeks in a larger town in Issan some years ago. There was a large bar in the town and every Saturday it would fill up with foreigners coming in from all the outlaying villages and they would drink and catch up. I asked a few what was the attraction, and the reply was that it was the one day of the week they got to speak proper English with fellow native English speakers. Imagine working all your life to be in a position, where in retirement, the highlight of your week is being able to speak English to other people. ????

It doesn't make for a nice retirement, but there are none so deaf as those who refuse to listen. One thing a lot of these guys don't contemplate is the possibility of their Thai wife passing away before they do. The Thai wife is usually considerably younger, but things like motorbike accidents, cancer etc do happen. Should the Thai wife pass early, most of these foreigners will lose access to the property that they paid to have built. How many guys have to back to their country to go back to work, or to go on welfare because "my girl is different?"

There are laws against discriminating against age in the work place, so if a company wants to hire you, they can, no matter how old you are.

I wouldn't hold my breath. This guy was commissioned to review taxation and make recommendation a long time ago. Very little of any substance has been implemented. That said, the simplest thing for the government to do is just make it the 183 days outside of Australia. That would net billions of dollars, or force thousands to return to Australia's economy. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-23/henry-tax-review-ten-years-on/11817328 Whilst they are not interested in the average retiree, they are interested in their money, and taxing thousands of expat retirees at non resident rates will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, and it's so easy to do because the immigration data base shows you are outside of Australia for 183 days, so you will be sent a please explain letter. Put simply, the government doesn't want you earning in Australia, but spending overseas. No, it's not that simple. If it was, we would all have nothing to be concerned about. Don't go to the tax office, let the tax office come to you, but be well prepared for when they do, because there is a likelihood that they will at some time in the not so distant future.

It's possible what you are referring to is the tax equalization scheme, where treaties are in place. If you are an Australian citizen working overseas, as a non resident for taxation purposes, you are taxed at a high rate, but you are already paying tax in the country you are working in, so they minus the percentage of tax you are paying in the country you are working from your non resident tax rate. As an example, say you are working in Thailand paying 10% tax, but Australia's rate for you is 48%, Australia only taxes you 38% because you have already paid 10%.

It's all automatic, once you initially set it up. Can you go paperless with the DVA?

I don't think they will confiscate funds like they did in Cyprus, or give a "haircut" like they did in Greece, but anything is possible. How are 12 million people going to pay back a trillion dollars of debt? As you say, they don't need to chase you, just chase your money, and when they freeze it, you will have to go to them, so no need to chase you. They can put an airport warning on you for such debt. A example of this is HECS debt. https://www.smh.com.au/money/tax/what-you-need-to-know-about-your-student-debt-before-heading-overseas-20180430-p4zcf7.html

Most international transfers pass through an intermediary bank. They are usually larger global banks, such as Citibank. For a possible solution, what about getting your pension paid into your Aussie bank account, and then setting up a fortnightly international transfer? This way, you are the payer, and the payee, and have access to all the records you need. The transfer will still have to go through an intermediary bank, but you will be able to show you sent it, and you received it.

Have you thought about an annuity? Some basic info here. https://moneysmart.gov.au/retirement-income/annuities You can see in a recent thread a discussion on non resident for taxation purposes. Over the time there have been many on this website. There are opposing views, but it is healthy debate. In a nut shell, I believe the Australian government will have no problem chasing money off retired Aussie non residents who have a few dollars or a few income generating assets in Australia. Others believe they will not do this for political reasons, yet, hardly any expats abroad vote, so no loss of votes taxing these people anyway. You really need to look into it, maybe do a video consultation with a tax specialist. If the tax office is going to take a bite out of the money if it's paid to you as a non resident, you might be better moving the lot offshore and give the one finger salute to the Australian Tax Office. It's not uncommon. HSBC Singapore is a solid bank, in a stable country. Australia is broke, and I can only see new taxes being created, existing taxes increased, and more enforcement by tightening the net on existing taxation laws, including taxation for non residents, which is high.

+ 1 for Skype.

I think you are talking about desktop gadgets, not screensavers. Plenty of gadgets on this website. https://8gadgetpack.net Microsoft killed gadgets years ago, due to security issues, but I have never had a problem. Some third parties still offer them. Network Meter and CPU Meter are handy. Also the weather, calendar, and a currency converter.

So it's the public demand for drugs that forces bikie gangs to manufacture and deal drugs. ???? If bikie gangs were more into armed robs, do we blame banks and cash in transit companies? It's not, but it's a cash business, and bikie gangs launder money through brothels. Did the girls in the bikie gang owned brothel have 1 customer or 10 customers this shift. If they only had 1 customer, put down 10 customers. You've just cleaned some money for the cost of some taxation. No, it's not laundering money. You said it yourself, it's a political contribution, or donation. I agree, it's a corrupt system because if elected, the donator will be expecting some return, but that's not money laundering.

I think you will find it easier to run a longer BNC cable to the camera location. Even if you can convert a BNC camera signal to wireless, and back again, how are you going to power the camera? You could be lucky and it's now a power point, but probably not. 30m BNC cable from Lazada only 119 baht. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/bnc-bncdc-30-video-bnc-cable-for-cctv-30m-i590270646-s1100882896.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.5.2f6918468ZQhl3&search=1

The consorting law has been around for decades. It's not new. It's to keep criminals from associating with each other. I don't have a problem with it. If certain groups of people want to masquerade as automobile enthusiasts, all the while manufacturing drugs and dealing them out of their tattoo shops, and buying panel beating businesses to rebirth stolen cars and bikes, and buying old run down pubs for cheap and laundering money through the poker machines..............and the list goes on, including brothels, why let people in these criminal organizations be allowed to associate with each other, planning their next "job" or next "score." Same as a mosque masquerading as promoting peace and tolerance, whilst actively recruiting jihadists. I have no problem dismantling these groups. Some links showing the assets seized from these criminals. https://aboutregional.com.au/police-seize-assets-worth-more-than-500000-from-nomads-bikie-boss/ https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-bikie-two-women-charged-money-laundering-on-gold-coast/aae366fd-2571-48f2-8542-d535afa67b28 Drug seizure. https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/six-men-charged-after-15m-worth-cannabis-and-cash-seized-alleged-sa-rebels Same old names constantly appearing in the news, Comancheros, Bandidos, Rebels, Finks, Mongols, Hells Angels, Nomads. Mongrel Mob. Very different to this motorcycle association, who are real enthusiasts and do charity rides and social events, as well as promoting rider safety. https://www.ma.org.au I think a lot of the 1%er members wouldn't even know how an engine works, and are only part of the gang for the crime and the money, but want to say "we are just into bikes and riding." These bikie gangs recruit, induct, train, and pay young guys, in the same way extremists groups do. They sell a false life of comradery, but these young guys end up paying the price with their freedom, doing jail time. Consorting is not about innocent until proven guilty. Consorting is about people who have already been charged and convicted and sentenced of serious criminal offences, "hanging out" together on the outside, which is the crime of consorting, and they can be charged with it. As for the Prohibited Insignia, a lot of members of the community would find the 1%er "patches" offensive to them, like they would the swastika, as it represents them being a member of a criminal organization, which instills fear in people.

Have you manually changed your DNS server, maybe to something like 1.1.1.1 which is Cloudflare, and faster?

Should you have a static IP address? I pay extra to have one. Sounds like you are connected to the Tor Network somehow, bouncing off servers around the world, but you are not. Is this your own connection? Do you pay the bill, directly to the company? When you run a speed test on your phone, does the same thing happen?

Could it hurt to try another speed test website? Takes all of 5 seconds to type it in and click go.