Swiss1960

My television is too small... and I don't have an iPad like my friends... and my 3GS needs replacement, because of the battery...

And most of all: I would be proud of her, tell her every day how perfect she is and how much I love her and I would tell her same same if she would earn less...

so... I could not care less...

yes, Tucom on Pattaya Tai is your best chance to find everything, otherwise you probably need to see the shops where you could buy the individual devices (TV etc.) that now lack transformers.

$65000 is not a lot of money - It's only two million baht.

At the age of 48 he will have no cash reserves at all. He will, though, have 30 years life ahead of him. To be in that position would terrify me, but I admit I'm more risk averse than others.

Completely agree with you! One single incident (accident, sickness, wife, more kids, theft...) and he will be completely broke... I could make my move now with around 15 Mio Baht after taxes, but I won't as I think it's just worth waiting three to five more years and be able to afford to buy a more decent condo (where I will spend most of my time) and not ever have to think about whether I can spend 600-800 Baht on a daily two hour massage... or go to eat in Central Festival places... or have my two pints at Mulligans... I KNOW that I will need around 100K per month for the next 40 years (if ever I survive that long...)

But if the OP knows and accepts all those risks (which have been outlined in various posts here) and can live that frugal and live with no reserves at all... then up to him...

I think it depends on who is the actual leasing party in the contract:

If it is your company who is on the contract, then they will give you the car for business use (and maybe have a provision for private use in the contract between you and them) and thus, they will deduct their expenses from your salary before tax and you would have same tax relieve.

If however, the lease is in your name and the company mainly acts as guarantoor for your lease towards the leasing company (which might give you preferential leasing terms), then they (your company) will deduct their expenses (assuming they pay the lease in your name) from your salary after tax and you don't profit from tax relieve

So basic question is WHO is taking the lease?

It would be the company taking the lease and paying with monies that would have otherwise been paid to me as gross salary but of course would only have been realised personally as net salary. Issue then becomes who owns the car at lease end.. if its traded in and renewed fro another leased vehicle then moot point however in event of total windup company would have on paper a certain residual value invested in the car which I have effectively paid for .. thought s??

Sounds like a bad deal for you this way... the give you less salary, let you use the car but at the end you have nothing...

So you will need an additional contract. As I don't know the Thai law whether benefits for the employees (i.e. free use of a car) would be taxable (they are here in Switzerland...), I can't really comment on how to best do this... but I would set up a contract with your company that states

- they give you a car for business use that you are allowed to freely use for private also

- you pay let's say 50% of the lease and insurance throught salary reduction (might be a problem with tax if that shows on your salary slip)

- you have the right at the end of the lease to take over the car by re-paying the 50% borne by your company and paying the residual amount to the leasing company

seems the best option, as at the end of the lease, you might decide NOT to take over the car.

Alternative would be to pay the full amount of lease and insurance, not have a contract with your company about taking it over, but ask them for a renumeration of expenses for using the car (i.e. xx cent per kilometer used for business reasons).

Well, I do agree with you that changing eating and drinking habits are prime to loose weight (I just lost 20kg in 3 months). And I also agree and feel with you that it is hard to keep up with the "diet", so I allow myself one free day every week where I eat all I want to (like cheese fondue, chocolate, risotto, goulash etc etc.). But since I keep a healthy lifestyle for the reminder of the week (with meat and vegetable but no pasta, bread, cheese, beer...), I do still loose weight in the long term.

But without sports... I don't think my weight would have gone down so fast - and with sports (I only do crosstrainers / walking / swimming, no weight), I feel much more energy, I don't sweat walking up the stairs or do some body work, thus for me, the combination of the two is the ideal for everybody who does want to loose weight permanently and improve the general health.

My personal story is divorced, 52 now, 2 grown up sons... and planning my retirement to Thailand in few years...

Will I be one of these funny old guys getting married again? Well, I probably will be, when I will find the girl to fall in love... I think getting married is a mutual interest of both me and my future Thai wife... for one, I am not made to be alone, for two, I find it to stressful to find me another girl every few weeks, for three, I am looking for the security of having somebody be able to care for me if anything bad happens and for four, I will provide security to my future life partner through the marriage.

Does not sound too romantic, I know... but it is fact of life that love alone does not satisfy the security needs for people getting older.

I would also add that it depends on which parts of the city / which times of day or night the OP wants to spend the majority of his time...

I think a lot of people know by now that the water that flows out of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority is pretty much world standard--top class stuff. But there's still lots of myths bordering on superstition about the contaminations that the water may pick up while en route before it comes out of your tap at home.

Yes, but you outline the problem... it is the way from the waterworks to the house... old water lines... leaking water out and dirt in... and no filter (neither UV nor charcoal) can clean out everything... all Thai I know will cook even the filtered water before using it... or buy bottled water for everything including washing fruits and rinse the mouth

Personally I can't stand idiots and their cameras, they are rude and disrespectful and often quite pretentious. Even if they don't film me there is something irritating about it. But if they do film me I get serioulsy pissed off, no matter where I am but I imagine especially a place like Soi 6.

To the PP, you are lucky you didn't get your camera smashed and you smashed at the same time. Ive been sorely tempted to smash cameras a number of times, in Pattaya, in London, in fact everywhere I see idiots with cameras.

+1 ... some people just don't respect other peoples privacy rights...

Lets do some math.......

$65.000 times exchange rate of 30 = 1.950.000 baht

divide with 3 years/36 months = 54.000 baht per month

IMO 30.000 baht per month is the minimum for a decent life here,

20.000 for basic expenses & 10.000 for gogo

btw most americans i know that live here in Pattaya makes less than 40.000 per month in pension

You are right... and that is where the OP has the problem... assuming he is using 30K a month, this will leave him with only 500K left over after three years when his (first) pension kicks in... and he still does not qualify for retirement Visa... and if he is unlucky, the $ to B rate will be down to 20... giving him only 40K a month... so leaves him saving 10K a month for another two years => 240K plus the 500 is 740K => hardly enough for the retirement Visa...

I think it is a high risk going down such a narrow finacial road... SPECIALLY, the Op does not have any savings for emergency... and with 30K baht a month, this definitely does not include health insurance... so one accident, one severe health problem... he will be bust...

EDIT: and the op said "and take my time to hopefully meet a nice lady.." ... well... there goes the other 14K he has previously had left for savings... so completely bust when he is 48... only 2K$ pension... might not even qualify for retirement Visa...

It could be argued that suggesting the OP stay in that hell on earth job one minute longer than absolutely necessary is schadenfreude.

It could, but it wouldn't stack up.

In the states he has options to change it. By moving to Thailand with his current resources, he doesn't.

Again I repeat, encouraging someone to throw all their limited life savings away to be in Thailand without capital begind you - particularly at such a young age and in the emotional state he is in - is very very dangerous.

@ jingthing thanks for understanding how difficult the job can be..maybe you or someone close to you have had to walk in those shoes....

@bendix thanks very much for the passion of trying not to let someone that you dont even know make what you beleive could be a big mistake.........and about my emotional state....it is excellent...im just very anxious to start a new chapter of my life

Joey88tc: I will not tell you do or do not. But look at your current 65K$ funding... Think about how much money you need monthly when you live in Thailand and what costs you will have... because you will probably need an ED Visa (and therefore pay for a school), you would need rent, food... and double that amount if ever you would find a girl... and then think about how much of that money you have left when your pension kicks in...

Not much left in three years!! Coming here with 65K and no income will leave you with around a third of that money in 3 years... so think about how you would then survive if you found a girl (which is easy to find but maybe not so easy to keep once your money is gone...)

And remember that when you do what you think about doing, you will have pretty much burnt your bridges back home (finanially spoken)...

Is it worth that huge risk now or can you not find another job for another three years? I think that would be the solution I would go for...

I think it depends on who is the actual leasing party in the contract:

If it is your company who is on the contract, then they will give you the car for business use (and maybe have a provision for private use in the contract between you and them) and thus, they will deduct their expenses from your salary before tax and you would have same tax relieve.

If however, the lease is in your name and the company mainly acts as guarantoor for your lease towards the leasing company (which might give you preferential leasing terms), then they (your company) will deduct their expenses (assuming they pay the lease in your name) from your salary after tax and you don't profit from tax relieve

So basic question is WHO is taking the lease?

Not sure all you guys who tell him "do it" really read what he's up to financially...

Starting with 65K US$ => 2 Mio Baht => no income for the next 3 years => so he will need 30K to 40K Baht a month for living (rent, food, living without wife) and when his first pension kicks in, he will be down to 500K Baht already... no matter inflation...

Then 2K US$ equal 60K Baht (if he's lucky and America did'nt f*** up the upcoming election...) unitil 62... niot much to live on, not enough for wife (kids, family, sick buffalo etc. etc.), no money to buy a condo...

That's why I said, look for another job in the US for the next 3 years until your pension kicks in, safe some more and then come with 3 Mio Baht AND pension and then, he will have a decent and pretty safe living.

Don't do it

First, you don't qualify for a retirement Visa yet (you are not 50), so you would need to do border runs every now and then and would need lot of money for that

Second, your 65k$ (2 Mio Baht) would only last for some time, assuming you live VERY low on budget with 40K a month (rent, food, electricity, water, internet etc. etc. included) , you would need almost 1.5 Mio Baht in the next 36 months, leaving you with 500K Baht only

Third, your 2K$ you receive in 3y would today be 60K Baht… so assuming you still spend 40K a month, you would be able to safe 20K Baht a month until your 50, which would give you another 500K Baht to save and you would then – if all goes well – have the 800K minimum to keep in your bank account forever for your retirement Visa

Looking at these figures, any nice lady would set you off plan… any health problem would set you off plan… any change in exchange rates would set you off plan…

Thus, my recommendation is to find yourself another job in the US and work for another 5 years, expand your savings and then do the step.

Am still looking around for the same goal: Get rid of the excessive fat cells around my belly which are empty after successful weight loss. Again, I know liposuction would be the most effective option but not too kean for such an invasive treatment. Thus, I am looking around at other options.

Previously have asked about Mesotherapy, also have experience with Thermo and Ultrawave treatment (here in Switzerland called Cavitation treamtment) which helped pretty well up to a certain point but has difficulties destroying fat cells once they are really empty.

Now did see and read about Carboxy Therapy where CO2 is injected into the fat cells to destroy them and have seen four places in Pattaya offering this (won't put the names here, but two are private clinics and two are int. hospitals.

Anybody every tried this or heard from somebody who tried this?

By the way, I had only used the ATM at a branch of Bangkok Bank.

The machine just outside their front door.

Best advice i can give is NEVER use any outside ATM where people just can walk bye in the middle of the night and install scanners and cams. If possible, go to ATM's inside bank buildings, best inside shopping malls which are closed to public during night... or use your passbock and go inside the bank, even thoug this of course is a hassle to do...

Well, I would say for the benefit of both parties, trying to lower the bill and then fix a payment schedule would be the best If the hospital informs police, immigration will be on it immediately, farang sent home, no money ever seen by hospital. So both would profit, i.e. hospital sees some money (they anyway overcharge massively) and farang can maybe keep his Visa for the time being...

Hope springs eternal in an old man's breast.

Got my card back by main branch of the bank whose ATM swallowed it. Painless. Took three days as I recall. And the security guard at the hospital was incorrect. He assured me he had seen me on the TV monitor or whatever retrieving my card. To be as polite and dipomatic as possible, 'he has vision problems.'

Interesting... but not about the card swallowed but about your inconsistencies...

- so you are using a foreign bank ATM card... even though you hate all those fees and the lousy exchange rates...

- so you have a BKK bank account... even though you claim in other threads to not trust, not want to pay transfer fees...

- so you had troubles paying your ticket out, even though you claim to always travel with "wads of cash"...

you sound more and more like fake...

It's very simple. Take your visa and work permit and 3 months worth of pay cheques and you'll be issued an account within 5 minutes.

Otherwise, bend the rules and risk your money at your own expense!

It couldn't be simpler.

Unless, of course, you want to open an account on a tourist visa, as previous posters have suggested. Nothing to worry about, until you go to get a withdrawal and your account doesn't exist. If you don't want to do it the legal way then more fool you.

-mel.

Complete nonsense... there are thousands of tourists like me who have a Thai bank account, ATM card, Internet banking with it... and never ever have troubles accessing their money...

did'nt know that blethering is contagious...

I had mine hacked as well when I first came here. You might have a hard time getting it all back.we had such a fight on our hands as the machine captured me speaking to a friend and they said I could have gave them the pin number and they did it. Despite them having atm photos of the culprits.

As for Thai bank cards not working ouside Thailand.I have used mine in Singapore and Malaysia to get money from the Atm no problems.

Well, none of my Thai ATM cards work outside LOS (ones from Bangkok Bank, Bank Ayudha, or Kasikorn). However, as I mentioned, these are the "basic" cards and there are "inter" cards one can get that will work outside Thailand. People can decide for themselves which type of card is appropriate for them.

As to your problem, can you describe it more specifically? You state that apparently you lost money from a Thai bank account from someone using your ATM card and/or PIN code...I understand there are many ways the card's number can be stolen without one's knowledge during ordinary use of the card but how did someone get your PIN code as well? Money cannot be taken out of an ATM without the PIN and it is the cardholders responsibility to guard this code with their life! I don't blame the banks for taking a tough stand with these type of theft claims...otherwise everyone would be out there claiming money stolen from their accounts.

They now have a gadget where they just need to pass it over your bag or trouser pocket and it can capture the details from cards What chance do we all have.

They can only scan a card that has a smart chip in it but they would have to be close to you to do it and the pin number is stored on the banks database not the in the chip.

What you are talking about is cards that have RFID (called contactless cards like Visa PayWave or MasterCard PayPass). Those can be "skimmed", but this skimming does NOT,give away details from your magstripe and this can NOT, be used for creating a skimmed card.

And most definitely, they can scan all cards that offer RFID possibility, wheter with or without Chip. It's a question whether the card has an antenna for RFID usage or not.

The only thing they can do with that kind of scanning is create single transactions with value below US$40 (Euro 25) that can ONCE be used, if they are lucky and if the card issuing company messed up with the security parameters! With our security settings within RFID, the chance for a successful transactions is lower than 0.1%

Probably depends on the size of your business, is it daily, weekly etc.?

Suggest you talk with some companies, i.e. serviced apartment companies that offer laundry services to their tenants and investigate with them about the quality of their service provider, i.e. Jomtien Beach Penthouse offers 24h laundry service for their tenants and I was always happy with the quality of that service and I know they have outsourced it to a laundry company that picks up / deliveres daily 7 days a week with 24h turnover time.

Edit: That is at least how I would approach such a question if I would not have time to drop off / pick up myself.

May I kindly suggest you think about divorcing immediately, based on your need to incorporate such a sentence in your last will???

But then some thoughts on the serious side:

- what if you are kiled in a car crash => no natural cause of death

- what if you are killed in a mugging absolutely unrelated to your wife => no natural cause of death

I don't know about the laws in Thailand, but in the western world, somebody suspected or accused of being involved in the unnatural death of somebody automatically disqualifies for heritage

And about taking care about you: You must be much more specific and give "measurable" wording for any judge to decide

- what are your needs / what have they been in the past

- what means caring in the past, how to judge present caring in time of death?

are you talking about tangible care (i.e. medical) or intangible care (i.e. love, emotions, psychological)? How to judge the latter?

Said all above, I would assume this sentence would disqualify your will to be enforcable...

Standard what we would recommend from a (Swiss) credit card company point of view:

The minute it happens: Call your credit / debit card company and inform them immediately! At this time, they can then revoke the authorisation given for that transaction and already move this transaction into the disputes department!

After that:

1) File a written complaint with the ATM providing bank in question and have somebody sign the receipt of your complaint (can have any form, i.e. letter).

2) File a written complaint with your credit card company and tell them day, approximate time and amount of the transaction and sign (i.e. as affidavit) that you did not get the money.

As far as our company is concerned, we do immediately credit our cardholders account back and take actions against the ATM providing bank (they must provide CCTV recordings / logs of the ATM giving out the money etc.) and issue a chargeback / dispute case to put responsibility for prove of transaction back to the acquirer (ATM provider). But that is OUR understanding of customer care, I can't comment on our competitors...

Edit for all those of you who now think "great, just call them, say I have not received the money and never be charged..." The Acquiring bank will provide us with prove that you received the money and based on your affidavit (sworn statement) mentioned above, we will not only charge you for the transaction, charge you for our effort, cancel your card and account immediately, but also take you in front of court and you will be in deep shit...

Of course, the OP is paranoid... but he has his points overall:

- Border crossing (passport usage) leaves traces

- Hotel sign in leaves traces (the report your stay)

- debit / credit card leaves traces (not only where you are but what are your preferences)

- phone switch on leaves traces

- jobs leave traces

- insurances leave traces

- mails leave traces

- Internet usage leaves traces (specially cookies / sign-in's / Thaivisa keeping track what I read...)

- Money transfers leave traces (no matter how you do it)

- ... probably forgot many things...

Thus... accept this as part of

1 ) Government Paranoya of not trusting their citizens and wanting to keep track of them

2 ) Big Business Interest to keep track of what you do and get you to click on their pages and buy something...

The alternative? Can only think of either suicide (which will be duly recorded...) or living in the woods without anything electronically (thus you will be duly recorded as missing person not paying taxes anymore...)