KNJ

Trey and get his passport number, call the Swedish embassy in bangkok.

Sorry to hear, but the next dog do not feed fruit and bread, it is not their natural diet, and will not benefit them

Do not worry about the microwave nor mobile antennas, there is no danger.

If it is a TV antenna it will be at least 100 metres high, minimum and usually on a hill.

Be worried, much more so if you have a radar station rearby, having said that I worked in that industry for years with no ill effect and no one has ever had a related problem at Heathrow or Standsted.

Relax and do not worry yourself

_{Not dangerous at all, maximum is 50 watts raiation, and is automatically always retuning to send as minimal power as possible in order to minimise power consumption as well as interference. Add to that the square law and unless you are within a few feet for a very long time,. no issue what soever}

_{Microwave is point to point, if it was pointing at you it would not work.}

_{However if it is a TV mast then it is a whole new ball game}

All the way back to 1597.

My Avatar says it all

1/4 million baht a month on the 5 % return mentioned.

Spend some, save some.

Should be enough

minus tax, and as asked previously where are you going to at the moment get 5%, without substantial risk.

Also where in the world you going to deposit money that is not subject to some form of tax, and if teh OP is american, there is nowhere for him not to pay tax.

And once more over 40 years inflation will erode the buying power substantially.

Goodness sake all you simplistic calculators, did your fathers not teach you anything about money, is this what you are teaching your children?

For normal people, yes, as long as you don't do anything too stupid. Not enough for the 1 percenters who I'm sure will be showing up shortly to explain how how it's not enough to cover even the basic necessities.

I think if you had that kind of money you would be smart enough to answer that question for yourself!

That said, I'll entertain you!

Buy a small apartment building in a major city in your home country (I'm talking 4 or so apartments). The rent roll on a $2 million building will give you around $8,000/month. Hire a building management company to run things for you (they generally take 15% of the rent roll and handle everything related to payment collection, finding tenants, etc.). That should give you steady net income of around $5,000/month ($60,000/year).

Property in a major city generally appreciates at around 6%/year. You can sell anytime and recover your initial principle + any compounded return on the asset.

However, this is clearly a fantasy on your part. I say this because no serious individual with assets in the 7 figures would be soliciting financial advice from a forum. They would be consulting with their accountant or financial advisor.

You sir are a charlatan!

Agreed with last comment, but lets just think about property prices, in real terms, probably round about 5-6 % however would it shock you that average house price increases in the USA over the last 100 years when taking inflation into account was less than 1%, infact only 0.2% .

Do I think property is a bad buy , hell no, but it should only be part of a balanced portfollio, and if you need money in a hurry ( emergency ) not wise to have 100% tied up.

2 000 000, 5 % at the moment, if you want a safe bet you are unlikely to get, 4 % is more realistic,

OK so lets say he wants a reasonable place to live 250 000, another 50 000 to deck it out and 100 000 for a car

Now we are down to 1 600 000, @ current best rate 4% that would return 64 000 a year.

Wherever you plant it you most probably have to pay tax, lets say 25% that leaves you with 48 000 divide by 12, 4000 a month or 120 000 THB

Not looking so brilliant if he becomes married with kid(s)

If he remains single then no issues, until we look at the effect of inflation:

In 40 years, @ 3% inflation, it would be the equivalent of a bit less 40 000 THB a month, take 4% inflation and it equivalent would be a little over 20 000 THB

So if he spends 120 000 THB a month he may be in trouble.

can it be done, oh yes but you better do some investing wisely with the 2 000 000

I wonder how many people here in teh 40-50 year age bracket have taken this simple maths into consideration.

I fear that too ,many members here with minimal savings and reliant on a UK government pension. it is a time bomb already started ticking.

The 30 000 THB brigade, @ 3% inflation, will be having to live off teh equivalent in 10 years of 20 000 THB today

And in 23 years the equivalent of 15 000 THB

So back to the OP, yes more than possible but be careful, it is not as much as you think in the long term and you genuinely think you will live to 80

Latest report by Economist.

Careful of those investments in property, they are due a correction at some stage

What the boys from Pattaya were up for the weekend?

It's a cliche that most investors neglect the inflation rate when investing in annuities, bonds, or fonds-based investments. The inflation rate can bring down your nice agent - promised interest rate by 2-4% a year. A 5% promise then turns out to earn you actually just half of this or even less.

There are various types of annuity, fixed inflation linked, those with guarantee periods, dual cover and VERY many companies with similar products. The latest estimates are that if people shopped around rather than accepting the first quote ( usually from the company that has been managing a pension fund ) that they would be 20% better off, a big difference.

I would not recomend putting all themoney to an annuity, but having a guaranteed portion is worthy of consideration.

As I keep saying Research research research, take your time a then research again

Where did the 34K come from?

Annuities- US$ 2000-3000 per month

Company pension after tax $4-6 k per month

Rental property income $2-7 K per month

Stock investment returns (conservatively) @$1k per month

Retirement funds = 9,000 to 17,000 US$ per month

3000

6000

7000

1000

17000

34000 came from the top end of your own predictions

Ah, my mistake for not being clear- the final line in my list- 'retirement funds' is the TOTAL of all the various fund sources..so the final total pension will be 9k to 17 k...

My mistake in that case 4 million USD is sufficient

Absolutely brilliant

No or very little salt is the approach.

There is sufficient salt content in meat, poultry or fish to sustain a dog. Adding more endangers it's liver.

Do you think I just made that up, if you want to disagree then at least research what I have written.

I am happy to debate or rescind what I write, but not in this case.

There is more salt in mass produced dog foods but that is for presevation.

As a side note read the contents of dog biscuits, compare that to your favourite biscuit to have with your cup of tea/coffee then tell me which you think is the more healthy.. woof woof

That is your predicted max income from your assets ( pension, rental, cash, stock, annuities )

assuming 5% p.a you need 7 million to generate that ( annuities less, property probably less than 5% ) Stocks up and down so better some years than others, cash even 9000 a month would need 2.1 million usd @ 5% ( nice if you can get 5% now or in future)

For some, their dogs are their family.

And some people are just responsible enough human beings to take care of their dogs properly. Now if my dogs were fat it'd be a different story, but they're not in the slightest. That's simply what it costs to have happy, healthy, disease free pets.

That isn't what it costs, that's what you choose to pay. It's not like the only two options are 5,000 baht per month per animal and starving mangy mutts who eat trash from the soi garbage bins. There is a big middle ground. You can even make your own dog food very cheaply that will result in very healthy animals.

Home made dog food is a good idea, no or very little salt, vegetables no more than 30% ( and if they have wind problems illiminate or reduce this )

Meat needs to be fit for consumption, and best served raw ( dogs natural food ) bones should not be cooked raw again.

Plenty of web sites if you want to do this.

I would recommend putting a portion of your lump sum into annuities for peace of mind and security ( although the rates right now are horrible) 400,000 USD will bring you 2,200 USD minimum per month guaranteed. Also try and get a diverse spread of retirement income, when i retire (in 15-20 years time !) i am aiming for the following (using today's prices and very conservatively assuming that the global economy and investment returns remain as poor as they do to day!!)

Annuities- US$ 2000-3000 per month

Company pension after tax $4-6 k per month

Rental property income $2-7 K per month

Stock investment returns (conservatively) @$1k per month

Retirement funds = 9,000 to 17,000 US$ per month

34,000 dollars a month is a nice pension

7 million USD in assets will cover it, no problem

_{Shamed or not, you have caused them to lose face. a potential dangerous situation.}

_{Whatever their intentions, whether bravado, alchohol or drug inspired, that number of people is dangerous.}

_{Forget the peppar spray, or tazer, useless against a crowd.}

_{Buy your self a 140 dB personalattack alarm and keep it with you, one at that level can be heard a long way off and will get people running to find out what is happening}

I just made a rapid, rough calculation. We have flats in Hong Kong that we rent. The return after tax and everything is around 4.5%. And this is without taking into account the capital appreciation. The price of one our flat doubled over a 5 years period. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that real estate will still be a major part of our investments. But not in Thailand. Beside the fact that the law is definitively not foreigner friendly, the return is very poor. Over a 12 years period, on our house in Bangkok, if you take into account the cost of the mortgage, if we decided to sell it now we would make about zero money

Research research research. Take your time but I would agree with what you are saying.

You asked I believe in an earlier thread about variations in exchange rates. It seems you are well on the way to partly overcoming that issue. You say properties in Europe ( UK or another county ? )

That means you have potential for at least 2 currency incomes HKD, Euro and or GBP. If you make some investments in USD ( property or otherwise but something which pays out in USD ) similarly with Japanese yen you have all the major currencies covered.

I am not suggesting Forex trading, but if you have an income in each of those currencies, then you are covering most of bases and if you can afford not to have to exchange then at the same time to live then you can just let the money accumulate ( reinvest ) and wait for the exchange rate to move in your favor.

This strategy only works if you can generate incomes in different countries/currencies and not need to exchange them all at the same time for living expenses.

Good luck you will be fine

Scotland.......Freedom

You have to do your homework yourself. I'd say, you need at least 6 months of serious reading on financial matters to get some idea before you invest a single Baht.

5% is realistically achievable if invested wisely. But keep most of your assets outsides of Thailand, or any other 3rd world country without proper legal protection.

All good advice especially the 6 month part. Research, compare, read, compare, split, diversify. You will be fine

_{50 MTHB invested in an annuity with dual people would give you a income index linked of about 160 000 a month.}

_{I would not suggest that you put it all into one scheme, but with that amount you will have no problems what so ever.}

_{If you go the annuities route shop around, tell them if you smoke, overweight, astmatic or whatever, you could get 20% more.}

_{Better with that amount to speak with an true independent financial consutant ( NOT IN THAILAND )}