nietzche

I can't speak for Europeans, but as for Americans, I'd say there are a lot more retired in Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, etc. than in Thailand.

This has actually been discussed on another thread.

There are 1000 times more Americans who have retired to Mexico and South America.

I love South America just as much as Thailand. However, when I retire (40 years from now) I would be more inclined to do so in South America.

Cops and politicians down there are just as corrupt as Thailand, however, it's not out there in the open like it is over here.

And you can also own property

In the US, the average household makes USD $50,000 per year. Romney claims anything under $200,000 per year is middle class, which is 96% of the population.

Most agree that the cost of living for most people, especially at the lower end (and most especially for older sex maniacs) is much lower in Thailand than in the US.

The vast majority of westerners living and working in Thailand make under B100,000 per month, and would consider that a very comfortable salary, with the exception being those wanting to pay for a decent English-language education for their children.

Some retirees and full-package expats maintain their western standard of living, rate of expenditures and their back-home income expectations despite living here long-term, and tend to sneer at the rest of the expats described above.

Does this help answer your question?

Most retirees I have me here don't really do very well. Don't know how much a typical continental European pension is, but they definitely seem to do better than their U.K. counterparts.

In the U.S. currently, if you pay the maximum social security payments and take late retirement (69 or 70) your monthly pension will be just $2,700/month.

People who have money retire to places like Florida, Las Vegas, the Caribbean, etc.

Those who don't retire to places like Thailand & Mexico.

In talking about these issues here, I figure for long-term residents in the not-too-outrageous levels, baht-per-month pretty well translates to dollars-per-year for overall relative standard of living. For me anyway, where labor-intensive local inputs far outweigh imported goods.

IOW I consider a 100,000 baht a month lifestyle here to be comparable - actually superior - to a USD $100K per annum one back home, even though it actually translates to around 40K.

But what I really love about Thailand isn't even available over there though so in the end it's apples to oranges innit.

I agree.

Aside from Bangkok, I usually find that the equivalent per month in Thai baht, is the equivalent to a annual amount in dollars per year in terms of lifestyle:

For example: 90,000 baht/month = $90,000 /year (equivalent lifestyle).

I personally think that if you are single in Thailand and have income of over 60 - 70k/month you are living quite comfortably (unless you live in Pattaya and visit the beer bars every night )

There is a Chinese saying that goes something like this..."It does not matter how much money you make each month. What matters is how much money you have left after each month."

My friend recently returned to the U.S. after a 6 month stay in Thailand while he was between jobs. He is currently earning $95,000/year over there.

Was talking on the phone the other day, and he told me that he can't save s**t!

Was a similar situation for myself. So as the other guy said "it's not about what you earn, so much as what you can save".

I earn a lot less here in Thailand, but save a whole lot more.

If you cut out all of those bad habits (boozing every night, women, etc.) you will see you bank account grow quite rapidly

Men in the West cheat on their partners also.

The only difference is that they do not have as many opportunities to do so as we do

I'm sure they would if they could.

why do so many expats drink, and i dont just mean drink i mean to the level of mega abuse.

I was in an expat bar/restaurant this morning for my usual saturday morning english breakfast. It was around 9am. Out of the four westerners in the bar, I was the only one not drinking.

I don't care what you say, alcohol at 9am is f****ng insane.

Great for Thailand that Obama is coming here of course. Cambodia will be happy too.

But the real focus of the trip from the US viewpoint is Myanmar.

Spot on! Thailand is a mere stopover so Mr Obama can go and touch up Burma's oil people now it's OK to like Burma again...

Absolutely correct. Obama has been in office for 4 years now, and it's his first visit to Thailand. This is just a courtesy call. His main objective is to negotiate favorable terms with the Burmese regarding international trade, and their vast natural resources.

I think that the Thai government is fooling themselves if they think there is going to be any progress with US - Thai trade. Thailand is one of the worlds most protectionist countries. Import taxes on American products are as much as 100%.

Why would the U.S agree to give Thailand any concessions, especially at a time when the U.S is getting tough on unfair trade practices. I think the meeting between Yingluck and Obama is going to consist of Obama telling Thailand that if they don't open up their economy, and eliminate the ridiculous tariffs on U.S. products, then their status will be even further downgraded.

Ghosts?

Speak for yourself.

I would love to see a ghost. It would mean that they were indeed real, and I could focus my time on figuring out how to become one after death.

Once this was accomplished, I would haunt the s**t out of some people I don't like.

if you met your wife in a bar, park,club, beach, dosnt matter,

be happy,

jake

Is this a serious question? Of course it matters.

That is really a ridiculously idealogical statement. If you met your wife in church as opposed to a brothel, then it would be fair to assume who is more likely to be trustworthy, reliable, etc

By anyone's definition, Thailand is a third world country, and that's the discussion really.

Certainly not anyone's, and the word itself isn't useful anymore as its considered an insult. And I don't consider the discussion that fruitful, like defining "middle class" ends up being an argument about the basis for arbitrary terms.

Rapidly "developing" is more accurate.

Thailand's GDP is pretty respectable, and per-capita beats out China.

It's light-years ahead of the bottom half of the 200+ countries, depending how you count.

Thailand is defined by the World Bank as being a "transitional economy". This is the second tier between "Third World" and "First World".

Many people like to point out that the minimum wage in Thailand is very low. This is true, however, the minimum wage in the United States is very low also (around $240/week after taxes). Try living on that. At least in Thailand the poor don't have to pay taxes from their meagre paycheck.

During the credit bubble in the U.S. I was able to take out a $25,000 car loan without any job (I was in graduate school at the time). I also had around 5 credit cards with combined limits of 40k +.

A similar trend is emerging here in Thailand. Property prices are rising very rapidly and credit is freely available to everyone. There is a lot of Chinese money flooding into this region.

The point is that something has got to give. The Thai's are on a similar road the the Americans and Europeans. Funding lifestyles through loans will only end in disaster.

Was recently in the local branch of K-bank, and literally everyone who worked there had an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. I do not know for sure, but I imagine that a bank teller salary pay's maybe around 10 - 15k baht or so per month.

A new iPhone costs around 20,000 baht. That's 2 months salary to these people. If you take the average salary for a working professional in a big city like NY (around $70,000/year) then buying an iPhone on a Thai office workers salary is equivalent to a westerner walking around with a $7,000 phone?

Another example. I have met many young Thai people who work in offices, yet they all have cars? Their salaries tend to be in the 15k range also.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the math just doesn't add up?

It seems like the criteria for receiving credit in Thailand is very low at this point. It would be very interesting to see an honest study analyzing exactly how much the average middle class Thai person spends every month paying off loans used to buy all of these shiny new things.

I'd also imagine that the typical Thai household is up to their eyeballs in debt.

Do any TV members with Thai in-laws/family have any insight/insider knowledge on this subject?

I don't think he means the changing of their birth names, but a change in their nick names when they move to a foreign country.

Many Chinese immigrants changed their names upon arriving to the U.S.

My ex GF's parents changed their last name from Liu to Lew. Her and her sisters all have western first names.

It's just a case of fitting in most of the time. In regards to Thai people, they have very long names which are often difficult to pronounce.

Makes sense I think. It works both way's also. I had a friend who worked in Korea, and he had a Korean nickname.

Apart from having sex with kids, he now has a kid.

Pity the child. Going to grow up in a broken home and all that.

Ouch! That's rough man....

I think everyone's missing the point!

The OP bought a MacBook air. The real question is why?

Half the RAM capacity, SSD limitations, 1 USB port, and only 50% more expensive than the far more powerful MacBook Pro

What a horrible decision

What usually happens is that a thread will go wildly off topic, then become a heated argument about bar girls and buying houses in the wife's name.

Generally someone will come in a couple of days later having only read the first few posts, and the thread will return to it's original train of thought.

Already had a paternity test. The kid is 99.9% mine doucher!

Age of consent in Thailand is 15 (same as France), you're in the clear.

Only her parents can object or make a complaint ......

(If you get married with the permission of a judge ....... age 13)

Hehe, Tommo, sounds like your an expert in this field

Be really careful on this and the poster suggesting a lawyer is correct. The US can be maniacal on this.

An individual cannot be prosecuted in the United States for a crime committed on foreign soil.

There is something called "jurisdiction". A court must have jurisdiction over the case in order to prosecute. Even if this happened in New York, and you moved to California, the courts in California could not prosecute the case.

Given that you committed this "crime" in Thailand (and I'm not sure what the age of consent is here) the only place that could prosecute you could be Thailand.

Given all of the debauchery that goes on here, that is almost 100% unlikely.

On another note, how can you have child with a girl and never check her ID card?

BTW, if you did do this in the U.S. you would be facing some serious jail time.

I am almost sure that she will get nothing as a foreign wife. Indeed, a mate of mine in Thailand is close to passing, lives riggght out in the boonies on the Burmese border and when he goes they have no intention of informing the authorities so the pension keeps getting paid into his account and she keeps the ATM.

Good planning skills though.

Yea! nice honest people,commit Fraud,rob another Country,that owes them nothing. I'm sure they will be proud of themselves.

Dosen't it take about 4 or 5 young working people to support one state pension in terms of taxes?

There are folks back in the U.K. that can barely pay their heating bills because their pension is so low.

Why should this person's foreign wife continue to take young British taxpayers money, when she has never contributed to the system??

And people wonder why Europe is on the verge of financial collapse.

To many scammers and freeloaders!

The above link is live if you click on it, it has a LIVE countdown. I presume he has to be in a "spaceman" suit of some kind.

Sounds interesting non the less.

yeah im aware of the downloading rules ,mind you isnt thailand going down that same path.

2 years imprisonment and an 800,000 Baht fine for downloading torrents ?

Oh and uploaders can face up to 10 years in jail and a 10,000,000 Yen fine, that about 4,000,000 Baht !!

Free wifi spots are rarer that hens teeth too, even in Hi Tech Tokyo, and trying to get a mobile phone in Japan can be a nightmare if you don't have a residence card.

But, Japan is a fascinating Country, the people are in General very polite and helpful and usually honest, I left my wallet in a Tokyo Taxi, I still had the taxis reciept with call numbers to the taxi company, there was about 3000 USD in the wallet, Credit Cards, ATM, drivers license etc etc.

Within 30 Mins I had my untouched wallet delivered to me by the driver,and it isn't unusual, that heavens another Gaijin didn't get in the same cab and see it first !!

I think that's a once in a lifetime occurrence. Very lucky!

I left my blackberry in a Thai taxi a few months ago. Called it a few minutes later and the taxi driver had already removed the sim card and claimed it as his own

I would have been willing to pay a finders fee of course. Didn't even get the chance to offer.

You know he is in a special suit, right?

Apparently the last couple of people who attempted to bread the record died.

The broadcast will be on a slight delay in case something unforeseen happens.

Don't feed The Troll

Sorry, but I do not understand your post?

Win what?

Since when did the U.K. manufacture anything anyway? Like to U.S. they have completely outsourced the majority of all industrial production.

When was the last time you met a factory worker in the U.K.?

Ignorance is obviously bliss read the link posted earlier that UK actually now produces more cars than Germany. I fully agree the industrial situation in the UK is sad but to even try and compare it with Thailand is apples and oranges

It is easy to compare UK auto sales 2010 1,393,463, Thailand 1,644,513. Now that wasn't hard was it?

I don't mean any offense, but aside from cars/steel as someone else stated, the U.K. is not know for industrial production, where Thailand is.

It's a natural progression for a more advanced economy to move away from the production low end tangibles, to the production of higher end goods and services.

The U.S. (I'm sure the U.K. also) derives around 50% of it's GDP from "services", (i.e. financial, intellectual, intangibles).

Before the government bailout of GM in the U.S., the average 'union' UAW autoworker received a salary (including benefits) of around $75 per hour. The average college graduate received less than half of that.

Production of things like automobiles will naturally be reallocated to countries with lower production costs (as they should be).

This does not mean the U.K. is losing. It just means that he average U.K. consumer wins because they pay a lower price for such goods.

The profits still flow back to the companies home country.

In the era of globalization, it is no longer a case of once country winning and the other losing. When one country wins, generally everyone else wins and vice versa. There are only variations in the degree of success.

My parents are in their 60's. They both have said that they will never retire because they would not know what to do with their time. (Both are doctors).

This is a consequence of working hard all of your life.

They do not need to worry about finances as they have saved and lived responsibly all of their lives. (unlike so many Thai's who squander money on items they cannot afford).

My parents have a very large combined income for the U.S., but I don't think my dad's ever owned a watch or a pair of shoes that cost more than $100 dollars.

The U.S. is not renowned for taking care of the old are sick either. That's why from an early age I was taught to get educated and save.

You cannot rely on other people to take care of you in your old age. I would not want nor expect it.

Back home I see elderly in their 70's, etc. who still work. I think for those westerners who are younger (like myself) the idea of retirement no longer exists.

Since the age of 18, I don't think a month has went by when I didn't put some money (no matter how small) in my savings account.

Don't feed The Troll

Win what?

Since when did the U.K. manufacture anything anyway? Like to U.S. they have completely outsourced the majority of all industrial production.

When was the last time you met a factory worker in the U.K.?