Blackandwhite

John Burdett - new book is out - reads well so far loving it

My daughter is half thai and speaks good Thai, wife Thai. Not sure how finances will be by the time we come over but sure will find it hard to spend 200k a month based on our standard of living at present.

but if I do die early, I'll die happy from too much drinking and too much fun with girls

Try to get any inclination toward excessive drinking under control while you're still working, it tends to escalate after retirement.

Re fun with girls, you'll have a much better time - not just from a financial POV - if you pretend to be much poorer than you are.

It's not actually a very challenging game anyway, so my most important advice - set up at least one major project that requires time energy and most of all your brain.

Just "enjoying yourself" is actually a waste of time, stressful and conducive to an early death. Set goals and work to achieve them, important ones not just busy work.

He'he... thanks for your consulting

No need to worry about me...

- no alcohol during week while at work and 1 bottle of fantastic Italien red on the weekend...

- experienced with Thai girls and already done all the mistakes a newbie can do...

- loads of books to be read while I enjoy my beer in a pub near the beach (NOT gogo and girlie bars..)

- already set up for lot of things to do when there, like play my sax in a band, involved in charity work, maybe look for volunteering in tourist police as I will be pretty fluent in Thai when I come (besides my other 4 languages)

Edit: all above the result of 7y coming to Thailand and 3y of planning my next move and looking at where I could or could not live...

you will need a work permit to play in a band, volunteer police well if you have any form of education you will give up on that one prity soon, dealing with one drunk farang after another after another after another. Dont need to be able to speak Thai for that just 2 ears to listern to drunk moorons who been robbed by freelansers off the beach.

My daughter is half thai and speaks good Thai, wife Thai. Not sure how finances will be by the time we come over but sure will find it hard to spend 200k a month based on our standard of living at present.

Bigjohnnybk - good heads up on the drinking - see lots of guys spend the majority of their retirement drunk and moaning about wife and in laws.

Will be looking a a small project to keep me busy, will consider what nearer the time a base it on what I enjoy at time. It will mainly be to keep me out of the pub. I have a tendancy to drink if bored.

I really do appreciate the reply's I do get surprised with the way some up sticks shoot off to Thailand with no real understanding of the situation they will believing in.

One thing I feel is important is below.

Thailand as amazing as it is needs to be understood for what it is as a whole. Unless you understand the full picture things can go bad quick. I am half African spent time in Ghana and Sierra Leonne both of which are third world as is Thailand. Think once living in countries like Thailand you need to live with it not necessarily how you want to live and have an understanding of culture at the top of the agenda. Defiantly live with it not against it.

Most important you need to do is your financial planning

- will you or your wife be working here, what is your source of income when coming here?

- what kind of lifestyle do you want to have here, which are do you want to live

Once you have made up your mind, plan for the savings necessary for your life up to 90y old (you never know). That's what I made 3y ago and now I am working on getting the necessary savings to allow me to make the move in another 3-4y. My goal is to have 200K Baht avail every month for the next 40y so that I am safe for every situation, including expensive GF and medical emergencies.

Some of your questions really can't be answered now (or the answes will not help you in 6y to come), as you don't know what will change in your own country (i.e. laws about retirement money to be taken out) or in Thailand (political situation, Royal family, Visa laws, property laws, so many things could change)

Other questions can't be answered as too individual, i.e. how your wife will adjust to the new situation, how you will adjust to all the Thai girls around you, what you need for yourself with regards to returning and visiting relatives back home (i.e. will your daughter want to come with you or not) or how many real friends you have that you would want to come and visit you.

Thanks for your reply, saving as we speak, you realise you will need to save nearly £2'000000.00 2 million pounds if you allow for 200k per month in thai baht ? For 40 years

All good suggestions guys, some I have not thought of. Thanks

You have the time to digitize ALL your important documents. Put them on the internet so you can easily access any document you will need when you are in Thailand.

Now your talking - that is a fantastic idea - thanks for a great suggestion Dancealot

There really is no point in enquiring about present-day conditions and regulations if you're not considering moving for the next 6 years. The situation could have changed completely by then.

I did not ask about present day conditions, not sure if you are answering the right post but you sure do appear confused. I am asking about experiences of making the more to Thailand and how you found it.

All good suggestions guys, some I have not thought of. Thanks

Planning stuff? I would have planned to win a lottery.

I looked around on internet for about a year before emigrating, visited a few times before that. Either you like it or you don't.

I took about two months to organise stuff, shipping my tools and machines over, working out how to get the cat here, visa stuff and selling everything I owned. 6 to 8 years? wow.

Yes 6-8 years, schooling is important for our daughter and we owe her the time to be here for school,

How did you handle the cat situation ?

Took me a about four weeks to organise relocation to Thailand upon being made redundant & opting for early retirement. My Thai wife, after living overseas for many years, initially found Thailand dirty, noisy and the endemic corruption irritating, took her a while to readjust. Plan for cost of living increases

Yes I can understand cost of living being a good thing to factor in, we notice each time we come over how some things are more expensive than the uk and it is we feel expensive here.

Thanks for a reply that is helpful.

What's the meaning of life? Anyone?.... Please....

Well, thank you sir, fantastic answer

Excuse me about that, but i felt you were i tat too organized to venture into this relocation. To be honest.. I try to answer all your questions with one answer. Why do you want to move? Respectfully, sorry again for answering your question with another question.

Without going into lots of boring detail, we have a daughter sheiks 11 I want her to see out school in the Uk otherwise I would make the move sooner.

Wife thai. She is happy where I am happy usual chilled our type :-) that she is.

I have an issue with the uk on many grounds mainly being weather and the general feeling of being ruled and controlled by a society that I ring hard to link with on a personal level.

I look at older couples here in the uk and what they do for fun and I think there are more options available for me in Thailand. Added to the fact the weather is awful here.

Guess out of frustration of waiting I am looking to make plans as soon as to give me a way to will the years away sooner.

Is there stuff I could be planning now that will help, I do not know hence my questions

Hope this makes sense

What's the meaning of life? Anyone?.... Please....

Well, thank you sir, fantastic answer

When you made a move to Thailand what preparation did you do.

How long did you prepare for your move ?

Was there anything you overlooked or forgot to arrange ?

Did your plans change much from what you had intended might happen ?

Were there any real surprises things that you had not accounted for ?

What was the most stressful part to the move ?

Do you return home to visit your home country and do folks come out to see you for holidays ?

Did your relationship ( if you had one ) with a girlfriend or wife change once there in Thailand ?

If you had one piece of advice for those of us stil to set sail to far and distant lands what would it be ?

Just asking - we are quite a few years away from moving yet like 6 - 8 years but will need to be organised as I am with most things and if I am not I can go a bit mad. Things like getting paperwork in order, did you leave certain stuff in the Uk for safe keeping.

Hello, I have a problem the same, it is dry chilli powder that attacks my bowl and stomach that give the unpleasant feeling, I now use fresh chilli in as much as possible in place of dried, the only way I eat dry is to make sure it is ground and cooked in pastes ect, when adding to salads and dishes like larb fresh is the best way.

Hola, I am guessing you do not speak Thai and that equally they do not speak English.

We only visit Thailand as we live in the uk, wife's family are nice, we of course do not have lengthy discussions about much as our language barrier stops us, also our live are very vastly different. They are most probably not ignoring you or wishing to make you feel upset by their actions but I have found Thai people the older generation often say nothing when nothing is needed and wasted conversation with you would not be on the top of the days things to do.

You would soon know if the were pissed off with you and or the way your relationship has effected the family balance so don't worry be happy.

I would not recommend you change anything in what you do for the family or the levels of patience you have with them, I am sure the respect you show them with you cool heart and kind financial help does not go unseen.

Good luck, respect your elders and enjoy what you have also sounds like you have a lovely relationship with you wife so by trying to remain patient with the in laws will ensure the relationship remains a happy one.

Blackandwhite

Also that is an issue also, genraly there is in the next ten year going to be lots less spare money coming in to Thailand so make you wonder what will happen to all those houses and condo's that are not being sold. Will it bring price down, my guess is yes or at least it will put prices back to what they should be for the destination.

Example is Hua Hin, very popular with Thias and falangs but they have different requirements to Europeans. Prices are extravagant to say the least surly property prices will have to stabilize or come down at some point.

This is an observation only.

I first visited Thailnd some 15 years ago, at the time there were a few different types of Falang out there buying property with girlfriend or wife or if lucky both !

They fell into a few catagories

Old with money from home married thai living in nice house - old man dies family are then left money in will.

Older man with pension payout ( when they existed ) buys house for wife / girl friend lives happy ever after or splits from wife spend the remainder of pension on the fun life thailand offers

Average male in thailand of middle age, comes and goes with maybe the intention of moving to thailand to see out the winter months. Money there

Occasional young male marries nice lady and flit from place to place as building work is good in Europe and they holiday some for years then build own house

Oil workers drop in and out base in thailand supported by good income.

Poor man goes has the time of his life goes home poor saves against go back each year till he can't

The occasional younger person in thailand on holiday loves it begs to the bank of Mum and Dad back home buys a small house and bar - looses all goes home.

All the above meant houses were bought and sold at a good rate and kept then market high.

Also the European couples that fall in love with thailand and buy a house to holiday in, can't own it goes wrong they then sell house to try and recoup some money.

Now what I am seeing is younger men the same age as the ladies they are meeting falling in love and marrying thai ladies but and this is where I think things will change, they visa the ladies to europe live with family scrape enough money to buy a flat, the lady misses home and returns or they try to scrape enough money together to buy a house in europe, when they retire they can't afford to move to thailand as they have no spare cash as thing are tough in Europe and money scarce, pensions poor, investments non existant,

Even though esteticly it is nice for soppy people to see thai girls with men their age ( I don't mind either way ) there is a fundamental issues on many counts.

The money that has been brought into thailand unless there is a dramatic economical change will become lots less over the next 5 - 10 years. As the money that was there just is not there.

This in turn wil effect tourism and property, resorts and villages from Surat to issan are full of Falang and families with let's call old money, once the younger generation are heading to a time in life when they might choose to live in thailand they will not be able too, so what happens ??

Demand for property purchase goes down ?

Rental property becomes more popular ?

Houses retain value but less are required or maybe as rental demand goes up and yes there are lots of empty conds's ect empty already maybe house will also continue to be sold the the few that can afford them and rental properties ?

Thoughts

Thank you, yes looks like the thai way is in the way here, there must be a way the properties can be bought for a fair price, be a great business venture if someone somehow could get these properties selling, maybe with the right approach to the authorities. Guessing there are some part thai Falang property companies that could along with the appeal of the money starting to change hands to the correct authorities start getting the empty properties selling and being used.

Maybe maybe not, maybe for once " not - up to you "

If you want to spend a lot of time in Thailand but at the same time hold property for investment in the UK (or elsewhere) that is not unreasonable, but I would argue that the further away the property is from Thailand the more it should fit the criteria of being 'maintenance-lite'. ie if the property is long-haul travel I do not want to have to deal with 'problems'. Making a 2.5 hour trip to Hong Kong is a lot different to making a 12 hour trip to the UK. Cheap UK property in secondary locations is also more difficult to sell. So rather than having a string of down-market properties in the UK I would prefer to stick the pot into one or two upmarket purpose-built apartments in primary locations. A lesser return re income? Yes, maybe, but it better enables the primary objective which is to support living in SE Asia and not be a problematic distraction.

Great point there thanks, guess that is a good option to consider, SE Asia is where I wish to be in a few years time, but to manage property without large agent fee's could be a pain.

If I managed a property portfolio from Thailand that was in the Uk I am guessing a benefit would be I could use my journeys home for family visits as business trips and cover expenses and save taxes on potential earnings from properties

Do the banks here sell repossessions ??

If so how can I get involved to buy one ?

Thanks

Is there anyone out there with a view or opinion on this, I am looking for a new investment either here in the UK or Thailand and have no experience in Thailand ??

I've kept my UK rental properties, as they have good yield and excellent capital growth. Haven't bought in Thailand because it's pretty difficult to make money. Property seems overpriced, there are 1000s of empty condos, it's difficult to buy/sell at a good price. It's much easier in the UK at the moment. You can make money here, but it's a lot harder than in the UK. Maybe because I know the market there much better.

Thanks for your reply, I am tending to agree with you, I base my thoughts on facts only, never had the inclination to invest in thailannd as unsure of the market. Anyone out there doing well with rental properties in Thailand ??

Thoughts,

I have a few small rental properties in the uk, they have a 6-7% rental yield,

On figures that landlords get in thailand taking into account, it seams some properties are hard to resell if needed and the complications with ownership ect

What are thoughts on keeping investments in the Uk or home country rather than thailand??

Any experience on good returns would be interesting ?

Thoughts,

I have a few small rental properties in the uk, they have a 6-7% rental yield,

On figures that landlords get in thailand taking into account, it seams some properties are hard to resell if needed and the complications with ownership ect

What are thoughts on keeping investments in the Uk or home country rather than thailand??

Any experience on good returns would be interesting ?

Oh dear, what a waste of beer, I guess you very good looking and better than any 65 year old man !!!

Hi. I get this problem and I have worked out it is only when the chili used in the food is of the dried type rather than fresh, think it is where it takes longer to digest and therefor irritates the gut and or stomach.

See if you can work out if when you get it if you have had food with fresh or dried chilly in it.

Might be just my intolerance but worth a try.

I have read some odd stuff here before but this is different. The sad fact is that if this lady that has told the story of here love of making money by having sex then there is a very sad outcome coming which is a child starting n uncertain life but who is bad here another falang has been to Thailand and used the sex trade in an uneducated and irresponsible manor and left his mark.The victim here being the pregnant lady and unborn child the victim is most probably under educated and does not understand the true value of a normal life. Sad.

Also the other possibility is that the the lady visiting the OP feels inferior due the fact the OP has a status above her and is simply trying to put herself on a higher pedistallplatform by making up stories about her life.