GarryP

Germany.

My witnesses didn't visit SB, nor were they interviewed by phone, but I applied just over 9 years ago.

1. Yes. Yellow Tabien Bahn. 2. Letter from you bank certifying your savings. This is separate from you regular salary. Not sure whether investment accounts can be used instead. 3. Yes. Your employer's Corporate tax returns going back 3 years. I assume they will need these for your current employer regardless that you have been with them for only one month. It may be difficult getting them from a previous employer anyway. 4. No idea. As yankee99 said. Check with SB on anything you are not sure about.

An avocado update. The wife just threw another 3 stones in the garden this morning. So I'll see what happens. The one that is already growing will get potted so we can take it with us when we move to Kalasin.

It's listed on the Thailand language version. https://www.nissan.co.th/vehicles/new-vehicles/new-terra.html But if you click to change the language to English it disappears.

Thanks.

I have both those funds. InnoTech has proven very good so far I am up 91% on that. For B-Care, I had to sell a load when I bought a house and that coincided with a big downswing, but still up 36% overall. Now investigating into ETFs. I am not looking into investing in funds from overseas as all my money is in Thailand anyway. I am willing to accept the higher charges of the Thai fund managers.

Were you friends with Harold Shipman?

I have seen Owl's trials and tribulations with avocados so thought I'd share how my wife handled it. She ate the avocado, removed the outer shell (thick skin) from the stone, couldn't be arsed sticking toothpicks in the stone as professionals (Owl) recommend, so threw the stone in the garden. Lo and behold it took off.

Depends where you are going. If going somewhere that does not require a visa for Thais, just use your Thai passport. However, I assume you are going somewhere where a visa is required for Thais but not someone carrying your home country passport. In that case, it is just as you said. At the check in counter you need to show both, but at immigration only show your Thai passport. If the electronic gates are back in use, use those and you won't need to show your passport to Immigration.

I used to only use a fan in the bedroom, but since I moved into another house and got married, we always have aircon on at night. Not in any other rooms though. Even working from home in April I don't have aircon, only a fan. When I retire to Kalasin in 2023 it will be the same.

At which temple will the funeral service be held?

Definitely can. My late wife's father drowned trying to swim across the Mun river to Warinchamrap (the bridge was out). His body was found by the steps of the house so he nearly made it, but the consensus is that he was well oiled when he tried it. About 45 years ago.

Yes, it says not to use chemicals to catch worms. So theoretically, if you just go in and dig around for worms, you won't get fined. Like you say, probably the chemicals are harming the palms.

A little bit more information. If you continue working for the same employer past 60 years old, they should continue paying in for you and deduct an equivalent amount from your salary. Each year of employment by the same employer past 60 will be added to the total number of years of employment and payment into the scheme when calculating your pension. If you have already paid in excess of 15 years and retire at 60, you will receive a monthly pension. You do not have the choice of taking the lump sum. However, if you wish to stay in the SS for healthcare, etc, you need to apply within 6 months of your retirement/termination, but your pension will be put on hold until you cease paying in. That is, if you want healthcare coverage, you will not receive a pension and vice versa. There is one issue that is worth considering. If you continue paying in as voluntary contributions post retirement, when you decide to stop paying in, the method of calculating your pension at such time would be calculated on a different basis and ultimately your pension would be much smaller than had you taken it at 60 and gone without healthcare coverage. In my case, I will receive a pension of Baht 5,025. However, if I were to delay the pension by making voluntary contributions for healthcare, when I finally stop contributing and receive my pension, the monthly pension will be less than a quarter of what I would have received had I taken the pension at 60. The HR manager where I work gave me a breakdown of how it is calculated but I couldn't take notes fast enough. He recommended taking the pension at 60 as that would total just over Baht 60,000 a year which should be enough for general healthcare needs anyway, and make use of the 30 Baht/gold card scheme as needed.

Mine no longer even shows when I had my first shot, just that I've had one. Not sure how to have the passport number added.

Surprised about Bangkok Bank. I had great service from them.

The change in the ballot system is very likely to see the number of MFP MPs drop considerably. This is the reason they voted against the change.

Wrong. My son had to go through the process. Luckily he got a black card in the lottery so did not have to serve.

One of the reasons I will not stay on over 60 is because I want the 400 days severance then, so I will definitely not be staying on over 60 on the same contract. Luckily, our office has set retirement at 60 anyway. If they wish to retain anyone past that, they put them on yearly contracts and usually reduce salary by about 25%. So I'd get my severance then anyway. I would not agree to a delay in that if they wanted to keep me on, because it is tied to current salary. If I waited a couple of years to retire and my salary was reduced, I'd be taking a big hit. As to SS, if I was hired on short term contracts I do not think they would be making any contributions for me. But then there is the issue of income/withholding tax and whether the SS Office can track the same, see that I have another income stream and refuse to pay me my pension. Like I said to GabbaGabbbaHey, I am going to have to do some research on this. It is certainly getting more confusing.

Not really something I had considered, but now you mention it I'll have to look into it further as I may take on part-time work after retirement. Potentially the company I currently work for may want to keep me on. The big thing for me is not to delay payment of severance pay which will be due upon retirement. As such, I will officially retire at 60 at the end of 2022 regardless what the company wants, so I can collect the 400 days severance. Then if they want to keep me on one year contracts after that, we can negotiate. If I find out anything more about collecting an SS pension and working part-time or other work, I'll let you know.

In the case of those who have not paid in for at least 180 months, they will not be entitled to a monthly pension and must take the lump sum anyway. I understand that if they time it right they can get the lump sum and then continue with voluntary contributions for healthcare coverage. Otherwise, they can pay voluntary contributions and the money stays in until they stop paying. At which point they will get the lump sum. For those who have paid in excess of 180 months (15 years), they will receive a pension of 20% of the average monthly salary (which is capped at 15,000) for the last 60 months plus 1.5% of the average salary (still capped at 15K) multiplied by the number of years exceeding those 180 months for which contributions continued to be paid. The SSO pension benefit was introduced in December 1998 and I was in the system then so I met the 180 months in December 2013. I will retire at the end of December 2022 which will mean I have another 9 years on top of that. So my pension will be Baht 15,000 x (20% + (9 x 1.5%)) = 15,000 x 33.5% = Baht 5,025. .

I will receive a wonderful pension of just over Baht 5,000 a month on the SS. I do not have the option of staying on for healthcare so will avail myself of the 30Baht scheme or whatever it is called now. As I will be moving upcountry to an area where there is no SS hospital (the nearest is 85 kms away), it really does not make much sense to stay on the SS for healthcare even if I could. So no loss in my case.

I was having the same problem as you about 9 years ago. I'm 181cm with quite a long inside leg and nowhere seemed to stock Large frames. I ended up ordering a Giant hybrid from Worldbike. It was a risk but I did try a couple of M sized frames and I needed a few more inches so thought I'd take it. 5 weeks wait, but I was happy with my choice. I went with Giant because for the same gear and brake sets other brands were much more expensive i.e. Cannondale, Trek, Specialized, etc. Merida was about the only one with comparable prices for equivalent gear and brake sets. I bought the Giant Seek 1. Unfortunately, I haven't been out on it for the past 4 years, but will definitely get back in the saddle when I retire at the end of 2022.

I tend to stick with particular threads of interest ( Real Estate, citizenship, DIY, etc.) and, like you, find the content very helpful. I normally steer away from the more general threads though because of the negativity.