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Jbax
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Posts posted by Jbax
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In total agreement about International Living. They're mostly real estate touts that also have apparently discovered a lucrative fee-based retirement seminar sideline. Unfortunately they have grown so influential in certain circles that they have the ability to screw up the small cities/communities they promote. Thanks to them, I doubt you can find a $300 month condo in Cuenca today. Granted, Ecuador's a large country with lots of other cities, but still...
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That guy on the end doesn't look very Chinese...
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Fiat currency or not, the fact is I get my pension in USD. When I got to Thailand last year, K Bank paid me 28.93, it's something like 32.26 Friday. That's 3.33 baht since August 16th 2013. That's 11.51% in 6 months and 5 days... if that trend continues (and political instability coupled with a potential national bank collapse does not bode well for a trend reversal), the THB could easily lose 20% against the USD on an exchange. This destroys any incentive to exchange USD for THB for anything beyond monthly expenses.
Terrific for me personally. I'm already living like Scrooge McDuck here.
I'm not saying don't have any money in a Thai bank... I keep one month's expenses on hand in THB and just live with the exchange fluctuation. It's there if I need it.
Say what you will about the USD, but show me a substitute currency as accepted or able to cover entire business sector trades. The Yuan has the potential perhaps, but is shackled by market concerns regarding centralized manipulation. Australia is facing huge economic issues that threaten to drive the AUD down to .84/USD in 2014 (taking some of the sting out of paying $12 for a Perth Big Mac, but not much). The Pound? I'd wait for a decision from Scotland. The Euro? I give you issues regarding Greece, Portugal and Spain... Rubles? Last time I was in the former Soviet Union they couldn't travel. Gold? Bitcoins?
But this is an exercise in futility. If you're living in Thailand, you're inexorably tied to your mother currency whether it be in Canadian dollars, USDs or Norwegian sardines... (no offense to my lovely neighbors from Kaharvoordoolapnsk... I may have misspelled that... I just never saw so many nasty ways to re-purpose a fish). If and when the THB turns on the USD I'll throw gobs of money at a Thai bank.
Sardine paste
Sardine-based joint compound
10-40w high mileage Sardine oil
Sardine Macciotta, I prefer the tall size at Starbucks...
Rustoleum indoor-outdoor Spray Paint Color #23R: Shimmering Sardine
(apologies to George Gershwin) You say "Herring", I say "Sardine"...
Sardine: Because "Pilchard" sounds even more revolting.
After all, they could've named Sardinia, what? Halibutania? Basstopia? The Isle of Carp?
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To all;
So, what I'm hearing is Ecuador seems to be #1, Philippines, Laos and Cambodia (Texas is just too foreign for me, but I doooo like my steaks).
For me personally, it was a struggle between Thailand and Ecuador. Siam won because I'd been here 8-10 times before, dating back to washing up on a barren Pattaya Beach in 1979 in the Navy (it was just a handful of open air bars, and a dozen hookers that were outnumbered by Germans who all seemed to have month-long vacations working for Bosch. Acht du leiber, what a bunch of pervs).
I do think it's important to always have a Plan B and C rattling around in the back of your head. Personally I retired early from the Treasury Dept., I'm not wealthy by any means but in Chiang Mai I feel like Scrooge McDuck. I rent a new condo (a glorified Marriott Hotel type of room, but what passes as a "condo" in the kingdom), have a maid, wifi, cable (sadly sporting only one English-language channel that seems to show the latest installment of DIE HARD on an endless loop)... I've fallen into a lifestyle routine that can easily be handled on 35,000 baht a month (including rent, which the women I've dated complain I'm being ripped off but it a laughable 9000 baht a month)--- I have a so-called retirement visa and scored Thai drivers licenses (why they don't just do MC endorsements is beyond me, but oh well... when in Rome) and am able to travel on a whim. The sum of which is life is probably pretty damn good here compared to most of the rest of the world.. I couldn't live like this in Portland or Denver.
Ecuador still looms as Plan B. Esmeraldes or Cuenca. Higher crime, cheaper gas. I could bone up on Espanol by watching Telemundo,
The Philippines? I was stationed there for 3 years in the Nav... Higher crime, even more trash, weaker infrastructure (depending upon where you live, none). I love remote beaches but get sand crazy eventually. Anywhere undisturbed in PI is far, far away from anywhere. The peso goes as far on a sawbuck as does baht, but it has a completely different vibe and everyone seems to be out to rip you off. I don't get that in Chiang Mai. And go too far south and you've got issues staying alive.
Plan C: Malta, specifically, Gozo. Safest country on the planet. English is widely spoken (most flats are owned by UK'ers and subleased), Beaches, scuba diving, bicycles, jugs of wine, loaves of bread & thou me. I can't afford it year round, but it's do-able 4-5 months out of the year.
Australia: wildly expensive. I love it but I was in Perth in December and paid $11.50 for a Big Mac (not a combo meal mind you... just twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheeseonaseasameseedbun). Outrageous. Gas was 6.50 a gallon (yes, an Imperial Gallon, but c'mon....). The cheapest hotel I could find was $125 a night. A can of Coke was $4..50 at a gas station (I was looking for "aine" at that price). Aside from the fact that Australia doesn't want anyone with less than a gazillion dollars retiring there, anyone could live cheaper on Maui.
I've been all over Thailand... next year maybe Chiang Rai. I love the beaches but the high season hordes of ever increasing numbers of Russian party animals is insufferable.
Do I have complaints? Sure... Thais drive scooters like Ty fighters defending the Death Star. I'm convinced Tuk-Tuks are operated by retired Somalian pirates. The sidewalks in Chiang Mai are something out of the last reel of an Irwin Allen disaster movie. And much of the food seems to contain napalm left over from the Vietnam war... (Kaw Soi will surely be the focal point of my autopsy).
I am now, at heart a farang.
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To All;
I'm just curious as to where everyone's Plan B retirement country might be and why? In other words, if Thailand suddenly became impossible, where would you land?
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If you keep a lot of money in THB it's the exchange rate that will kill you in 2014. The THB could drop precipitously in the event of political upheaval or the failure of a major bank. I'm not impressed by my Thai bank's 3.5% APR offers... I just keep 30,000 baht in there for a cushion (and for the record I scored a Thai bank account on a 30-day tourist visa while passing through BKK on a dive trip in 2011... it can be done). Also, if you DO plan on keeping a large sum in THB make certain you understand how interest is paid--- in lots of cases you forfeit interest earned if withdrawn before the official paid date.
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I stick with U.S. stocks--- right now good ol' venerable AT&T (T) is sitting near 52-week lows paying a whopping 5.5% yield. I would suggest a limited order to buy @ 32.90 and place a Good Until Canceled limited order to sell at 36. My time horizon on this is 9 months which would provide 3 dividend payments equaling 4.125% and a 10.46% total profit when it hits (providing an effective APR of 13.46. A large cap paying you 2x inflation to hold it at the bottom of a 52-week trading range is when you pull the trigger.
Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand
Retirement: If Not Thailand, Where?
in Visas and migration to other countries
Posted
I've never been to Ecuador, but looked at it seriously before Thailand became irresistible. I've hear crime in Quito is bad (worse in the southern city of Guayaquil) and have read of wild tales of the difficulty of just getting out of the airport without being victimized. Yeah, that may be overblown. But the roads are terrible and the government restricts the importation of used cars, which combine to mitigate the cheap Venezuelan gas. Spanish would definitely be easier than learning Thai, but that's the benefit of being attractive to Thai women. I get along pretty well in Chiang Mia despite only being able to count to 4 and saying thank you.
Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand