newnative

Well, he was just named on Time Magazine's 2023 '100 List' in the 'Leaders' category. Nice honor.

Don't forget that a large number of them will be inheriting a big chunk of change from their parents, who also inherited, or will inherit, a big chunk of change from their parents. Famiies used to be large--my 5 siblings and I split our family trust 6 ways. Now, there's usually just a couple of kids to split the inheritance. A lot of wealth was created by the 'greatest generation', which tended to be thrifty, at least my parents were even when they no longer needed to be, and the baby boomers have been no slouches, either. I know all my nieces and nephews--I'm not sure what generation category they fall under--will be inheriting nice sums at some point from their baby boomer parents, none of whom was lazy. Their kids, I guess, would be Gen Z, and all that wealth will eventually go to them. So some, I guess, can afford to be a little lazy and maybe not take work quite as seriously as previous generations did.

Should be scrapped altogether or massively scaled down to just the neediest.

I've lost count on the number of times this has been proposed, studied, debated, committees formed, etc., etc. Now, yet another committee, this one with an unwieldy 60 members. Likely all yakking into the next century.

I'm in sort of the same boat as the OP. I'm 71, spouse is late 50s. He, fortunately, is educated and intelligent and will not squander any money away. He might qualify for some SS benefits when he reaches 62--I am a USA citizen and we were legally married in the US. That is sort of a murky area for me at this point as I don't know if we would have to live in the USA for 5 years for him to qualify for anything or if that is waived for survivor SS benefits--and the rules may be different when he reaches 62. He currently works and earns income on his own but I want him to be comfortable after I pass away. Our current strategy consists of USA stocks, most providing dividends, Thailand property--Pattaya house and Bangkok condo, and some cash in both countries. We maintain a joint USA bank account and some Thai bank accounts. Right now I feel we have more money in cash than we need, earning very low interest in both our USA and Thai bank accounts. More of the money is here in Thailand but we have not found anything like bonds, cds, etc. here that would be safe but still earn around 4 or 5% interest. We can afford to have the money tied up for several years or more. If anyone has stumbled upon any new investments here along those lines we would appreciate the heads up.

Well, we know who wears the pants in that political 'family'.

Good

I have no idea--and why in the World ask me. The point I was making was they are making the trek to Pattaya with staff, making all the effort to find and secure the meeting space, set up the space for the services, seating, appointments, etc., and all for just 2.5 hours of 'outreach'. Seems totally ridiculous to me--at the very least it should have been an all-day affair, or why even bother.

That's the fun of it! But, I also order on-line.

My spouse and I are going to Japan for a week, we leave on Tuesday. I lived in Japan as a child in the early 60s for a couple of years but my last visit was a quick stop-over in Tokyo for a couple of days with my spouse on our way back from the US in 2016. We found the Japanese to be very friendly and everyone we ran into could not have been nicer or more helpful--starting with assisting on helping us find our hotel the first day. The next morning we were also trying to locate a particular tourist site and a very nice Japanese gentleman, clearly on his way to work, insisted on not just telling us where to go but walking with us part of the way to make sure we did not get lost. So nice of him to do that, even though it was not in the direction he was originally going. This visit, we hope to not be such dunces. During our 2016 visit, we went out for dinner and looked around for a restaurant, and found one that looked like it was popular with the locals. Went in, found a table, and patiently waited for the wait staff to come over and take our order. And, waited. Finally, someone took pity on us and explained that we needed to place our order at an automated restaurant screen outside that we hadn't noticed on our way in. Smiles all around. Well, in our defense, we are spoiled brats, living in Thailand with practically everything done for us. Wonder what will be new for us this trip--both looking forward to it.

9AM till 11:30AM. Skimpy hours, skimpy numbers served. Don't work too hard, fellas, that's 2 1/2 hours of work. Pace yourselves, and take plenty of breaks. Keep hydrated with this long, hard work.

Actually, if you selectively shop, IKEA can be a good resource for a number of items for the home, especially here in Thailand. My partner and I are furnishing our new home and we just bought sisal area rugs from IKEA. IKEA has a wide selection of carpets and rugs, which we have sometimes had trouble finding in the styles and sizes we want. We like the sisal rug IKEA carries called Lohals, which comes in at least 3 sizes. We've used them in a number of projects as they are a nice neutral and add texture to a space. The biggest size, 200 x 300 cm, works well to anchor a living or dining room space. We used two other matching Lohals, in a smaller size, for the hallway area. They look great, are durable, and reasonably priced. And, IKEA will deliver to your door--in our case, Pattaya. IKEA can also be a good resource for large, upholstered ottomans, as they have a number of styles that come in a variety of fabrics. We've used big, rectangle ones several times as combination coffee table/foot rests. Put a big, decorative tray on one and you can set drinks on it like a regular coffee table. The ones we bought also had built-in storage, always useful. Big ottomans like this are also hard to find here in Thailand--a lot of the stores just carry the smaller footstools. IKEA also has a good selection of housewares, picture frames, decorative items, outdoor furniture, storage items, and lighting. Today we got a delivery of two Japanese-style paper floor lamps. I liked the look, the shades are handmade, and, again, an item we haven't seen much of here when we shop around. A lot of style for the money. I think we've outgrown the putting-together-furniture stage of our lives, but IKEA is always still a fun visit for us. We'll look forward to visiting the new city branch when it opens.

Well, I got an unpleasant surprise at my last medical checkup. As part of the checkup, I could choose 1 of 2 optional tests. Since I have elevated cholesterol, I chose to have a CAC test done. CAC stands for Coronary Artery Calcium scan. In dozens of annual physicals, here and in the US, this test was never done as part of my annual physicals, even though, as I said, I have elevated cholesterol and have been taking a daily statin for years. My CAC test came back with a score of 433, extremely bad. Anything over 400 apparently indicates high levels of plaque on the arteries, and serious risk of a heart attack. Had I not had this test, I would have had no idea that I have this problem. My blood pressure is normal, stress test was ok, EKG, ok, etc. The doctor doubled my daily statin dosage and put me on a baby aspirin a day, also. Had a second test several months later, result,432. They also did a test that showed where the plaque buildup was on my arteries but it didn't give a blockage percentage. All this was done at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. I plan to wait a few more months and get a second take on things from either Bumrungrad Hospital or Bangkok Heart Hospital. My big question is whether I should have stents or not. The Pattaya doctor seemed to think not at this point but I want to see what a Bangkok doctor will advise and weigh the two. Stents seem to be recommended if the blockage is 70% or more, but some recent research also seemed to indicate that stent surgery was perhaps being done in too many marginal cases, because it is apparently a money-maker. We'll see what happens. All this is to illustrate that checkups can be a good thing, and can be helpful in pointing out areas of concern. In my case, my medication was changed, which, hopefully, will be somewhat helpful, but I do wonder why I wasn't given this test years ago, when my elevated cholesterol was first diagnosed, or at least when I entered my 60s, to check the plaque buildup at that time. Had it been done with each annual physical, I could at least see the progression of the problem, and an earlier change in medication may have been of benefit.

No, it went through just as it always has. Fingers crossed that will continue.

Should not cost more than 10,000 baht and that fee should include the Will being in both Thai and English.

Not true, of course, but even if it was, the majority of Chinese do not travel in tour groups to Thailand.

I just did mine on-line and the process was the same as usual. Got an email on the 25th that they had received my application, got the approval with the attachment for my passport on the 27th.

'Fast-tracking' translation: Not likely in my life time. But, I would like to be legally married to my Thai partner in Thailand; though we are already legally married in the US.

Probably younger than my age, due to a full head of brown hair with a bit of gray at the temples. My father kept his full head of salt and pepper hair until he passed away at 95, so here's hoping . . .

We live in Pattaya but we have a Bangkok condo that we visit about once a month. It's close to the Phetchaburi MRT and the Airport Link so easy to use it to get around Bangkok and trips we take from the airport.

Pattaya

There are many examples but here's one--do the rest of the research yourself. In America, roughly half of the state run lotteries earmark the net proceeds of the funds to go to education. O course, increased tourism--to places like Las Vegas, benefits the local economy and provides well-paying jobs for the local population. And, as I said, safeguards can be put in place. As others have mentioned, the poor are already betting now.

Not a viable excuse. Limit admittance to foreign passport holders and Thais with a minimum specified income who have applied for and received a special admittance card. The gambling proceeds could actually benefit poor Thais, with some of the money directed to social programs.

Those are just mood changes--happy, grumpy. Neither addresses what you are doing with your life and how you are spending the time you are given each day--or what you are putting in your 'memory bank'. But, anyway, off you go and good luck wherever you end up.

Re-read my first post and you will see 'what's the difference'. Or, more likely, not see. Of course, no place is perfect, every place has both positives and negatives. Of course, one weighs positives and negatives --on many, many things. Duh. No need to 'admit' something so absurdly obvious. Take another gander at the last sentence of my previous post; that's where I am at, with my thinking, with the way I am trying to live my life. It's fine you're looking to move. Just don't expect a change of scenery to change you. You need to do that work yourself.