newnative

Well, here's perhaps a first. Every single sentence in your post is incorrect--starting with the first sentence wrongly declaring their was 'humour' in your other post and ending with your last, utterly ridiculous false claim that most visitors to Thailand are the same. By the way, Pattaya has at least 4 beaches and lots of 'family facilities'. There were nearly 40 million visitors to Thailand, pre-covid, and your '9.5 million visitors' to Pattaya is not exactly your claim of 'nearly half' of the 40 million visitors. That would be 20 million.

Curious. Is the friend you visit in Pattaya also unhappy? If so, I wonder why he continues to live here. Also curious as to where you are going in Pattaya that you only encounter 'unhappy looking people'. If you go to the center city areas when you visit, I hope you realize that you are seeing more international tourists and other local visitors than actual Pattaya expat residents. A bit like forming an impression of Las Vegas residents after a visit to the Strip. The vast majority of Pattaya expat residents do not live in the center city tourist area. They are in Jomtien and Na Jomtien. Pratamnak and Cosy Beach. Bang Saray. Naklua and Wong Amat. Central Pattaya, for example, has just 34 condo projects, according to Hipflat. Jomtien alone, of the other areas I mentioned, has 166, but they all have more than the central area. For an expat, Pattaya offers a huge variety of housing choices, at all price points. With housing being a major budget item, that's a really big plus. In addition to the condo projects, there are hundreds of housing estates in Pattaya, many on the Darkside--that's the area east of Sukhumvit. Most have expat residents. Some, like Silk Road estate, have plenty. They're living normal, ordinary lives. Once or twice a week they may go into town to do the week's shopping at Big C Extra or visit one of the malls. I wonder how many of these folk you have run into--and did they all look unhappy? I'm one of those living on the Darkside with my spouse and we're not unhappy so that's 2 in the happy column. Yaa us! In regard to your comments regarding cooking yourself, eating Thai food, not drinking, partying, etc., you don't have to live elsewhere to do, or not do, any of that. Pattaya offers plenty of food shopping choices, from Makro to Villa Market, to Big C, Foodland, and Tesco, plus a number of other non-chains. And, dozens of fresh markets scattered all over. If you don't want to cook, Pattaya probably has the most choice of different types of restaurants, at a variety of price points, found outside of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or Phuket. Next visit, perhaps vary a bit where you go--you might just run into some happy folk living here.

Quite. I, myself, was, perhaps, not as near to the incident as the Crown Prince of Johor, being in Pattaya at the time, but I was certainly much closer than anyone in, say, Chiang Mai, and it was truly just as frightening to me as it was to the Crown Prince in his hotel, wherever it might have been. And also, like the Crown Prince, it was the 'worst thing' that has ever happened to me. Although, not being born a Crown Prince of Johor could possibly be worse, now that I think of it. Or, not. Advantages and disadvantages to carefully weigh, with royalty. But, I digress. Like you, I would have immediately taken cover under the sofa but my diet has not been as successful as one might have wanted, so squeezing under the sofa was a non-starter. Fortunately, my security team sprang into action and they were able to quickly surround me. Then, the team was able to get me to the safety of a nearby Dunkin Donuts, where I sheltered in place--saying to hell with the diet!--while my crack team set up a protection zone. Kudos on your medal, by the way. Well done, indeed! I expect we'll both be drinking and dining for free for the next month or so on our harrowing tales.

I'm wondering what 'comfortable life', 'Thai style', 'western', or otherwise, he would be leading in the west on 60,000 baht, or around $1,666 a month. Likely something bigger than the 'studio apartment' you mentioned, in the US would cost at least $1,500 a month in a decent project, not including your 'utilities, cell phone/internet'. But, even including them in the $1500, that leaves just $166, or about $5.35 a day, to spend on everything else. Is that going to be a 'comfortable life'? I think not. In comparison, he could move to Pattaya and rent a small 1 bedroom condo at, say, Centric Sea, a decent project, for around 11,000 baht a month. Maybe another 3,000 baht for 'utilities, cell phone/internet'. Good location, easy walk to either Central Festival Mall or Terminal 21, with lots of reasonable restaurant choices, shops, banks, movies in English, etc. That leaves him with 46,000 baht a month, or 1,483 baht a day. About $41. Will he be living like a king? No. But, he'll have a roof over his head, free gyms, swimming pools, and several sky lounges to use. Plus, more walking around money each day--$41 vs. $5.35. I've said it before, if you have a tight budget in many cases you're better off here than in the west. Obviously, on a small budget you're not going to be living large in either place. But, with limited funds I'd rather be in Thailand than just about any western country. I'd rather have $41 in my pocket in Thailand each day to spend than $5 and change in the US.

Everybody wants their 15 minutes.

An isolated shooting incident by a mentally ill teen 'risks governmental stability'? What rot. Possibly a temporary blip on tourism but that's about it.

American here. No intention of ever moving back to the US. Many little reasons but they all boil down to simply living a much better life here.

My answer would be no, due to the tax treaty in place prohibiting double taxation. Your SS and pension are under the US tax system and, as such, have gone through the taxation process in the US--the first taxation. The fact that the amount of tax owed is zero should have no bearing. Ditto if you owe $5 or $20 or any amount. For Thailand to demand that the income go through a second taxation, Thailand's, with different tax schedules, should be prohibited by the treaty. I know, 'should' being the operative word, several times.

I'm shocked this is even a story worth printing. Everybody want their 15 minutes.

A man wearing a suit will always cause a 'stir in Pattaya'.

After slogging through 66 pages of this thread, I'm reminded of the famous quote by William Goldman, the successful, Oscar-winning screenwriter, on Hollywood: "Nobody knows anything." Pretty much the case here, too, I'm thinking.

'New era'? No. Just the same old shuffle.

You can have endless 'But what if...'s. What if this. What if that. What if he does this, what if he does that. Of course, the choices he makes with the 23MB will determine whether it will last his lifetime in Thailand or be gone after a few years. My post simply showed that it is possible for someone 62 years old to live reasonably well on that amount in Thailand, and the money could be enough for the likely number of years he has left. I imagine there are a number of retirees here living on a pension of around 50,000 baht a month, more or less. After 38 years, with no COLAs, the pension would have paid out to them around 23MB. It's really no different for the subject of this thread. His 23MB is his pension. The only difference is he is the pension manager--and he can raise or lower the monthly amount he receives.

I think we all understand inflation. I stick by my answer that 23 million baht can be enough for your friend to live in Thailand for the rest of his life. Note, 'can be'. If he blows it all the first few years making bad choices or spending beyond his means, that's another story. Usually the biggest expense is keeping a roof over your head. If he spends 3 MB to buy a condo, no matter what inflation does, he'll have that roof over his head for the rest of his life with only maintenance charges and utilities to pay for, which are very reasonable in Thailand. That leaves him 20MB. Spending 60,000 baht a month, the money would last for 27.7 years. Obviously, spending less, which could easily be done, would stretch the money for more years. He gets 33.3 years if he spends 50,000 baht a month. 50,000 a month is around 1,600 baht a day. Some days he might spend more than the 1,600, other days he might spend much less. In any case, it should be enough. 50,000 baht a month would fund him until the age of 95. If he is still alive when the money is starting to run out, he has the option to sell his condo and use the proceeds to live on while he rents or goes into a nursing home for his final years. All this is assuming the 20MB is just lounging around eating bon-bons and watching soap operas all day. Some of it can be put to work and invested safely to earn some interest or dividends, which would stretch the money for a longer period.

She was from the old school of politicians, who were more inclined to work across party lines to get things done. Whatever happened to politics being the 'art of compromise'? That used to be the case, but not much any more. Compromise seems like a scarce commodity in Congress these days. Sadly, there are not very many like her left, and Congress reflects this with almost every issue that comes up. Case in point, the current chaos trying to simply keep the government open.

My Thai sister-in-law is required to retire in November from her bank job--she turns 60. Ditto for her husband when he reaches 60 next year. She looks like she's about 40 and, obviously, could work until at least 65 or longer if she wanted to and was allowed to. It would be good if Thai workers in jobs like hers had the option to work longer, if they chose to. She will get a lump sum payment from the bank for her retirement--which she will have to make last for likely the next 20 years or more. I doubt I could budget that carefully, and I wouldn't want to be in the position of having to try to do it. I thank my lucky stars for my traditional pension and social security, both with COLAs.

Absolutely, and despite what the PM says, the proposed tax on imported money will do nothing to 'curb' the inequality.

23 million baht? He'll be just fine.

One of my Dad's favorites was 'bend with the bamboo'. He was also fond of 'always have a Plan B' and 'don't sweat the small stuff', which I also like. I try to keep the life outlook of 'glass half-full, rather than half-empty'.

What a load of _______.

It's been my experience that if you have to explain why something is funny, the person will likely still not get it. Good example here.

Hope he tells the PM the drawbacks of his new tax proposal and the poorly thought out 10,000 baht giveaway.

Which he still won't get. Very funny, by the way.

What a total boondoggle. And, what has been built looks like it could have been done in a few months, not years and years. Did get a chuckle with the '820 days'. Do they think that sounds shorter???!!!

All completely true--and completely normal. One of the most successful projects in Pattaya was The Base. Sansiri probably could have just skipped opening the sales office that they built with model condo samples--by the time it opened a lot of the project had already been booked by Bangkok and other buyers--I know because my partner and I visited when it first opened and there wasn't a lot left that hadn't been booked that we would have been interested in--mostly less desirable units were still available. Note, as you say, booked. Not sold. Some of the booked units were taken by people with no intention of actually buying--they planned to sell the booking and make a small profit on the sale. We actually obtained our unit that way--and got a great top floor unit in the front on one of the few single-corridor floors with condos on just one side. When the project was finished, as you say, a number of the units that were booked came back on the market, due to buyers who, for whatever reason, could not close the deal. I think the Sansiri sales office had around 200 or 300 units that came back up for sale. Normal--even in successful projects.