4MyEgo

Living in a caravan for 2 years has got to be hard for anyone, that said, I would want to live within a 30 minute drive of my daughters place and a couple of mates that I know, for when getting together. My objective would be to enjoy the 2 years while there, e.g. train rides, site seeing, beach walks etc. Buying a 2 bedroom unit would be perfect for me as the wife and kids would have somewhere to stay for March/April school holidays when they come over for the 2 year period, and me going back to Thailand in October when the kids have school holidays shouldn't be an issue with Services Australia as I believe they allow you a 2 week trip per year and if that is the case, I would only be away from the family for 5 months at a time, which I believe is doable. While the unit will have strata levies to pay, plus council and water rates, the initial outlay, plus stamp duty and legal costs, should be recouped when I sell after the 2 year portability period is granted, that said, the outlay won't be generating me an income, but will save me about $40,000 renting for 2 years after taking away $12,000 for the above outgoings. It would be pointless making $40,000 a year on the money that I would outlay o the unit, as I usually make per year, because most would reduce the pension to nothing, suffice to say, they have you cornered every way you turn.

Hey, now there's a job you might consider doing when your there doing your 2 year stint, cause havoc.

That's a tough call, suppose you have to weigh it all up, but the rent free situation would provide you with around 30,000 a month there, as for here when portability kicks in, is another story, maybe 20,000 baht a month say, still better than a kick in the teeth. The above said, if you received $300 a week, you would want to make sure you could live on that for the 2 years. I think you should be right, and if you could, all you lost was 2 years of being here, so unless you have family here, it would be a personal choice and whether say 20,000 baht a month, so to speak would improve your quality of life here for the remaining years you would have left to kick here, now that could be anything from 2 to 22 depending on genetics and lifestyle.

Yeh, probably why, they most likely wanted to punish you with finding you a job. My M8 does live in the north, past Newcastle, could be that his nearest Centrelink office is far away, e.g. an hour or so, but not sure if that has anything to do with it, he did also send me a screen shot of the questionnaire which seemed pretty straight forward to answer.

Finally, someone who sees things as they are. I have been here 8 years as a non resident (so that makes me a tax resident of Thailand), however, I don't earn an income as far as anyone is concerned. I remit at least a million baht a year for living expenses. My money is in my overseas bank account (savings account), which of course is linked to my share portfolio account, any shares that pay dividends are fully franked i.e. (tax is already paid at 30%) and taken out when I am paid the dividend, besides my country has a DTA with Thailand. The only thing is when I buy and sell shares (often), I don't pay any capital gains tax, now if the Thai government wants to chase me up on that, they are welcome, fat chance though. Too many people here worrying about nothing, the government saying tax residents is to cast out a large net to scare most about the remittance of money, in my opinion, it won't effect expats in the slightest, so just go on about enjoying your life here and don't change anything until the fat lady sings, that or keep worrying about nothing, "up to you". Now back to where I was enjoying my life

M8 of mine is 63 and been on the dole for years, he said all he does is goes online (not sure how often) and fills in a questionnaire and lodges it, and that's it, questions are like, have you sort employment etc etc. I wouldn't dream of going on JobSeeker for 2 years, better off going back at 67 and getting the age pension, more in it and more subsidies from what I have read, biggest problem is finding affordable accommodation, because as I said above, it could take up to 4-5 years to recoup your outlay, just being there for those 2 years getting the aged pension, in other words, whatever you earn is down the drain on rent. Living expenses are a normal day to day event anywhere, here the rents are super cheap, but in Oz, well you'll be going backwards unless you can rent a room, caravan etc etc, that is unless your math is better than mine (recouping) the outlay.

The more I look at returning and doing the numbers, the more it isn't worth it for most, i.e. unless they are in a position to buy a cheap unit, say for $400k + stamp duty and legals, say $20k on top of that, yes, yes I know most guys don't have that kind of spondoolies to splash around, that said, if they did, that would say them around $30k on dead rent, e.g. one would need at least $500 per week for anything half decent, i.e. $26,000pa x 2 =$52,000, take away outgoings and what rental subsidy you would have received, and you would have saved $30k on your outlay, then you sell it after the 2 years at a break even point of say $430,000. In all of this time you would be receiving the full pension and life would be ok, that said, you got to have the bacon to cook it and eat it, apart from that, the only other options are to rent a room, a caravan (waiting lists) or sleep in a car. The only way feasible for me is the above, otherwise, going nowhere as it would take a minimum of 4-5 years to recoup the money outlaid to get the aged pension, so you go from 67 to 71/72 before you actually start getting your aged pension in the hand, so how many more years have you got in you after that. Depressing I know, but that is the reality of leaving Australia, they stick it to you and turn it a few times to make sure you won't come back, i.e. unless you have some capital.

Immigration is thorough in it's investigations when assessing if a farang can support an Asian girl when applying to bring her into the country, no savings shown, is a no no, lump sump payments will be required to be shown where the money came from, game over.

As long as you have done your due diligence, "up to you"

I know a guy who once got a 10,000 baht (cash) fine for being under the influence, which he wasn't, he paid up after being threatened to be put in jail. I asked him if he was pi$$ed and off, of course and his reply was, I will just put it down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and he had already let it go. He said once in 7 years was ok, taking a wrong turn wasn't supposed to happen, but giving into them was better than taking them head on, game over, he won as he said, a fine back in his country was about the same amount for speeding, which he wasn't, but he speeds on many occasions and hasn't been caught, so given them some charity money (tea money) meant that he got to move on, no point in crying over spilt milk, especially when in a country that has had this system for a while, so why challenge it, life's too short. Wise friend he is.

Um, have they taken into consideration that mortgage interest rate have risen 14 times in most countries, rents have gone up 50% + in some countries, utilities, food, inflation have all risen, except for wages, and these guys anticipate 2019 numbers. Yeh, good luck with that one, no one has any spare money and their credit cards and line of credits on their mortgages are maxed out, however, they might get a few Bitcoin tourists......LOL

I would love to see one of these clowns try and live on 370 or even 400 baht per day, perhaps then they would soon realise people on that kind of pittance, people have no chance of getting up, but that's just how they want it, isn't it ?

Welcome to the LOS, where a life is worthless. The sooner governments around the world make travel insurance mandatory, the better off a lot of people will be, that said, it would take someone with balls to enforce it, and we know that there are not many people around with big Kahuna's to do it, as they would fear losing out on tourism. It just goes to show how cheap life is. RIP

Quality life. I wonder where this type of breed lives (in a garage) and what kind of food they eat ? Your point is skewed.

Have you ever heard of a Prenuptial Agreement, it forms part of the Family Law Act and is there to protect those of us who have worked hard and accumulated assets. Please don't try and tell me that it isn't worth the paper it's written on, as I know in the UK it isn't worth the paper it's written on, but in Australia it forms part of the Family Law Act, as mentioned, in the UK it doesn't, hence the reason it went to $hit.

I wouldn't read too much into the BS provided to you earlier about not having to work a day in your life and bringing back a girl from overseas. The above said, if you don't work in Australia, you will have a pitiful existence, and as for bringing a girl back, well maybe on a tourist visa for 3 months, but after that, any long term application has to be backed up with a sponsorship, i.e. $ in the bank, and if they see that you can't support her, she has Buckley's of getting in. Moral of the story, don't believe everything you hear, especially on forums.

I don't know what meds your on, but when you stop taking them, this happens, you make up stories, because you always start your topics off with, "a friend of mine at work". So I will take it with a grain of salt that anything you say from this day on is BS then.

I don't have one and I am an Australian Citizen, it's easy to advise the ATO that you no longer require a TFN as you reside oversees etc etc and they will remove it, as they did for me.

Wife just advised me that she transferred money back to my account because the shop (Tops) that she purchased Olive Oil from is out of stock. She ordered the Olive Oil about 2 days ago, Lazada refunded her today, so something going on in your case IMO. Better crack the whip, Lazada have always been good with us, even with returns, might take a week as they wait for the shop to confirm that they received the returned product then reimburse us.

But your not 36 years of age are you, you have lived a full life, so you say, judging by your comment.

Whatever is available, Diesel or B7, pretty much same same, as is the price.

If it's a low paying hotel, more than likely not, however if it's a reputable hotel, it's more than likely. Are you worried that you will have to report to immigration as the majority of them don't want to see you unless you return from overseas these days.

If you claim it, and it is within the confines of the system, why not. Never really gave it any thought, we are all servants to our own individual corporations (governments) and at a flick of a switch, they can make things turn sour for many of us expats. Each to their own.

They noticed that the increase they proposed backfired and put everyday Ozzie's out on the streets due to property price and rental property increases when they were supposed to be steady or even dropping due to the volley of interest rate rises the Reserve Bank served up. Watch this space, perhaps we will see a drop in both due to the lowering of demand over the next 6 month's, that said, in my opinion, a property price adjustment is well overdue due to the property market being well overheated with current interest rate levels and no real wage increases for over a decade, plus inflation still being up there, as opposed to what one reads in the papers.

What a party spoiler, people out and about having fun, minding their own business, not drunk out there driving vehicles and killing others while under the influence of alcohol with extended hours compliments of you guessed who, yes the same guy who legalized Gunja. I suspect those other "illegal" substances detract profits from his Gunja enterprises, (my opinion), that and the force has other interests as opposed to nabbing drunk drivers, (again, my opinion), perhaps they're checking in on their Karaoke owned establishments, oops, did I just say that