4MyEgo

Don't like the thought of being on my feet all day, back issues. https://www.glassdoor.com.au/Salary/Bunnings-Warehouse-Senior-Team-Member-Salaries-E140287_D_KO19,37.htm

I recall decades ago when I worked for the State Rail Authority (10 years) anyone who worked for the State Rail Authority or State buses received a free travel pass to and from work. I also recall the stress the bus drivers had to endure with bus inspectors at basically every point noting their times of arrivals and putting the boot in if they were late, (traffic) wasn't an excuse. Personally, I wouldn't do that job for quids. If anyone returns at 65, I would suggest a low level stressed job, enough to make to cover your expenses, depending on your lifestyle, without compromising on your comforts, for me, I would need at least $60,400 per annum, half would go to rent after tax, the balance food as travel would be about $2.50 a day with the Seniors Card which everyone can obtain at age 60. The above figure could include O/T as it wouldn't really bother me, as it would fill in the time, if needed.

X that by 4 = $600 Ok for those who don't mind the cheaper meals, but I'm spoilt having such a great cook of a wife who has taught me how to also cook, not at her level yet though, but for $10 I could wipe up a lot more than that to fill my somewhat largish stomach. Alternatively I imagine I could still buy a whole cooked chicken at Woolies for about $13.00 which would also be used for chicken sandwiches for lunch the next day ???? Appreciate the feedback though, not forgetting how expensive Sydney is apart from the $2.50 Seniors Card Fare.

When I said, if my TGF was coming over, that was a hypothetical. How can one be making a fraudulent claim if they say they are separated ? Perhaps it would please you that I divorce, spend the $1,000 and make my application online. That to me would be a total waste of money. While I agree with most of your post, bringing the family over twice in two years is something I have factored into my working for 2 years. You see, I would only be paying for two additional tickets (3 travellers) as opposed to me travelling back on each occasion for a short period of time (working) vs kids long school holiday period during March-May each year. Being a close knit family, and being away from each other for such long periods, i.e. (6 months) will be hard, that said, when they come, they will have accommodation paid for, as for ice-creams, we always buy a container of ice-cream from Woollies plus the cones, works out a lot cheaper than buying 4 individual ice-creams at an ice-cream shop as you say, $12 each, although the taste/quality might not be as nice, it's like buying a 40 baht cup at Wendy's vs a 199 baht ice-cream in a glass cup at Swenson's, we don't waste money, same applies to coffee, take my own vs paying $5 for one, add another $5 and I can buy enough coffee for 100 cups, besides I take it black. I could go on and say we take cut lunches at times, while we eat out at other times, like at the Zoo, it's ok to spoil ones self every now and again, within reason, but $47 for a rib-eye in an RSL club is a joke vs a $17 chicken Schnitzel. Sightseeing as previously mentioned is the way to go vs the outrages prices they charge to see over rated stuff, e.g. The Tower, at least $100 + vs a free walk over the Coat Hanger and then a nice walk around the Quay to The Botanical Gardens.

So those of us who have dividend paying shares which are taxed and those of us who pay withholding tax via our savings in bank accounts don't have to worry, subject to our country having a tax treaty with Thailand. So not a problem for me, and I can't see them taxing pensioners either. Also exempt will be those who have been taxed in a foreign country that has a standing Double Tax Agreement with Thailand.

Being there beforehand looks better in my opinion when applying for the pension, vs going back when you have reached pension age, and for what it's worth, they could change the rules down the track, so why not get in early. I have never been one to sit on my rear until I retired here some 8 years ago, but keep myself busy doing what I want, when I like and for how long I want. The way I see it returning at 65 and working will keep me busy till the family arrives each year at 6 monthly intervals and me returning once after 6 months, then 4 months after receiving the pension. Never sponged off the taxpayer, but at pension age, I am entitled to as I qualify, regardless of how many hundreds of thousands of $'s I have paid in my 40 years of working in Oz, and getting the pension over here will be a bonus or top up if you like. I don't worry what the Oz $ will be worth in the future, a bird in the hand is better than in the bush as the saying goes.

When I was there last year with family on holiday, you had to book online, I was going to book the Halloween night for them, but after I read the revues, a lot of people weren't happy, so I said we will do it in the day, then I read the fine print, and it said if it's raining, no rain check, not refundable, so we gave it a wide birth. Luna Park is very expensive in my opinion and so are the other sites like Sydney Tower, and Darling Harbour Aquarium, but hey, there is a sucker born every minute I guess. If my TGF was coming over, I would consider take her to Luna Park as it would be a once in a lifetime thing and you would be entertaining her while she is there. I opted to take the kids on the train and bus to Bondi Beach, had lunch on the grass surface in a hut looking out to the beach, then caught a bus to Watson's Bay, then a ferry to Circular Quay, then another to Manly, big day, but loads of fun/ The Zoo on another day was a better choice value wise than Luna Park, considering the fine prints, and after 3 hours the kids wanted to call it a day, too much walking for them....lol. To me the Zoo is a worthwhile exercise, and educational with the best view over Sydney. Note: The day I was going to book Luna Park, it was raining, so that money would have gone down the drain.

Guess they're gonna have to suck it in ????

From my understanding of reading the legislation, it is not cut and dry, however states that short trip overseas are allowed and the pension could be stopped while absent, and the time away doesn't stop the clock on the 2 years. The above said, I would say 4 weeks, similar to annual leave should be ok. I intend to do it once a year at the moment and have the family come over once a year (6 months intervals) because getting them here with the kids means they can spend say 8 weeks during the long school holidays (March) vs me only allowed to go over for short breaks (work & Centrelink), so I would go over in October when they have the smaller school holiday break of I believe it's 10 days. But always clear it with Centrelink before going so as to clear up any potential problems as they can put it in their system, e.g. Brian called and advised going overseas for a holiday on such and such a date and will be returning on such and such a date. Payment may be suspended for short overseas absences during the 2-year period and does not have to be reclaimed on return to Australia. A short absence from Australia (as long as the person is still classed as an Australian resident) will not impact on the end date of the 2-year period (i.e. the absence still counts towards the person's 2-year period). https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/7/1/4

I would have thought by providing them both, e.g. so they could see that you transferred 800,000 from your account to the fixed account and had a good balance in the everyday one which is accessible is enough. The above said, I will just transfer 800,000 out of my account and put it in a fixed term account for 12 months and earn the interest, immigration can see my other account with the 800,000 in it and use that one for their purposes. It's just stupid in my opinion, because all fixed term accounts are accessible, you just lose the interest if you pull the money out before maturity.

What I was referring to is a fixed term deposit with 800,000 baht in it that is not accessible until the 12 month term has matured, therefore rendering one the say 2% interest less tax upon maturity. The above said, also having an account with another bank for day to day living expenses, accessible everyday of an equal or close enough amount. The term deposit would be to earn the interest whilst the other earns basically nothing because it's not a term deposit, it's an everyday account earning a pittance, whilst you use it for your daily living expenses.

What if you have one account with the fixed 800,000 baht with one bank earning interest and another account with say an equal amount accessible daily ?

Tax free, I don't think so, as I just did a calculation on their website and that means the bank pays the tax on the interest you earned taking out of the money your earned. I don't know where you obtained the rate of 2.75% for the 2 years, but if they were paying that, it would go like this, e.g. 6,600 baht on your 800,000 x 2.75% = 22,000 baht per year x 2 years = 44,000, take away the tax of 6,600 and your left with 37,400 baht net to you. The real rate would therefore be 2.35%. I don't know how that stacks up to other banks, but perhaps others here who have term deposits can further explain what they are achieving and if the tax is taken out upon maturity. It's still better than a kick in the teeth, might do one myself, however I can only see Kasikorn Bank offering 2% for that amount of baht.

That's hilarious, wouldn't be a bad idea for a certain airline, no names mentioned (AA) to refund me my money for 4 tickets from a year ago after cancelling my flight.

I live about 20 minutes from the local town which has basically everything one needs, i.e. Lotus and Big C, hardware stores, motor registry, schools and public hospitals etc etc, the later not for me. Udon is an hours drive, Makro, Central and private hospitals that I would visit when need be. I make it a day out, first to Central for lunch in the food court, a short walk around and then onto Makro once a month.

It's form 22 on the immigration's website, page 3, you can download it from there. There is no TM number. https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?page_id=3202

In short no, however the onus is on you to prove to them that you are separated, a statutory declaration can be proof as its a true declaration ???? Yep, they would currently get $802 per fortnight in Oz currently, all up vs $971.50 currently, all up, pension as you would be aware goes up on 20th September and then in March of every year, so declaring your single and don't have a partner is key to get the single rate.

All you have to do is the 2 years then you qualify providing you meet the assets and income test. Olan before hand with your story, e.g. if married, I came back to Australia 2 years ago after I separated with my wife, that's why I transferred from the Marriage extension to the Retirement extension as you can't remain on the marriage extension or you will be making a false declaration and be deported. I am on still good terms with my separated partner as we have kids, I provided her the opportunity to return to Oz for the kids, but she wouldn't have it, so I left, but will see my kids when I go over for a holiday, that said, I have worked for the past 2 years because I need to survive and also provide for my kids yiatta yiatta yiatta, and if they ask why don't you divorce, well, it costs $1,000 and that money can be used on the kids. If your not married, don't mention it, if you are, you will have an issue, so best to say your separated.

I am advised by friends to get it paid into an Aussie account and transfer it when required or when the rate is up, that way you control things and Wise is the cheapest by far and offers a good rate.

I believe the jail term for most would be expressed in the COST factor to remain there for that period. I agree with your post in every aspect, that said, I will fly in my family in March of both years for 8 weeks during school holidays in Thailand and I will return to Thailand for 2 weeks in October. The change will be pleasant as long as I keep busy, go for my beach walks, weekend trips around the harbour and foreshore areas, catching up with mates etc. Working to survive there won't bother me as I was a mule once upon a time.

You only lose any rental assistance and the Energy allowance, the annual Supplement of $707.20 remains. As of two days ago it was $998.70 paid into a mates Australian Bank account who resides here in Thailand. It is going up on the 20th this month, as it goes up every March and September, you can work out the conversion rate, suffice to say if you used today's wise rate @ You send exactly AUD 0 AUD PayID fee 7.47 AUDOur fee – 7.47 AUDTotal fees = 991.23 AUDTotal amount we’ll convert × 22.9694Guaranteed rate (33h) Recipient gets THB You could save up to 18.94 AUD Should arrive in seconds x that x 2 and you have 45,535.92 THB

What are you on about sunshine.

Cheap Charlie indeed, you see some 17 years back over dinner one night at a restaurant in my home country, I said to my Thai girlfriend at the time who was from Issan, now my wife, who was holidaying with me at the time. How much do you want for Sin Sot, she said, oh, you know about Thai culture, I said a little, she said; up to you, I said no, come on, how much, she said ok, a million baht, I said, no way, too much, she said with a smile on her face, ok, up to you then, I said 200k baht, she said, up to you, ok, I said hang on, 200k will be for your parents and 300k will be for your twins who were 2 at the time. She had that dumb Thai look on her face, and I swear if she wasn't as pretty as she was, I would have slapped her. I repeated, 200k is for mum and dad, 300k baht is for the boys education, it will go in your bank account and no one will touch it, not even you without me knowing, she was starting to chock up and I told her to cut it out and of course the 500k could be shown at the wedding for face. She still has at least 150k baht of that money in the bank. Her parents have not asked me for one baht all these years and they are poor. My sister in law asked my wife if she could loan her 300k baht for her Sin Sot because her husband, now X only gave 200k baht and she wanted to match her sisters Sin Sot, so I accommodated her request and got the 300k baht back straight after the wedding. At the end of the day, it all boils down to ones financial position and how much they are prepared to put forward or lose as others would say. Since then she's had a big house built on her land, a nice car and all the other things that go in a marriage, that said, she's still a plain village girl who counts every baht and doesn't break my balls asking me for money, and of course takes real good care of me, so there are some real gems out there that are worth their weight in gold, just have to filter through them and their families, too bad there are a lot of Cheap Charlie's about, not being one to judge of course

I also don't have to go back, but the thought of 50k baht a month from the government vs out of my pocket for the next 10 years, i.e. say 6,000,000 baht or $270,000 sounds better to me, besides that will be more money for the family when I depart. I don't mind returning to work for 2 years to qualify for the pension, I would look at it as a working holiday, besides been sitting on my rear for 8 years here living off of my investments and looking for opportunities at the same time, all tax free of course. Weekends would do things that I never could before because I was working 6/7th's of my life, sometimes 7 days a week. To not work for those 2 years would not be feasible as it would take at least 4 years to re-coupe the outlay, but the bike with panniers sounds great.

That would be 40c more than I would have had. You worry to much, no one can predict things that far in advance, so why worry, the aim is to get to the finish line, and what comes in, comes in. A top investment strategist has predicted the Australian dollar will drop to a record-low of US 40 cents in as soon as five years, as the world begins to enter a global recession.