4MyEgo

https://www.thaiairways.com/en/offer/special_offers/Mid-Year-Sale2022.page

Your crying over spilt milk, I just changed my extension from a marriage extension to a retirement extension because it is easy to obtain, i.e. on the spot and less paperwork involved, not to mention I/O's don't like doing them because they get checked elsewhere. Nothing to do with discrimination, my budget is 70,000 baht a month, so put in 840,000 baht in the bank and draw down on it as required, that said, while your at it, throw in another 800,000 baht just to make sure you have more than enough to cover your annual extension, regardless, you will need money to survive in Thailand. So you don't earn too much interest on it, they tax you a little, their country, their rules, we all have choices, but telling them what to do is like telling your own government back home what to do, eventually, you should get it, i.e. life is passing you and you are still stuck in the same place crying over spilt milk, accept it and move on, or move on, simple really.

You do realise that you are not in your home country don't you, that said, what do you think the requirements would be for someone to stay in your country would be, I would suggest a lot stricter than here, i.e. if they even have such an extension where one has to put money in the bank to stay in your country, more like they would be sent on their merry way when the visa they have expires. Fact of the matter is, it is in the bank, it's your money, you can withdraw it at anytime (provisions apply) of course, no one is forcing you to do anything you don't want to do. That said, if you haven't got the cash, then perhaps you shouldn't be here, their rules, their country. Do you cry over everything that doesn't suit you, you are welcome to leave at anytime. As the Thai's say, "up to you". There is your frigging clue. End of story Krup.

I booked a return flight to my home country back in April for October, it cost me 18,260 baht on sale, today it's on sale again at 22,595 baht, that's a 23.74% increase and on sale, WOW. Someone here on another topic said I was made to book so far in advance because we could go into lock down again by then and the airline could go bust by then, and my reply was something on the lines of you tink to muk. The above said, there are 4 of us travelling so that's a great saving, even on the current sale price because those tickets usually sell for around 28,000 baht when not on sale.

Early 60's, but feel between 18 and 23 now and again when the opportunity arises, or is that rises ????

A large part of the problem is these guys don't have the 800,000 baht in the bank, hence the reason they use the agents and take the risks, and we all know with risks, the greater the risk, the greater the loss. I too have no sympathy for those who can't afford to have 800k in the bank and use these types of agents, I also have the utmost disrespect for I/O's who are on the take and allow this practice to flourish, as long as they get their cut. Will be interesting to see how this problem is sorted, no doubt there will be money to be made by these I/O's.

Let alone Thailand ????

In my situation, I knew the my ex wanted to have a child, we were together for 10 years, travelled around most of the globe, enjoyed life, were financially secure and she was ecstatic when she fell pregnant, then days later fell into depression for 3 months, call it pre-natal depression if you like, at the end of the day, perseverance and family support got her through. My ending the relationship was the best thing as I wouldn't want anyone to go through the hell I went through for those 3 months, that's all, a woman's so called right can be so powerful that it could destroy a man.

Did you read my post ?

Everyone will have different opinions and that's ok. I was more so trying to point out that there are other options.

Actually until your in a situation that effects you, you might think differently. If my ex wife had her way, she would have aborted our daughter, now 25 who has had a beautiful life and about to be married to her partner of 5 years. If one agrees to get pregnant, it forms a contract IMO, that said, there are other options apart from abortion, adoption, or give the child to the father if he is willing to raise the child. Abortions are not clear cut so to speak. There are lots of scenario's that a women could fall pregnant, e.g. having sex and not planning to have a baby, contraception not working, rape etc etc, in these cases, sure, the woman should be allowed to have an abortion, as it her body and her right and not her fault that she fell pregnant. It wouldn't be too hard for courts to make a clear rulings moving forward, i.e. what would constitute a woman requiring to have an abortion if she so chooses, but in no way should it be a woman's right outright as it can effect a lot of people who are expecting the child, e.g. the other partner, the grandparents, relatives, siblings, etc. A woman who agrees to have a child then changes her mind, clearly has mental issues and requires guidance and encouragement as opposed to having her and her partners child sucked out of her, just because she can IMO. The above said, the ex never regretted having our daughter once she had her, like I said, there are a lot of factors at play and mental assessments should be one, options should be number 2. Is she my ex because she threatened to abort our child once she agreed to have her, yes, once she had the child, I ended our marriage and moved onto remarry and had two more children after her. Too much power in one persons hands can destroy another persons mind, make of that what you will, that said, we all think differently, however having been at the coal face, I believe the above is the best option depending on each individuals circumstances.

Hope he was wearing his mask when he got it, just to prove a point, that said, it would be more than likely he got it before he left Thailand, e.g. incubation period.

That is a given. You know what I find odd about the Australian government is, if you live overseas before you get the age pension, you cannot apply for it from overseas, you have to return to Oz, apply for it and once approved, receive it, but you cannot receive payments overseas until you have been there for two years, try it and they will cut your pension. To add to that, if you keep a property back in Oz and move overseas, (create your new abode) they will charge you $0.32c per dollar tax on the rent, not allow you to claim any expenses on the property, and hit you with the highest tax level 42% when you sell it, dated all the way back to the very 1st day you purchased it, now that would be a heck of a lot of tax. You will also be stopped from voting, i.e. you will have no voice and Medicare gets cancelled after you have been away for a certain period of time. Banks will cancel your account if they know you have an overseas address as well, you cannot renew your drivers licence from overseas either, must be in person in some states, mine expired in August, cost to renew it for 5 years is 4,750 baht vs my Thai drivers licence for 300 baht same period, so who loses, I can drive in Australia on my Thai drivers licence for a few months, so f em. I would think all of the above is a deterrent to stop people from moving overseas, if not, how about if you earn an income outside of Australia, yep, they will want a slice of that too. Now if one does a little research, no need to hold two degrees, they can play the system, pay no tax on their investments and keep Medicare while living overseas. The Australian government may love it's citizens so much that they don't want to lose them, but for me, it's not rocket science that they are a draconian and totalitarian government, otherwise, why would a government go to such extreme measures to penalise those who have worked all their lives to live a better life abroad ?

Wow, what you pay in mortgage repayments is what it costs me to survive here with a family of 4 all up, that includes everything, except holidays. Back in Sydney prior to retiring here it cost me and the wife with 2 kids double that at that time, no doubt heaps more now. I have a 6 1/2 year old pick up, still drives like new with over 200,000 clicks on it, could upgrade, but no need, will drive it till it starts to fall apart, but this gem only costs me oil changes every 15,000 clicks and new tyres every 80,000 clicks, haven't even changed the brakes on it yet. Mortgages are good if your looking to sell eventually and use that money to survive elsewhere, otherwise, it's dead money for a roof over your head as far as I'm concerned, and leaving it for the kids, yeh, well, each to their own. Mortgage none, cost to build a 320 square metre single level palace, 2 million baht.

You me and the squirrel making his way along the power lines, know that ain't gonna happen. But it's good to dream.

Actually this would be good rehabilitation for him, life in prison, no drink and a minimum 30 people to a cell. He should fit right in, just hope he does life and doesn't get released early.

Did he ever wonder why she left him, probably not as he was drunk, go figure.

Fresh young blood. but sadly would never happen.

I was thinking PM ????

You'll laugh once you've had it, I did, thought it was a head cold, whole family had it, not bad at all, lots of friends had it and some do now, some in their 70's, water off a ducks back as the old saying goes, and they have flogged this horse for far too long IMO. Just enjoy yourself as if it didn't exists as it's coming to a place near you ????

People are creatures of habit. Before coming to Thailand for a holiday and meeting my wife of 15 years now, I had no idea what life was like outside of working 6-7 days a week to pay a mortgage, a car, child support and raise my now 25 year old daughter on a 50/50 basis with my ex-wife. Once I met my wife, she opened my eyes to what life actually was, I retired 9 years after meeting her at 55, only reason I retired then is because my daughter was only 9 and I wanted to be in her life till she completed her high school, worked out perfectly as my wife lived in Sydney for those 9 years with me and learned a lot, took care of me and my daughter while I kept making the bacon and purchased two more properties because I knew they would give me a little lift when the time came to sell, but didn't expect them to go up as much as they did, so that was a huge bonus. In my journey of life, coming from very humble beginnings, I found out that work is only for survival and without investing in either property or shares or both, or other investment vehicles, life at later years living in Sydney would be a struggle, moving to Thailand made me an instant millionaire many times over, and if I went back to Sydney, I would be playing Lotto and struggling because of the ridiculous property prices and cost of living. Everyone I know back in Oz is complaining, but can't understand that they have options, like I said, creatures of habit, suffice to say I have a mate who is 50, works 6 days a week in his business (just surviving) and said he wanted to buy a unit in Zetland because they just increased his rent on the 2 bedroom unit he is in, from $600 (15,000 baht) per week to $730 (18,250 baht) per week. The unit he was looking at was $1,000,000 (25,000,000) baht. Life for him doesn't look to promising, he has a Thai GF, has been here many times, but moving here for him is just too much to comprehend, suffice to say, I said to him, mate, you are caught up in a trap, (the slave trade) and things are only going to get worse, I have lead you to water, the rest is up to you.

I have to admit, from all the guys that I know that live here, most are on the pension, and cannot return to their countries because they have no plan B back up plan ($), maybe two of us not on the pension and can return if we wanted to, that said, those on the pension are very frugal which I can understand as 40k-50k a month won't get you much if your a drinker and have a wife and a couple of kids, hers or both yours, still at school or uni, and have a car and his and hers motorbike. Also seen a few go down by the wayside, varying in age, drunk and killed on motorbikes after a few too many, strokes in their 70's, and a few in their 60's from infections that they didn't get looked at, others returning to their home countries before they closed them as the pandemic hit, gets a little depressing watching people die, but that's life. Living in Thailand makes it much better if you have money from your days of working back in the slave trade, but to me, that doesn't mean you stop and live off of it, you keep looking for opportunities to make some because your monthly expenses don't stop and will bite into your savings, and if you like to travel domestically and internationally every now and again with family, well, like I said, you got to keep earning or eventually you will run out of it by the time you reach 101 ????

Most expats moved here with nothing in the bank and live on what their pensions give them on a monthly basis, that said the exchange rate can affect their cost of living as much as prices going up, and yes they live on a budget and complain if something goes up, that is human nature. Other expats moved here with their fortunes and lost all of it or most of it through either a wrong choice in women or business and anything going up would also affect their living standards. There are few of us here who have been fortunate enough to avoid the above through either hard work and planning or a large inheritance, that said, we might not complain about things going up, but we might cut a few things (imports) out here and there as they go up as we simply refuse to pay more for such items until they wake up and drop the prices back, which I have seen first hand. If someone complains about small increase, regardless if it's for 10 baht, accept it, that is their right, if your in a better position than them and it doesn't effect you, don't go complaining about it as it doesn't help their situation IMO.

Wow, busting people for making porn, albeit it one was under age (17). Question: I wonder what would happen if they all focused on reducing the road toll for a month, you know get real serious about it, do you think they would get the death count down, or would their pockets be lined with loads of baht ? On second thoughts, forget I asked that question as I already know the answer. Big Joke must looking for a promotion to crawl all the way back up the ladder I'm guessing, now I'm also wondering why the cops weren't named, hmmmm, could be make believe to appease the public.