Interesting topic as i find myelf in a similar situation as the topic starter albeit with a different "lump sum" and 2000 Euro a week. A lot of the replies here mention Australia or Hawaii as an alternative, however they forget that immigration to other countries isnt always as easy as just showing up. Being an European myself, i find it impossible to relocate to the USA , there just isn't a visa for retirement there . The only possibility is a so called EB5 which requires you to invest 500.000 USD into shady projects that are not guaranteed to work , let alone get your investment back, all this to get a possibility to get an "investment" visa , no thanks.
Australia you can retire to starting at the age of 55 if you bring 750.000 AUD to invest in a government fund, and have an additional 750.000 AUD for yourself and possibile partner. The first 750.000 will be stuck for years in a Fund until you either die or leave. I'd rather spend that money before i kick the bucket. Hawaii by the way is part of the USA so that's a no go either.
So as you can see , even being "rich" you cant just settle down anywhere you like and i can see the idea of the topic starter having been to thailand myself now for 3 times, a month at a time.
However also having seen the state in which the country is , and the number of traffic accidents i witnessed in that relative short period of time has made me doubtfull about the long term living possibilities in Thailand.
So here are my findings on Thailand for you sofar :
Bangkok : Insane, fun, weird, way too hot to consider living there, plus just 1 park that is quite tiny
Chiang Mai : Great place, Nimman is fun, Markets at night are fun, cheap city BUT you will probably roll over and die after 5 years due to the air thats 90% diesel fumes
Cha Am : Nothing do to , beach is crappy, scary dogs everywhere , was bitten there and the hospital looks like an field post from a bad vietnam movie
Phuket : Some of the smaller beaches are fantastic, Patong is a fun sort of tourist trap that i enjoy for periods shorter than a 5 days, "Expensive" for Thai standards
Chiang Rai / Ayutthaya / All smaller places : Nice people, nothing to do, scary dogs and traffic , fun to visit but no way
11 Years ago i settled in Germany because here you can build a massive home, drive a ditto car , and enjoy low taxes (depending on circumstances) but its Europe, weather is crap, people are friendly but very distant, and as a few wrote already, you will find the boredom or happiness being the same as you cant escape yourself.
So to sum up : Thailand is fun in a scary sort of way, do as you please but so does everyone else, i have seen more accidents in 3 months there than in my entire life in Europe and a year in the USA. I am scared of dogs so that doesn't help either with being in Thailand. But in a weird way, i do love the country the language and the "friendliness" , between quotes as it does seem only skin deep. Some of the girls look amazing, some are not so good looking, like everywhere on the planet. And o yes, small but very important detail : Thailand is tax free for you and me
Myself i am thinking of selling my German home parking the cash in a stable market fund (forget interest, there isn't any in the western world anymore, politicians stealing our cash with inflation and zero interest...) and doing the country rotation thing with thailand as a base for tax free purposes : Rent / buy a reasonable condo there, and use it as a base for the rest of asia. Spend the nice 3-4 months of the year there, spend summer in Canada (6 months of the year you are welcome there as a tourist) and spend 3 months with family in the EU.
In that way : Zero taxes because you "live" in Thailand , something to do every few months, and if health or age questions come into play all you lose is a few million bath on a nice condo , at most. Will boredom or lack of purpose follow me , yes of course as its a build in human condition, but in this way i will be distracted enough with the occasional happy ending
Just my 2 cents, hope it is of use to you or someone here, thanks for reading.
the most idyllic places to live
in General Topics
Posted
Interesting topic as i find myelf in a similar situation as the topic starter albeit with a different "lump sum" and 2000 Euro a week. A lot of the replies here mention Australia or Hawaii as an alternative, however they forget that immigration to other countries isnt always as easy as just showing up. Being an European myself, i find it impossible to relocate to the USA , there just isn't a visa for retirement there . The only possibility is a so called EB5 which requires you to invest 500.000 USD into shady projects that are not guaranteed to work , let alone get your investment back, all this to get a possibility to get an "investment" visa , no thanks.
Australia you can retire to starting at the age of 55 if you bring 750.000 AUD to invest in a government fund, and have an additional 750.000 AUD for yourself and possibile partner. The first 750.000 will be stuck for years in a Fund until you either die or leave. I'd rather spend that money before i kick the bucket. Hawaii by the way is part of the USA so that's a no go either.
So as you can see , even being "rich" you cant just settle down anywhere you like and i can see the idea of the topic starter having been to thailand myself now for 3 times, a month at a time.
However also having seen the state in which the country is , and the number of traffic accidents i witnessed in that relative short period of time has made me doubtfull about the long term living possibilities in Thailand.
So here are my findings on Thailand for you sofar :
Bangkok : Insane, fun, weird, way too hot to consider living there, plus just 1 park that is quite tiny
Chiang Mai : Great place, Nimman is fun, Markets at night are fun, cheap city BUT you will probably roll over and die after 5 years due to the air thats 90% diesel fumes
Cha Am : Nothing do to , beach is crappy, scary dogs everywhere , was bitten there and the hospital looks like an field post from a bad vietnam movie
Phuket : Some of the smaller beaches are fantastic, Patong is a fun sort of tourist trap that i enjoy for periods shorter than a 5 days, "Expensive" for Thai standards
Chiang Rai / Ayutthaya / All smaller places : Nice people, nothing to do, scary dogs and traffic , fun to visit but no way
11 Years ago i settled in Germany because here you can build a massive home, drive a ditto car , and enjoy low taxes (depending on circumstances) but its Europe, weather is crap, people are friendly but very distant, and as a few wrote already, you will find the boredom or happiness being the same as you cant escape yourself.
So to sum up : Thailand is fun in a scary sort of way, do as you please but so does everyone else, i have seen more accidents in 3 months there than in my entire life in Europe and a year in the USA. I am scared of dogs so that doesn't help either with being in Thailand. But in a weird way, i do love the country the language and the "friendliness" , between quotes as it does seem only skin deep. Some of the girls look amazing, some are not so good looking, like everywhere on the planet. And o yes, small but very important detail : Thailand is tax free for you and me
Myself i am thinking of selling my German home parking the cash in a stable market fund (forget interest, there isn't any in the western world anymore, politicians stealing our cash with inflation and zero interest...) and doing the country rotation thing with thailand as a base for tax free purposes : Rent / buy a reasonable condo there, and use it as a base for the rest of asia. Spend the nice 3-4 months of the year there, spend summer in Canada (6 months of the year you are welcome there as a tourist) and spend 3 months with family in the EU.
In that way : Zero taxes because you "live" in Thailand , something to do every few months, and if health or age questions come into play all you lose is a few million bath on a nice condo , at most. Will boredom or lack of purpose follow me , yes of course as its a build in human condition, but in this way i will be distracted enough with the occasional happy ending
Just my 2 cents, hope it is of use to you or someone here, thanks for reading.