Mike Teavee

If you wanted to stay in this region then your UK State Pension would not be frozen in the Philippines.

If you're not an American & unable/unwilling to pony up at least $500K the USA is off topic. Sadly for me as it would have been in my top 3 if there was a reasonable way I could live there for more than 6 months of the year.

Haven't read any of the previous posts (will go back now to read them all) but from the subject title, my top 3 (in order) would be:- Philippines - Have visited > 30 times, dated a Filipina for 8 years & even built a house in Davao but in the end I preferred Thailand so retired here (though I still prefer Filipina girls????) . Columbia - Have never been, but I love the vibe of South America so my plan (pre-covid) was to do a 3-6 month tour around SA to see if I wanted to retire there instead of Thailand. Portugal - (IMHO) Best place to retire in Europe, though things aren't as straight forward for us Brits to retire there since Brexit...

Agreed & I've always said that if I couldn't afford to live in (at least) a 1br place then I would move to somewhere where I could. Even without the housing costs, I still can't get over the 12K pm though, 12k pw is more or less the budget in the OP & a few of us believe we would struggle on that.

I take it you don't live in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui etc... then as 12K would be subsistence living in any of those places & I'm also guessing you own your own property/transport in which case you're not really living on 12K as you've got the sunken investment of the X Millions you paid for your home/transport. E.g. I could pay my rent for 5 years in advance & claim that I live on a lot less than I do, but I would be fooling myself if I thought that. Of the top of my head, my bare minimum budget (assuming I kicked the GF out) would be:- - Rent - 10K (I can't live in a Studio so need at least 1 bedroom) - Utilities - 4K (Electricity, Water, Internet, Mobile) - Health Insurance - 3K (I'm 55 so this is only going to go up) - 500 THB pd Food (Groceries & Eating Out) - 15K ... So I'm up to 32K pm just to get by. IMHO 66K is a little on the low side (80K would be a more realistic number) if you want to really enjoy your retirement (Travel, Play Golf etc...), but if you're happy to stay at home & not do very much then you can do it on less as others have shown, but 12K pm is way beyond low.

Now that's really depressing!!!

I think if Covid has taught is anything it's the benefit of having a nice place so you don't mind staying at home, I can only imagine how depressing it's been to be stuck in a shoebox sized condo staring at the same 4 walls day after day (Did enough of that when I was working & would do 6 month stretches "Living" in hotels whilst away on projects). Please don't say "Well get out more", 1 there has been nowhere to go & 2 it's normally either too hot or p155ing down with rain. Nope, would much rather give up a couple of nights out a week & stay in a place where I was happy to chillax at home & if I can't have a room with at least 1 wall between the living room & bedroom then I'd move somewhere where I could.

There are 2-3 guys on a popular Pattaya Forum that post regular budget updates on how they live on around 50K pm & they seem to have an ok lifestyle, but I've found that around twice is about the right amount for me & I would really struggle on < 60K. I think inflation will be a big factor over the coming years, I don't know how the Aussie pension CoL increases work, on paper UK State pensioners are covered by a "Triple-Lock Guarantee" so should get an increase at least in line with inflation BUT UK State Pensions are frozen if you move to Thailand so they actually get nothing (assuming they've told the government that they're living in Thailand which not all do).

It’s Referring to Income arising in the UK, doesn’t matter where the work was done or even if (like me) it was for a non-UK subsidiary, There’s a tax man somewhere that wants their pound of flesh. But I can only go off of my own experience & that included paying tax in a 2nd country, hope I’m wrong & you manage to swing it so it works out for you. The 2nd part is for when people do more than 30 days physically working in the UK where you’re liable for tax there irrespective of whether you’re NRT or not, I used to do about 10 days a year (doing exactly the same job, even same hours) as I did in Singapore & never had to pay tax on it.

Overview You usually have to pay tax on your UK income even if you’re not a UK resident. Income includes things like: pension rental income savings interest wages If you’re eligible for a Personal Allowance you pay Income Tax on your income above that amount. Otherwise, you pay tax on all your income. The country where you live might tax you on your UK income. If it has a ‘double-taxation agreement’ with the UK, you can claim tax relief in the UK to avoid being taxed twice. https://www.gov.uk/tax-uk-income-live-abroad Edit: One good thing about being Non-Resident is you can pay AVCs at Class 2 ("Self Employed") rates so approx £160 per year instead of > £750 (Can't remember the numbers, mine is taken out monthly & it's somewhere between £12-£16 pm).

To be clear, you have to pay the tax somewhere that has a DTA with the UK or you won't be able to claim it back (As I posted, I'd paid tax on those earnings in Singapore so was able to claim it back on the basis I'd been taxed twice on the same income).

His location is listed as Rangsit so I would guess Pathum Thani (am saying that as the GF used to live in Pathum Thani & work in Rangsit so am assuming they're reasonably close to each other).

IIRC it's not a straight forward 600THB "Voucher" (It's actually done in an app, we used G-Wallet) but you got 40% of the bill up to 600 THB, so if you spent >1500 THB on a meal, they would knock 600 THB off it, spend 1,000 THB & the discount would be 400 THB. Also seem to recall it accumulates (i.e. there's 600 added every day) + the number was higher at weekends (seem to recall it being 900 THB)

Yep, GF registered for the previous ones but I did all the bookings / paid for the rooms etc..., the only thing I needed from her was her Thai ID when making the booking (Agoda TT page).

I think it depends on the terms of the DTA (Double Taxation Agreement) in place between the 2 countries. In my 1st year working in Singapore I was working for a UK Bank & was taxed UK PAYE as normal but was also taxed in Singapore on the basis I'd spent > 186 days (might have been as low as 3 months) working there. Come Tax Return time my accountant claimed the tax back for me on the basis that I'd already been taxed on the income in Singapore (not sure if the fact I'd spent < 30 days in the UK came into it). The >£21,000 I got back more than covered the 12-13% tax I'd paid in Singapore ???? OP, I doubt you'll get away with paying PAYE tax on your UK earnings but you should be able to claim this back if you can show that you've paid tax on the income in a country with a DTA with the UK, worse case (assuming there is a DTA in place) is you would get back any Tax paid in the 2nd country so would be net neutral

Sorry guys, too SMOOTH for me...

Thanks @ubonjoe @DrJack54, glad I checked, I was 99.999% certain a TM30 would reset it (but I should have known better as that would have been too logical) so had it in my diary to do before 23rd November. Looks like my next appointment is due on 20th October so have stuck a note in the diary to start trying to do it online from the 8th on the basis that I have little confidence in the online system working this time given I've done an extension & TM30 since my the previous report ????

Damn, so filing a TM30 does not reset the clock? I really thought I'd effectively reported my address when I filed the TM30 & so the 90 day would start from there. Oh well, anybody recommend an Agent in Pattaya that will file a 90 day for me?

I moved districts/Imm offices (Bangkok to Jomtien) 1 month ago & filed a TM30 on 25th August, does this mean my 90day is due around the 23rd November & not 90 days from when I last did a report in Bangkok (IIRC around 20th July).

It's just struck me that the reason the 2br units cost more than 2 x 1 br units is because they're at the front of the building so you get a full 180 degree sea view from your balcony rather than being able to see the sea from the side of your balcony (if you know what I mean)... Wongamat is a nice place, figure we'll do a couple of years here & then check out living somewhere else (Maybe Surat Thani, don't quite fancy living on an Island but do enjoy being close to the sea)

Sorry, I was including the Condo driveway which accounts for at least 1/2 of that ???? Yeah, the Tops Daily doesn't offer much variety (looks like the 2nd Family Mart opposite Wongamat Towers might turn into 1) but I have to confess that 1 of my secret vices is a couple of the 7/11 cheese toasties for breakfast & a few 330ml bottles of Budweiser (but not for breakfast) every now & again... I know... I know, how can I call myself a Brit ????

Sure Studios are cheaper but having spent decades living in hotels when working away on projects I need at least 1 wall between the bedroom & living room... My experience was 1BR were going for 15K (IIRC Studios were about 9K) & 2br for 35K (though I got 20% knocked off this price).

I was joking but yes I would have preferred it if we had 1 Family Mart & 1 7-11 instead of the 2 Family Marts.... Good news is I went past the bigger of the 2 7/11s yesterday & it looks like there's some activity going on so hopefully will re-open soon. Actually we discussed at length the fact that there were no supermarkets around but the alternative would be to live in Central Pattaya so we felt the trade off of taking a taxi a couple of times a week to do grocery shopping (most stuff you can order online but I don't like to buy meat, fruit or veggies without choosing it myself) was worth it. Have to admit that we were spoiled living in On Nut as we had a Tops next door, a big Tesco Lotus across the road & a large Big C a 5 minute walk away.... But didn't have a beach 100m away

Chatting with the GF & I said to her... "Babe, if you had 2 houses & I had nowhere to live what would you do"... She replies "Terack, I love you so if I had 2 houses & you had nowhere to live I would give you one of my houses". So I says "Babe, if you had 2 cars & I had no transport what would you do". She replies "Terack, I've told you I love you so if I had 2 cars & you had no transport I would give you one of my cars". So I says "Babe if you had 2,000 Baht... " She cut me off & said "oh F Off, you know I have 2,000 Baht"...

I used Thailand-Property (https://www.thailand-property.com/) & Hipflat (https://www.hipflat.com/) but there are some good property groups on Facebook (I don't use FB so can't recommend any). Also, check out the Ocean Properties ( https://pattaya-ocean-properties.com/info/about/aci-ocean-properties/) & PBRE (https://www.pattayabayrealestate.com/) sites to get a feel for the different buildings then contact Som at Ocean Properties to view units in them. Fazwaz (https://www.fazwaz.com/) is great for their virtual tours but their units always seemed more expensive than units with other agents.