Grecian

I used to teach private eng!ish lessons to Japanese students. I was all smiles. Looked like I was having a great time. Except when I was teaching someone more attractive than me, and that's not saying much, and also rare, I couldn't wait to get my money and get out of there.

I drank beer after the class sometimes ( all part of the service) 

It always amazes me how people don't realise that service industry workers are all faking it.

2 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

A friend of mine had half his stomach removed because of cancer. Cost him about 2 million baht.

 

So how much should the average irresponsible foolish uninsured expat have in the bank for health emergencies?

 

 

If he comes from the uk, enough to get him a flight home.

The green areas of Bangkok, from small condo gardens to large parks. Are they earth or grass laid on concrete?

45 minutes ago, BigStar said:

Others, lacking your remarkable ability to draw general conclusions from your personal "noticing," seem to have noticed something, however.

 

Study of a high physical exercise cohort compared with community controls over more than 20 years showed that disability at age 80 years had been postponed by nearly 16 years while mortality had been postponed about 7 years in the exercise cohort as opposed to controls. A similar study compared three groups of university alumni divided at baseline into cohorts with zero, one, or two/three major risk factors out of exercise, weight, and tobacco use and followed from age 69 to almost 90 years of age. The zero initial risk factor cohort postponed morbidity by 10 years and mortality by 3.3 years compared to high risk. The differences increased over time, occurred in all subgroups, and persisted after statistical adjustment.

 

    --“On the Compression of Morbidity: From 1980 to 2015 and Beyond.” Handbook of the Biology of Aging, Jan. 2016, pp. 507–24. www.sciencedirect.com, doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-411596-5.00019-8.

 

And, as is typical around here, you imagine a healthy lifestyle is all about lifespan so to invoke our fave excuse: the dreaded "extra years in the bedsit" paradigm. In reality it's about healthspan--feeling great while remaining free of chronic diseases as long as possible--and compressing morbidity. Fewer years of disease, less expense, fewer years in the bedsit.

 

Suddenly I'm seeing a bunch of old fat guys sputtering at their keyboards and reaching for their blood pressure monitors. (Omron is our preferred machine.)

 

The Compression of morbidity paradigm envisions reduction in cumulative lifetime morbidity through primary prevention by postponing the age of onset of morbidity to a greater amount than life expectancy is increased, largely by reducing the lifestyle health risks which cause morbidity and disability. Recent data document slowly improving age-specific health status for seniors, indicate that postponement of the onset of disability by at least 10 years is feasible, and prove effectiveness of some lifestyle interventions by randomized controlled trials. Human aging is increasingly represented by frailty, with declining reserve function of many organ systems, including the immune system.

 

Fries, J. F. “Compression of Morbidity in the Elderly.” Vaccine, vol. 18, no. 16, Feb. 2000, pp. 1584–89. PubMed, doi:10.1016/s0264-410x(99)00490-9.

 

This is awfully complicated, so a graph and readable article:

 

   

--“Matters of Health (Part 4a).” Cardiologydoc’s Blog, 5 Oct. 2011, https://cardiologydoc.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/matters-of-health-part-4a/.

 

 

Why wouldn't anyone, unless mentally depressed, prefer to postpone all the usual chronic diseases and immobility until a much shorter period of suffering closer to The End of at least a normal lifespan?

 

Nobody's told me I have the genes of a centenarian. Unlike many of our TVF Health Experts, I deal in probabilities rather than Absolute Certainties. No, I don't find it difficult to make some adjustments to maximize the probabilities. No, I'm not stressing out over anything, esp. the need to take my meds on time. And I'm very much enjoying my life. It all seems to be working so far, as I still feel great, stay fit, spend nothing on docs, hospitals, and meds, have never had any events, and all the biomarkers are good. BPH ain't bothering me; you?

 

I just addressed a few of our common excuses. The point for the topic is that spending on healthcare can be significantly, even drastically, reduced and postponed and therefore the amount of health insurance needed or amount kept in reserve from early on for self-insurance. I agree that healthcare planning is critical, so I worked at a Thai company a few years to get Thai SS. Anybody younger than 60 should find a way to do that. Still, you have to consider optional extras not covered. Want the latest and greatest world-class this or that, you'll have to pay up somewhere.

How many years do you need to work at a Thai company to get SS, presumably for life?

5 hours ago, Saltire said:

Yes my health is my only worry in Thailand.

 

I have a UK policy for 6 years now with £325k (Baht 14 million) cover, premium £1200PA. I could take one big hit self insured if they refuse a claim, and I got the Roojai Covid-only insurance, but I still think I am at risk.

 

My UK policy was due up to a 50% hike as I turned 66 in Feb, so I emailed them for a quote to see if I should be looking around. To my absolute surprise they wrote to me offering the same price for one more year (no increase) due to my loyalty and no claim situation, even changing their mind about cover for my pre-existing conditions and Covid.

 

So if my UK policy doesn't pay, Roojai cover proves useless and I run out of savings there's always a Go Fund Me as a last resort.

 

 

Do you mind saying which company you use?

Thanks for the replies. Maybe my op wasn't clear enough.

I was a tefl teacher in the past.

Have good investments already.

Just wondering if teaching in thailand is possible for a year or maybe two. And is it enjoyable.

I'm 53 and have been retired about 5 years. So might have gotten a little intolerant. Lol.

42 minutes ago, jack71 said:

Go to issan and work at one of the low class universities. Marry one of your students. I know one farang who did this. He has a baby with her now

I only have a BA and tefl. Did work at a university in Japan though.

How possible is it to get those hmm,  jobs?????

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Almost every woman I became close to used me and dumped me when they no longer had use for me.

I think learning not to trust women means that I did acquire wisdom- the wisdom to see females for what they are and not what I'd like them to be.

 

NB, I'm not saying every woman is untrustworthy, but seems that most I had affection for were.

Not judging, just asking. How attractive were all these women compared to you?

20 hours ago, BenDeCosta said:

 

Just do what the Thais do, only tell the truth as and when it suits you, and at any other times just lie through your teeth to save face. When in Rome....

 

If my wife asks me why it took 2 hours to go and buy groceries, I will tell her that the bike had a flat tire and I had to push it to the garage, she doesn't need to know what I was doing at the local resort. Fight fire with fire.

and you would prefer your wife would do the same in a similar s situation?

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

 

Jump right in, enjoy the ride, protect your assets, don't think too much.

I've lived the last 12 years like this, and I've had the time of my life.

Who could have possibly guessed the best years of my life would be between age 52 and age 62?

why did it end at 62?

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I think it's more about denial .........

His wife/gf hasn't banged a thousand other foreigners for money.

His wife would never cheat on him or steal the house he foolishly purchased in her name.

 

I once had an American guy drone on about how his wife would never cheat on him, etc. etc.

While his Thai wife (who I'd banged the night before) was winking at be from behind him.

 

I once had a Brit guy in a coffee shop (run by his misses) bet us a million baht his wife would never cheat on him. While the guy sitting next to me had just had a BJ from her behind the coffee shop counter earlier that morning.

 

I once had a French guy crying while he explained how his Thai wife had cheated on him with other men. I believed him as I'd had her a month earlier.

 

Cheating in Thailand is a national pastime, my misses has certainly cheated on me.

Join in, embrace the culture, cheat as well, or appear to be a hopeless (and rather sad) ninny to everyone.

Wow! I believe you. would like to ask,

what was the motivation for these women doing that?

Sounds a bit council estate to me. Were these women "lower class"?

4 hours ago, Johnny Mac said:

 

Agreed. There's nothing there. it's like when you go into a shop or to speak to a female at a call centre, attempting a bit of humour or sharing a joke or even a brief chat about the weather for example is a total waste of time. Boring as h*ll.

How fluent is your thai?

age of consent is 15 in Thailand. 

who knows she might have been a week away from her birthday.

Molestation is what?

I was still a virgin boy at 20. Some 14 year old girls are 14 going on 30.

string him high bit harsh before facts are known, don't you think?