Mr Wong

Hi . . . the ATO's definition of a non residemt is being outside of Australia for > 6 months pa. As a non resident there is zero threshold, every single dollar is taxed starting at 30 cents in the dollar. 

There is an exception courtesy of ATO legislation introduced by the Howard / Costello government . . . to improve liquidity of the ASX, foreign investment in the ASX was encouraged by waiving capital gains tax (and losses).  A foreign investor in the ASX is required to pay 30% witholding tax on dividends . . . if however the dividend is fully franked then the tax is already paid and no further payment is required . . . however if the dividend is unfranked then the ATO will want 30% with-holding tax.

The capital gains tax exemption does not apply to real estate or any listed company on the ASX company that sources its income from real estate. 

If for example one was deriving income from renting out property in Australia . . . there is zero tax threshold and tax starts at 30% from the very first dollar.

As Crossy says it depends on one's need.

I have lived in Chiang mai, Korat, Roiet, Nong kai and Fang as well as numerous holidays to the south that I have lost count.

Of them all, I like Fang best. I love it, but it could bore others to death. Its a bit of a back water with few tourists and I could count the other farangs that I have met here over the past 5 years on two hands. No traffic, easy parking, very low cost of living, friendly locals. When I roll up for a 90 day I am always the only one. Local hospital, dentist, mechanic and fresh food market are absolutely fantastic.

Our Sunday walking street is the best I have experienced in Thailand, ableit now closed due to covid.

Lots of community spirit.

Worst thing is the air pollution come burning season around February - March. No beach . . . but I have my own swimming pool, snooker, gym and hot girlfriend to amuse me.

There are plenty of things here that annoy me . . . but overall the good things outweigh the bad.

I find life here a lot easier than in Australia.

I notice that the daily deaths are always around about 1% of the daily infections.

Is it then correct to say that if one gets covid then they then have a 1 chance in 100 of dying from covid ?

. . . and that the risk of dying increases dramatically with age . .   so for someone 80 plus year old  the odds of dying are more like 1 in 20.

If you go with your partner to your branch of the bank account they can put a special provision on your account that if you die then your partner can access the account . . . for a one off fee of 100 baht per account to set up the provision.

My experience with Thai lawyers is that they will set the will up in such a way that they will suck some hefty fee from your partner on top of the original fee for writing a will.

I have had the same bad experience with lazada many times. On many occassions a small package containing some <deleted> worth about 5 baht would arrive. It happened so many times that I decided to stop using lazada.

Now I have started using lazada again . . .  but now I no longer pre pay . . . now I only use COD . . . and I no longer order anything from China . . . and I check feedback.

I have bought and installed myself metal sheet roofing with and without a bonded 5mm thick polyurathane / aluminium insulation layer. I used the product with the insulation layer on the house and the product without insulation on the verandah and carport. The metal comes in 3 thicknesses; 0.3mm, 0.35mm and 0.4mm.  My metal sheet roofing is just some generic knock off (not bluscope). The only downside to the insulation is that on areas exposed to sunlight it quickly breaks down and looks dreadful . . . thats why I used the uninsulated product on the verandah and carport.

Yes . . . it has all to do about iron ore prices. I have all my money invested in iron ore and am on an iron ore forum everyday because iron ore is my sole means of income. Iron ore prices started sky to rocket from late 2020. It is the high grade low emmission ore that has really sky roketted. The reasons for sky rocketting iron ore prices include:

1.covid stimulus infrastructure based recovery world wide.

2. China demand for ore now greater than 1 billion tonnes annually . . . China doing massive infrastructure.

3. Strickter emmission rules in China pushing high grade ore price higher.

4. Limited availability of high grade ore. Vale in South America production affected by covid outbreaks.

I am always doing some project around the house and am very watchful of prices and I can tell you prices have gone up heaps, Global House included. I was buying some 3" x 1.5" x 1.2mm x 6m gal . . . first batch about 3 months back 340 baht, went back for more and was 420 baht then had to get a bit more 510 baht . . .  commented to the girl . . . she says price of steel going up everyday.

All I can say is that I am lucky to have my iron ore shares because they have gone from 25 cents to over 60 cents in 12 months and I am quite sure have a way ti go yet.

In Australia there is a huge police presence on the roads with heavy fines which not only helps to keep the road toll low but is also a great revenue raiser for government. Not sure if it would work here in Thailand but something needs to be done. Its not just the deaths but also the countless seriously permanently injured.

I built that pool in Picton, NSW, Australia in 1991. The name in the bottom right is the agent, Jarrod Smith First National Real Estate of Argyle St. Picton, who sold the house for me in 2012.

I not only built the pool on my own but also the 8000 square foot house on my own. I have built quite a few high end houses, several swimming pools.and even a full size synthetic grass tennis court.

The following picture is of the commercially built swimming pool that was in my previous house in Chiang mai . . . which was a terrible design and high maintainance.

Funny story . . . about 20 years ago I was travelling from Sydney to Shanghai and needed to carry a very large amount of cash for the purchase of a machine for my business. I got the idea to strap the cash all over my body . . . really . . . this is true ! The plan soon started falling apart as I noticed $50 notes on the floor at Sydney airport. The damn money had started sliding out of the bottom of my jeans. The next problem arose when I went to exchange the money in Shanghai . . . they bank examined every note very carefully one by one . . . any notes with the slightest blemish were rejected. There were a lot of notes rejected because they had been getting rubbed together and had gotten wet from sweat. Because so many notes got rejected I did not have enough money to pay for the machine. Then my travelling companion got the idea to try withdrawing via an ATM from their account in Australia that was set up without a daily withdrawal limit . . . it worked !

I am 66 and all my life my houses have had a swimming pool, 4 of which I built myself so I think it is fair to say that I have some experience. The amount of time one needs to run the filter is dependant on the load . . . if one has every kid in the neighbourhood in the pool one would need to run the pump a lot longer. Also if one is using a salt chlorinator one has to run the pump longer for it to make sufficient chlorine. I am running an inline chlorine tablet dispenser which I have turned up to maximum in order to get as much chlorine in the pool in the shortest time. My previous house in Chiangmai had an existing pool built by specialist pool compamy . . . I can say without a doubt that the pools that I have built myself are far superior. No, I did not use so called kitchen wall tiles . . . I used 8" × 8" floor tiles . . . tiles are so cheap in Thailand that they are cheaper than using pool paint. The steel work used is DB12 at 300 centres, I dropped 6 cubic metres concrete on the floor and sandwiched 6" of concrete between a double wall of blocks which acted as formwork. Doing the work myself saved heaps . . . but the main reason I like to build things myself is that I enjoy building. Here is a photo of a 12m x 5m x 1.5m pool I made all by myself and lined with natural stone.

I recently finished building an 8m x 4m x 1.2m fully tiled concrete pool. I did all the work myself including excavation by hand (and I am 66). It only took me one month to build and cost 60,000 baht all up including pump house, filter and accessories. The pump, filter and in line chlorinator all came from Global house and work like magic. I only need to run run the pump an hour or so each day for a pristine clear pool. The pump is 1 horse power and the filter is 20 inch. Bottom drains are a thing of the past but seeing you have one already plumbed you may as well use it . . . just put a vlave on it and then join it to the suction line . . . that way you can crack the valve open a little and draw say 20% from bottom of pool and 80% via skimmer.

My Parsons Jack Russell has killed around 100 snakes including spitting cobras and kraits. I bought him from a breeder in Chiang mai 10 years ago. He is a fantastic companion. The Parsons Jack Russells are absolutely amazing dogs. He is absolutely fearless and very, very quick.

The thai government has paid 3 times as much for sinovac compared to AZ . . . maybe sinovac is better ???

• Sinovac 8.1 million doses, 5,059 million baht = 625 baht per dose.

 • Astra Zeneca 26 million doses, 5,287 million baht = 203 baht per dose.