Everyman

Im going to post and gloat in May when nothing has happened.

It doesn’t work for ACH anymore only IAT and to my knowledge no retail US bank offers that. The guy with the the Vanguard account, are you sending IAT or Swift?

People speak as if consumption taxes “don’t count” or something but if they really knew and counted how much they spend on taxes for alcohol, cheese, vehicles, plus VAT, plus a bunch of other taxes they would see that already pay a lot. no “free rides” are happening.

Why does he have so much cash laying around?

It’s not a question of sensitivity. It’s practical. My conception of money isn’t tethered to some far away land. I’ve been in Thailand for more than 20 years, most of them time working and earning a salary in Thai baht. The existence of America doesn’t factor into what I consider expensive, the local economy does. If America sank into the sea like Atlantis, would you pick some other place to anchor your conception of prices? If so, why not pick Thailand?

I have several accounts connected to Wise with Plaid. Different accounts take different amounts of time. From my Citi account is takes a week, from Bank of America, just seconds. So try opening an account with a different bank.

The existence of Yosemite Park justifies price discrimination in Thailand? How is that a sane thought?

What absolute <deleted>.

I wish Bangkok Bank did that. Instead that’s a “Thais only” feature

My Bangkok Bank debit card has my name on it. I got it from the Bangkok Bank branch at the end of soi 6 in Pattaya. My home branch is in Bangkok. They tried to discourage me, and it took a week of waiting but I came back and they had a new debit card for me with my name on it, including full middle name.

Do Thai people actually drink red fanta or do they only offer it to spirits? And why do they suppose spirits like red fanta anyway?

What is the most common higher displacement motorbike in Thailand? 125cc plus, but hopefully more like 250cc It will be Thai mechanics working on it so I want something they will have experience with and parts for.

It basically is common knowledge in the sense that the information is easy to find. The American tax system is big and complicated though and not everyone has personal finance as a hobby. Here is the IRS page about it https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-earned-income-exclusion It can be a bit confusing with the “tax home,” thing, but the important part is the “physical presence test.” And the amount for the 2023 tax year is $126,500. I was just being approximate with the “six figures.” As I mentioned however, if you are self employed and your income comes from the US you’re on the hook for at least about 15% and there’s nothing you can legally do about that.

There is a randomness implied about “Murphy’s Law,” but the financial system isn’t random. The reasons for things may not be clear, but that is different from being random. In this context, Murphy’s Law is more a statement of ignorance. Which satisfies Occam’s Razor. The short version: The simplest explanation is that you don’t understand what’s going on and you call that “Murphy’s Law.”

As much as people complain about the American system, if you make under six figures in USD and live outside the US you don’t pay any taxes to America unless you are self employed. And then, it’s social security which you conceivably get some benefit for some day. But this requires that Americans understand the tax system and file the right paperwork which many are strongly averse to, it seems.