
Mike Lister
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Everything posted by Mike Lister
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Only if you take the view that foreigners residing in Thailand will owe more combined in tax, than will the Thai nationals at whom this rule change is targeted. I think that is highly improbable since natives Thais affected by this rule are likely to be in the millions whereas the foreigner population is in the low hundreds of thousands.
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The Pro's and Cons of Spinal Surgery
Mike Lister replied to Mike Lister's topic in Health and Medicine
I'm 100% on board with that and always have been, the problem here is trying to find a physical therapist who knows understand the problem, understands human anatomy and understand an approach to resolving issues. Thus far I've found people who have two out of three, others know how to turn on the hot pad, operate an ultrasound machine or give really painful unnecessary massages. I had one physical therapist who kept asking me what I wanted, did I want heat, did I want massage, he just didn't get what he was there to do. I live in hope. -
The Pro's and Cons of Spinal Surgery
Mike Lister replied to Mike Lister's topic in Health and Medicine
Yes, I went 40 years following a prolapse and all was well, I was three days away from the OP when the chiro. fixed things. It can be done, I'm not going to \give into surgery yet because as my chro said, you can't unoperate if things don't go as planned. -
What nonsense, again! Thailand may act somewhat xenophobically towards foreigners at times and view them as having deep pockets, but nickel and dime stuff, a fine here a small penalty there, is chicken feed, in the bigger picture of things. Let us not forget that Thailand finds it desirable to maintain a decent sized expat and retiree population in country, because it helps stimulate consumer spending, aids foreign currency reserves, is a source of income for many and aids the property market and private health care industries. Targeting foreign residents for additional fines penalties and taxes will depend largely on how those residents behave. But if they are pushed too far, people will start to leave and fewer new expats will replace them, increasingly, Thailand will become known as Westerner unfriendly and that is not in their best interests and they know that. Lastly, of all the government departments I have interacted with, the RD is by far the easiest and the best. I have always found it possible to get any answers I needed and to discuss matters with them completely. I do not expect them to change very much as result of this new process.
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The Pro's and Cons of Spinal Surgery
Mike Lister replied to Mike Lister's topic in Health and Medicine
Celebtex is a COX2 inhibitor which are scary creatures, the one I was prescribed, Arcoxia, is heavily controlled in the UK because of the link to heart failure. -
It's not been a good year, in November my thyroid started to take over my neck and had to be removed, taken outside and given a thrashing, now my lumbar is playing up, big time! I'm just not keen on a second op, if it can be avoided but the hip and sciatica pain is intense at times. L4/L5 is prolapsed and L5/S1 is suffering from spinal degeneration. The surgeon only wants to operate, perform a discectomy and join the two vertebrae with titanium screws. I last had a prolapse 40 years ago, in the same place and managed to overcome it with chiropractic, but that was then and back over there and this is here and now. I've tried physio, mostly hot packs, ultrasound, electrical stimulation and ice packs, sometimes there's a short term benefit, other times there's just pain. Back muscle strengthening exercises are helpful and ongoing. Meds such as Myonal, arcoxia, Myospa and Gaba100 help in combination therapy but can only be short term solutions because of the potential for liver and kidney damage. One orthopaedic surgeon advised me to avoid all surgery if possible because outcomes are uncertain, even with microsurgery - if you do those two discs, in a years time you'll have to do the next one up, because the weight load shifts. Wonderful! Any useful tips, tricks or pointers, from first hand experience? I need to be able to exercise because of my absent thyroid and for cardio, it's becoming important to avoid weight gain, my diet is already down to two leaves a day and blade of grass!
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Nealy toast......French toast.
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You and your sad stories about what happens to poor old farangs here, dear God! BTW the term 2nd and 3rd world applies to political alignment during the cold war and has little to do with economics or banking.
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The rates may be a function of the value of AUD right now and the fact that it's not competitive so Thai banks don't want to hold it, AUD has lost value against USD but is now starting to recover as USD weakens. One option might be to hold it is THB for a while and get some interest on it until the value improves?
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AOT to continue building two new airports to handle more passengers
Mike Lister replied to snoop1130's topic in Thailand News
The trick will be to get the maximum number of people to visit, thus maximising revenue, before the pollution from their airplanes cause the country to become unlivable. -
OK, make sure the bank sees the blue slip from the Land Office showing tax paid, that's the key document.
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You are at the mercy of the banks and the SWIFT service, the money exchangers wont move large amounts. Your bigger problem MIGHT be permission to transfer a large amount, if earned via a wr permit or a property sale, there will not be an issue, otherwise you will need to demonstrate that the funds originated from outside Thailand. Assuming the transfer in principle is not an issue: there is not a lot of difference between the TT rate offered by all Thai banks, they will all be very close., A 2 baht spread, one baht either side of midpoint is slightly high, I would have looked for closer to 50 satang either side but maybe times have changed.
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It was a joke between grumpy and myself, or anyone else that has a sense of humour, which appears to exclude you.
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I would never presume to speak for anyone, other than myself so perhaps read what I have written more carefully, slowly and in a less defensive manner. I am not a floating wanderer either, I have a home and family here, as I have done for over the past 20 years or more, full time. No, I have not jumped the gun by filing tax returns in previous years, unlike many others I have merely followed the law and the rules that dictate I must do so. But I also file tax returns for the UK and the US also, every year, because the rules say I must. And I also have told my "home" government my whereabouts and file as a non-UK resident for tax purpose, which matches up with what DWP understands when it pays me my State Pension and doesn't pay me annual increases or a heating allowance in Thailand! Of course for anyone who has told those agencies different stories, changes to the tax filing arrangements will be a significant barrier, phytological and financial, I imagine!!!
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Investors plight.
Mike Lister replied to swissie's topic in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments
My take on the way things are shaping up is that Asian and EM markets could easily do very well next year. US markets are surging and small caps are up 10% on the month, that's a very positive sign that global contagion will spread to other markets as a result. What's also very positive is that the DI is down to 102 and is fast approaching par, that bodes well for Asian currencies, even if Western interest rates do have the edge because investors are getting out of cash in favor of better prospects elsewhere. The oil price is stable at a decent level, even if the Red Sea issue does complicate the exports picture somewhat. The global conflicts picture is still messy but many appear to be in the last third of their run rather than the first third. The US elections is also wildcard but increasingly, Americans appear to be seeing a win win alternative in Nicky Hailey. El Nino may well throw some curve balls this year, that could be a game changer for some. I am currently invested 53% in US, 20% in EU/UK, 21% Asia Dev and EM and, 9% Japan......I may well increase my EM holdings next year. -
I thought it went without saying that there's an upfront process everyone needs to go through first which is an impact assessment. Everyone needs to sit down and do a back of the fag packet calculation that assesses whether or not additional tax must be paid, if so, how much and in light of those answers, whether or not it's worth staying or whether they want to leave. I've assumed most people already understand those impacts and if you haven't started packing, you just need to get over the psychological barrier and join the rest of us by filling out the forms. The alternative is to hide under the bed and suffer periodic angst every time the phone rings or an unusual letter arrives in the mail. Jeez, this is not rocket science, it's a simple tax return.