realfunster

Unfortunately, media & news today is increasingly focused on generating traffic, clicks and likes. Put another way - money. It's part of our make-up that we will find exiting or sensationalist news of interest and go down the rabbit hole, many people lack the skepticism or self-control to avoid. Always worth keeping in mind as we digest and evaluate the news....

Quite. HK have totally mismanaged their COVID policy under CCP instructions, continuing to pursue the canutian nirvana of zero-COVID. When no water is let through the dam and insufficient sandbags have been placed, the dam eventually breaks and the flood consumes all. Handy to be able to deflect some of the blame for this situation onto a new variant. What HK is now experiencing, is in effect, their first COVID wave. We saw similar in Thailand last year around April, after 15 months of the dam holding here. It hit hard. Tragic as it is, this wave of undoubtedly milder Omicron in HK, will likely take out some elderly, those with co-morbidities (remember that phrase?) and unvaccinated. I await clear evidence of this strain being more dangerous.

Headline : "End in sight for major roadworks affecting drivers between Hua Hin and Bangkok" Reality from article : "The first phase of the project is Bang Khun Thian to Ekkachai, which covers a distance of 8.3 kilometers and is currently 60 percent complete. This phase is scheduled to be completed by June 2023 (+15 months), Mr Saksayam said. The second phase which covers Ekkachai to Ban Phaeo covers a distance of 16.4 kilometers and is scheduled for completion by January 2025. (+34 months)" Seriously, who writes this <deleted>....

Absolutely tragic. Drowning is the number 1 killer of Thai kids between 2-15 years old. The government must do more on educating on the risks of water and teaching basic swimming!

Correct. Came into force in 2019. Hence the dramatic increase in sightings of banana trees around in Bangkok over the last 3 years !

Good one. I thought you were going to mention the god awful traffic & traffic management (RTP) in Bangkok. How much petrol is wasted and fumes produced when waiting 3-5 minutes, on average, for the lights to change for 30 seconds? There are junctions near me where I know it will take me 10-20 minutes to get through a 200m queue, sitting through 2-3 light changes before I can make it. How much congestion is created when they deliberately make bottlenecks around expressway junctions, maniacally waving you off the main expressway onto the entrance ramp to rejoin... the main expressway. Because, well, it's free space isn't it... My personal record for a 'normal' junction on a timer is 399 seconds (perhaps 400+ would cause a system failure ????). Absolutely ridiculous. I have been stuck at Asok junction for over 20 minutes with no light change when heavily congested. Unfortunately, I don't live near a mass transit system, so like many, do not have much choice in transport. It's good to see much current activity in Bangkok on extending mass transit systems, this has come at least 10 years delayed though, when you consider the BTS opened in 1999 and the subway in 2004.

Blimey, was it constructed from gold ? Happy to see the US are still doing well financially. The price would make me think that, even allowing for an extravagant build quality, there must be some serious hardware tucked away inside. Interesting strategic move, I assume this is is a display of soft power to certain groups in Thailand, and...not in Thailand. This coming from a jealous Brit - we sold our beautiful Embassy in Bangkok for some pocket money and to make room for a shopping mall.

Oh dear. You really should reflect on what you post as links in support of your position. The first couple of sentences of the linked article gave off a discernible whiff of nonsense and conspiracy theory regarding a fading dollar globalization driven war and then about 3 paragraphs in (I struggled on that far) I came across this gem of foresight from 3 weeks ago… “For months now we’ve been hearing Washington ring alarm bells regarding what they have cited as an “imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.” According to the latest so-called US “intelligence,” a full-scale invasion would take place this week. Yet, as some of us have for months insisted would be the case, no invasion has transpired, nor, I believe, is one likely.” The closing summary is equally epic : “Washington will continue to do anything required to continue the dollar’s supremacy, including using Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder in its efforts to provoke Russia and force dollar hegemony on her. Washington wants to further isolate Russia from the West by painting her as a violent aggressor. I am confident Vladimir Putin will not be lured in.” Good grief, what a load of drivel !

Thanks Vlad for recognising the sovereign nation status of Taiwan. Someone is not happy about that news though....

More often than not, viruses weaken as they mutate, but this is not a law of nature. You will remember the Delta variant, which I think was the deadliest of all to date.

It is indeed a common reality here that kids are the future financial support for parents in their old age. In her case, being 38 years old and a well established star, might you expect that her estate has a reasonable worth already and probably enough to support a mother in her 70s for a comfortable retirement ? This whole rapidly arranged THB 30 million settlement smells rotten on both sides of the deal...

1) I would suggest that it is likely very much higher than that ! Some models (projecting % of tests giving a +ve to the wider population) have it in the hundreds of thousands a day...the UK reached this level during Omicron, I can't see why Thailand wouldn't also. 2) Most countries Omicron wave has peaked within 4-6 weeks. With the number fudging in LoS hard to say where we are, but I would estimate we are quite far into our Omicron wave by now. I recall reports that by end of January'22 Omicron was going to be >90% of all new infections, that's a month ago already. Accordingly, I anticipate we should be very much on the far side of the wave by the time Songkran comes around in 6 weeks. Of course, whether that means the Government starts relaxing restrictions, as in other places around the world, remains to be seen.

Logic free zone… I saw a recent article that 3% of arrivals were testing positive in Phuket. Let’s say Thailand removes restrictions (only PCR pre-flight & insurance) and as a result, we see a decent increase to 500,000pax per month. 3% positive would be around 15,000pax/month Let’s increase to 10% = 50,000pax/month Let’s increase to 20% = 100,000pax/month Now, don’t let the local headline numbers of around 20,000 cases per day fool you. There are credible analyses available (case positivity extrapolated to population based on the limited testing in Thailand) that suggest that Thailand is pulling over 100,000 new cases per day at the moment. So, even with the “doomsday” scenario of 20% positivity, these arriving 500,000 tourists contribute only around 1 extra day’s worth of cases per month…

Tragic. Remember : in such circumstances (come rain or shine & particularly in LoS) if safe to do so, always exit your vehicle and move somewhere safer 50 meters away.

Looking at the purple and green bar chart from BKK Brian, I think there is a trend that Monday/Tuesday reportings (I assume from Saturday & Sunday test results?) seem to show a dip or levelling. That's the benefit of the 7 day average charts to smooth these things out. That still shows a clear upward momentum for now.

I went and checked the charts and the rouble has weakened massively (halved in value) since 2014 already against $/Euro/RMB. Perhaps part of Putin's motivation, the good old fashioned patriotic war to mask internal economic failure trick. Of course, that poor economic outlook hasn't even slightly impaired the ability of the Russian kleptocracy to enrich themselves, with over 100 Russian billionaires now on the sanctions watchlist. The West has been party to this, often welcoming these people with open arms. (Yes, I am looking at you Roman Abramovich). It seems the turning a blind-eye on such things in now over but I am sure these people will find other welcoming, if less glamourous, nations that will be happy to accommodate their ill-gotten gains. China must be rubbing their hands with glee at this whole situation. Such a shame that 30+ years after the collapse of the Wall and the fresh hope that Russia would re-integrate and become a valuable and powerful European partner, that here we are in 2022.... If it wasn't for their O&G exports, which are now surely under threat in the short/medium term, not sure what else they have to rely on as economic engines, particularly if operating under pariah nation status. Dark days ahead for the average working Russian.

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AFAIK endemic is not a classification based on fatality or mortality rate but rather on the number of cases. Ebola has a fatality rate of around 50%, would you say we are in a Ebola epidemic or pandemic at present? An epidemic is a "localised" significant outbreak of cases and pandemic being the same situation but on a global level. Endemic does also not mean something is not 'serious'. For example, Malaria and 'flu are endemic and kill over 1 million/500,000 people respectively, per year.

"Thailand launches new scheme to help COVID-19 patients avoid hospital stay" I haven't read the OP but I assume this scheme is as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University. Would it involve not mandatorily hospitalising infected patients with mild or no symptoms and telling them to go home, take a couple of paracetamol and lie down in front of the TV for a couple days ?

As I recall reading a month or so ago, they were expecting over 90% Omicron by end of January. So, to all intents and purposes, it will be 100% Omicron by now.

The OP is missing this paragraph, which I have seen in other sources today : “The National Economic and Social Development Council projects that this tax incentive scheme will attract as many as a million foreigners to stay in Thailand for a long period.” ???????????? That is all…

Indeed, it’s therefore a mystery why many lawyers, engineers, architects, accountants, and other professions in Thailand are foreigners…could it be that they can grasp Thai professional standards in their profession ? Or are you saying that foreigners cannot understand Thai law or make assumptions based on case precedent over X or XX years of years of living in Thailand ? It is obvious THB 72m is an egregious claim by Thai standards and one that anybody living here for more than 6 months knows it to be completely unrealistic. That’s why we have an independent judiciary to make judgements based on law, not emotion. Disappointing that so many people have such lack of understanding of Thai law, culture and foreigners positions within this environment, added to low foreigner self-esteem that they chose to like your post and buy into the ‘foreigner not understand’ meme…

Her..at least get the basics right before commenting…

Great question - I feel the market is starting to shift as returns become more difficult to come by. Investment portfolios are shifting away from the more conservative equity/bonds ratio allocations, as that just doesn't generate enough return in the modern era. Credible sources are now even suggesting a 10% crypto holding. Nearer to retirement, it would make sense to switch to a more conservative (20/80 or 30/70) allocation, which I think would give you a decent chance of a 5% return being 3% net after inflation.

There are some reasonable online retirement calculators you can play around with but I find a lot of these very conservative and a bit limited in variables so I set up my own Excel spreadsheet to assess when I have enough to retire. Not for a few years yet... If I plug in your GBP 300k savings pot and add in the pensions at 67 years old with retirement at 60 I get the following for when the money pot runs dry : THB 100k per month : 81 years old THB 83k per month : 92 years old Retiring in 5 years at 65 makes a big difference : THB 110k per month (100k+ inflation) : 88 years old THB 90k per month (83k+ inflation) : 100 years old My calculation includes cost inflation at 2% and capital investment returning 5% per annum. Frozen UK pension as you will be overseas claimant. Health insurance would be a major consideration and at mid-60s I have been budgeting around 120k+ per annum. You might find some suppliers get reluctant to insure once you get to a "certain age" and as others mentioned a major health incident & expense can eat up a fair chunk of your savings. On around 80-100k cash in hand per month, that should be enough to have a very decent standard of living and get in 1 trip a year home in economy class + spending money. Depends how expensive your tastes are !