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This is a fake. Wombwell is in the Barnsley East constituency, and the UKIP candidate is Robert Swiffen.

Minimal cost would be

4 people x 40 baht x 3 meals x 30 days = 14400 baht for basic roadside food.

I think that's a bit optimistic. A 40 baht plate of rice and topping isn't really going to be enough to fill up the growing children. (Even the adults may find it inadequate.)

And if you're eating basic roadside food you need to add on the medical expenses for treating the inevitable food poisoning.

I know Thailand executes for that as well.

Though Thailand retains the death penalty it hasn't been used for several years. There were two executions in 2009, but none since then, and none in the two years prior. So, two executions in eight years. Indonesia has done more than that in a single day.

no3 back to LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWYLL she was rearly impressed.

Did you forget how to spell the rest of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch? Mustn't forget the church of St. Tysilo and the red cave.

And as for "rearly impressed", was she looking at it from behind? (That makes it hcogogogoilisytnallllwbordnrywhcyregogllygnywgllwpriafnall.)

Or did you mean "nearly" or (less likely) "really"?

You cant use HMRCs online services to tell them about your income if youre non-resident.

I'm not going to say that you're wrong, but obviously we've had different experiences - perhaps yours arises from the circumstances in which you first attempted to file online, or because of your offshore income, but I don't really know. All I can say is that I did set up my online self-assessment from my address in Thailand, which was already declared to HMRC, the process was entirely straightforward, and this will be my third year doing the self-assessment online. It seems, though, I have to phone them every year to amend my coding notice because they've automatically factored in an increase in the State Retirement Pension, which I don't get. That's not a big problem, usually I'm on the phone for less than a minute and they make the amendment on the spot.

There's no actual technical problem with creating an account and filing on-line from Thailand.

However, you will not be completing the SA109 form, so the return will be incomplete (unless you use third party software). It would appear that HMRC doesn't always pick up on this. It's also possible that you'll end up paying the wrong amount of tax (more likely too much, rather than too little).

However, may I suggest to the OP to try the AIU, who should be able to quote.

I presume you mean AIA. Looking at their website, again it appears their products fall into the "save for a number of years whilst you're younger, get some money back when you're older" category, as do all the Thai products labelled "annuity" that I've looked at so far.

I suspect I'm looking for a needle in a haystack that doesn't even have a needle.

Thanks for the try, though.

I know you have decided on a Thai annuity for an income stream. But a Thai real estate investment trust might generate both distributions and capital appreciation that could far exceed a 4% p.a. return.

As previously explained, the elderly person concerned is only interested in getting a 100% secure income stream for the rest of life, and has no interest in capital having no one to leave money to following death. A Thai REIT, whilst possibly short term providing a higher income, simply does not have the secured income of an annuity. Furthermore, 4% (increasing in line with inflation) would comfortably meet the person's lifestyle's financial expenditure - no need for any more than this, and certainly not at the cost of loss of security of income.

If you look at the Thai Farmers bank website under annuitities, you will find what I think you are referring to.

It looks interesting, however I did not check the details and eligibility of the product yet.

I presume by "Thai Farmers Bank" you means Kasikorn. (Haven't heard it called that for a long time.)

And by annuities, I presume you mean their "Pro Annuity" offerings, both of which involve paying money in regularly when you're less than fifty to get an income later in life. Sadly not what I'm looking for. The person I'm looking into this for is already way over 50.

Thanks for the try, though.

If you can stave off your boredom for a few minutes, there's a very interesting podcast by a transgender woman on the subject at Skeptoid.com this week.

Listen at http://skeptoid.com/audio/skeptoid-4463.mp3

Or read a transcript at http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4463

Edit: fixed link

Seriously, depending on your age, you can probably do better by taking the interest paid on a Thai savings account and drawing down your principal over time.

I'm looking into this for an elderly person who wants a secure income for life, has no one to leave an estate to, and wants as simple a solution as possible.

Based upon the person's age, a UK annuity, rising at 3% per annum would initially yield around 4.5% which would be more than sufficient for the person's needs based upon current expenditure. However, there's the GBP/THB exchange rate risk. I need to find a way to mitigate that. A THB-denominated annuity with a similar yield would be ideal, but I'm rather doubting such a beast exists.

Uh? Surely as a resident here you need to complete the residency pages which can't be completed online using the HMRC website. (If you want to do it online you have to buy commercial software.)

And you can't mix paper return and online return.

There are certainly many online services which can't be accessed unless you can put in a UK postcode, but I don't recall having any difficulty in registering with my Thai address- but in the first instance you register with 'Government Gateway', not with HMRC.

Perhaps I didn't word myself precisely enough. Nothing to do with registering. The online service does not support the residency pages (SA109). From this I concluded that all non-resident expats should either buy commercial software (which supports these pages), or file on paper.

(I actually find it ludicrous that HMRC doesn't support these pages for non-residents given that non-residents would benefit more from filing on-line than people living in the UK. I recently had to wait 4 1/2 months just to be told there was a problem with my return and that I had to resubmit. Doing it on-line would have taken a fraction of that time I'm sure.)

Uh? Surely as a resident here you need to complete the residency pages which can't be completed online using the HMRC website. (If you want to do it online you have to buy commercial software.)

And you can't mix paper return and online return.

I know that a number of insurance companies offer products which they call "annuities" which involve saving for a few years up to a certain age (typically 55 or 60), and then getting a guaranteed income starting later in life. I was wondering, however, whether there were any real annuities available, whereby one pays a single lump sum and then immediately secures a fixed monthly income for life (either flat, or rising). Then, when you die the annuity is worthless. Does anyone know of any such products here?

Thanks.

Several Thai property funds / REITs on the SET give around 7-8% dividend yield and are generally very stable (no guarantee obviously). I am guessing that is what you (OP) are looking at.

The problem with Thai property companies is that they only invest in a very small number of properties - often just one or two.

The property funds are often spun off from some other business activity to free up capital. It remains questionable whether they are run for the benefit of the original business, or for the shareholder.

In time the properties typically become run down and less attractive to tenants, so vacancies increase/rental income falls and so dividends fall.

Personally I haven't found a single Thai property company listed on the SET I would be happy to invest in. I find Singapore a happier hunting ground, but that introduces exchange rate risk which the OP doesn't want.

Is it any wonder that diabetes is so prevalent in Thailand .

Diabetes is not particularly prevalent in Thailand: according to the IDF it affects 8.45% of the population. Compare that with America (9.39%), Germany (11.52%), Singapore (12.83%) (and many, many other countries) all of which are higher. And it's nowhere near on a par with Saudi Arabia (20.52%).

Source: http://www.idf.org/sites/default/files/Atlas-poster-2014_EN.pdf

OP, you state you can make a 7-8% return on Thai stocks. If you look at the constituents of the SETHD (High Dividend) index none of them has a yield as high as that. The highest (BECL) yields 6.29% (Source: http://siamchart.com/stock/SETHD ). To get that sort of yield you need to be investing in smaller, dodgier companies with a significant risk of them ceasing trading or dropping the dividend. Not really a good idea. And certainly not consistent with "my risk tolerance is low". It would be more prudent to aim for an average yield of 4%. That said, no equity investment meets the criterion of "low risk".

You should also diversify your investments by sector as much as possible. One possible strategy would be to buy the highest yielding stock in the SET100 in each sector (agro, financials, industrials, etc.). However, you'd need thoroughly to research each stock to understand why the yield is so high. It's often a sign of a company who's share price has dropped dramatically because of significant problems and therefore is unlikely to be unable to maintain the dividend, so should be avoided for your purposes.

A simpler approach might be to buy a SETHD ETF such as https://etrade.one-asset.com/ThailandMutualFund/ETF/Prospectus/R010106.pdf which will give you instant diversification. It currently has a dividend yield of 3.56%. Note, however, that the expenses are eye-watering for an ETF at 1.06% + VAT.

As for "any other advice":

(1) Your financial situation sounds precarious - no secure income, adversely affected by a minor fluctuation in exchange rate. (In the last few years the exchange rate as fallen from the mid-70s to below 45. The recent wobble is insignificant in comparison.) I would seriously question the wisdom of your moving to Thailand based upon what you've posted. How would you handle the costs of, say, a major medical emergency?

(2) You also appear to be financially inexperienced - getting a financial advisor to manage your investments. Are you really up to screening individual Thai stocks (particularly where much of the information will be in Thai)?

(3) Start managing your own investments. This can dramatically cut the amount of return that is being syphoned off by (a) the financial advisor, and ( the wrap platform. (On GBP 60,000 Transact charges 0.5%/year, i.e. GBP 300. Trustnet Direct charges a maximum GBP 200/year however much your investments are worth. Your financial advisor is probably taking in the region of 0.5%/year, too.)

(4) You're very much on track with wanting to match the currency of your income to your expenditure. You also should align your investments to the local economy - not specifically Thailand, that's too narrow, but to SE Asia and to Asia Pacific. It's a pretty sure bet that your financial advisor is not doing this, and is tailoring your portfolio to the UK. (Most financial advisers these days select from a range of predesigned portfolios for various risk and income levels - they aren't offering a truly bespoke service tailored to your specific needs.) Your financial advisor also is probably mostly/exclusively using funds rather than the lower cost Investment Trusts and ETFs.

(5) Find a wealthy man and marry him.

Not a fake. Gears were encrusted with oxidation and sediment when they were found in 1900 during the first underwater archaeological excavation of a Greek shipwreck, which was datable. The instrument was then ignored until the 1940's when a scientist first tried to analyze the device using X-ray technology. So, if it was a fake no one profited from it. Further analysis using advances in imaging have enhanced the picture considerably. Inscriptions in archaic Greek on the elements of the device offer further dating evidence.

Numerous ancient writers make reference to automata in the shape of men or animals that showed complicated movements which would have required advanced knowledge of gearing. But those writers were disbelieved by historians partly because no such devices survived. But the anti-kythera device changes the picture.

Oxidation is easy to fake, as is sediment encrustation.

Not all fakes are motivated by profit. Consider Piltdown Man, for example, or the Cottingly Fairies.

Ancient inscriptions are easy to forge.

Given that nothing similar has been found of similar date, and comparable technology wasn't developed until a millennium and a half later than the putative date, this screams "fake" to me.

As for ancient writers referred to complicated mechanisms, the descriptions are easily misinterpreted. For example, in the Bible, we read:

"Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them. The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another. Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also." Ezekiel 1:15-19

To me this reads as prophetic gibberish. However, others have interpreted it as proof that aliens have visited this planet.

The Antikythera mechanism ... is an ancient analog computer

Or it's a fake.

Or the age attributed to it is wrong by at least 15 Centuries.

My money would be on "fake".

Nobody got any experience of this? I'm surprised.

limes and lemons have the same name. I guess the need to differentiate everything isn't as important.

But then Thailand doesn't grow lemons, so until recently they didn't need a word for them. That said, there is a Thai word for lemon: leemɔɔn.

Inuit language has dozens of words describing snow.

(1) There is no single "Inuit" language. There is a group of Eskimo-Aleut languages, though.

(2) None of these languages really has dozens of words describing snow. The languages typically string multiple words together to create composites - rather like German. If we did this in English we could say that "hardsnow", "fallingsnow", "mushysnow", "flakysnow", "icysnow" and "meltingsnow" are all separate words, and claim that English has dozens of words for snow too, but we'd be wrong.

But that makes even less sense, since "yak" means giant.

"Yak" is from the Sanskrit word yakṣa. In Thai mythology it refers to a kind of ogre/ogress typically with big, round bulging eyes and protruding fangs. It doesn't refer to size.

Whilst it's the case that for non-residents no further tax is due on dividend income (beyond the 10% tax which is automatically deducted from dividend payments) even if one is a higher rate tax payer, there is no concession for interest payments. All interest is taxable, unless from within a tax-privileged accounts such as an ISA. It is possible in some cases for interest to be paid gross, but once you pass the £10,600 tax threshold you have to pay tax upon it.

No, that's wrong.

Tax liability for non-residents on dividends and interest is limited to that deducted at source, so any interest paid gross (as all mine is) is not taxable.

But to qualify for that exemption you have to give up the personal allowance. This doesn't bother me as I have no taxable UK income at all, but it might bother some.

Interesting (and a new one on me). Do you have any information about how one goes about giving up one's personal allowance? And any reference that confirms that if you do so that gross interest is not taxable?