dginoob

23 hours ago, realfunster said:

I believe that’s correct. My full comment was referring to capital gains & dividends.

AFAIK - the first are avoided as a non-resident and the latter reduced to only a deemed 10% tax at source, I am not 100% clear on this but it also appears to essentially be tax free. 

I'm a UK citizen, but non-resident (I live and work here), though I do have a small salary in the UK on which I pay no tax but I do pay national insurance. 

I've never invested before but I am in a position now where I really need to think about retirement and investing for that.

My initial idea was to open an investment ISA with Vanguard and put my current savings and salary going forward into one of their Life Strategy funds, but I found that it's not possible if I do not live in the UK. So I am trying to find out what my options are and what the best solutions are tax wise. 

Would you have any advice you could share?

Thanks Sheryl.

Thanks for the info. BTW what is RCT?

Hi, thanks for the reply. I know they are currently closed, but hopefully they will be open soon.
I'd like to find out what my options are for when they do reopen.
Do you have any clinic you have used for similar treatments that you would recommend?

Thanks

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good value for money dental clinic in Bangkok for crowns and veneers? Searching online seems to only bring up sites targeting medical/dental tourists.

Thanks

38 minutes ago, The manic said:

And if you are classified as free lance?

If you are freelance then you are working for yourself, so I imagine if you are sick you don't get paid.

10 hours ago, Jimjim1968 said:

Update: I had a buddy from EP (I'm regular kids) read out his contract (I presume it's the same). There is no mention of holidays, only 10 days for sick/personal business. Looks like we're screwed. but they have lost all my good will. I'll finish the contract in March and leave.

By law companies must provide 30 days of sick leave per year. At least in the private sector.

10 hours ago, Shiver said:

Surprised.  In UK I did "buy to let" (mid 90's) before it was a 'thing', and had 70% mortgage (buy cash/renovate/mortgage/next property) with roughly 1.5x monthly income to mortgage (since nothing is ever 100% rented).  This was North West England suburban which is hardly the centre of high prices, but even then (more than 2 decades ago) it was perhaps 15-16K per month in todays exchange rate.  Oh how I wish I'd been here at that time with that kind of income x that number of properties at that exchange rate.... and then '97, which I was completely unaware of.  Buggr, you miss all the opportunities you don't take part in I guess.

 

A former business partner however who was here in Thailand said that in his country (Aus) it was the other way around, in that you pay less for rent than mortgage since you'll never own it.  The UK (then) was "you're not committing to 25 years, so there's a premium".  I guess YMMV depending of quite a few factors (location, timing, social attitude and more).

 

 

The rent I get is more than the mortgage payments, so I'm not complaining. But it is much less than my condo rent (40k per month)

2 hours ago, mommysboy said:

 

Exceptions can be found, but they are not the rule.

Some might say that a 600k flat in London is hardly the rule.

36 minutes ago, mommysboy said:

Housing cost is a big issue too- UK and Thailand are poles apart on that score. 

 

Generally, you get more bang for your buck out here!  Though not as before.

Depends where you live in the UK. I bought a 3-bedroom house for £50k 5 or 6 years ago (granted it hadn't been decorated since the 70's, and I subsequently spent 15k or so on it). The rent I get from that is less than half of what my rent is here for a condo.

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I've given up eating beef in Thailand, like you said, quality is generally poor no matter how much you pay.

Pork, chicken, fish, seafood all really cheap (and good quality) compared to the UK.

You can get very good quality beef, but the prices are very high. 

If you are giving up some of the things you used to eat in the west, then you cannot claim to be living a western lifestyle on 20k per month.

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Walk in the jungle and mountains, read books, listen to music, watch Tv and movies, drink beer.

Most of those free, internet 740bht/month, U-beer 52bht/bottle.

Flours 26-38bht/kg, fat 50bt/kg, spagetti 77bht/kg, chips 99bht/2kg.

All my bread/pizza/cakes/biscuits/pies are easily made from that.

What western food do you think I am missing?

Steak, wine, cider, olive oil, capsicum peppers, broccoli, breakfast cereals, tabasco sauce... to name but a few of the things that are much more expensive than back home.
It's great you are able to cook things from scratch, but I don't have the time (or skill) to do that.

15 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Come on we all know the guys spending $$$$s have a new McMansion, new Fortuna and a gold-digger (with extended family) hanging off them.

I live a completely western lifestyle on 20k + housing, but I do cook all my own western food.

How is this possible? Where do you buy western food to cook, and keep your monthly spend at 20k?

2 hours ago, james1995 said:

well, what about being a digital nomad?  i'm bringing in 5-10k baht daily here.  sky is the limit.  i spend just two hours on my macbook each day and "work" is done.  don't tell him to go home.  tell him to get on that laptop and start earning money.

By doing what exactly?

Hi All,

Just thought I'd post some of my scans in case anyone is interested/curious.

MRI_XRAY_Report.pdf

22 hours ago, Sheryl said:

No guarantee the NHS would give you a prosthetic disk.  They might just do a fusion. With just one level of spine involved the difference is not that great.

 

While you said the disk was pressing on the spinal cord I suspect not, rather pressing on the nerve root. If pressing on the cord you would be losing sensation in your lower body and it would be a dire emergency.

 

No problem at all to get films etc from the hospital, just go to medical records with your passport.

 

Hard to say how much of a wait you would have with the NHS. Depends on the severity. If you are experiencing numbness/weakness in the affected arm then there is a need to act fairly quickly. The surgery will remove the pain and prevent any subsequent nerve damage but cannot undo any nerve damage that has already occurred, so important to intervene quickly if the compression is severe enough to affect motor function.

 

As an aside, longer term you need to get health insurance. Right now you have a problem that there is time to decide how to tackle, and for which you can travel back to the UK. If you are in a major accident, have a stroke, heart attack etc you would not be and even in a government hospital costs can easily exceed 1 million baht. Of course with this now pre-exisitng condition, any insurance you get will exclude spinal problems but you can be covered for all else.

 

Hi Sheryl, yes you are right, it is on the nerve root (it just looked like that on the images).
 

I don't have any weakness, that I can tell of, but my thumb and 2 finger haven been numb for a couple of weeks now.

Thanks Sheryl,

Dr. Wicharn did say that with older patients he would opt for fusion, but for someone my age it would be better to have a prosthetic to preserve mobility. I have to say I agree with him. 

I have another appointment with Dr. Wicharn on Saturday morning, so I will discuss my options with him then. The cheapest option for me may be to go back to the UK and have the surgery on the NHS. Hopefully I would be able to get the X-Ray and MRI files from BNH (don't see why not as I paid enough for them!), which I could show to the doctors back home.

Not sure how long I would need to wait though. I could end up having to come back here to Thailand while waiting then travel back again for the op. If this is the case then it may not work out as the cheapest option.

Thanks again.

1 minute ago, Thaiwrath said:

I had exactly the same, as mentioned several times above, in fact, yours sounds like a carbon copy of mine !

I went through with the operation, but in a Government hospital, and the total cost was no more than 120,000 baht, which included the implant. I live in Issan, and see the top specialist there, but the price quoted for yours is totally obscene

How has it been after the operation? Completely pain free and with full mobility? 
How long did it take to recover?
Would you mind giving me the details of the specialist you saw?
I am considering going back home to have the op carried out on the NHS, but I am unsure how to arrange that.

Hi,

Just thought I would give an update. The results from my X-Ray and MRI were not good, much worse than I had thought. Even Dr. Wicharn seemed surprised. The disk between my C6 and C7 vertebrae has completely ruptured and is pressing on the spinal column. He showed me the scans of a guy who he operated on the previous evening, and my scans looked a lot worse than his. Seems the only real option is surgery to replace the disk. Price for the op is 630,000THB  , so not an option for me.

Thanks all for the input and advice. Much appreciated.

Hi Dave,

I'm pretty sure now what I have is a cervical herniated disk - symptoms match exactly, but will wait to get confirmation from Dr. Wicharn. Nice to hear he admitted that you were right, I know some wouldn't do that.

Hi Sheryl.

I did find a Dr. Eakpatipan Eamskoolnont, but the earliest appointment with him is also Wednesday. My appointment with Dr. Wicharn is confirmed for Wednesday evening. 

Thanks again for your help and advice.

Mark

Hi Sheryl,

I have made an appointment online with Dr. Wicharn and I'm waiting for the confirmation. Earliest I could get was Wednesday. This is the same day as my follow up appointment at Sukhumvit hospital. I'm not sure if I should cancel that appointment or not. Also, if I do attend both of the appointments on Wednesday I'm not sure how the insurance would deal with me having 2 separate appointments at 2 different hospitals on the same day.

Mark

Thanks Sheryl,

I tend to agree with you. I do have AIA medical insurance through work, but I am not sure of the extent of the coverage and if it would cover the cost of an MRI or not. Do you have any idea how much an MRI would cost at BNH?

Thanks again for all your advice.

Mark

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up going to Sukhumvit hospital on Friday afternoon, as I had an appointment that day in Thong lor so it made sense to go to somewhere very close by. The doctor there has diagnosed an 'irritated nerve' and gave me 3 types of tablets Meloxicam, Eperisone, and Lyrica. Tablets have been of no help whatsoever and I have an appointment to go back and see the doc on Wednesday.