GinBoy2

Well it always gets done to this. I wanted to live as an American, and honestly it was more expensive. Now I'll fess up I'm an AC junkie but our PEA bill ran in the order of ฿7k a month. In the depths of winter or summer runs about $250, so not so different. Food is the biggie. I'm sorry I was never going to buy meat from the local market with the rotating fly swatter, and buy western style food and it goes through the roof. Take out housing , and it's on a knife edge, add in health insurance and well thats a whole different ballgame

Without wanting to wade into some Brit NHS discussion, but the fact is these folks got care regardless of their ability to pay.. Even in the US with our totally <deleted>***cked up system, at 65 when medicare kicks in you are going to be taken care of. The problem for expats in Thailand is that it's a pure insurance system. The underwriter assesses the risk and the policy premium is set. And no Sh**t Sherlock surprise surprise as you advance in age the premium is on an exponential curve as the risk of you actually getting sick increases. There is a reason why older tourists, to anywhere, find it hard to even get travel insurance, let alone an aging expat in Thailand. So if you are going to live out your twilight years in Thailand, and if your home country health insurance won't cover you, make sure you, or your family has some deep pockets

Trouble is, if he had been some tourist who got into a motorbike wreak, this forum would be up in arms about the irresponsibility of not having travel insurance. ...but but he was already planning to go home next week! Well unfortunately sh%$%t happens. He probably couldn't have got insurance at his age, but it's an issue that many an aging expat pulls the wool pretty heavily over their eyes to ignore. To 'self insurance' well what does that even mean? Unless you are extremely wealthy, how long is a piece of string comes to mind when how much money you actually need to ensure you could afford serious medical expenses. Anyone in this situation should prime their family ahead of time that 'if' stuff happens they need to be prepared to write the checks. I feel sorry for him, but this for many this is a 'But for the Grace of God go I' issue

We all think we're immortal, until we're not. This forum is littered with posts about health insurance. The dirty rotten truth is that health insurance cost in Thailand is an exponential curve 60+. That gives way to those that can't afford it to play the 'I self insure' card which is total BS I'm sorry for the guy, but these are all the choices he made, and sooner or later chickens come home to roost, but don't expect strangers to pay for those chickens. If the family are so concerned, time for them to put their hands in pockets!

We all think we're immortal, until we're not. This forum is littered with posts about health insurance. The dirty rotten truth is that health insurance cost in Thailand is an exponential curve 60+. That gives way to those that can't afford it to play the 'I self insure' card which is total BS I'm sorry for the guy, but these are all the choices he made, and sooner or later chickens come home to roost, but don't expect strangers to pay for those chickens. If the family are so concerned, time for them to put their hands in pockets!

It's odd. When I lived in the Bay Area I used to drive through Richmond on my way to work, past some of the largest refineries in the country, Here in South Dakota we're hundreds of miles from the nearest refinery, yet gas is nearly $3 cheaper than in CA

Well as much as I love my home state, somethings are just insane, gas prices being one of them. Just talked to my ex, she's paying $6.09/gal in Santa Rosa (SF Bay Area) This morning I filled up for $3.59/gal Insanity!

So, did somewhat odd post work out for you in your life? Did you not post some time ago about being celibate? For the horn dogs that frequent this forum, I think they'll pass up on the factory girl and head straight to the bar girl!

Wise words. We are supposed to learn from the mistakes of youth, a lesson many of the wife beater Chang vest wearing folks seem to have flunked

Maybe we're all just wired a little differently. I thoroughly enjoyed my party days when I was young. Would I want to relive them now? Hell No, it probably would border on the creepy for a man my age! Now I fully enjoy being at home, wife, cats, Grandkids. So No, didn't waste my life, I just did age appropriate stuff and didn't try to relive what I should have done in my 20's in my 50/60's, which is a popular theme for many Thai farangs

So I am but a loud American, with an uber loud Thai wife tourist and we did an Australian vacation about 10 years ago. I have to say of all the cities we visited I loved Perth the most. Not the biggest, not the noisiest, but by far the nicest.

There seems to me an underlying thread, boredom equates to not having sex. Now I'm a boring fella, been with my wife 20+ years, we've lived in several countries along the way, but my ability to have sex never really factored in to whether I was bored or not. I met my wife in Singapore and thats a great place, but after a few years I got bored with that, it's a small island. Moved to Thailand, against my wife's better judgement, and I got bored after seeing every temple known to man, and discovered as predicted by my all knowing wife, that not working in retirement drove me crazy. Curiously I was having sex all the time, and my boredom wasn't in the slightest connected to my sex life, which for some on here it seems it is!

Me and Mrs G were talking about this the other night, and honestly neither of us miss the weather in Thailand. It's hot, or just hot and wet. We've had a super hot summer, and frankly, stick a fork in me, i'm done and looking forward to some cooler weather. We tend not to get too much rain, but at altitude we get powder snow, which I'll take any day over being soaked in rain

Interesting. I was a material science grad started off in Aerospace then the semiconductor industry for my working career.. I think I railroaded myself into management throughout my career, which ultimately I hated. I loved the science and the technology, but hated all the man management and politics of it. Given a 'do over' I would pursue a much more academic path. But we are where we are, and at this point it's all over

Hmmm, I agree and disagree at the same time. My eldest unmarried daughter is very much cut from the same cloth as me. She's strong and wants her own way. Yet a weak man who would let her win every time would infuriate her. Me and my wife can debate/argue about almost everything from the pros/con's of nuclear energy to the cost of a gallon of milk. Yet somehow it seems to get the blood flowing, and this combative relationship seems to have worked for us for 20+ years, without either of us getting bored, or one us getting murdered

Well, lend/lease was paid off in 2006, so that won't help! Anyhoo, as the resident US Anglophile I'll chip in for locations. I started visiting and working in the UK back in the 80's. By far the greatest locations are on the Welsh coast. Isolated, welcoming people, and breathtaking scenery. Scotland was all a bit too Braveheart for me, and the locals not so welcoming. As for how you could ever get a a non work visa to live there, you might need to marry one of the local toothless octogenarian's

After 10 pages this has confirmed why I'm a cat guy. My psychopath female cat I think wants to rip my throat out at times, but she's 10lbs dripping wet, so that ain't happening. She terrifies the other two male cats however!

I know I'm not talking about the UK, but I would agree if you live like a Farang in Thailand, housing excluded it's pretty pricey. The flipside however, here in the US our farang costs are low, but our Thai food costs are through the roof! lol

As frikkin bizarre a turn of events this is. I worked in the UK for a few of years back in the 1990's, and I was tracked down out of the blue by the UK tax folks to tell me they owed my £620 in a tax rebate. I think at the time that was worth $750. At this rate I'll be lucky to get $620, but thats all dependent on how long it takes me to figure out how they are going to pay me. They sent me a UK check which is worthless since I can't cash it here in the US

Well this is the problem. All CMRA's need to be registered, so regardless of how the address appears if the financial institutions software is looking for it, it'll get flagged. The CMRA's that operate in States, primarily non tax, that let you establish residency, get a DL, vote etc are great, But......... None of them can ever say they can be used for financial purposes because of all the laws regarding money laundering. Your financial institution is the one that decides how hard they are looking!

I think the Brits consider you invented almost everything, although never made any money, so get her studying on everything from every drug known to man, jet engines and television lol Just joking of course you know I love you guys

Well the divorce rate may well be due to a major fundamental reason when 60 something Brit guy takes his 20/30 something bride back to the UK. Suddenly she's presented with a wealth of men her own age, who shock/horror have as much money as hubby, if not more. It would be an interesting statistic what the percentage of Thai divorcee's return to Thailand or stay in the UK (insert whatever western country you want) I know I'll get some hate for this!

Actually son was a US citizen she wasn't. She jokes, well I think she's joking, that she made me marry her legally to get a green card. In point of fact we were married at the Amphur two days after Momma got the call from our son! That woman was, I kid you not on a mission. But seriously getting a spouse into the US is a pain, but it really is a box ticking exercise, you do it pay the money and a green card shows up in the mail 2 weeks after you land. I appreciate from everything I have read here that for Brits it's a little more arduous, language tests, civics tests etc, plus the entry to your semi Religious NHS. So the OP would have a few more hurdles than we did, but sometimes you do what you have to do for love!

Thats a good question. For me, Yes I was bored with Thailand, but when our son decided he wasn't coming back to Thailand after college, Momma Bear was headed to the US come Hell or high water, and I was tagging along for the ride

As I've said previously I'm a big Anglophile. I first visited the UK in 1980 and many times after that. It isn't all about London, which I think you do once and you're done, but the country as a whole is wonderful. I especially like Wales and it's coastline and have spent many happy vacations there. I like Thailand, I like being back in the US but I could equally see me being happy living in the UK.. For OP it's really a case of whether or not he wants to let his lady experience a life outside of Thailand. My Thai wife grew up in her teenage years in Chicago after her parents died and went to live with her aunt and uncle. We met when we were both working in Singapore before moving back to Thailand then back to the US. Neither of us can say we regretted any of our moves. Maybe we could have been richer money wise staying in one place, but I'd say we're richer in many other ways having experienced different countries and lifestyles