Plunging British Pound Saps Expat Pension Spending Power

[anon789561]

1 hour ago, james1995 said:

I was just in London recently and found it surprisingly cheap(although not the houses).  Wasn't expensive at all.

i would agree with that. just the property is expensive, everything else is pretty reasonable. oh but some pubs charge 7 quid upwards for a pint which is a bit of a piss take, but generally London prices are alright

[anon789561]

58 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

That would only be true if their propensity to make trouble was connected to their economic situation.

There are plenty of yobs with lots of coin, so, very much doubt you will see violence decrease as the exchange rate goes down.

hua hin. theres a well known brit drug trafficker and also a well known boiler room scumbag living there with plenty of money amongst many other criminals 555

[Grusa]

The wanking bankers continue to screw us all.....they are the only ones who don't get poorer by the day.

[impulse]

3 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

3 hours ago, lovinglife said:

$ has weakened against THB and £ in 2017. That's not a bad thing for US economy, helps exports, same as £ weakening against euro has boosted UK exports

Correct on all points.

 

Correct if you differentiate between the American economy, and the economic plight of the vast majority of Americans who lost more in buying power than they gained in benefit from those exports.  

 

Just like the stock price goes up when a company announces layoffs.   Someone's benefiting.  But it's not Joe Lunchpail.

 

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, impulse said:

 

Correct if you differentiate between the American economy, and the economic plight of the vast majority of Americans who lost more in buying power than they gained in benefit from those exports.  

 

Just like the stock price goes up when a company announces layoffs.   Someone's benefiting.  But it's not Joe Lunchpail.

 

The US is not alone in that, many countries are experiencing the same thing, a fear of allowing wage inflation and afraid to increase interest rates until the global economy improves.

[smedly]

27 minutes ago, lucjoker said:

If your assets are in any currency .......you loose.

If your assets were in land ,gold ,.......you did very good 

If your assets were in Bitcoin you made......1242 %    in 2017 , 

yes continue the jokes about Bitcoin ( and Thrump) and keep losing.

In 2018 ? probably exactly the same , maybe a litle less for bitcoin ? 

Maybe only 1000% return on your assets , still ok with me .

My advise : keep listening to the politicians and the banks .....and get <deleted>** over again.

Greetings 

Madame Soleil 

bitcoin is highly speculative and extremely risky, if you have some spare money you won't miss then go ahead, it is the closest thing to a legal ponzi scheme I have ever seen, it has no intrinsic material value and demonstrates how something can be hyped based on absolutely nothing at all.

[hansnl]

3 hours ago, lovinglife said:

£ is 9% up against $ in 2017. level against THB

Quite right!

This article, although based on the recent past, is a rehash of old numbers.

In fact the British economy is going up, and it might even be the doom thinkers and speakers about Brexit are just spouting the EU "hopes".

[simoh1490]

2 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Quite right!

This article, although based on the recent past, is a rehash of old numbers.

In fact the British economy is going up, and it might even be the doom thinkers and speakers about Brexit are just spouting the EU "hopes".

Really!

 

https://uk.reuters.com/business/economy

[hansnl]

17 minutes ago, Grusa said:

The wanking bankers continue to screw us all.....they are the only ones who don't get poorer by the day.

Banks are sometimes called legalised criminal institutions.

So I don't think bankers are <deleted>.

[impulse]

Just now, simoh1490 said:

The US is not alone in that, many countries are experiencing the same thing, a fear of allowing wage inflation and afraid to increase interest rates until the global economy improves.

 

With American personal savings rates pretty much at zero, or even negative (except for the wealthy), and real interest rates (interest minus inflation) negative for so long, it's hard to figure out where they expect economic growth to come from with no wage inflation.  Especially if they build that wall, and keep out all those pesky immigrants.

 

Henry Ford and George Westinghouse had it right.  If the workers can't afford to buy our products, we're hooped.

 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

 

The article states:

 

"Brexit and the falling Pound is damaging the wealth of British expat pensioners around the world

The spending power of their state and personal pensions has dipped by a fifth in the past two years, claims research by pension administrator Equiniti.

And although expats in the Eurozone have suffered the worst financially, few British retirees around the world have avoided the devaluation of their pensions. Not only is the plunging Pound affecting how much they must spend as exchange rate gaps grow between major foreign currencies and Sterling, but inflation is also making goods and services more expensive."

 

 

 

Not only that, but, in its wisdom, as all expats know, the UK Government has denied expats outside the EU any inflationary increases in their pensions, which means that, in my own case, my pension has remained at the same level for the past 11 years and will continue to do so until I die.  On top of that injustice, they will now cancel the additional pension allowance for expats wives as from 2020, while still requiring us to pay exactly the same amount of income tax as if we lived in the UK, while receiving none of the many benefits available to residents, not the least of which would be free NHS medical treatment.

 

If these policies, coupled with the depreciation in the value of the pound, were to force some expats to return to live in the UK, then the cost to the UK would be far greater than the savings they believe they will make.

 

[Surasak]

3 hours ago, darren1971 said:

another way to think of it is this, can you buy less or more with £10 in Thailand now than last year.... The £ has lost value.

Do prices not increase in Thailand then? No countries prices remain static, hence some of the loss to your £10

[hobobo]

4 hours ago, lovinglife said:

£ is 9% up against $ in 2017. level against THB

Brexit came in June 2016, before that the £ was 54 - 55 THB for considerable time.

[PattayaAngel]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

bitcoin is highly speculative and extremely risky, if you have some spare money you won't miss then go ahead, it is the closest thing to a legal ponzi scheme I have ever seen, it has no intrinsic material value and demonstrates how something can be hyped based on absolutely nothing at all.

 

That's not true. When migrant workers need to send 'money' home cheaply and crypto becomes easier to use (via an agent probably) then it will have REAL value.

[Jonnapat]

5 hours ago, lovinglife said:

£ is 9% up against $ in 2017. level against THB

After a 15% drop in 2016 purely because of Brexit

[JayBangkok]

You forgot to mention that British expats are being ripped off as their pensions are frozen and they do not get the yearly increases.

 

[mackemray]

"From now on, the pound abroad is worth 14 per cent or so less in terms of other currencies. That doesn't mean, of course, that the Pound, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued." Thanks Harold.

• Broadcast (19 November 1967), following the devaluation of the Pound Sterling. Usually remembered as "the Pound in your pocket".

[Jonnapat]

4 hours ago, darren1971 said:

another way to think of it is this, can you buy less or more with £10 in Thailand now than last year.... The £ has lost value.

UK expat only have to see their pension income to know, without question or doubt that they have lost at least 15% in pension value since Brexit.

The month before Brexit the pound was at 54 baht, today is around 43/44.Doesn't take a genius to work out the difference.

[the guest]

UKP is Monopoly money isn't it?

[dlodratsab]

4 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

Correct on all points.

 

So what will happen if/when USD recovers? https://www.investing.com/quotes/us-dollar-index-streaming-chart

What's with the anti Brit sentiment? in another post re a spat in Hua Hin, you try to stir up rhetoric against the Brits, now its hoping for the £'s demise against the $. I suggest you go back to the U S and devote your energy to defending your so called POTUS!

[Moti24]

I presume that all us UK expats here are being transferred to the "Bad Guys Out" catagory, now we have less to spend.  My Non-O extension is looming, so I better take a couple of brown envelopes with me.

[sawadee1947]

6 hours ago, lovinglife said:

£ is 9% up against $ in 2017. level against THB

Funny, funny.......compare it to Euro.....only one direction DOWN, DOWN, DOWN in particular the coming years

[dick dasterdly]

49 minutes ago, Jonnapat said:

UK expat only have to see their pension income to know, without question or doubt that they have lost at least 15% in pension value since Brexit.

The month before Brexit the pound was at 54 baht, today is around 43/44.Doesn't take a genius to work out the difference.

I don't know the exact figures, but remember sterling falling to around 44/45 bht (?) a few years ago/rising to a bit above 50 (just before the referendum result - which was predicted by everyone to be remain), and then sharply falling - when the expected result turned out to be leave.

 

The future is anyone's guess as the various political/financial games are played....

Edited January 2, 2018 by dick dasterdly

[Estrada]

5 hours ago, lovinglife said:

£ is 9% up against $ in 2017. level against THB

The Pound is not up, our pensions paid here have fallen between 25% and 20% since Brexit. Here are the real facts: The Brexit referendum date was announced on 22nd Feb 2016 when the GBP = B51.162 on the day of the referendum. On that day, when it was thought that sanity and Remain would prevail, it rose to GBP = B52.2053. The GBP is now only B43.43T/T (Cash B42.92)

 

The Pound is not level against the Baht, it has fallen 3.15% since 1st Jan 2017 (B44.79 T/T) to 31st Dec 2017 at GBP = B43.43T/T

[sidgy]

Yes I do! I spent years on this forum as poster chiang mai arguing that GBP/THB would see sub 42, that at a time when it was 60 then 50, I've been around the block more times than I care to recall on the subject of Thailand/economics.exchange rates.

Wow, you predicted Brexit many years before it happened!


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[billd766]

6 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

Not so....the £ is not up against USD, USD is down against the Pound, the dollar index is at 91%, only in people's dreams has GBP increased in value. And since THB tracks USD, it gives the appearance that GBP has remained flat, it hasn't. If by some chance USD recovers and strengthens, watch out GBP/THB because it will go sub 40..

 

I am a little confused with your explanation.

 

You say that the GBP is not up against the USD but that the USD is down against the GBP. In laymans terms that to means that the GBP IS up against the USD.

 

Next you follow it up with ifs, buts and maybes.

 

AFAIR the THB tracks a number of currencies and has done since the disastrous 1997 financial crash when it was tied to the USD.

 

"Perhaps" the THB will go below 40 but "maybe" it won't and "if" it doesn't then we will be better off "but" if it does, then we won't.

 

[impulse]

58 minutes ago, the guest said:

UKP is Monopoly money isn't it?

 

With a centuries long history. 

 

As opposed to cryptocurrencies that haven't been around yet as long as Enron or Bernie Madoff lasted.

 

[Baerboxer]

6 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

Not so....the £ is not up against USD, USD is down against the Pound, the dollar index is at 91%, only in people's dreams has GBP increased in value. And since THB tracks USD, it gives the appearance that GBP has remained flat, it hasn't. If by some chance USD recovers and strengthens, watch out GBP/THB because it will go sub 40..

 

Depends where you put your start point. The pound fell heavily, and not surprisingly, after the Brexit shock result. It fell in stages to around 1.20 to 1.22. So yes, 1.33 - 1.35 is an increase. However it was 1.45-1.50 just prior to Brexit! So not really an increase in real terms. Just less of a loss.

 

The ThB is strong against the USD which reflects in it's rate against the GBP. But over time, the ER has steadily weakened. I was getting 70-71 ThB to the pound 14/15 years ago. Then it was around 50-55. Now 42-44.

 

HSBC and others were forecasting that the GBP was too high way before any Brexit vote. 

[smedly]

12 minutes ago, Estrada said:

The Pound is not up, our pensions paid here have fallen between 25% and 20% since Brexit. Here are the real facts: The Brexit referendum date was announced on 22nd Feb 2016 when the GBP = B51.162 on the day of the referendum. On that day, when it was thought that sanity and Remain would prevail, it rose to GBP = B52.2053. The GBP is now only B43.43T/T (Cash B42.92)

 

The Pound is not level against the Baht, it has fallen 3.15% since 1st Jan 2017 (B44.79 T/T) to 31st Dec 2017 at GBP = B43.43T/T

so sterling must have dropped 25-20% against the euro too..........right

 

wrong, the euro and therefore all those who use that currency are almost just as badly affected against the BAHT

 

euro - sterling is exactly in the range it was 2011-2014 .................way before a majority in the UK voted to leave the EU sinking debacle

[KarenBravo]

4 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

That's the SDR basket, BOT also holds currencies of its key trading partners that are not required by the SDR basket. You may recall that exporters in Thailand were required by BOT regs. to exchange all foreign currency derived from export trade within short timescales, that was then extended to one year and has now been relaxed further to allow exporters to invest that foreign currency overseas. But BOT continues to hold those currencies as a part of their foreign currency reserves, in support of non USD denominated import bills.

I'm sure the government holds lots of currencies, but, what has that got to do with the basket of currencies that determine exchange rate. If four currencies make up 100% of the basket, then there cannot be another 21 currencies that you claim. Logic innit!

Sounds like you're trying to baffle with bullsh1t.

 

Edited January 2, 2018 by KarenBravo