Maintaining That 100,000 Baht Pm Lifestyle

[Desertexile]

....

Edited January 28, 2007 by Desertexile

[Neeranam]

Oh yeh - and I don't bar hop. That's what the other lucky bastards do. I just sit around smoking big spliffs in my yard in my own lil fishing village.

######ing hel_l - Its taken 10 minutes outta my life to repsond to you. I just don;t get the negativity mate - why the ###### would you want to come on an annoymous web board and poo poo my plan that I swetting my balls off to accomplish. Its my gig, we all got our own gigs. Neeranam his, you, your etc etc. Who cares really!

Sounds good to me.

I apologise for hijacking the thread, although it turned out quite interesting.

I take back what I said about the OP, maybe a bit of envy, although I had the choice to do what I'm doing now. Some people have a big fear in life about not being secure financially. It doesn't matter how much you have, this fear can still ruin their lives. I, on the other hand, seem to enjoy living on the edge. Maybe because so much of my life has been just that(not all financially).

Desertexile - good luck - need any petroleum engineers out there?

[Desertexile]

Oh yeh - and I don't bar hop. That's what the other lucky bastards do. I just sit around smoking big spliffs in my yard in my own lil fishing village.

######ing hel_l - Its taken 10 minutes outta my life to repsond to you. I just don;t get the negativity mate - why the ###### would you want to come on an annoymous web board and poo poo my plan that I swetting my balls off to accomplish. Its my gig, we all got our own gigs. Neeranam his, you, your etc etc. Who cares really!

Sounds good to me.

I apologise for hijacking the thread, although it turned out quite interesting.

I take back what I said about the OP, maybe a bit of envy, although I had the choice to do what I'm doing now. Some people have a big fear in life about not being secure financially. It doesn't matter how much you have, this fear can still ruin their lives. I, on the other hand, seem to enjoy living on the edge. Maybe because so much of my life has been just that(not all financially).

Desertexile - good luck - need any petroleum engineers out there?

It has turned into a good thread mate. You are right about the fear - I grew up poor. Don't want to die poor but I know when enough is enough........10 year plan then its back to Ban Phe and sisestas with the Mrs, my morning J and its all sweetness. In reality I bloody hate working, its not in my nature. Thailand works just fine for me.

Biggest training company in the Middle East mate - if you ever want a couple of years here, fire me off your resume and I'll sort you out with a gig. Good Thai community and lots of young western chaps married to Thai gals with young families . And lots of work for guys like you.

Desertexile

Edited January 28, 2007 by Desertexile

[bmanly]

Desertexile, you sound like a sound man to me. Your post at #150 clearly shows that. I think you should be giving the advise not asking for it, cheers.

[SamuiJens]

Well according to the TV poll results it seems that you are in the minority if you do not have a 100,000 baht or better life style, interesting.

Well then, let it be, I live fine and have NO wants, so what's the problem. Besides the op, isn't saying he has it, but wants it, if Im not mistaken! 22)

Edited January 28, 2007 by SamuiJens

[DogNo1]

Just a thought, but 2% reinvested per year wouldn't keep pace with inflation. I think that pretty secure exchange-traded funds are availale that would pay 7% or more. Also, if inheritance isn't an issue, then annuities can be bought that will pay 7-8% for life. In the case of $1,200,000 for example, an annuity can be bought that will pay $7,000 per month for life. That's 252K Baht per month. Think you could live on that? The trick would be to reinvest some of that to cover unexpected events. Of course, if you want to leave some of your money for heirs, the payout amount would drop. Not bad for a TEFL teacher -- 1.2 mil. Who would have thought?

[wolfmanjack]

I am sorry, but that is not entirely correct. There are many provinces in the North that are bone dry, and rely on the monsoon alone. Not all areas receive water supply by canals and such. And there are many areas in Isaarn that are supplied by an excellent network of canals, and three harvests a year are possible (though farmers are still trapped in debt and poverty).

It is a rather moot point to debate which is poorer - Isaarn or the north. Both have substantial sectors of very poor people.

I did say that I do not live in Isaan and that someone who does could enlighten me if my understandings are wrong. I also qualified my statement in this post by saying that I do live in Chiang Mai. I also agree that both have substantial segments of poor people. I also do not see people here in Chiang Mai starving. I do see many people walking down the road collecting vegetables, bamboo shoots, frogs, small fish, and bugs. It is my understanding from my workers that many of these people are doing so by choice. They own rice land. They plant rice in the rainy season and beans in the cool season. They work for local factories and take off during harvest and planting.

As to your statement that nobody who has one Rai of land does not need to starve there - this is wrong as well.

I also do not see people here in Chiang Mai starving. I do see many people walking down the road collecting vegetables, bamboo shoots, frogs, small fish, and bugs. It is my understanding from my workers that many of these people are doing so by choice. Even my wife has me stop the car so she can strip young leaves from trees when we drive past ones she like to eat. They own rice land. They plant rice in the rainy season and beans in the cool season. Yes they understand crop rotation here instead of depleting the soil by trying to get 3 rice crops per year. They work for local factories and take off during harvest and planting. They also take off to work as Longan pickers.

The systhem of sufficiency farming here, which was invented to survive from minimal plots of land, has a well calculated sizing - and that is a minimum of ten Rai per family in order to have a basic survival and that means enough food for consumption, and not much more cash than maybe 20 000 Baht a year cash income.

As I said it depends on the area. My mother in law started with one of these free 10 rai plots. She has made enough to buy the adjoining 30 rai and now works 40 rai. She has no tractor or buffalo. She maintains the entire 40 rai with only her son to help.

Depending on area, ten Rai will cost somewhere between 100 000 Baht (the cheap sor por kor 401 land, or land without ownership papers) to 400 000 Baht. Anywhere closed to Chiangmai this will not be enough though. Additionally there will be investment costs for the necessary machinery, such as a small tractor (second hand 25 000 Baht, new 50 000 up), and a house, etc.

Well, that is just so you can make 20 000 Baht a year, and food for consumption (mostly rice veggies).

I definitely would not be a rice farmer. There are many other crops that are less work and more money. How about carrots 30 baht a kilo at the market. Cucumbers at 12 baht a kilo at the market. Potatoes are 35 baht a kilo at the market. Also many of these can be planted together. My workers built a bamboo frame for the cucumbers. The roots stay in the ground, the vine climbs the pole and then branches out all over the bamboo frame. The cucumbers then hang down from the frame for easy picking. Carrots are then grown on the ground space underneath the frame. I also know a guy growing very nice tomatoes using hyrdroponics in a green house. I know many thais that have longan orchards that grow garlic beneath the trees. Why do you assume that every one has to be a rice farmer ?

It also takes a few years until it stops running a deficit, waiting on average two years until the necessary pond is dug by the authorities.

If one wants to enough money to have a bit more than just basic poor peasant survival, then that needs a substantial amount of investment.

Hmmmm. I have been with my wife for 8 years. I have never seen a tractor in my wife's village. Then again there aren't any water buffalo either. Maybe that is because most of them only have a large enough rice field for their own consumption and raise other crops for sale. They still use a scythe to cut the grass and a hoe to plant their seeds. Not much of an investment.

Generally, when you buy such small plots of farmland, you don't just buy it anywhere. You do that when you have a Thai wife, and that means in her home, on not where she does not have the necessary protection of a large clan and family, as you will be always at a disadvantage when it comes to a conflict.

I have been in the same spot for 7 years now and have not had a conflict with anyone in my village. Even when I have to run over time after dark in my factory.When I want to do something that will affect someone else I consult with the Poo Yai Ban. He then brings 2 or 3 other people to look at what I want to do. Every single time they have agreed and told my wife how happy they were that I consulted them first. Another falang in our village never consults them and they hate him. I can't see where it causes him much of a problem though.

The system in Thailand does not exactly work along the lines of justice we are used to in the west (and even in most rural areas in the west, when there is a conflict between an outsider and a local, the new outsider will be at a distinct disadvantage, regardless who is right).

Why are you having conflicts with your neighbors? Can't you get along ? You seem like such a caring and compassionate person.

If ones wife home is not in a prime farmland area, one has not much choice there.

I have a thai wife and I did not move to where she is from. It is not compulsory. If i did then I could survive on 30,000 baht pr month easy. No western food available, no bars, every thing is within walking distance, etc. There are no police either so I could have a still to make my own corn liquor. Many of my friends that live in Chiang Mai have Isaan wives. One of them also has a vegetable garden that his wife maintains. Come to think of it i know another falang that has a garden in Lampang. His wife is from Isaan also. I do not know why you say you have no choice when I know many that have chosen not to live in the wife's village. Come to think of it I can not think of 1 single falang I know living in Chiang Mai that has a wife from Chiang Mai. Mine is from Chiang Rai. I know 2 from Bangkok, 1 from pattaya, and the rest are from Isaan.

You do make it sound so simple - have a bit of land in Thailand, and have a great retirement in the Land of Smile. Sorry, but that is not reality.

You are misunderstanding what I said.

Thailand is a country with huge social problems, and many of those are centered in the rural areas. If you advise someone to move there and live a lifestyle like a poor Thai peasant, you do give very wrong advise.

I did not advise this. I advised a falang that if he wanted to live in thailand that it would be possible on 30,000 baht per month. I also suggested that if he wanted to make his money go farther that he could raise his own vegetables and/or meat if he had at least one rai of land and thought it out before he purchased that rai of land. Every thing that I have said is true. The only problems with living on 30,000 per month or even less if one wants to do so are the government requirements.

It may be news to you, but factories in the industrial zones are jam packed with ex farmers

It is not news to me.

who cannot make a living anymore of land that you advise a Farang of fifty to move to.

Again I did not advise this and i do not know how you construed that i did.

I think you are taking much of what I said out of context. Also I was not suggesting that someone try to move here and buy land that a thai farmer failed on. Nor did I suggest that a person try to do so with no other source of income. I suggested a way that a falang that wanted to live modestly could stttrrreetttttccccchhhhhh his baht so that it went far enough for them to survive and I still maintain that it is true if you think it through before you do it. This would surely entail NOT buying land that has no access to water. Also having too much water is not good either. The condition of the soil should be looked at before you buy. At no time did I say "have a bit of land in Thailand, and have a great retirement in the Land of Smile."

I don't know your back ground but I suspect that you have never lived as a poor person. I have. As a child I learned to raise enough food in a 3 month growing season to last the entire year on approximately 1 rai and we had 8 people to feed. I learned to can vegetables and meat using a pressure cooker. I learned to make apple butter and jam from the fruit. I grew up poor but in doing so I learned how to survive on very little. Most of the thais that I know order more than they can eat when they go out and throw the rest away. They think I am crazy when I take a doggy bag home. Even in their home they cook more than they can eat and throw the rest to the dogs. Maybe they only do this when i am there to show me they can afford it but I don't think so.

Posters are asking How much money is enough. I give them real life examples of how they can live here on 30,000 baht per month. Something the farmers in your example do not have. Lets compare apples and apples here.

How much is enough money

I don’t know but I have been looking at the FIRECALC web site and it makes me think I can do it. I am just not sure what my expenses will be in Thailand. Your help is appreciated.

Thanks for your reply's

As far as the thai farmers are concerned I would venture that most of them had no choice of where their land was. Many of them got into debt that they could not pay off. Some of which was for items that they did not need. Many ruined their land by not rotating crops. Many just had bad luck such as the case in Nan province where their fields were ruined from floods. In any case I am not talking about Thai farmers. I am talking about a westerner that simply wants to make his retirement income go farther.

[Desertexile]

Bmanly

ermooney secure exchange-traded funds are availale that would pay 7% or more.

Nice adice mate - I'll do some new research on these. 7% is pretty tasty. As for the annuities, I wouldn't be old enough to invest in them.

Yeh, not bad for a TEFLer. I realised that there was no need to continue pushing the present perfect for a living. With a bit of elblow grease and some bullshitter, any cat can make money in the dunes. Just depends how hard you want to work and hjow good the contacts you can make are.

Thanks for the advice above.

[wolfmanjack]

Just a thought, but 2% reinvested per year wouldn't keep pace with inflation. I think that pretty secure exchange-traded funds are availale that would pay 7% or more. Also, if inheritance isn't an issue, then annuities can be bought that will pay 7-8% for life. In the case of $1,200,000 for example, an annuity can be bought that will pay $7,000 per month for life. That's 252K Baht per month. Think you could live on that? The trick would be to reinvest some of that to cover unexpected events. Of course, if you want to leave some of your money for heirs, the payout amount would drop. Not bad for a TEFL teacher -- 1.2 mil. Who would have thought?

*Best post on this thread.*

There ya go desertexile. Without going back and rereading all of your posts I think that you said you had half of the 670,000 already. 335,000 x 1.95829 = 656,027 USD. 55% of the 1.2 million so you should be able to get an annuity for around 138,000 baht per month for life without working the additional 5 years. Welcome to thailand.

[Desertexile]

So, let me get this right Wolfy

You came on the thread and bitch slapped me and poo poo'ed my plan but hadn't read all the posts.

I think that you said you had half of the 670,000 already. 335,000 x 1.95829 = 656,027 USD. 55% of the 1.2 million so you should be able to get an annuity for around 138,000 baht per month for life without working the additional 5 years.

I said I wasn't old enough for annuity - add that I said I wanted the investment to grow in-line with inflation and not depreciate. And its 670 GBP not 1.2 USD. I won't even go into the 60THB/1GBP senario mate

Welcome to thailand.

Thanks - but as I said, Thailand has been home since I was 21.

.........Hey well, thanks for the contribution - good luck with the vegetables

PS I ######ing hate it when people say 'My Thai wife' - it's obvious your Mrs is Thai.

I aint ever heard anyone say 'Hi, I'm Wolfy and this is my American wife, Wolfetta'

It makes her sound, well, like property or mail order.

Maybe it's just me...... It was sound so crap if my mrs said, 'This is Desertexile, my English husband'

Edited January 29, 2007 by Desertexile

[Lucifer]

Desertexile:

Another reason to invest in property rental in the UK, is that, according to todays news, house prices are rising at the rate of £1000.00

a month, for the next three years at least.

I know I keep going on about renting property, but it seems to meet most/all your criteria.

A flat in central London I think.

PS. The thousand squid is for an average house price of about 200K.

[ColPyat]

I am sorry, but that is not entirely correct. There are many provinces in the North that are bone dry, and rely on the monsoon alone. Not all areas receive water supply by canals and such. And there are many areas in Isaarn that are supplied by an excellent network of canals, and three harvests a year are possible (though farmers are still trapped in debt and poverty).

It is a rather moot point to debate which is poorer - Isaarn or the north. Both have substantial sectors of very poor people.

I did say that I do not live in Isaan and that someone who does could enlighten me if my understandings are wrong. I also qualified my statement in this post by saying that I do live in Chiang Mai. I also agree that both have substantial segments of poor people. I also do not see people here in Chiang Mai starving. I do see many people walking down the road collecting vegetables, bamboo shoots, frogs, small fish, and bugs. It is my understanding from my workers that many of these people are doing so by choice. They own rice land. They plant rice in the rainy season and beans in the cool season. They work for local factories and take off during harvest and planting.

As to your statement that nobody who has one Rai of land does not need to starve there - this is wrong as well.

I also do not see people here in Chiang Mai starving. I do see many people walking down the road collecting vegetables, bamboo shoots, frogs, small fish, and bugs. It is my understanding from my workers that many of these people are doing so by choice. Even my wife has me stop the car so she can strip young leaves from trees when we drive past ones she like to eat. They own rice land. They plant rice in the rainy season and beans in the cool season. Yes they understand crop rotation here instead of depleting the soil by trying to get 3 rice crops per year. They work for local factories and take off during harvest and planting. They also take off to work as Longan pickers.

Chiang Mai is the most developed city in the north. Most other northern provinces do not have the factories that allow farmers to become hobby farmers and hobby frog collectors. There is is a means of survival.

The systhem of sufficiency farming here, which was invented to survive from minimal plots of land, has a well calculated sizing - and that is a minimum of ten Rai per family in order to have a basic survival and that means enough food for consumption, and not much more cash than maybe 20 000 Baht a year cash income.

As I said it depends on the area. My mother in law started with one of these free 10 rai plots. She has made enough to buy the adjoining 30 rai and now works 40 rai. She has no tractor or buffalo. She maintains the entire 40 rai with only her son to help.

I doubt very much that she plows these entire 40 Rai with buffalo plows, or even by hand.

Lucky that she got free land. In most villages in the lower North i am familiar with only people connected to the Puyai Ban, or the Or Bor Dor get that, and those are rarely the ones who need that.

Depending on area, ten Rai will cost somewhere between 100 000 Baht (the cheap sor por kor 401 land, or land without ownership papers) to 400 000 Baht. Anywhere closed to Chiangmai this will not be enough though. Additionally there will be investment costs for the necessary machinery, such as a small tractor (second hand 25 000 Baht, new 50 000 up), and a house, etc.

Well, that is just so you can make 20 000 Baht a year, and food for consumption (mostly rice veggies).

I definitely would not be a rice farmer. There are many other crops that are less work and more money. How about carrots 30 baht a kilo at the market. Cucumbers at 12 baht a kilo at the market. Potatoes are 35 baht a kilo at the market. Also many of these can be planted together. My workers built a bamboo frame for the cucumbers. The roots stay in the ground, the vine climbs the pole and then branches out all over the bamboo frame. The cucumbers then hang down from the frame for easy picking. Carrots are then grown on the ground space underneath the frame. I also know a guy growing very nice tomatoes using hyrdroponics in a green house. I know many thais that have longan orchards that grow garlic beneath the trees. Why do you assume that every one has to be a rice farmer ?

Who said anything about being a rice farmer?

It also takes a few years until it stops running a deficit, waiting on average two years until the necessary pond is dug by the authorities.

If one wants to enough money to have a bit more than just basic poor peasant survival, then that needs a substantial amount of investment.

Hmmmm. I have been with my wife for 8 years. I have never seen a tractor in my wife's village. Then again there aren't any water buffalo either. Maybe that is because most of them only have a large enough rice field for their own consumption and raise other crops for sale. They still use a scythe to cut the grass and a hoe to plant their seeds. Not much of an investment.

I have been with my wife a lot longer. But she comes from an area without any alternative sources of income than farming, seasonal labour on farms, and one quarry. This is a very poor area in the lower north, and you see plenty of these "Lot E Taec" around there.

Generally, when you buy such small plots of farmland, you don't just buy it anywhere. You do that when you have a Thai wife, and that means in her home, on not where she does not have the necessary protection of a large clan and family, as you will be always at a disadvantage when it comes to a conflict.

I have been in the same spot for 7 years now and have not had a conflict with anyone in my village. Even when I have to run over time after dark in my factory.When I want to do something that will affect someone else I consult with the Poo Yai Ban. He then brings 2 or 3 other people to look at what I want to do. Every single time they have agreed and told my wife how happy they were that I consulted them first. Another falang in our village never consults them and they hate him. I can't see where it causes him much of a problem though.

Good for you.

The system in Thailand does not exactly work along the lines of justice we are used to in the west (and even in most rural areas in the west, when there is a conflict between an outsider and a local, the new outsider will be at a distinct disadvantage, regardless who is right).

Why are you having conflicts with your neighbors? Can't you get along ? You seem like such a caring and compassionate person.

I think i have been considerably longer than you here, and i have had one or the other conflict. Conflicts are human. Fortunately only one in the village, and we won that one. Our opponent can't live there anymore. I have though observed several conflicts i was not involved, and several of them resulted in a corpse, and nobody arrested even though the murderers are widely known.

If ones wife home is not in a prime farmland area, one has not much choice there.

I have a thai wife and I did not move to where she is from. It is not compulsory. If i did then I could survive on 30,000 baht pr month easy. No western food available, no bars, every thing is within walking distance, etc. There are no police either so I could have a still to make my own corn liquor. Many of my friends that live in Chiang Mai have Isaan wives. One of them also has a vegetable garden that his wife maintains. Come to think of it i know another falang that has a garden in Lampang. His wife is from Isaan also. I do not know why you say you have no choice when I know many that have chosen not to live in the wife's village. Come to think of it I can not think of 1 single falang I know living in Chiang Mai that has a wife from Chiang Mai. Mine is from Chiang Rai. I know 2 from Bangkok, 1 from pattaya, and the rest are from Isaan.

Well, i guess Chiang Mai is different than the rest of Thailand. Where we have our land the Farang density is almost zero. I have heard that recently a farang has built a house about 20 km away in a different Moo Ban at the mainroad, but i don't know if he moves there or just built a house for his wife.

You do make it sound so simple - have a bit of land in Thailand, and have a great retirement in the Land of Smile. Sorry, but that is not reality.

You are misunderstanding what I said.

Thailand is a country with huge social problems, and many of those are centered in the rural areas. If you advise someone to move there and live a lifestyle like a poor Thai peasant, you do give very wrong advise.

I did not advise this. I advised a falang that if he wanted to live in thailand that it would be possible on 30,000 baht per month. I also suggested that if he wanted to make his money go farther that he could raise his own vegetables and/or meat if he had at least one rai of land and thought it out before he purchased that rai of land. Every thing that I have said is true. The only problems with living on 30,000 per month or even less if one wants to do so are the government requirements.

Yes, and technically income from farming is also not allowed as farming is a protected profession. The only legal way around is when one invests heavily, has a large scale farm, registers it as a company, and gets that way a work permit as consultant, manager, or whatever profession is not protected but related.

I am aware that presently this is not a problem, but things can change rapidly in Thailand, as we have seen recently with the change in Visa laws and business regulations.

It may be news to you, but factories in the industrial zones are jam packed with ex farmers

It is not news to me.

who cannot make a living anymore of land that you advise a Farang of fifty to move to.

Again I did not advise this and i do not know how you construed that i did.

I think you are taking much of what I said out of context. Also I was not suggesting that someone try to move here and buy land that a thai farmer failed on. Nor did I suggest that a person try to do so with no other source of income. I suggested a way that a falang that wanted to live modestly could stttrrreetttttccccchhhhhh his baht so that it went far enough for them to survive and I still maintain that it is true if you think it through before you do it. This would surely entail NOT buying land that has no access to water. Also having too much water is not good either. The condition of the soil should be looked at before you buy. At no time did I say "have a bit of land in Thailand, and have a great retirement in the Land of Smile."

I don't know your back ground but I suspect that you have never lived as a poor person. I have. As a child I learned to raise enough food in a 3 month growing season to last the entire year on approximately 1 rai and we had 8 people to feed. I learned to can vegetables and meat using a pressure cooker. I learned to make apple butter and jam from the fruit. I grew up poor but in doing so I learned how to survive on very little. Most of the thais that I know order more than they can eat when they go out and throw the rest away. They think I am crazy when I take a doggy bag home. Even in their home they cook more than they can eat and throw the rest to the dogs. Maybe they only do this when i am there to show me they can afford it but I don't think so.

Posters are asking How much money is enough. I give them real life examples of how they can live here on 30,000 baht per month. Something the farmers in your example do not have. Lets compare apples and apples here.

Sorry, but if one wants to make the equivalent of 30 000 baht a month from a farm, then that needs substantially more investment and land than you have mentioned here. I am sure that if you have found a way to make that from the small holdings you mentioned here which would be applicable to the rest of the area, you are in for the next Magasay Award.

As far as the thai farmers are concerned I would venture that most of them had no choice of where their land was. Many of them got into debt that they could not pay off. Some of which was for items that they did not need. Many ruined their land by not rotating crops. Many just had bad luck such as the case in Nan province where their fields were ruined from floods. In any case I am not talking about Thai farmers. I am talking about a westerner that simply wants to make his retirement income go farther.

Yes, and you do that with a happy go lucky philosophy that just does not stand up to reality. In individual cases that might be possible the way you describe, but not in the general way you present your case.

[Swelters]

Dr Naam - that is a tasty lifestyle. Good for you!

What did you do back in the world to afford you that kind of monthly pay cheque?

i am a retired physicist but i hold also an M.A. in mech. eng.; worked for years in the desert, the african bush and locations (where i wouldn't advise any of my enemies to go)

Interesting biography. I'm getting into the vegetables too. Try reading some Henry James or Thomas Hardy now that you've got time to enjoy very long sentences.

Swelters

[Desertexile]

Desertexile:

Another reason to invest in property rental in the UK, is that, according to todays news, house prices are rising at the rate of £1000.00

a month, for the next three years at least.

I know I keep going on about renting property, but it seems to meet most/all your criteria.

A flat in central London I think.

PS. The thousand squid is for an average house price of about 200K.

It's a great idea mate - thanks.

In am looking into off plan 1 bed apartments in Canary Wharf with a 20% Deposit and nothing to pay for 18 months.

Thanks for the heads up. If it looks tasty, I'll forward you the details.

[Desertexile]

Gents

New deal at HSBC = 6% offshore dollar account

[maccaroni man]

PS I ######ing hate it when people say 'My Thai wife' - it's obvious your Mrs is Thai.

I aint ever heard anyone say 'Hi, I'm Wolfy and this is my American wife, Wolfetta'

It makes her sound, well, like property or mail order.

some of us may have an other wife or two from different countries so identifying them by nationality helps keep them strieght

[TLloyd]

Gents

New deal at HSBC = 6% offshore dollar account

It's being advertised here in the US, however, the 6.0% rate is only good thru April 30, and it only applys to new money ADDED to your account since 29 January, 2007. Currently, the HSBC Direct is paying 4.94% with a yield of 5.05%, not bad for straight savings, no matter how you look at it.

Edited February 9, 2007 by TLloyd

[interbrit]

I have come late to this topic but I am interested because I use the same 5% income, spend 3% and re-invest 2% calculation as the OP. This is only a rough and unsophisticated investment plan but I'm in my 60s so it will see me out.

What puzzles me is why 100,000 baht a month is such a big deal. I have a modest but comfortable lifestyle paying 30,000 a month for a serviced apartment, eat out twice a day in mid-price restaurants but am not a big drinker, sometimes rent a car but otherwise use baht busses and, oh yes, rent the occasional go-go dancer. This takes somewhat more than 100,000 baht and doesn't seem excessive after a lifetime's work.

Surely there are many Pattaya based old farts leading a similar lifestyle???

Interbrit