I suppose this question has been ask over and over but i don't seem to find any thing about it.. I'm Australian and 58 years . I have $400 000 in super and my house is payed and  will give me a income of $1600 a month. My Thai Girlfriend is a Government Official so i can go onto her medical if need be. Will this money be enough to retire in Thailand. I'm not a big spender and the Girlfriend has a good job , own house and Car.

OP you are wrong thinking you can use your girlfriends health insurance, it is only applicable if you are married in the Amphur.

I wouldn't like to try to live in that monthly.  Twice that, maybe.  

I live a comfortable life on a similar income, millions of well off Thais live on the same. Depends on your lifestyle of course. Its easy to live a very comfortable life on that budget if you own house and car etc. 

Some people quote some big budgets, more than I used to live on in Australia.

from my actual experience ,  been living very comfortable retired life in C/mai on the OZ pension for 17 yrs , (even taking into consideration the present poor exchange rate)which is just above your 1600 dollar mark, my only concern is the health equation , but you are still young enough to join a medical scheme of some nature to take care of that, feel again from actual experience, keeping your Oz Medicard and receiving a Oz pension,down the track a mutch bigger problem as Centre Link  have closed the loop holes which was available to us old timers( affectionately called the pre 2003 gang)but at least you have a few years to prepare yourself and my advice is to cross those bridges when you come to the,as everyone has a different agenda dealing with Centre Link, very best of luck Cobber

 

Yes,come on over,if she has house ,car,and good job,marry

her,and you can go on her medical, 1600 dollars (Oz or US)

anyway you will be a whole lot better off than many here.

regards worgeordie

if its enough to live on in australia, then it most certainly is also enough to live on in thailand,
so ask yourself: did you survive in australia all these years ?

If you are not a 'bar regular' spending on beer and bar girls, only need the occasional 'fix' of a fancy restaurant, than $1600 a month will do you just fine. That can even handle a yearly week's vacation to the islands.

Around 40,000 Baht a month.

More than enough to have a pretty good life.

Cost of living in Australia has skyrocketed in recent years.Rental for an average home/apartment is around $1600  a month which would eat up any future aged pension.Obviously different scenario if you own a house but utility bills, especially power, have increased dramatically .My daughter and her partner live in a small cottage ($1600 a month rent paid by their employer) working in a Blue Mountains GH .

 

Their electricity bill for 3 months was $900 (22,000 b approx) and that's without any air con and no electricity for heating.

 

Friends recently returned to Australia after 3 mths away to find a 5,000 b bill for water even none had been used .On enquring why the reason given was that was for providing the service not usage.

 

That's Australia today, once one of the cheapest countries in the world .Sydney now rates in the top 5 of most expensive cities in the world to live.

 

40,000 baht month providing you own a home /apartment is quite doable  in Thailand.

 

Health Insurance for retirees is the elephant in the room once you reach 70 years of age

where is the above to help the o/p .lol

35K baht is plenty for a normal, easy going life, as opposed to an ex-pat tourist lifestyle that some prefer to live.

 

Your only concern would be losing income from tenant problems, which will surely increase in risk if the economy in Oz keeps on the same track, also effecting the exchange rate.

1000 euro  a month is what I do, and is very doable. That is about 36000 baht...About 10k for house rent (+electric+water) leaves me about 1000 baht (little less) a day...easy....

Yes you can don't let others tell you that you cannot.

4 hours ago, Pilotman said:

I wouldn't like to try to live in that monthly.  Twice that, maybe.  

Agree..........twice that would provide a very comfortable living with no money worries.

Come with your bags packed, you will soon see the party is over....good luck....????

I know that i will have to marry to have the benefit of medical insurance.I'm still working and earning a good salary .Will only retire ones i had enough and that is coming closer. 

 

5 hours ago, colinneil said:

OP you are wrong thinking you can use your girlfriends health insurance, it is only applicable if you are married in the Amphur.

A Westerner married in the Amphur could use his Thai wife health insurance?

5 hours ago, colinneil said:

OP you are wrong thinking you can use your girlfriends health insurance, it is only applicable if you are married in the Amphur.

Yes o know thank you

 

23 minutes ago, chicowoodduck said:

Come with your bags packed, you will soon see the party is over....good luck....????

I am street wise and think with my brains ,not my balls. I have been to Thailand a few times and know te scene. I'm street wise. Why all the negativity ?did you loose everything???

13 minutes ago, Tchooptip said:

A Westerner married in the Amphur could use his Thai wife health insurance?

Yes i do.

yes, i think you can live a good life in thailand on $1600 mth--rentals are "risky" but im sure it is a safer investment than bringing  ALL  your money to thailand..

i have nice freehold condo in thailand and can live VERY  nicely off my nz pension{approx 40,000thb/mth}..

i have substantial other income from nz property investments, but dont need to touch that unless traveling to other countries..also have term deposit in bkk account to cover sickness/accident emergency..

the above includes one BIG  night pw. with girls and booze..

if you have to pay rent in thailand,  40,000/mth, is probably NOT  enough, but can still be done if you live frugally.

 

Very doable, but entirely depends on what you need, or think you need.  

If you can get an average, conservative 3-5% from the AU$400k through a well diversified investment portfolio on top of the 40k/THB pension you would have THB 80k/month and no rent/health insurance. That is a FINE lifestyle (with room to pull less from investment in market down times and to let grow with inflation). Cheers!

2 hours ago, Colabamumbai said:

Yes you can don't let others tell you that you cannot.

Yes, you can; but do you want to live like that must be the question. If you want to count pennies everyday and always worry about the cost of anything, go for it. If that is how you live anyway, perhaps you will be able to make it; like the poster who claim you have plenty.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Yes i do.

Thanks for answering

With this precise answer so I am sure it is true and not from hearing

17 minutes ago, smotherb said:

Yes, you can; but do you want to live like that must be the question. If you want to count pennies everyday and always worry about the cost of anything, go for it. If that is how you live anyway, perhaps you will be able to make it; like the poster who claim you have plenty.

 

 

 

Get off the herb. The post had nothing to do with the way I live. Go bash on another forum.

Have you checked the tax rate on your property rental income for when you're not an Australian resident for taxes purposes? 

I don't  get it, would you really be making such a big decision in life based on the answers you get on a forum?

 

Either you have spent considerable time here already, in which case you should know your answers. Or you haven't, in which case you should plan to spend at least six months here as a personal experience. What you see during a vacation is not the same.

 

1 hour ago, smotherb said:

If that is how you live anyway, perhaps you will be able to make it; like the poster who claim you have plenty.

From many of your previous posts explaining how your could not live on such meagre sums i actually feel very sorry for you. 

I can also concur that the sum of monies is very adequate as i know quite a few that do so on a lot less and have a very fulfilling life.

For once in your life get off your high horse and except that not all people need to wake up each morning and get into their Fortuner/BMW and wonder what their going to spend this months million on