28 minutes ago, marko kok prong said:

Have toyed with the idea of going back to Australia,but my mate recently went back,A$48 for a pack of smokes,beer at ridicoulous price,not to mention things we dont have to worry about here-Rates[on your house] huge bills for water,huge bills for getting your car rego and the like plus i have built a large house here with a pool and large yard,about 5-6 million considering everything, [furniture,ac units 5, polished concrete floors,a house like this in OZ i would be looking at 3 million A$ minimum,so i reckon i will stay.

I just don't get this mkp.

 

Others, who I know in Oz, tell me the same. Australia has everything it needs. Water, sun, space and abundant minerals in the ground. 

 

I had a look at the Oz-Thai exchange rate earlier in the week; 23 something. What on earth is going on there marko. Canada the same.

On 11/27/2018 at 10:47 PM, possum1931 said:

On 11/27/2018 at 9:17 PM, marcusarelus said:

I live on a normal soi neighbors teachers and government workers.  My wife has a 3 million dollar loan on our house.  I was with her when she borrowed the money and it was after we got married.   

Hmm, How many houses in Thailand are worth 3 million dollars? That would be 100 million baht. On a normal soi?

 

As for owning houses. most British people prefer to own - even if it is in their wife or partners name. It is a British thing. With savings interest rates being so trivial, more have opted for this rather than pay rents which rise every few years. When many of the current UK retirees came to Thailand 7-10 years ago, their average pension would have been about 900,000 baht a year - BUT that is an average boosted by much higher incomes in London. Now those pensions would be under 700,000 baht a year. And some will be on under 300,000 baht. 

 

Many pensioners were hit by a perfect storm. Annuity rates collapsed, and many money purchase pensions delivered far less than predicted ( average annuity available was about 2,500 GBP a year! My ex-wife decided to take hers when she got to 55, boy did she get a shock, under 1000 GBP a year). and the stock market halved in value. Savings interest rates then fell by over 80%. For many the state pension became their main source of income. At the time, given a choice of living hand to mouth in the UK, or in Thailand, Thailand seemed like a good idea. 

 

As for getting a mortgage, many wives/partners in Isaan just do not earn enough or have an irregular income. Bank loans here are usually limited to about half the land value - and you need to own the land first ....

 

Anyway, who is leaving?  My sister-in-laws partner, mainly due to financial issues, Not specifically immigration related. Another due to work permit issues and finances. Both going next month. But most will wait until next year to see what happens.

Well. I have tons to complain about, but it's still better than Sweden. It feels better to be a stranger in Thailand than in my own country. I'll better spend my money here.

Okay I will bite... I have left Thailand. I even had a TE visa with a few years left on it. I had no trouble with money or a wife. I just had enough of Thailand and decided that the lost opportunity in being in Thailand made it very expensive to live there.

 

I can make good money back home and enjoy life here. Thailand is only cheap if you are on a pension and do not want to do any work ever again. If you are into real estate and fixing houses, or have skills back home and good potential earnings there is little compelling reason to stay in Thailand.

 

I don't think people with money are stuck in Thailand it is those with nothing left back home that are stuck. For me the small amount of savings in Thailand do not outweigh the tremendous gains back home. 

 

To live how I wanted to in Thailand wasn't much different anyway. In the case of the USA in particular if you own your home you are doing okay expense wise. If you left spent your savings on a shoe box in Pattaya and don't have a large amount of savings it will be hard to re-enter the housing market here now.

 

I chose to leave Thailand well ahead of ending up in that situation myself. My friend who is 32 keeps telling me to come back. I tell him he should stop wasting his life and get out while he can. It used to be good but the down turn in his tourism business means he barely scrapes by. Earn in the west spend in the east. If he doesn't listen he will be 42 and still treading water it is about as profitable as prison. 

8 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 I chose to leave Thailand well ahead of ending up in that situation myself. My friend who is 32 keeps telling me to come back. I tell him he should stop wasting his life and get out while he can. It used to be good but the down turn in his tourism business means he barely scrapes by. Earn in the west spend in the east. If he doesn't listen he will be 42 and still treading water it is about as profitable as prison. 

Very few of these responses have anything to do with working or making a living in Thailand, obviously job opportunities and salaries are much higher in Australia. This post is more focused on those who retired here and decided after some time that Thailand wasn't for them, for whatever reason.

On 11/30/2018 at 7:31 PM, rickudon said:

Hmm, How many houses in Thailand are worth 3 million dollars? That would be 100 million baht. On a normal soi?

 

I would assume he means 3 million baht.

43 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Very few of these responses have anything to do with working or making a living in Thailand, obviously job opportunities and salaries are much higher in Australia. This post is more focused on those who retired here and decided after some time that Thailand wasn't for them, for whatever reason.

It was worth reading for most of us I gues, at least for me, since Im more or less in same situation. Work home, and spend it in Asia. My experience is based on trying to find the uppertunities owning an appartment and invest in a future life in Thailand. But I see it is a end road compare to still work and invest in my homecountry. I can buy land in my gf name, and will for sure do it, but that is money I can gamble. If we still together in 20 years time, it will maybe pay off as an good pention insurance, but before that, it will be like have bitcoins in your pockets ???? 

Off topic posts removed.