Why, after 9 months, Retired in Thailand, I left and am back in the USA?

[JimmyJ]

8 minutes ago, seasia said:

Hi

 

Overall yes, depends on how you want to live.

 

Housing generally more expensive but still some reasonable deals.

 

e.g. 2 bedroom apartment for sale in Mendrisio north lakes town, separate kitchen, living room, large terrace, 180 degree view of Lake Como for sale at 70 K Euro, e.g. 2.5 million baht.

 

South of Italy can buy similar at 40 to 50 K Euro.

 

Bottled water is cheaper than Thailand, even though you can drink the water from the tap.

 

Fruit juice is about 1 Euro per litre, around 36 baht compared to 50 to 70 baht in Thailand.

 

Large ( 660 ml ) bottles of beer can be bought for 80 cents, about 29 baht, better than Thai beer at about half the price.

Wine is 1/5 th the price.

 

Plenty more examples of some things being lower priced.

 

However, public transport, including taxis way more expensive in Italy.

Cars are cheaper though.

 

Anything involving labour way higher in Italy,due of course to higher wages.

A " handyman" general jobs guy is going to be asking 100 Euro a day, 3600 baht.( North, less by a little in the south)

Way cheaper in Thailand.

 

Not surprisingly pasta ( shop bought ) is about half the price of Thailand but yep, rice is about double.

 

Swings and roundabouts.

 

Thank you.

 

What about rents?

And what part of the country/cities do you recommend that are worthwhile and closer in cost of living to Thailand?

Edited March 28, 2019 by JimmyJ

[marcusarelus]

2 minutes ago, seasia said:

Hi

 

Overall yes, depends on how you want to live.

 

Housing generally more expensive but still some reasonable deals.

 

e.g. 2 bedroom apartment for sale in Mendrisio north lakes town, separate kitchen, living room, large terrace, 180 degree view of Lake Como for sale at 70 K Euro, e.g. 2.5 million baht.

 

South of Italy can buy similar at 40 to 50 K Euro.

 

Bottled water is cheaper than Thailand, even though you can drink the water from the tap.

 

Fruit juice is about 1 Euro per litre, around 36 baht compared to 50 to 70 baht in Thailand.

 

Large ( 660 ml ) bottles of beer can be bought for 80 cents, about 29 baht, better than Thai beer at about half the price.

Wine is 1/5 th the price.

 

Plenty more examples of some things being lower priced.

 

However, public transport, including taxis way more expensive in Italy.

Cars are cheaper though.

 

Anything involving labour way higher in Italy,due of course to higher wages.

A " handyman" general jobs guy is going to be asking 100 Euro a day, 3600 baht.( North, less by a little in the south)

Way cheaper in Thailand.

 

Not surprisingly pasta ( shop bought ) is about half the price of Thailand but yep, rice is about double.

 

Swings and roundabouts.

Swings and roundabouts eh?  Housing is the great majority of anyone's budget and that does not swing or go round about.  https://www.numbeo.com  Apples to apples easy to compare. 

[rhodie]

6 hours ago, CaptainJack said:

Hi,

 

Quick update.  A TV member suggested I not crosspost on the two topics I am involved in.  Makes sense.  I'll still update on the other tooic here.

 

Thanks for following me. This will be my last post on this topic 

 

CJ

 

 

Your message is a bit ambiguous, but I assume you are going to post updates in JT's topic. Please consider only posting here. Your story is interesting, but will be lost in the other topic which is much more general. I follow this topic, but not the other.

[seasia]

54 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Swings and roundabouts eh?  Housing is the great majority of anyone's budget and that does not swing or go round about.  https://www.numbeo.com  Apples to apples easy to compare. 

The website you have linked to is the worst comparison site I have ever come across.

 

You are totally wrong, housing does indeed swing, in Italy.

 

It has declined in value for a number of years.

 

Personal experience. In excess of 50 visits 

 

How about yourself?

[seasia]

58 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

Thank you.

 

What about rents?

And what part of the country/cities do you recommend that are worthwhile and closer in cost of living to Thailand?

Hi

 

You are welcome, I will answer in more detail another time but as to rents, a modest 1 bedroom apartment in the north can be found for around 450 to 500 Euro per month ( That is long term though.). Bills on top.

A little cheaper in the south.

 

The south would be better if looking for similar costs to Thailand, albeit as said public transport and labour costs are way higher.

 

 

[GinBoy2]

27 minutes ago, seasia said:

Hi

 

You are welcome, I will answer in more detail another time but as to rents, a modest 1 bedroom apartment in the north can be found for around 450 to 500 Euro per month ( That is long term though.). Bills on top.

A little cheaper in the south.

 

The south would be better if looking for similar costs to Thailand, albeit as said public transport and labour costs are way higher.

 

 

Back in the day when I was in the semiconductor biz, used to do a lot of work in Sicily in Catania.

That would be a place I could live