Why did you choose to retire to Thailand?

[RichardColeman]

Due to personal current financial circumstances (which will change in future years)  I cannot take my wife and daughter to the UK. So it's more a case of  HAVING to retire here 

[WhatupThailand]

7 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Consider this, the decisions and plans you make as a younger man don't always work out as perhaps you thought, no one can predict government changes/requirements currency fluctuations etc.no crystal balls, you do what you think and feels right at the time.

So, you visit a country and enjoy it, you return many times and love it, then you meet and fall in love with one of its inhabitants and the lifestyle.

The relationship progresses you "make a life" and so on, then 15 yrs down the line things change, govt. changes, currency fluctuations and more all impact on your life style. It's too late !! many are at the end of the working life, can't replace it, life has moved on and relationships and the life in the home country has long gone, nothing back there but memories..

So you have what you have, a life and family you made but through no particular fault of your own has just evolved into something very different.

 

The point being, many didn't intend to retire here at all, many just ended up here through life choices, relationships and just plain fate ! and its where we ended up.

Copy and Paste my life, Thanks for saving me all that typing.

[NCC1701A]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

a rubber hanging out my a**

[timendres]

3 hours ago, EricTh said:

European countries are certainly more similar than Thailand. 

 

1. Bread versus rice 

2. European languages are more similar to each other than Thai language

3. Christianity versus Buddhism

4. European weather is not as hot as Thailand

 

Yes, you can find bread in Thailand but it's considered western food and not native Thai food. 

Ah! I read it wrong. I thought he was saying those places were culturally similar to Thailand. 555

[Ron jeremy]

10 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Another why are you here thread.

 

Lots of sex with young sexy girls. No Soi 6 in any of those countries

 

Next....

 

 

Let's be honest here and cut thru the BS, if it wasn't for the cheap sex, and the thai woman, the place would be void of many men. Period!

men don't come here for the beaches and temples.

[Nyezhov]

4 hours ago, Ron jeremy said:

Let's be honest here and cut thru the BS, if it wasn't for the cheap sex, and the thai woman, the place would be void of many men. Period!

men don't come here for the beaches and temples.

I do. Sex is free by the way. What gets expensive is trying to get them to leave

[Colabamumbai]

It was a nice country years ago, people still smiled, the Baht was low, it was not such a tourist destination, now it is time to consider other options, with clean beaches and little tourism.

[Longcut]

5 hours ago, timendres said:

Ah! I read it wrong. I thought he was saying those places were culturally similar to Thailand. 555

Bread may not be native Thai. Not sure when it was introduced to the country, but I have been buying it here since 1971. 

[gk10002000]

I have not retired there yet, and doubt I fully will.  But after my first few trips starting in 2004 it was high on my wish and desire list.  Now, due to current silly paperwork, and I still have interests in the USA, I am thinking it will just be 6 months of each year, but that may change.  Anyway reasons I was thinking of doing it and will certainly spend lots of time there are:

 

   I don't mind the weather as long as I have a nice pool.

I do love the food choices in a place like Pattaya where one can stroll around and eat German Food, Italian, Thai, Sushi, Full English Breakfast now and then, Donner carts, etc.

Foot and oil massages really are great

So many girls are really pretty to my eyes.

I like walking around versus driving every where as one usually has to do in the USA.  Always something to see.  walking regularly and throughout the day is good exercise.

Morally casual attitude towards certain things is an attraction, although possibly less so as I get older

Flora and Limestone stacks are beautiful

I enjoy a 1/2 day AC coach VIP bus ride around to various places, from BKK to Sukhothai for example

I do appreciate many of the tenets of buddhism and enjoy visiting and spending time at some Wat Thais

Love a game of pool with the buds and some drinks on a night out. 

Enjoy a little bar hopping now and then, say around a soi 7 in pattaya or a few streets in Bangkok, or wherever.

Love the scenery in Krabi, Ao Nong, Phuket beaches such as karon where you can turn around and look up in the hill and see the top of the big white buddha

Oh and many friendly girls.

 

In general it is just a fun and while getting more expensive than it was back in 2004, it is still affordable to me.

[4MyEgo]

I first came here in 2005, met my wife in 2006 and always wanted to come and live here to get away from the busy and costly life back in the home country, work, work, work, bills, bills, bills, 4 weeks annual leave that you couldn't take in a single hit because of staff issues, same same every year, 2 weeks at most at a time.

 

Made a plan to move here in 10 years, wife spent 9 years with me back in my country, been here 4 years now, enjoying the retired life, away from the big cities and people, just me and the squirrel in the garden at the moment while the wife takes the kids to school.

 

While I enjoy Thailand, it's people, the culture, and it's cost of living compared to back home, I am sad to see how it's people treat their country, the biggest issue for me is the burning of rice and sugarcane fields with the smell of smoke lingering till 10am in the morning during the burning season, although this season I am looking at taking the kids away for those two months to a coastal area to escape it. But I have to say this, If there is one thing that will make me leave Thailand, it will be the back burning as I have kids, I do not want them growing up in a smoke infested village.

 

I can handle everything else about Thailand, including its education system, etc etc etc, but as I am not on a pension and planned my move well with enough reserves to move on wherever I choose, time will only tell.

 

In the meantime, I will continue to remain in a positive frame of mind, hoping the big chiefs don't start sending smoke clouds my way. 

[Thingamabob]

Easy going life style. 

[worgeordie]

30 odd years ago,I sold up my businesses,and took to the road heading

to Costa Rica,the long way around,last time I was there,in a newspaper

was listed a small finca, (farm),surrounded by forest,small house,and

a waterfall, hoping it was still for sale,or find similar.

 

Finally arrived in Thailand,travelled around,and ended up in Chiang Mai,

and fell in love with it,lot more exotic than Newcastle,it was a lot 

quieter then,you could travel around town on a bike,the place had everything

I was looking for,first day here ,and there's a guy staggering towards me on

the path ,with his throat cut,blood everywhere,I thought this is going to be

an interesting place,and it was/is,the manic building of shophouses and

shopping malls,and much more people and traffic,has taken the edge off

a bit,but i am a lot older,well settled,and happy,can not see me living

anywhere else,too late anyway.Thailand has been good to me,I have no

problem with TM30,90 days,Extensions,that others go on about,Yes

things were easier in the past,but still not difficult now,last time 1.5 Hrs.

from Bank,to Immigration,to out the door,thats a great improvement.

 

regards Worgeordie

[NaamGin]

I will try to keep this short, but I am not making any promises. 

 

I have lived and/or worked in many countries during my life, so when it came time to retire I picked the top 5 countries from my favorites and began doing some investigation into what life would be like living in each country from the viewpoint of living somewhere as opposed to being on holiday or working. I traveled to each of the 5 countries and spent time evaluating key points which would effect my life in retirement. To my surprise, some of the places that people tout as being the cheapest or the safest or the friendliness of the people turned out to be quite the opposite. I setup a spreadsheet and ranked each country based on my findings. Yes, I know, I am a bit anal about details. Thailand came out at the top of the list in pretty much each category. After this, I moved to Thailand and gave it 6 months before putting down any roots. That was 8+ years ago and I still do not regret my decision to live in Thailand as opposed to anywhere else, including my home country. 

[bert bloggs]

We lived in the UK our son had just gone from a great junior school to a <deleted> senior school, i had just sold my end of a Thai business and we just decided to come here to live ,our son went to a great private school and now years later has a wonderful job earning high wages ,we have a lovely home and i have been able to take it easy for years , people go on about all the paperwork ,its bull ,i have only done a tm 30 a couple of weeks ago because the wife wants me to have a yellow book and a pink card(by the way when i was doing it the woman said that it would soon be compulsary) dont know about that .

anyway here you dont always have to be worrying if your 3 mph over the speed limit ,dont have to pay 10 quid to park for a couple of hrs , and all the other petty rules back home . no massive council tax ,dont have to have 6 bins so that everything has to be sorted ,here our rubbish is collected twice a week ,they take everything ,oh and the sun shines.shall i go on?

[MAGA 2020]

To get the hell away from so many falang. 

[thaiguzzi]

Did'nt have the money for the Amalfi Coast in Italy as my first choice.

2nd choices of Croatia and Monte Negro i knew too little about.

Then i fell for an Isaan go go dancer in BKK...........

The rest as they say, is history....

[BTempleman]

I have family here, the cost of living, is more affordable, and, after working in the US for many years, it was my chance to start a new chapter in life. 

[stropper]

 1.the first reason as a builder, the lack of regulation to build, my house, it cost nothing as i did it all myself.  notice i said my house, 2, there is no gambling in thailand as in australia, all i was doing in retirement  in aus was going to the pubs and clubs every day, was boring after many years, no one my age did any thing else , 3. met a great lady  in pattaya at thailand, with heaps of land to farm and play with, have  3 tractors  and 2 trucks now so i am never bored and some times make a bit of money, 4.  I sold up in aus at the right time, bought heaps to thailand on the plane and changed at about 30 per dollar, millions look good now in the bank, and lastly the people are great and the village that we live in i am treated like a  king, at 72 what more could you ask for in retirement, golf is not bad either

[newnative]

  We initially came because my Thai partner had visa problems in the US.  The plan was to sort the visa problems and then return to the US.  9 years on we realize we have a far better life here than what we could have in the US on my pension and SS.  As I've said before, no place is perfect.  For us, the pluses far outweigh the negatives.   So, no plans to return.  

[cliveshep]

I had a Thai wife, well, still do actually, in the UK under Theresa May's disgusting Immigration Policy. That shut the door on pretty much everyone including Students while she refused to consider leaving the EU as an option to avoid destroying families. Then the referendum came, Cameron left and she became PM - about the worst decision the Conservative party could have made. She had already forced-up the financial threshold for spouses to £18,600 that broke up many families previously happily married and settled causing deportations and heartbreak. Windrush was not her only legacy.

 

The woman is an evil witch, smug and self-righteous. We had  settled in the UK but my wife had not taken her Life in the UK test. She had no idea how many golf-courses there were in Scotland for example, and did not know historical dates for obscure Irish events, but she did know how to get the right bus to go shopping, could hunt for bargains, run the home, and work in a Care Home but clearly that had nothing to do with Theresa May's idea of Life in the UK which was more like an Under-grad's history course. (I read the book! Clearly designed for applicant failure!) 

 

So approaching 70 and still working we decided to up stakes, sell everything, claim the pension long deferred, and leave before the raddled hag's hob-nail booted minions came to drag my wife away to a detention-centre before deporting her. We made it with 6 months to spare!

 

So we did just that, got papers for the dog, a multi-entry spouse visa for me, sold the house, sent our very own shipping container for a trip to Bangkok, sold the car on the condition the buyer took us to Heathrow which he did.

 

So 4 years ago we landed in Bangkok on our Wedding Anniversary, we never went back and I never will. Yes the exchange rate is crippling right now because of the treasonous anti-democratic Parliament frustrating Brexit for 3 years, and the far too high baht value, but we keep the 400,000 in the bank, and manage to live on about 13,000 a month while giving another family a like amount as they are destitute. There is still a bit left over for house and car maintenance much of which I diy as I shipped out my fully equipped workshop. 

 

We have a far nicer detached house here, two cars, (well - a drop-side truck and a car actually) we have a nice sports motorbike, and have gained 3 abandoned puppies that have matured into massive house-dogs that we love.

 

Our house has 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, all the rooms have aircon so we got visitor space galore. The garden is my wife's pride and it is lovely. TM30 is not an issue because with the dogs we don't stay away anyway, the 90 day report we post tracked-and-signed-for when we go shopping, we shop in the markets or Big C whichever is cheaper, haunt the 20 baht shops, and I have learnt how to make our own bread that actually works out about 20 baht more expensive than buying it but is mega yummy especially toasted.

 

We nod and smile to everyone, because we take the dogs out on the motor-bike pillion one at a time people get to know us and everyone is friendly around our village.

 

We are happy here although even by Thai standards we have a small income but my wife has just graduated UNI so hopefully she'll get a job and we'll have a bit of spending money.

 

There is no way we'd ever exchange our relaxed and laid-back lifestyle and return to the UK even if it were possible. The intense supervision into every aspect of life, the taxes, the intrusion of petty rules into life, the keep-up-with-the-Jones pressure - no thanks. Here we can live apart from all of that. The only snakes we come close to are on the adjacent farm and those in the UK Government no longer bother us.

[Elzear]

There’s something else I like about Thailand (Isaan for me). It is that the money you spend for your woman (if you have one) radiates to the family. So you kind help a few people whereas if you retire in the West, your money doesn’t go that far. As for the exchange rates, well, what goes up will go down one day, such is the law of gravity, even in the financial work. And .. I really fell in love with Isaan, don’t know anywhere else in Thailand. 

[Captain 776]

QUOTE:

 

“Lots of sex with young sexy girls. No Soi 6 in any of those countries”

 

Sharp minds think alike ~!!!

 

[sfokevin]

The Somtam in my home country tastes like coleslaw... 

[korkenzieher]

Relative affordability (at least then), weather, relatively light-touch regulatory environment, absence of Islam (or it would have been Malaysia), long-standing familiarity.

 

What keeps me here is the missus. If my relationship broke down, I would be gone tomorrow.

[Surasak]

18 hours ago, PatOngo said:

I made the decision based on comments on Thaivisa! ????

I take it then, your decision is still on going?

[Tropposurfer]

18 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Consider this, the decisions and plans you make as a younger man don't always work out as perhaps you thought, no one can predict government changes/requirements currency fluctuations etc.no crystal balls, you do what you think and feels right at the time.

So, you visit a country and enjoy it, you return many times and love it, then you meet and fall in love with one of its inhabitants and the lifestyle.

The relationship progresses you "make a life" and so on, then 15 yrs down the line things change, govt. changes, currency fluctuations and more all impact on your life style. It's too late !! many are at the end of the working life, can't replace it, life has moved on and relationships and the life in the home country has long gone, nothing back there but memories..

So you have what you have, a life and family you made but through no particular fault of your own has just evolved into something very different.

 

The point being, many didn't intend to retire here at all, many just ended up here through life choices, relationships and just plain fate ! and its where we ended up.

You’ve captured a lot of my story thank you.

im glad for folks who can move back and forth. For me poor as I am due to life choices n addiction for half my early life it’s Thailand, or some other Asian country for old age or bust for me if I stay in Oz the cost of living here is out of the question as a single 60 something man so Oz, Europe US is totally beyond my meagre retirement budget.

thailand with all its contradictions is still a great place ????????????

[meechai]

In my case I never chose I won an invitation.

 

It was 2013 & I had never heard of Thailand

I bought a chocolate bar as I always do on Fridays & inside was this golden ticket

saying I had won an invitation to this place called Thailand. At first I thought it was a chicken dinner place

 

The rest is history ????

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by meechai

[wwest5829]

I chose not to spend my retirement in a rusted out trailer in Arizona or Florida (outpriced in my own country). I can have a working middle-class retirement here on my 65,000 baht a month. I am Buddhist, I am attracted to the Asian female look (I am vertically challenged at 5’5”). I have world class healthcare here. The traditional culture is appealing to me... Reality = white skin is valued, educational status is valued, past occupation is valued and a steady income is valued. Figured what was not to be loved with my retiring here.

[PatOngo]

47 minutes ago, Surasak said:

I take it then, your decision is still on going?

Still waiting to know where I can buy the cheapest box of matches, then I'll make the final decision!

[Kerryd]

Came for a holiday in '93. Thought the place was one of those "once in a lifetime" destinations.

 

Couple years later I was contemplating where I might like to retire to one day. I wanted a place that was (reasonably) warm and (reasonably) cheap as I was expecting to live mostly off of my military pension.

 

I made a list of various countries like Belize, Bolivia, Cambodia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Peru, the Philippines and a couple other countries. Spent weeks trying to find information about them, even visited some Embassies and Consulates. The internet was still in it's infancy back then and using Bulletin Boards often meant a lot of long distance phone charges.

I then tried to score each country based on a set of criteria I made up. I tried to grade each countries government (for stability), infrastructure (airports, roads, power), Education system (as a sign of how progressive the country is), Cost of living (by looking at the cost of basic goods as well as the exchange rates), weather and of course - Visas.

My list wasn't "professional", the information I gleaned from the various sources was probably not even close to being 100% accurate and much of my scoring was "best guess".

I skipped places like Vietnam (communist government) as well as everything in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. I didn't consider Ecuador, Panama or Nicaragua or any of the Caribbean countries either. (I think it was mostly  because of a lack of information about them at the time.)

In the end, Thailand came out as the best of the bunch. I never went back for another visit until a couple years later and circumstances changed to where I was no longer considering an early retirement. 
Then I started working in the Middle East and taking my vacations in Thailand. It was quicker to get here (more time having fun, less time sitting in airplanes/airports), it was warmer (going home in the middle of a Canadian winter ? Um no thanks.) it was cheaper (by far) and generally more fun.
It was more convenient to rent a place here than to stay in hotels and have to cart all my stuff back and forth every trip (which were 3-4 times a year).

 

When the job ended, I just stayed here. Pretty much for the same reasons already mentioned.
Warmer, cheaper, more fun. (And the only time I've ever been on soi 6 was once when a friend of mine drove down it to get to Beach Road.)

Every time I go back to Canada I'm reminded about the things I don't miss at all.

Like when it's 28 degrees (Celsius) in late June - and then drops to 7 degrees when it rains.

Like the cost of pretty much everything.
Like the red tape I have to go through to get a new passport (which is total BS especially when you are replacing one that is still current). 

I find myself wishing I could just say **** it, drop whatever I'm doing and get on a plane back to Thailand. That seems to start around about day 3 or 4 of the trip.

I get home (to Thailand). Do the Immigration thing. Go back to the house and...........

relax.

No pressure to do anything. Don't have to meet anyone's expectations. Don't care if one of my neighbours just bought a new car or TV or took their spouse to Hawaii for a week.

Nobody cares if I don't go to bed until 5 am or if I sleep in until 10am, or if I go to bed at 10pm and get up at 5am. If my neighbours are "nosy" I don't know it and don't care.

The only things I have to worry about, for the whole year, is a couple of 90 day reports (that I could do online) and my yearly extension. (And a couple other minor things like the inspection/road tax for the motorcycles, the company balance sheet, renewing my health insurance, etc). Most of those things I can do in conjunction with other activities or can do online from home so it's not really a hassle.

As I've said in other threads, yes - there are cheaper places than Thailand. Yes, there are places just as warm as Thailand. Yes, there are places that can be just as much fun. But when you add everything together, in my opinion, Thailand is the best option.

For me.

 

Results may (will) vary from person to person depending on each person't personal situation, preferences, standards and finances. Some people expect a "tropics lifestyle" but with all the perks they get "back home" (like free healthcare or lax enforcement of drug laws). 
Some people think they should be treated like "white gods" (while they try to scrape together enough baht coins to buy a cheap glass of draft once a week).

Some have champagne tastes and Lao Khao budgets. Some have Draft Chang tastes and even smaller budgets.
Some are smart enough to live within their means and accept that there are trade-offs to living in a foreign/tropical country and that they have to be willing to compromise. 

The ones who aren't - spend their days on Thaivisa bitching about everything under the sun.