Thailand's surging baht shatters expat dreams of easy retirement

[Thaifriends]

1 minute ago, sanemax said:

About your previous post .

You didnt back it up .

You must have just been making things up , and it wasnt true .

Yes, the Pound is weak at the moment 

I am not here to argue but to make my point and read others point of view as well. Lets see how blondie handles 2020 fiscal year, if he remains PM. We can forecast more weaker Pound, sorry to say that but it appears to be.

 

Relax and have a good weekend !!!

 

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[daftdada]

10 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

Really? The THB is strong and hurting expats lifestyle?

 

Let me get my reading glasses... must have missed something.

 

It's a fact that a strong THB will indeed put a damper on the lifestyles of many expats.

 

Why some find your comment "funny" is beyond many.

 

 

[4MyEgo]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

The former aircraft technician easily bought a townhouse, pickup truck and motorcycle when he arrived at the age of 55 two decades ago.

I would be thinking if he bought a townhouse 20 years ago, it would have easily gone up in value (assuming), i.e. not knowing the property market here, that said, cashing in on his townhouse would mean he could easily afford to rent something nice until he pops his clogs, so to speak, while meeting his retirement criteria.

 

Just saying, he is far better off than most expats I have spoken too, who rent, not having the privilege to of been able to afford to buy, naturally I didn't ask why not, each to their own, and everyone's circumstances are different.

[mauGR1]

12 minutes ago, daftdada said:

10 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

Really? The THB is strong and hurting expats lifestyle?

 

Let me get my reading glasses... must have missed something.

 

It's a fact that a strong THB will indeed put a damper on the lifestyles of many expats.

 

Why some find your comment "funny" is beyond many.

 

Because we are talking about that since years

..Although the situation is seemingly getting worse month after month.

[PEE TEE]

4 hours ago, bangkokequity said:

800 What?  Euro, USD, Sterling?  Wow ... it really IS "all about you" isn't it?  555

800 gbp not sure what you mean its all about you ?? just saying that is my monthly income into my Uk B. S been here 17 years dont pay rent have lease electric 1000 a month water 300 so i can do ok 

[PEE TEE]

1 minute ago, PEE TEE said:

800 gbp not sure what you mean its all about you ?? just saying that is my monthly income into my Uk B. S been here 17 years dont pay rent have lease electric 1000 a month water 300 so i can do ok 

That's THB if you didn't understand 

[dontoearth]

8 hours ago, Huayrat said:

Who plans a loss of 30% of their pension? 

    Inflation takes away almost half your pension value in just 10 years.  So even people staying in their home countries feel that pinch hard.

[PEE TEE]

11 minutes ago, PEE TEE said:

800 gbp not sure what you mean its all about you ?? just saying that is my monthly income into my Uk B. S been here 17 years dont pay rent have lease electric 1000 a month water 300 so i can do ok 

I think you got your wires crossed .my comment was an answer to another post saying the average pension is between 1500 and 2000 gbp a month saying it was not very much 

[inThailand]

TV the hub of whiners, most who don't even live here

[bowerboy]

7 hours ago, ericdiam said:

Gets worse day by day and government dont care a <deleted>. Keep interest rates really high. Many Asian countries, EU, Australia and USA brought them down already few times this year. Here it stands on one of the highest in Asia. Tourism is really low, forecast for high season look bad, for expats who live here it becomes really expensive country, many move out. Export also suffers a lot.

Interest should be brought down by easily 1 full %

 

One of the highest interest rates in Asia but take a look at the term deposit rates or savings account rates available at the bank (and this is on 1 million baht) and they are in the order of .25%. Compare that to Australia with term deposit rates around 1.75%.

 

The rich completely monopolize wealth here.

 

 

[Kadilo]

11 hours ago, madmitch said:

That was like half an article. I was expecting to read on and suddenly it just stopped!

Yeah it was a quick “taxi for Maxey!”

[Kadilo]

10 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Just have to go with the flow. Adapt and adjust.

 

Spend more time on TVForum and less on the bar stool.

Limit the pussy to just one (or two) different ones a week.

Embrace Thai food; and have more stews.

Home teach the children.

Frequent the clothes markets; shorts just 50 Baht.

Walk to the corner shop; leave the m/c at home.

Turn off the air-con; get a fan or two.

Stop feeding the soi dogs.

Cut your own hair.

Pull your own teeth.

Stay away from medical premises.

Embrace cold water showering.

Tell the wife or g/f only one new pair of shoes a month.

Limit the wife or g/f to one new handbag a month.

Tell the wife or g/f; 100 Baht lottery limit.

 

Big savings to be had for the thrifty.

 

 

Obviously In reverse order of importance. 

[Kalasin Jo]

11 hours ago, aqua4 said:

This story raises a few questions:

 

So there is only 80,000 retired expats in Thailand and before all of this there was only 56,000? Do those numbers look right? If those numbers are correct then there would be even less people on a marriage visa. So if all of these are correct then why is immigration always so full?

 

Aren't you confusing the issue of visas with extensions of stay?. The retirement visa is for one year. At the end of that year an extension of stay is needed, not a fresh visa  or you leave the Kingdom and do have to get a fresh visa.

[moto77]

54 minutes ago, inThailand said:

TV the hub of whiners, most who don't even live here

Only because a lot of us left when we noticed the ship was sinking mate. 

[observer90210]

Time for some to consider cheaper and foreigner friendly countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and many more in the area

[sniggie]

5 hours ago, Ketyo said:

Perhaps the UK can become a retirement destination for people who earn money in hard currencies.... I heard that bedsits in places called Cleethorpes and Grimsby are very cheap from September to May....

I was in Lincolnshire recently. Didn't see any Gogo bars - or any slim young ladies for that matter. I think I'll hang on in Thailand for a bit longer. It's the only thing that keeps me young these days.

 

[JamJar]

Just now, Huckenfell said:

It may come as a surprise, but they are not encountering Brexit in Australia right now, and the Bht is causing Aussie ex pats trouble as well, so we are experiencing awful exchange rates also.   duhhhh! Brexit my <deleted> !

 

Calm down. The point is...that if the Thai baht is affecting you, it is much worse for the Brits....Because of the Brexit debacle.

[moto77]

11 minutes ago, Huckenfell said:

It may come as a surprise, but they are not encountering Brexit in Australia right now, and the Bht is causing Aussie ex pats trouble as well, so we are experiencing awful exchange rates also.   duhhhh! Brexit my <deleted> !

It may come as a double surprise, but the AUD is down on it's own as this chart against the USD shows. 
It is Brexit in the UK partly because of the MASSIVE quantitative easing that was done in 2016. (And partly because of ongoing Brexit issues that never seem to end--and won't end after Brexit either.)

It's a different issue in AU, but that doesn't mean it is not Brexit in the UK. 

https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=USD&view=1Y

[JamJar]

12 minutes ago, Huckenfell said:

It may come as a surprise, but they are not encountering Brexit in Australia right now, and the Bht is causing Aussie ex pats trouble as well, so we are experiencing awful exchange rates also.   duhhhh! Brexit my <deleted> !

 

 

 

Aussie Dollar down 22% since the beginning of 2016.

GBP down 30%.

[Huckenfell]

8 hours ago, Presnock said:

The strong baht we keep hearing about is due to foreigners buying bonds or whatever.  Yet daily I read that the govt is giving xbillions of baht to the rice growers because they can't sell their rice because of the strong baht, then the durian sellers get x billion of baht to prop up the durian price, then the rubber growers and processors complain that the strong baht won't allow them to sell overseas so they get x-number of baht, then the tapioca sellers get x-number of baht because the baht is too high for them to sell overseas,one crop after another that the govt is subsidizing due to a high baht and exporters say the exports are dropping monthly due to the high baht.  Something to me doesn't add up.  If the govt has to take care of all the exporters, how can they afford submarines, tanks, attack helicopters, airplanes, etc?

 

Don't you realise that Thailand has got a military government or at least a military induced government due to the fact that the political training of the present rulers is purely military.

[griffon2011]

9 hours ago, quandow said:

I did. Honestly. I actually planned on having at least 50% OVER what I wanted/needed cuz in my 60 plus years on this planet I have NEVER seen prices going down.

I did also.  I planned for a 2-3% decrease in the purchasing power each year of my pension by buying gold bullion starting in 2001 at $280US an ounce.  Its about 1500US today.  A few years ago when the dollar was stronger and the gold price much lower I withdrew a substantial amount of money from my investments and bought gold here in Thailand. It is easy to buy and sell here with no BS paperwork. I also view my gold as an insurance against a banking crisis. No chance of losing my savings through a bank bail-in or other fraudulent financial institution activity.  I compute my net worth each month or two to keep an eye on things and I have saved enough to live on for almost 6 years even if I lose all my pensions.  My pensions are in US dollars but with the Thai baht I bought when the dollar was strong and the gold my net worth stays fairly stable.        

[Muzarella]

I know very nice places in Thailand where you may have a good life spending just $500 a month total.... but all depends of you life style... Paying for sex and alcohol every week... it will not happen. To avoid those expensive immigration rules it is always the Thai ways....

[starky]

13 hours ago, BestB said:

I remember aud hitting 21 about 10-12 years ago and it was painful but then it shot up to 33.

 

now aud hit 19.80 and it’s super painful, but I wonder what’s around the corner 

 

how much longer can baht sustain its strength and rising prices 

When it hit 33 Australia was in the midst of its biggest resources boom in history. It was a one off which you will never see again. We were getting above parity with the US dollar! People harp on about it like it's meant to be like that. You will never see anywhere near 30 to the Aussie dollar again I had years of 17-19 baht and was amazed when it hit 27. Yeah the baht is strong at the moment but I believe the AUS dollar at best would be worth around 25-26 to the baht maybe less.

[happy chappie]

5 hours ago, emptypockets said:

If it sells.........

And if it doesn't sell I'm ok with that as the 4 units are all rented out on the property so I'll stick with the income which I can happily live on thanks.

[starky]

7 hours ago, MadMuhammad said:

Absolutely agree. When I first visited I was getting 33thb to the AUD. Looking at the charts before moving here it was obvious fair value for the Aussie was low low 20’s. 

At best I planned my budget on 22.5, at worst 18. Even if it drops below 18 I can still make it work. 

 

Hope for the best, plan for the worst 

Spot on. Exactly what I budget at and it seems one of the few Aussies that realises what fair value for the baht should actually be. 

[stigar]

JUst male elite card for my brother.He have cancer. ..family is family ...cost me 1 milion bath,..........its ok...family is famijy.

[smudger1951]

Well, I'm one who went home and with the visa online visa application process I'll be lucky to make it back for 30 days. The future is not in Thailand. Only the export industry revenue to the government and employment levels will influence government policy.

[gk10002000]

15 hours ago, MadMuhammad said:

Can anyone give me a link to a currency chart GBP to THB that goes back further than the Asian Financial Crisis when the value of the pound blew out against the Thai Baht? 

Just curious as to what it was tracking at historically 

I found an embedded graph on wikipedia that showed the USD to Thai Baht going back to 1971.  That may help.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_baht

[Chelseafan]

16 hours ago, quandow said:

Surged? A bit of an exaggeration, and if you planned your finances that close to the wire then som nom na.

That's harsh. I doubt there would be many who would retire when the Baht was 60 with a view it hitting 36-37.

 

[reargunnerph3]

Currency exchange rates go up and down like a brides nickers so budget accordingly. It's easy enough if your not heading into town every night for food, booze and ladies. Helps if you own your own place.