Will this be the last generation ?

[Tulak]

18 hours ago, AlexRich said:

I think that it’s very possible that they will be. Notwithstanding the immigration rules you also have to factor in the increased cost of living and they terrible air pollution, I believe that era has passed. There will always be some westerners, but nowhere near the numbers of the past.

It was my plan to retire in Thailand. I even bought condo in Hua Hin.

That was more than 20 years ago. Then I changed my mind. 

I like Thailand, but one month holiday twice a year is better than ongoing commitments and dealing with Thai Immigration.

Come and go as I please. No worries in the world. I like a simple life.

[Peterbilt]

18 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

If they have a decent pension or saved money, yes

Well, I will have both, but I never even thought about retiring in Thailand.
Retiring date will be Jan 31st in 2025, so just 5 years left.
But thanks to the developments in my home country I'm already looking for a place to go in 2025.
But Thailand (and the rest of Asia) is not on the list.

[Mac98]

More countries may cut off or reduce retirement benefits for those living abroad. They want that money spent at home. Screw them. I'll be long gone and have had my fun. 

[DJ54]

Thailand needs to take care of the environment which draws a large number of people....make it a clean safe place if so I think

of retiring here.... 

 

 

 

 

[Kadilo]

41 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

I have to admit that your second paragraph holds true, even allowing for the immigration issues.

I try and stay positive. As I don’t reside here at present I probably don’t have to do as many trips to immigration as some but I still have to check in every trip, yearly trip for extension etc which is a bind. 
 

However I just plan a couple of days in the province and do other things while I’m there and treat it like a trip out. 
 

 

[NanLaew]

21 minutes ago, Tulak said:

It was my plan to retire in Thailand. I even bought condo in Hua Hin.

That was more than 20 years ago. Then I changed my mind. 

I like Thailand, but one month holiday twice a year is better than ongoing commitments and dealing with Thai Immigration.

Come and go as I please. No worries in the world. I like a simple life.

If you are still here on TV next December, based solely on this single post, I will nominate you for Poster Of The Year.

[SteveK]

Thailand is no longer really a decent retirement destination. I propose the following reasons for this:

 

1. Your western currency doesn't go far here at all anymore, and it's likely going to get worse, thanks to the super rich elite in the government protecting their own interests.

2. Immigration are becoming more and more militant in an obvious quest to keep westerners out, as China is also doing. Who knows what the next idea will be? It won't be good.

3. You can't own your own house or land here.

4. Setting up a bank account is becoming more and more impossible as each month goes by.

5. 90 day reports and TM30s for whenever you stay somewhere else, even for a night because you have a long drive.

6. Insurance requirements for retirees, which if you have any long-standing medical issues you will be refused for, or have to pay thousands of dollars for, and wait to see what happens when you try and make a claim on said "policy".

7. Stupendous paperwork requirements for your yearly extension of stay. Even if you have everything in triplicate, they will want more, and then get ready to sign over 200 pieces of paper, or even be asked for extra money for your home visit.

8. Still get charged up to 10x local prices for attractions despite having a pink Thai ID card, a Thai drivers license and a Thai wife.

9. Some countries like the UK freeze your pension if you live abroad.

10. If you want to do some menial work like help your wife's business in a minor way, you will be observed and possibly deported and blacklisted, and then separated from your family and your possessions.

11. If you fancy some western food, it will cost you 10x or even more what a Thai dish costs, and it will be rubbish! Mayonnaise on pizza anyone?

12. No matter how long you live here, and how much money you spend here, you will always be called "farang" or even "kwaai" if you are overweight.

13. Customer service for foreigners in Thailand is absolutely shocking. Whatever you ask for or want, you always get the good old "mai dai" or "mai mee".

14. Police checkpoints are proliferating and seem to be focussing on stopping farangs. It's just more grief.

15. Now banks are asking foreigners for their passports when depositing cash into a bank account. Same with BTS card. Total paranoia.

16. And Tesco refusing to let foreigners pay their utility bills!

17. Constant grief at land crossings when taking your wife on holiday.

18. Almost impossible to get good quality ingredients like cheese, bread, ham and meat without spending an absolute fortune. Even then it will be rubbish.

19. Tourist destinations packed out with groups of young Indian men or a Chinese tour group following a flag and not spending even a single baht.

20. Always struggling against a feeling that you are definitely not wanted here, but your money is very much appreciated.

Edited January 24, 2020 by SteveK

[sirineou]

3 hours ago, SteveK said:

Seems like with all the major and understandable gripes that ex-pats have in Thailand, air-quality is going to be the final nail in the coffin for many. Last few weeks I have been waking up coughing in the morning, and recently always get streaming eyes when driving my bike, just another thing which makes living here not as pleasant as it once was.

Everything else I can deal with and causes me little distress, But the air quality thing is a deal breaker. 

Can't get away from breathing. I have grown accustomed to it.

Personally I think they will get a handle on it, already steps are being taken to curb Sugar Cane burning (the biggest contributor) by making it more expensive . Insufficient yet for sure , but I am sure eventually the problem will be rectified. I mean consider the alternative.

It is called Green Harvesting (google it) , Brazil and Australia has done it. 

But if it is not stopped , I am certainly not retiring here, Who wants to get up and leave for three months?

and what would the people who can't leave do? 

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Sadly, you are right. When they first took over, there was some sense of relief the squabbling red and yellow shirts were under control. However, their focus on enriching themselves and importing armaments which are really only useful for control of the civilian population has become increasingly evident.

Armed forces with 1000 generals. Really? The phrase too many chiefs and not enough Indians springs to mind.

I believe it is closer to 2,000 generals. Basically, all you need to do is stay in the forces long enough, and you become a general. On the other hand, in a real armed force, like the US, there are just over 200 generals, and just over 20 four stars.

[Suradit69]

2 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

found that 45% of workers report that the total value of their household’s savings and investments is less than $25,000.

 

2 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

The $48,885 per year is not a per person average, but rather a per household average.

 

 

It seems that the quoted material makes it clear they're talking about households. I assume they are comparing apples to apples in their assessment.

 

But the exact amounts weren't really I was drawing attention to. The point is that people currently are woefully unprepared for retirement now and that is unlikely to improve with future generations, but there will probably be a sizable number of retirees who will be sufficiently well prepared to retire in Thailand or elsewhere.

 

 

I expect middle class retirement in future will be more restrictive than is currently is in terms of the need to work longer (if possible) and thus retire at a later age and with less "cushy" retirement packages than is common now. My pension, for example, includes medical insurance for life but that is no longer on offer by my former employer to current employees. And starting retirement at 62 as I was able to do is a different matter from starting at 68 or 70 if you're thinking of moving  halfway round the world at that age,

 

Nonetheless, even now when a number of retirees may still  be able to afford retirement in Thailand, they are somewhat exceptional among their age peers. 

 

So it seems to me the initial thesis that we are the last generation to stay in Thailand in retirement appears unlikely. Those here now are members of a generation that is collectively not all that well prepared financially for retirement and, on the other hand,  future generations will still have a decent number of people who could easily afford to live here. 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by Suradit69

[Bigz]

No

[wwest5829]

20 hours ago, rwdrwdrwd said:

I fit the demographic, however came here in my 20s.

 

The place ain't what it used to be. The negatives were palatable when it was really cheap, but on balance whilst it would probably be fine on half the sum I wouldn't want to be spending a couple of grand a month whilst putting up with garbage, soi dogs, increasingly onerous immigration rules, bad air quality, stupidly dangerous roads, volatile politics, etc etc when I could just move to plenty of other places where I can live for the same, with similar positives (climate) and many less negatives.

If I weren't married with kids here there's no chance I'd be here now - indeed we may well all move away in the next few years, the primary blocker being unsettling the kids at school and my wife's familiarity with Thailand. Placing myself in the shoes of a pending retiree with enough income to live nicely here these days, there are plenty of places I'd prefer to be on a similar budget - most of southern Europe for one.

The hook is in with me too. It would be emotionally traumatic ... but, hey, if Thailand wants to make conditions untenable after retiring here in 2011, we’ll that is there right to decide. My right to decide is to spend my retirement funding elsewhere. I am looking at other countries in case it is financially no longer viable to remain. Afterall, I am not a prisoner (only to my own heart).

[InevitableCost]

No way retired people will always die off and Thai's have an unhealthy obsession with money.

Edited January 24, 2020 by InevitableCost

[mike787]

I have had many expats friends already pack up and leave, the rest are wrapping things up either they die here on their last leg, or leave soon, but almost every single one is moving on.  Sadly, Thailand has changed, but we all admit we wish it didn't we would like to stay here...not worth the hassle or fight anymore.

[impulse]

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

In my 3 decades + working here I've met plenty of foreigners who came her as a tourist, believed they had discovered utopia and quickly sold everything and moved here with a bank balance which was nowhere near sufficient.

 

When there's sex on the table, the difference between "retire" and "quit working" does become blurred.

 

[TimBKK]

5 hours ago, Peterbilt said:

Well, I will have both, but I never even thought about retiring in Thailand.
Retiring date will be Jan 31st in 2025, so just 5 years left.
But thanks to the developments in my home country I'm already looking for a place to go in 2025.
But Thailand (and the rest of Asia) is not on the list.

What places are on your list, if you don't mind saying?

[Golden Triangle]

In the UK the retirement age is creeping up and up, so unless the 30/40 year olds today have sufficient funds in a private pension scheme then they won't be retiring until way past their 70s.

 

Not sure what the situation in greater Europe is like.

 

Unfortunately Thailand has changed a great deal since my 1st visit and not in a good way, I enjoy the year round warm weather, that's a given, but the ease of doing extensions and a host of other difficulties highlighted by others goes to show that this once welcoming country has lost its charm.

 

As long as I can remain I will, hopefully I will pop my clogs before they force me out, but I think that could happen, examples of xenophobia crop up daily.

 

I enjoy every day, and never worry overly about tomorrow or next week, it's not worth the aggro.

[Salerno]

Thought this was going to be another coronavirus thread 

[shy coconut]

13 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Thailand is only on the 'top places to retire' list as the journalists that compule the lists are too lazy to do any research themselves, and just crib off each others blogs and stories that are years out of date.

 

As for the cannabis cash cow,

Thailand is last in the race yet again, as they are only talking about legalisation, while Cambodia and Vietnam have bypassed legalisation, and just have it openly on sale almost everywhere you go for $10/bag (ask any street hawker selling cigarettes or tat).

Are you saying that it is legal to smoke cannabis openly in those countries?

[shy coconut]

3 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

In the UK the retirement age is creeping up and up, so unless the 30/40 year olds today have sufficient funds in a private pension scheme then they won't be retiring until way past their 70s.

 

Not sure what the situation in greater Europe is like.

 

Unfortunately Thailand has changed a great deal since my 1st visit and not in a good way, I enjoy the year round warm weather, that's a given, but the ease of doing extensions and a host of other difficulties highlighted by others goes to show that this once welcoming country has lost its charm.

 

As long as I can remain I will, hopefully I will pop my clogs before they force me out, but I think that could happen, examples of xenophobia crop up daily.

 

I enjoy every day, and never worry overly about tomorrow or next week, it's not worth the aggro.

You are experiencing xenophobia daily, yet enjoy everyday...... How bizarre!!

[brokenbone]

there is no economic incentive, so i think majority will choose other countries,

like vietnam/spain/and by that time, philippine will have functional electric too

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, impulse said:

 

When there's sex on the table, the difference between "retire" and "quit working" does become blurred.

 

Good point of course, and plenty of examples, including the yank who rented the luxury house next to my buddies house and installed his new Thai wife (who he did full marriage with after 3 weeks of meeting her on a dating site) then started to bring home bargirls and expected his real wife to sleep in another room, even did this then went to work next morning and gave his wife money to give to the bar girl when she woke up and ready to leave, then quickly he was bankrupt. 

[brokenbone]

5 hours ago, TimBKK said:

What places are on your list, if you don't mind saying?

as a eu member, if it was me now that i know better,

i would have chosen a warm plot that belongs to eu,

like caribbean or spain

[Chazar]

Maybe getting to the  point when all govts  will  have to  limit  freedom of travel as be honest jet travel is a major  polluter, I can see the days when private  car ownership is a thing of the past.

[brokenbone]

1 hour ago, Chazar said:

Maybe getting to the  point when all govts  will  have to  limit  freedom of travel as be honest jet travel is a major  polluter, I can see the days when private  car ownership is a thing of the past.

a return to serfdom sounds lovely

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-abolition-of-serfdom-tsar-alexander-ii-orders-emancipation-of-serfs-105276468.html

[NoshowJones]

15 hours ago, Hotrudester said:

Never Ever will that happen. People will continue to come and reside here!!!! 

Yes they will, but it will be in far lesser numbers, but think again about what Thai immigration will be doing to us in say about twenty years from now.

[Hanuman2547]

_{Maybe not the last generation but a decline in the numbers that do retire to Thailand.  Declining baht, Visa rules, financial requirements, health insurance, poor air quality, and the list goes on.  I know that I am seriously curtailing my time in Thailand.}  

[natway09]

We will not be missed anyway if less of us are here in particular the ones who have to "borrow" 800,000 Bht just to stay here

[NanLaew]

20 hours ago, impulse said:

 

When there's sex on the table, the difference between "retire" and "quit working" does become blurred.

 

Does it necessarily need to be on the table?

[WalkingOrders]

A rather silly thing to say. Which I guess assumes one bazillion bad things happen at once, or maybe only one. A giant metor hits earth. Its possible. I actually commented on this. My life is over.