Expat hopes dashed - Brit retirees have to tighten purse strings again after baht strengthens

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, JRG23 said:

Not been much at all in the way of 'up' in the past decade.

Since July 2020 Baht/Sterling has been going up, from 38 to 45 now.

[Srikcir]

20 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

There's only so much the UK economy can grow with influxes of foreign refugees that get clothed, fed and housed at the taxpayers' expense. Thousands more rocking up in dinghies daily and more to come from Afghanistan. 

 

All fine and well being philanthropic but simply not sustainable. 

On another (less imaginary) front is Brexit trade issues.

March 26, 2021

".... Bank of England interest-rate setter Michael Saunders recently stating that the long-term effects from the UK's departure from the European Union are likely to have a bigger effect on companies than the coronavirus pandemic." 

https://international banker.com

[edwinchester]

20 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

There's only so much the UK economy can grow with influxes of foreign refugees that get clothed, fed and housed at the taxpayers' expense. Thousands more rocking up in dinghies daily and more to come from Afghanistan. 

 

All fine and well being philanthropic but simply not sustainable. 

A mere drop in the ocean in compared to the immense damage done to the UK economy by the ongoing Brexit farce.

[DefaultName]

I based my retirement on ฿40 / £.  Anything over that is gravy.

[soalbundy]

21 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

There's only so much the UK economy can grow with influxes of foreign refugees that get clothed, fed and housed at the taxpayers' expense. Thousands more rocking up in dinghies daily and more to come from Afghanistan. 

 

All fine and well being philanthropic but simply not sustainable. 

It isn't only the UK taking refugees. The UK has a huge amount of debt and now they are attacking the triple lock on pensions (hit the weakest as usual), pretty desperate if you ask me, the UK already has the worst pensions of the major European countries.

[Harveyboy]

22 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

There's only so much the UK economy can grow with influxes of foreign refugees that get clothed, fed and housed at the taxpayers' expense. Thousands more rocking up in dinghies daily and more to come from Afghanistan. 

 

All fine and well being philanthropic but simply not sustainable. 

well said that man this is the best post I've read on here in a long time .. reality is UK is finished almost third world status  turn the lights out you are done .. 

[Harveyboy]

26 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

It isn't only the UK taking refugees. The UK has a huge amount of debt and now they are attacking the triple lock on pensions (hit the weakest as usual), pretty desperate if you ask me, the UK already has the worst pensions of the major European countries.

work us till we drop then pay us peanuts ..not even enough peanuts to live on. UK keep it its finished..keep your illegals ill keep doing my 90 report 

[Rimmer]

Spelling police and other off topic posts and replies removed

[Scouse123]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Since July 2020 Baht/Sterling has been going up, from 38 to 45 now.

Some live way too close to the edge!

 

Some Brits don't seem to understand that the state pension is the minimum the British government deems a person can live on in old age. It is up to us in our working lives to build up a private pension or have other sources of income for our retirement.

 

Many plan for this and others feel they can live very well in poorer countries on state pensions but then moan like hell when there is the fluctuations in the exchange rates.

 

State pension isn't there to support Birmingham Bill's bar girls, Sang Som or Singha beer habits.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Scouse123

[natway09]

Aware that this is about Baht but you need a basket of currencies to compare the real picture.

The UK expats will complain & bitch whatever happens.

When I started working here I was getting 14.85 Baht for an Oz $ so I still thing anything better than that is a winner 555

[Red Forever]

23 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

There's only so much the UK economy can grow with influxes of foreign refugees that get clothed, fed and housed at the taxpayers' expense. Thousands more rocking up in dinghies daily and more to come from Afghanistan. 

 

All fine and well being philanthropic but simply not sustainable. 

Yes it is "fine and well being philanthropic" because these Afghanis will become workers paying taxes and NIC although what this has to do with the performance of the £ against the baht I don't know.

You may as well say that the £31 billion that Bojo handed out to friends, family members of ministers and Conservative Party donors on the failed test, track and trace scheme was responsible for the £ riding low but I somehow feel that wouldn't fit your narrative.

[Gottfrid]

3 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

It will be better, no worries about that. It will take a while though. 

Yes, I know. Hope is said to be the last that leaves.

[Scott Tracy]

16 hours ago, The Cipher said:

One of the key things I have learned about Thailand from spending time on this forum, is that:
(i) the nebulous and sinister Hi-So have absolute control over anything that involves Thailand in any way at all; and
(ii) unlike the elites of every other country, the Hi-So always act with completely unified intent to advance their nefarious goals.

Ah, Mister Bond... You have discovered our plan....

[Andycoops]

Personally I don't give a hoot If  it's 40 or 45 to the GBP.

Forex rates are always open to manipulation.

[Nojohndoe]

I am not involved in the Brit to Thai Exchange  rate but I do receive regular reports on the major currency fluctuations.

In recent weeks the Thai Baht has strengthened after a decrease while the UK Pound has dropped.  Result is a combined negative for Brits in Thailand importing currency after a period of time when the opposite was more or less true.

While there is never too much information disclosed on what influences the Thai Baht there is often quite clear information about influences on the Pound which recently  has not been so optimistic.

The ongoing impact of the pandemic and the continued fallout of Brexit is having more impact than the rather more historic accusations of immigrant issues.

 

[bert bloggs]

9 hours ago, DefaultName said:

I based my retirement on ฿40 / £.  Anything over that is gravy.

Me to

[Chivas]

The amount of absolute nonsense written by 80% is mind boggling including the actual OP itself

How many times lol does it take for people to grasp that there are two currency pairings in every transaction bar the Dollar/Baht Benchmark

 

How are people actually allowed to apply for passports lol

 

 

[3NUMBAS]

a junta running a banana republic ,i smell a rat

[sammieuk1]

Got 46.4 bt 4 weeks ago changed enough utill the end of the year at least just never trust logic when dealing with this mystical currency ????

[Albert Zweistein]

15 hours ago, Scrotobike said:

My reply was about Bhat sorry. Not sure what a BAHT is - for cricket?

Seems to be a currency in SE Asia.

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

some retirees living a Dickens Macawber existence are they ? in constant financial anxiety…..

its pitiful really, when living costs here are so low, that currency exchange rates, which we cannot control,affect day to day budgets…

 

macawber said ” income & expenditure 20 shillings = happy; income 20 shillings, spend 20 shillings & sixpence = miserable”…..

 

perhaps cutting the booze / fags/ drugs would be of actual practical help or eating fresh veg & fish not burgers or imported tinned foods ………

[placeholder]

10 hours ago, Harveyboy said:

well said that man this is the best post I've read on here in a long time .. reality is UK is finished almost third world status  turn the lights out you are done .. 

Seems to be a contradiction in your post. You write it's the best post and then you refer to reality. The reality is that the pound has been doing very well for the past year at least and yet somehow its valuation reflects problems with immigrants?

[Scott]

Inflammatory posts reported and removed.  

 

[it is what it is]

12 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

Some live way too close to the edge!

 

Some Brits don't seem to understand that the state pension is the minimum the British government deems a person can live on in old age. It is up to us in our working lives to build up a private pension or have other sources of income for our retirement.

 

Many plan for this and others feel they can live very well in poorer countries on state pensions but then moan like hell when there is the fluctuations in the exchange rates.

 

State pension isn't there to support Birmingham Bill's bar girls, Sang Som or Singha beer habits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

correct, i dont know anyone who hasn't made additional financial arrangements for their post work life, it's a no brainer.

[Stygge]

I filled upp my car for years for a 500 baht note, never more, same for groceries, never pay more, so rising gas prices, the baht rate or inflation doesn´t affect me. Easy peasy to beat rising costs when you have studied macro economics.

[CharlieH]

Derogatory remarks removed.

[kiwikeith]

On 9/2/2021 at 7:14 PM, jonclark said:

Now who would have thought that - The Thai baht drops in value against all major currencies as Thailand starts a major 'wooing' campaign to get foreign tourist back.....and there was me thinking Thailand being on the US watchlist of currency manipulators was just the US Thai bashing again? 

 

 

I think the situation in Afghanistan may have caused a temporary glitch, happens a lot when ever something military happens, or

Elon Musk causes a bit coin drop 

[jacko45k]

9 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

Me to

Some of us older guys may have considered 50/baht to the pound, which back then was quite conservative, as well as 5% interest on savings. Oh dear....

[superal]

On 9/3/2021 at 1:35 AM, placeholder said:

Really?

The pound is higher against the Dollar than it was a year ago

It's higher against the Euro than it was a year ago

It's higher against the Yen than it was a year ago.

It's higher against the Baht than it was a year ago.

It's lower against the Renminbi than it was a year ago. But so are the dollar, the Euro, Yen and Baht.

 

So, how exactly is immigration into the UK responsible for the Pound's decline?

 

 

Actually like it or not the UK needs immigrants as since finalizing Brexit there is a dearth of skilled and manual workers . As of now as an example , up to 100,000 HGV drivers short and its having quite an effect on everyday life , especially deliveries of foods to supermarkets where panic buying / hoarding is happening .

As for the immigrants , they are processed by government officials who consider if they are true asylum seekers or economic immigrants . At the same time if the potential immigrant has certain skills that are needed by the UK , that is a benefit to the country he or she has a decent chance of immigration . One more need by the UK is to have a good level of working people to pay taxes , in order to maintain the social system and above all service the massive state pension pot . On a similar parallel , Thailand invites foreign labour often at cheap rates .

All of the above have an influence on the countries economy and F.D.I. ( foreign direct investment ) . Now Thailand is still attracting multi billion dollar F.D.I. from Japan , China , Hong Kong , Singapore etc especially in the electronics industry and so the Thai baht remains buoyant . Not forgetting that Thailand does not have to pay out large sums of pensions or social securities etc to its population  which helps .  

Up till now the covid pandemic has not affected the Baht because most countries are in the same boat but if The Thai government mess up anymore with the vaccine rollout ( especially if a new virus variant emerges )  then I can see a collapse of the baht . Not forgetting that a strong currency is no good for a countries exports , so a slightly weaker Baht will draw in further investment but where do all the in country profits go ?

[Orinoco]

7 minutes ago, superal said:

Actually like it or not the UK needs immigrants as since finalizing Brexit there is a dearth of skilled and manual workers . As of now as an example , up to 100,000 HGV drivers short and its having quite an effect on everyday life , especially deliveries of foods to supermarkets where panic buying / hoarding is happening .

As for the immigrants , they are processed by government officials who consider if they are true asylum seekers or economic immigrants . At the same time if the potential immigrant has certain skills that are needed by the UK , that is a benefit to the country he or she has a decent chance of immigration . One more need by the UK is to have a good level of working people to pay taxes , in order to maintain the social system and above all service the massive state pension pot . On a similar parallel , Thailand invites foreign labour often at cheap rates .

All of the above have an influence on the countries economy and F.D.I. ( foreign direct investment ) . Now Thailand is still attracting multi billion dollar F.D.I. from Japan , China , Hong Kong , Singapore etc especially in the electronics industry and so the Thai baht remains buoyant . Not forgetting that Thailand does not have to pay out large sums of pensions or social securities etc to its population  which helps .  

Up till now the covid pandemic has not affected the Baht because most countries are in the same boat but if The Thai government mess up anymore with the vaccine rollout ( especially if a new virus variant emerges )  then I can see a collapse of the baht . Not forgetting that a strong currency is no good for a countries exports , so a slightly weaker Baht will draw in further investment but where do all the in country profits go ?

Yes,  and France needs 100,000 more Rubber Dinghy sales staff