Are expats being tempted by Thailand?

[joecoolfrog]

4 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Brighton?

Eastbourne surely .

[Isaan sailor]

With Covid raging, vaccines in short supply, travel restrictions, political unrest, and now once again, a rising Baht—I don’t believe many will be enticed here.  In fact, they shouldn’t bother.

 

[Gold Star]

I come for the ease of getting quality vaccines. 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

6 hours ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

 

Sorry, are you talking about Thailand, or the UK, or France, or Germany, or the USA?

All of the above!! LOL!

[Aussieroaming]

A bit hard to find cloudless sky's in a country with a monsoon season.

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

With Covid raging, vaccines in short supply, travel restrictions, political unrest, and now once again, a rising Baht—I don’t believe many will be enticed here.  In fact, they shouldn’t bother.

 

Baht looks to be losing some value again.....

[Khun Yogi]

6 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Thailand's Visa Requirements are not difficult, especially for the "Rich" as they have a number of options available to them (Elite/Investment Visas being the 2 obvious ones), they're only difficult for people unable or unwilling  to invest & (rightly or wrongly) these are not the demographic that Thailand is trying to attract.  

 

 

You'd be hard put to find as easy or cheap visa requirements in the region, Philippines is probably the only one with it's SRRV (though this involve as jumping through as many if not more hoops), Malaysia has recently doubled it's financial requirements for MM2H, Cambodia has a dodgy business visa that could be clamped down on anytime & I don't think Vietnam has anything... 

 

On balance if you're able/willing to put the money into Thailand, it's relatively straight forward to live here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is not straight forward to live here. Get involved with any Govt Dept here and it is simply a nightmare.

[crazykopite]

My brother is a millionaire he wouldn’t step foot in Thailand if he comes to Asia normally HK or Singapore he would organise a flight ticket for me to visit him before Covid you could fly from Samui to both these destinations 

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

And these prospective expats are drawing the attention of several countries around the world that have been passing favourable tax rules and opening up opportunities for them to either move or retire there.

While Thailand places many obstacles and ridiculous financial hurdles..

[overherebc]

14 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO most farangs that like living in LOS didn't move there to live as if they were back home, and it's very cheap to do so without all the ( IMO ) BS that we have to live with in the west.

 

Things like accommodation, food, public transport, dentists, vehicle maintenance are EXTREMELY cheap in LOS compared to western countries.

What you say is true but there is the point that when they hit the 'over 70' bracket it becomes 99% certain that health insurance will not be available or within the financial reach of most.  How many times do you read on here about older guys being stuck here seriously ill and without the means to get back to UK.

The vast majority of UK expats, I reckon, live here hoping/thinking it won't happen to them.

[Kwaibill]

7 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

When you are rich you have the world at your feet.

Many places offer sun and beaches.

Often they have less difficult visa requirements than Thailand does.

If I were  not married to my ya yii I might consider Costa Rica or Portugal.

[0815]

All moaners feel free to stay away ...

[whiteman]

Barnsley a good place for a feed and booze and fat ladies

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, overherebc said:

What you say is true but there is the point that when they hit the 'over 70' bracket it becomes 99% certain that health insurance will not be available or within the financial reach of most.  How many times do you read on here about older guys being stuck here seriously ill and without the means to get back to UK.

The vast majority of UK expats, I reckon, live here hoping/thinking it won't happen to them.

That's true, but when I reached the age it was difficult to get medical insurance I left. I might get free hospital treatment here, but anything before that ( GP, physio etc ) costs a heap. The NHS is the ONLY reason I'd like to live in the UK.

[khunPer]

Apart from the Joker - the wealthy Chinese, who's preferences I don't know much about - I don't think the number of wealthy expats preferring Thailand will be huge; however, some might settle on mainly Phuket, and probably also on Samui, both places have a number of private high end villas, but Phuket has a preference with a marina, which includes some higher end boats and yachts.

 

More average retired expats might be a lot more worth aiming at. Those that are a kind of "economic refugees", seeking a little more value for limited retirement pensions and other savings, but still having more than those with only a small government pension. That's the kind of folks that can afford an 800k baht deposit, and also can afford to live in a fair home, and spend the average 65k baht or more each month. There are likely plenty of them, but Thailand might be too difficult to settle in, and is therefore lower on the preference list, if not avoided from the beginning.

 

Easing restrictions for "the good guys" and let them in, could make Thailand a lot more attractive. Easing the terms could be removal of the for many irritating 90-day reports, and less demanding paperwork when applying for annual extension of stay, perhaps more or less kept to only keeping the deposit intact. There could for example be a kind of approval period for a couple of years, or three - where the documentation is little more restrictive, but not as difficult as now - after which permission to stay as retired is made simple for "the good guys" that have performed during the previous years, a kind of "permanent retiree residency".

 

Also optional, or mandatory, acces to the public health system, could be of general interest, if the individual don't have a private health insurance. It's been mentioned before, and it would also benefit those expats staying under other kind of annual extensions. Terms and offers same as for the citizens of the nations. A few years back an annual cost for handling foreigners in public hospitals were mentioned as 7,000 baht to 10,000 baht per year (the around 3,000 baht amount was for migrant workers from neighboring countries). In today's IT-era it must be easy to keep data and generate reports, so a kind of public health insurance, based on actual treatment expenses plus an overhead for unforeseen, which might all together be between 1,000 baht and 1,500 baht a month - including for example a 10 percent overcharge to benefit the public health system - annually adjusted. It might also help those retirees of age, that cannot enter a new health insurance, and thereby refrain from moving to Thailand, even they have funds enough for deposit and annual spending.

 

We don't seem to have statistics over the number of retired expats, but a 2010-study form Mahidol University concluded that there were 2,581,141 foreigners living in Thailand, and when disregarding South East Asians, i.e. numerous migrants workers, about 720.000 were so-called "expats". The major groups were 141,000 Chinese, 85,000 Brits, 80,000 Japanese, 46,000 Indian, 40,000 Americans, 24,000 Germans, and 23,000 French. But they are likely far from all retirees. The financial magazine Bloomberg reported that in 2018 there were issued 80,000 retirement visas (? -or perhaps combined with extensions of stay based on retirement?), where Brits accounted for 16 percent, Americans for 12 percent, Germans for 9 percent, Chinese for 7 percent, and Swiss for 6 percent; perhaps that figures more reflect the mix of retirees measured on nationality.

 

If there are approx 80,000 people staying on retirement conditions, and if they in average each brings 65,000 baht per month for consumption, i.e. circa 800,000 baht per year, into the country, then we are talking about a 64 billion baht "turnover"; it's more than 30 times as much as so far generated from the combined Sandbox-programs; not including any one-time investments in condos, houses, cars, and other items. Many retirees invests in the level of average 1 million baht for a vehicle, and a number also easily invests 3 million baht, or much more, in property; easing property investments, i.e. ownership for retired foreigners, might increase the interest and boost these figures; it could be several hundred billions baht inflow in foreign currency.

 

Retiree residents bring their consumption in every year, i.e. for just 80.000 persons it's 64 billion baht or more per year, so it's worth keeping these people, and worth making sure that they are replaced when passing away, preferably that the number increases instead of decreasing. Retirees don't costs expensive campaigns, and other costly arrangements, when they once are happily settled in the nation - and continue to be happy - then they just keep on spending.

 

If you consider the target to be among the 10 percent richest people in the World - $93,000 or more in savings, according to Credit Suisse in 2018 - i.e. 10 percent of 7.8 billion, then it's approx 780 million people of which at least 1/3 are in retiring age - there might be more wealthy people in the retiring age than young folks that are in the beginning their career, typically people will be 35 years or older when having $93,000 in savings - so there is a target on at least 260 million retirees, probably many more, that fits into the financial level; it could easily be around 400 millions to 500 millions. How many of these at least 260 million retirees would love to spend the remaining years, with a little more quality of life in a "whole year summer and barefoot Xmas"-destination, if it's within financial reach, and with reasonable conditions?

 

It might be a lot more easy to double that amount of retirees in the 800,000 baht financial level, than to find a similar amount of money for spending on annual consumption among filthy rich retirees, who would prefer Thailand as residence in front of other attractive destinations.

 

How many filthy rich retirees are needed to equal 64+ billion baht in spending, i.e. how much do a rich person spend in average per month, when investments are not included, 10 times as much as a 65,000-baht mob-retiree, or...????

[Millcx]

8 hours ago, Orinoco said:

No

NO

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, khunPer said:

That's the kind of folks that can afford an 800k baht deposit, and also can afford to live in a fair home, and spend the average 65k baht or more each month. There are likely plenty of them, but Thailand might be too difficult to settle in, and is therefore lower on the preference list, if not avoided from the beginning.

??????????????

I lived on a lot less than 65k a month and lived very well. 800,000 was permanently in the bank and never touched. Insurance was the only real problem I had.

I certainly never had any problems "settling" in LOS, and preferred it.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Thailand would have to be very low on the list, unless one was single and looking for action, then they might even resort to something really desperate like the PI. 

You don't need to settle here to use the action-option, some months a year might do it, and other parts of the world also offers action to play around with, if you have the funds so why get bored staying only one place.

[khunPer]

5 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

??????????????

I lived on a lot less than 65k a month and lived very well. 800,000 was permanently in the bank and never touched. Insurance was the only real problem I had.

I certainly never had any problems "settling" in LOS, and preferred it.

Yes, and I say average - some spend little less, and others spends a lot more - but the comment is not aimed at those that is already here, or has already been here, but at getting potential future retirees to settle in the Kingdom...????

[RichardColeman]

If I could take my wife and kid to my riverside UK home town now along the Thames, then I would not be staying in Thailand - covid allowing. 

 

 

[EricTh]

6 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Are they still tempted by Thailand?....YES....though the mystery is why?

 

Look like ladyboys .....

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, khunPer said:

Yes, and I say average - some spend little less, and others spends a lot more - but the comment is not aimed at those that is already here, or has already been here, but at getting potential future retirees to settle in the Kingdom...????

Fair enough.

Rich people are IMO never going to retire in LOS for all the usual reasons. LOS should concentrate on people like me to fill all the empty hotel rooms.

Make local hospital care affordable, make retirement visa/extensions easy, and they'll have all they can handle IMO.

By all means require a million baht on permanent deposit, but stop making it so difficult to stay.

[DrPhibes]

6 hours ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

6 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Are they still tempted by Thailand?....YES....though the mystery is why?

Expand  

Dunno, because all the girls look like sisters...?

And your point is... (miss Robert Palmer RIP):

 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Look like ladyboys .....

 

You obviously don't know many ladyboys. IMO only one potential L B in that lot.

Edited September 10, 2021 by thaibeachlovers

[khunPer]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Fair enough.

Rich people are IMO never going to retire in LOS for all the usual reasons. LOS should concentrate on people like me to fill all the empty hotel rooms.

Make local hospital care affordable, make retirement visa/extensions easy, and they'll have all they can handle IMO.

By all means require a million baht on permanent deposit, but stop making it so difficult to stay.

Isn't that what I'm saying, but backed with some details...????

[khunPer]

6 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Look like ladyboys .....

Ladyboys with stretch marks on their bellies...????

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, khunPer said:

Isn't that what I'm saying, but backed with some details...????

I thought you were saying rich people would retire in LOS, but perhaps I read it wrong. I consider anyone that spends 65k a month to be on the rich side. I lived well on half that, including rent in a very nice hotel with everything needed except food.

[Tropposurfer]

8 hours ago, tonray said:

I thought they all flocked to Bath on their holiday week...????????????????

Yep, black socks, pasty white skin, and sandals all about too hahaha ????????????

[Tropposurfer]

I was a sometime fortnight millionaire tourist over a decade or so, then retired in LOS and I love it to bits.

[Teddy3943]

Only the ones who don't know the daily reality in LOS.

 

I lived there for almost 10 years. After some years several disadvantages anoyed me more and more: Not being treated equally and often being seen as a money provider. Not the same rights as other citizens. Greedy attitude by many professionals as medical, business and  others. Low educated and corrupt police officers. Unbelievable stupid behavior by van drivers and risky unpredictable chaotic traffic. Dangerous garbage everywhere and no one cares about it. And everything that needs to be well organised is a mess.

 

And this is only the shortlist...