when did you know you were ready to retire financially and leave farangland?

[georgegeorgia]

They say draw down 4% of your fund capital each year is safe .

 

As for those youtube videos on farang living on pennies in paradise there are now hundreds

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

Of the top of my head, a place that has...

1. Reasonably easy to stay (have no problem doing the 1 year visa extensions, if I did then I'd get the 20 year Thai Elite Visa)
2. Reasonably cheap to live (I have a great lifestyle on £2,500 / 100K THB pm)
3. No cold winters (though I do miss spring in the UK)
4. Decent waters/beaches (though I would  have moved to the Philippines if this was more important) 
5. Access to Western comforts & Asian cuisines
6. Decent infrastructure 

+ It doesn't hurt to have a GF that's 20 years younger????  

 

I very nearly moved to the Philippines (had a Filipino GF for 8 years & went 1/2s on a house in Davao) but at the end of the day Numbers 5 & 6 weren't up to the standard that I was looking for.

  

Only other options I could think of were Portugal (Not easy for a Brit to move there nowadays) or South America (I've only visited on day trips from cruises, & the planned a 3-6 month tour of a few of the SA countries got scuppered by Covid). 

 

TBH, if I could, I would have spent the 1st few years of my retirement touring the US but it's very difficult for a Brit to spend more than 6 months of the year there. 

 

 

 

So if you were retiring today, where would you retire to?

 

I take your point in most of what you say. Your last question, the Philippines, they have some fair immigration policies, and we would not have to worry about an unelected clown of a PM backed up by a bunch of tinpot soldiers.

[Mike Teavee]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

I take your point in most of what you say. Your last question, the Philippines, they have some fair immigration policies, and we would not have to worry about an unelected clown of a PM backed up by a bunch of tinpot soldiers.

As I mentioned, I almost chose to the Philippines but In the end things like the quality of groceries in the supermarkets made it a no-no for me (some decent Korean & Japanese restaurants though & I love Korean food). 

 

This was Davao City as I prefer the Southern (Visaya) Islands (& girls), maybe if I'd have tried Taguig (nearly moved to BGC for work) I would have chosen to live there but for my GF at the time it was stay in Singapore, move to the UK or move to Davao, Manila wasn't on the cards so I chose Bangkok ????  

 

No way could I live in Angeles City, just not my scene... 

 

 

[habuspasha]

9 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

you still travelling a hour each day to work?  Do you have to get the train each morning? 

not something i would like to do at 80 but i guess if you enjoy it

I've enjoyed it enough (at 3 days a week for 50+ years) by car--trains take forever--but the driving is now too much for me with cataracts and slower reflexes at 80.  And I want to see the GF more often while she's still young (and I still feel as young as she feels).

[CartagenaWarlock]

On 9/19/2021 at 1:45 AM, georgegeorgia said:

i have approx1  3- 14 million thai baht ($600,000 australian) 

If you have this, retire now and move to Thailand. Keep your house in Australia. Plain in simple. People think too much about retirement. If you cannot enjoy life when healthy, why work your entire life to enjoy only a few years when old? The rule of the thumb I found workable is if you can generate 2K USD income and 2-3 million baht in cash, you are ready. Having a house in your home country is a bonus.

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by CartagenaWarlock

[pomchop]

Retired at 52 some 21 years ago. Doing just fine thanks.

 

How many friends have I heard say oh I will only work x more years then drop dead or get sick and spend their last few years wishing they would have moved on instead of always trying to make a bit more. 

 

Obviously you do need some $$ to retire but I learned to be quite happy living on less.  I did not find it difficult to give up expensive western food in Thailand nor was I inclined to get fleeced by a cunning Thai gal.

 

Remember two important thoughts:

 

You can always make more money but you can never make more time.

 

If not now, when?

[EdrigoSalvadore]

Retired at 37 last year, yeah yeah yeah, thanks bitcoin.

[Orinoco]

14-7-2014.

Spat dummy out, in Singapore, told office to  !!!!!!!! off, i'm done.

i'm taking the early retirement package. bye .

never looked back.

 

14 million baht,  buy one more property property and rent it out in oz.

don't go all in with your dosh in Thailand, keep an escape plan ready.

if ever needed.

Renting out property is no big deal, just be prepared to throw some money at it all from time to time, and remain calm  !!!!!!!!!!!!, use a good letting agent. tax return, get someone to do it for you, whats hard about that, ( i do me own for uk )

good luck

[Mike Teavee]

9 hours ago, EdrigoSalvadore said:

Retired at 37 last year, yeah yeah yeah, thanks bitcoin.

So what are you going to do with your time now that you've retired? 

 

I tried to retire at 40 & was climbing the walls with boredom after a couple of weeks (though I did come out of a very stressful & demanding job working 12+ hour days 6+ days a week) & that taught me that I needed to plan for what I would do with myself as much as I planned for the financial side of things. 

 

 

 

 

[Orinoco]

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

So what are you going to do with your time now that you've retired? 

 

I tried to retire at 40 & was climbing the walls with boredom after a couple of weeks (though I did come out of a very stressful & demanding job working 12+ hour days 6+ days a week) & that taught me that I needed to plan for what I would do with myself as much as I planned for the financial side of things. 

You need a hobby or two. not just birds and booze.

I started to learn guitar again. got a nice mid range collection of them now.

Strat,  Gretsch,  Ibanez, Yamaha, Guild, electric and acoustic.   

( annoys the misses when i  drop 20-25k baht on one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! had to buy her an

I Phone 12 after last one !!!!!!!!!!!!!, she weren't going to let it rest .

Can play smoke on the water with two strings now !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Orinoco

[Orinoco]

On 9/21/2021 at 9:44 AM, possum1931 said:

That would be the case when I first came to live in Thailand about 15 years ago, but things have gone right downhill for both expats and tourists since the country was stolen by an unelected PM and his soldiers. It would be a big mistake for anyone to come to Thailand now to retire.

Very true.

But can retire, but don't burn the bridges doing it.

leave the door wide open, Thailand can not be trusted.

 

[Taboo2]

Feb 29, 2040

[Orinoco]

1 hour ago, Taboo2 said:

Feb 29, 2040

That's depressing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

[georgegeorgia]

2 hours ago, Taboo2 said:

Feb 29, 2040

i take it you will be 60 then?

[georgegeorgia]

4 hours ago, Orinoco said:

14-7-2014.

Spat dummy out, in Singapore, told office to  !!!!!!!! off, i'm done.

i'm taking the early retirement package. bye .

never looked back.

 

14 million baht,  buy one more property property and rent it out in oz.

don't go all in with your dosh in Thailand, keep an escape plan ready.

if ever needed.

Renting out property is no big deal, just be prepared to throw some money at it all from time to time, and remain calm  !!!!!!!!!!!!, use a good letting agent. tax return, get someone to do it for you, whats hard about that, ( i do me own for uk )

good luck

I wont get the government old age pension at 67 if i buy a investment property,you can only own your own residence.

 

[Mike Teavee]

16 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

i take it you will be 60 then?

If his Birthday is 29th Feb won't he only be 15 then ???? 

 

@Taboo2Damn that's a long time away but it will feel like it passed all too quickly when you get there so be sure to enjoy it as well as working towards bringing the date forward  

Edited September 22, 2021 by Mike Teavee

[Orinoco]

16 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

I wont get the government old age pension at 67 if i buy a investment property,you can only own your own residence.

 

Can you not sell before 67 ? 

and still get pension ?

 

Sorry just noticed your already over 60, 

maybe not worth the hassle.

 

Good luck what ever you do.

Edited September 22, 2021 by Orinoco

[EdrigoSalvadore]

13 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

So what are you going to do with your time now that you've retired? 

 

I tried to retire at 40 & was climbing the walls with boredom after a couple of weeks (though I did come out of a very stressful & demanding job working 12+ hour days 6+ days a week) & that taught me that I needed to plan for what I would do with myself as much as I planned for the financial side of things. 

 

 

I took up studying several subjects on a free online university, it´s called Saylor.org. I also took up some language studies, and trying to exercise a lot.

To be honest, I´ve been playing way too much videogames and jerking off the last 5 months. I hope I won´t get too bored or depressed.

[smutcakes]

On 9/22/2021 at 10:11 PM, EdrigoSalvadore said:

I took up studying several subjects on a free online university, it´s called Saylor.org. I also took up some language studies, and trying to exercise a lot.

To be honest, I´ve been playing way too much videogames and jerking off the last 5 months. I hope I won´t get too bored or depressed.

Other than the video games, exercise and language studies that sounds like quite decent retirement.

[BritManToo]

On 9/19/2021 at 1:45 PM, georgegeorgia said:

I want to talk about retirement and when you actually made that decision to retire out of farangland

I retired from full time work age 45 when I noticed everyone at work was younger than me.

Didn't decide to leave the UK until my wife divorced me when I was 52.

Came to Thailand on holiday to escape the divorce.

Met a lot of attractive and willing ladies.

Didn't go back.

 

[georgegeorgia]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I retired from full time work age 45 when I noticed everyone at work was younger than me.

Didn't decide to leave the UK until my wife divorced me when I was 52.

Came to Thailand on holiday to escape the divorce.

Met a lot of attractive and willing ladies.

Didn't go back.

 

long time,how did you support yourself in that time?

i think now you get the aged pension from the UK you once said?