I first decided that I wanted to move here when I met my wife in the early 2000's. 

 

In the 6 years that I have lived in Thailand, I have accepted that it's not perfect and very different politically to what I am used to, that said I do my best to keep my nose out of it as I am not a citizen here, and of course consider few places perfect, albeit my home country was pretty much a nanny state and a very very expensive place to live, meaning I would have to continue working there till I reached 67.5 years to obtain the old age pension vs retiring early at age 55 and living off of my own funds.

 

So it has worked out very well for us as it's much more an affordable place to live which has included building a big house for a 10th of what it would cost back home and that doesn't include the land you would need to built in on. 

 

So I have no regrets. 

Just fell in love with Chiang Mai , and knew this was the place

I wanted to spend the rest of my life , that was 35 years ago,

and have not regretted one moment. 

 

regards Worgeordie

Was sent by my employer. Been here nigh on 30 years. No regrets at all, well maybe not buying more property when beachside stuff was going for a song. 

 

Saying that I have decided that in my dotage Thailand is no longer the best option for me personally and am getting things lined up to leave. I was married but my wife was not Thai.

This was the early 80' coming from Oz to a lively country full of action, girls galore, cheap booz, good weather and easy life, soon enough found work later started business bought place to live and 40 years later here i'm...

i retired last year at age 50 and after enjoying the relaxing life here at home in Sydney I've decided to move to Thailand on the 1st of December.

 

why? because I like the place and have a couple of farang mates who live there with who (whom?) I'm looking forward to catching up with. 

 

I too have decided to accept the place warts and all. I used to fight all that stuff when I was younger but it just leads to stress and anger. life's too short for all of that nonsense.

 

to be honest I don't have that much of an issue with the nanny state I live in. but it just doesn't have the edge that Thailand has. I've also travelled a little bit in Mexico and Cuba, both nice places but there's something about Thailand that is bringing me back.

 

regrets? nah I consciously make an effort not to dwell on the past. I don't ignore or bury it but analyse what went wrong so as to do better in the future.

Lived here 12 years now.

 

Originally moved here to build a new life with my wife and to get away from the rat race back in my native UK.

 

Regrets? I've had a few, but then again too few to mention...

I could wax lyrical about why I choose to live in Thailand.  Suffice to say it has nothing to do with Ladyboys. 

When I met my wife and we married, I knew she would never adjust to life in the UK. I also knew her mother was a concern as all the other family members lived and worked in the metropolis.

So some 16 years ago I made the decision to build a future for us in Thailand, house, bit of land, few cattle, something to keep my wife occupied and me too when my working days were completed and we could be together permanently.

Feb this year covid delivered redundancy ????

Arrived in April and things have just gone ever so smoothly, already have my Thai driving licence, next week pick up my annual extension. Climate is very much to my liking, get to do some exercise every day, my wife takes great care of me, life is good. Can't see that changing mostly because I have come to understand how Thailand works, and one of the great things I find.....there is usually a Thai solution to a Thai created issue ????

17 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

i retired last year at age 50 and after enjoying the relaxing life here at home in Sydney I've decided to move to Thailand on the 1st of December.

Best of luck and hope it works out for you as much as it has for me.

 

I will say this, if you own property in Sydney or in Oz, make sure you talk to your accountant with the recent capital gains tax legislation changes on 1 July 2019 where your property will be up for 42% capital gains tax from the date you acquired it, on the other hand, if you don't own property, have a great flight.

After a few extended volunteer stints here in Thailand, I told my family in US that I wanted to move here. My family was very much against it but the big reason they relented was that in Thailand I could obtain individual health insurance (Thai BUPA) with good coverage at a reasonable cost which was then totally not available to me in US.

 

Sort of ironic giving a lot of the insurance health topics at the present.

10 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Best of luck and hope it works out for you as much as it has for me.

 

I will say this, if you own property in Sydney or in Oz, make sure you talk to your accountant with the recent capital gains tax legislation changes on 1 July 2019 where your property will be up for 42% capital gains tax from the date you acquired it, on the other hand, if you don't own property, have a great flight.

I don't own property but thanks for the advice. I'll still be up for cap gains on the value of my other assets as at the day I leave. "deemed disposal" or something. it'll hurt having to pay the exit tax but after that I'm tax-free.

 

thanks for the good wishes, I'll need them. I'm flying Thai Airways because of the schedule (14:50-20:15) so I'm hoping they don't go bankrupt again ????

Bored, didn't like the direction my home country (USA / 2000) was headed.

20+ yrs, and no regrets, and no thoughts of leaving or desire to.

 

Livin' the Dream ... of retirement.

9 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

After a few extended volunteer stints here in Thailand, I told my family in US that I wanted to move here. My family was very much against it but the big reason they relented was that in Thailand I could obtain individual health insurance (Thai BUPA) with good coverage at a reasonable cost which was then totally not available to me in US.

 

Sort of ironic giving a lot of the insurance health topics at the present.

I wouldn't want to be in any country outside of my home country without insurance.

 

I value my life and my families life too much and want them to have the best care, regardless if it costs me 20% of my annual budget, that said, self insuring is an option, but I prefer to be covered as opposed to having a chunk of my savings taken out of my long term plans in the event of the unexpected, hence paying for insurance.

 

Benefit vs Risk.

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I wouldn't want to be in any country outside of my home country without insurance.

 

I value my life and my families life too much and want them to have the best care, regardless if it costs me 20% of my annual budget, that said, self insuring is an option, but I prefer to be covered as opposed to having a chunk of my savings taken out of my long term plans in the event of the unexpected, hence paying for insurance.

 

Benefit vs Risk.

The old Bob Hope line is: A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don't need it.

 

Pretty much the same for health insurance.

Love the lifestyle, the people, the weather ( sometimes/most times).  I feel laid back and relaxed here, In a way that I never did in the UK or US. Love the fact that I can plan a garden BBQ 4 months in advance and know that it won't be ruined by the weather.  Love my pool, the road infrastructure  around me (which is brilliant), I love the millions of stunning available ladies. I love not worrying or angry about the politics, as I don't care a jot. I get up happy every day, just from being 6,000 miles away from the UK. Lived here for 8 years now and no regrets. 

I came here in 2009 for a couple of weeks to escape the stress of my divorce.

Was so amazed at the number of young and attractive women (in their early 30s) throwing themselves at me, I only went back to give away the little she had left me with.

 

It's been a great 12 years!

My only regret is that my Brit wife didn't divorce me five years earlier.

9 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

The old Bob Hope line is: A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don't need it.

 

Pretty much the same for health insurance.

Thank you for your comment, and of course I totally disagree with your comment.

 

Sad, but the driving force was....................... it was easier for me to live here than for my wife of 15 years to be allowed to live with me in the UK.......but I guess that is one of the main reasons the electorate voted in the Tories......to keep foreigners out.

I fell in love with the country on my first visit in 2014. When the opportunity arose two years later to come live and teach in Thailand, despite some slight hesitation, I decided to jump on it. I've never regretted my decision ever since.

was first here in 1974 as a backpacker and loved it... visited through the years, did some business here in the 1980s and retired early in the late 1990's... have no desire to leave... 

33 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Thank you for your comment, and of course I totally disagree with your comment.

 

 

33 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

43 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

The old Bob Hope line is: A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don't need it.

 

Pretty much the same for health insurance.

Thank you for your comment, and of course I totally disagree with your comment.

So what else is new? Best time to buy health insurance is when you don't need it.

My only regret is that I'm not still living there.

First visit in 2002. Moved here permanently in 2010.

Came for pv55y. Stayed for pv55y. Will die chasing pv55y.

I like Thai food, I like Thai people, I like the sunshine, I like Bangkok.

And I wanted to watch the collapse of American culture from afar.

31 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

 

So what else is new? Best time to buy health insurance is when you don't need it.

Some people get it, some don't, in other words, if you can afford to insure your savings, then you insure yourself, it's a benefit vs risk scenario.

 

I drive a car, the car is insured as I am insured.

 

My wife has a house, I insure the house for her.

 

It's not to difficult to understand, i.e. car gets ridden off, we get $600 plus baht, house burns down to a pulp, she gets 2 million baht, we end up in hospital from an unexpected event, insurer pays up to the policy value, i.e. 1.2 mil USD for me & 500k USD for her, different insurers, she is younger, I am older.

 

Some examples if you like:

 

If we didn't insure, and the car and it was ridden off, one would need $800k plus to buy same car today vs just 200k to top up the difference from our pockets to purchase the same car.

 

One would also need to pay 2 million plus to rebuild the house, so whatever the difference is in todays market to build the house, it's better than forking out 2 million baht out of our pockets once again.

 

One ends up in hospital under an emergency situation or requires elective surgery, how much will that cost, well how long is a piece of string, now to put it even simpler terms, I can afford to depart with 495 baht per day to insure myself and my family for hospitalisation as opposed to sitting on a bar stool drinking 5 Chang beers.

 

That said, when I drink at the local waterhole, I know that all the guys there who drink between 4 & 5 tall beers of Chang or Leo are uninsured, as are their families, albeit their families are on the Thai public hospital system so would access to that, that said, I have a choice and prefer myself and my family to be treated in a private hospital therefore pay for the privilege, and still enjoy my drinks when I socialise twice a week, not 7 days a week.

 

Just now, 4MyEgo said:

if you can afford to insure your savings

At the risk of sounding like an idiot (not an uncommon experience for me)......can you insure against.....say.....a stock market crash....or gold bombing etc?

Just now, Will B Good said:

At the risk of sounding like an idiot (not an uncommon experience for me)......can you insure against.....say.....a stock market crash....or gold bombing etc?

We know the answer to that, and that is why I only go in 50% of the way, had couple of companies fold and others sell when my shares were low, it's all about risk, and so far, so good as other stocks have made up the difference, so as long as I am making enough to meet my annual budget and not losing money, it's all good.

 

When you do find such an insurer, do let me know as I would be interested to see how high their policy would cost....LOL

2 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

When you do find such an insurer, do let me know

Damn....thought you were going say.....doh!.....just speak to these people.

 

So it is back to "eggs and baskets".

 

I did learn the hard way.......and boy did it hurt......lost £180k a few years ago going large on a share deal.....I still cry at night sometimes.

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Best of luck and hope it works out for you as much as it has for me.

 

I will say this, if you own property in Sydney or in Oz, make sure you talk to your accountant with the recent capital gains tax legislation changes on 1 July 2019 where your property will be up for 42% capital gains tax from the date you acquired it, on the other hand, if you don't own property, have a great flight.

JEEZ, that's some heavy tax. Could they get their arms any further up your backside?

It was early 2003.

Marriage went downhill, 80+ working hours per week, exploding cocaine costs to stand that and then a heart attack at the age of 42.

I thought it would be time for a change ????

1. I liked it best out of all the Asian countries I visited: modern, cosmopolitan, fun, free, wild, sexy, chilled, amazing, beautiful, convenient, exciting, adventurous, tasty, healthy, inexpensive, dirty, insightful, novel, versatile, special.

 

2. Since 2009.

 

3. Yeah, but I probably wouldn't have done it much differently.