No savings, huge debts: More and more Thai seniors struggling to survive

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

If they diverted even half of the funds siphoned off by the army, with so little in return, all seniors would be quite comfortable. 

Also true for the UK and USA. 

[itsari]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

If they diverted even half of the funds siphoned off by the army, with so little in return, all seniors would be quite comfortable. 

 

This is simply demonstrative of the backwards slide of the nation. The non affluent seniors are hit the worst. 

If only , but that's just a dream.

[Photoguy21]

On 4/14/2023 at 11:43 AM, Gaccha said:

Thailand, in line with many countries around the world, is getting older.

 

State Pensions found in European countries are staggeringly expensive; in the UK, welfare benefits are a rounding error compared with the cost of State pensions. And the problem just increases as the elderly portion of the population increases.

 

The only possibilities for even wealthy Western countries are to either cut pensions, place the burden on their children or raise the age of entitlement. 

 

It is implausible that Thailand can do anything except a very modest increase in the pension. 

Or stop funding the illegals coming into the UK and Europe. That would be a big saving.

[Gaccha]

21 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

Or stop funding the illegals

Expenditure on refugees inside the UK was in 2021, £898 m. That money was obtained by simply reallocating development aid funds that were intended for outside the UK.

 

The pension by contrast was 104.5 billion in 2021. 

 

Not only have the refugees not cost a single penny more than was allocated in the general fund for development aid abroad, they are little more than a rounding error compared with the high cost of pensioners.

 

In fact the burden of pensioners is far greater, since prioritising their health crippled the country during Covid, and their voting inclinations for Brexit decimated the economy by a far greater sum than a mere billion..

[Cake Monster]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Not true, upper limit on end of mortgage loans is age 65.

Is that a legal requirement, as it contradicts much of the lending I have seen recently

[Gaccha]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

If they diverted even half of the funds siphoned off by the army

The military budget 2022 was 6,300 million dollars. 

 

The number of pensioners in Thailand is 12.11 million.

 

If half of military budget was given to the pensioners that would mean 21 dollars per pensioner per month. Around 711 baht extra. 

 

I guess better than nothing.

[Thingamabob]

On 4/14/2023 at 7:29 PM, zzaa09 said:

Not so. Not even close.

Another make believe ideal presented as factual and real.

Whether it is the least equitable country in the world or not, Thailand certainly has a long way to go to reduce the wealth gap.

 

[itsari]

On 4/15/2023 at 7:39 AM, BritManToo said:

Work pensions all gone now ..........

Let's face it, we lived in a western golden age of pensions and savings that never happened before, and will probably never happen again. How the Thais elderly live will be the future, at least they don't have heating bills to pay!

Very true the Thai pensionists living on 600 baht a month do not have heating bills to pay .Your UK pension is just a dream income to them . 

Westerners living in Thailand live of the backs of the 600 baht a month pensionists . 

It is not your making but have some respect at least .

[billd766]

25 minutes ago, itsari said:

Very true the Thai pensionists living on 600 baht a month do not have heating bills to pay .Your UK pension is just a dream income to them . 

Westerners living in Thailand live of the backs of the 600 baht a month pensionists . 

It is not your making but have some respect at least .

How have you managed to work that out?

 

ALL of my pensions come from the UK where I earned them and it is where I pay income tax.

 

AFAIK NO UK pensioners get paid even 1 baht from the Thai government.

 

So, how are we living on the backs of the Thai pensioners?

 

In fact many of us support our wives elderly parents and even their families if there are enough funds to do so.

 

 

[itsari]

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

How have you managed to work that out?

 

ALL of my pensions come from the UK where I earned them and it is where I pay income tax.

 

AFAIK NO UK pensioners get paid even 1 baht from the Thai government.

 

So, how are we living on the backs of the Thai pensioners?

 

In fact many of us support our wives elderly parents and even their families if there are enough funds to do so.

 

 

You live of as I do of the low living expenses in Thailand.  

If the elderly were cared for correctly your pension would look sad . 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

I've said it on here many times, it's terrible seeing all these grandkids back in the moo bans since Covid began. Woe is me, the tourists are gone, the bar/restaurant/etc. closed. Gotta come back to village life. Gonna try marrying some handsome, young village boy, who tend not to do much but beg their parents/grandparents as well.

 

Well, now Covid's over and it's time to go back. Yet they refuse. They think they'll settle back into village life and selling snacks by the road. Well, 200-300 baht a day won't put much of a dent into their grandparents' daily living expenses, let alone their debts.

 

The tourists are back and the jobs are there, in BKK/Patts/Phuket. We know this well as there aren't enough Thais taking them, and rather it's the Cambodians, Burmese, and now Russians who are. The grandkids could certainly go back to help relieve khun yai/khun ta of some of that sugar cane cutting, basket weaving, silk weaving, or pushing carts around still into their 70's, as others play on their phones. Yet they aren't.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, itsari said:

You live of as I do of the low living expenses in Thailand.  

If the elderly were cared for correctly your pension would look sad . 

And if the UK government had not frozen my state pension back in 2009 it wouldn't look sad at all.

[KiChakayan]

On 4/14/2023 at 1:57 PM, billd766 said:

That is around 8,562 thb per month

Nope, it is about 37500 per month. 

[markclover]

Unemployed all their lives and they then expect the children who have no education to work and pay the bills.  What ever money they do get they go straight to the temple and put it in a monkey statue.  They deserve their misery.

Edited April 16, 2023 by markclover

[it is what it is]

1 hour ago, markclover said:

Unemployed all their lives and they then expect the children who have no education to work and pay the bills.  What ever money they do get they go straight to the temple and put it in a monkey statue.  They deserve their misery.

let them eat cake

[itsari]

4 hours ago, billd766 said:

And if the UK government had not frozen my state pension back in 2009 it wouldn't look sad at all.

Look even more sad if the Thai government did more for there old people . Why you ask? Because the cost of living would go through the roof .

[jacko45k]

10 hours ago, billd766 said:

In fact many of us support our wives elderly parents and even their families if there are enough funds to do so.

Tell me about it... got the old bird in my spare bedroom! Seems to like the AC!

Edited April 16, 2023 by jacko45k

[Photoguy21]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:08 PM, Gaccha said:

Expenditure on refugees inside the UK was in 2021, £898 m. That money was obtained by simply reallocating development aid funds that were intended for outside the UK.

 

The pension by contrast was 104.5 billion in 2021. 

 

Not only have the refugees not cost a single penny more than was allocated in the general fund for development aid abroad, they are little more than a rounding error compared with the high cost of pensioners.

 

In fact the burden of pensioners is far greater, since prioritising their health crippled the country during Covid, and their voting inclinations for Brexit decimated the economy by a far greater sum than a mere billion..

That money could be used to help the old people who have nothing.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Photoguy21

[billd766]

13 hours ago, markclover said:

Unemployed all their lives and they then expect the children who have no education to work and pay the bills.  What ever money they do get they go straight to the temple and put it in a monkey statue.  They deserve their misery.

What a load of cobblers.

 

YOU deserve their misery.

[Bangel72]

I digress a little but the debt is often with the evil loan grannies, lending to so called friends and charge illegal interest then harass them constantly when they cannot pay. That's not a friend, should be locking these people up.

 

Hopefully with the small steps on corruption these so called friend lenders will be caught out along with the sharks.

 

Often the start by borrowing from a greedy "friend" because they are desperate and that friend then harrasses them to borrow from loan sharks to pay them.

 

What's worse is that so many are at that its almost seen as normal to kick someone when they are down and make a few baht at the same time.  

[trainman34014]

9 minutes ago, Bangel72 said:

I digress a little but the debt is often with the evil loan grannies, lending to so called friends and charge illegal interest then harass them constantly when they cannot pay. That's not a friend, should be locking these people up.

 

Hopefully with the small steps on corruption these so called friend lenders will be caught out along with the sharks.

 

Often the start by borrowing from a greedy "friend" because they are desperate and that friend then harrasses them to borrow from loan sharks to pay them.

 

What's worse is that so many are at that its almost seen as normal to kick someone when they are down and make a few baht at the same time.  

'Lending' is done in different ways.   My SIL Is A 'Lending Auntie'.  She has a 40ft area in a local market and has been there for nearly 30 years selling her wares and until pre Covid made a good living out of it enabling her to buy Land and two Houses down the years, the Land used to grow sellable wares and the Houses rented out   She has worked from 0400 to 1900 all those years but as she is now getting older it is not so easy.   Since Covid has 'officially' ended business has dwindled but never the less she carries on, not so much for herself but for other more unfortunate souls who are Market Stallholders.  Many of these fellow Marketeers arrive in the mornings with just a few Baht change in their pockets or even nothing and little or nothing to sell and they come to SIL to 'borrow' stock to sell during the day.  At the end of the day they come to pay for what they 'borrowed', which they are charged for at Trade +10%.     If they are lucky they take home 100-200 Baht 'profit' which they live on from day to day, including many who have Children and/or are supporting the Old People in their Home.    This is what life is like in a lot of Villages throughout the Country; it's not all about New Phones and New Pick-Up Trucks and there are a lot of people who won't take 'Loans' from the Evil as they know they will never be able to pay them back.

 

Talking of Pensions; my Thai Wife was a Midwife for 25 years; Pensionable age, at which point i told her to retire because any type of Nurse here is treated like Slave Labour.   All 'Government Officials'; the term they like to use to describe themselves, are due for Pension at 25 years service but none of them have recieved an increase in Pension for the last 9 years as there is no 'Annual Review' or set increase in line with Inflation etc.   Had a Civilian Government been running the Country there would no doubt have been an increase during those years but as Prayut and his Band of Gangsters have been  busy creaming off Billions not much thought has been given to others requirements.   The only reason any of the Parties are now crowing about Pension increases is because an Election is looming but don't be surprised if when it's over all the promises will be broken or forgotten !

[ChaiyaTH]

17 hours ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

The tourists are back and the jobs are there, in BKK/Patts/Phuket. We know this well as there aren't enough Thais taking them, and rather it's the Cambodians, Burmese, and now Russians who are. 

This confuses me still daily, honestly. Like I know people in BKK working for 15K a month, cheap 2K room etc while they can have jobs with a free small room included, on the islands, and earn easily 20-25K including tips (except maybe low season a bit less), yet there is not anyone to find or even in line to get a job.

 

They are 90% all burmese, and the performance is just as <deleted>ty. The only fun part about it is when people from BKK visit here and keep talking Thai to them, not knowing they don't understand a single word of what they are saying lol.

 

Anyway; Where are all this people who need money if they not look for work?

Edited April 17, 2023 by ChaiyaTH

[rabiedabruce]

On 4/14/2023 at 11:43 AM, Gaccha said:

Thailand, in line with many countries around the world, is getting older.

 

State Pensions found in European countries are staggeringly expensive; in the UK, welfare benefits are a rounding error compared with the cost of State pensions. And the problem just increases as the elderly portion of the population increases.

 

The only possibilities for even wealthy Western countries are to either cut pensions, place the burden on their children or raise the age of entitlement. 

 

It is implausible that Thailand can do anything except a very modest increase in the pension. 

Oh that old canard. But it's not 'aging nations' which have caused this monstrous theft. Is it

[sharksy]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:52 AM, BritManToo said:

Not true, upper limit on end of mortgage loans is age 65.

This was the case years ago, the upper age limit has steadily been increasing (probably as pension age rises).  I've seen 85 at the upper limit with some lenders.  So long as the pension covers the payments, they're happy.

[zzaa09]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:08 AM, BritManToo said:

Also true for the UK and USA. 

Indeed.

Though, most probably wouldn't want to understand this, as such a disparity of this nature is obviously much more prevalent in the UK/USA.

[nigelforbes]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:08 PM, Gaccha said:

Expenditure on refugees inside the UK was in 2021, £898 m. That money was obtained by simply reallocating development aid funds that were intended for outside the UK.

 

The pension by contrast was 104.5 billion in 2021. 

 

Not only have the refugees not cost a single penny more than was allocated in the general fund for development aid abroad, they are little more than a rounding error compared with the high cost of pensioners.

 

In fact the burden of pensioners is far greater, since prioritising their health crippled the country during Covid, and their voting inclinations for Brexit decimated the economy by a far greater sum than a mere billion..

Utter carp, 898 mill!

 

"The cost of detaining and accommodating people under the UK government’s controversial plans to tackle Channel crossings could amount to more than £9bn in the first three years". That is only detention and accomodation cost over three years, it doesn't include the cost we paid to France to police the coastal towns to prevent crossings, UK legal defense costs, social security costs, repatriation costs etc etc etc.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/22/channel-crossings-scheme-costs-could-top-9bn-in-three-years