Exploring the cost of living for retirees in Thailand

[fellcor]

4 hours ago, Gknrd said:

Is this a YouTube digital nomad BS site now.  

No. From what I read, most are retirees, people interested towards retiring or ex retirees. 

 

But I guess the crowd here is way too old for me to participate in their convo, I stay a bit and see if any responses or questions requires a different perspective, not those nonsense one would find in hundreds of forums saying the same stuff.

[jacko45k]

On 4/22/2023 at 7:48 AM, nigelforbes said:

If you can swing it, it would be worth your while to return for a few months and get it uprated. I did that a couple of years ago and may well do that again next year.

That is dishonest.....

I thought one had to sign a statement to be moving back permanently. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by jacko45k

[nigelforbes]

3 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

That is dishonest.....

I thought one had to sign a statement to be moving back permanently. 

Nope! And it's not dishonest. My intention in 2018 was to live there for more than 183 days each year, I planned to split my year 51/49% so that I was eligible for NHS treatment. The colder weather at the end of the first year made me rethink my plan, covid put those plans firmly out of bounds.

[jacko45k]

Just now, nigelforbes said:

Nope! And it's not dishonest. My intention in 2018 was to live there for more than 183 days each year, I planned to split my year 51/49% so that I was eligible for NHS treatment. The colder weather at the end of the first year made me rethink my plan, covid put those plans firmly out of bounds.

Fair enough....

I know many who still have a place of residence in UK and get the full pension (and heating allowance I believe), yet spend more than half their year in Thailand.... never comfortable wth that but of course not my business.

The recent heat wave here makes me wonder about splitting my time!

[nigelforbes]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Fair enough....

I know many who still have a place of residence in UK and get the full pension (and heating allowance I believe), yet spend more than half their year in Thailand.... never comfortable wth that but of course not my business.

The recent heat wave here makes me wonder about splitting my time!

I've thought about that too. But I'd rather be hot here with air con than hot in the UK without aircon, my neighbours in adjoining flats really suffered last year.

[FritsSikkink]

On 4/22/2023 at 2:26 PM, BritScot said:

For me the uncertainty and ever changing immigration rules is a worry you do not need hanging over you as you get old and was the reason we left in 2019. I looked at health insurance for my wife and son and found it so expensive I opted to self insure with buying a very nice SUV and 3 Big Bikes "the idea if something happened I could sell" this worked out well for us as when we left I had a very nice suv and 2 big bikes to sell (wife wouldn't sell her bike, lol). I shopped a lot in Tops and Big C and started seeing prices higher that the uk. What is ignored is the 400k or 800k  per person which has to basically sit in a Thai bank "No thank you" 

If something happens, you sell the car and bikes, that would take a while and you would get less than you paid for. Not sure if the hospital would like to wait for that and you have to be in a state to be able to sell them.

[Mike Teavee]

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Fair enough....

I know many who still have a place of residence in UK and get the full pension (and heating allowance I believe), yet spend more than half their year in Thailand.... never comfortable wth that but of course not my business.

The recent heat wave here makes me wonder about splitting my time!

There’s nothing wrong with that, the Statutory Residence Test is not just spending > 183 days in the UK, in fact you can spend as few as 16 days in the UK & still be considered Resident…

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-residence-test-srt/guidance-note-for-statutory-residence-test-srt-rdr3

Edited April 24, 2023 by Mike Teavee

[nigelforbes]

11 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

There’s nothing wrong with that, the Statutory Residence Test is not just spending > 183 days in the UK, in fact you can spend as few as 16 days in the UK & still be considered Resident…

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-residence-test-srt/guidance-note-for-statutory-residence-test-srt-rdr3

The Statutory Residence Test used by HMRC is one thing, the test used by DWP to determine habitual residence is something else. DWP made it clear to me in 2018 that they DO NOT use the Statutory Residence Test and that counting days is only a small part of their picture. Habitual Residence attempts to discover what your usual and settled lifestyle is, this may involve spending parts of each year in two different countries where some years those period of stay are lesser or greater in some years than in others.

 

A returning UK expat can be considered to be habitually resident from the very first day but that will depend on a number of factors. If for example they purchased a return air ticket that indicates they do not intend to remain hence they probably aren't habitually resident. If they continue to get their healthcare overseas, that also points towards being not habitually resident. If their main bank account and a large portion of their funds is overseas, that is alo a negative indicator.

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

There’s nothing wrong with that, the Statutory Residence Test is not just spending > 183 days in the UK, in fact you can spend as few as 16 days in the UK & still be considered Resident…

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-residence-test-srt/guidance-note-for-statutory-residence-test-srt-rdr3

I might question taking a heating allowance if spending Winter in balmy Pattaya...... but the fact that non-residents pensions get frozen, for SOME countries, is more  irritating. I have people sitting near me on full pension all the time! 

[Mike Teavee]

3 hours ago, nigelforbes said:

The Statutory Residence Test used by HMRC is one thing, the test used by DWP to determine habitual residence is something else. DWP made it clear to me in 2018 that they DO NOT use the Statutory Residence Test and that counting days is only a small part of their picture. Habitual Residence attempts to discover what your usual and settled lifestyle is, this may involve spending parts of each year in two different countries where some years those period of stay are lesser or greater in some years than in others.

 

A returning UK expat can be considered to be habitually resident from the very first day but that will depend on a number of factors. If for example they purchased a return air ticket that indicates they do not intend to remain hence they probably aren't habitually resident. If they continue to get their healthcare overseas, that also points towards being not habitually resident. If their main bank account and a large portion of their funds is overseas, that is alo a negative indicator.

Thanks for this, I was trying to point out that the often quoted >183 days wasn’t the be all & end all when it came to being Resident in UK for Tax/NHS/Benefits/Pension basis… 

[Mike Teavee]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I might question taking a heating allowance if spending Winter in balmy Pattaya...... but the fact that non-residents pensions get frozen, for SOME countries, is more  irritating. I have people sitting near me on full pension all the time! 

I couldn’t agree more on both points & it’s especially galling when somebody in Philippines gets the annual rises but somebody in Thailand doesn’t (I know this is because of reciprocal social benefits agreements).
 

I’m fortunate in that, through this forum, I learned that this would be the case & so had time to tweak my pension plans (still 10 years away from State Pension age) but can only imagine the shock for somebody who didn’t know & moved over here, did the “Right Thing” by advising DWP that they’d moved & after a couple of years it dawns on them that costs are going up but their pensions are staying the same.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Mike Teavee

[fellcor]

Hm for nearly one week nobody picked up what I have to offer. Not unexpected as few deserve privileged knowledge.

 

Will no longer monitor the thread nor is available. 

[Tropposurfer]

On 4/22/2023 at 5:32 PM, Tropposurfer said:

How long is a piece of string?! Ones lifestyle and fiscal capacities, wants and needs is unique to every person.

 

I have a buddy with a wife (no kids but supports a bunch of Thai kids who are orphans and helps poor families).

He and his wife have an exclusive Thai based life on 90K AUD a year.

No confusion at all my friend. This is why I live on the very comfortable income my pal and also I live on because we knew what we did before retiring, and we still do.  

[quake]

On 4/29/2023 at 7:52 AM, fellcor said:

Hm for nearly one week nobody picked up what I have to offer. Not unexpected as few deserve privileged knowledge.

 

Will no longer monitor the thread nor is available. 

Quote

My costs are around 140-150 USD per month. Been at this figure 

Bet you do. 

 

5,125 baht a month.

Good god, what a terrible existence.

Living the dream.

No thank you. 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by quake

[JimTripper]

25k-ish in the city center is too low. Not adequate for a retired couple. Maybe doable for a single guy with moderate standards, but it would not be "nice", only adequate.

Edited May 1, 2023 by JimTripper