Do you think (most) financially struggling western retirees are stupid for not retiring abroad?

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, bignok said:

He's the worst.

Coming from you, that is the funniest comment on AN all week.

[bignok]

Just now, brianthainess said:

Coming from you, that is the funniest comment on AN all week.

You still stalking me.

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, QuantumQuandry said:

I think that's too broad of a statement.  I, for example, had zero money.  Zero money in the US is zero money in Thailand.  Zero money to GET to Thailand.  Zero money for a visa.  Zero reasons to go to Thailand.

 

Why would I possibly have wanted to come to Thailand and figure out the language there?  I would have less handouts and less people who wanted to help.  They would all just want me to go back to my country.

 

And the social welfare programs back home, eaten up by inflation, are better than the zero social welfare programs that would have been available to me in Thailand.

So why are you on AN?

[QuantumQuandry]

10 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

So why are you on AN?

Same reason as anyone?  Perhaps you misunderstood my post?

 

Me not thinking Thailand is a trade-up for every poverty-stricken foreigner living in a car and <deleted>ting in a bucket...is not the same as saying no foreigners should live here, is it?

Edited October 21, 2023 by QuantumQuandry

[connda]

1 hour ago, Bobthegimp said:

The woman claims to be successful but look at the furniture and television in the room behind her. Very shabby, low quality stuff

The furniture in my American home was excellent quality.  My former wife (who didn't work) had much to do with that.  I could afford high-quality stuff.
The furniture in my Thai home is - Thai quality.  Like my car, furnishings are utilitarian unless you are some status-seek, Hi-So snob.  Both my current Thai wife and I are comfortable with our home.

The quality of my furnishing say nothing of my success or my wealth. My bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and investments are a better indicator.  But so many people nowadays need to keep up with the Rich And Wealthy <gag>.  Status seeking is a dead-end and does not lead to happiness.  And judging others based on your own sense of status is absurd.    Rich one day; broke the next; rich again.  Life is fickle as are the winds of fate.  You're not special.  None of us are.  Find some humility. 

That's life (that's life), that's what all the people say
You're ridin' high in April, shot down in May
But I know I'm gonna change that tune
When I'm back on top, back on top in June

I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing
Each time I find myself layin' flat on my face
I just pick myself up and get back in the race.
- That's Life written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, popularize by Frank Sinatra

Good old Frank Sinatra pretty much sums it up.

Edited October 21, 2023 by connda

[brianthainess]

1 minute ago, QuantumQuandry said:

Same reason as anyone?  Perhaps you misunderstood my post?

Why most on AN live here or come for holidays what made AN site so interesting for you if you have no interest in the place?

[bignok]

2 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Why most on AN live here or come for holidays what made AN site so interesting for you if you have no interest in the place?

Where do you live Brian?

[scubascuba3]

25 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

UK free health care

Long waiting lists and doctors are avoiding seeing people and if you aren't sponging off the system you'll pay for residential care and can be very expensive

[brianthainess]

1 minute ago, bignok said:

Where do you live Brian?

Nowhere near you thank god. Thailand is where I live and where i'll die in my island paradise with my hard working loving wife. looking to stalk me are you? 

[QuantumQuandry]

13 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Why most on AN live here or come for holidays what made AN site so interesting for you if you have no interest in the place?

I live here.  You must have misunderstood something.

[brianthainess]

6 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Long waiting lists and doctors are avoiding seeing people and if you aren't sponging off the system you'll pay for residential care and can be very expensive

Since when have retirees sponged of the system? 35 years of mandatory paying into a national insurance, is not sponging, its claiming your insurance money.

[transam]

6 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Nowhere near you thank god. Thailand is where I live and where i'll die in my island paradise with my hard working loving wife. looking to stalk me are you? 

He does that, even photos, so beware..............FACT...

[brianthainess]

3 minutes ago, QuantumQuandry said:

I live here.  You must have misunderstood something.

Yes Vely solly I misread, not the first time and I doubt the last, slap me with a wet fish

[brianthainess]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

He does that, even photos, so beware..............FACT...

I know he doesn't 'coz he talks about coming to where I live for holidays. but I'm watching him now through my binoculars. 

[brianthainess]

20 minutes ago, transam said:

He does that, even photos, so beware..............FACT...

😱😱😱😱😱 Not the ones of me kissing a Grate Tit he promised not to show anybody  🍻

Edited October 21, 2023 by brianthainess

[transam]

Just now, brianthainess said:

😱😱😱😱😱 Not the ones of me kissing a Big Tit  🍻

Blimey, he will be dribbling now cos he's never seen one, or the pair........😂

[QuantumQuandry]

15 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Yes Vely solly I misread, not the first time and I doubt the last, slap me with a wet fish

No worries!  But I am saving the fish for dinner...

[Isaan sailor]

Thailand is right for the Goldilocks expats—not enough $$ to retire gloriously in the home country—but enough $$ to do it here.  And a much younger g/f or wife—frosting on the cake.

[Dan O]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

That may be so but still beats living in a car and <deleted>ting in a bucket!

I'm above that level here but for quite modest levels of wealth and income I have a set up that I couldn't replicate in the U.S. for under at least a million dollars, more like two.

 

There are retirement destination countries where you can qualify for 600 dollars a month income and perhaps I'm wrong but I don't think Cambodia even checks income for retirement status.

 

Or there is the Philippines option of only needing to do a visa run every three years.

Your thinking is slightly flawed. People living in cars or homeless generally have multiple issues going on that landed them in that situation. Its not always about money or the cost of rent that started the ball rolling down the wrong hill. If you're in that life situation with multiple mental or physical issues, living abroad is the last thing they are thinkng about.

[CANSIAM]

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I don't think they are stupid, just unable to uproot themselves. My guess is people who retire outside their homeland are far more likely to have travelled extensively. 

Agreed, I would also guess to say many folks living abroad have worked abroad as well, making an international transition much easier and not a massive 'get up and leave Uproot'.............

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

So back to the question:

Do you think (most) financially struggling western retirees are stupid for not retiring abroad?

When you spend all day on the computer, it doesn't really matter where you stay. 

[NorthernRyland]

4 hours ago, EchoPlus said:

You need a peculiar mindset to go die in a country where most people don't even speak your language, infrastructure sucks and your family ain't around. Most people retiring in Thailand are in a way or another, deep down inside, sad and lonely individuals. I mean no disrespect. It's just the truth.

100% this. If I was totally normal and well adjusted why would I leave my home and alienate myself as a foreigner in an alien culture? People on the straight and narrow stay home and support their families and carry on their traditions.

[scubascuba3]

55 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Since when have retirees sponged of the system?

For many they need top ups from govt, pension credit, other benefits, they didn't save a private pension or other money, the NI contributions in no way cover the pension payments

[NorthernRyland]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Some are probably ultra nationalist xenophobe types that think as bad as things are for them personally their home country still offers them the best of all possible worlds. 

Most people think the place they live is the best place in the world and honestly I'm envious of them because they live peaceful lives and are content. It's not healthy to have this "grass is always greener" mindset and have it in the back of your mind someplace is probably better than this dump etc...

 

I've seen this kind of thinking make myself and other people miserable. The best advice I heard on the topic is "love your people, love your place" as a way to find happiness in life. Traveling the world breaks this however and opens the door to  thinking if something is not perfect I should move cities, regions, countries etc... and in the end you never find peace.

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, EchoPlus said:

Not everything is about money or purchase power.

Most people want to stay in the place they call home.

You need a peculiar mindset to go die in a country where most people don't even speak your language, infrastructure sucks and your family ain't around. Most people retiring in Thailand are in a way or another, deep down inside, sad and lonely individuals. I mean no disrespect. It's just the truth.

It's sad so many oldies moving here abandon their grandkids and great grandkids, all for sexual fulfilment.  

[Jingthing]

12 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

Most people think the place they live is the best place in the world and honestly I'm envious of them because they live peaceful lives and are content. It's not healthy to have this "grass is always greener" mindset and have it in the back of your mind someplace is probably better than this dump etc...

 

I've seen this kind of thinking make myself and other people miserable. The best advice I heard on the topic is "love your people, love your place" as a way to find happiness in life. Traveling the world breaks this however and opens the door to  thinking if something is not perfect I should move cities, regions, countries etc... and in the end you never find peace.

This reminds me of a personal experience I had when I was 15.

I had backpacked around Europe for the summer with a few friends.

Such freedom  adventure, and so many bottles of wine.

When I arrived back to the US in the car with  my parents approaching my sterile hometown suburb (wine not allowed under 18),  I literally screamed in anguish.

Yeah, my poor parents, ha ha.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Jingthing

[NorthernRyland]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

This reminds me of a personal experience I had when I was 15.

I had backpacked around Europe for the summer with a few friends.

Such freedom  adventure, and so many bottles of wine.

When I arrived back to the US in the car with  my parents approaching my sterile hometown suburb,  I literally screamed in anguish.

Yeah, my poor parents, ha ha.

sure but at least they're holding down the fort for us and I respect that in its own right. 

[Jingthing]

As far as the theory that it takes a special type to enjoy living abroad, with the internet and globalization, I think that has become much less true.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Jingthing

[Bobthegimp]

1 hour ago, connda said:

The furniture in my American home was excellent quality.  My former wife (who didn't work) had much to do with that.  I could afford high-quality stuff.
The furniture in my Thai home is - Thai quality.  Like my car, furnishings are utilitarian unless you are some status-seek, Hi-So snob.  Both my current Thai wife and I are comfortable with our home.

The quality of my furnishing say nothing of my success or my wealth. My bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and investments are a better indicator.  But so many people nowadays need to keep up with the Rich And Wealthy <gag>.  Status seeking is a dead-end and does not lead to happiness.  And judging others based on your own sense of status is absurd.    Rich one day; broke the next; rich again.  Life is fickle as are the winds of fate.  You're not special.  None of us are.  Find some humility. 

That's life (that's life), that's what all the people say
You're ridin' high in April, shot down in May
But I know I'm gonna change that tune
When I'm back on top, back on top in June

I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing
Each time I find myself layin' flat on my face
I just pick myself up and get back in the race.
- That's Life written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, popularize by Frank Sinatra

Good old Frank Sinatra pretty much sums it up.

You sound like the "millionaire next door" type, she isn't.

 

  She has to create an aura of success to sell herself and solutions to living abroad that more clever people devised and published long ago. How one differentiates their service or product in such a saturated market is beyond my understanding.

 

It's a tough gig and I respect anyone who believes in themself enough to strike out on their own. She's still at the "fake it until you make it" phase and at 40 is almost out of runway. 

 

 

[Jingthing]

38 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

Thailand is right for the Goldilocks expats—not enough $$ to retire gloriously in the home country—but enough $$ to do it here.  And a much younger g/f or wife—frosting on the cake.

Perhaps so but as I said before there are other options.