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

[Prubangboy]

Google tells me that only 70,000-ish Yanks live in Thailand. That's including everyone from overseas job postings to English teachers. And a lot of those 70K won't make it to the 2 year mark.

 

I live in Nimman, aswarm with older whitie tourists, and regularly chat with them. Never do any of them dream of living here, in the most dead-easy expat place I have ever seen, even as snowbirds.

 

Retiring overseas will always be well off 99% of people's radar. When you were back home, how often did you hear about people living overseas or even wanting to? In the states, it's less than .01% of the population.

 

And mostly they'd be in Mexico, with maybe as many again spread out over the rest of Latin America and the Carib. Even in New York, I'd have to talk to several hundred people to meet one who's even been to Thailand.

 

You also have to be more than a bit disassociated and Free Bird-istic in your life to even think about it; not worrying about seeing your relatives and friends etc.

 

On average, I find such people to be very mentally healthy in being so self-directed and unencumbered.

 

Of course, being such a person, I would, wouldn't I? 

[Jingthing]

22 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

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

You're not wrong but certainly the rent is cheaper in most retirement destinations countries. You can live a virtual life of anywhere most anywhere. A feature not a bug.

[spidermike007]

5 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.

Total nonsense. I could say the opposite of older folks who stay in their home nation. Unless they are already married, their prospects for romance are under 1%.

 

It is mostly fear. I know many guys who would love to leave but don't. 

[Bobthegimp]

8 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

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

That says more about how imbalanced our society is than the men who respond by leaving the mess behind. A man with kids and grandkids has been a mule pulling the cart for his entire adult life. His reward is a frigid wife and indifferent children who will stick him in a care home at the earliest opportunity.  

 

Women in other cultures put out, because if the man cheats the shame is on her for not taking care of his sexual needs. Checks and balances that no longer exist in Western culture. 

 

I knew a guy whose wife sent him to Thailand twice a year once they hit 60, and told him to go nuts. She had lost her sex drive but he was still full on.  The guy was ripped and very fit; not ready to join the ranks of the celibate.  His wife told us that he had been an "excellent husband, father, and provider for the family. Why shouldn't he be able to have sex because I have lost interest?"   The guy was in his late 60s and banging 3 to 5 girls a day, and usually had 2 of them in his bed every night. 

[cdemundo]

4 hours ago, BE88 said:

It has nothing to do with intelligence, many expats here in Thailand are stupid so the comparison is not to be made with intelligence but rather with the spirit of adventure or recklessness, not everyone should go to a country leaving all your family behind family and friends and set off to discover a new world to live in which is very different from setting off on exotic holidays.

Certainly having financial resources helps a lot in making these decisions.

"many expats here in Thailand are stupid"

 

Where could you possibly find evidence to support this contention?

Where oh where?

[Jingthing]

I'm not saying that retiring abroad to a lower cost country is a good idea for all poorer oldsters.

But it's obvious to me all poorer oldsters should at least consider it.

Because the benefits of doing so even factoring in the downsides are often spectacular.

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, cdemundo said:

"many expats here in Thailand are stupid"

 

Where could you possibly find evidence to support this contention?

Where oh where?

Good one.

[nauseus]

5 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. 

Better than a guess I would say.

 

The stupid thing is the topic question itself.

[JimTripper]

18 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

It is mostly fear. I know many guys who would love to leave but don't. 

Most people don't really act on anything unless they have to.

 

Give them a TV and a couch and food stamps and they just sit there. That's why they time limit social programs, or ween down the benefits over time, and you need to show you're looking for work. People don't like to change on their own.

 

Ditto for moving to a foreign country. Most won't be proactive, they will just delay until they are skint broke and don't have the retirement deposit.

[Jingthing]

9 minutes ago, nauseus said:

Better than a guess I would say.

 

The stupid thing is the topic question itself.

Then don't read or post to it.

The topic is clearly of interest to many people based on the high level of engagement.

But so is Mexican wrestling.

 

 

[Prubangboy]

12 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

 

It is mostly fear. 

Most def.

 

BUT if you're a poor person and give up your tiny bit of savings to get here and then let your rickety social and support network collapse back home, that fear is pretty rational.

 

Another metric: How many people are genuinely curious? Maybe 5%? And then how many of them are going to be Thailand-specific curious? Maybe .0005%?

 

Due to unpardonable sin of old whities getting laid here, Thai expats get much more media attention than all the other expats combined. I lived in England. They have as many expats in that tiny, rainy fly speck as in the much vaster USA, plus plenty of expat diaspora in places like Spain. In my day to day, I almost never met such people.

[Jingthing]

As far as the being there for family question (or the family being there for you) for those that still have those kinds of connections, depending on your home country, you can move closer to your home country. It's no mystery why there are millions of American expats in Mexico. 

That doesn't work for everyone of course because of a funny thing called geography.

[bignok]

57 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

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

Cheap massages

[GinBoy2]

An interesting question would also be, why don't women retire to Thailand?

 

Of course the obvious reason is sex.

 

I'd speculate that once age takes over, and sex becomes less a part of your life the appeal of Thailand as a retirement location may wane, then the closer to home locations may well become more attractive. 

 

Don't underestimate how in the final chapter of your life being close to family is a huge draw.

[NextG]

41 minutes ago, Bobthegimp said:

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. 

 

 

Harsh…. But probably fair. 

[bignok]

34 minutes ago, Bobthegimp said:

That says more about how imbalanced our society is than the men who respond by leaving the mess behind. A man with kids and grandkids has been a mule pulling the cart for his entire adult life. His reward is a frigid wife and indifferent children who will stick him in a care home at the earliest opportunity.  

 

Women in other cultures put out, because if the man cheats the shame is on her for not taking care of his sexual needs. Checks and balances that no longer exist in Western culture. 

 

I knew a guy whose wife sent him to Thailand twice a year once they hit 60, and told him to go nuts. She had lost her sex drive but he was still full on.  The guy was ripped and very fit; not ready to join the ranks of the celibate.  His wife told us that he had been an "excellent husband, father, and provider for the family. Why shouldn't he be able to have sex because I have lost interest?"   The guy was in his late 60s and banging 3 to 5 girls a day, and usually had 2 of them in his bed every night. 

Sounds like bs, smells like bs

[Oussama von der Leyen]

Never forget one simple truth...

 

 

[Bobthegimp]

10 minutes ago, bignok said:

Sounds like bs, smells like bs

It does, but it's not.  He's a lifelong friend of my former coworker who retired to Pattaya years ago.  We discussed the topic last night over 2 for 1 cocktails at the Sportsman.

 

The ripped guy hasn't been able to visit for years, and won't ever be able to do so again due to complications from hip replacement surgery (x2).  He played goalie in an ice hockey league until his late 60s.  

[bignok]

3 minutes ago, Bobthegimp said:

It does, but it's not.  He's a lifelong friend of my former coworker who retired to Pattaya years ago.  We discussed the topic last night over 2 for 1 cocktails at the Sportsman.

 

The ripped guy hasn't been able to visit for years, and won't ever be able to do so again due to complications from hip replacement surgery (x2).  He played goalie in an ice hockey league until his late 60s.  

Sounds like bs. Why would anyone hire 5 girls a night? Does he have 5 dicks? I dont believe it. Ive done 2 in a night multiple times but 5 thats just nonsense.

[bignok]

27 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

An interesting question would also be, why don't women retire to Thailand?

 

Of course the obvious reason is sex.

 

I'd speculate that once age takes over, and sex becomes less a part of your life the appeal of Thailand as a retirement location may wane, then the closer to home locations may well become more attractive. 

 

Don't underestimate how in the final chapter of your life being close to family is a huge draw.

Most family members suck

[bignok]

40 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Then don't read or post to it.

The topic is clearly of interest to many people based on the high level of engagement.

But so is Mexican wrestling.

 

 

Proper entertainment

 

3 hours ago, Michael Klaxxon said:

haaaaahaha!

 

 

[Bobthegimp]

8 minutes ago, bignok said:

Sounds like bs. Why would anyone hire 5 girls a night? Does he have 5 dicks? I dont believe it. Ive done 2 in a night multiple times but 5 thats just nonsense.

Two stayed with him in his hotel room. The other 3 were at the Devil's Den or Eden Club in Bangkok.  He brought his "toy box" to DD and the girls laughed and dragged out their toy box. 

 

Anyways, I was happy for the guy being able to pull that off in his 60s. 

[nauseus]

30 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Then don't read or post to it.

The topic is clearly of interest to many people based on the high level of engagement.

But so is Mexican wrestling.

 

 

As my post is part of your imagined "high level of engagement", why not embrace it? You seem to have an interest Mexico, so maybe a post about the art of lucha libra might see better results.

 

[nauseus]

16 minutes ago, bignok said:

Sounds like bs. Why would anyone hire 5 girls a night? Does he have 5 dicks? I dont believe it. Ive done 2 in a night multiple times but 5 thats just nonsense.

I know someone with two dicks, too.

[Oussama von der Leyen]

Never ever ever forget one simple truth...

 

 

[bignok]

2 minutes ago, nauseus said:

I know someone with two dicks, too.

A few on here

[Prubangboy]

29 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

An interesting question would also be, why don't women retire to Thailand?

 

 

 

I live in Chiang Mai where you do see a very thin smattering of retired western women (my western wife among them). They're here for the crafty, hill tribe, weaving, charity-based thing. Working with Shan women is a big interest.

 

I spent a couple of months in Luang Prubang and could have had a bit of western dating there with the same demo. But gotta pick one fast; Luang Prubang is a small town indeed. Obv. we're talking about a lot of French and a fair amount of armpit hair in the mix.

 

But if only a micro-% of men expatriate, then for women it's far less. Plus, women are more likely than men to be the ones stuck taking care of relatives and have kids they want to be close too.  

 

We lone wolf horn dog beatniks were a minority our whole lives. We're even a minority here.

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, nauseus said:

As my post is part of your imagined "high level of engagement", why not embrace it? You seem to have an interest Mexico, so maybe a post about the art of lucha libra might see better results.

 

So you can't keep away from it then. 

[nauseus]

Just now, bignok said:

A few on here

More than two? 🤣

[nauseus]

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

So you can't keep away from it then. 

Was that another low-level comment?