British family leaves UK for Thailand for lower costs of living

[Cabradelmar]

She is doing her daughter no flavors by enrolling her in the Thai public educational system (unless enrolled in private, and hence pricey). As a young unmarried person living with her "partner" her only long stay visa option is an Elite Visa, nonB, or as a parent/guardian under her daughters ED. There is more to this story than is being presented... Sounds like they are people with money to start with. Which just means privilege has its privileges. But living in another country is not a walk in the park, and the grass is never as green as in the brochures.

 

[GrungthepGringo]

6 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

 

Unsafe sidewalks?

Unsafe crosswalks?

Unsafe roads?

Pesticide enriched vegetables?

Dengue fever?

Roaming Soi Dogs?

 

snake bites

fluke worms

floods

These lists can go on forever. But their biggest immediate challenges will be the first 3 I mentioned. 

 

[brianthainess]

25 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Hope they remember to cancel their child allowance...many grasses and will need to pay it back

I was wondering the same thing Child benefit is 25.60 GBP a week.

[roo860]

3 hours ago, MangoKorat said:

Yes, I want Thailand to be safer but not just for me, for my Thai friends and family too. Especially when some of those safety issues are simply a matter of the police doing what they are paid to do! 

 

You might be surprised to learn that my Thai friends don't find Thailand's safety issues to be 'unique' - they find them downright dangerous and also want change.

Absolutely, my family and friends would like the same, and accountability! 

[BuddyPish]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Given they are not receiving a pension, and sun drenched villas are not cheap, one wonders how they are financing their "new life". One hope that he has a work permit for whatever it is.

 

PS, have they taken the cost of health care insurance into consideration? No NHS in LOS.

 

I don't "wonder" at all how they're financing their new life.

Perhaps you think this country is only for pension coffin dodgers. 

 

They're young and, presumably, reasonably healthy and, if they have skills that are in demand here, none of the "points" you made will be an issue.
 

[Lacessit]

2 minutes ago, Drumbuie said:

 

The Telegraph article from which you're quoting the "25% of pensioners are millionaires" factoid is somewhat misleading. 25% of over 65s ( remember the pension age is moving upwards as fast as the Tories can manage) live in a household whose *combined wealth* - including the house - is over £1 million. But a 3 bed semi in the London suburbs now costs over a million quid, so that's not surprising.

In poorer areas of the UK the average life expectancy is less than 60 years. 

 

As for a pint costing £2.10 - what are you drinking? Milk?? 

 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/distributionofindividualtotalwealthbycharacteristicingreatbritain/april2018tomarch2020

 

 

The poster you quote has a history of animus towards Thailand, IIRC he has even published a book detailing Thailand's defects. Most of which can be handled by people with a few brain cells.

 

Most people in Australia anywhere near a major city are millionaires by definition if they own their house, it's insane.

 

In Thailand, there's the house I gave my GF, and my condo. Two cars, two scooters.

 

My son's internet is about 4 times the cost here, inferior speed. His car registration is 7 times mine.

 

If I lived in Australia, more than half my pension would be going in rent. A basic pub meal is about 2-3 times what it costs in Thailand.

 

People who move here to escape high living costs and political correctness IMO should be applauded, not derided. At least they had the guts to embrace change.

[brianthainess]

48 minutes ago, PeeJayEm said:

 

 

However, this link gives a bit more info on how Jessica might be able to survive. Perhaps even merits a LTR visa in the digital nomad category (or whatever the term is).

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-ward-41a25761?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Maybe she can work for George at AN......

[GrungthepGringo]

15 minutes ago, RobU said:

I agree, I hadn't heard of the term Drop Shipper. Thanks for the information 

Your welcome. The "drop shipment" business model as a "hands off" online business has been around for about 15-20 years now. It started on Amazon. Now half or more of the online sellers in Thailand are doing it too. It's not stable or secure though. It's been overdone and, as soon as someone comes up with a good product idea that is selling well, someone else will copy them and do it bigger, stronger, faster, better, and cheaper. So it might go well for a short while and then it's done. The ones who last a bit longer at it actually design something, then manufacture overseas, then hire a company to handle all logistics; warehousing, shipment, and receiving payments. Then, when they stick it on Amazon, it takes a bit longer for others to replicate. 
 

 

[BuddyPish]

Couldn't go through more than the first 5 or 6 comments for all the negativity.

Typical guess-the-visa attitudes, assumptions that they've moved without considering education, healthcare . . . no wonder these forums are dying

[StayinThailand2much]

More retired rich people who can afford moving to developing countries... No, wait! 😆 

[CockneyGit]

3 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

They'// be shocked once they realize how expensive it actually is,especially if you have young children.

 

However, it's still a great place even if you struggle to make ends meet.

 

 

Having children here is actually very cheap. Pampers, milk, clothing etc. cost peanuts compared to UK.

[MarkBR]

2 hours ago, spermwhale said:

The grass is always greener. They'll soon find out that they can't send their kids to local schools if they want them to get a proper education and once you factor in international school fees and the cost of buying western food and needing to buy health insurance for the family.. all those cost advantages are gone. Add a car that costs about twice as much as you'd pay in the UK, then you're looking at even greater cash outlays. Add to that the annual hassle and abuse they have to take when renewing their visas. 

 

The'll be back soon. 

They might like Thai food.

[CockneyGit]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

What does the daughter do, when she's an adult, and doesn't qualify for any visas, unless marrying a Thai.

Being bi-lingual, a visa and work permit will be easy.

[StayinThailand2much]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The move was driven by a combination of soaring energy bills...

 

Hope, they really love hot weather then, cause what they save in heating costs, they will easily pay for air-conditioning.

[CockneyGit]

The levels of negativity on here is unbelievable. And all mainly from people who actually live, er, in Thailand !! 🤣

You couldn't make it up. Good luck to them I say.

[lordgrinz]

2 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

Hope, they really love hot weather then, cause what they save in heating costs, they will easily pay for air-conditioning.

 

Yup, mines on 25-26c all day every day.....though I am the type of person who would wear a t-shirt in Alaska, so.

[KhunLA]

1 minute ago, CockneyGit said:

The levels of negativity on here is unbelievable. And all mainly from people who actually live, er, in Thailand !! 🤣   You couldn't make it up. Good luck the them I say.

Hopefully they won't need it, and it was well thought out, and researched, with a nice bank account to start off with.

[StayinThailand2much]

3 hours ago, blazes said:

 

Don't forget Canada....1 million immigrants last year.....only 220,000 new houses built....queue for a doctor up to a year, depending on problem...

 

At least you can get a job or be on the dole. In Thailand, as a foreigner, without cash, you will end up like the homeless guy on Sukhumvit near Asoke.

[GrungthepGringo]

26 minutes ago, CockneyGit said:

The levels of negativity on here is unbelievable. And all mainly from people who actually live, er, in Thailand !! 🤣

You couldn't make it up. Good luck to them I say.

The male foreigners who came here alone 20-30 years ago came at a time when Thailand was a very different place. Many were able to find their way, integrate, start a family, etc. So they are likely to go the distance here. 
 

Now Thailand has changed a lot. You then have young couples coming from overseas trying to make a go at it here like this young woman and her baby. Those types of people didn't come here back then trying to make it in Thailand, plus things were a lot different here before.
 

And it's much more difficult to get into any type of business or profession in Thailand now as a foreigner because it's become "oversubscribed". It comes down to much more than the lower cost of a few items. If they are lucky they manage in Thailand for a couple of years, without burning through too much of any savings they have, and then accept that it is much harder to make it in Thailand than they had expected. Then they quietly move on. 

 

 

[2008bangkok]

1 hour ago, RobU said:

She appears to own an online gift shop. Basically acting as an intermediary between the gift producer who packs and delivers the gift and the customer. She will hold no stock just simply passing the order to the company that produces the gift and taking a commission. 

Dropshipling then! 

[roo860]

31 minutes ago, CockneyGit said:

The levels of negativity on here is unbelievable. And all mainly from people who actually live, er, in Thailand !! 🤣

You couldn't make it up. Good luck to them I say.

Absolutely agree, there so many sad little people on here, proper little busybodys. Sad <deleted>

[ignore it]

Personally I'm looking forward to her posts on ASEAN NOW

[SAFETY FIRST]

4 hours ago, MangoKorat said:

I want Thailand to be safer

But these unsafe conditions have always been here, long before you arrived. 

It's strange that you relocate here then moan and complain,its really weird and very unusual behaviour. 

 

I was watching a video earlier, an Australian cop, booking a speeding driver, $1000, for 1 <deleted> infringement. 

 

I bet there'd be a few of you moaners in uproar if change happens and you get a 24000 baht speeding ticket. 

 

You take the good with the bad, no such place on planet earth that is perfect. 

 

 

[StayinThailand2much]

4 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

They'// be shocked once they realize how expensive it actually is,especially if you have young children.

 

However, it's still a great place even if you struggle to make ends meet.

 

Lots of videos on YouTube now how "cheap" Thailand is. People back home watch it, and believe everything. However, these are mostly single guys in the clips, possibly with enough savings, but without a family to support, childcare to pay, or hospital bills for their kids. I wish her good luck, but also would be surprised if she was still around in a year from now. And yes, 'hanging around in the tropics for a year' will look good on her CV once she returns home.

 

I remember meeting a woman like her, from France, with a son, more than 20 years ago, travelling around Malaysia. She had her dole transferred to her from Paris, and the authorities actually had encouraged her to move abroad, as they could pay her lower unemployment benefits that way. Does Britain pay dole to people overseas? 

[blazes]

45 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

At least you can get a job or be on the dole. In Thailand, as a foreigner, without cash, you will end up like the homeless guy on Sukhumvit near Asoke.

 

Better still, be an illegal immigrant (or just an Illegal) in the US and get housed in a hotel and then (taking students as their role model) go on a protest where you demand showers with "no time-limit"!!

[NorthernRyland]

If you were to take social media at face value you would think you can simply "move" to Thailand, get a job and buy a new house anywhere in the country. Western kids are further brainwashed because this is exactly what they see the rest of the world doing in their country and they've told they're racist to question this policy.

 

I guess people will learn the hard way but these nonsense reports of "moving to Thailand" are misleading and further confuse people.

[Andrew65]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Given they are not receiving a pension, and sun drenched villas are not cheap, one wonders how they are financing their "new life". One hope that he has a work permit for whatever it is.

 

PS, have they taken the cost of health care insurance into consideration? No NHS in LOS.

Some years ago I was talking to a (younger than me) British guy. He was planning on  moving to Spain with his Thai wife & kids, he said he was paying around £100 per week for his 2 kids to go to (primary) school in Thailand.

I also knew many retirees who left Thailand due to medical expenses, 2 guys I know currently have left Thailand for cancer treatment. One old guy I know had successful cancer treatment at B'grad, it cost around £40k, but he's a millionaire. Another (very wealthy) Swedish guy, a good friend, ended-up parting with around 5 million Baht (B'grad), before eventually going home to die in Sweden.

(These are all things that people get for free when they move to the UK, unsurprisingly we have massive queues for healthcare).

[NorthernRyland]

7 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

But these unsafe conditions have always been here, long before you arrived. 

It's strange that you relocate here then moan and complain,its really weird and very unusual behaviour. 

 

 

Imagine some Thai guy moves to America and gets robbed at gunpoint by some thugs at a gas station. The Thai guy goes on Thai expat social media to complain about the levels of crime in America. You would be the other Thai pro-American shill that told him to stop complaining and if you don't like it move back to Thailand. Do you understand how retarded this is? 

[Hanuman2547]

It does look like a very difficult transition for a young family.  As far as school fees go, perhaps after the young child reaches a certain age she will be home schooled thus avoiding the higher costs of an international school.  It's also possible that she might do online school.  

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

And our Governments 'Give' us money aka a pension, if you tell them you pay 20% of your wage in taxes for 30+ years their eyes just glaze over.

Pension contributions are tax-free in UK.