35 minutes ago, ravip said:

Do you know her personally? You seems to know many details.

Hahahaha, you are funny.

Of course i don't know her but i admire good workers and working 14 hours a day even with an English husband tells me she is a prize.

Reminds me of my last trip to the LOS's. Was invited  to lunch with a group of want  to be high society Thai's, and the house was huge and very nice. It was all a gaggle of women and relatives wanting to hang with the rich Thai woman, with two families living with her. I asked where the husband was?  One of the more down to earth guys nudged me and said, he is never here. He lives in a small house in the country.. hahaha

I don't know how the stock market is in the UK, but in the US 200K would be a nice investment with a nice small monthly income for life.

 

8 hours ago, CharlieKo said:

Sorry but 200K GBP is hardly a life changing amount. Not even for Thailand. But I wish them luck. 

That depends a lot on your age, I'm 75 so with another another 10 years if I'm lucky, it would change my life completely.

7 hours ago, eggzthaioz said:

It's not about being negative, it's about the reality of living in Thailand. 

All the relatives and friends will be circling like vultures.

Thais find in it extremely difficult to say no when they're asked by family or friends for a loan. They know they probably won't get it back as well.

Hope a brother or family member isn't building the house as that would be another story.

Cheers

Tom

 

We have a nice Western Style house in the village and my wife is tighter with our money then I. She tells all the village people we are poor, just worked hard and saved our money to build a nice house but nothing extra except a monthly allowance. If you don't flaunt it, easy enough to control.  

8 hours ago, CharlieKo said:

Sorry but 200K GBP is hardly a life changing amount. Not even for Thailand. But I wish them luck. 

Whether or not it is a life changing event would depend on how much money one had before hand, if one was already worth £1 million pounds it is not that significant but if one was scratching around for money after working minimum wage jobs it would indeed offer a welcome opportunity to  change  to ones life. Just as described in the OP.  Of course there will always those whose jealousy inclines them to disagree  I wish them all the best but can't help thinking he might wish this had been kept a bit  quieter  if or when he moves over to Thailand

6 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Yes I'm thinking built on Her families land somewhere in rice paddy land, and of course in Her name.

Regardless of the property laws in Thailand why would it not be in her name, after all it was she who won the money

8 hours ago, flexomike said:

That has to be the most idiotic comment of the week

The sum of 200K is not what is used to be. 

7 hours ago, HalAndLois said:

Now doubt she came out ahead, but your disregarding the 1000 pounds a year she lost for the previous ten years.  

£1000 per year for 10 years is £10,000.    She has just won £200,000    so ok a net gain of "just"  £190,000   what is your point?

9 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

Don't forget that the Inland Revenue is going to want a cut of that.  Depending on their gross income, they'd better plan a house minus 39-48%.

absolute rubbish

9 hours ago, Baba Naba said:

Hi So here we come!🤑

no ,  here they come ,  you were not invited

Very nice too and just think of all the relatives she will see for the first time.lets party and can u look after me now.Poor husband will have to work still and watch from the side as the family take  a cut. NEED A NEW MOTORBIKE NO CAR SISTER AND MANY MORE WILL FOLLOW

8 hours ago, brianthainess said:

So at 45 he can live here without working ? unless the 'former Firefighter has a good pension it won't be easy, supporting 'his' family, no mention of what job he has now, 7m left won't go far at his age, and it is Her money,  and he'll need nearly 1/2 million in the bank to get his yearly extension. School fees etc. I'm not being negative IMO just saying how it is. I wish them good luck and 'Their' children no mention of them though how many or there ages or where they have been living, or where 'Her' house will be. 

  Of course you are "not (just)  being negative" you are taking negativity to a whole new level, The purpose of the article was for the couple to share their good luck,  It was not published specifically to enable the miserable members on here to debate whether they have "enough"  or not . Consequently the finer details of their current previous financial situation  may not have  been totally  disclosed.   His employment status , their current wealth, the value of their present house, etc etc is no business of anybody here. and neither is the location of the new house they intend to build.   They also chose not to mention their children,   why would they mention their kids ?  and why did you feel the need to use quotation marks when you mentioned "their" children  ?  Other than in a pathetic and sad attempt to discredit and trivialise  their 20 year relationship 

        Jealousy really does bring out the worst in people, until today I had never realised to what degree this is true. You clearly don't wish them good luck at all. you would be the first to gloat should a subsequent thread detail any bad luck that may have befallen them, which is fine , just don't try to deny it

44 minutes ago, TedG said:

The sum of 200K is not what is used to be. 

200k is still 200k   exactly the same amount  as it always was and indeed always will be

4 minutes ago, bristolgeoff said:

Very nice too and just think of all the relatives she will see for the first time.lets party and can u look after me now.Poor husband will have to work still and watch from the side as the family take  a cut. NEED A NEW MOTORBIKE NO CAR SISTER AND MANY MORE WILL FOLLOW

So if you won £200k you would refuse to accept it for the reasons you have highlighted above?   Yeah of course you would.  

Some people are perfectly capable of keeping blood sucking relatives at arms length.  

9 hours ago, SpanishExpat said:

Congrats, but they just have a low-education mindset! 9Mio THB still won’t get you anywhere close to retirement in Thailand still being in your 40s. They should have re-invested that money, work a few more years and then re-consider their plans.

Exactly. This is why so many poor people go back to being poor after winning the lottery. Instead of investing the money and letting it grow they immediately start spending. I'm willing to also bet that they'll let the remainder sit in a bank account earning minimal interest instead of investing it...

 

Congrats on the win, but make it count instead of wasting it.

10 hours ago, CharlieKo said:

Sorry but 200K GBP is hardly a life changing amount. Not even for Thailand. But I wish them luck. 

 

9 hours ago, flexomike said:

That has to be the most idiotic comment of the week

 At the time you commented it probably was , but later it was  narrowly beaten into second place by this genius 

51 minutes ago, TedG said:

The sum of 200K is not what is used to be. 

it is of course exactly what it used to be

9 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

That's what I want to know....😆

It's right in the headline of the article, in bold print like this. But here, I'll make it easy for you. It was a 1 pound bet.

5 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Well looks like we BOTH made a mistake he only needs 400k for a marriage extension, and you try getting 47 baht for 1 GBP come to that.

,

 

I didn't quote either a marriage or a retirement visa or an extension.

 

Wise TT forex rate this morning was 46.9 baht, XE was 46.86467 baht, Bangkok Bank was 46.145 and Kasikorn was 46.41024. All of then are rising with the GBP against the Thai baht this week.

 

If I were to send money this instant from my Wise account, the forex rate would be 46.8995 THB which is only 10.05 satang away from 47 THB which is close enough.

 

Now you may not agree with that and if you wish to look it up yourself, go ahead.

13 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

I didn't quote either a marriage or a retirement visa or an extension.

 

Wise TT forex rate this morning was 46.9 baht, XE was 46.86467 baht, Bangkok Bank was 46.145 and Kasikorn was 46.41024. All of then are rising with the GBP against the Thai baht this week.

 

If I were to send money this instant from my Wise account, the forex rate would be 46.8995 THB which is only 10.05 satang away from 47 THB which is close enough.

 

Now you may not agree with that and if you wish to look it up yourself, go ahead.

 Bang on, no point in   arguing with that 

10 hours ago, CharlieKo said:

Sorry but 200K GBP is hardly a life changing amount. Not even for Thailand. But I wish them luck. 

It's a life changing amount, but it's not an amount you can retire on, not if you live in the BKK area and want a good standard of life living off only the interests.

You need at least 40-60million baht (1 to 1.5 GBP) if you want to live off the interests and never run out based on 1 to 1.5% interest on savings per annum.

10 hours ago, flexomike said:

That has to be the most idiotic comment of the week

Yeah lol with an average of just 7.5% annual returns that would actually already be more than many teachers earn here working fulltime. 1250 a month or 57,400 baht. Of course half of it will already be spend by the time they realize this.

Good for them.

Long days doing menial jobs to make ends meet, yes, such is the reality for most mia farangs living in farangland (in my experience, and I know many).

Let's hope this story helps shed light and raise awareness on this reality (living in a Western country is harder than living in Thailand), rather than encourage Thai women to start gambling in the hope of getting rich.

5 hours ago, Reddavy said:

Have you been to Thailand

 

I've been living in Thailand 17 years. And no it isn't a massive amount.

45 minutes ago, BakedPanda said:

Yeah lol with an average of just 7.5% annual returns

 

Who is giving 7.5% interest on 200K GBP?

 

51 minutes ago, CharlieKo said:

 

Who is giving 7.5% interest on 200K GBP?

 

Returns, interest is for people who not understand money and due to that also think nothing but a few percent is possible.

 

but to answer, virtually anything in the past decade, gold to start with would even hVe secured 22.98% already over the past year alone. Could cash out and do nothing for 3 years at that point even.

 

that would have paid for their house

13 hours ago, CharlieKo said:

Sorry but 200K GBP is hardly a life changing amount. Not even for Thailand. But I wish them luck. 

 

true enough, it can make life slightly more secure/comfortable if used sensibly, but life changing? no.

1 hour ago, it is what it is said:

 

true enough, it can make life slightly more secure/comfortable if used sensibly, but life changing? no.

For this side of the debate to continue, somebody is going to have to define life changing,   Personally I think the 200k is going to change their life considerably,  It may not last them until the day they die, but I don't think that is necessary requirement for it  to be considered life changing. its all a matter of degree is it not

14 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

Don't forget that the Inland Revenue is going to want a cut of that.  Depending on their gross income, they'd better plan a house minus 39-48%.

No they won't.

HMRC take their money out of the bet, not out of the winnings.

14 hours ago, renaissanc said:

Andy and Araya will have to be strict about all the "Can you lend me some money, please?" requests; otherwise, the money will disappear quickly. The 6-bedroom house and a new one million Baht car and the tax man will eat up what the relations and neighbours leave them. Then they will be back to Square One with little money. I'm already feeling sorry for the couple.

Do people not understand that winnings on gambling are not taxed in the UK?

So long as they don't transfer it to Thailand in a year where they spend more than 180 days in Thailand, it's also not taxable in Thailand, even under the new rules.

5 hours ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

Exactly. This is why so many poor people go back to being poor after winning the lottery. Instead of investing the money and letting it grow they immediately start spending. I'm willing to also bet that they'll let the remainder sit in a bank account earning minimal interest instead of investing it...

 

Congrats on the win, but make it count instead of wasting it.

They're buying a house they intend to live in.

That's unlikely to get cheaper if they invest the money somewhere else for a while.

I bought our house in Thailand back in 2000. We lived in it for over a decade until work forced me back into the office in the UK in 2013, and we intend to retire in it when I stop working.

Do you think I could still buy it now for what I bought it for then? - Even in baht terms, not factoring in that I was getting over 60 baht to the pound when we bought it.

 

And yes - the house in Thailand is in my wife's name because I'll take it being in her name over some hopefully extendable lease or a dodgy company structure. But we've been married 25 years and have three kids, so I don't think I have anything to worry about on that score.