Seems Thailand has been delusional believing it was #1 for retirees....

Tough decision:  Come to Thailand, where your money buys less every week, or go to Vietnam where your money buys more every week.

3 hours ago, BadSpottedDog said:

The locals DO want them here, but the govt doesn't care about the locals. It's a conundrum 

Not commenting. Just wanted to say...what a brilliant username. Top marks indeed.🙃🙃

22 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

Tough decision:  Come to Thailand, where your money buys less every week, or go to Vietnam where your money buys more every week.

 

The grass is always greener at the other side of the fence.

Sure I can get more beer for my money in Vietnam than in Thailand, but I look a little bit further, and then there is not country in Asia that can compete with Thailand like for like, as in what I get for my money

6 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Uruguay ... (is) landlocked ...

 

A recent development?

4 hours ago, Espanol said:

Spaniards have the longest life expectancy in the world

 

https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/

7 hours ago, newnative said:

    I think Thailand's ranking is lower than it should be.  It certainly checks more boxes for me than some of the countries higher on the list, especially affordable housing in a wide variety, both rentals and for sale.  And, I need a warm climate year-round.  

You can’t buy in your own name in thailand unless you call condo living a living

22 hours ago, norsurin said:

Right.But still they brag about Thailand is the first choice for retirement.Overpriced..crime..scams..violence and so on.

Vietnam takes over everything because of cheaper..much more safe..more friendly etc etc.

The government have the head in the sand and they think they will be back to where they was 20 year ago.

Thats NOT gana happened.My friend was just in Vietnam and she will never go back to thailand.8 USD for a hotel with balcony and daily cleaning.Wery friedly staff and wery cheap compared to Thailand.Nice food.. cheap beer and drinks.No crime or street fighting like its normal in fex Phuket and Pattaya.

Yep, Vietnam has pricing like year 2000 or earlier....street keg beer...giving it away almost...no limit on visa runs like mid-2000s also.

1 hour ago, banyanman said:

 

Because many people can no longer afford to live in their home countries.

 

I'm Australian and my cost of living in Thailand is less than half what it would be in Australia when you take into account the cost of accommodation (whether buying or renting). If you have two million Aussie dollars in the bank you can buy a nice house there and live comfortably, but I'm not so lucky to be in that position. We bought a house in Thailand that cost about a third to a half of what a similar property in a similar location would have cost in Australia. What we have left in the bank is enough to live on comfortably, even allowing for the possible higher health care costs.

Nonsense, I pay 480 AUD per fortnight for a 2-bedroom villa in the capital of WA, and yes, I pay no healthcare, which I can't get in Thailand at my age. My Thai wife is a nurse and makes about 40 AUD per hour, but it is up to the person.

1 hour ago, freedomnow said:

15Yep, Vietnam has pricing like year 2000 or earlier....street keg beer...giving it away almost...no limit on visa runs like mid-2000s also.

How about all the rest? I guess it is also still mid 2000's?

Here in Thailand i have supermarkets everywhere, and can get all farang food I can think about.

I travel 150km to the airport, or anywhere else, in less tan 90 minutes.

I have a 1 year visa extension, which costs about 65 US$ and don't need to leave the country on visa runs.

When I go to a bar I can buy whatever foreign beer I want, not just the local swill.

HI could go on, but how is that in Vietnam?

1 hour ago, still kicking said:

Nonsense, I pay 480 AUD per fortnight for a 2-bedroom villa in the capital of WA, and yes, I pay no healthcare, which I can't get in Thailand at my age. My Thai wife is a nurse and makes about 40 AUD per hour, but it is up to the person.

 

This is what I pay in taxes and condo fees on my 1 bed condo.

10 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

This is what I pay in taxes and condo fees on my 1 bed condo.

As A pensioner, I pay no tax at all. I have a 2-bedroom unit, and I live not in the the sticks

2 hours ago, CallumWK said:

How about all the rest? I guess it is also still mid 2000's?

Here in Thailand i have supermarkets everywhere, and can get all farang food I can think about.

I travel 150km to the airport, or anywhere else, in less tan 90 minutes.

I have a 1 year visa extension, which costs about 65 US$ and don't need to leave the country on visa runs.

When I go to a bar I can buy whatever foreign beer I want, not just the local swill.

HI could go on, but how is that in Vietnam?

The comment was about under 50s who do - and used to - wing it on a budget.

Portugal is boring . To many Brits 😂

Mauritius , beautiful small island . Boring .

Spain , I don't know ... maybe . San Sebastien .

Uruguay  , I think interesting . Tax friendly . Will have a trip there .

For the rest I like it in Thailand . I like it Thai anarchism . Europe to many rules n regulations . 

Horendous Air quality and retirement (old age) don't go together.  Lower class retirement destination where you die gasping for a breath of air. But, eating cheap noodels.  Thailand and retirement is the "joke of the day".  

 

7 hours ago, still kicking said:

Nonsense, I pay 480 AUD per fortnight for a 2-bedroom villa in the capital of WA, and yes, I pay no healthcare, which I can't get in Thailand at my age. My Thai wife is a nurse and makes about 40 AUD per hour, but it is up to the person.

Photos of the villa? Wifey still working at what age? No private health insurance so in with the great unwashed?🙃🙃

8 hours ago, still kicking said:

Nonsense, I pay 480 AUD per fortnight for a 2-bedroom villa in the capital of WA, and yes, I pay no healthcare, which I can't get in Thailand at my age. My Thai wife is a nurse and makes about 40 AUD per hour, but it is up to the person.

I have to call you out as others have.

Your claim of rent not going up for 8 years is highly unusual for Perth as it is for anywhere in Australia. So not sure why that is. 

You say you have 2 properties and a wife earning good money but get the full pension but then you say you get the full pension because your wife is not your wife and lives in a different property as far as Centrelink goes.

So your situation isn't normal  . 

 

 

11 hours ago, still kicking said:

What I don't understand is why people have to move to a different country to retire. I retired in OZ, where I lived for many years, even my Thai wife won't go back to LOS after 20 years. We can afford to travel 2to3 times to Thailand every year. Surely not everybody is single and spends every night at the pub and requires the service of a barmaid. Is it because of money? I am not so keen about Thai food, so my grocery bill will be huge compared to where I live now. We go for a meal twice or three times per week, and we have no street food; we  go to proper restaurants. I pay nothing for medical care or hospitals, which I could not afford in Thailand, No  need for visas in OZ I admit real estate is not cheap in Australia, but not everybody lives in Sydney or Melbourne. I live in a city of 2 million and have not had a rent increase for about 8 years. So why move and put up with all the hassles ?

I'm a bit the same in terms of wanting to keep a base in Australia and go to Thailand on holidays for 4 to 6 months. So far can do it on tourist visas. Found the pollution a bit bad in March but fine in August . I like the cooler weather in Australia but not the long winters as a whole. See the girlfriend from time to time. So use those factors as a guide of when to go or not to go.  Neither is perfect so get bored with one and go to the other.

22 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

I have to call you out as others have.

Your claim of rent not going up for 8 years is highly unusual for Perth as it is for anywhere in Australia. So not sure why that is. 

You say you have 2 properties and a wife earning good money but get the full pension but then you say you get the full pension because your wife is not your wife and lives in a different property as far as Centrelink goes.

So your situation isn't normal  . 

 

 

 

I think his rental is subsidized by the government. 

 

Can you own a property in Australia and get subsidized housing? The waiting list for such housing is 10 years in places like Toronto. Moreover if your wife earns 40 bucks an hour and you are getting government pension do you still get subsidized housing in Australia? 

 

I would gladly sell my condo and park 1 million in worthless canadian toilet currency and get me subsidized housing if possible. And then pizz off to Thailand every winter. Telus pays 7% dividend. Enbridge over 5....

 

 

9 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

You can’t buy in your own name in thailand unless you call condo living a living

    I would certainly call 'condo living' a 'living'.  For over 30 years I lived in a variety of condos in the US--I could not afford a house, or even a townhouse, on my salary.   Even if I could have, I might have still chosen a condo as I don't like yard work, house exterior maintenance, and likely a lack of a view.  Most of my US condos had a great lake view, with a nice balcony to enjoy it.   I had a nice 'living' in all my US condos.

   Here in Thailand, where it's easy and inexpensive to get help to do yard work, clean and maintain the pool, and do house maintenance, my spouse and I have recently been living in a series of houses on the Darkside.  We like having our own pool and home gym.

    Before we made the move to houses, however, we lived in a number of very nice condos, some of them good-sized 2-bedroom/2-bath units and all of them with beautiful ocean views.  Pattaya has a wide variety of condos in all price points for rent or for sale--one of its biggest strengths. 

    Probaby our favorite condo was a large 3-bedroom, 3-bath condo directly on the ocean in Wongamat.  Although a condo project, it was just 4 floors with a small number of condos on each floor.  The entrances to the condos were from the outside with a covered walkway. There were window flower boxes on the windows on each side of the door and the condo lived like a small cottage.  Entrance on the street side, ocean on the rear side, with a nice, big balcony off the living room and master bedroom.  It did not need to be a highrise for a killer view as it was so close to the ocean and on a small cliff, with stone steps down to the beach and water.   

    In our 15 years in Thailand spouse and I have lived in everything from a 48 sqm View Talay studio with 1 bath to a 4-bedroom 5-bath house.  No matter what we find outselves living in, we always make our space our home.  'Living' is in one's attitude and outlook, not a certain size and type of dwelling.  

17 hours ago, BadSpottedDog said:

Yes. With that, they almost got it right, but I think the cost is too high to attract retirees and people who do mobile work. Most retirees that I know don't get 80,000 USD per year! For example, Americans' Social Security is quite a bit lower. As long as they have health insurance, I can't see why they would need to earn over 80k.

 1st If you actually have USA health ins. they don't understand it and if you are over 70 getting ins. here is costly IF possible. Th paperwork for the wealthy pensioner is BS over the moon. The hoops you have to jump through make you think the program really doesn't want you here. 

2nd 18% of individual Americans make more than $100,000 a year, according to 2023 data from careers website Zippia. That's more people that there are Thais in Thailand. I wouldn't think they all want to live here.

3rd If you were already here on an other visa and wanted to renew with a LTV the reasons could include the good health care and driver's license issues which get harder and harder to get due to age discrimination. Ain't no autonomous vehicles here. 555 

14 hours ago, ujayujay said:

BS....Portugal is EU, to get a Schengenvisa is easy 

    I wouldn't call getting a Schengen visa for a Thai national 'easy'.  My spouse and I recently went thru the process, which involved booking an appointment and going to a specific office at a specific time, armed with paperwork maybe a half-inch thick.  Paperwork included cover letter giving the reason for the trip and the trip's itinerary, extensive bank statements with a signed and stamped letter from the bank, employment documentation, documents showing round-trip airplane tickets in spouse's name, all hotel bookings for the trip also in spouse's name, plus the filled-out visa application, a photo of a required size and background, and an addressed envelope for the passport to be mailed back.  Might have been some other stuff I forgot.  We worked on all the paperwork for quite awhile, I can tell you.  Not that easy.  

2 hours ago, Celsius said:

 

I think his rental is subsidized by the government. 

 

Can you own a property in Australia and get subsidized housing? The waiting list for such housing is 10 years in places like Toronto. Moreover if your wife earns 40 bucks an hour and you are getting government pension do you still get subsidized housing in Australia? 

 

I would gladly sell my condo and park 1 million in worthless canadian toilet currency and get me subsidized housing if possible. And then pizz off to Thailand every winter. Telus pays 7% dividend. Enbridge over 5....

 

 

I think it's the same here. To get government housing I assume you couldn't own a property in most cases. Long waiting lists. If he lived in government housing I think the rent would still go up linked to pension increases. 

If you get the pension and rent you get rental assistance but owning a property or other significant shares or assets would likely knock out a significant part on assets or income test. I won't get a cracker. 

My guess is they have a relationship that's kind of together and kind of apart and they use that to their benefit but not my business I suppose. 

17 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Uruguay isn't landlocked and has beaches 

 

Perhaps he was thinking of Parador. 

 

I would have giving this ranking the benefit of the doubt, but then I saw Austria ranked 5th. What a joke. 

22 hours ago, save the frogs said:

 

Austria way too expensive to be a retirement destination for most.

Uruguay and Paraguay are landlocked - no beaches.

 

 

Uruguay is along the ocean. A bit chilly, but I rented a car and drove along the coast. I really liked it, sort of like 1950s US, but it feels very remote and I'm not sure I want to live there. 

Thailand could be the best country for retired foreigners, but the politicians do their best to screw it up.

 

hmmm… seems to be getting worse every year . i wonder why that is ?

 

On 9/19/2025 at 4:34 PM, falangUK said:

Lisbon? 🤣

 

On 9/20/2025 at 12:14 AM, BayArea said:

Portugal will soon if not already priced itself out for their own citizens who are struggling to make ends meet if they continue this path regarding retirees in their country. 

furthermore, Portugal is a small nation with limited resources. I think a few years from now, they will no longer be an attractive destination for retirement. 

How is if renting?

 

4 hours ago, flaming dragon said:

 

Perhaps he was thinking of Parador. 

 

Mexicans?