Nope. Our lives haven't changed very much in the past years.
That's one advantage of being poor. While we have enough to live comfortably, we are not invested in Thailand, so financial rule changes don't affect us. We have all our bank accounts, so we don't need more. Annual visa changes are handled by our agent each year, so we don't even think about that aspect of life here.
Except for rising gas prices, I have no complaints.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I never found much in the UK

Vs

couldn't beat them off in Thailand.

You weren't a millionaire in the UK.

Edited July 25Jul 25 by KhunLA

13 hours ago, pomchop said:

There are millions of older divorced, single, retired guys living in the USA that have little or no family contact of any consequence. Often if they have kids they have long ago moved to a different city/state often hundreds or thousands of miles away and they have their own lives. Many of these old guys live pretty crappy lives where they have pretty much zero chance of finding an attractive gal to provide some semblence of a sex life. Many to go girlie bars and spend big bucks for beers and tips to gals dancing around on a stage being oggled by a bunch of horny guys.

In short there are a LOT of guys who are just existing living in a shoebox condo rarely eating out or doing much of anything as their only income is social security and have little savings. In my opinion it is pretty sad to see. The fact is many places in the west are so expensive that social security alone is barely enough to scrape by. In Thailand, Social security is and can be enough to rent a decent condo, eat out, and have a lot of fun if they can control their expenses, stay away from western food, and young hot gals. Frankly I am amazed that more of them don't at least give Thailand or some other cheaper country a try. What do they have to lose? Yes the visa and health care can be an issue for many but it is not impossible. Six months trial in a place in Thailand could possibly change their lives as they get older from merely existing to actually enjoying their life. Thailand is certainly not perfect or without challenges but I do know a lot of old guys that don't have tons of money but are smart enough to learn how to live a very pleasant life without having tons of money.

Of course the big caveat is to do a lot of research, watch a lot of videos, and come to thailand well armed with information as to pitfalls regarding falling for the star of the bar and being so vulnerable and stupid as to think that a 23 y.o. hot Thai gal is really in love with you. Thailand and similar countries are certainly not for all but what the F do you have to lose if your life back in USA or wherever is simply waiting for the grim reaper to say times up?

If you take sex out of the picture, as the want does wane for most older men, then you look at being comfortable, and being in your home country is more comfortable than living as a guest with some hazards. Driving here for one. Rules that might change for the worse another.

If you can get by in a place that's actually home, it's better then being in a place that doesn't feel like home although, for now, is cheaper. Yes, you can buy women here as many do, if that's your thing, but again, when you reach a certain age, it doesn't matter anymore and what do you have left here?

No one really knows how many single retired men there are, who are living in the west without any contact with family, or without friends to pick up the slack, and when you move here, they both go away if you had them.

It's definitely not millions, as a person who's a decent sort will have friends over the decades they're alive, although family might move away or not be seen so often. There are also things a retired person can enjoy doing, like hobbies they couldn't as much when a family man. Traveling also.

10 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

You weren't a millionaire in the UK.

If you didn't succeed with women in your home country, that's one reason some come here, as they can be readily purchased and look good, although there are some risks doing that which some pay for. Men coming here who aren't taking care of themselves surely need money to have women, especially younger ones.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

You weren't a millionaire in the UK.

I was .......... before the divorce settlement.

58 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

If you take sex out of the picture, as the want does wane for most older men, then you look at being comfortable, and being in your home country is more comfortable than living as a guest with some hazards. Driving here for one. Rules that might change for the worse another.

England was never comfortable, it was cold, wet, expensive and sexless.

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I was .......... before the divorce settlement.

There you have it, found a woman, wife, no prob, in UK when having money 🤣

25 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

England was never comfortable, it was cold, wet, expensive and sexless.

Now for you it's hot, rainy, cheaper and sex, along with dangerous on the roads.

5 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Now for you it's hot, rainy, cheaper and sex, along with dangerous on the roads.

But life isn't just an existence, it's an adventure 🤣

Dodging MBs on the road is a participation sport. Beats watching the World Cup.

Edited July 25Jul 25 by KhunLA

I agree with Jimmy Yang, to me, this whole article seems like one big long whine fest about how White People's lives are getting more expensive 🤭

How different races brag about MONEY https://share.google/OQ3tsChK7iBtD2Ddy

21 hours ago, jas007 said:

I've spent some part of my life in California, but if I moved back, I wouldn't go there at this point. On the other hand, there are more than a few college towns that offer a lot, culturally, and yet the cost of living would be reasonable. Those kinds of places would be one option.

My dear departed Dad was of the same opinion. He always said that if he had a choice he would choose to live in a town with a college. And, he and Mom eventually did when he retired.

As for the thread, I have been here since 2010 and there has just been one single change for me--I am now required to have health insurance--which I've always had anyway--with my type of retirement visa. 15 years and just one change. I can't complain--life is good here.

Yes it has and a lot...The nominees cat is out of the bag, what the government didn't care for many years, now it is a big issue as many foreigners left holding many properties they have bought under the nominee sysytem,

they can only sell it to Thais or foreigners with special visas, otherwise, the government will take it away and auction it to Thai people,

the only other alternative is to do a 30 years lease arrangements with a Thai where the Thai own the property and lease it out to the foreigner under special contract,

And as such many so called investors aren't coming here anymore, particularly Chinese ' who used to be the main buyers of properties,

Also, what with paperworks in the airport as come in, I'm told that people wait up to 2 hours and longer just to get thought,

In short' Thailand is not making life easy for people to visit and or to have Thailand as their second home, and it's all Thailand loss.

14 hours ago, TedG said:

The golden age of the road trip has ended. I drove all over the USA in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. These were the days when you could drive up to a park and get campsites at a reasonable rate. The population growth and everyone wanting to travel have made the national parks crowded.

Or, maybe the golden age was the 50s. I was a small child then and we were stationed in Oregon, with family in Pennsylvania. Every summer for 3 or 4 years we would camp our way across the US in the summer to visit our relatives in PA and then camp our way back to Oregon. Dad was a DoD employee and government salaries then were low. He did most of the driving while Mom struggled, often unsuccessfully, with those big, folding accordion paper maps. How they would have welcomed GPS!

We had two big, very heavy canvas tents with center poles as there were 5 kids by then. Plus air mattresses to blow up every night to put under our sleeping bags. Mom would cook on a camp stove as, with 5 kids, we had no extra money to eat in restaurants. Looking back, I don't know how my parents did it all.

Along the way we would hit places like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, etc. One time we stopped at a little town for the night and we pitched the tents in the town's public park. When he saw our tents, a little boy from the town came over and asked if we were the circus. Simpler times.