How Important Is Working To You?

[Gary A]

I worked for 45 years. The last 10 years or so of working I had one goal and that was to STOP working. I now have a monthly pension and am VERY good at doing as little as possible. That said you must find some kind of hobby other than drinking beer and chasing girls. My girlfriend has two rai of land and a decent house. I built a decent size garage/workshop to tinker in and I putter around in the garden quite a bit to keep me occupied. If I had my choice of any job in the world, I'd pass. I like things just as they are.

[CMguy]

Hello Richard

Congrats on your retirement, and your move to Thailand .

I did the same thing almost 5 years ago when I was 38. Many of my friends and family thought I was nuts when I turned down a good job and retired. Now most of those same friends and family now envy my quality of life. My view is that retirement is to be enjoyed to the fullest, doing all the things you wanted to do while working but never had the time. Enjoy!!!!

autonomous_unit hit upon a couple good points

After you get married you can change to a Non immigration -O visa. That will get rid of the requirement for visa runs.

Also, If you set up bank transfers from your Stateside bank to your Thai bank you can save a bundle on ATM fee's. It's also helpful when it comes time to extend your visa.

As retired military you can fly get free flights back to the U.S. Space available.

there is normally 1 flight per month from BKK to Okinawa Japan and from there its a breeze to get across the pond PM me for details about that if you are interested.

Take Care

[bendix]

Retirement doesnt necessarily mean idleness. I'm attracted to the idea of semi-retirement (as I mentioned in an earlier post); to me that means giving up the corporate life once I feel I have sufficient investment/savings income to make myself secure and then looking for something else to do - something I love or that inspires me. Much as I loathe the woman, I'm constantly thinking of something i heard Opray Winfrey say . . . 'happiness is getting paid to do your hobby'. That saying resonates with me.

I'm around 18-24 months of focused saving away from that sense of security. What then? I don't know. Maybe I'll be happy to stay in the corporate world, but I sense that what I will be doing is taking a year's sabbatical, spending the first half of it relaxing, travelling, playing golf etc (all the things that truly make me happy), and then spending the second half exploring other opportunities.

The worst that can happen? Nothing. I'll either go back to paid employment in Thailand or somewhere else, or just sit back and take another year. Then another. Then another.

[Firefan]

Some great thoughts here. We all seem to agree that financial independance means the FREEDOM to chose what we want to spend most of our time on - for some that is work, for others a list of other things.

I have friends that live for less than 50k/month,and that here in BKK with nice apt/pool Etc. so I have no doubt that 50k in the country side should still be sufficient. It would be wise to try to put a bit of that money aside for investments/longer term back-up.

Looking forward to the housewarming! Cheers!

[bakachan]

Ive seen people have absolutely no identity of their own. Work is everything to them.

It defines their whole being. Usually they go downhill fast after retiring and die soon after.

That reminds me... there is a movie called About Schmidt with Jack nickolson

and he plays this kind of guy. Its a ###### depressing movie!

I don't know where most of you have worked but it sure isn't anywhere near

where i've worked. There are some downright miserable people in the workforce

here in the usa. It gets to me really bad sometimes just thinking about working another 20 yrs in my field of IT.

After a fantastic 3 year sabattical, I recently took a job and lasted 12 days at it. Between the petty personality conflicts of the women and the druggie meth user supervisor I couldn't muster enough courage to return to that workplace.

I'm only 44 and envy you guys that don't have to answer to anyone.

I'm contemplating selling my house and putting it all in the bank and renting.

The housing bubble is sure to pop and would hate to lose all that potential

retirement savings.

[Firefan]

Yes it is scary how much we identify ourselves and others with what they DO rather than who the ARE.

Anyway it leads to the question of how much is "enough" for each of us. One needs to know that before one can decide when one can step of the Dilbert-threadmill.

For most. living in Thailand means a lower cost of living, but still again I am guessing that most would want some of the Western luxuries such as aircon, special foods and drinks, maybe apartment with pool, gym membership Etc.

So how much is enough to early retire in Thailand for you? $200k?, $500k?, $1M? and/or how much income would you need for the lifestyle you want here?

Cheers!