Headaches

[JGV]

OK Anyone having frequent headaches over exchange rate and it's impact on staying here on 1 year visa

I am interested in hearing from you

but message me direct through forum

AstaHugo

Edited January 10, 2011 by craigt3365
email address removed

[rgs2001uk]

What headaches, Thailand must be one of the easiest countries to reside in.

Married, put 400k baht in the bank and forget about it, renew visa each year no problem.

Single and over 50, put 800k baht in the bank and forget about it, or get a letter from your embassay confirming monthly income of 65k baht per month.

How easy can it be, sorry if you can not afford either of the above you really need to reconsider being in Thailand, I almost hesitate to ask, do you have adequate medical insurance?

[Forkinhades]

No not really

[JGV]

To reiterate

The headache is because exchange rates have increased the amount of English cash I need to use to top up the Thai account to 800,000

And in reply to comment about living here I have been here 17 years and resent the comment about moving on

People with lots of money should refain from glib comments about lack of funds

JGV

[Forkinhades]

You dont have to actually have the money though do you??, but not to have the money will cost you about 16000 I do believe, from hearsay

[billd766]

To reiterate

The headache is because exchange rates have increased the amount of English cash I need to use to top up the Thai account to 800,000

And in reply to comment about living here I have been here 17 years and resent the comment about moving on

People with lots of money should refrain from glib comments about lack of funds

JGV

I agree with you.

When I planned my retirement about 15 years ago I, like almost everybody in Thailand didn't imagine that the exchange rates would have dropped to the current level and even back in 2007 some 3 years ago the rate never really went below 68 baht to the GBP.

10 year trend 2000 to 2004.xls

10 year trend 2005 to 2010.xls

However in the past 3 years the West's economy has crashed badly and the Thai economy is doing fairly well.

I have been living in Thailand for about the same amount of time as you and I consider Thailand as my home where my wife and son are.

We live in her house on her land and I don't regret for one instant divorcing my UK wife and marrying my Thai wife.

While Thailand is not the hardest country to get a visa and live reasonably well most countries are suffering from a poor exchange rate and whilst one poster suggests that if I don't have enough money I should reconsider being in Thailand, my thought is why?

I can live well in Thailand and the problem is that the money I had thought would be available for other things is not there at the moment.

And for that poster it is not necessarily newcomers to Thailand who are suffering the most, it is the people who have been here a very long time and are well established here with their families and friends who through no fault of their own are suffering.

I have been both well off and poor and now I am somewhere around the middle but not quite as comfortable as I had planned many tears ago.

Edited January 12, 2011 by billd766

[rgs2001uk]

If you have been here as long as you say you will well remember the exchange rates pre 1997/98.

The £ would fluctuate around 40 to the baht, rates from 38-42 were not uncommon.

The $ was also pegged at around 25 baht.

What I think is irrelevant its not me you need to convince its immigration that sets the rules not me.

Its simple, you either meet the yearly visa requirements or you dont.

If you dont, cut your cloth accordingly, I wonder how much many have tied up in property.

There was a poster on here a few years ago who wondered why immigration wouldnt take into consideration the land he had purchased for his wife.

The simple fact is there is no need to purchase land, property or cars, the only thing you need to show is the money in the bank.

Yes many are struggling and many more will continue to struggle, however personal financial responsibility also plays a part.

Thailand is no longer the land of cheap living it was a few years ago, however that was based on an exchange rate anomaly that is unsustainable.

Personally I know guys who will have to work longer to accumulate the capital required, I also no others for whom Thailand is now out the equation.

Others have no pension plans whatsoever, its called reality, all we can do is deal with it and have options available to us, how many have options plans a, b and c in place.

And yes I am affected by exchange rates like many others, but those are beyond my control, all I can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

[billd766]

If you have been here as long as you say you will well remember the exchange rates pre 1997/98.

The £ would fluctuate around 40 to the baht, rates from 38-42 were not uncommon.

The $ was also pegged at around 25 baht.

What I think is irrelevant its not me you need to convince its immigration that sets the rules not me.

Its simple, you either meet the yearly visa requirements or you don't.

If you don't, cut your cloth accordingly, I wonder how much many have tied up in property.

There was a poster on here a few years ago who wondered why immigration wouldn't take into consideration the land he had purchased for his wife.

The simple fact is there is no need to purchase land, property or cars, the only thing you need to show is the money in the bank.

Yes many are struggling and many more will continue to struggle, however personal financial responsibility also plays a part.

Thailand is no longer the land of cheap living it was a few years ago, however that was based on an exchange rate anomaly that is unsustainable.

Personally I know guys who will have to work longer to accumulate the capital required, I also no others for whom Thailand is now out the equation.

Others have no pension plans whatsoever, its called reality, all we can do is deal with it and have options available to us, how many have options plans a, b and c in place.

And yes I am affected by exchange rates like many others, but those are beyond my control, all I can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

I was here working from 1994 to 1997 when the baht crashed and AFAIR the GBP was around 44 or just below the bottom last point year. It cost me my job in Thailand but my company moved me on to pastures new.

Long gone are the heady days of per diem, salary, overtime etc and 4,000 baht bar bills.

The immigration office I go to is in Nakhon Sawan and they are a nice bunch of people. I still have enough pension to qualify for a retirement visa extension but should it go much lower I would have to change to a married visa extension.

Unfortunately work is no longer an option for me as I am too old and past my best by date.

I still have a couple of options available and of course there is always the "fall off the radar" option as a last resort.

Happily so far this year the GBP has been verrrrrry slowly creeping up and is over the 47 mark which makes life a bit easier. I would like to see it back up around 54 where it was a year ago though 50 would be nice by the middle of the year.

Here's hoping.

Edited January 13, 2011 by billd766

[rgs2001uk]

Bill,

at least you remember the pre 1997/98 days, which is more than can be said for the Johnny come lately 2 week millionaires.

The following links will give an indication of pre the above mentioned years,

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1993.html

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1994.html

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1995.htm

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1996.htm

I havent bothered with links for 1997 and beyond, we all know the stort of from then until now.

Many have been caught with their pants down, I would hate to be here and relying solely on a UK married mans pension, no longer economically viable would be one way of describing it.

This post is aimed more at those considering retiring here, be aware of where the £'s true level was, it may well be an indication of its future level, I personally believe we are more likely to see 38 to the baht than 58, but thats only my own personal point of view.

I planned for an exchange rate of 40 and anything above as a bonus.

While exchange rates are relevant, two other factors not mentioned are inflation and non existent interest rates.

From a personal point of view, the house the mrs bought in 2004 would now cost over 100% more in £ to buy, a car bought 3 years ago would now be over 60% more expensive.

We are 15,000 baht per month in bills before we even get out of bed and put food on the table, and these arent going to get any cheaper in the coming years.

It wasnt so long back petrol was 15 baht per litre, now its over 30, and I could go on and on.

This isnt only affecting us farang, many Thais are in the same boat inflation is catching up on them.

From a personal point of view I work on the assumption that what we have to day will cost 100% more in 10 years time allowing for inflation, this takes no account of future exchange rates.

As I mentioned earlier Thailand is no longer the cheap destination it once was, and I would urge many to think long and hard before coming here, if I was to rely on only a UK pension this country wouldnt even come into the equation as a destination.

Ask yourself, can I afford to retire in the UK, if not I dont know how it can even be possible in Thailand which has none of the safety nets available in the UK, a prime example being the frozen UK pension and no NHS to take care of medical problems.

This topic has been discussed more than once in the business forum, many would do well to read and then re-read before rushing over here.

[billd766]

Bill,

at least you remember the pre 1997/98 days, which is more than can be said for the Johnny come lately 2 week millionaires.

The following links will give an indication of pre the above mentioned years,

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1993.html

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1994.html

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1995.htm

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/GBP/hist1996.htm

I haven't bothered with links for 1997 and beyond, we all know the story of from then until now.

Many have been caught with their pants down, I would hate to be here and relying solely on a UK married mans pension, no longer economically viable would be one way of describing it.

This post is aimed more at those considering retiring here, be aware of where the £'s true level was, it may well be an indication of its future level, I personally believe we are more likely to see 38 to the baht than 58, but that's only my own personal point of view.

I planned for an exchange rate of 40 and anything above as a bonus.

While exchange rates are relevant, two other factors not mentioned are inflation and non existent interest rates.

From a personal point of view, the house the mrs bought in 2004 would now cost over 100% more in £ to buy, a car bought 3 years ago would now be over 60% more expensive.

We are 15,000 baht per month in bills before we even get out of bed and put food on the table, and these aren't going to get any cheaper in the coming years.

It wasn't so long back petrol was 15 baht per litre, now its over 30, and I could go on and on.

This isn't only affecting us farang, many Thais are in the same boat inflation is catching up on them.

From a personal point of view I work on the assumption that what we have to day will cost 100% more in 10 years time allowing for inflation, this takes no account of future exchange rates.

As I mentioned earlier Thailand is no longer the cheap destination it once was, and I would urge many to think long and hard before coming here, if I was to rely on only a UK pension this country wouldn't even come into the equation as a destination.

Ask yourself, can I afford to retire in the UK, if not I don't know how it can even be possible in Thailand which has none of the safety nets available in the UK, a prime example being the frozen UK pension and no NHS to take care of medical problems.

This topic has been discussed more than once in the business forum, many would do well to read and then re-read before rushing over here.

Bring back January 1998 when it was 86 something I say.

I suppose that my monthly bills are not far from yours and I give my wife about 8,000 baht a month for food which isn't too bad as there are wife and son, mother in law, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 3 ducks and a varying number of chickens as well. Not much food gets wasted as it ends up in something along the line somewhere.

We have a 2002 Ford Ranger 4x4 pickup and when we bought (about 675,000 I think) it I paid 160 baht to add to the 500 baht that Ford gave to fill the 70 litre tank as diesel was about 9 baht a litre then.

The price of a comparable new Ford Ranger oddly enough is not that much more. Just looked at the Ford site and it is 862,000 but that is for a 3.0 litre as they don't make the 2.5 that I have anymore.

I would say that any British pensioner coming here to live only on a pension can probably do it if he wants to have not a good standard of living and if like me he has no house or assets in the UK he will find himself with a problem in a year or two.

Fortunately I am married and my wife has a house and land up country where we live and we live comfortably though imported foods are of the menu now.

I know that the price of land around here has more than doubled in the last few years but for some reason the creator forgot to make any more.

I am learning how to make my own food such as bacon, sausages, bread etc as it saves a little and fills in some time as well. My first load turned out to be a 1 kg brick but the second was better.

Life could be a lot worse but it could be a bit better and I am an optimist rather than a pessimist.