Is $Us2 Million Enough To Retire In Thailand, At Age 40?

[cbr50]

Hi forum members!

I would be interested to hear some opinions as to whether US$ 2 million in savings would be enough to retire in asia at age 40.

- Assuming safe investments earning annual return of 5%.

- Assuming lights out at 80 years of age.

- No wife or kids.

- Would take out yearly health insurance to reduce the risk of significant medical costs.

- Would be careful with spending but also want a decent lifestyle.

Also have inflation to consider.

Probably live in different countries during that time (e.g Thailand, Malaysia and/or Phil).

That's a 40 years stint with many variables in between. But would greatly appreciate any opinions.

[phl]

well it depends on how fast and wise you will be spending the money, but i would say it is more than enough to have a great life.

a vast majority retire on much much much less than that.

[samsiam]

For a single guy....yes plenty.

[Jingthing]

Easily yes.

However at 40 I would put a large portion into higher risk investments. 40 is too young to go too safe.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Jingthing

[arthurwait]

You really want to budget 100k baht a month if you are starting out here on your own at todays costs.

The subject of monthly spends has been done to death on threads on here. Even in the last week.

You can live in the back waters for 15k a month, but a decent social life and western food in Bangkok or expat/tourist places will cost a lot more as said allow 100k/month. Including a decent rent.

If you meet the wrong woman or have kids then it changes a lot.

At todays costs either the investments or the original 2m will cover you alone.

Edited July 9, 2012 by arthurwait

[DP25]

For normal people, yes, as long as you don't do anything too stupid. Not enough for the 1 percenters who I'm sure will be showing up shortly to explain how how it's not enough to cover even the basic necessities.

[samsiam]

But CBR...is this a pipe dream or a reality....we wanna see someone come and really do it....not just dream about it.

You could be our experiment.

[Jingthing]

One thing to consider. Do you want to project to die with the 2 million plus or do you want to enjoy that money during your life? Personally I think single people who plan to die with a huge pile are being silly. Over time as you get older, plan a reasonably spend down. With that amount of money you can even afford to get some good professional advice about balance of investments over time.

[phl]

You really want to budget 100k baht a month if you are starting out here on your own at todays costs.

The subject of monthly spends has been done to death on threads on here. Even in the last week.

You can live in the back waters for 15k a month, but a decent social life and western food in Bangkok or expat/tourist places will cost a lot more as said allow 100k/month. Including a decent rent.

If you meet the wrong woman or have kids then it changes a lot.

At todays costs either the investments or the original 2m will cover you alone.

Bank Interest alone should give OP 200K-250K per month if my calculations are correct

[Gaccha]

I think you need to break the 10m dollars mark first. Yes, you can get a Burmese maid with a degree and a Bangladeshi houseboy, but your upkeep for your private estate may surprise you.

There are not many Ferrari dealerships and you may have to go above the book price. The airports really hit you for private jet hanger fees. Lastly, you would be shocked how much it costs to book out the local golf course for the weekend for a private session.

I am increasingly favouring Rio.

[samsiam]

You really want to budget 100k baht a month if you are starting out here on your own at todays costs.

The subject of monthly spends has been done to death on threads on here. Even in the last week.

You can live in the back waters for 15k a month, but a decent social life and western food in Bangkok or expat/tourist places will cost a lot more as said allow 100k/month. Including a decent rent.

If you meet the wrong woman or have kids then it changes a lot.

At todays costs either the investments or the original 2m will cover you alone.

Bank Interest alone should give OP 200K-250K per month if my calculations are correct

Dont forget that evil thing tax

[Jingthing]

Why not move to a stable country like Panama with a solid banking system, a good real estate market (you can own what you like there) and a RESIDENCY option? Yes I would suggest having a stable residence country and to own your primary home. From there you can take long trips as you like. A number of options like that. For example, Chile.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Jingthing

[cbr50]

One thing to consider. Do you want to project to die with the 2 million plus or do you want to enjoy that money during your life? Personally I think single people who plan to die with a huge pile are being silly. Over time as you get older, plan a reasonably spend down. With that amount of money you can even afford to get some good professional advice about balance of investments over time.

The plan would be to leave as little as possible on the table.

[phl]

You really want to budget 100k baht a month if you are starting out here on your own at todays costs.

The subject of monthly spends has been done to death on threads on here. Even in the last week.

You can live in the back waters for 15k a month, but a decent social life and western food in Bangkok or expat/tourist places will cost a lot more as said allow 100k/month. Including a decent rent.

If you meet the wrong woman or have kids then it changes a lot.

At todays costs either the investments or the original 2m will cover you alone.

Bank Interest alone should give OP 200K-250K per month if my calculations are correct

Dont forget that evil thing tax

Grrr, yeah also true. though in Thailand i do not think they apply it to foreign bank accounts, but the interest is low and even more so if kept in foreign currency

[Darrel]

Personally I think single people who plan to die with a huge pile are being silly.

Maybe they're just planning on not having it run out before their time is up?

The closer you get to death the easier it is to know how much more money you are likely to spend before you get there, but at age 40 or 50 or 60 that isn't quite so obvious.

[Darrel]

Dont forget that evil thing tax

No real need to pay that unless you want to. At least if you're not from the US.

[Jingthing]

Personally I think single people who plan to die with a huge pile are being silly.

Maybe they're just planning on not having it run out before their time is up?

The closer you get to death the easier it is to know how much more money you are likely to spend before you get there, but at age 40 or 50 or 60 that isn't quite so obvious.

I agree. I already made it clear that's part of the LONG TERM planning. This is related to having riskier investments in the earlier years.

[brit1984]

It really depends on your expected lifestyle here and whether your life circumstances change in the future (for example by having children).

You also need to make sure you hedge against inflation because although Thailand is relatively cheap today, it will become more expensive as the economy grows and the country develops over time.

Hence, ideally you will need to allow your capital to grow in nominal terms in line with inflation, so you should only spend the real yield on your investments, not the nominal yield.

Anyway at 40 (assuming you are in good health) you are young enough to go back to work if necessary so I say... GO FOR IT!

Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules

[agogohome]

Am I the only one to smell Troll?

[DP25]

Why not move to a stable country like Panama with a solid banking system, a good real estate market (you can own what you like there) and a RESIDENCY option? Yes I would suggest having a stable residence country and to own your primary home. From there you can take long trips as you like. A number of options like that. For example, Chile.

How safe is it there? I wouldn't want to live some place I felt unsafe walking around alone at night.

[jamescollister]

2 mil US in SEA, life expectancy, single man. Beer, birds and happiness, you will be lucky to see 50, but what a ride. Jim

[SlyAnimal]

Definitely enough, depending on your spending habits.

2,000,000 = 60,000,000 THB

5% interest per year = 3,000,000 THB a year (Is that your return after tax? remember you do need to pay tax to someone still).

3,000,000 THB a year = 250,000 THB a month

If you put at least 150,000 THB back into your investment to assist with countering inflation & slowly growing your investments etc, then you'll be fine. Which would leave you with 100,000 THB a month.

100,000 THB a month is a huge amount here. Depending on what you want to do of course.

If you want to be a tourist for the next 40 years, you might find it difficult. However if you're going to settle down, you'd do it easy.

If you settle down, have a wife and kids etc, then you might find it more challenging in a tourist area (Although 100,000 THB a month would be very comfortable there still I'm sure, even with a couple of kids). If you wanted to move to a non tourist area, you'd be living comfortably, even with half a dozen kids and a mia noi or two lol.

But as a couple of others have posted, I smell a troll when I see only 2 posts lol

[phl]

Am I the only one to smell Troll?

no you not, but no need to call yourself a name, let others do that for you

[cbr50]

Why not move to a stable country like Panama with a solid banking system, a good real estate market (you can own what you like there) and a RESIDENCY option? Yes I would suggest having a stable residence country and to own your primary home. From there you can take long trips as you like. A number of options like that. For example, Chile.

Good point. Although Panama/Chile are a bit far from home base.

Ten years of Thai visa runs/ed visas until reaching 50 may be a challenge, but would be possible.

I'm considering 3 options:

1. Thailand on visa runs/ed visas for 10 years, till reaching the retirement visa. Based somewhere like Chang Mai with a cheap cost of living.

2. Malaysia on the MM2H program which gives a 10 year visa. Based somewhere like Penang. A costly program however.

3. Phils on the SRRV program. Based somewhere like Baguio. A cheap program but comes with safety issues.

[Jingthing]

Thailand visa issue would be a major headache for you at under 50.

The other two, yes you could do but I don't think they lead to permanent residence.

If I were you at your age I would strongly consider countries that offer permanent residence. These may be mostly in South America. Also Ecuador and Argentina. Columbia is up and coming and real estate you buy there would probably be golden long term but I don't understand their visa issues.

[NanLaew]

The thought of +40 years of doing absolutely nothing meaningful or rewarding and just pissing about in SE Asian backwaters spending 2 million bucks is just too depressing for me.

Sent from the Back 'o Bennachie with an Asus eePad Transformer TF201 thingumabob.

[letitbe]

plenty if you dont want a hiso lifestyle and invest wisely. Not in IMO crap bonds COD's and rest mixture of property, gold silver good stocks spread over 2-4 different countries. We have about 1/2 that and have to be really careful but we still have 2 kids at school here, my health costs and while plenty for me to be ok until I die I need to think about my much younger wife and fact that it still will be 8 years or so until our 2 kids finish education.

With 2 million us$ dont try and be clever invest in sound property here, USA and europe with yields here for around 8% and in europe 4% or so and USA now around 7-9% after fees taxes and rest. So say 1 million in those hard assets but you need to work at it will give you around 60,000 us$ a year or after taxes and repairs and empty periods and rest plan for say 40,000 us$ a year or around 90,000 baht a month after all outgoings. It will keep up with inflation over time and plenty for a single person to have a great life here but not enough for a family IMO.

Rest put 1/2 million into good top stocks and expect then to crash 50% or more medium term but its your safety net for in 15-20 year time. Dont touch dividends. Put last 1/2 million into gold just in case and to tide you over if it all goes tits up as they say.

Ignore idiots here who tell you you can live great on 30,000 baht a month or less than 100,000 baht if a family with 2 kids.

And if you do get married have kids and want the international schools and western life then your 2 million us$ will be ok but dont expect that ot last with BMW's or mercs it wont.

Just IMO of course others will say im talking crap

[letitbe]

You really want to budget 100k baht a month if you are starting out here on your own at todays costs.

The subject of monthly spends has been done to death on threads on here. Even in the last week.

You can live in the back waters for 15k a month, but a decent social life and western food in Bangkok or expat/tourist places will cost a lot more as said allow 100k/month. Including a decent rent.

If you meet the wrong woman or have kids then it changes a lot.

At todays costs either the investments or the original 2m will cover you alone.

Bank Interest alone should give OP 200K-250K per month if my calculations are correct

You really want to budget 100k baht a month if you are starting out here on your own at todays costs.

The subject of monthly spends has been done to death on threads on here. Even in the last week.

You can live in the back waters for 15k a month, but a decent social life and western food in Bangkok or expat/tourist places will cost a lot more as said allow 100k/month. Including a decent rent.

If you meet the wrong woman or have kids then it changes a lot.

At todays costs either the investments or the original 2m will cover you alone.

Bank Interest alone should give OP 200K-250K per month if my calculations are correct

and when his fiat money becomes worthless and in real terms worth maybe if lucky 200,000 us$ in todays terms. Sorry to many blinded like you but up to you

[IsaanUSA]

USD 2 milliom earning a guaranteed 5% (OP said 5%), you would have enough money to live in about 90% of the world. That's 100k USD a year. That is 3 times the median income for my city in the US. You could afford to have a small place in Manhattan even.

Anyways, I agree, the visa situation is an issue.

[KeyserSoze01]

Am I the only one to smell Troll?

No, you are not and the stench is horrible.