Question For People Who Use The 800K Bank Account For Retirement Extensions

[flying]

Another thing some countries do that Thailand does NOT do is make any allowances whatsoever for retirees who own real estate. In Thailand of course with its xenophobic foreign land ownership laws, this means CONDOS. So long term retirees may own a ten million baht condo but that does nothing towards their ability to legally live in the country where their foreign home is located. Some other countries are more reasonable in this regard. For example in Mexico a retired expat who owns their home can qualify for retirement status using ONE HALF the level those who don't. (All expats have a path towards residency.) In Ecuador, anyone who buys any real estate which is on the tax books at a minimum of 25,000 USD can obtain permission to live in that country as long as the real estate is owned, and can become a permanent resident in approximately three years. Not saying Thailand should be as open as Ecuador in that regard, but it points out a major poor feature for retired expats in Thailand who do own often expensive condos yet have no security of being able to actually live in what they own over the long term.

I am fine with Thailand not being quick to allow citizenship & I am actually glad they do not (directly) allow land purchase as I have seen what happened in other similar places where the local population got priced right out of beach front lands etc.

But I agree with your statement that owning a condo should be counted towards showing worth. That would be a nice upgrade

But then again condos are not liquid assets & really does nothing to help that person living expense wise. At the end of the day that is...I presume...the reason to show you have liquid assets/funds available.

[Darrel]

.... it points out a major poor feature for retired expats in Thailand who do own often expensive condos yet have no security of being able to actually live in what they own over the long term.

Indeed. One reason why I haven't bought anything here is quite simply because I have no right of abode beyond the current year and probably never will have, and neither do any non-Thai people who might be likely to buy my property if one day I wanted to sell it. Also a large amount of Thai property bought by non-Thais is bought using money of which the source may not be completely transparent, and if one day this source of money dries up, or significant changes are made to immigration policy (banning visa runs, or increasing the retirement deposit hugely) making Thailand a much less desirable destination for long-term living, there may be far fewer buyers around.

EU countries are much more attractive in this respect.

[Darrel]

But then again condos are not liquid assets ...

They are if the price is right. The only reason that any condo takes more than 1 month to sell here is because it is overpriced. And of course any condo can be collateral for a loan in case of dire need.

..... & really does nothing to help that person living expense wise.

It would save them having to spend quite a lot of money on rent.

[Jingthing]

Owning a home you live in means you have a place to live and don't need to pay rent, of course.

I was not talking about citizenship for retired expats. I was talking about permanent residence.

Another thing about the current financial requirement levels, which yes, I think are plenty high ENOUGH already (again considering the lack of consideration from Thailand in regards to permanent residence paths or allowances for home ownership, etc.), take an example of the current levels of USA social security pension benefits.

The MAXIMUM for a current retiree is about 30K USD per year, not far off 800K baht level here.

However, only people who have worked starting at age 21 and retired at age 65 earning the maximum social security taxation level their entire working levels get that much. In other words, a very tiny percentage of high income people earn that much or close to that much. (Also it is taxed.)

The majority of current benefit receivers would more typically be making 10K to 20K USD annually with the current AVERAGE (I just checked the social security website for this) a bit under 15K USD. Well under the Thai INCOME requirement if using income alone. Of course Thailand offers the combo method so those people could qualify by adding the sum in their Thai bank account, but I just wanted to provide a concrete example of the meaning of the Thailand levels in real life.

[kokesaat]

My untouched 800,000 in an accessible fixed account serves several purposes:

- It's my insurance money in case I need emergency medical care and the hospital wants proof of ability to pay.

- It's my wife's insurance money in case I keel over and it takes her time to decypher my stateside investments. She has my ATM pin and can access my 800k easily enough when the time comes.

- It's part of my diversified investment portfolio. 3.5+% on my fixed SCB account isn't all that bad.....and there's always a chance the $ value will go up (or down) as the exchange rate fluctuates.

- It's part of my living-in-Thailand strategy......always have a plan B in the hip pocket. If my stateside ATM craps out on me, I've got a backup. If I have to leave the country in an emergency, I can tap into my SCB account back in the US with my SCB ATM card.

- Every time I renew my fixed term account with Siam Commercial Bank, I get a freebie. This year they gave me an oversized umbrella.

- I don't need an annual embassy letter showing my pension/income and I don't have to show any monthly deposits into my local bank account. The money I save on an annual embassy letter adds nearly 0.25% to my interest rate on my fixed term account.