Pensions

[vallillo1983]

Hey guys, i am coming to Thailand at age 25 and want to settle there, can someone point me in the right direction or offer advice on pensions as i do need to think about the future!

cheers

[Curt]

If your concern is a pension, or even decent pay, I would definitely suggest finding employment with an offshore company.

[GuestHouse]

There are two questions to be answered:

How are you going to make a living in Thailand?

and

What are you going to plan for your pension?

In the middle of that is the other stuff life is going to bring along, like a family.

My advice would be, at 25 you should be looking to get yourself into a job/career that is going to both pay you a decent income and provide you with interest/challanges.

The brutal truth is, at 25 (unless you are exceptionaly fortunate) you are looking forward to another 30+ years of working.

Yes you should be saving for retirement now, but there are a lot more important things to do between tiimes.... like enjoying your life as it comes.

[chownah]

I didn't start thinking about the future until I was in my early forties. When I was young I had too many exciting things to do and didn't have time to go to school or be serious about any job. By my mid forties I started to slow down and got to the point where being a student was just right...I went to Uni...did very well because I was older and could focus on education since I'd already indulged in all those indulgences for a couple of decades...got a good job...worked for 8 years and retired on my savings. It worked out great for me. One reason that this worked for me is that while I was yound and had no money I learned to enjoy life without money and so when I was making money I didn't have to spend it to enjoy life so I saved it all.

Edited February 12, 2006 by chownah

[vallillo1983]

Hey, i am an tefl teacher and i hope to teach English. I am gay so kids and all that dnt apply!

cheers

[GuestHouse]

Then surely you've answered your own question.

As a Language teacher you'll earn what? Bht20K - Bht40K a month.

You'll not be saving for a pension.

[Boon Mee]

Hey guys, i am coming to Thailand at age 25 and want to settle there, can someone point me in the right direction or offer advice on pensions as i do need to think about the future!

cheers

Check with a poster round here by the nick of 'Scampy'.

Career advice was his specialty.

[coldcrush]

So is anyone going to advise on a pension or just analyse the posters life?

Edited February 12, 2006 by lopburiguy

[Guest endure]

As far as pensions are concerned he has 2 choices. If he gets a teaching job in Thailand he won't be able to afford one. If he stays in the UK he needs to get some independant professional advice - something he won't get here. Apart from anything else, UK pension rules undergo very significant changes on 6th April.

[Boon Mee]

So is anyone going to advise on a pension or just analyse the posters life?

Like I said, the best man for that sort of advice is the Scampster!

[Kerryd]

So is anyone going to advise on a pension or just analyse the posters life?

Like I said, the best man for that sort of advice is the Scampster!

I'm not sure how UK pension plans work, but in the Great White North, you can set up a RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan), that is managed either by a financial consultant, or yourself.

Then you simply transfer money from Thailand into your bank account back home, and from there into your pension plan. Start early, make regular contributions and if everything goes well, you may be able to retire when you are 60 !

After all, if you are planning on earning a living in Bangkok as a teacher, you won't be making very large contributions, and probably not on a regular basis.

A guy I know got a teaching job in Bkk. Was making 27-30,000 baht per month to start (about 440 British pounds). Barely enough to live on, especially in a big city.

As for the subject about losing your savings to some sweet, innocent farm girl. Being gay wouldn't make a difference, you'd end up meeting some sweet, innocent farm boy and the next thing you know, you'll inherit his whole family and their never ending bills. Different sex, same story.

[PeaceBlondie]

If you leave the UK, USA, Canada, Oz, etc., and come to work at age 25 in Thailand to teach EFL, you'd be very lucky to save 10,000 baht per month after two years of saving nothing. Most folks don't stay that long, unless they get married and have kids; then they're pretty well stuck in Thailand. This is quite common in Thai TEFL, methinks. And as somebody has just pointed out, gay Thai farm boys can drain one's pocket book as easily as a Thai farm girl.

I have my suspicions about Vallillliilllio being genuine. How many 25 year olds are fixated on pensions? Anyway, the key to saving is to live on only half your take-home pay. Most people live on 109% of their take-home.

[Neeranam]

Then surely you've answered your own question.

As a Language teacher you'll earn what? Bht20K - Bht40K a month.

You'll not be saving for a pension.

Why not?

40,000 a month, I could save half of that if I were single.

20,000 a month for 30 years would give you a very nice pension at 55.

Of course only if you are thinking of retiring in Thailand.

[Tufty]

Assuming you are from the UK, and continue to pay your national insurance stamp you will be entitled to a state pension when you are 65 on the other hand you could always stop your contributions now and pay later, if you have 44 years of stamps you will get a full pension but bear in mind if you are living here you are not entitled to the yearly increases

[GuestHouse]

The OP should go speak to a financial adivor in the UK. The pension laws have been thoroughly revised and these revised laws come into affect in April.

As for advice on relying on the UK state pension.....

Somebody from the UK who is in the 20s now will receive their state pension when they are 67 (not 65) - recent changes to the pension laws.

The state UK state pension does not meet the minimum income requirements to stay in Thailand.

I'm in my forties and I have absolutely no expectation that the state pension will be available to me when I retire.

My prediction is they will allow the state pension to devalue over time and supliment it with additional income related payments - effectively making it means tested and undoubtedly those welfare payments will not be payable overseas....

I do not believe that any UK government is going to continue paying state pensions to people with private pensions or (and here's a thing) continue paying state benefits to people sitting on hundreds of thousands of pounds of property.

I might be wrong, but I doubt it.

[Noel]

The OP should go speak to a financial adivor in the UK. The pension laws have been thoroughly revised and these revised laws come into affect in April.

As for advice on relying on the UK state pension.....

Somebody from the UK who is in the 20s now will receive their state pension when they are 67 (not 65) - recent changes to the pension laws.

The state UK state pension does not meet the minimum income requirements to stay in Thailand.

I'm in my forties and I have absolutely no expectation that the state pension will be available to me when I retire.

My prediction is they will allow the state pension to devalue over time and supliment it with additional income related payments - effectively making it means tested and undoubtedly those welfare payments will not be payable overseas....

I do not believe that any UK government is going to continue paying state pensions to people with private pensions or (and here's a thing) continue paying state benefits to people sitting on hundreds of thousands of pounds of property.

I might be wrong, but I doubt it.

In my opinion you are spot on, GuestHouse.

I foresee the UK State Pension in its current form as being a thing of the past in the not too distant future.

The writing is already on the wall.

Whilst I do not believe the OP's question is a serious one anyway, if he were to take out a personal pension plan in the UK he would have to pay in around ฿14,000 per month for the next 30 years (he would not be able to draw his pension until aged 55 in any event) to possibly get in the region of ฿30,000 per month pension.

Given the salary the OP can best expect to make in LOS, that makes it a non-starter in my view.

[GuestHouse]

If you want to do a quick calculation try this pension calculator from the BBC Pension Calculator

It will give you some idea how much you need to save for retirement based on UK pension rules.