I've been here nearly 5 years, I think I will still be happy living here for another 5 years plus, hard to say really.

I one of the few on this forum that loves it here.

I certainly echo your comments, though working here and being paid in Baht does make things easier i guess.

I'm still wondering what could possibly make a fifty-five year old person "unemployable"...

Jing, sorry to go off topic, but why is health insurance a problem?

I thought there are plenty of insurance company's who cover hospital and outpatient's for something like $1500 per year.

Jing, sorry to go off topic, but why is health insurance a problem?

I thought there are plenty of insurance company's who cover hospital and outpatient's for something like $1500 per year.

Age is always a barrier and the older you are the more expensive it gets until the time comes when the insurer refuses to cover you EVEN if you have never made a claim.

Jing, sorry to go off topic, but why is health insurance a problem?

I thought there are plenty of insurance company's who cover hospital and outpatient's for something like $1500 per year.

Age is always a barrier and the older you are the more expensive it gets until the time comes when the insurer refuses to cover you EVEN if you have never made a claim.

but is not it the same worldwide?

also if you have existing policy, i do not think they cut you off, they put up premiums but not cut off.

I have every intention of staying, unless i lose my work here then who knows no work back to farang land

I am going to be moving back to the UK for my kids schooling in 2015.

Planning to stay there until they go to university or can take care of themselves/ make their own desicions.

Then me and the Mrs will move back to the village, we are both only 32 so plenty of time to enjoy thailand yet.

I am quite looking forward to going back and being close to friends and family, but i envisage a couple of extended holidays every year.

My ten year plan is to have the option to choose where I want to live. Essentially that's the finances to do so and with luck the good health too.

Home now is Thailand, 'back home' is the UK.

I have an inalienable right to live in the UK,something I might come to cherrish if things gonthe way I fear they will in Thailand.

So my ten year plan is not to burn bridges in either direction.

My ten year plan is to have the option to choose where I want to live. Essentially that's the finances to do so and with luck the good health too.

Home now is Thailand, 'back home' is the UK.

I have an inalienable right to live in the UK,something I might come to cherrish if things gonthe way I fear they will in Thailand.

So my ten year plan is not to burn bridges in either direction.

My ten year plan is to have the option to choose where I want to live. Essentially that's the finances to do so and with luck the good health too.

Home now is Thailand, 'back home' is the UK.

I have an inalienable right to live in the UK,something I might come to cherrish if things gonthe way I fear they will in Thailand.

So my ten year plan is not to burn bridges in either direction.

No point in burning your bridges till you come to them. Boats may be a different matter.

SC

How are one's bridges to home ever burned, really? Unless you don't have enough money to buy a ticket.

Reckon I'll be dead either late this year or early next.

Reckon I'll be dead either late this year or early next.

can you pm all your bank info please

Reckon I'll be dead either late this year or early next.

You've obviously got more confidence in the patience of Thai hit-men than some others on here

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/624278-thai-man-to-kill-me/

SC

That has been my intention since I retired and moved here.....I plan to live out the rest of my life here albeit 1 or 30 years, the longer the better.

Obviously money and health has been a common concern amongst the replies and I agree with those concerns, but I'm here to enjoy my life while I can and try not to dwell in misery because I don't have heaps of money....so I try and keep a positive attitude (not easy at times) and greet each day with a smile.

Cheers.

Brain tumor,I will be residing in Buddhas Great Kingdom

I really, really, do NOT want to leave. I am VERY comfortable here. I can't imagine ever being this comfortable anywhere else. So if I do feel I must leave, it will be very painful.

I know that this is not about you JT but ...

Ever considered becoming a Citizen of Thailand?

You would be then JT of TH ...

My ten year plan is to have the option to choose where I want to live. Essentially that's the finances to do so and with luck the good health too.

Home now is Thailand, 'back home' is the UK.

I have an inalienable right to live in the UK,something I might come to cherrish if things gonthe way I fear they will in Thailand.

So my ten year plan is not to burn bridges in either direction.

GH, you may have mentioned this before and I missed it, but what do you mean by ... "go the way I fear they will in Thailand." ... how are you seeing the future of Thailand?

Waiting for TOT to fix my tele. land line. At the rate their going, it very well may take 10 yrs.

The only reason I might leave will be down to the "Thai ways", there gets a point when the danger is just too great to live with, I do however have a UK house so no real problem there. in returning.

I seriously considered leaving during the 3 months the red shirts were burning down the center of Bangkok. At the time I was living within the "kill zone" and Thailand was not the same country I use to love.

In a way this crises have cemented my believe in Thailand. Come hell or high water, Thailand will always return to "normal". I am in for life and I hope that is more than 10 years.

GH, you may have mentioned this before and I missed it, but what do you mean by ... "go the way I fear they will in Thailand." ... how are you seeing the future of Thailand?

___________________________________

Bitter political splits, a main player who understands and uses the power of nationalism and the inevitable loss of the ships compass.

GH, you may have mentioned this before and I missed it, but what do you mean by ... "go the way I fear they will in Thailand." ... how are you seeing the future of Thailand?

___________________________________

Bitter political splits, a main player who understands and uses the power of nationalism and the inevitable loss of the ships compass.

+1

Enter the Great Unknown.

All we can do is guess, speculate and hope for the best. To be honest it's the biggest singular reason why I pulled my plans to invest in Thailand, I was in the process of buying two large nightclubs when the Red Shirt protest in BKK kicked off.

That's three whole years now, I do sometimes wonder where I would be if the deals had went ahead. Maybe boom, maybe bust, but overall I'm content that I have the flexibility to wander in and out of the country when it suits me.

I will be living there in 10 for sure, but not looking forward to 30 years from now...all experts in the know predict that at least half of Bangkok will be under water by then.

However, since I'm in my early 50s now, I'm not too worried...I'll be gone by the time the worse starts. Not just for Thailand, but for the world (global warming)...I feel sorry for anyone still on this planet after 2050. It's not going to be pretty, folks...

I am still relatively young and would like to move back home for a few years to be closer to family and then back to Thailand a bit later in life. Who knows for sure, with the US economy the way it is I find it easier to live a comfortable life here.

To Jing, all politics aside, I dont see how health care is going to be more affordable back in the states. The affordable care act (Obamacare) allows people to buy insurance policies through exchanges with subsidies but you still have upfront cost, deductibles, drug costs etc that are going to out pace the prices here.

Have you looked into "umbrella" insurance? This would cover you for the big things but not the small stuff which you would have to pay out of pocket. I remember back in the states I had rather good health insurance from a multinational corporation and my co-pays were still higher than what the average doctors visit here costs.

We may disagree on many things Jing, but I wish you the best of health and hope it doesnt come to you needing to leave Thailand.

These are good thoughts and yes, I too wish the best for Jingthing.

For a while the last few working years in the US, I bought a "major medical" policy from a major carrier. I believe it had a US$10,000 deductible per year, and then it paid 80% up to something like $100k per year, after which it paid 100%. Each year had a new beginning. The premiums weren't bad - about $150 pm IIRC but obviously they never paid a dime. It was only there to save me from financial catastrophe if the worst happened. So the policy was there only to catch the disaster, like fire insurance on a home.

Now that I have Medicare Advantage, which I changed and got reduced from $125 to $100 per month, it's easy street. That's the main reason I'll always have a US residency. That and a couple of other licenses and privileges I don't want to lose.

I can see this being the Longest Goodbye in history.

This whole are-you-staying-or-are-you-leaving thing ought to have its own forum with sub-forums for the-exchange-rate-is-killing-me and THEY-don't-want-US-here-paranoia.

So, in other words, you're another hostage of the health care/health insurance industries, and making life decisions on that basis.

At present, fee based Thai health care costs are still cheaper then paying insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays when you plop that insurance card down at the pay window.

Don't forget that if you are healthy about all the money you save by not paying an insurance company annually. Put that same amount into a 'health care' investment account, invest wisely, and you might have more than enough to cover the big one when and if it happens. Then you won't have some bureaucrat - or worse, some clerk - deciding what is and isn't going to be covered, or even worse, that they aren't going to cover it at all because after all, it was a pre-existing condition and you are stuck for the full cost, despite your insurance policy.

I read somewhere where 50% of most people's health care costs in old age are spent during the last year of one's life. When that time comes, do like doctors do - submit to the realities, live that last year to the fullest, but don't try to buy your way out.

It would be nice to know when your last year is approaching could have lots of fun during the lead up.

I really, really, do NOT want to leave. I am VERY comfortable here. I can't imagine ever being this comfortable anywhere else. So if I do feel I must leave, it will be very painful.

I expect we'll all share your pain.

So, in other words, you're another hostage of the health care/health insurance industries, and making life decisions on that basis.

At present, fee based Thai health care costs are still cheaper then paying insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays when you plop that insurance card down at the pay window.

Don't forget that if you are healthy about all the money you save by not paying an insurance company annually. Put that same amount into a 'health care' investment account, invest wisely, and you might have more than enough to cover the big one when and if it happens. Then you won't have some bureaucrat - or worse, some clerk - deciding what is and isn't going to be covered, or even worse, that they aren't going to cover it at all because after all, it was a pre-existing condition and you are stuck for the full cost, despite your insurance policy.

I read somewhere where 50% of most people's health care costs in old age are spent during the last year of one's life. When that time comes, do like doctors do - submit to the realities, live that last year to the fullest, but don't try to buy your way out.

It would be nice to know when your last year is approaching could have lots of fun during the lead up.

Voted i will be still here in 10 years,if good health.I have private medical but that wont last for ever, i am 61 tomorrow,very good health but one never knows

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Arrived 10 years ago at age 30. I work online so I can be anywhere. I speak fluent Thai so I'm very comfortable here. Having said that, as Thais grow richer, they have no need to tolerate us. This is what I'm feeling already which is why I enjoy visits only to Philippines and Cambodia. Nicer people by a long stretch but their countries are, unfortunately, not ready for prime time now. I can't emphasize enough how much I like Filipinas over Thais. But I'll be here until there's a better option.