Aged Care in Bangkok

[hellodolly]

Garbage I am 71 and not worried about passing away. If my wife goes first I will still have my income. If I go first I have made arrangements for her to not have to work there is enough investments in Canada.

I may wind up in an old folks home here. I have one in mind where she could live with me. But right now I am to young to worry about those things. Besides If I go first she has a family but I suspect she would be taking care of them, Even though her son and daughter have good paying jobs.

[indyuk]

There are Care Homes for the elderly in Bangkok.

There are also care homes in Pattaya and Phuket.

I'm elderly already and handicapped. My Thai wife left after I started to need assistance walking. I hired a Thai woman to take care of me. Well two in fact though I had to terminate the first one because she is unreliable. The second hire was a great success. She has been with me for four years now. She organises everything cleaning, cooking, shopping repairs, excursions and manages my medications both purchasing and administration thereof. For injection, vaccinations etc. The nurse from the government clinic, which is in our soi, comes to my house. I pay 200 Baht a minute. These Thai women are a wonder.

I'm in my own home 24/7 and always someone here with me. Better than a care home and cheaper too. All I have to do is sit at home and pay the bill when the girl gives the to me.

Edited October 8, 2013 by indyuk

[richardjm65]

Hi Robol

You are only 57 mate you got a long way to go, wait till you are 75 at least and go from there, just enjoy your selves. I am 72 and I have never thought about it, my wife has our house and little shop and plenty relations but my old Dad used to say to me, never trust relatives and never lend them money or give them a job, they will shit on you. It is quite true with some of the things I have seen and heard what relatives can do, you pop off and they all come out of the woodwork.

But I will put my couple cents in. You say she has dual citizenship which is true if she has Aussie passport. I would personally make my goal to live in Aussie when the time came as she will or should have the facilities available to her and you if you age well together and settle in a home care place up in the North Aussie for warmth. In these places you would make good friends and if you go first I do not think your wife would be lonely. Stop worrying now your to young just enjoy. Best of luck and Long Life.

My wife is younger than me and we have been married for a long time.

Of course I wish to ensure she is well provided for when I am no longer here.

This does not , however, mean she will have unrestricted access to Capital. If that were to occur I have no doubt her relatives would ensure she was left with very little.

Structure your will and assets so as to ensure on going support for your wife and this may include the future need to fund long term care. The financial arrangements are probably best arranged outside Thailand .

Good advise is essential when setting up the arrangements.

Rather like Sceptic11, I've been with my wife for many years, though actually married for only 9 of those years. At 70, and in indifferent health, I wished to make provision for her, (she's now in her mid-40's), and having managed to get my financial situation sorted to my satisfaction, I felt it time to commit those wishes to paper, having seen all too many widows or girlfriends left with nothing after having invested years into the relationship.

To leave her with a lump sum made no sense - she'd be ill-equipped to deal with all the new friends, plus family, who might want to share/borrow/con their way into the inheritance. So, I am still working on a bomb-proof scheme to ensure that she immediately gets access to my Thai assets. Overseas assets, however, are planned to be passed to her at a fixed amount per month, for a period of (say) four years. Not really enough to make it that interesting for the scavengers, you understand. After four years, once the assembled have become accustomed to her not having a disposable fortune, the balance of my assets will be passed to her in the hope that she will, by then, be confident in handling what remains.

I know of a couple of guys up here in Buriram who specialise in taking care of such matters, including pension entitlements and so on, but their expertise is more especially with Brits. PM me if you want their details. I'm just one of many satisfied customers of the guys I'm now happy to call friends.

[Sceptict11]

There are Care Homes for the elderly in Bangkok.

There are also care homes in Pattaya and Phuket.

I'm elderly already and handicapped. My Thai wife left after I started to need assistance walking. I hired a Thai woman to take care of me. Well two in fact though I had to terminate the first one because she is unreliable. The second hire was a great success. She has been with me for four years now. She organises everything cleaning, cooking, shopping repairs, excursions and manages my medications both purchasing and administration thereof. For injection, vaccinations etc. The nurse from the government clinic, which is in our soi, comes to my house. I pay 200 Baht a minute. These Thai women are a wonder.

I'm in my own home 24/7 and always someone here with me. Better than a care home and cheaper too. All I have to do is sit at home and pay the bill when the girl gives the to me.

You really pay 200 Bht a minute ? 12,000 Bht an hour ?

I hope that was typed in error if not I will come and work for you at a rate of 11,000 Baht an hour

Edited October 8, 2013 by Sceptict11

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm elderly already and handicapped. My Thai wife left after I started to need assistance walking. I hired a Thai woman to take care of me. Well two in fact though I had to terminate the first one because she is unreliable. The second hire was a great success. She has been with me for four years now. She organises everything cleaning, cooking, shopping repairs, excursions and manages my medications both purchasing and administration thereof. For injection, vaccinations etc. The nurse from the government clinic, which is in our soi, comes to my house. I pay 200 Baht a minute. These Thai women are a wonder.

I'm in my own home 24/7 and always someone here with me. Better than a care home and cheaper too. All I have to do is sit at home and pay the bill when the girl gives the to me.

Indy... thanks for your post... I understand these issues...My mother was very disabled during the latter years of her life and also needed comprehensive in-home care for many years.

If you don't mind me asking, could you clarify a bit... You mention there's "always someone here with me." But earlier mention you have just one lady on hire for your inhome care. So how are you working that from a scheduling perspective?

Is the one lady a live-in caretaker, and what happens on her days off? Or she's not live-in, and how do you manage when she's away?

Also, how did you go about finding the caretaker ladies you hired?

Thanks much!

Edited October 9, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

John

I went through the issues you mention.

I was fortunate in having old university friends who are now active in the financial world assist me in achieving my aims.

I am not qualified to offer advise to others.

However be assured your wife's future finances can be secured.

Skeptic, I'd certainly be interested in knowing what method(s) you used to achieve your objective.

I wouldn't be taking it as offering financial advice... Just adding to our collective knowledge and experiences here, and perhaps something to explore.

[NancyL]

It's very difficult for an aged person to simply rely on in-home caregivers without someone "supervising" the arrangement -- making sure that the aged person is properly cared for and not exploited financially.

Like the OP, Hubby and I never had children and worried about what we'll do, although we're somewhat older than the OP. For starters, we have long-term care insurance -- bought simply because an employer offered it and it seemed like a good deal. But, it only "works" in the U.S. However, our U.S. financial counselor said he's aware of that insurance company "bending" their rules to accommodate customers living overseas if there is a suitable long-term care facility that's cheaper than the customer returning to the U.S. Fortunately, there are several long-term care facilities in Chiang Mai.

But, we've seen in-home care work well here, IF someone is in charge. To that end, we've formed "buddy" relationships with several other couples, where we've shared details about where we keep important documents and records. We've obtained and organized everything -- insurance policies, medical records, retirement account details, etc, scanned and put that info into the "cloud" where it can be retrieved if help is needed. The people we partner with aren't necessarily our best friends, but are people whose judgment and honesty we trust.

Part of the key to a successful retirement is to build a good social network. The OP says he doesn't trust any relatives to help -- but good and honorable friends could.

[RoboLB]

A really interesting and useful discussion. Thanks everyone.

[F4UCorsair]

There are Care Homes for the elderly in Bangkok.

There are also care homes in Pattaya and Phuket.

I'm elderly already and handicapped. My Thai wife left after I started to need assistance walking. I hired a Thai woman to take care of me. Well two in fact though I had to terminate the first one because she is unreliable. The second hire was a great success. She has been with me for four years now. She organises everything cleaning, cooking, shopping repairs, excursions and manages my medications both purchasing and administration thereof. For injection, vaccinations etc. The nurse from the government clinic, which is in our soi, comes to my house. I pay 200 Baht a minute. These Thai women are a wonder.

I'm in my own home 24/7 and always someone here with me. Better than a care home and cheaper too. All I have to do is sit at home and pay the bill when the girl gives the to me.

Well you knew where the Thai wife's loyalty lay when the chips were down, and it wasn't with you. Most unfortunate.

Great to hear that you have a working arrangement now.