Old men, where in the world did all your money go

[stgrhe]

I didn't think "living cheap" was the ultimate goal for someone who hasn't even reached middle age. What about quality of life such as good health, happiness, harmony etc.? We have but one life and we better take good care of it while it is still possible.

[JSixpack]

[Thai Travel Bug]

I don't really get the point of your post young man. It really only points to a few things that once you hit puberty yourself you may reconsider. You believe that by saving 2 million Baht you have achieved greatness that none of us has been able to attain. You are also foolish enough to believe that this 2 million baht will last you for approximately 20 years. That shows me a young man of little foresight. You believe that you live a life of luxury for 6 to 8,000 Baht per month. I suppose it gets down to where you grew up and how, as to believe this to be true. If you were a child begging on the streets of Calcutta, then there is a chance that at this moment you are living a life of luxury by your perceived view of luxury.

You seem hell-bent on giving us your views on working and living in a Western country for a couple of years, which points to the fact, as you so freely call us falangs, that you came from a country not being Western, and you are not falang. I suppose if you gave a detailed spread of how you spend your wealth (6-8,000 baht per month) and live this life of luxury, us poor old blokes may have more of an idea (Well at least of where you came from!) You should learn what many before you have, and that is there is some wisdom to be had, by listening to the wise. Even a poor homeless falang who is homeless, and pissed it all into a tin could show you some wisdom, and explain to you the errors of his ways. That in itself is the gathering of wisdom.

They say that youth is wasted on the young, and you sound like you are more likely to become a product of your own critique. "When you are young and carefree pounding through life believing that you are the only one who has run this race this well, as you age and stumble, and look down for the first time in years, you will see the footsteps of the thousands of men and women who have already passed this way" My friend, grow up, save some more, and be in search of wisdom before you decide to hand out ridicule. Some of the wise men that have gone before you may one day reach down to pick you up if you fall, just by you showing some respect.

[Colabamumbai]

If I had known that I would have lived this long 63, I would have saved more money.

Like you have some money saved and will have a Canadian Old Age Pension at 65.

Like you I write but not published yet.

You make excellent points.

[belg]

ah, one of those web developpers, thailand has plenty of ... not paying any tax and working illegally, really can make you save a buck, does it not ?

[davidmann]

meet nice thai lady your 2 million be gone in a month maybe two ,or maybe in a week

[Gandtee]

I spent it on wine and women. The rest I just frittered away.

[freebyrd]

At 33 I thought I was worldly wise too, 25 years on I still don't have anything like all the answers. Life gets in the way in ways that you can't predict. If things had turned out as planned as a youth, I would have retired 8 years ago, but will probably be working for another 8, cést la vie. Good luck with your $60K, even living conservatively, that might not last more than 5 years at the most.

A point you conveniently missed, when I (we, 'old' men) were 33, we couldn't just hop online and create a business, life was rather different back then. I've seen others here, not in TL, but close enough, who claim to make $100K a month online and yet they still ride around in Tuk Tuk's, I wonder why?

Always best not to stick your hand in a hornet's nest, as, old as the hornet's may be, they will most certainly sting you.

[carter1882]

As a famous footballer once said, i spent most of my money on women and booze, the rest I wasted.

[moto77]

hehehehe 60,000 dollars really isn't that much, last 20 years maybe

60000 dollars last 20 years? not a snowballs chance in hell of lasting 20 years!

Yeah, and not only that, someone's forgotten that inflation happens in paradise too. Hopefully he has a 20 year lease on that place at 2000 baht per month and a 20 year supply of canned goods.

[GOLDBUGGY]

As a Man who has been living and working Overseas about the time you first noticed Girls, and was riding your bike to school, I think I have some logical answer to your questions. But first I have a question of my own.

You seem to have your head screwed on right. You also seem to have done quite well in the West. Most guys your age haven't saved a Farthing and are up to their eyeballs in debt paying off their mortgage, new car loan, or the latest stereo equipment. You were headed down the road to success and my hat is of to you for doing that Young Man. But now you want to gamble that all away and possible throw all that good sense out the window, for some "Pipe Dream".

Taking a year off to do some of the things you like to do, and getting your head back to normal after a Divorce, is normal and understandable. But setting up a Business Overseas is a difficult thing to do and as many here will tell you, extremely difficult to do in Thailand.

Where owning a Business requires a 51% Thai Ownership and as the Silent Partner you cannot even get a Work Permit to work in the Bar or Hotel you Financed. Where by getting anything done through the normal channels is endless lines of Red Tape. Where finding good staff is also difficult. Where Bank Loans to help your Business grow is almost impossible for you to get unless it is in your wife's name. Where both of you can be sued if the business fails and you have debt. Where you are not entitled to any Government Grants. Where you are not really welcomed here and seen as the Competition rather than a member of the Business Community. A Farang!

So the first rule of thumb is that if you do not know how to run a successful business back home, with all this assistance, and family support, then your chances of failure Overseas is Far Greater. How often have were heard of Guys who held regular paying jobs jump to something like owning a business here, which later failed. Happy just to get their money back, when the whole idea was to make a profit. You can of course get Lucky. You can also get Lucky at a Crap Table in Los Vegas to! But as My Hero Clint Eastwood used to say: "Do You Feel Lucky Punk?".

It is surprising how often I read here, and on Stickman, from what seems to be normal people, until they come here, selling everything they have back home, taking their Retirement Savings, and then coming here to invest it all to open some kind of business that they really have no idea how to run. Some shop. bar, or food joint. The ones you see lining the streets in Pattaya that now all sit empty.

So perhaps one of the reasons you see older people penniless is poor judgement on their poor investments. Whether it is some failed business or some get rich quick scheme on the Stock Market. Or some Thai Women, who he thought was different, and left his purse open so she could take everything. Which I guess you can still class as poor judgement.

Another reason older people find themselves in this poor condition is they tend to Retire too early. I have a brother who never went for higher education, so basically stuck in a Dead End Job. But an easy one and quite well paying, as a pretty good Car Salesman. In Canada you can take early Retirement at age 60, but receive only half a Pension then if you do. If you wait until you are 65, you get full pension.

My brother doesn't have a pot to piss in and never saved a cent in all his life, but on his 60th Birthday he Retired. Figured he had enough to get by on, which he did, for a couple of years. Now he drives a Mail Truck Part-time, and when he can to make ends meet. No sure how long he can do that as his health is failing and he is now 68 years old. Am sure if he worked those extra 5 years this extra money would have helped a lot. I am also sure he will die penniless and his sons will pay his funeral bills.

Lastly, and another reason for being penniless is Failed Marriage (s). You got off terribly Lucky on your Divorce Son! In my country your saved 2 million would become 1 million instantly and overnight. That Government Assistance you x-wife claims now would be you, paying for her until she could support herself. Only Heaven and God can help you if there is kids involved and the last time I checked God doesn't not get too much involved in these things anymore. I speak from experience with 2 Failed Marriages, 2 houses gone full of furniture, 2 cars gone, and sadly, 3 of my children gone, who I seldom see and yet paid for all my life.

So if I was to give any man your age any wisdom at all, it would simply be this. Don't Get Married! The losses can be far greater than the any gains. Keeping in mind that even living with a woman these days. for one year, now constitutes a marriage. Learn to be totally independent of the woman. Enjoy your time with them but don't fall for the trap. Even paying a little bit upfront now is far better than paying a fortune later. Marriage falls under my first two failed points. Poor Judgement and Poor Investment!

Now if you were My Daughter I would advice her to do this. Marry only a Man with means! In this way, when Love Fly Out Window, his money won't. Just like Tiger Woods! Have a Child with him! By doing so you protect yourself for life. You now have a legal way to steel money from someone else and not have to work or do anything extra. The Police and Courts will be on your side and help you, no matter what you did. So now, when Love Fly Out Window, you not only have his money, you also have the window it flew out of.

I am older than you but still under 60 years old. I am not penniless and in fact have far more money than you. I enjoy my time off in Thailand and taking a year or two off from time to time. But as long as my health does not fail me I will continue to work past 65 years, even if I prefer to Retire. Partly because I like working and earning money instead of spending it, but also sitting around too long makes me fat and lazy. But mostly because I need to save up...... for my next Divorce!. . .

[smotherb]

Well, rather than demean the lad on the potential of life on B2M, I will address the headline of this forum, "Old men, where in the world did all your money go".

I started out with nothing, but worked hard, earned several degrees, and made a lot of money. I worked as a software engineer, management consultant and business owner in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia for more than 30 years. I invested heavily and was a millionaire twice. I spent a good bit of it on wine, women, and song; lost a bundle during two recessions; and squandered a bunch more living large.

I still live large compared to most retirees in Thailand, but I was a bit smarter than most. My wife, who is considerably younger than I, is educated, supportive, and self sufficient. We had only one child, a son, and he is educated and following in my expat footsteps. I wish I had more to leave them than the rental properties in the US, my recovering investments, and my meager pension, which is well in excess of . . ., well, I said I wouldn't go there.

So, not all of us old men are living on a shoe string; and I'll wager the vast majority of us old men who are living well, didn't stop earning until they had amassed a significant net worth.

So, my advice to you, spend that B2M wisely on education or business, whichever will best suit your abilities. However, don't stop earning and investing until you too have amassed a more significant net worth.

[DrTuner]

20y in a wat, sure, doable. Legit visa, too.

[jonesthebaker]

so what did you do in the Uk - i mean what job did you do ffor seven years?

[JeffreyWitty]

I managed to squirrel away 2 million baht from my work in the west.

I am living in asia now, i calculate that i can continue living here for about 20 years before needing to get another job.

The first thing you need to do is get a new calculator, because that's only 8300 baht per month.

8300 baht a month is more than enough in parts of isaan - *IF* you don't need to pay rent (morgauge) and don't get sick (pay for insurance).

Keep in mind - this only covers the MOST basic needs in life - ie food, electric, water, misc (no nightlife) - and generally accounts for moderate inflation - AS LONG AS Thailand remains a 3rd world country with an abundant cheap food supply.

[thaicookingchef]

For me you are poor and you will wonder where is your money when you will be old <3

[stickylies]

another believer lost in his own illusions... in other words: classic thailand archetype "living the life"...

[F4UCorsair]

154 posts, a lot more than the usual troll, but a glance at some of his other gems tells me he is indeed a troll, no doubt in my mind at all.

If he doesn't write better for his book/s, they will be relegated to the shelves for preschoolers or illiterate.

Edit: I just went back and read a couple of his responses. That confirmed my contention that he's a troll; provocative comments confirm it. There's a serious lack of maturity evident also.

Don't give him the time of day.

Edited June 3, 2014 by F4UCorsair

[TheRascal]

The "piss on your grave" comment shows either that you're not a very nice person or that you can't control your temper as does your comment about your ex wife. Neither of these personality traits will serve you well in business. Take some responsibility to how people react to you. I disagree with some of the older chaps on here but it's all good banter - differing opinions are what makes the world go round.

If you have some prospects on starting up some in line business or writing a book or something like this...and have about 2 mil thb saved up...

Then sure you can give it a go, but should have a bit more realistic timeline and financial plan in place

A more realistic time line may be... Plan for your 2 mil to last 3 years (55k per month)

Then give it a go... Realizing that if you can not get a book published or the online thing off the ground within 3 years.. Then it is not likely to happen

So if you get to 2.5 years and you are not yet able to support your self with these other things, start planning your exit strategy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i already finished the book, i like it alot, and im writing the second one now, its really not that hard to do, there is such a massive freelance community out there that can do pretty much any thing you want for cheap, editors and artists, voice actors, etc, and for those negative people who like to punch wholes in every thing with their imaginary images of of what things are not like! the quality of the freelancer u hire is as good as what you can measure with your own two hemispheres! Plus you get better as you go.

This is why i can NOT understand how a farang can spend his whole life and end up with no savings, no plan for inflation etc, and not marketable human captial! We are living in the greatest age of human history everything and anything is at your fingertips. The people who are rude to me make me want to succeed with such a fury that it is hard to put into words! What I really want to say is that you <deleted> wouldn't like to know what I really wanna say Cu.. okay i had better stop.

55k a month... i live a life of pure luxury atm and im spending about 6-10k a month.

I often have the unpleasure of talking to old farang who continuous like gripe about young people on their phones all the time. Your brains are rotting, my 22 year old sex friend supprises me all the time with new apps that are so unbelievable awesome!! and she sux with technology so bad.

I do enjoy talking to old farang but i hate you people so much at the same time, i know you people will abuse me again, just remember you started it, so ill make sure ill piss on your graves.

No offence but the way you write on here doesn't suggest your literary skills are up to much. That said they will improve but don't rely on great writing. A dear friend of mine spent years writing a book, he finished it around 44 years old and self published it as he couldn't get interest - I love reading and it was fantastic, a real page turner with a lovely twist at the end but he made little to no money from it.

J K Rowling of Harry Potter fame wrote a book under the name Robert Galbraith (or Galbraithe I forget), whether you like the Potter books or not she's a talented lady with a talent for writing, the book was published but languished with little success until a lawyer at her firm mentioned it to a friend who announced it on Twitter. There's a lot of luck involved.

I'd love you to outline how you live a life of luxury on 8-10k a month. I spend 60-70k a month and I have a nice life but it's not absolute luxury. My girls place is 6k a month and that's fairly basic. If you spent 100 baht a day on food (and don't tell me that's luxury) that would run you to 3000 per month on average. Even a basic reasonable restaurant like Sizzler or MK is probably going to run you about 500 baht for one person, a decent coffee is 60-100 baht &lt;deleted&gt;!

thank you for the advice so far, some very good advice!

Inflation and health i have taken care of, im not planning on travelling much and i DONT want a gold digging whore of a gf... sry for the sterotype...

and way i have a sex friend who always insists on paying half, she is so sweet, we went to the movies, and she fed me popcorm the whole way through the movie, she strokes my face and lips all the time, idk why its kind of a fetish for her or something lol, if any one want to know about the yala girl, ;_; ill write an update, but u mean ppl were right, i didn't right an update because it the rude comments are so foul to the eyes. I dont mind a bit or sarcasim and scorn but rubbing people faces in the dirt is sickening, that leads me to why i dont wanna a go back to the west, i cant deal with western people any more. The place is unbearable. I will learn phython, html and write a few website designs that ive had in my mind for a few years, one similar to redit but much much better!! and another that is a dating website with a really special algorithm that im quite proud of!!!a

I don't believe you have anything that's completely unique. Even if you do then a big firm will rip off the functionality and spend their big bucks on marketing it, facebook has done it many times, it's how it works in the world of tech. A good idea isn't enough unless you're skilled in marketing. You'd be better off learning to market successfully unless you're passionate about programming as you'll just get bored and never learn it to a level to make secure applications. This is coming from someone who can code to a reasonable level in numerous languages - I got bored and took to paying people who were cheaper and better than me.

[TheSwede99]

I managed to squirrel away 2 million baht from my work in the west.

I am living in asia now, i calculate that i can continue living here for about 20 years before needing to get another job.

The first thing you need to do is get a new calculator, because that's only 8300 baht per month.

Yes but he earn interest, too. If he gets 2.7% interest less tax of 15% so it will be another 2500 baht a month for 20 years. The sum is small but it is possible to live on.

Edited June 3, 2014 by TheSwede99

[khunPer]

Normally the saying is, that you make your money – and begin savings in one or other form – when you are between 40 and 50 years old.

OP, you are 33 years old, living in Asia on nearly next to nothing and planning to do that the next 20 years. I think you yourself have the answer to your question, »I just wonder what some of you older people did all your lives to not have any savings or have some kind of skills that you can sell into the market place…«

[arnold40844]

Got to laugh at the abuse on this site, its like racism in Texas "cooked just right".

Its incredible how personal everyone got at the beginning of this post, and then continuing to abuse someone who is obviously going through some sort of a mid-life crisis. Divorce etc...

In my opinion there is no set figure that you need to live on in any country, £40k could last 5 life times with the right attitude or it could last 5 minutes depending on your vices. For example you could find a nice little property with a bit of a land, invest in solar, irrigation systems and farming equipmen etc. Find a like minded partner who isn't interested in shiny things and live like a king whilst working on more entrepreneurial ventures like websites, novels and a small teak plantation to pay for retirement. This is something I would like to do myself but unfortunately it does not fit in with my children's education or wife's addiction to city living. I think the modern world has lost touch with reality when it comes to wealth, being rich should be having more than you need to survive. A lot of people on this site will never understand that a life of luxury means different things to different people. To them its just a nice condo, a bar girl and retirement visa, just like it said in the brochure. There are a lot of small minds on this site who don't realize that having health insurance and dental are NOT essential to life.

On another note I think you reacted far to aggressively to the post's on here and you will not get far here with that attitude.

Best of luck!

[NCFC]

What kind of visa do you have? At 33 you're too young for retirement visa and no mention of a wife, which would eat up 400K of that 2 million for starters. Visa runs are now a no-no. I don't see how you can survive/stay in Thailand.

[emanon]

You are lucky that you that you are born in 1981.

After 1945, Europe slowly builds up social security, and it was a fight with help of the unions.

The possibilities and technology like now, didn’t exist for what you call “old people” born during, or short after WW 2.

Any kids on the basic school know this………Your mom and daddy can confirm this J

Yourself adoring question, tells a lot about yourself……..……..

[peterb17]

Wow 120 replies so far!

Sorry this must be bulls***t.

Writing a book with the literacy of a 12yr old- maybe it's fashionable these days- no .

The best bit was living in luxury- well maybe if the OP lived in some truly ghastly Government housing full of crack dealers and then moved to a shack by the beach- maybe.

What did us old guys do- well we saved a heap of money into pension funds - and now enjoy a decent income for life- never stops and we can travel the world and have the luxury of never worrying too much about the future ( apart from the grim reaper of course, but as they say taxes and death are the only certainties in life )

[rotary]

If you do not work for 20 more years and then try to get a job at 53 years old you will be shit out of luck I would guess. The best thing to do is head down, butt up, and get to work on making a retirement for yourself. You will wind up and old man with no money and no job skills IMHO

[Etherus]

60K in 7 years. I am having trouble thinking how I will retire having saved 60K in the last six months.

[tomyumchai]

I will learn phython, html and write a few website designs that ive had in my mind for a few years, one similar to redit but much much better!! and another that is a dating website with a really special algorithm that im quite proud of!!!a

Jesus wept

hey wait! i could really do with another dating website where countless scores of sexy ladies (without a photo) tell me they want me to come to thailand if i could just wire some money to them first........ if its a success you could use some of the profits to get your WP..........you did factor that into the 2 mil, right?

[tomyumchai]

Wow 120 replies so far!

Sorry this must be bulls***t.

Writing a book with the literacy of a 12yr old- maybe it's fashionable these days- no .

The best bit was living in luxury- well maybe if the OP lived in some truly ghastly Government housing full of crack dealers and then moved to a shack by the beach- maybe.

What did us old guys do- well we saved a heap of money into pension funds - and now enjoy a decent income for life- never stops and we can travel the world and have the luxury of never worrying too much about the future ( apart from the grim reaper of course, but as they say taxes and death are the only certainties in life )

ah, you missed the point that most 'young' people have literacy skills that stopped at the age when they got their first moblie phone m8, innit?

it should be a best seller to 'dakids'

[Emster23]

I've had two homeless friends, now down to one as Tony died of a busted liver. RIP. They both said combination of too much booze and getting cleaned out by Thai women reason living on the beach. A word to the hope to be wise.