moving to thailand now or later

[boris77]

hi all, brief history been married to thai 10 years ,2 kids 8 and 4. we are both 36 years old and have been living in uk for 6 years now. for the last few years i have put the idea (dream) of living in thailand to the back of my mind until kids have grown up but just lately am getting the urge to make a go of it in thailand. i know with 2 kids have to carefully consider everything, with schooling most important. i would pay for international school . believe me the schools in the uk are not as great as people think , not the ones round here anyway. I have been saving for a mortgage but the rising house prices is crazy just outside of london and even with a big deposit i still couldnt afford to get on the ladder, So am thinking use my deposit money to set myself up in thailand instead, about 80,000 pound. 4 mil baht. bought land few years ago to build house on so was thinking 1.5/ 2 million for a house , couple of bikes and a mil or so left in the bank. I would be quite willing to come home for 3 months every 6 months for a while and slowly set small business up for wife . the more i think about moving the more it makes sense,dont want to do it when too old to enjoy the journey, any experiences and helpful advice welcome

[impulse]

Your reserve isn't enough to educate your kids, build a house, live for a few months (years?) and start a business, unless everything goes exactly the right way for you.

One bad turn and you're in financial trouble.

Get your cash flow up to where you can live on it, then make the move, using your savings as your cushion.

Or throw caution to the wind, risk it all and come on in. The water's fine.

Edited August 10, 2014 by impulse

[Costas2008]

Boris, I don't want to put you off your plans, but for me you are too young to retire in Thailand.

Your 80K will not last you long and it will be very difficult for you to find a job.

I understand for your wife will be more welcome as she is Thai and she wants to be near her relatives.

But for you, I believe you should stay in the UK, whatever you say, the education system is much better than here and an International private school will cost you an arm and a leg.

Don't know in what business you are in, but this going and coming back will take a tall on you.

I would stick it for some more years in the UK and then start thinking of a move.

Good Luck to you and your family, whatever you decide to do.

[boris77]

thanks for the reply, that was my cautious view before to get my savings up ,but will they ever be high enough. the area where i am in uk is slowly getting more run down , people are stressed and miserable ,scrapping by paying the bills. i just feel we could have a better outdoor quality of life , not stuck in the house most the year because of the poxy weather

[RolandRat]

The most expensive cost of living anywhere is the roof over your head. You are probably paying big money rent right now. You wouldnt have that in Thailand, you can buy a house and thats done. You and your family then have a home no matter what.

You have enough to last a little while, so your main hurdle is job/income. Thats the problem, can you do something to pay your daily living and bills and schooling for the children etc.

[boris77]

hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers

[choochoo]

foolish! your kids come first. stay in uk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CharlieH]

hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers

You have a problem with Carpentry! Its a prohibited occupation for a foreigner in Thailand.

Bricklaying, carpentry, or other construction work.

[krisb]

hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers

You have a problem with Carpentry! Its a prohibited occupation for a foreigner in Thailand.

Bricklaying, carpentry, or other construction work.

But being a contractors not right?

[GuestHouse]

i would pay for international school

Unless you are earning a very good package in Thailand you will not be able to afford to put two children through international school.

I would be quite willing to come home for 3 months every 6 months for a while and slowly set small business up for wife

Your problem is going to be hitting a living income stream before your money runs out.

If you have managed to save GBP80K in the UK then you are doing better than most people your age with a young family.

My advice then, stick to Plan A, get the kids through school and then think about retirement or part time life in Thailand.

You already have the best thing Thailand can offer, a wife and family - look after them and they'll look after you.

[Bernard Flint]

hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers

Deportation will not be nice,when you get caught for working without a permit, what happends to your wife and 2 children then???/

[zeichen]

" hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers "

First of all the biggest expense is not housing it is children and their education. An international school for each kid will cost you more than 200,000 a year.

Second of all, I don't see how any carpenter in Thailand earns 10k baht a week and I don't see how anyone will hire a foreigner for that. You could start a construction firm though and hire Thais and train them to your standard.

Unless you have a real strategy to earn income in Thailand, you will loose all that you have and go back to England with even less than now.

I understand the transition periods in ones life and feeling the need for a change. As a parent you need to endure and go through the grind until you are in an extremely solid place not just financially but everything else also.

I do wish you all the luck but my gut feeling is to stay endure and slowly build up until you have a real strategy. Thailand spits people out everyday.

[FireMedic]

Don't do it. Stay there where you feel at home. It's way too much of a hassle for you to live here at 36 and if you don't have lots of money to keep you going, don't think about it. Very unlikely you will find a job doing and making what you want and unlikely your start up business will make enough to cover your needs.

[ATF]

Boris check out the prices of International Schools first. They are the same price as a good private school in the UK.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Thailand is not the right place for anyone to move at this time.

It's getting harder for foreigners to stay here.

It's very hard for most foreigners to earn money here (legally).

The Junta is getting more repressive.

Inflation is runaway.

I can't imagine anyone would want to move here now.

I wish I hadn't (and I'm not a foreigner).

Edited August 10, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Cypress Hill]

hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers

You can't be a chippy in Thailand. Well, not legally anyway

I can sympathise with how you feel but if you don't have an income, you'll blast through those savings in no time.

Thailand is no place to be skint

[Franky Bear]

I love Thailand as much as anyone. If i didn't have my step daughter i'd have been on the next plane to UK when our own kid was born 6 years ago. I know the standard of schools has gone down in the UK, but it will still be better, and free in the UK, not to mention the NHS and other big perks compared to Thailand. Kids are numero-uno.

[boris77]

my brother in law works legally as a contractor in thailand in construction business, but i think like i said instead of watching the savings dwindle i would come back and get another mil in the bank every 6 months or so whilst im young enough to and still able. I do know the sensible thing is to stay here another 20 years and maybe have a few more quid in the bank but sometimes we just have to not think with our heads but go with our hearts .

[khounteen]

Stay put in U.K. They pay carpenters 10000 baht per month over here. You will struggle to get jobs at 4 times the local salary. Its good to have friends here but how long can they provide you with jobs?

[Franky Bear]

my brother in law works legally as a contractor in thailand in construction business, but i think like i said instead of watching the savings dwindle i would come back and get another mil in the bank every 6 months or so whilst im young enough to and still able. I do know the sensible thing is to stay here another 20 years and maybe have a few more quid in the bank but sometimes we just have to not think with our heads but go with our hearts .

If you can come back and guarantee yourself that kind of cash for 3/4 months a year then go for it. But i'd give up on trying to work in Thailand mate, too many pitfalls.

[GuestHouse]

Another point to note:

Anyone planning to live in Thailand long term needs to understand the Retirement Visa requirements - The OP, like a lot of guys who move to Thailand, is a long way off retirement, but retirement and old age will eventually come (if you are lucky). At that point you need to have sufficient capital/income to meet the retirement rules (which have never gone down).

An income that covers daily costs but does not allow for retirement savings is in reality a path to returning home in old age penniless.

[finy]

Spend next year building an online business then when you're making 1-2K per month make the move.

Don't believe anyone who says it's illegal. Well technically it is, but you'll get a marriage visa and if you work from home nobody will know.

[inbangkok]

The only piece of advice I can offer is this....check into international school tuition here. You may be surprised........

[inbangkok]

Thailand is not the right place for anyone to move at this time.

It's getting harder for foreigners to stay here.

It's very hard for most foreigners to earn money here (legally).

The Junta is getting more repressive.

Inflation is runaway.

I can't imagine anyone would want to move here now.

I wish I hadn't (and I'm not a foreigner).

I have to agree that this is something to put some serious thought into...........

[Beetlejuice]

hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers

You bought land a few years ago in Thailand, which is illegal, you have broken the law and legally cannot own it. Now with the Junta in power here all these back door and Thai upfront name methods to buy land will soon be clamped down upon and you stand a chance of losing the said land in the future.

You intend to create some sort of small business here with your wife. What sort of business? Considering you have by your own admission illegally financed land in your Thai wife’s name, would this be the same scenario regarding any businesses you intend to finance, own and run in Thailand?

£80000 at today’s bank exchange rates = just over 4 million baht. Out of this you intend to have a home built up to 2 million baht on land you purchased illegally and cannot own, but hoping that the law will turn a blind eye and no one will notice, probably the same regards if you were working as a carpenter. And then pay for International school education for 2 children for the next 14 years until the children reach 18 years old and probably another 4 years University education for the children after they graduate from high school, then throwing in the purchase of a couple of motorbikes just for good measure.

You are not taking into account inflation, bank exchange rates and interest rates that can fluctuate greatly, plus Immigration could raise the imposed amounts of Thai bahts required as savings in a Thai bank account to obtain your annual visa and after that your yearly visa extensions and of course health care for yourself and family.

To survive in Thailand for a family of four, including International school education for your children, you are probably looking at needing an income of at least 50000 baht per month, if you’re lucky, and on that amount you certainly would not be eating Champaign dinners every day and definitely living a lifestyle of absolute basics. If you were left with even 2 million baht after your house building and other expenditure to set yourself up here, your savings at 50000 baht per month would be depleted within three and a half years, that’s if nothing else crops up in the meantime. So how do you suppose to financially support yourself and family after you reach 40 years old?

I would like to ask, do you have any Insurance policies or guaranteed pensions to claim on your retirement? As you are only 36 years old the normal retirement ages for those claiming their pensions in the next 30 years may have increased to 70 years old or older, that is of course if you have been or continue to pay into a pension scheme and UK Government NI credits while you are living in Thailand, which on your limited savings would be a struggle, or more likely impossible.

Sorry my friend, but you are living in cloud cuckoo land, you would be moving here on a hope and a prayer that everything works out. I first suggest that you do some more research prior to even considering packing everything up in the UK and moving permanently to Thailand and especially not subjecting your children to such an ordeal and placing their futures at risk, as that would be totally irresponsible and an act of extreme foolishness of the first degree. I speak as someone who has a Thai wife and brought up 3 children here for over 30 years.

Whatever you decide to do, you do so at your own risk and discretion and suggest that you arrange a proper guardian for your children in the UK if not able to support them there and not bring them to Thailand with you as a part of your grand ideas that do not have any chance of succeeding while you`re in your present situation on the details you have given.

[boris77]

thanks for all the replys. sure is food for thought . my wife already has a small business plan and without too much of a set up cost. and it s a pretty good idea, small but could pay the billls etc. like i said in first post i d always put off the idea of living in thailand once i had kids , but now ive got an inner urge to give it a go and it wont go away. we are not coming to thailand to get rich just live a simple , happy life in a nice house in a nice enviroment. chumphon . or i just forget about it and let the urge go away and be sensible and safe

[ATF]

thanks for all the replys. sure is food for thought . my wife already has a small business plan and without too much of a set up cost. and it s a pretty good idea, small but could pay the billls etc. like i said in first post i d always put off the idea of living in thailand once i had kids , but now ive got an inner urge to give it a go and it wont go away. we are not coming to thailand to get rich just live a simple , happy life in a nice house in a nice enviroment. chumphon . or i just forget about it and let the urge go away and be sensible and safe

Boris the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Given your present financial circumstances it would be very difficult. That's just an observation don't take it personally.

Why don't you plan extended holidays every year and get a feel for it first.

[boris77]

thanks for all the replys. sure is food for thought . my wife already has a small business plan and without too much of a set up cost. and it s a pretty good idea, small but could pay the billls etc. like i said in first post i d always put off the idea of living in thailand once i had kids , but now ive got an inner urge to give it a go and it wont go away. we are not coming to thailand to get rich just live a simple , happy life in a nice house in a nice enviroment. chumphon . or i just forget about it and let the urge go away and be sensible and safe

Boris the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Given your present financial circumstances it would be very difficult. That's just an observation don't take it personally.

Why don't you plan extended holidays every year and get a feel for it first.

hi atf , extended holidays each year only in the past have teased me into wanting to give it a go. it depend s what drives you i suppose, im not one who needs loads of money to make me happy, its not all about finances , i understand a little financial security but 4 million baht isnt a bad starting point is it ?

[scotty92]

I would go for it!

what people seem to be missing is that you are going to go back every year or so and work earn say 1M baht then go back and enjoy yourself with your family.

Many people do travel back and forth, whether they work in other countries or return to England.

I would recommend after spending 3 mil keep 1 mil in the bank to ensure any extra training can be done when returning(standards are ever changing).i have experienced this.

As for the national insurance,I'm sure being a chippy you have been working paying this for 20 years so if you needed to you could pay the remaining years off in lump.

If you don't try you will never know

Regards

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[boris77]

hi rolandrat, its true housing is the biggest expense and with 2 million think i could get a half decent place. a happy home is important for a happy life. im a carpenter and i know i could get work in samui for 10000 baht a week if needed to, have friends and family living and working there, but like i said i really wouldnt mind coming back to uk every 6 months or so and save a mil then come back. cheers

You bought land a few years ago in Thailand, which is illegal, you have broken the law and legally cannot own it. Now with the Junta in power here all these back door and Thai upfront name methods to buy land will soon be clamped down upon and you stand a chance of losing the said land in the future.

You intend to create some sort of small business here with your wife. What sort of business? Considering you have by your own admission illegally financed land in your Thai wife’s name, would this be the same scenario regarding any businesses you intend to finance, own and run in Thailand?

£80000 at today’s bank exchange rates = just over 4 million baht. Out of this you intend to have a home built up to 2 million baht on land you purchased illegally and cannot own, but hoping that the law will turn a blind eye and no one will notice, probably the same regards if you were working as a carpenter. And then pay for International school education for 2 children for the next 14 years until the children reach 18 years old and probably another 4 years University education for the children after they graduate from high school, then throwing in the purchase of a couple of motorbikes just for good measure.

You are not taking into account inflation, bank exchange rates and interest rates that can fluctuate greatly, plus Immigration could raise the imposed amounts of Thai bahts required as savings in a Thai bank account to obtain your annual visa and after that your yearly visa extensions and of course health care for yourself and family.

To survive in Thailand for a family of four, including International school education for your children, you are probably looking at needing an income of at least 50000 baht per month, if you’re lucky, and on that amount you certainly would not be eating Champaign dinners every day and definitely living a lifestyle of absolute basics. If you were left with even 2 million baht after your house building and other expenditure to set yourself up here, your savings at 50000 baht per month would be depleted within three and a half years, that’s if nothing else crops up in the meantime. So how do you suppose to financially support yourself and family after you reach 40 years old?

I would like to ask, do you have any Insurance policies or guaranteed pensions to claim on your retirement? As you are only 36 years old the normal retirement ages for those claiming their pensions in the next 30 years may have increased to 70 years old or older, that is of course if you have been or continue to pay into a pension scheme and UK Government NI credits while you are living in Thailand, which on your limited savings would be a struggle, or more likely impossible.

Sorry my friend, but you are living in cloud cuckoo land, you would be moving here on a hope and a prayer that everything works out. I first suggest that you do some more research prior to even considering packing everything up in the UK and moving permanently to Thailand and especially not subjecting your children to such an ordeal and placing their futures at risk, as that would be totally irresponsible and an act of extreme foolishness of the first degree. I speak as someone who has a Thai wife and brought up 3 children here for over 30 years.

Whatever you decide to do, you do so at your own risk and discretion and suggest that you arrange a proper guardian for your children in the UK if not able to support them there and not bring them to Thailand with you as a part of your grand ideas that do not have any chance of succeeding while you`re in your present situation on the details you have given.

hi beetlejuice, i dont believe in my post i said i paid for the land, you know not all thai s are penniless peasants. grand idea s with no chance of succeeding , we ll if everybody thought the way u do there wouldnt be much hope in the world. that is what i like about forums though , different points of view cheers