Thailand voted one of the best destinations for retirees

[TheKnave]

Did any retired people vote?

[bunuel]

Being a old bloke I think Thailand would be a dud place to retire if you had a Farang wife the same age as yourself, I think anywhere would be dud to retire if I had a Farang wife the same age as me, and I don't think that is just me.

Would all the knockers tell me a better country than Thailand to retire for old blokes, because that is what most retirees in Thailand are, that is cheaper, more friendly, better weather, a better country for ugly old blokes like me to get very accommodating beautiful young women, a country with more easy and cheaper immigration rules for retirement, cheaper accommodation, and for the blokes that drink alcohol that is more easy to get and cheaper to buy and you can drink it anywhere, even on the days you are not allowed to.

A country that is better that Thailand with all the above not just one or two things, I would really like to know because I can not find one, if there is one I going there.

While it is a matter of personal taste, Ecuador and Costa Rica are certainly worth considering. I know CR, and it is grear.Might have to pick up some Spanish, but a lovely Tica will help you in CR. Beaches and nature surpass anything in LOS, and , by the way, they abolished their army half a century ago!

[mok199]

i agree but..i would ''photo shop'' that picture and she would be a 23 yr old dancer,he is ok the way he is.mabey a few more tats and a thong...on second thought forget the tats.

[Artisi]

Looking at the number of expats living/retiring here seems to contradict with the general sentiment in TV as to how unfriendly a place it is for retirees.

How do we all propose immigration ease the regulations and restrictions without letting the undesirables slip in?

Why wouldn't every country welcome retirees who are law-abiding citizens and can prove they have enough resources to not only NOT be a burden to that country's healthcare and social welfare system which wasn't supported by their taxes but to also contribute to the countries earnings?

Please enlighten me as to how not having enough resources as a foreigner would be a burden to the country's healthcare system and social welfare system seeing as how we are excluded completely from both and also a lot of the money spent by foreigner's is contributing to the countries earnings - it's called vat tax.

[catweazle]

Thailand voted one of the best destinations for retirees Good one!!!

Edited September 8, 2014 by catweazle

[harleyclarkey]

Is this a joke?

Every 90 days you report for a continuance, you must leave 800K in the bank, you can't own property, you have no rights, you have no legal system, corruption is rife, the [police are worse than the criminals, the courts laugh at you, you are despised, you are merely there, not to enjoy the Autumn of your years, but as a cash cow and potential scam victim.

Remember the vast majority of retirees cash flows one way....into Thailand.

Rubbish article.

Rubbish post.

Actually come to Thailand first.

Rather than trying to throw dirt around let us know here where my post is factually incorrect?

Come to Thailand?

I lived, past tense, in Thailand.

I was wise enough to get out of the corrupt place before I was skinned alive financially and emotionally by a rotten system.

Maybe you like living in a country where you have no rights?

[jacky54]

Did any retired people vote?

I would have voted it's one of the better places in SEA, however that's not saying much, but worldwide never. Far better places in Europe and some not that much more expensive with no immigration hassle if from the EU, health care and decent weather. I often wake up and think what the hell am I still doing here? Rotten infrastructure, appalling driving, too hot, simpletons in every shop and Bank, insects, crappy house build standards, expensive serious health care, terrible moronic tv, coups at regular intervals and horrible food, what is there not to dislike after 20 years? oh then there is immigration of course!

Edited September 8, 2014 by jacky54

[Artisi]

Thailand voted one of the best destinations for retirees Good one!!!

Seems you better stay where you are and keep well away from Thailand seeing as how you dislike it so much.

[PhuketGreenbike]

Thats typical Thai..look backwards,but never think about the the future.....

Most of the people I know would never come back and do it again...there are many many better choices....Thailand just dont want to face the reality....

Next years poll on the subject will look different.......for sure.....

[harleyclarkey]

Is this a joke?

Every 90 days you report for a continuance, you must leave 800K in the bank, you can't own property, you have no rights, you have no legal system, corruption is rife, the [police are worse than the criminals, the courts laugh at you, you are despised, you are merely there, not to enjoy the Autumn of your years, but as a cash cow and potential scam victim.

Remember the vast majority of retirees cash flows one way....into Thailand.

Rubbish article.

Better just hang out in Dublin seeing as how Thailand is such an awful place to be.

Hang out in Dublin? Magic place....you should try it.

I will stick to Burma/Cambodia/Vietnam/India/etc.

South America suits as well. I had a good 2 months on my motorcycle in the States recently. Off now for a spin around Europe.

The world doesn't revolve around rotten Thailand as you apologists for Thailand seem to think. Thailand is corrupt to the core and if you can't see that then you are blind.

But then maybe you are stuck there??

[harleyclarkey]

Thailand voted one of the best destinations for retirees Good one!!!

Seems you better stay where you are and keep well away from Thailand seeing as how you dislike it so much.

Right on Art....best thing for foreigners to do.

Maybe you would enlighten us here as to what is good for retirees? Apart from things like climate and food costs....what is exclusive to make Thailand one of the best in the world for retirees??

[ggt]

This vote was based on previous data...when this year is completed...the numbers will be different and Thailand will slip in these kinds of polls...

[Jingthing]

All these countries have one thing in common. The general population is predominantly poor. A bank manager here takes home that sort of income each month 65,000 baht so in retrospect they are in asking for a lot of money. All these countries are in general structurally, environmentally, educationally, inferior to the country a retiree is coming from. Tax payers have nothing to complain about, it is above their pay grade. It is obvious a country like Australia, the UK and the U.S would demand a person be of the same difference in stature than its average citizen to come and retire and access the benefits of its developed nation. Thus somewhere like Australia demands a person is worth around 1.5 million AUD to go there and retire with a visa. Now if you had an open check book and money was of no consequence would you choose to retire in Thailand, Ecuador, Malaysia, etc etc? Or would you choose somewhere like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Santa Fe, N.M., and Orlando, Fla.??? I know where i would be heading.

Neither the U.S. or Canada offer a retirement visa OF ANY KIND. In fact, most countries don't. In some countries, there are loopholes where the same thing can be accomplished (like Cambodia). Australia and N.Z. do but with financial requirements only for elites.

[RobertoOzman]

utter BULL ....I dont care what any thai lovers on here say ..I've been here a long time and its NOT foreigner friendly

TezzaP.......... Something's lacking there, mate!........... may I suggest you spend some of your cash on plastic surgery, and then get a serious change of attitude!.......... Maybe start smiling a little!

[RecklessRon]

All these countries have one thing in common. The general population is predominantly poor. A bank manager here takes home that sort of income each month 65,000 baht so in retrospect they are in asking for a lot of money. All these countries are in general structurally, environmentally, educationally, inferior to the country a retiree is coming from. Tax payers have nothing to complain about, it is above their pay grade. It is obvious a country like Australia, the UK and the U.S would demand a person be of the same difference in stature than its average citizen to come and retire and access the benefits of its developed nation. Thus somewhere like Australia demands a person is worth around 1.5 million AUD to go there and retire with a visa. Now if you had an open check book and money was of no consequence would you choose to retire in Thailand, Ecuador, Malaysia, etc etc? Or would you choose somewhere like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Santa Fe, N.M., and Orlando, Fla.??? I know where i would be heading.

Neither the U.S. or Canada offer a retirement visa OF ANY KIND. In fact, most countries don't. In some countries, there are loopholes where the same thing can be accomplished (like Cambodia). Australia and N.Z. do but with financial requirements only for elites.

Neither the U.S. or Canada NEED a retirement visa of any kind as they both have clearly defined paths to citizenship! (not that I'd recommend living in either place!)

[Jingthing]

All these countries have one thing in common. The general population is predominantly poor. A bank manager here takes home that sort of income each month 65,000 baht so in retrospect they are in asking for a lot of money. All these countries are in general structurally, environmentally, educationally, inferior to the country a retiree is coming from. Tax payers have nothing to complain about, it is above their pay grade. It is obvious a country like Australia, the UK and the U.S would demand a person be of the same difference in stature than its average citizen to come and retire and access the benefits of its developed nation. Thus somewhere like Australia demands a person is worth around 1.5 million AUD to go there and retire with a visa. Now if you had an open check book and money was of no consequence would you choose to retire in Thailand, Ecuador, Malaysia, etc etc? Or would you choose somewhere like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Santa Fe, N.M., and Orlando, Fla.??? I know where i would be heading.

Neither the U.S. or Canada offer a retirement visa OF ANY KIND. In fact, most countries don't. In some countries, there are loopholes where the same thing can be accomplished (like Cambodia). Australia and N.Z. do but with financial requirements only for elites.

Neither the U.S. or Canada NEED a retirement visa of any kind as they both have clearly defined paths to citizenship! (not that I'd recommend living in either place!)

That's totally ridiculous.

We're not talking here about IMMIGRATION.

Duh.

Moving abroad for retirement is NOT the same thing as regular immigration.

Actually the USA could potentially have millions of retired expats if they wanted them and offered such a visa.

For some political reason, it hasn't happened.

As it is foreigners are free to buy real estate but can only live in their U.S. homes for six months of each year on tourist visas.

[chumpy]

The man in the picture looks like he is out of his mind and he must be for having a farang wife here,it's like taking sand to the sahara desert,maybe the TAT can find an advertising angle on this,some new kind of slogan like "amazing ................ just leave the old cow at home"

[Pundi6446]

Oh how happy and gay that couple looks, no one kicking sand on them, carefree, oh happy days, no beach mafia, what horse$hit.

The real picture is the couple hauling ass away from the beach mafia trying to bash them, and extort money from them, they were actually crying for help.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Pundi6446

[citizen33]

Thailand has many good points for retirees, but to my mind the difficulty in arranging dependable healthcare is a big negatve. The recent threads on 'Affordable healthcare' and 'Barebones health insurance' will give you an idea of the worries many older expats have. The bottom line is that individual private health insurance is not going to cover too many into their 80s; almost all countries around the world have some alternative government-regulated system which pools risk for older people. If Thailand really aspires to be a Mecca for retiring expats then it needs to do more in that area.

[ableguy]

They huffed and they puffed and they blew the post down.

[Benmart]

They don't mention viagra and relatively cheap pooosssy, but u don't expect Thai officialdom to be in touch with reality.

In fact, pooossy must be a huge contributor to Thailand's economy.

It has been said that if Thailand didn't have poooosssy it wouldn't have an international airport

Thainess prevails

Very difficult to gauge the validity of the post. Very simple to determine the mind set.

Sobriety helps to prevent multiple key strokes.

[Torrens54]

One Major Factor Ignored!

The New Government has ditched the Health Insurance Scheme for Farang.

I'm told it still covers "Burmese" and a few others BUT NOT those folk of European extraction.... such as Australians, Americans, Canadians, British, German, Swiss, Italian etc.

If we get sick, we've all got plenty of money so it would seem, and we can well afford to cough-up. Perhaps Ying Luck and her crowd weren't that bad after all?

Trust the Huffington Post will highlight the appropriate correction to the story.

[mdmayes]

What is Thailand out of the seven?

[Kerryd]

The 7 Most Retiree Friendly Countries:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-peddicord/best-countries-to-retire-abroad_b_5696159.html

The World’s Best Places To Retire In 2014:

http://internationalliving.com/2014/01/the-best-places-to-retire-2014/

The Final Scores

[pomchop]

Wow!! TAT is really getting desperate. It must have taken them countless man hours online surfing to find the article from an obscure abd insignificant news source called the Huffington post.

Then they call it popular and turn the small article into a sales pitch about retiring here. 1 paragraph stating they made top 7 list of destinations and the rest about requirements to retire here.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

The " obscure and insignificant" Huffington Post is ranked 22 website in USA and 71st in the world. I would hardly call that "insignificant or obscure".

[ggt]

The retired couple in the photo...have just been told that Thailand is one of the best places for foreigners to retire...

For them...it was an exceptionally good laugh!

[rajyindee]

This vote was based on previous data...when this year is completed...the numbers will be different and Thailand will slip in these kinds of polls...

There was no vote. It is just some blurb from a woman promoting her book and website.

[gk10002000]

Thailand is definitely not as cheap or well priced as it was just a few years ago. But it is still pretty good place. Up until you are 65 years old, the medical insurance is very reasonable. I do like a buddhist country. I do like the architecture. I do like the language. Gosh the way the girls speak in those descending tones is very soothing. I like the water and greenery. I like the food. I like the choice of international food that is available in any of the bigger cities, German food especially. I see many beautiful women there. Gosh foot and leg massage for 200 baht/hour! Oil massage for 300 baht. A pretty vibrant nightlife. Some fun bars, discos, music venues. I have been 14 times now I think, and have stayed over two months on some vacations when between contracts. Retirement is as close as I want it.

[Strangebrew]

But If the 90 day thing to hard to do then head home. Or go to the states if you got a half a million to invest, Then you can work get some fat chick there to suck you dry, and get that fine Obama care. I'll take the 90 days any day besides I travel so non issue. Then my in and out covers the reporting Besides Cambodia has casinos other side walk over drop a couple bucks walk back hop bus back home. If lucky usually win my costs back so free trip with tip. Besides where in the world can an old dude get so many young women? that are mostly pretty nice weather and beaches, cheap cold beer good food. Only complaint is damn steering wheel on wrong side of car and they drive on wrong side of road.

[Naam]

But If the 90 day thing to hard to do then head home. Or go to the states if you got a half a million to invest, Then you can work get some fat chick there to suck you dry, and get that fine Obama care. I'll take the 90 days any day besides I travel so non issue. Then my in and out covers the reporting Besides Cambodia has casinos other side walk over drop a couple bucks walk back hop bus back home. If lucky usually win my costs back so free trip with tip. Besides where in the world can an old dude get so many young women? that are mostly pretty nice weather and beaches, cheap cold beer good food. Only complaint is damn steering wheel on wrong side of car and they drive on wrong side of road.

strange logic! since when is the right side the wrong side?