Should I stay or leave Thailand?

[JenniferSG]

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Social Security benefits are calculated on the amount you paid in for the last 20 years before you turn 65. You'll lose all SS if you don't work in the US.

Teachers get a good retirement also and there are places that need real teachers in the US. It pays pretty well.

You will get old and you will need retirement income or massive savings. You'll need to maintain an address in the US to be eligible for Medicare at 65. If nothing else, google for an address in S. Dakota. It's the only state that actively seeks expats and snowbirds as residents and it's legal.

I will check on that. Thanks.

Retirement is something that I've been thinking about lately. The years go by very fast. Twenty years is nothing.

With a teaching certificate OR masters, and an endorsement to teach special ed, you should be able to get a teaching job in the U.S. that pays a whole lot more than an aid position. My ex is a U.S. teacher with only the certificate (what people with little money got back when a certificate was 1 year but a masters was 2. Now the masters is like 8 months so everyone gets that an the accompanying added pay). He doesn't have a special ed endorsement, like you do. In fact, he can only teach 1 subject area (2 is recommended) so finding a job initially took about a year. However, he makes 70K plus matching retirement and only works 180 days per year compared to the rest of the Mon-Fri crowd that works about 245 days per year. So he has plenty of time to go spend the summer abroad, etc., while earning both social security and the matched contributions from his union teaching job benefits. We're in a popular American city and still there are teaching jobs posted here all the time for credentialed teachers, at a lot higher pay than the job you mentioned. Why not work in the US and go to Thailand on your many school vacations?

[Kabula]

Obviously you have not heard about all the horror stories presently going on in North American, formerly the USA.

If you were informed, you wouldn't think about returning.

Even main stream news is confirming all your personal sovereignty and country sovereignty is gone with Presidential orders.

Would you feel safe in a country with no constitutional rights and open borders?

Would you feel safe in a country that imports Ebola patients (for the first time in history) and everyone now confirms it is mutating and can be air born? Not to mention other suspicious, mutating viruses appearing. This is also in main stream news.

Currently main stream news even admits the new Presidential orders allow for you to be detained for even cold symptoms with no time limit!

Whistle blowers are scared and coming out of the wood work, including homeland security, top Police Chiefs and Army Generals and confirming all the facts now.

Competent trends forecasters, including an ex US Secretary of the Treasury, who have provided financial and political information to all of the top fortune 500 companies are forecasting the dollar to devaluate or even collapse at the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015, along with major sell offs of the bond and stock market.

Even if you get a new job, how long will it last in a crisis and collapse?

Your reading the wrong books!

Remarkable.

I don't know where you got your information from but it seems to me you are a very smart person with your finger well and truly on the pulse,, i am staying with friends in the south of France right now and can't speak French and don't understand the language so i watch English programs on the cable and last night forced myself to watch a report (something like 60 minutes) on the collapse of the American economy due mainly to their control of the Gold prices and how they wanted the US Dollar to be the worlds currency, the former IMF president was framed for sexual abuse and thrown in jail and resigned, because he wanted to know the exact gold reserves in the US, i hate it when people like you are right,, i'm just so scared that i will have to go through the 80's crisis again,, i lost a lot and i have now recovered and want to cash up sell my assets and have cash or as the program said in the future we will be paying with gold chips to the equivalent of $50 a piece as currencies (cash) will have no value, i'm sure you know what i am talking about,, the question is "what to do and how to protect my future"

This (cash is worthless) scenario happened in Portugal in the 2nd world war, you can read the article here,,,

http://www.neill-lochery.co.uk/blog/are-all-dictators-gems-greedy-evil-and-mad-part-1_1.html

is history repeating itself again,, i hope not but i'm sure it is slowly heading that way,, again how to protect oneself , in Thailand we have many friends, it seems everyone is a friend,, until the money runs out, then all friends disappear. What do i do then?

Thank you for your complement.

History always repeats itself. History has shown us that all paper currencies fail over time and the people who own us always take us to war when the worldwide economies retreat. We have been in that war for sometime worldwide economically. The push back and truth has delayed failures. History confirms they will eventually come.

The best investments today are storable food, water and security.

We have lived in the best of times and the worst of times.

I wish I had all the answers, I don't.

However, everyone is in the same boat!

Live everyday as it was your last. Life is short, shorter for many. Spend and enjoy your money as it may be worth a lot less next month, or the month after that, or next year.

Don't worry! The American Indians lived in America for approximately 8,000 years with nothing. Americans are now living on the reservation and can expect what the American Indian sustained.

Good luck to us all.

[AYJAYDEE]

Obviously you have not heard about all the horror stories presently going on in North American, formerly the USA.

If you were informed, you wouldn't think about returning.

Even main stream news is confirming all your personal sovereignty and country sovereignty is gone with Presidential orders.

Would you feel safe in a country with no constitutional rights and open borders?

Would you feel safe in a country that imports Ebola patients (for the first time in history) and everyone now confirms it is mutating and can be air born? Not to mention other suspicious, mutating viruses appearing. This is also in main stream news.

Currently main stream news even admits the new Presidential orders allow for you to be detained for even cold symptoms with no time limit!

Whistle blowers are scared and coming out of the wood work, including homeland security, top Police Chiefs and Army Generals and confirming all the facts now.

Competent trends forecasters, including an ex US Secretary of the Treasury, who have provided financial and political information to all of the top fortune 500 companies are forecasting the dollar to devaluate or even collapse at the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015, along with major sell offs of the bond and stock market.

Even if you get a new job, how long will it last in a crisis and collapse?

Your reading the wrong books!

Remarkable.

I don't know where you got your information from but it seems to me you are a very smart person with your finger well and truly on the pulse,, i am staying with friends in the south of France right now and can't speak French and don't understand the language so i watch English programs on the cable and last night forced myself to watch a report (something like 60 minutes) on the collapse of the American economy due mainly to their control of the Gold prices and how they wanted the US Dollar to be the worlds currency, the former IMF president was framed for sexual abuse and thrown in jail and resigned, because he wanted to know the exact gold reserves in the US, i hate it when people like you are right,, i'm just so scared that i will have to go through the 80's crisis again,, i lost a lot and i have now recovered and want to cash up sell my assets and have cash or as the program said in the future we will be paying with gold chips to the equivalent of $50 a piece as currencies (cash) will have no value, i'm sure you know what i am talking about,, the question is "what to do and how to protect my future"

This (cash is worthless) scenario happened in Portugal in the 2nd world war, you can read the article here,,,

http://www.neill-lochery.co.uk/blog/are-all-dictators-gems-greedy-evil-and-mad-part-1_1.html

is history repeating itself again,, i hope not but i'm sure it is slowly heading that way,, again how to protect oneself , in Thailand we have many friends, it seems everyone is a friend,, until the money runs out, then all friends disappear. What do i do then?

Thank you for your complement.

History always repeats itself. History has shown us that all paper currencies fail over time and the people who own us always take us to war when the worldwide economies retreat. We have been in that war for sometime worldwide economically. The push back and truth has delayed failures. History confirms they will eventually come.

The best investments today are storable food, water and security.

We have lived in the best of times and the worst of times.

I wish I had all the answers, I don't.

However, everyone is in the same boat!

Live everyday as it was your last. Life is short, shorter for many. Spend and enjoy your money as it may be worth a lot less next month, or the month after that, or next year.

Don't worry! The American Indians lived in America for approximately 8,000 years with nothing. Americans are now living on the reservation and can expect what the American Indian sustained.

Good luck to us all.

nothing? u call 30 million bison nothing?

[Kabula]

Obviously you have not heard about all the horror stories presently going on in North American, formerly the USA.

If you were informed, you wouldn't think about returning.

Even main stream news is confirming all your personal sovereignty and country sovereignty is gone with Presidential orders.

Would you feel safe in a country with no constitutional rights and open borders?

Would you feel safe in a country that imports Ebola patients (for the first time in history) and everyone now confirms it is mutating and can be air born? Not to mention other suspicious, mutating viruses appearing. This is also in main stream news.

Currently main stream news even admits the new Presidential orders allow for you to be detained for even cold symptoms with no time limit!

Whistle blowers are scared and coming out of the wood work, including homeland security, top Police Chiefs and Army Generals and confirming all the facts now.

Competent trends forecasters, including an ex US Secretary of the Treasury, who have provided financial and political information to all of the top fortune 500 companies are forecasting the dollar to devaluate or even collapse at the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015, along with major sell offs of the bond and stock market.

Even if you get a new job, how long will it last in a crisis and collapse?

Your reading the wrong books!

Remarkable.

I'd take my chance in a country that is 9,826, 675 square kilometres

You must be referring to a different country than the one I live in. It sounds like you are making conclusions based on sound bytes and whacko headlines.

Yes, your perspective is remarkable.

That is what the American Indians, the Germans, the Jews, the Polish, The French, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Cambodians, the Vietnamese, and the Russians said before billions died from starvation, disease, war, and torture. And the remarkable fact is many of the German civilians that lived close to the concentration camps still didn't believe the news until the U.S. Army that liberated the camps and forced the German civilians at gunpoint to stack the dead and buried them. My father, a US Army Sgt. helped liberate a concentration camp in SE Germany near the end of World War II. I was a soldier in Vietnam. I understand your thinking and unfortunately your thought process accelerates the collapse. A pandemic of mutating viruses that accelerate in cold weather pay little attention to boundaries. Your normalcy bias is scary.

[SpokaneAl]

Not much paranoia in your world is there?

[umbanda]

The OP should return to the US and, if the Thai GF is willing and able to relocate, he should bring her over on a K-1 fiancee visa, which will not be difficult for him to obtain despite his belief. He should finish his career in the US with wife working and becoming US citizen after the required thee years. Later they can retire to Thailand where their SS benefits will go further.

For him to remain in Thailand is to prepare for an old age in poverty. The number of English teachers here who have prepared a retirement successfully must be very small.

Best advice! Working together and living together in the US, probably his young GF will learn good English to get some kind of skills there. If later, in about 5 years, and for any reason, wanting to live in Thailand, the GF may get a job here with social security benefits that will cover her husband too.and he may get a good teaching job. With 2 good salaries and health benefits, a small family can have a decent living here. I also beleive that if he have a decentj full time job in the US, get a fiance visa to get married in the US will be not so difficult. After 5 years, he also will have the opportunity to learn Thai, his wife will be an US citizen, and more options will be on the table.

[teatree]

Get the qualifications needed to get a job in an international school.

A senior teacher can pull in 120k a month in BKK.

[jacko45k]

I wouldn't be in your shoes. At your age, these should be the peak earning years and it sounds like you are squandering them.

Salary levels like this are not going to make for a good retirement unless you have other sources of income.

[Strangebrew]

Look I would take job back in States Laws have they are required to pay medical benefits for public school jobs they receive there funds from US gov. Plus you get retirement savings. Then when retired and have cash saved up come back older and wiser. And live good young tat coming out your ears. But up to you Thai girlfriend likes the free room and board and extra baht for just spreading legs. She will be swing on another cock before slaps you in ass. And come on think 35,000 baht can give you room to save? I get 120,000 baht retired now.

[Kabula]

Not much paranoia in your world is there?

No paranoia, just factual evidence, wartime experience, and the truth!

[Crazy chef 1]

PM me and i send you a link where you can find teaching jobs for hotels.they usually pay around 60-70k.

[canarysun]

Life is short! just enjoy yourself as much as possible and laugh every day! I am not career minded and having worked in Spain as a tour guide and also on the radio i did earn a fantastic wage but that's not always what life is about.Yes Thailand is cheap and yes parts are " Third world " ( a cool band..) and with a 35,000 baht wage every month with a 6,000 baht rent outgoing leaves you plenty to have a great time! If it was myself then i would stay here in Thailand.Bangkok is a great place and your money will go a lot further over here! I often think about the idea of " Teaching in Thailand " but for myself the thought of being " trapped indoors all day in aircon " would have me " climbing the walls " within the hour.....) But that's just me! So my advice would be to stay here in Thailand.My own view is that somebodies life should never be controlled by there job/work Life is short so just try and have as much fun as possible!

Just for the record i am 50 years old and financially " things are ok but not glamorous " and yes it is easy to end up in a financial mess without any fault of your own.I am English ( with a Hugh Grant voice ) but i haven't been in the UK for almost 24 years! If i was to return to my " homeland " not only would i feel like " a fish out of water " But i would have very few contacts and no family or support from anybody !! It would be " my worst living nightmare " These situations are always hidden in the back of your mind when living overseas.My friend who has been living here in Thailand for 4 years returned to the Uk to live with very little savings and " requested help for accommodation " and in the end he had to wait for months! ( now he is ok and seems a lot happier there than he was when he was living here in Thailand.) I have another friend who lived in Spain for 15 years and had to return to the UK .He has been back in the Uk for more than 10 years now and to this day cannot " fit in " into life in the UK and had a " nervous breakdown ". You see it's not only about the money but when you have been living in a different country with a very different culture it is " incredibly difficult " to adapt to living back in your home country.

Sorry to sound " over dramatic " viewers! ( i can create " more drama than Rada "....) But this thread is a very interesting one covers quite a few different avenues...........

Farang Jaidee ( enjoying a delicious " Buddy Dean " coffee )

[kinmaew]

Depends. Do you have any money or assets that you can use to support yourself and TGF when you get old? If you only have 35k per month and that's it, sorry to say that is a huge risk as money goes quick in Thailand especially if you have a TGF. If you however work together and perhaps have a plan to start a business later in life and if you trust her, the most important, then perhaps you can stay and make it work. Good luck. I am your age and just too scared at the moment to commit myself to LOS as I have a good job in my home country. Had a TGF but she had way too many problems for my liking.

Off topic: Wow while I was typing this I am on a con call at work and my name was mentioned just got an award. The George Costanza (Seinfeld) theory is correct. "The more time I spend in that office can only hinder my chances of promotion"

[canarysun]

Depends. Do you have any money or assets that you can use to support yourself and TGF when you get old? If you only have 35k per month and that's it, sorry to say that is a huge risk as money goes quick in Thailand especially if you have a TGF. If you however work together and perhaps have a plan to start a business later in life and if you trust her, the most important, then perhaps you can stay and make it work. Good luck. I am your age and just too scared at the moment to commit myself to LOS as I have a good job in my home country. Had a TGF but she had way too many problems for my liking.

Off topic: Wow while I was typing this I am on a con call at work and my name was mentioned just got an award. The George Costanza (Seinfeld) theory is correct. "The more time I spend in that office can only hinder my chances of promotion"

I totally agree with you! and yes having a TGF things can get expensive! It's always a good idea to try and choose one that can support themselves financially ( and with no emotional baggage..... )

[kinmaew]

Whether being 45 is young or old depends.

If people have no real assets or are not fully established by the time they reach 40, than they are old in respects of starting out a fresh and trying to build a future for themselves.

I doubt that the OP would have much chance of being able to take his Thai GF back to the States at the moment and settling down as a married couple if he has nothing there. I would say that if he can maintain steady full time employment as a teacher here in Thailand, then he has a chance of building some sort of lifestyle here for himself and his GF, at least for the next few years. But if the OP does not have any kinds of insurance or pension plans to financially provide for him in his old age, say 55 upwards that is not far over the horizon for him, then his future here is looking bleak.

My advice to the OP is this: if he has serious intentions of staying with his present girlfriend and creating a future for himself and this is not just one big adventure to him, than:place himself on a mission for the next 12 months, by returning to the States, acquiring a steady full time employment, then obtaining a bank or mortgage loan, purchasing a small apartment, anything he can call his own and once that is archived, return to Thailand, marry his girlfriend and get her back to the States with him.

Everything in life has to be worked at to obtain our goals, there is no short cuts or easy solutions and for those who do try to cut corners and prefer to live from day by day usually become losers later on.

Now at 45 years old, time is imperative, the sooner is better than later. So OP, it`s up to you.

Exactly what I am doing. I am nearly 45 have my own house, will pay off in a few years. Lived in LOS over 12 years ago want to come back and find a new TGF possibly, but this time I will be living off my rents in farangland which go up every year along with my capital value. Its been hard not living there I really wanted to but economic necessity won over. In a few years I can go back to teaching if I want but with solid assets and a back up plan where I can fly home and go back to my house if I need to with no debts.

[pomchop]

Social Security benefits are calculated on the amount you paid in for the last 20 years before you turn 65. You'll lose all SS if you don't work in the US.

Teachers get a good retirement also and there are places that need real teachers in the US. It pays pretty well.

You will get old and you will need retirement income or massive savings. You'll need to maintain an address in the US to be eligible for Medicare at 65. If nothing else, google for an address in S. Dakota. It's the only state that actively seeks expats and snowbirds as residents and it's legal.

Nice post but I think some of your points are incorrect. "You'll lose all SS if you don't work in the US" I left the USA when I was 22 and worked my entire life overseas (I'm now 70) and I filed for SS when I turned 62 and started collecting monthly payments.

"You'll need to maintain an address in the US to be eligible for Medicare at 65". Again not true. I also filed for Medicare at 65 and although I elected to not take Part B I do have Part A.

The OP is 45. He probably already has his 40 quarters of SS payments so even if he doesn't work another day he will be qualified for for something.

Social security benefits are determined according to your BEST 35 years of earnings weighed more to early years than later years. Last 20 years before age 65? ( 62).... not as important as earlier years. If you google it you can very clearly see how the 35 years earnings are indexed. I retired at age 52 which made very little difference in my benefits as I fortunately had a lot of high earnings for a lot of years earlier.

Every American citizen automatically gets Medicare A when they turn 65. The catch is that you cannot use it outside the USA but if you return to USA you can get medicare treatment. If you should decide to take Medicare B the premium is deducted from your social security payment but again both A and B require you be in USA for any/all treatments (there are a few rare extreme cases for treatment outside USA but not likely to apply to most).

Another area that is often misunderstood is the age at which you take social security. If you wait until you are 66 it will take you FOURTEEN YEARS to get back the money you would have gotten if you started drawing at age 62. So if you live beyond 76 maybe a good decision to wait...otherwise...not such a good decision....your tax status is also a consideration if you are still working past 62.

OP would be wise to do some google work to learn about how social security and medicare benefits are calculated and applied....the US gov has some excellent websites that will explain it and some calculators you can use to estimate your benefits under various scenarios.

[Mencken]

Take the money at 62 and run, no idea how long the nation can support the ponzi scheme, especially in current situation.

Especially since the new govt takeover ... I cant see living here long term. Visas precarious as ownership. Wife loves US. We can eadily live on what it costs to have decent life in Thailand, back in US.

Too many rules, regulations that the people making thrm do not understsnd snd are subject to on yhe fly interpretation. Condo market throughly in dicey territory.

Thailand can be for winter. One visa, no problems. Done.

[canarysun]

Many of you seem to be " playing it safe " ( which i understand and respect ) BUT life is so short ! what is the point in moving overseas to start ( or try out ) a new life when you are 65 years old ( " too old and out of the game " ) I am 50 years old and moved over here almost 4 years ago! Take my advice and don't leave it until you are too old! enjoy it now while you are still young!! ( i myself don't feel a day over 21 )

an example : Many years ago i worked as a " double glazing salesman " in the uk ( perhaps you can admire my honesty viewers) The owner of the Company was a millionaire who was " obsessed with making money " when he was 65 ( old and fat ) he went off to Florida with his millions to start his new life in the sun.He died on the tarmac has he was getting off the aircraft......

[Kabula]

Obviously you have not heard about all the horror stories presently going on in North American, formerly the USA.

If you were informed, you wouldn't think about returning.

Even main stream news is confirming all your personal sovereignty and country sovereignty is gone with Presidential orders.

Would you feel safe in a country with no constitutional rights and open borders?

Would you feel safe in a country that imports Ebola patients (for the first time in history) and everyone now confirms it is mutating and can be air born? Not to mention other suspicious, mutating viruses appearing. This is also in main stream news.

Currently main stream news even admits the new Presidential orders allow for you to be detained for even cold symptoms with no time limit!

Whistle blowers are scared and coming out of the wood work, including homeland security, top Police Chiefs and Army Generals and confirming all the facts now.

Competent trends forecasters, including an ex US Secretary of the Treasury, who have provided financial and political information to all of the top fortune 500 companies are forecasting the dollar to devaluate or even collapse at the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015, along with major sell offs of the bond and stock market.

Even if you get a new job, how long will it last in a crisis and collapse?

Your reading the wrong books!

Remarkable.

I don't know where you got your information from but it seems to me you are a very smart person with your finger well and truly on the pulse,, i am staying with friends in the south of France right now and can't speak French and don't understand the language so i watch English programs on the cable and last night forced myself to watch a report (something like 60 minutes) on the collapse of the American economy due mainly to their control of the Gold prices and how they wanted the US Dollar to be the worlds currency, the former IMF president was framed for sexual abuse and thrown in jail and resigned, because he wanted to know the exact gold reserves in the US, i hate it when people like you are right,, i'm just so scared that i will have to go through the 80's crisis again,, i lost a lot and i have now recovered and want to cash up sell my assets and have cash or as the program said in the future we will be paying with gold chips to the equivalent of $50 a piece as currencies (cash) will have no value, i'm sure you know what i am talking about,, the question is "what to do and how to protect my future"

This (cash is worthless) scenario happened in Portugal in the 2nd world war, you can read the article here,,,

http://www.neill-lochery.co.uk/blog/are-all-dictators-gems-greedy-evil-and-mad-part-1_1.html

is history repeating itself again,, i hope not but i'm sure it is slowly heading that way,, again how to protect oneself , in Thailand we have many friends, it seems everyone is a friend,, until the money runs out, then all friends disappear. What do i do then?

Thank you for your complement.

History always repeats itself. History has shown us that all paper currencies fail over time and the people who own us always take us to war when the worldwide economies retreat. We have been in that war for sometime worldwide economically. The push back and truth has delayed failures. History confirms they will eventually come.

The best investments today are storable food, water and security.

We have lived in the best of times and the worst of times.

I wish I had all the answers, I don't.

However, everyone is in the same boat!

Live everyday as it was your last. Life is short, shorter for many. Spend and enjoy your money as it may be worth a lot less next month, or the month after that, or next year.

Don't worry! The American Indians lived in America for approximately 8,000 years with nothing. Americans are now living on the reservation and can expect what the American Indian sustained.

Good luck to us all.

nothing? u call 30 million bison nothing?

Thank you for posting your one line message.

The below content supplements my prior postings as to why not to return to North American.

Allow this part Ct.,Pequot Indian enlighten you regarding the buffalo and the American Indian. I also dated a Lakota Sioux Indian from Rapid City, South Dakota for many years.

Historians are not sure exacting how long the American Indian lived in American. I've read anywhere from 8000 to 10,000 years.

French traders reported that the Cheyenne Indians in Kansas got their first horses in the year of 1745. For many years, most Indians had no horses to hunt buffalo with. Buffalo are not easy to hunt on foot. They can run away faster than a hunter can run after them. Indians for thousands of years had to carry everything on foot or use dogs to carry things. Also, the herds migrated and the Indians had limited hunting range while on foot. Many starved later on while seeking them out.

Most buffalo herds roamed the grasslands of the North-American prairies. Buffalo hunting was a food source for the Midwestern native American Indian.

Historians claim herds reached New England, but I disagree as I'm from New England and the remaining Pequot elders knew nothing about buffalo herds and there is no evidence to my knowledge of skeleton remains of buffalo in New England, nor south to Florida.

Therefore, based on my research and education from Indian Elders, buffalo were not a food source from the Canadian border to the south of Florida and extending to the southern portion of the U.S. to the Pacific.

The herds became extinct around the year of 1890, from bovine disease and commercial hunting. So for 145 years, as the herds dwindled, even with horses, combined with herd migrations, the buffalo meat was hard to come by for many.

I've always said, history repeats itself. For the folks that suffer from normalcy bias, I highly recommend you watch the following entire video. The link is below. The series is titled, "Welcome to the Reservation." It is a 7 part series. It's the history of the American Indian and the events that lead up to their massacres and disappearance. Those same events have been happening very slowing in North America for many years. Understanding those events will help you plan your future.

[JLCrab]

I've always said, history repeats itself. Does that mean we'll have to go back to hunting buffalo on foot?

[claffey]

With your qualifications you have the potential to earn 60k++ every month...Try some teaching online during your free time and get some private classes or language centre classes for evenings and Saturdays. There's loads of opportunities to make money teaching. My friend is earning 60k salary plus 50 to 60k with privates. Get out there and look for the work.Its there...Some websites to teach online: www.italki.com www.verbling.com etc etc...Stay and create your pension fund right here where you and your girlfriend are happy...

[fey]

At your age staying in Thailand will be one big hole in your resume. It's hard to explain anything more then a couple months at a job interview, especially if you have any time of professional carrier. II's really the lost time that gets you.

It's also much easier to get pulled down when surrounded by people with nothing, then it is to pull them up.

All those washed up losers are not here because they want to be, it's because they can't go back to nothing after waking up 10 years later. It's called denial and booze.

Try to have something going on in the States while you are here so you can use that bridge if things don't work out.

[zeichen]

"I am 50 years old and moved over here almost 4 years ago! Take my advice and don't leave it until you are too old!"

Hate to break it to you but you are not a role model. You live like a humble beggar. No one wants your life. 50 years old with no family, no future, no career, nothing. Living on less than 10k baht a month is not what people strive for unless they are monks. If the OP gets his girl friend pregnant and tries to raise a family on 35k baht a month with a girl friend/wife that doesn't work will not be a good future.

Playing it safe as you say isn't what people are suggesting. People are suggesting that he actually build himself financially while he can so he is not stuck living paycheck to paycheck until he is 65 and retiring with nothing at all.

At 50 years old, you no longer contribute to the world, you live like a parasite, so please stop giving advice to anyone.

[Berkshire]

Many of you seem to be " playing it safe " ( which i understand and respect ) BUT life is so short !

You can have that attitude at 25, but not at 45. Yeah, life is short, but that shouldn't be an excuse to piss away your future. If the OP plans on being alive into his 60's and beyond, he should "play it safe." If he's convinced--like you seem to be--that he could die any day now, then yeah, live it up.

[Grindting]

Saudi is a license to print money. My 2 cents. My third year here since leaving Los. No looking back. Bought more land in the holiday. Just bought a car cash. Should be buying a detached house in BKK burbs cash in 2 years. You re a fool to teach in Thailand.

Land in LOS in your name? Detached house in your name? Car in your name? Or in your TG? What's to say she doesn't take off with all that and leave you in the dust (or sand) sometime down the line? All that hard work to become destitute at the end of the day just like the OP?

[canarysun]

" The Canary Bird " still sings viewers ....... " tweet tweet "

[Jbax]

Man, there's some zany, far-out replies to the OP.

I travel back and forth from the US--> Chiang Mai all the time. Despite what a few Libertarians here would have you believe, the sky in the U.S. isn't falling, real estate values are rising in most areas, gas prices are roughly the same as in Thailand and the US dollar has shown a lot of resilience (look at Canada @ .895 for example). Some of these posts have anyone over 50 as being a waste of skin and predict you'll contract ebola the second you step off the plane in LA... yeesh.

Again, being 45 and not having any assets should be a major concern. Unless you plan on working here in Siam and scoring an endless number of work visas until the day you croak, you need to develop a plan.

The GF is, IMHO, a potential, but very real, pitfall. What little you now have will mostly be lost in a divorce. Think beyond the GF: you need to secure your retirement. And the only practical way to do that is by returning to the US, land a decent job, qualify for SSI and maxxing out an IRA.

[bermondburi]

#72. Drink more in Saudi than I did in Thailand. There are bars here. I prefer the weather here. It's only hotter than Thailand for 5 months of the year and 2 of them are holiday. None of that horrible humidity either.

[bermondburi]

#76. Land and house in kids' names. Car in Saudi so in my name. After House in BKK going to get house in UK to rent out for rental. Lime I said Saudi is a license to print money.

[Soutpeel]

Saudi is a license to print money. My 2 cents. My third year here since leaving Los. No looking back. Bought more land in the holiday. Just bought a car cash. Should be buying a detached house in BKK burbs cash in 2 years. You re a fool to teach in Thailand.

Land in LOS in your name? Detached house in your name? Car in your name? Or in your TG? What's to say she doesn't take off with all that and leave you in the dust (or sand) sometime down the line? All that hard work to become destitute at the end of the day just like the OP?

she may, but if the poster has half a brain, he will have put away a "slush" fund for himself, no one can get at, except himself.

at the end of the day in whose name its in is somewhat academic, as if he was in the west and got divorced he could be losing the lot as well.

As long as the poster hasn't been stupid and thrown his lot into Thailand and not set up a plan B, and he knows how much he is "in for" in Thailand and is prepared to take that knock if it happens, no problem with what he has done.

known many guys over the years who have been making big bucks and not a Thai female in sight and have either p*ssed it up the wall, made some bad investment decisions, or just spent the lot on sh*t and been left with nothing, so the Thai female angle is not unique.

the key is don't go mad with your new found "wealth", make sure you are trying to put at least 50% of your money away, ie. in accounts, investments etc

and make sure no one else can get their grubby little hands on it, the other 50% have fun, spend the rest on wine women and song if your wish..

if he does all the above, he will not end up destitute like the OP...