Thailand ranked as one of world’s best places to retire in 2015

[Shadychris]

despite

a) you cannot buy land/house

you need 800k in the bank every year

c) you will not get citizenship (extreme rare cases that can but you have to been working, right ?)

d) how many thais speak any english or understandable ?

e) low healthcare cost ??? what about that bloke (recent post) that got a million baht of fees over 5 days ?

"a) you cannot buy land/house

you need 800k in the bank every year" Also B

Well you can buy a house and you do not need 800,000 baht in the bank. In fact you don't need any thing in the bank to have a legal yearly extension on your retirement visa. I call it a retirement visa because that is what it says on my visa.

"c) you will not get citizenship (extreme rare cases that can but you have to been working, right ?)"

Who really retires to get citizenship in another country?

"d) how many thais speak any english or understandable ?"

I have no idea. How long is a piece of string?

"e) low healthcare cost ??? what about that bloke (recent post) that got a million baht of fees over 5 days ?"

It would have cost him $1,000.000 in the states.

Well put northernjohn, but in this case I think your comment fell on deaf ears.

I cannot believe the lengths some people go to to run the country down, they must sit up all night thinking of new ways to whine, moan, groan and complain.

I especially liked this one - "d) how many thais speak any english or understandable ?"

Truth is a lot of Thai people expats meet probably can speak and understand English up to a point, but the minute they meet some nasty, arrogant Farang they pretend they can't. Don't blame them really.

And if I wanted to live in a country where the locals can speak English I would not have moved to Thailand.

Well said too!

Never ceases to amaze me when people moan about Thais not speaking English. It's my experience also that there are more Thais that understand English than you would think anyway, just that a lot of them are too shy to actually try and use the limited English they may have.

But really why should they learn English? It's not like English people in the UK are now all brushing up on their Polish or Romanian language skills to make life easier for all the Eastern Europeans now settling in the UK....

Edited January 8, 2015 by Shadychris

[Jingthing]

Retirement extensions in Thailand. Three options. 800k baht in Thai bank or monthly income of 65k baht or combo of bank money plus income at least 800k baht. Import of income not required.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[sambum]

So you don't have electricity or gas or water or pay TV or internet or insurance or a car or take taxis in Thailand?

You must live some life, please tell?

TT - I rather suspect that you are just being deliberately obtuse in your questioning simply for the sake of making an argument and appearing smart...

I would guess that most people with a modicum of common sense would realise that sambum is not inferring that he has no bills to pay in Thailand,

Exactly right! I have answered TT in post # 164 but thank you for realising that TT didn't use a bit of common sense before putting his keypad in gear! I have been coming to Thailand for over 15 years and been living here for 8, and the cost of living here has gradually increased over the years, but so has the availability of "farang" goods. I never thought I would be doing my shopping at Tesco when I first came here! Also the exchange rate was much more favourable then, so all in all, yes it is more expensive than it was 15 years ago, but still much cheaper than the UK when you factor in the cost of Utility Bills, and the availability of cheap Thai food.

Well I guess its true to say the cost of living has increased worldwide over the past 15 years. But I dont think that it has increased by a larger % in Thailand than anywhere else in the world. I guess that if you choose to settle in a less developed Eastern country than your homeland, but still insist on buying your food from Western outlets then you will pay a premium. Personally I dont see the point in upping sticks and moving to another country with a different culture if all you want to do is live and eat and sit around bitching about everything thats wrong with you newfound situation in exactly the same way and style as you did in your homeland. Always amazes me that so many westerners when on holiday always seem to make it a priority to seek out the things they are used to at home instead of embracing the different things they have paid handsomely to go and experience. Why not just stay at home in the first place..

That's why I said "gradually increased" and certainly not more than the UK as far as utility bills are concerned! And I certainly don't bitch about my new found situation as far as the cost of living is concerned! The main thing I bitch about is the corruption, and the "face" thing, but that's a different aspect altogether to what my post was about.

[Shadychris]

So you don't have electricity or gas or water or pay TV or internet or insurance or a car or take taxis in Thailand?

You must live some life, please tell?

TT - I rather suspect that you are just being deliberately obtuse in your questioning simply for the sake of making an argument and appearing smart...

I would guess that most people with a modicum of common sense would realise that sambum is not inferring that he has no bills to pay in Thailand,

Exactly right! I have answered TT in post # 164 but thank you for realising that TT didn't use a bit of common sense before putting his keypad in gear! I have been coming to Thailand for over 15 years and been living here for 8, and the cost of living here has gradually increased over the years, but so has the availability of "farang" goods. I never thought I would be doing my shopping at Tesco when I first came here! Also the exchange rate was much more favourable then, so all in all, yes it is more expensive than it was 15 years ago, but still much cheaper than the UK when you factor in the cost of Utility Bills, and the availability of cheap Thai food.

Well I guess its true to say the cost of living has increased worldwide over the past 15 years. But I dont think that it has increased by a larger % in Thailand than anywhere else in the world. I guess that if you choose to settle in a less developed Eastern country than your homeland, but still insist on buying your food from Western outlets then you will pay a premium. Personally I dont see the point in upping sticks and moving to another country with a different culture if all you want to do is live and eat and sit around bitching about everything thats wrong with you newfound situation in exactly the same way and style as you did in your homeland. Always amazes me that so many westerners when on holiday always seem to make it a priority to seek out the things they are used to at home instead of embracing the different things they have paid handsomely to go and experience. Why not just stay at home in the first place..

That's why I said "gradually increased" and certainly not more than the UK as far as utility bills are concerned! And I certainly don't bitch about my new found situation as far as the cost of living is concerned! The main thing I bitch about is the corruption, and the "face" thing, but that's a different aspect altogether to what my post was about.

Hi Sambum - Apologies, looks like I may have given you the wrong impression... When I said "I dont see the point in upping sticks and moving to another country with a different culture if all 'you' want to do is live and eat and sit around bitching about everything thats wrong with your newfound situation" I was not in any way directing that personally at 'you' but rather as a general reference to the attitude of a lot of posters on this forum. Perhaps I should have used the word 'one' instead of 'you' ;-)

AFA corruption goes I think one would have to have been extremely naive to have moved to LOS without prior knowledge of that! I personally don't mind it too much - I would personally much rather pay a 500bht 'tea money' fine to some traffic cop's pocket for not wearing a crash helmet and be straight on my way with an exemption for the rest of the day, than I would to have to pay a 5000bht fine and get 3 points on my licence for the same thing back in the UK..

Same with the 'saving face thing' - it's something that I came to realise during my first few visits. I can live with it along with a lot of other so called 'Thainess' traits.... Equally I know that a lot of my habits and ways are unfathomable to Thais, but I find them to be generally tolerant of me. We are all vastly different - even amongst our own nationalities - it's what keeps life interesting ;-)

[sambum]

So you don't have electricity or gas or water or pay TV or internet or insurance or a car or take taxis in Thailand?

You must live some life, please tell?

TT - I rather suspect that you are just being deliberately obtuse in your questioning simply for the sake of making an argument and appearing smart...

I would guess that most people with a modicum of common sense would realise that sambum is not inferring that he has no bills to pay in Thailand,

Exactly right! I have answered TT in post # 164 but thank you for realising that TT didn't use a bit of common sense before putting his keypad in gear! I have been coming to Thailand for over 15 years and been living here for 8, and the cost of living here has gradually increased over the years, but so has the availability of "farang" goods. I never thought I would be doing my shopping at Tesco when I first came here! Also the exchange rate was much more favourable then, so all in all, yes it is more expensive than it was 15 years ago, but still much cheaper than the UK when you factor in the cost of Utility Bills, and the availability of cheap Thai food.

Well I guess its true to say the cost of living has increased worldwide over the past 15 years. But I dont think that it has increased by a larger % in Thailand than anywhere else in the world. I guess that if you choose to settle in a less developed Eastern country than your homeland, but still insist on buying your food from Western outlets then you will pay a premium. Personally I dont see the point in upping sticks and moving to another country with a different culture if all you want to do is live and eat and sit around bitching about everything thats wrong with you newfound situation in exactly the same way and style as you did in your homeland. Always amazes me that so many westerners when on holiday always seem to make it a priority to seek out the things they are used to at home instead of embracing the different things they have paid handsomely to go and experience. Why not just stay at home in the first place..

That's why I said "gradually increased" and certainly not more than the UK as far as utility bills are concerned! And I certainly don't bitch about my new found situation as far as the cost of living is concerned! The main thing I bitch about is the corruption, and the "face" thing, but that's a different aspect altogether to what my post was about.

Hi Sambum - Apologies, looks like I may have given you the wrong impression... When I said "I dont see the point in upping sticks and moving to another country with a different culture if all 'you' want to do is live and eat and sit around bitching about everything thats wrong with your newfound situation" I was not in any way directing that personally at 'you' but rather as a general reference to the attitude of a lot of posters on this forum. Perhaps I should have used the word 'one' instead of 'you' ;-)

AFA corruption goes I think one would have to have been extremely naive to have moved to LOS without prior knowledge of that! I personally don't mind it too much - I would personally much rather pay a 500bht 'tea money' fine to some traffic cop's pocket for not wearing a crash helmet and be straight on my way with an exemption for the rest of the day, than I would to have to pay a 5000bht fine and get 3 points on my licence for the same thing back in the UK..

Same with the 'saving face thing' - it's something that I came to realise during my first few visits. I can live with it along with a lot of other so called 'Thainess' traits.... Equally I know that a lot of my habits and ways are unfathomable to Thais, but I find them to be generally tolerant of me. We are all vastly different - even amongst our own nationalities - it's what keeps life interesting ;-)

We are of the same mind! Is/was your mother from York?

[mikemac]

So you don't have electricity or gas or water or pay TV or internet or insurance or a car or take taxis in Thailand?

You must live some life, please tell?

TT - I rather suspect that you are just being deliberately obtuse in your questioning simply for the sake of making an argument and appearing smart...

I would guess that most people with a modicum of common sense would realise that sambum is not inferring that he has no bills to pay in Thailand,

Exactly right! I have answered TT in post # 164 but thank you for realising that TT didn't use a bit of common sense before putting his keypad in gear! I have been coming to Thailand for over 15 years and been living here for 8, and the cost of living here has gradually increased over the years, but so has the availability of "farang" goods. I never thought I would be doing my shopping at Tesco when I first came here! Also the exchange rate was much more favourable then, so all in all, yes it is more expensive than it was 15 years ago, but still much cheaper than the UK when you factor in the cost of Utility Bills, and the availability of cheap Thai food.

Well I guess its true to say the cost of living has increased worldwide over the past 15 years. But I dont think that it has increased by a larger % in Thailand than anywhere else in the world. I guess that if you choose to settle in a less developed Eastern country than your homeland, but still insist on buying your food from Western outlets then you will pay a premium. Personally I dont see the point in upping sticks and moving to another country with a different culture if all you want to do is live and eat and sit around bitching about everything thats wrong with you newfound situation in exactly the same way and style as you did in your homeland. Always amazes me that so many westerners when on holiday always seem to make it a priority to seek out the things they are used to at home instead of embracing the different things they have paid handsomely to go and experience. Why not just stay at home in the first place..

That's why I said "gradually increased" and certainly not more than the UK as far as utility bills are concerned! And I certainly don't bitch about my new found situation as far as the cost of living is concerned! The main thing I bitch about is the corruption, and the "face" thing, but that's a different aspect altogether to what my post was about.

Hi Sambum - Apologies, looks like I may have given you the wrong impression... When I said "I dont see the point in upping sticks and moving to another country with a different culture if all 'you' want to do is live and eat and sit around bitching about everything thats wrong with your newfound situation" I was not in any way directing that personally at 'you' but rather as a general reference to the attitude of a lot of posters on this forum. Perhaps I should have used the word 'one' instead of 'you' ;-)

AFA corruption goes I think one would have to have been extremely naive to have moved to LOS without prior knowledge of that! I personally don't mind it too much - I would personally much rather pay a 500bht 'tea money' fine to some traffic cop's pocket for not wearing a crash helmet and be straight on my way with an exemption for the rest of the day, than I would to have to pay a 5000bht fine and get 3 points on my licence for the same thing back in the UK..

Same with the 'saving face thing' - it's something that I came to realise during my first few visits. I can live with it along with a lot of other so called 'Thainess' traits.... Equally I know that a lot of my habits and ways are unfathomable to Thais, but I find them to be generally tolerant of me. We are all vastly different - even amongst our own nationalities - it's what keeps life interesting ;-)

We are of the same mind! Is/was your mother from York?

More to the point, could his Father jump fences ?

[Now or Never]

I was in Panama checking it out a couple of months ago. I couldn't wait to leave. Every home needs a barb wire parameter. It's ridiculously hot (and I live in LOS). The food sucks and I've never seen so many ugly fat women! This place continues to get on these list with marketing (probably paying to be on there). Note that articles praising Panama are usually written by people living there and trying to sell the overbuilt condos.

Mexico? Ye gods. I wouldn't want to visit there let alone live there.

Malaysia continues to swing towards sharia law with the Muslim hardliners demanding and getting more say as time goes on.

Medellin Colombia was a beautiful city and I could definitely live there...if I spoke Spanish. A lot easier to navigate Thailand than Colombia with just English.

Take these best place to retire results with a grain of salt. These articles come out every few weeks.

I agree. Panama sucks.

Medellin is nice ... home of Botero.

Mexico and Malaysia depend on where you live in these two countries.

Ecuador .very dangerous as can be Costa Rica.

Spain and Portugal not really ... I'd rather live at home...

Thailand is a very liveable country with cheap rent and transport.

Thailands health services are good and very cheap. Many doctors are educated in the west.

[Jingthing]

Cuenca Ecuador more dangerous than Medellin Colombia (which is of course LOTS safer than it used to be)? I really don't think so.

[lapd]

I'm surprised this article didn't mention that most Americans retire in America.

Why? Too poor to retire "overseas", 555

Not exactly.

It's more like the USA is a very large country and if you want a warm climate, you can find that within the country.

Also Americans are propagandized that everyone in the world wants to move to the USA, so moving out of the USA still carries some stigma.

To many Americans, expatriation away from the USA is downright anti-American.

So for an American to retire abroad it's still a bold move, going against the grain.

Unlike when a Brit does that, from there it is much more common and seen as much more normal.

That said, I was rather surprised when Mexico raised their financial requirements for retired expats so much that I think they are now excluding the majority of U.S. social security recipients. Most Americans these days will only have the government pension and no private pension as well, as in the past was more common.

Until the USA started requiring passports for Canada & Mexico, it had one of the lowest ratios of passport holders to population in the developed world...American citizens can be pretty insular.

I think you missed one really big reason many retirees stay in the US: Medicare is not portable, unlike the British and Canadian systems that cover their citizens in foreign countries. The older you get, the bigger deal that becomes.

I agree with you that the availability of warm climates in Florida & California and temperate areas in the Southeast & Southwest takes some of the incentive away from leaving the country. One can still live pretty cheaply in many areas of Florida....especially inland.

You're right about the Medicare issue for Americans and medical care is something that prompts a lot of expats to go home from Thailand or anywhere.

Not really sure about the national health systems of Canada and the UK covering their expats globally though (specifically Thailand). In fact, I think that is not the case, but getting really off topic now I think.

I'm no expert but I think it works something like this in Canada. You can leave the country for up to about 6months (don't remember the exact # of days but it's around 6-7months). Hence many Canadians go down to the southern US for the winters. Canadian healthcare will pay your medical bills abroad up to the equivalent cost in Canada. So just need to save your receipts. Since US healthcare is 100x + more expensive than Canada you need insurance when you go to the US or risk going bankrupt if you get sick....just like Americans.

In Thailand, any medical bills incurred should easily be covered by Canada. However, if you need to be evacuated back to Canada for a serious condition that is not covered and can be hugely expensive. So best to get evacuation insurance. If you are out of Canada for more than 6 months you lose your gov't medical insurance so if you get sick you are paying out of pocket in Canada until you can get your medical care back after 6months back in country.

Hence the reason you don't have nearly as many permanent resident Canadian expats, per capita, in places like Thailand as you do Americans. Americans gotta pay for medical insurance no matter what so it's not a factor for them.

Edited January 22, 2015 by lapd

[lapd]

Of course Thailand is a great place to live in and retire to. It is a wonderful country with infinite potential, but spoils its chances on the world stage by blatant errors which any first year psychology student would have no trouble in identifying and exposing !

Tourist numbers are certainly down, and the accurate figures are not being truthfully exposed for obvious reasons. The Visa situation is complicated and hardly user friendly. The level of spoken English is markedly down compared with a couple of decades ago. Security has declined, and the attitude of the Police leaves a considerable amount to be desired. It has to be accepted that 'farangs' are second class citizens or lower, and Thais are never wrong or are able to lose face by admitting so! Possibly Martial Law, although selective, has cleaned up the general image of LOS in some respects, but that and the fiasco over the murders in Koh Tao, have done a lot to dent the image of Thailand throughout the world, but this seems to be ignored by the upper echelons, possibly at their peril.

I could go and on, but I am sure this will evoke a lot of controversial responses, so let's take it from there, for now anyway !

Well said! Thailand will ALWAYS be a 3rd World Country if they carry on in the future as they do now, and have always done. But hey - the upside of that is that it keeps the prices down!

That is the part people forget. You have to take the good with the bad. A lot of the bad is also what makes it good. If Thailand had its act together then you would also have much higher prices , more rules, more laws, less freedom. The 2 kind of go hand in hand.

[Shadychris]

Of course Thailand is a great place to live in and retire to. It is a wonderful country with infinite potential, but spoils its chances on the world stage by blatant errors which any first year psychology student would have no trouble in identifying and exposing !

Tourist numbers are certainly down, and the accurate figures are not being truthfully exposed for obvious reasons. The Visa situation is complicated and hardly user friendly. The level of spoken English is markedly down compared with a couple of decades ago. Security has declined, and the attitude of the Police leaves a considerable amount to be desired. It has to be accepted that 'farangs' are second class citizens or lower, and Thais are never wrong or are able to lose face by admitting so! Possibly Martial Law, although selective, has cleaned up the general image of LOS in some respects, but that and the fiasco over the murders in Koh Tao, have done a lot to dent the image of Thailand throughout the world, but this seems to be ignored by the upper echelons, possibly at their peril.

I could go and on, but I am sure this will evoke a lot of controversial responses, so let's take it from there, for now anyway !

Well said! Thailand will ALWAYS be a 3rd World Country if they carry on in the future as they do now, and have always done. But hey - the upside of that is that it keeps the prices down!

That is the part people forget. You have to take the good with the bad. A lot of the bad is also what makes it good. If Thailand had its act together then you would also have much higher prices , more rules, more laws, less freedom. The 2 kind of go hand in hand.

Exactly! What is seen as bad to a lot of people is just as equally seen as good by many others.

I'm sure everyone appreciates the lower cost of living, which would only ever increase dramatically should Thailand become as developed as the countries we chose to leave.. This is evident to some extent already in the the more developed areas such as BKK and the tourist areas. But that doesn't bother me in the slightest - I have no desire to live in the smog of BKK or spend my days in the tourist areas surrounded by the vest cladded beer swilling, football obsessed yobs that I had hoped to leave behind in the UK.. I keep a low profile in a quiet village in the NE, get on well enough with the locals, and I made the effort to learn enough Thai to get by with. Happy with the way the law works here - would much rather pay a little tea money to some cops pocket for a minor motoring offence, instead of a hefty fine and points on my licence. I'm glad the visa situation is not user friendly - it helps keep down the numbers of immigrants to some extent. I don't want to see Thailand with arms wide, welcoming every Tom Dick and Harry, or Ivan, Klaus, and Sven, Singh and Patel etc etc. I've had my fill of the so called multi-cultural society and the way it strips countries of their national identity and culture....

What amazes me is that it really is no big secret about what Thailand is like, much can be learnt spending a few hours researching online, and a couple of visits is all it takes to get a real handle on the culture, ways and attitudes of the Thais.

Yet so many seem to still decide to come to Thailand to live, but instead of attempting to integrate and fit in with the place they expect Thailand to bend to them. And so they just all sit around every day in the one cafe in the Mall that serves an English breakfast moaning that 'we don't do things this way where I come from'.....

Edited January 22, 2015 by Shadychris