How much do I need to retire in Thailand with a fairly high standard of living

[elgordo38]

OP, your budget is a little more that 200k Thai baht per month, approximately.

Yes, you should certainly be able to live and meet your requirements on that budget anywhere in Thailand, even in Phuket.

Yes you could tie up your yacht in Phuket

[sundrenched]

Looking at the Ops grammar, he is no more a solicitor (or lawyer) than I am a one legged trapeze ladyboy juggler !!!

"English teacher" by any chance ?...

you may be better describing yourself as a one legged trapeze ladyboy juggler

Come on, you know better than that. People don't become English teachers here because of their love of the language.

[sundrenched]

OP, please slow down. Thailand is a littered, smelly shithole lacking the rule of law and filled with any kind of scam and corruption you can think of.

The biggest scam is likely to come from that pretty Thai woman who is "different" from the others.

Thailand is a great place to vacation because it has a lot of things you don't have in England or New York. It's a good bet that if your weren't looking for those things you'd be looking at Florida.

You won't be happy retired and Thailand will lose its luster quickly. Heck, I wouldn't want to live at Disneyland for more than three days.

I tried retiring in Thailand and had a one year extension of stay for retirement. You can't get that. I lasted less than the year and pulled up stakes and headed back to Oregon. Now I just visit as a tourist, usually for about 90 days.

Others have asked you to do this on a trial basis. I give you 90 days. Once you've built up enough assets and income that you can afford a first world environment, you aren't likely to want Thailand 24/7/365 and there aren't many who do. Those I know who do, to put it politely, are addicted to certain things in certain areas and it isn't healthy emotionally or physically. Either that or they have a very limited pension.

Good luck

Not a troll, and I agree with your general attitude. I suspect many do, but you don't see them here because they move to Thailand, find they don't like it, and leave. I always loved coming to Thailand, and would in the future, but living here full-time is a very different thing. Pollution, sweltering heat, shocking levels of corruption, incompetence, hellish traffic, etc. are easy to take in your stride when you're here for a vacation but get to you when you live here.

Edited March 16, 2015 by sundrenched

[louse1953]

You will need a lot more than that as you will be going out every night and will have no will power.Stay home and save for a rainy day,we have plenty of them here.I have adapted the Issan lifestyle and can live of the land,grasshoppers,crabs,frogs,rats,but i don't think your ready for that yet.No worries when you have no debt.

[fey]

correct me if im wrong, but this sounds like someone who has been used to having things done for him, and is now faced with the prospect of no secretary, accountant or entourage and has no clue how to take care of himself financially and otherwise. or he cant function outside of the work sphere he is used to.

curiously enough there was a recent thread on just this subject a few days sgo.

[1FinickyOne]

Yes, you can live a very nice lifestyle on that money here - the best advice above was to take your time and not tuck yourself in to any permanent situation. What might look like a lot of fun the first few months might not look that way later… but fortunately there are many decent furnished short term leases available in all of the places you mentioned.

What you might find is that the tourist areas feel tight after a while and unpleasant. If you learn some language & adapt to the culture, there will be many more choices and your persprective will change through time.

[mj1971]

Thanks to everybody who has responded. It has been very helpful and given me more to think about. I am still at a preliminary stage of deciding what to do but the feedback has (on the whole) been really valuable.

Key points I have got from this thread so far:

1. giving up work too early may be less appealing in practice than it sounds in theory (social and emotional well-being as well as lack of intellectual challenges) - I have thought about this before and got comfortable with it but the level of feedback suggests I should give it quite a lot more thought;

2. on balance it seems like US$75k would probably be enough for the lifestyle I am looking for in Thailand but I take all of the points made about how it could be possible to burn through this more easily than planned and that a lot of people may try to take advantage - again I have thought about this but it is sobering to hear so many warn about it;

3. risks from scammers and ladies - somewhat aware of but very well noted;

4. don't tell people you are retired - I hadn't thought of this one before but it's clearly very sound advice;

5. if possible spend a few months on a sabbatical in Thailand before jumping in - whilst obviously sound advice this may be difficult for me but I might be able to go part-time on a flexi basis so that I can take more holidays - I will look into this more;

6. Thailand might not be as good a place to live as it seems from my many visits - I'm obviously aware of some of the challenges of living in Thailand (though not as aware as most on this forum) and I am quite surprised by the level of negativity towards it. I am really grateful for people's honest views on Thailand as a choice for retirement and it definitely is something to think lots more about (and if possible try it out on a less permanent basis first as discussed in point 4 above). I'm genuinely interested in people's views here on better options which are not 3-4 times more expensive and don't have excessive taxes for retirees;

For those who asked about my thoughts on visa I had been thinking of either the Elite Card.

To the one-legged trapeze ladyboy juggler, you will appreciate that I posted here for constructive feedback from well-informed people rather than trying to find more work from potential clients.

For those who doubt that I'm a solicitor, I am, but your questioning it doesn't matter to me. Solicitors ask for other views and advice all time as part of their job in giving advice and I like most others do it everyday as a matter of course at work. My original post was not to show-off (I don't think that being a solicitor is something to particularly brag about - in fact it's often a conversation stopper and this forum is anonymous so bragging wouldn't really achieve anything!). I simply thought it would be helpful to give some context, which I now think was right as several helpful responses raised the potential issue of retiring too early from my job and then lacking intellectual stimulation and facing social and emotional challenges.

Finally, whilst there are many more trolls and skeptics on here than I expected and it's a shame that this board is polluted with them, many of you have been have been really constructive, helpful and shared valuable insight which has given me much to think about and was exactly what I was looking for. So thanks again for all of the helpful responses.

[mj1971]

on the visa point the option I was considering was the investment visa

[Soutpeel]

on the visa point the option I was considering was the investment visa

Why dont you start with the 500k TE visa ?..not sure how close you are to 50, but once over 50, just jump onto the retirement one

Investment visa is THB 10 million invested, TE is 500k for 5 years, less than Thai minimum wage per day

[mj1971]

Thanks yes on balance that seems like the better option - I was originally considering both TE and the investment visa but I agree that TE would be better.

[DLock]

Thanks to everybody who has responded. It has been very helpful and given me more to think about. I am still at a preliminary stage of deciding what to do but the feedback has (on the whole) been really valuable.

Key points I have got from this thread so far:

1. giving up work too early may be less appealing in practice than it sounds in theory (social and emotional well-being as well as lack of intellectual challenges) - I have thought about this before and got comfortable with it but the level of feedback suggests I should give it quite a lot more thought;

2. on balance it seems like US$75k would probably be enough for the lifestyle I am looking for in Thailand but I take all of the points made about how it could be possible to burn through this more easily than planned and that a lot of people may try to take advantage - again I have thought about this but it is sobering to hear so many warn about it;

3. risks from scammers and ladies - somewhat aware of but very well noted;

4. don't tell people you are retired - I hadn't thought of this one before but it's clearly very sound advice;

5. if possible spend a few months on a sabbatical in Thailand before jumping in - whilst obviously sound advice this may be difficult for me but I might be able to go part-time on a flexi basis so that I can take more holidays - I will look into this more;

6. Thailand might not be as good a place to live as it seems from my many visits - I'm obviously aware of some of the challenges of living in Thailand (though not as aware as most on this forum) and I am quite surprised by the level of negativity towards it. I am really grateful for people's honest views on Thailand as a choice for retirement and it definitely is something to think lots more about (and if possible try it out on a less permanent basis first as discussed in point 4 above). I'm genuinely interested in people's views here on better options which are not 3-4 times more expensive and don't have excessive taxes for retirees;

For those who asked about my thoughts on visa I had been thinking of either the Elite Card.

To the one-legged trapeze ladyboy juggler, you will appreciate that I posted here for constructive feedback from well-informed people rather than trying to find more work from potential clients.

For those who doubt that I'm a solicitor, I am, but your questioning it doesn't matter to me. Solicitors ask for other views and advice all time as part of their job in giving advice and I like most others do it everyday as a matter of course at work. My original post was not to show-off (I don't think that being a solicitor is something to particularly brag about - in fact it's often a conversation stopper and this forum is anonymous so bragging wouldn't really achieve anything!). I simply thought it would be helpful to give some context, which I now think was right as several helpful responses raised the potential issue of retiring too early from my job and then lacking intellectual stimulation and facing social and emotional challenges.

Finally, whilst there are many more trolls and skeptics on here than I expected and it's a shame that this board is polluted with them, many of you have been have been really constructive, helpful and shared valuable insight which has given me much to think about and was exactly what I was looking for. So thanks again for all of the helpful responses.

Glad you came back with a well thought out response and that you have listened to some of the advice.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

[snottgoblin]

Thanks yes on balance that seems like the better option - I was originally considering both TE and the investment visa but I agree that TE would be better.

I don't think you can go wrong with TE.

You will see a lot of hate about it, but that's from the Merchants that can't afford it, and are scratching around on dodgy ED visas or doing multiple border runs. If you was considering the investment visa, suggest you get the 2 million baht TE

[snottgoblin]

OP, please slow down. Thailand is a littered, smelly shithole lacking the rule of law and filled with any kind of scam and corruption you can think of.

The biggest scam is likely to come from that pretty Thai woman who is "different" from the others.

Thailand is a great place to vacation because it has a lot of things you don't have in England or New York. It's a good bet that if your weren't looking for those things you'd be looking at Florida.

You won't be happy retired and Thailand will lose its luster quickly. Heck, I wouldn't want to live at Disneyland for more than three days.

I tried retiring in Thailand and had a one year extension of stay for retirement. You can't get that. I lasted less than the year and pulled up stakes and headed back to Oregon. Now I just visit as a tourist, usually for about 90 days.

Others have asked you to do this on a trial basis. I give you 90 days. Once you've built up enough assets and income that you can afford a first world environment, you aren't likely to want Thailand 24/7/365 and there aren't many who do. Those I know who do, to put it politely, are addicted to certain things in certain areas and it isn't healthy emotionally or physically. Either that or they have a very limited pension.

Good luck

Not a troll, and I agree with your general attitude. I suspect many do, but you don't see them here because they move to Thailand, find they don't like it, and leave. I always loved coming to Thailand, and would in the future, but living here full-time is a very different thing. Pollution, sweltering heat, shocking levels of corruption, incompetence, hellish traffic, etc. are easy to take in your stride when you're here for a vacation but get to you when you live here.

Feel free to join The Oregan Oracle, not everything in Thailand is in Bangkok

[Crazy chef 1]

The most important thing you have to think about it is what do you wanna do....you need some kind of work or a hobby that keeps you busy...otherwise barstool,beer and TVF...

[beachproperty]

OP ....I think you asked the wrong question.

Why? Because we are all different with different expectations and we know nothing of who you are, other than you are young with (maybe) an income of $7000/month. I'm going to assume that you have made some wise investments in the past that (almost) guarantee that income in the future and that it will grow with inflation. If not ....that's problem number one.

Secondly ...Why is it that you picked Thailand? Because of the cheap costs of living? If so, it comes at a price as stated by many of the posters as to the faults of Thailand.

My situation was VERY similar to yours (maybe)...I'm from the States, was a trial attorney until 35 when I quit. My income went from low six figures to mid five figures. Funny thing was my quality of life in the states increased 100 fold.

Less stress for sure, but I learned quickly that

1)a roof over your head didn't mean it had to be a mansion (bought a small bungalow).

2)A new expensive car every 3 years also wasn't necessary (bought used cars with low miles which I usually kept for 7 years)...remember a car is just a vehicle to get you from point "a" to "b".

3) No need to eat out 3 times a day at expensive restaurants ....learned to cook at home and when I did go to dinners had no problem using 2 fer one coupons on dates.

4) Expensive suits were no longer needed and clothes on ones back don't need to all be designer clothes....Started shopping at Ross, Target and even Macy's when they had sales.

Eventually I got into investing in real estate projects and made even more money than I ever did as an attorney. Now that I wasn't working 7 days a week with tons of stress ...I traveled all over the world. Thought I might retire to Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico etc....problem was, security issues in those countries.

Not saying Thailand doesn't have that problem or others but for me the life changing event as to me moving to Thailand was I met the most wonderful women on one of my travels to Thailand. That was over 10 years ago. I had a house on a lake in California which I took her to and asked her if she wanted to live there. Her answer was no ...she wanted to live in Thailand but if that was what I wanted she would. Well the little I know about women is .... Happy wife, Happy Life. So I moved to Thailand. Past 10 years of my life have been the greatest. BUT remember it's not because I'm living in Thailand its because I'm with the most fantastic, loving, caring, and giving women. I was blessed to meet her.

So your question should have been ....Should I move to Thailand? and why? Again...only you can answer that....Wish you luck with that

[MJP]

I'm happiest when I'm pottering about the Issan house, in raggy clothes living on about £20-£30 a week.

No stress.

[Soutpeel]

I'm happiest when I'm pottering about the Issan house, in raggy clothes living on about £20-£30 a week.

No stress.

other than fretting about Jezza Clarkson you mean ?

[MJP]

I'm happiest when I'm pottering about the Issan house, in raggy clothes living on about £20-£30 a week.

No stress.

other than fretting about Jezza Clarkson you mean ?

No TV aerial. No problem.

But I have curtains.

[rgs2001uk]

OP, please slow down. Thailand is a littered, smelly shithole lacking the rule of law and filled with any kind of scam and corruption you can think of.

The biggest scam is likely to come from that pretty Thai woman who is "different" from the others.

Thailand is a great place to vacation because it has a lot of things you don't have in England or New York. It's a good bet that if your weren't looking for those things you'd be looking at Florida.

You won't be happy retired and Thailand will lose its luster quickly. Heck, I wouldn't want to live at Disneyland for more than three days.

I tried retiring in Thailand and had a one year extension of stay for retirement. You can't get that. I lasted less than the year and pulled up stakes and headed back to Oregon. Now I just visit as a tourist, usually for about 90 days.

Others have asked you to do this on a trial basis. I give you 90 days. Once you've built up enough assets and income that you can afford a first world environment, you aren't likely to want Thailand 24/7/365 and there aren't many who do. Those I know who do, to put it politely, are addicted to certain things in certain areas and it isn't healthy emotionally or physically. Either that or they have a very limited pension.

Good luck

Not a troll, and I agree with your general attitude. I suspect many do, but you don't see them here because they move to Thailand, find they don't like it, and leave. I always loved coming to Thailand, and would in the future, but living here full-time is a very different thing. Pollution, sweltering heat, shocking levels of corruption, incompetence, hellish traffic, etc. are easy to take in your stride when you're here for a vacation but get to you when you live here.

Good gawd lets all sit on the floor, adopt the lotus position join hands and sing kumbaya, talk about a circle jerk.

You dont live here yet can tell those of us do all about the place, rather strange.

However, what in your Thai experience would be the benefits and drawbacks of lets say, Chanthaburi, Petchabun or Loei, none of them of the tourist trail.

What and where do you base your observations on, Mr Negative above you chose for whatever reason known only to him to head to CM, what a dump, still it keeps getting hits on webpages from cheap charlie farangs looking to retire on the cheap.

Anyone who has spent time here knows better, avoid the place like the plauge.

Some of us on here live in gated communities and never experience whats talked of, its almost like two differing countries, the financially challenged and those picking more more per month in housing and kids education allowance than some of our experts on here live on per year.

Pollution, gated community, no problem

sweltering heat, they invented this new thing called A/C, I point a remote and the temp cools, I appreciate they may not have these in Oregon, and not all on here can afford to run it, they are usually found in the foodcourt of Big C on Pattaya Klang, talk about WiFi huggers, the freeloading a/c huggers have them beat every time.

shocking levels of corruption, as a tourist how did corruption affect you and where was it experienced?

I have lived in Bkk for years and never been exposed to it, must venture out of the gated community one day.

incompetence, agree, the dek serv in Pattaya brought me a beer that wasnt cold enough last week, when I pointed this out in Thai to her, the bottle was replaced straight away, learn to speak Thai you wont have such problems.

hellish traffic,, compared to where, tried Jakarta lately, compared to middle of nowhere booniesville US of A you are probably correct, compared to New York or London, sorry dont think so.

Thailand, its for adults only, those from the Nanny state should stay home.

[peterb17]

You sad person living on 20 quid a week. Get a life.

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.

Not quite many will get this reference- but you are totally correct live within your means- the bigger houses in my estate rent from 100000 - 200000 a month- so his income is small potatoes compared to some of my neighbours.

[cheeryble]

I am a 19 yr. resident of Thailand. I use a factor of 0.285 when comparing prices here with my home country,Canada. Or, expressed the other way, prices there are 3.5x Thai prices. I think for someone from London, you could probably use a factor of 0.2 to 0.25. Think about health insurance costs, if you will need to buy that here.

what you on , I can live for a 1000baht a week easy, but i can live Thai, it depends on what you want out of life try moving after you have your Visas sorted out, Then try living in-Thailand first, Thats what most people do then they get an idea on what they want out of Thailand.

dO YOU MEAN 1,000 BAHT A DAY??????

NOBODY, can live in 4000 baht a month

I CAN LIVE ON 1000 baht a week easy, that does not include Living in my house. I/Wife owns the house. food is cheap, i do not drink , only on special occasions,

Congratulations Thongkorn.....

Could you please tell us more about what you spend on what and what you do for amusement etc.......always interesting to hear about others' lives.

[elliss]

Why do you talk in American dollars when you work in London < we have Solicitors not layers.

Quite correct ,

OP, Thailand has more than enough farang, scammers ,chancers , pretenders etc.

Enough is too much , kap .

Edited March 16, 2015 by elliss

[MrWorldwide]

If we can somehow add this to the forum rules, I think it would make these threads a lot more intelligible :

From the OP forward, all further discussion of cost of living is to be based on exclusively on a 'THB per month' figure, calculated per the current exchange rate at xe.com

There have been some truly hilarious figures thrown around here, but this is my interpretation of the OP's projected income:

75K USD / 12 = 6250 USD per month

xe.com brings that in at over 210K THB when I checked it this evening, but many here seem to be working from 200K THB a month - fine with me. We could have all carried on from there but some ran with 75K USD a month - a stratospheric number for most salary earners who arent partners in a big law firm or working in finance and totally insane for someone looking for 'early retirement' in a developing country.

Whether the OP is having some fun with us or not, the basic question re 'how much buys you a comfortable life in Bangkok ?' is really at the heart of this thread - I cant think of any other destination in Thailand that is going to be more expensive assuming the same interests in food and drink after the sun goes down. If 200K a month is 2-3 times what you currently spend, it will seem like a fortune, but it's a finite amount nonetheless and I'm confident that many here could blaze through it in BKK once their expectations were suitably reset.

Good luck OP - personally I think you're leaping a little too early, but I also know what it feels like to constantly reflect on your time in Thailand.

[slightlychilled]

"how much buys you a comfortable life in Bangkok ?' is really at the heart of this thread"

Comfortable is in the mind and can actually have far less than you expect to do with money which brings us back to my original comments of emotional and social stability. Those remain the stumbling blocks for most expats. What good is $75K, or even ten times that, if you remain lonely on the fringes of society and with little to occupy your mind. Many foreigners try to escape this trap by marrying a Thai woman but the changes they achieve are superficial. It's all food for thought.

Edited March 16, 2015 by slightlychilled

[NeverSure]

OP, please slow down. Thailand is a littered, smelly shithole lacking the rule of law and filled with any kind of scam and corruption you can think of.

The biggest scam is likely to come from that pretty Thai woman who is "different" from the others.

Thailand is a great place to vacation because it has a lot of things you don't have in England or New York. It's a good bet that if your weren't looking for those things you'd be looking at Florida.

You won't be happy retired and Thailand will lose its luster quickly. Heck, I wouldn't want to live at Disneyland for more than three days.

I tried retiring in Thailand and had a one year extension of stay for retirement. You can't get that. I lasted less than the year and pulled up stakes and headed back to Oregon. Now I just visit as a tourist, usually for about 90 days.

Others have asked you to do this on a trial basis. I give you 90 days. Once you've built up enough assets and income that you can afford a first world environment, you aren't likely to want Thailand 24/7/365 and there aren't many who do. Those I know who do, to put it politely, are addicted to certain things in certain areas and it isn't healthy emotionally or physically. Either that or they have a very limited pension.

Good luck

Not a troll, and I agree with your general attitude. I suspect many do, but you don't see them here because they move to Thailand, find they don't like it, and leave. I always loved coming to Thailand, and would in the future, but living here full-time is a very different thing. Pollution, sweltering heat, shocking levels of corruption, incompetence, hellish traffic, etc. are easy to take in your stride when you're here for a vacation but get to you when you live here.

Feel free to join The Oregan Oracle, not everything in Thailand is in Bangkok

It's spelled Oregon, genius.

No, not everything is Bangkok. There are many rather large towns and cities and there are small villages. They are all dirty, polluted with litter, the food isn't always safe to eat so you never know what will bite you, and nowhere is the water safe to drink.

Many of the people who defend the decision to move to Thailand are stuck for any of a number reasons. They went all in and perhaps burned their bridges. They perhaps are stuck or they got taken by a village Isaan woman who while totally lacking education was smart enough to turn their pockets inside out.

The OP is young enough that he can't guess what his currency will be worth when he's 60, 70 or older. Even Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, BMW and many others manufacture their cars for the US market in the US to avoid the constant risk of exchange rates. "Manufacture in the currency you sell in." The OP would be risking all on exchange rates and unknown issues of inflation.

A lot of men, especially educated and successful men get some of their self esteem from their careers. The OP is talking about walking away from everything, no longer being an attorney, and becoming a nobody in a strange land. It's something to think about at such a young age.

The OP is an attorney. I can tell by his writing. An attorney is by definition a wordsmith. He can't fake some of his writing style.

I wish the OP well and I hope he doesn't burn his bridges and regret it.

Cheers

[csabo]

I live comfortably in Phuket similar to the standards you mentioned for just over 75k baht monthly (roughly 28k USD). But there are always extras you must account for. Based on the income you referenced, you have nothing to worry about with regards to money. Your biggest problem at your age is what I call "visa peace of mind". Under 50 your visa options are limited and you will likely have to leave the country semi routinely or for a significant length of time. Unless you are getting married here, starting a business, getting a job or buying an Elite card then you will need a few thousand USD for travel in and out of LOS. The fact that you planned successfully for early retirement means nothing to immigration here. Again, your income can handle it.

He who fails to plan, plans to fail.

Good luck.

[csabo]

OP ....I think you asked the wrong question.

Why? Because we are all different with different expectations and we know nothing of who you are, other than you are young with (maybe) an income of $7000/month. I'm going to assume that you have made some wise investments in the past that (almost) guarantee that income in the future and that it will grow with inflation. If not ....that's problem number one.

Secondly ...Why is it that you picked Thailand? Because of the cheap costs of living? If so, it comes at a price as stated by many of the posters as to the faults of Thailand.

My situation was VERY similar to yours (maybe)...I'm from the States, was a trial attorney until 35 when I quit. My income went from low six figures to mid five figures. Funny thing was my quality of life in the states increased 100 fold.

Less stress for sure, but I learned quickly that

1)a roof over your head didn't mean it had to be a mansion (bought a small bungalow).

2)A new expensive car every 3 years also wasn't necessary (bought used cars with low miles which I usually kept for 7 years)...remember a car is just a vehicle to get you from point "a" to "b".

3) No need to eat out 3 times a day at expensive restaurants ....learned to cook at home and when I did go to dinners had no problem using 2 fer one coupons on dates.

4) Expensive suits were no longer needed and clothes on ones back don't need to all be designer clothes....Started shopping at Ross, Target and even Macy's when they had sales.

Eventually I got into investing in real estate projects and made even more money than I ever did as an attorney. Now that I wasn't working 7 days a week with tons of stress ...I traveled all over the world. Thought I might retire to Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico etc....problem was, security issues in those countries.

Not saying Thailand doesn't have that problem or others but for me the life changing event as to me moving to Thailand was I met the most wonderful women on one of my travels to Thailand. That was over 10 years ago. I had a house on a lake in California which I took her to and asked her if she wanted to live there. Her answer was no ...she wanted to live in Thailand but if that was what I wanted she would. Well the little I know about women is .... Happy wife, Happy Life. So I moved to Thailand. Past 10 years of my life have been the greatest. BUT remember it's not because I'm living in Thailand its because I'm with the most fantastic, loving, caring, and giving women. I was blessed to meet her.

So your question should have been ....Should I move to Thailand? and why? Again...only you can answer that....Wish you luck with that

Ugh! I hate that phrase "Happy wife, happy life". More like "She's a witch and I'm her bitch". F that mantra. I didn't build my fortune to come to Thailand to have my lips surgically attached to a female posterior.

[MJP]

OP, listen to Uncle NeverSure. Wise words.

Perhaps a change in the way you work is needed, perhaps even a different career or at least a bit of change in direction. You will get bored out of your mind stuck in some dull backwater living hand to mouth, believe me. At the same time the hole in your CV will be getting bigger and bigger and no one knows what the future holds, financial or otherwise (apart from Naam).

GuestHouse also made valid points, especially that the Devil makes work for idle hands. A lot of people seriously <deleted> up in Thailand, particularly when they're not there for any real purpose other than to do nothing.

I highly recommend not flogging oneself to death at work, having long breaks and going to interesting places around the World. But going to Thailand to do nothing in particular is not something I would recommend.

[snottgoblin]

OP, please slow down. Thailand is a littered, smelly shithole lacking the rule of law and filled with any kind of scam and corruption you can think of.

The biggest scam is likely to come from that pretty Thai woman who is "different" from the others.

Thailand is a great place to vacation because it has a lot of things you don't have in England or New York. It's a good bet that if your weren't looking for those things you'd be looking at Florida.

You won't be happy retired and Thailand will lose its luster quickly. Heck, I wouldn't want to live at Disneyland for more than three days.

I tried retiring in Thailand and had a one year extension of stay for retirement. You can't get that. I lasted less than the year and pulled up stakes and headed back to Oregon. Now I just visit as a tourist, usually for about 90 days.

Others have asked you to do this on a trial basis. I give you 90 days. Once you've built up enough assets and income that you can afford a first world environment, you aren't likely to want Thailand 24/7/365 and there aren't many who do. Those I know who do, to put it politely, are addicted to certain things in certain areas and it isn't healthy emotionally or physically. Either that or they have a very limited pension.

Good luck

Not a troll, and I agree with your general attitude. I suspect many do, but you don't see them here because they move to Thailand, find they don't like it, and leave. I always loved coming to Thailand, and would in the future, but living here full-time is a very different thing. Pollution, sweltering heat, shocking levels of corruption, incompetence, hellish traffic, etc. are easy to take in your stride when you're here for a vacation but get to you when you live here.

Feel free to join The Oregan Oracle, not everything in Thailand is in Bangkok

It's spelled Oregon, genius.

No, not everything is Bangkok. There are many rather large towns and cities and there are small villages. They are all dirty, polluted with litter, the food isn't always safe to eat so you never know what will bite you, and nowhere is the water safe to drink.

Many of the people who defend the decision to move to Thailand are stuck for any of a number reasons. They went all in and perhaps burned their bridges. They perhaps are stuck or they got taken by a village Isaan woman who while totally lacking education was smart enough to turn their pockets inside out.

The OP is young enough that he can't guess what his currency will be worth when he's 60, 70 or older. Even Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, BMW and many others manufacture their cars for the US market in the US to avoid the constant risk of exchange rates. "Manufacture in the currency you sell in." The OP would be risking all on exchange rates and unknown issues of inflation.

A lot of men, especially educated and successful men get some of their self esteem from their careers. The OP is talking about walking away from everything, no longer being an attorney, and becoming a nobody in a strange land. It's something to think about at such a young age.

The OP is an attorney. I can tell by his writing. An attorney is by definition a wordsmith. He can't fake some of his writing style.

I wish the OP well and I hope he doesn't burn his bridges and regret it.

Cheers

Oregon or Oregan, or is it Oregano? ? Who really cares? Maybe Iowa would be a better place?

You clearly weren't exposed to much of Thailand, and struggled to live in a country that didn't treat you as Bwana. Not all towns or villages are dirty, polluted or dumps. Not all people who live here long term are stuck here, not all have been taken by a country girl, and not all are giving up careers.

Maybe that makes you feel better to think of it that way, sadly a large percentage of people who arrive in Thailand are devoid of the skills required to live overseas. One wonders often, how these fools managed to get a passport and work out wether to go to arrivals or departures at the airport.

[mickyboy]

how can you say one week maybe spend 5000 bhat then another only 1000 all depends on your wants and things