Falling Pound Affecting UK Ex-Pats

[chiang mai]

2 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

http://www.insubuy.com/schengen-insurance/

seems to work well for these 26 countries....why would you have to buy it from a Thai company?  

 

 

 

It's difficult to imagine that the Thai  government would allow expats from every country on the planet to buy health insurance from their home country. Firstly it would be almost impossible to police for fraud and validity, the average Immigration officer is barely competent in written English let alone French, German, Italian, Swahili and so on. given the various languages involved. Secondly and most importantly, it would be a missed business and revenue generating opportunity for Thai government/businesses.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

The likes of RAM and Bumrungrad bill and accept payment from insurance companies all over the globe on a daily basis.  They use a system similar to SWIFT.  AXA is actually a subsidiary of a Chinese Company.  Any document can be forged, it is still a serious criminal act.

[chiang mai]

The likes of Bumrungrad and RAM are private companies, we're talking here about Immigration Department, hardly the same thing in terms of efficiencies and international language skills!

 

But assuming the Thai government isn't interested in the revenue making aspect of this and that Thai insurance companies don't call foul,  both of which is very hard to imagine, why should people who self insure and who wouldn't otherwise buy health insurance be forced to buy a policy they don't want or need?

[Deepinthailand]

7 hours ago, Bulldozer Dawn said:

 

For the record I now live in Nakon Nowwhere (by the sea) and could not be happier.  I think you are missing my point.  Would you still be happy here if the requirement became a minimum spend of 800K per year and not just a minimum of 800K in the bank?

No not missing the point you stated and I quote "That will wipe out 60-70 percent of all retired expats right there.  Especially the ones scraping by in Nakon Nowhere."

So you would be happy spending 800K a year to appease the Thai government I would not why should I irrelevant if have the money or not. Seemed the way it's written your very smug. People have worked hard for there pension if it fits the bill to live here for them regardless of right on the border line or over it. But I do belive as it happens the pound will recover. 

 

[chiang mai]

When people think about UK expats in Thailand I do believe many tend to think of their own financial position as being representative of others. What needs to be remembered is that the older the expat is, the more likely it is their financial position has been eroded through inflation, extended periods of low savings interest rates, the absence of cost of living increase in State Pension, financial emergencies that have arisen over time and generally lack of care in spending over time. The older the expat, the worse their financial position is likely to be and the greater the impact of the current devaluation, all of which is very cruel since those are the people with most to loose from being forced to leave. I personally know of a couple of UK expats who previously were borderline before the current crisis broke, they are both now in a critical situation and both will likely go under the radar from this point on.

[Dante99]

6 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

All I know is this. Being a Brit and a having my pension income from England, my bank savings interest has been dropping steadily over the years and toppled by the crap bank £ exchange rates, my income has been falling month by month.

 

We can managed but now have to count those pennies and watch what we spend.

Understood and agreed.

Do you think that counting your pennies and watching what you spend here gives you a better economic situation than living back home?  (I understand that you may have family or other reasons to stay here which could trump the economics only considerations.)

Do you have to pay for health care here as opposed to getting it basically free back home?

[hmficc]

5 hours ago, Grauwulf said:

<deleted>......!!!!! Get a grip most of us are here because we have planned for our futures and live as normal as we can regardless of nationality, the only nation I saw invading " the poorer countries of Africa" was the U.S. In Somalia in 93 and look how that turned out! Not's let forget Iraq, Afghanistan....sorry got carried away there! But hey so did the U.S.!!!!

The Brits plan is cheap housing, food, beer and sex. Something they could not dream of in dreary England . I will point out that the U.K. Was only to happy to play the poodle in the American misadventures in the Mideast. Of course, the damage had been done long ago by the rapacious colonizer.

[fcgprg]

If they increased the 800,000 ,they would also increase the monthly amount upwards of the 65,000 per month income.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

....and who were the "colonists"?

 

Edited October 8, 2016 by KhonKaenKowboy

[chiang mai]

11 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

....and who were the "colonists"?

 

 

I prefer the 1783 version:

 

[puukao]

i prefer the version post- Ratification effective: May 12, 1784 !!!!!   

 

USA, USA, USA!!!!!

 

You want to try to come back in 1812???

 

USA, USA, USA!!!!!

 

 

Edited October 8, 2016 by puukao

[stament]

This topic is seriously deteriorating and going off-track at a very rapid pace.

 

To quote the apprentice "I'm out!"

 

 

 

 

[The Dark Lord]

2 hours ago, chiang mai said:

 

I prefer the 1783 version:

 

Was this not just an info graph on where us poor Brits could settle (had settled) with nil or very few visa hassles?

[Srikcir]

2 hours ago, chiang mai said:

I prefer the 1783 version

1783 was the year defeated superpower Britain acknowledged the United States of American to be sovereign and independent. That rendered the 1783 map obsolete in North America.

[jacko45k]

23 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Things must be pretty bad over there, it looks like PM May can,t afford to go to the dentist.  

Yes if her and Hillary meet, I will be looking for cinderella!

[jacko45k]

I worry for Brit Expats. Yes this drop brings the pound lower than it has been for a long long time and lower than the Expat likely envisaged when planning the move to Thailand. And 12-14 years ago he possibly calculated based on an interest rate of 5% on his nestegg... that too has vanished. A few will have been caught out, and perhaps one bad relationship or investment may have hurt that nestegg too.

 

I have a friend or two I worry about.

 

I am in the UK myself right now, not much to come back here to if you have little savings. Although you will get a good rate for any baht you bring back.

 

[KhonKaenKowboy]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

1783 was the year defeated superpower Britain acknowledged the United States of American to be sovereign and independent. That rendered the 1783 map obsolete in North America.

maybe it's just a map of their slave business.

[JB300]

 
I prefer the 1783 version:

 

Just thought, is that bottom map correct as it seems to show Thailand was part of the British empire & I thought that Thailand had never been colonised .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[red roger]

23 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

"Rich guys in Poor guys out"

 

Surely most people saw the writing on the wall and topped their Thai bank accounts up to cover the Baht 800,000 bank balance requirement. You have to laugh at the people who purposely live month to month because they don't think it's safe to keep money in a Thai bank or because they're earning a couple percent more by keeping their money in a bank in Old Blighty or one of the shaky European banks.

 

In any event, I'm pretty sure most of us spend more than Baht 65,000 a month without being labelled "rich."  That's only about GBP 1500 a month or £18,000 a year.  If you can't muster that maybe you should return to the embrace of the nanny state. You could get on the waiting list for a council flat.

What an ignorant "I'm allright Jack" post. 

What do you do for fun?  Kicking beggars is it? 

[tropo]

11 hours ago, Fithman said:

 

A nasty "Thai bashing" comment which has no basis in fact.

 

 When where you last "fleeced" ?

Was I nasty? There's no "fleecing" going on here?

 

Is it really necessary to cry "Thai bashing" on even a hint of negativity about Thailand?

[Ricardo]

I'll admit that it's not looking good, I may have to put the butler on short-time working.

 

But Mrs.Ricardo informs me that her weekly housekeeping-money is sacrosanct, or else it's duck-feeding time, what can one do but agree with her ?

 

A sense-of-humour, and patience, are essential when hard-times threaten.

[chiang mai]

4 hours ago, JB300 said:

 

 

Just thought, is that bottom map correct as it seems to show Thailand was part of the British empire & I thought that Thailand had never been colonised .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Careless use of left over red paint perhaps. Alternatively, lack of knowledge about what really exists in that area, what the heck, daub it all red!

 

More probable that Burma and Malaysia being British, the painter decided Thailand was also, who knows.

[Konini]

6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

 

I have a friend or two I worry about.

 

I am in the UK myself right now, not much to come back here to if you have little savings. Although you will get a good rate for any baht you bring back.

 

 

I'm also worried about more than a few of my friends.  The once comfortable enough pensions they have are now coming in under the  financial requirement for the retirement extension.

 

I really am concerned - when the government invoke section 50, the pound will plummet - probably short term panic and it will recover very quickly, but it won't recover to the level prior to the official exit request.

 

At that point, I really worry about a lot more people who rely on the income system rather than the 800,000 in the bank.

 

(And bummer of all bummers, we've just sold an investment property in England, no way are we going to move the money out of UK.  The Aussie dollar (which most of our finances are in) is buying 60p at the moment.  Not that long ago it was buying 30p).

[CNXBKKMAN]

I don't know the stats so there is no substance behind this other than my own feelings and opinion. But is Thailand full of older farangs paying lots of money to local hospitals for healthcare when needed or is it full of farangs getting healthcare for free and not paying the bills? I was always under the impression if you had no money you get very little healthcare in Thailand. The hospitals want to get paid and don't do much until they know they will be paid. Hospital costs which once seems quite cheap seemed to have doubled over the past 5 o 10 years. 

      In my opinion Thai hospitals do very well out of the resident expats and retirees even basic stuff like dislocated shoulders , straight forward broken bones require 100,000's of baht to be treated. Some people are spending fortunes with the local private hospitals. It's a good earner for Thailand imo. 

[evadgib]

3 hours ago, CNXBKKMAN said:

I don't know the stats so there is no substance behind this other than my own feelings and opinion. But is Thailand full of older farangs paying lots of money to local hospitals for healthcare when needed or is it full of farangs getting healthcare for free and not paying the bills? I was always under the impression if you had no money you get very little healthcare in Thailand. The hospitals want to get paid and don't do much until they know they will be paid. Hospital costs which once seems quite cheap seemed to have doubled over the past 5 o 10 years. 

      In my opinion Thai hospitals do very well out of the resident expats and retirees even basic stuff like dislocated shoulders , straight forward broken bones require 100,000's of baht to be treated. Some people are spending fortunes with the local private hospitals. It's a good earner for Thailand imo. 

It might help if billing was based on nature of injury rather than ethnicity of patient

[millwall_fan]

On 07/10/2016 at 2:42 PM, Sparkles said:

Nice to see some other people sharing the pain. The Aussie $ was a while ago 32 baht to the $A it went as low as 23 baht to the $A and is now back up to 26 baht to the $A.The Brixit issue was always going to affect the English pound.

 

Of course the Thai baht could devalue to help exports , but dont hold your breath,considerable loss of face involved.

 

 

The strong Baht is not just lack of face, Sparkles, it was a deliberate policy on behalf of the Bank of Thailand to scupper the rice scheme and as it also served to further the interests of the Ruling Elite who could buy cheap real estate and stocks and shares around the world and go on cheap holidays to Japan, the policy has continued.  

[chiang mai]

6 minutes ago, millwall_fan said:

The strong Baht is not just lack of face, Sparkles, it was a deliberate policy on behalf of the Bank of Thailand to scupper the rice scheme and as it also served to further the interests of the Ruling Elite who could buy cheap real estate and stocks and shares around the world and go on cheap holidays to Japan, the policy has continued.  

 

Rubbish! Humour us all and tell us how BOT did that, I dare you?

[millwall_fan]

29 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

Rubbish! Humour us all and tell us how BOT did that, I dare you?

The Bank of Thailand, as with many central banks, has the power to set interest rates as well as the ability to influence rates by other means. When Kittirat Na Ranong, the then finance minister asked, indeed begged the BoT to reduce interest rates in order to devalue the Baht to make Thai rice exports more competitive, the bank refused (presumably after interventions from high in the amart). The strong Baht was just as influential in the failure of the rice pledging scheme as the corruption that was doubtless involved. 

 

As to subsequent events: why when the Thai economy is performing at a fraction of the rate it was in 2012, unemployment is rising, public debt is rising and exports are falling, is the Baht still riding so high, unless it is to support the activities of the Elite and their military backers.

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, millwall_fan said:

The Bank of Thailand, as with many central banks, has the power to set interest rates as well as the ability to influence rates by other means. When Kittirat Na Ranong, the then finance minister asked, indeed begged the BoT to reduce interest rates in order to devalue the Baht to make Thai rice exports more competitive, the bank refused (presumably after interventions from high in the amart). The strong Baht was just as influential in the failure of the rice pledging scheme as the corruption that was doubtless involved. 

 

As to subsequent events: why when the Thai economy is performing at a fraction of the rate it was in 2012, unemployment is rising, public debt is rising and exports are falling, is the Baht still riding so high, unless it is to support the activities of the Elite and their military backers.

 

Interest rates serve more than just as a tool to stimulate rice sales!, They're useful in stimulating the economy or for reigning in inflation when borrowings become too high. The MPC was right to hold rates steady rather than to provide support for a malfunctioning and largely corrupt rice sales scheme. And if BOT really wanted to influence the value of THB it has ways of doing that apart from interest rates manipulation, albeit lessening demand for THB is very difficult to do with a tourist industry that is experiencing year on year record growth. In fact, BOT has, over the past five years, spent considerable sums from foreign currency reserves in trying to weaken THB which for the large part has not been successful.

 

And, just for clarity:

 

In fact unemployment is not rising, it's actually still very low and lower than previous months:

 

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/thailand/employed-persons

 

Public debt is rising but is still remarkably low as a percentage of GDP, compared to other countries, it is of course expected to rise as government initiates infrastructure spending designed to stimulate the economy.

 

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/thailand/government-debt-to-gdp

[millwall_fan]

Just now, chiang mai said:

 

Interest rates serve more than just as a tool to stimulate rice sales!, They're useful in stimulating the economy or for reigning in inflation when borrowings become too high. The MPC was right to hold rates steady rather than to provide support for a malfunctioning and largely corrupt rice sales scheme. And if BOT really wanted to influence the value of THB it has ways of doing that apart from interest rates manipulation, albeit lessening demand for THB is very difficult to do with a tourist industry that is experiencing year on year record growth. In fact, BOT has, over the past five years, spent considerable sums from foreign currency reserves in trying to weaken THB which for the large part has not been successful.

 

And, just for clarity:

 

In fact unemployment is not rising, it's actually still very low and lower than previous months:

 

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/thailand/employed-persons

 

Public debt is rising but is still remarkably low as a percentage of GDP, compared to other countries, it is of course expected to rise as government initiates infrastructure spending designed to stimulate the economy.

 

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/thailand/government-debt-to-gdp

I don't deny any of that, but I don't see that it invalidates my argument in the rather dismissive way you did. 

Incidentally one of the reasons why public debt, whilst rising is low compared to many other countries is that Thailand spends precious little on providing a safety net for the poor like many countries with higher debts do.