rickudon

Filling your bag as a customer service? Cannot remember when that last happened in the UK, in a supermarket, probably 30 or more years ago...... Maybe happen in a corner shop. Actually someone mentioned the poor ergonomic design of most Thai checkouts. In the UK, all supermarkets have a slide at the end of the belt and a small packing area. All the cashier has to do is scan the item and push it on to the slide. That is how they manage to serve two customers in UK to one in Thailand! Now of course self service checkouts are slowly taking over in the UK - some shops no longer have any manual checkouts.

Recovery in Global stock markets? With the coming global recession, more likely a dead cat bounce.

Worse still to come. In the UK, just 4,000 new cars were registered in April, a fall of 97%. I doubt that most UK car factories will be in a hurry to restart, as many still in stock. In Thailand, domestic sales may recover, but exports probably not.

500 million baht is peanuts. And yes, they do have costs - As far as i know, no staff have been made redundant, and their wage bill for 22,000 staff will eat that 500 million in a month. Some staff will be working on essential maintenance, rents for planes and offices are still due, parked planes have to pay a daily parking fee. Interest on their debts is probably hundreds of millions a month.

A ton of onions is worth about 20,000 baht (in Thailand). Business opportunity!

Aptitude test .... Interviewer - 'Why do you think you should be hired?' Applicant - 'My uncle is the deputy minister' Interviewer - 'OK, your hired!' Applicant - 'I will be working from home, just make sure the money is paid into this account'. Interviewer - 'No problem, Sir!'

So, if nine were sick, suggests that infection rates in the Uk still high. My completely uninformed guess is that many are ex-care home workers - With the patients now somewhat depleted by Covid-19 the owners are laying off staff - but no virus test?

Commonest colour for pickup trucks is brown/bronze. Black vehicle drivers? Usually drive like they own the road, scum of the earth.

Certainly circumstances can change a lot in the next 16 years let alone the next 30 (Need to consider the rest of your life as well). Personally, i was always careful with money in the UK (though never much of an investor) and sometimes had to do some very tight budgeting to get through lean periods (usually associated with buying a new house). So, when I retired here I thought I could easily budget it out. How wrong i was! I survived, but at times it has been tough. Tumbling exchange rates and interest rates, plus with a Thai family the budget never QUITE works..... I made it through to my State pension (had a modest company pension as well, taken early when i retired here) but it made a big dent in my capital. I was never going to starve, but holidays and capital expenditures had to be reduced or put on hold. And then there is the elephant in the room ...... health; I have avoided big costs with that so far but a slow lingering cancer would wipe me out. Currently I am able to save a little, but i doubt i will ever rebuild the cash pot i had 10 years ago. It is not like retiring in your home country, where usually some safety net exists, here it is the high rise balcony. So, how much do you need? I would say minimum of 5 million baht in cash for possible capital expenditures (house, car, health, etc.) and an income of at least 50,000 baht a month. But everyone's needs are different, that is just me. On top of this, Health insurance would be nice but it is not what it costs now but what it costs when you are 75 plus you need to allow for, and even then they may leave you high and dry if you have existing issues. As for the OP's example, he may be fine is his 50's, but big trouble when he gets to his 60's if he has to last to 67 for a pension.