Expats who want to leave, if they could

[Weasel100 58]

In fact, I always have a great Christmas Day every year. I cook a roast for my Thai wife and I on Christmas Eve and have left-overs for lunch on Christmas day. Sit down, watch a traditional Christmas Day movie often on my own as my wife has a shop and works most Christmas Days, and I have a few beers of glasses of wine (if I can afford wine - who can in this bloody country with criminally high taxes on wine because it's predominantly consumed by falangs).

No complaint about Christmas Days Mate.

[The manic 5,244]

7 minutes ago, Weasel100 said:

In fact, I always have a great Christmas Day every year. I cook a roast for my Thai wife and I on Christmas Eve and have left-overs for lunch on Christmas day. Sit down, watch a traditional Christmas Day movie often on my own as my wife has a shop and works most Christmas Days, and I have a few beers of glasses of wine (if I can afford wine - who can in this bloody country with criminally high taxes on wine because it's predominantly consumed by falangs).

No complaint about Christmas Days Mate.

Ah good on ya mate. Pleased to hear it. You diatribe about disenchantment sounded like you were clinically depressed and needed to return to Australia. You don'tsound  very happy here and so I am genuinely fascinated by people who hate Thais and Thailand but continue to live here. Poor life decision made in the past leading to bitterness and misanthropy perhaps?

[Gecko123 4,678]

@Weasel100

 

Sorry, bro, but after reading your follow up posts on this thread, I have concluded that you are more in need of a swift kick in the pants than any words of encouragement or commiseration. You are starting to sound like just another maladjusted farang who ia a self-appointed expert on everything that is wrong with Thailand. Just another guy who claims to love his Thai spouse to death but then turns around and spews contempt for the people and culture which shaped her as a person. A guy who faults Thais for not speaking better English when you've scarcely made an effort to learn the language of your adopted country. You need to look in the mirror and get off your butt. The majority of Thais are decent and honest people. Many know a lot of things you don't know. Many have a great sense of humor. Many know how to enjoy life...

[jak2002003 3,166]

18 hours ago, Pilotman said:

While rampant corruption and backhanders exist and flourish,  where the Police are next to useless and  the  rich, urban elite have the power and influence, they will keep  the rural poor in their place,  which is down, and their education will suffer.  

 

It's all about money, money, money. ….. the elite,  do the  same and get rich doing it.  No social security net, a poor heath provision, no pension provision, little  and basic education.  Its a symptom of those things and is not a National trait that can't be changed if the other things change. 

You are describing America here right?

[Weasel100 58]

Thanks for what I accept as your genuine concern.
I do suffer from a diagnosed psych disorder (Bipolar Type 2) but I'm actually fine most of the time. This often sounds like an excuse to other people I think but psychiatric illness is very very real to those who suffer.
Leave me alone and don't make me have to deal with Thais and Thai authorities and I'm OK.
The truth here is that there were many things about Australia and Australian society and Australian people which drove me made for the 56 years that I lived there and it was I guess disenchantment with Australia that prompted my move to Thailand. I think I'm probably even more disenchanted with Thailand because I expected that it'd be better than Australia which makes me more than a bit down on Thailand and Thai people in particular.

I will say that one of the things that truly drives me crazy here in Thailand is the lack of proper education of the local people. My Thai wife is as intelligent as anyone I've ever met here (Thai or falang) and she has a University degree in something or other which I've never quite been able to nail down. But, here's the point. I love her and respect her but what she didn't know after having been schooled and university educated in Thailand would fill an encyclopaedia.
I find myself constantly having to lecture her regarding things that were routinely taught in school in Australia when I was young.
When we met, my intelligent wife had next to no knowledge of world history including such things as two pretty significant world wars, the great depression, Hitler and the Nazis, US, UK, European, Australian and other famous world leaders and those countries' political histories, next to no knowledge of geography and little if any knowledge of other countries and their cultures. It is gratifying to me that she often thanks sincerely me for my efforts to inform her about these things, something I might add that I am very pleased to do. We have travelled widely together in the nearly six years we've been together and she has become much more a citizen of the world. Quite different to the uneducated masses in Thailand.
It is often said that the Thai education system is deliberately designed to keep the populace "dumbed down". After all, an uneducated populace is much easier to control than an educated one. What is the very first thing that any dictatorship does? Yup. Round up and murder the educated classes. The m**itary in charge in Thailand now is not up to that I don't think but stay tuned folks.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Weasel100

[The manic 5,244]

Just now, jak2002003 said:

You are describing America here right?

Nice one!

[Weasel100 58]

16 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

@Weasel100

 

Sorry, bro, but after reading your follow up posts on this thread, I have concluded that you are more in need of a swift kick in the pants than any words of encouragement or commiseration. You are starting to sound like just another maladjusted farang who ia a self-appointed expert on everything that is wrong with Thailand. Just another guy who claims to love his Thai spouse to death but then turns around and spews contempt for the people and culture which shaped her as a person. A guy who faults Thais for not speaking better English when you've scarcely made an effort to learn the language of your adopted country. You need to look in the mirror and get off your butt. The majority of Thais are decent and honest people. Many know a lot of things you don't know. Many have a great sense of humor. Many know how to enjoy life...

Better now??

[Weasel100 58]

Just now, Weasel100 said:

Better now??

Perhaps it's the maladjusted and self-appointed experts on everything that's wrong with Thailand who are right and that you're mistaken.
Ever consider that possibility?

[Odysseus123 6,001]

14 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

@Weasel100

 

Sorry, bro, but after reading your follow up posts on this thread, I have concluded that you are more in need of a swift kick in the pants than any words of encouragement or commiseration. You are starting to sound like just another maladjusted farang who ia a self-appointed expert on everything that is wrong with Thailand. Just another guy who claims to love his Thai spouse to death but then turns around and spews contempt for the people and culture which shaped her as a person. A guy who faults Thais for not speaking better English when you've scarcely made an effort to learn the language of your adopted country. You need to look in the mirror and get off your butt. The majority of Thais are decent and honest people. Many know a lot of things you don't know. Many have a great sense of humor. Many know how to enjoy life...

'Many know how do enjoy life.."

 

I agree with that-they certainly have a concept of "La dolce vita"

 

I just don't think that it has to be a dualistic thing,an "us against them" mentality as you can take the best of the culture-indeed any culture-including your own and be happy.

 

Even tho' I have returned to my own country I am bombarded with photos from the extended Thai family most days..those photos make me very happy,indeed.

[altcarrbob 16]

Only the mutts I have keep me here.  Discussed it with vet having them PTS,seems heartless,which it is after all these years together,but I'm at the end of my tether.

    More and more surrounding houses coming empty,nobody to buy or rent at farang prices,even Thais appear flat broke  and absent friends upped sticks,its bloody frightening the ones leaving/are about to leave

[Weasel100 58]

Despite all my bitching about what I find either annoying or nearly intolerable about living in Thailand, I'll be here until stumps unless health problems force me to return to Australia for a time. I'm in fine fettle right now at age 62 so no immediate cause for concern.
I'm not truly unhappy and thankfully not suicidal as some others have regrettably indicated here. I feel for them very much and I urge any of you out there who may read this to try withdrawing to a quiet and somewhat solitary way of life. Thailand I find can best be tolerated when largely on my own. It'll work for some and not for others I guess.

Having said that, I will retire for a while now as this thread, as engrossing as it has proven to be, is taking up way too much of my time. 

[stereolab 302]

On ‎7‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 6:52 PM, BuckleUp said:

Chiang Mai is great for 2 months every year. More than that, no thanks. Too many hassles here long term. Too expensive too. 3 kids, education in Melbourne completely free at one of the top govt schools in the state. Here, what, $50,000/year for 3 kids at International school? And although Thai food is delicious, eating in restaurants every night is not sustainable nor healthy. 35 baht noodles and various dishes get boring as well, the outside 7-11 cart variety.

 

Buying foreign supplies runs expensive, 100g of smoked salmon was 180baht at Rimping,  Coles back home $5 for 200g. I think for a family, education and all up wrt to kids safety, thing to do, free activities, it's definitely Melbourne for us. I mean just playgrounds, in the last year we've been to a dozen or more playgrounds on the weekends in the parks. every park has a playgrounds, some amazing. Where are the playgrounds here? You have to pay for artificial plastic play-center in Big C or similar with flashing lights - where's all the natural playgrounds that blend natural landscape?

 

Other thing i'm amazed by is the lack of education. where are the libraries? Where are the community centers? The play groups? We're in our local library every week, kids borrow all sort of books. Libraries and community centres hold group activities. Here, apart from Kumon (and that's paid per hour), there is nothing to stimulate the young minds. Only more Big C style play centres.

 

I guess it's different for everyone. Great place for a month or 2. Anyways, another 3 weeks for us here, and back to Melb.

 

 

Our village has a small library, it is the quietest building in the village, apart from staff, no one visits. It is simply another job for the boys post.

[gk10002000 4,157]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 5:24 PM, AYJAYDEE said:

what is paying 6% interest or dividends these days?

 

 

In summary: I hold:  NLY, T, PFXF, PGX, PRTAX, PRHYX, NEA, NUW, some MUNI bonds, and an Intermediate Term Bond.  Below are the approximate interest or dividend rates for these holdings.   T that I bought in at a low price and NLY are my two biggest payers, while most everything else pays over 5%.  Net capital gains and price increases have not been much but I don't care.  I am not buying to sell.  I bought for Dividends and Interest and retirement or out of work income cash flow.

 

  I hold in my regular Brokerage account:   T (6%) (all qualified dividends),  PRTAX (3.6% but tax free), NEA ( 5.2% but tax free), NUW ( ~ 4%),, and a several Muni bonds I bought and have held for years that are tax free and all pay (5.2%).  In my ROTH whose distributions are all tax free I hold:  NLY (11%), PGX (5.5%), and PRHYX (5.2%).  In my traditional IRA I hold PFXF (5.2%, NLY and PRHYX and T again.  I don't touch any of this money as I am still working.  The dividends and interest just keep coming in and compounding.  NLY which is a REIT is the highest dividend and I have about 14% of my portfolio in that.  T is my next biggest holding.  Then my tax free stuff.  I have another 75K that will be about 115 K in my company 401k by the end of next year that will roll over half  to my ROTH IRA and half to my Traditional IRA next year when I retire.  I currently have those 401k monies in an intermediate bond fund paying about 3% which is OK since I don't plan to have the money in that 401k for long.  I will roll that over to my own IRAs where I can invest it in better things.

  I try to keep things simple and see no reason to have too many holdings.  Many are variations on a theme.  I plan to add some energy or oil, and I have been almost pulling the trigger on some drugs/pharmaceuticals.   I like dividends and interest and not too worried about chasing ups and downs and trying to buy and sell things, market time, etc.  very very few people do that well and you hear people say "play the market". I don't play.  I like reasonably steady dividends and interest.   

 

 

[AYJAYDEE 3,995]

1 hour ago, gk10002000 said:

 

In summary: I hold:  NLY, T, PFXF, PGX, PRTAX, PRHYX, NEA, NUW, some MUNI bonds, and an Intermediate Term Bond.  Below are the approximate interest or dividend rates for these holdings.   T that I bought in at a low price and NLY are my two biggest payers, while most everything else pays over 5%.  Net capital gains and price increases have not been much but I don't care.  I am not buying to sell.  I bought for Dividends and Interest and retirement or out of work income cash flow.

 

  I hold in my regular Brokerage account:   T (6%) (all qualified dividends),  PRTAX (3.6% but tax free), NEA ( 5.2% but tax free), NUW ( ~ 4%),, and a several Muni bonds I bought and have held for years that are tax free and all pay (5.2%).  In my ROTH whose distributions are all tax free I hold:  NLY (11%), PGX (5.5%), and PRHYX (5.2%).  In my traditional IRA I hold PFXF (5.2%, NLY and PRHYX and T again.  I don't touch any of this money as I am still working.  The dividends and interest just keep coming in and compounding.  NLY which is a REIT is the highest dividend and I have about 14% of my portfolio in that.  T is my next biggest holding.  Then my tax free stuff.  I have another 75K that will be about 115 K in my company 401k by the end of next year that will roll over half  to my ROTH IRA and half to my Traditional IRA next year when I retire.  I currently have those 401k monies in an intermediate bond fund paying about 3% which is OK since I don't plan to have the money in that 401k for long.  I will roll that over to my own IRAs where I can invest it in better things.

  I try to keep things simple and see no reason to have too many holdings.  Many are variations on a theme.  I plan to add some energy or oil, and I have been almost pulling the trigger on some drugs/pharmaceuticals.   I like dividends and interest and not too worried about chasing ups and downs and trying to buy and sell things, market time, etc.  very very few people do that well and you hear people say "play the market". I don't play.  I like reasonably steady dividends and interest.   

 

 

are those % based on the face values, present values, or your book  values?

[gk10002000 4,157]

55 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

are those % based on the face values, present values, or your book  values?

assuming we are using the same definitions, only the bonds are really defined by face value which is the PAR price or what I would get if the bonds were redeemed.  I always buy bonds below the Par value since once I was burned when I paid above PAR for a bond that paid an attractive interest rate, but there then was some emergency/extra ordinary call bullshit and I lost money when they called it back and I got back less than I paid for it, and barely had collected one interest payment. 

 

The stocks and ETFs are based on present value.   You can go to any finance site and see the current % calculation which is basically based on the current dividend/current price, google, yahoo, (I like morningstar (the old format not the new that just has colors and horribly presents even less information than the older layout) and see the current % estimates.  I have been accumulating since 2005 when my job really started paying off, and I could start socking things away.  As I said, my capital gains or price appreciation really has not been that much, so my purchase prices are relatively close to the current prices.  But I have been getting and compounding the divvies and interest since then, and heading into retirement or part time contracting and then social security in a year if I want it, things are looking pretty good.  The market ups and downs have not bothered me.  When things were down, the dividends stayed about the same and I accumulated more shares on the DRIP (Dividend reinvestment).

 

  I know many people say the market did this, the market did that.  Yep, it did.  Good luck to the arm chair people that have a few thousand in there and think and try to trade up to millions. They often pay out as much in commissions as they make in capital gains after taxes.   I have had some good picks now and then, Intel (INTC) made me a lot and I sold and took the gains to invest in more income producing things.  BP made me a lot as I bought that at a low and it recovered after the lawsuits mostly ended. 

 

Slow and steady sets the pace, slow and steady wins the race.