Thailand's surging baht shatters expat dreams of easy retirement

[Fairynuff]

48 minutes ago, helloagain said:

Do you really want europe to have control over our army, taxes, change to klms, change to euros, our parents fought to make sure we did not all end up speaking bloody german. Last year my thai wife flew business class to S. A., Botswana, Zimbabwe. This May we flew again business class to America for the month of may cos her 10 year visa was ending. I left school with 1 o level but loved my job. Not so many years ago you could get a 1 year bond with co-op paying 13% interest, did you do it, no, well i did. You have a choice. Boris is the best thing since sliced bread. Or you want to speak german

Here we go again....ugh believe in Johnson? The guy who lies for a living

[robsamui]

5 hours ago, MadMuhammad said:

Can anyone give me a link to a currency chart GBP to THB that goes back further than the Asian Financial Crisis when the value of the pound blew out against the Thai Baht? 

Just curious as to what it was tracking at historically 

Not clear from the graph as it's so compressed, but this is from January 1st 1980 to date.

 

https://fxtop.com/en/historical-exchange-rates.php?A=1&C1=GBP&C2=THB&TR=1&DD1=01&MM1=01&YYYY1=1980&B=1&P=&I=1&DD2=03&MM2=10&YYYY2=2019&btnOK=Go!

 

 

[Black arab]

55 minutes ago, helloagain said:

Do you really want europe to have control over our army, taxes, change to klms, change to euros, our parents fought to make sure we did not all end up speaking bloody german. Last year my thai wife flew business class to S. A., Botswana, Zimbabwe. This May we flew again business class to America for the month of may cos her 10 year visa was ending. I left school with 1 o level but loved my job. Not so many years ago you could get a 1 year bond with co-op paying 13% interest, did you do it, no, well i did. You have a choice. Boris is the best thing since sliced bread. Or you want to speak german

You forgot to nention the empire and st george.

Gammon of the day well done.

[Percy P]

5 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

Really? The THB is strong and hurting expats lifestyle?

 

Let me get my reading glasses... must have missed something.

I think its the other way round . A weak Pound not a strong Baht, same as the Euro, Aus Dollar. Thailand doesn't want a strong Baht but thats its value against other currencies . Thailand is in a good position with its Foreign currence account although business isn't to good  but as long as the foreign reserve account is good there is no problems as all foreign debts are covered.

[HHTel]

Look at the chart from 2004 till now. I arrived before that.

 

       Average   Min       Max

2019	39.843576	36.912582	42.135820	191
2018	43.143031	41.106658	44.788483	255
2017	43.687648	42.662436	45.038995	255
2016	47.811798	42.561910	53.389785	257
2015	52.412438	47.508283	56.314708	256
2014	53.510748	51.073109	55.590778	255
2013	48.097056	43.649422	54.280763	255
2012	49.246528	47.676398	50.391250	256
2011	48.884682	46.616201	50.033731	257
2010	48.960109	46.195049	53.764811	258
2009	53.698016	47.591350	57.831041	256
2008	61.012502	50.295627	67.294325	256
2007	64.633642	59.579150	70.624953	255
2006	69.821829	66.410146	72.380464	255
2005	73.214701	70.363214	75.813507	257
2004	73.698138	69.926319	76.498465	259

[rwill]

In 2013 the US dollar was at 28 baht.  It still hasn't gone down to that level yet.

[natway09]

When I came to Thailand to work I was not even getting 15 Bht for an Ozzie $

Anyone who banked on sterling staying over 55 Bht for any length of time was not 

facing reality

[hgma]

good and bad times = money wise Thailand.

Yet no complaints just another mind set needed.

be it that study, insurance and rentals are the most effected in increase by exchange rates.

that's life everywhere in the world i guess

[smudger1951]

5 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Just have to go with the flow. Adapt and adjust.

 

Spend more time on TVForum and less on the bar stool.

Limit the pussy to just one (or two) different ones a week.

Embrace Thai food; and have more stews.

Home teach the children.

Frequent the clothes markets; shorts just 50 Baht.

Walk to the corner shop; leave the m/c at home.

Turn off the air-con; get a fan or two.

Stop feeding the soi dogs.

Cut your own hair.

Pull your own teeth.

Stay away from medical premises.

Embrace cold water showering.

Tell the wife or g/f only one new pair of shoes a month.

Limit the wife or g/f to one new handbag a month.

Tell the wife or g/f; 100 Baht lottery limit.

 

Big savings to be had for the thrifty.

 

 

I solved the problem with the strong thai baht. I went home and this year with online visa application problems I may only make it back for 30 days. 

[MadMuhammad]

26 minutes ago, robsamui said:

Not clear from the graph as it's so compressed, but this is from January 1st 1980 to date.

 

https://fxtop.com/en/historical-exchange-rates.php?A=1&C1=GBP&C2=THB&TR=1&DD1=01&MM1=01&YYYY1=1980&B=1&P=&I=1&DD2=03&MM2=10&YYYY2=2019&btnOK=Go!

 

 

I’ve got a clearer one here. 

 

As posted above, at a quick glance excluding the obvious skewed AFC, of which will never happen again in our lifetime, I rate the GBP to THB @ a fair value of 45:1. Not that much far off what it is now. 

 

Again, I’m not an economist nor do I have any real chart experience. 

[PEE TEE]

I'm sure even with the strong THB  and the weak GBP is still cheaper that living back in the UK . I recon after around another 3 years the GBP will go up again ( i hope ) 

[GalaxyMan]

6 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

In fairness, from the point of view of British expats, the strong baht is only the tip of the iceberg. Brexit and our idiotic government are the main villains with regards to current exchange rates.

Took the words right out of my head.

[moe666]

If you planned your retirement thinking it would be 70 to the lb forever then you made a drastic mistake. Most of the brits I know get a pension around 1500 to 2000lb a month not much really

[nickmondo]

6 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

Really? The THB is strong and hurting expats lifestyle?

 

Let me get my reading glasses... must have missed something.

what is so difficult for you to understand?

the statement is true

[nickmondo]

Just now, moe666 said:

If you planned your retirement thinking it would be 70 to the lb forever then you made a drastic mistake. Most of the brits I know get a pension around 1500 to 2000lb a month not much really

your figures are absolute rubbish, not accurate at all

[Percy P]

17 minutes ago, HHTel said:

Although I'm still 'afloat', I certainly didn't plan to live on half of what I was getting when I arrived.  The pound was getting 73 for a while and now it's half that coupled with rising prices.

 

For those (myself included) that bought a house then and if planning to leave should make a massive profit on the sale.  My house cost around 7 mill to build which was a little under 100,000 pounds.  If I get 10 mill for it now that converts to around 270,000 quid!

Of course that only works if you're planning to leave the country.

But your not planning to leave so your investment is ok, better in the building then in the bank.

[nickmondo]

1 minute ago, GalaxyMan said:

Took the words right out of my head.

rubbish

Brexit has nothing to do with the strength of the baht.

Aus, USA, EU, they all doing same as Brexit?

 

[PEE TEE]

1 minute ago, GalaxyMan said:

Took the words right out of my head.

I only get 800 a month and do ok 

 

[MadMuhammad]

2 minutes ago, natway09 said:

When I came to Thailand to work I was not even getting 15 Bht for an Ozzie $

Anyone who banked on sterling staying over 55 Bht for any length of time was not 

facing reality

Absolutely agree. When I first visited I was getting 33thb to the AUD. Looking at the charts before moving here it was obvious fair value for the Aussie was low low 20’s. 

At best I planned my budget on 22.5, at worst 18. Even if it drops below 18 I can still make it work. 

 

Hope for the best, plan for the worst 

[Autonuaq]

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Sounds like another fool not planning his life properly with no escape route.

Well one thing is sure. And that is that you can not trust a goverment.

Dispite all your planning we see around the world many running into problems with the pensions they. have.

 

There are countries that even half the pension when you live in countries like Thailand because they say all is cheaper.

 

In the mean time even in thailand all prices did go up rapidly and today for many things thailand are having an eqaul costs or are even more expensive.

 

You see many companies move out in the past 5 yeard and what comes back are older people who have a pension. The bath is getting stronger makes then the exchanged income becomes lower and many drop a lot. When have no extra source of income you run into problems dispite the fact that you have been here a long time and have been integrates into the local village or area. Makes all the you can not comply to the (new) rules set by the goverment back home and the thai goverment

 

[simple1]

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Sounds like another fool not planning his life properly with no escape route.

I have known Brian for a number of years - he is not a fool

[johnarth]

would be great to be a well-off retiree, look at me sitting back pocking sh---t I am doing the hard yard not because of my plans but because as the baht rises my pension does not being am Aussie with a very weak pension it does not take much to upset the balance I am glad the manager of the Thailand central bank has started the slowing down process how ever small it is

[Percy P]

Just now, Percy P said:

But your not planning to leave so your investment is ok, better in the building then in the bank.

Well I've had as much as 90B/£ for many years  79B/£ . I except the situation weak pound. Boris will correct it soon.

[MadMuhammad]

23 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

So you’d say that not planning for a 37% reduction in income (exchange rate) and the effects of a military junta coming to power are poor preparations are you? 

If you look at historical charts and had your eyes open you’d realise the 70-90thb ‘value’ was never going to hold. You’re actually very lucky it lasted as long as it did IMO. 

As I stated earlier I see fair value of the Pound around the 45thb mark. It’s only 12% off of the historical average today 

[smudger1951]

4 hours ago, the guest said:

Very simple, move to Vietnam or Cambodia .. the dream can continue !

Any Brit on a slim budget should face up to the future and avoid being the boiled frog that never jumped.

[bimmerbob]

Scary thought - Imagine how much stronger the Baht could be if corruption was eradicated!

 

[British Bulldog]

I can't believe what I am reading here, people complaining about their British Pound value to the baht and another about the Aussie dollar and the Baht ... this whole thing is a sham, the Aussie dollar has been low for about a year, and still keeps dipping, we are talking like; $1.05 against the USD a couple of years back for a short while, now down around $0.67 to $0.71 ... British pound around the same ... its not the Baht's fault, its individuals own currencies that have fallen, not the baht getting so strong is sweeping the world in strong currencies, the Baht has only moved say 1 baht within the last 12 months (about 3%), if people can't handel that small change, they on the wrong planet let alone in the wrong Country ! Maybe the title of this news item should have stated: Failing UK Pound and Aussie Dollar shatters expat dreams of easy retirement !

[Mbaki]

2 hours ago, Scot123 said:

There ares so many nasty twisted people on this site. If they are themselves really expats then their self hate is amazing. I first set foot in Thailand in 2002 and fell in love. Was here in 2006 and witnessed first hand the changes in attitude to farang and nearly all my friends left Thailand. Moved here again in 2010 then new coup again the change in attitude towards expats. You must be in self deniel not to see or have felt it or in many cases blinded by the commitment you have and terrified of failure. We as a family decided to pull the plug on Thailand October 2018 left in March 2019. Not because we had to financially but because of the changes in immigration and the overwhelming not knowing what was coming. 6 police vehicles turning up at one's house in the morning full of police will do that to you. The 800k or 400k in the bank yep that was a doozy, then the gift of 400k or 200k to the banks please don't make me laugh. The compulsory insurance is just around the corner (that one scared me). I started comparing costs and was shocked at how expensive Thailand had become for us and our way of life compared to UK. We are all glad to be home children, wife and me. I do miss the weather, I do miss my friends. Oh and we left our house which I was just about to build my dream extension on..... Countries should not be run by soldiers from an ex soldier. 

You have your delusions we have ours ????

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

It's only tough for those living close to the edge.

I just wonder why the Thai government can't bring itself to say to retirees - live here for three years with a clean slate, and we will scrap extensions, 90 day reports and TM30's. Transgress, we will kick you out. I could live with that.

 

Extensions, 90s and TM30 don't cost very much though. However it would be a great step.

[Percy P]

17 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

rubbish

Brexit has nothing to do with the strength of the baht.

Aus, USA, EU, they all doing same as Brexit?

 

But i has. Investors who want to invest in the UK are waiting to see what the situation will be. Boris will sort it out. I'm a leaver I can't say I've benitited

 

21 minutes ago, PEE TEE said:

I'm sure even with the strong THB  and the weak GBP is still cheaper that living back in the UK . I recon after around another 3 years the GBP will go up again ( i hope ) 

Thank to Boris.