Thailand suffers sharp fall in rankings of best countries for retirement

[Crash999]

Why isn’t crime one of the criteria. I wouldn’t live in some of the places on that list for that reason alone.
 

Being able to walk around without fear of being mugged is a major plus in my book. 

[arick]

Give me my investments back Thailand and I will leave in the next plane and I won't day a word 

[DuiDui48]

21 hours ago, WineOh said:

Thailand is not the place it once was.

..and sames goes for my homecountry Sweden,and i guess many other countrys.

I'm on RT Visa,lived here fulltime 20+ years,have bought a house,have a small car,motorbike and a bicycle.Make 99% of all my food myself,no bars,no alkohol and ciggs.Have health and accident insurance.I myself live very very good on 10.000-20.000 bath a month..that amount includes the above.

 

That said,Corruption,Police force and schooling/education is some of my BIG negatives..well also the non English speaking population,well most of them..Other then that,love it,not every day mind you,but i rather live here then in Sweden,said sadly..Have a great one everyone..:-)

[KarenBravo]

Many years ago, I asked a Thai man if he was okay with foreigners coming to Thailand for the women.

He said they were very welcome as they always picked the ugly ones to marry. He just couldn't understand why when there were so many nice looking ones.

 

Phuket immigration in Phuket is a very busy during normal times.

They have constantly tried to improve their service such as:-

 

Separate rooms for Non-imm extensions. One room for the extensions and a large room for all the rest.

Introduced a drive thru for 90 day report (only passport required) and TM28 and TM 30 registration (only passport required).

Have Western immigration volunteers that speak several languages so that questions can be asked.

All paperwork checked first before a queue ticket is issued.

[Andrew65]

2 hours ago, WhatsNext said:

Portugal really ? The houses there are very very expensive and there is nothing much to do on the algarve apart from walking around and eating, o wait. 

For me at least Thailand has one huge giant big mother boinking plus that i cannot find anywhere else, freedom of taxes. That alone pays for my monthly expenses. 

So for the rest of the negatives i have to close my eyes a little.

 

Regarding immigration ; it seems that everyone has a different story, i have the 800k on an account and in the 3 years that i am here i have been in and out of immigration in under an hour once a year. 

I do not understand the crowd that is scared to park 800k on an account here, there are foreign bussiness and investors here with many many multiples of that, banks here are as fine as they are in other countries. Take the Bangkok bank with many offices outside of thailand, even in places like Singapore, London and New York. Yes i understand for many 800k is a lot of money but it's not something that Prayut is going to steal from you. Just park it, you will even get a little interest as compared to having to pay for your money in Europe....

I'll speak as someone who spent nearly 20 years in Thailand, love the place, would live the reat of my life there if possible.

However, you make one good point. There's the situation with women, and the ease of being with them, or marrying them. In my later years of living there I didn't bother with that stuff (at all) (I did that stuff to death during the first 5 or 6 years). If I take that away, also the fact that I'm not that into Thai food, and places like Penang or Cambodia become much more acceptable (the weather is similar, and expenses are cheaper or similar).

I'm not one of the 'rose-tinted glasses' people goes on as if everything about Thailand is wonderful, neither were I a whinger that's always moaning about it.

[KarenBravo]

1 minute ago, DuiDui48 said:

..and sames goes for my homecountry Sweden,and i guess many other countrys.

I'm on RT Visa,lived here fulltime 20+ years,have bought a house,have a small car,motorbike and a bicycle.Make 99% of all my food myself,no bars,no alkohol and ciggs.Have health and accident insurance.I myself live very very good on 10.000-20.000 bath a month..that amount includes the above.

 

That said,Corruption,Police force and schooling/education is some of my BIG negatives..well also the non English speaking population,well most of them..Other then that,love it,not every day mind you,but i rather live here then in Sweden,said sadly..Have a great one everyone..:-)

 

Twenty years and you can't speak Thai?

What would you think of an Iraqi immigrant to Sweden complain that the population doesn't speak Arabic?

[DuiDui48]

4 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

Twenty years and you can't speak Thai?

What would you think of an Iraqi immigrant to Sweden complain that the population doesn't speak Arabic?

Who said that,you not me..i speak Thai enough i think,not near fluent but okey..Thank you very much.

Edited March 7, 2021 by DuiDui48

[Yellowtail]

21 hours ago, webledink33 said:

The continued and general rising in the practice of dual pricing around attractions, national parks and other venues is spreading on travel websites now. This is surely a contributing factor to those that want to retire on fixed incomes with the thought that Thai people simply look at foreigners as cash cows with different ways to milk with no end in sight now.

 

Where do you have to go to find all the dual pricing?

 

How often would you have to go there for it to be a significant expense?

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

23 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Once you have acquired your residency, you pay approximately 7% to 11% of your reported monthly income into the Caja

no thanks, i prefer to buy my own health insurance and the hastle free way of thailand.

and 2000 USD will not buy comfortable life for a couple in costa rica. costa rica is propably the most

expensive place in south america...and not so crime free after all.

[rumak]

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

No rent, everything paid for, I can live on half that.

 

you're right.   but i tried to be really fair by including ALL my costs over a year ( car, truck, cycle registration and insurance) ......    maintenance,  dentist,  johnny walker,  extended vacation to the beach this time of year ( to be permanent soon ! ) .   

just for the "basics'  and good food  15 k  is enough.    

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

13 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

dual pricing around attractions, national parks and other venues is spreading on travel websites now.

in whole south america there is triple and quadriple pricing for tourist attractions. for example in foz do iguacu falls, there are 4 price categories, pulished clear and loud above the cashier: one price for brazilians, one price for argentinians, one price for mercosul - south americans, and one price for tourists from other countries.

there is not problem with that. it is common all over the world. but you cheap charlies are so stingy, that you cannot sleal at night over extra 100 baht that you paid last year on entrance to some park.

[KarenBravo]

19 minutes ago, DuiDui48 said:

Who said that,you not me..i speak Thai enough i think,not near fluent but okey..Thank you very much.

 

Glad to hear it.

[Guderian]

Why isn't there a column for the level of corruption? Thailand would easily rank Number 1 in that, lol.

[mr_lob]

Portugal is working great for myself and the Thai wife.

We still miss Thailand but Portugal puts it to shame in many areas and we feel very welcome here

[PGSan]

For many of these categories, the scores will vary a lot dependent on the country from which one is retiring.

[PGSan]

12 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Why isn't there a column for the level of corruption? Thailand would easily rank Number 1 in that, lol.

You clearly have not tried some of the other countries listed!

[PGSan]

51 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

well also the non English speaking population,

All of them?

[PGSan]

21 hours ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

No country is the place it once was. 

Indeed!   Most are far improved.

[PGSan]

20 hours ago, AlfHuy said:

Before moving here, a few years ago, top of the list for us was Costa Rica and Panama.

Having lived 4 years in Portugal, nothing special.

Moving where? 

[PGSan]

20 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

English is not common

Sounds good! 

[PGSan]

20 hours ago, olfu said:

girls rip you off happily

happily rip off what??

[AhFarangJa]

On 3/6/2021 at 2:01 PM, rooster59 said:

Costa Rica abolished their army in 1948 and pledged that budget to education and healthcare.

I would love to see the looks on the Generals faces if someone would suggest this course of action here !!!!!

[robsamui]

21 hours ago, Moonlover said:

With the current regulations, there is absolutely no way would I stick 800k in a bank account and have immigration dictate to me what I can and (mainly) cannot do with my own money.

However, why a pensioner has to prove, year after year,  that he's still a pensioner seems, to me, just a little bit silly, to say the least.

I rather suspect that it's connected with local Thai tradition and culture. Thai people don't get a pension - in the sense that westerners understand the term - they get a few thousand baht a month from the government (IF they've been paying social contributions every month from their previous employment, which the vast majority don't do.)

 

As retirees they certainly don't get the sort of money that allows them to live comfortably without  employment - Thais rely on their family unit to house, feed and take care of them. And the majority of elderly Thais (unless disabled or sickly) seem to continue working in one capacity or another, generally as self-employed and off-the-books and not paying taxes.

 

So it's understandable that the Thai administration can't understand all these thousand(s) of dollars of free monthly money that farang retirees get and find it suspicious, as they just can't imagine it. In their (highly-limited) experience, elderly people get varied amounts of small money every month and often change their circumstances.

But, then, they have no clue about farangs in general - witness the current comedy show - expectingto get tourists to come over here for 3-month holidays!

Edited March 7, 2021 by robsamui

[KarenBravo]

25 minutes ago, PGSan said:

All of them?

 

You've quoted the wrong person.

[KarenBravo]

20 minutes ago, PGSan said:

Sounds good! 

 

Again! You have quoted the wrong person.

[woofwoof]

Eleven yrs ago i almost moved to Costa Rica would have been a 4hr flight instead of 18hrs. The people made you feel welcome and the medical was good. 

[Jonathan Swift]

On 3/6/2021 at 2:08 PM, Fromas said:

Thailand is a great country, but some of her policies for expats are bureaucratic obstacle courses.

 

 

Sums it up, nothing further to add. Except they allowed the prioritization of Chinese tourism money tree to obscure the cashflow from the expat part of the economy.

[Jonathan Swift]

On 3/6/2021 at 2:27 PM, Orton Rd said:

why do you think it's great?

If you have to ask then it cannot be explained to you. You either see it or you don't

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well, at least Thailand still beat out Belize and Nicaragua -- just barely!  ????

 

That's at least something to feel good about... 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Yellowtail]

18 hours ago, NilSS said:

 

I try not to get involved in Thai bashing, or Thai apologising, both cases are a zero sum game, particularly on this forum. . . but my personal irritation is with the notion I have a choice to be here. I do and I don't. There was a time, a long time ago, I might have left for somewhere else, taking my own skillset and the talent my family contribute to Thai society and stuck my finger up as I left, but I committed. I no more have a choice than my Thai wife and kids have a choice to be here, Thailand is as much my home as it is theirs. My entire family are dual Thai/British, so in that regard they have 'choices'. . . yet Thai society elects to make me FEEL like an outsider no matter how long I stay here, no matter how much I pay in tax, no matter how many people I employ, by imposing draconian and absurd immigration rules on me, such as having to report every few months to state that absolutely nothing has changed, or making me pay 10 times more than locals as a government policy. I decided to initiate my own Thai citizenship process just to be free of it because frankly it makes my p!$$ boil and I'd rather peel my own skin off than visit immigration again to show them pictures of me and my wife and kids standing in front of our house, the same house we lived in last year, and the year before that, and that, and that. . . I can say with absolute confidence, and without a hint of arrogance, that I am irreplaceable to the company I work for. They would never, ever, find someone with my broad range of skills locally, and certainly not at the salary they pay me. . .

 

Having said that, I feel there are many facets of Thai society that I am compatible with, the generally VERY high levels of respect in Thai youth for example, Thai civics are generally very agreeable to me. These league tables like the one in the OP are just commercial expat websites attempting to raise their profile, and their figures are probably made up anyway. It's all horses#!t.

 

If you're working for a company, how is it you have trouble with immigration? In the twenty years I worked here I don't think I ever went to immigration, and only went to the One-Stop 8-10 times.

 

Since I retired, I've been going to immigration, it it does not seem like that much of a hassle.

 

Where are you going all the time where you have to pay ten-times what the locals pay? 

 

I wonder how many of the people moaning about immigration here are moaning about how immigrants are ruining their home countries.