Retiring to Thailand early, do I have enough?

[sandemb]

Been a while since I've been on here. I'm at the stage want to get out of Aus to Thailand. I've turned 65 and eligible for full aged pension, but wife only 59 so a while before she is eligible. I've done all the sums and if we sell up here, can live on 75,000 a month. If I wait until wife gets OAP it will make it about 100,000 a month, but I will be 71! Should I sell up now and return to Aus 2 years before wife is eligible for pension or say F*** Aus and Abbott and enjoy the TH lifestyle. 25,000 should get us a comfortable house, but how far will the $AUS crash? Advice from the AUS expats would be great, but feel free to throw your 25bht worth of advice in!!

[GLCQuantum]

Sell up now and enjoy your hard earned retirement together. 75,000 a month should do you just fine... Not rich, but fine. You'll likely need a car so make sure you can buy that up front on arrival. If you are left with 45-50 thousand after rent you'll be okay as long as you're both not party animals. 1500 baht a day to spend limits you somewhat, but you'll have some days that you spend nothing so can blow a bit more on other days.

Can't help you about the Aussie dollar as I'm a pommie.

If it were me, I'd make the move. At 65 years of age, id rather not be relocating to a new country at all but it's much better than doing it at 71.

[sandemb]

Thanks, not a party animal any more, but still love a or ten. Sick of old work grind, so got to do something!!
Both love street food and home cooking, so food cost low!

[migrant]

Not familiar with how the AUS retirement works, but it sounds like there is no going back!

[sandemb]

Early plan is organize Buddhist funeral on arrival, but plan to be there 'til old and disgraceful!

[sandemb]

Not familiar with how the AUS retirement works, but it sounds like there is no going back!

No plan on going back once we make the move! Just the logistics how to do it to best advantage

[jingjoe]

at the moment aud is buying 24.8bht at market village today,i can't see anything holding up the aud and i have a gut feeling it will hit 20bht in the next few years.

[centermid7]

Is the wife as keen to move to Thailand as you are? If not, sit tight for a bit.

You don't need to spend even near 25K a month for a "comfortable" house. I might not have a pool or the saluting guard at the gate but certainly very comfortable.

After that the question is what are the two of you going to be doing with yourselves on a somewhat daily basis? Golf, maybe 2 or 3 times a week? The money will go fast. I'll bet you see what I mean. Hua Hin is far from cheap and the social life will drain you. Two people with a home to run and 75K might be living a little closer to the bone that I would want.

Cheers!

[Dannie Boy]

As centermid7 says, you can find reasonable accommodation for +/-20,000 a month, so you should have a good 55k to meet your other costs. You mention about cooking at home or eating from street carts, so with just the occasional slap up meal, you shouldn't be spending too much on food. Depending on how much you drink (the odd beer or 10?) and whether you have any expensive hobbies (golf?) will determine whether or not you can live within your budget, but otherwise it sounds as though you'll be ok, as long as the exchange rate doesn't dive too much.

[dtaai-maai]

Sell up now and enjoy your hard earned retirement together.

Hmm, no offense, but this easy advice to give when you have nothing to sell yourself. I'd explore the possibility of renting out your property in Aus to (i) live here off the income + 1 pension and (ii) give yourselves a bolt hole if things don't work out here (which is a possibility that should be borne in mind)

You don't need to spend even near 25K a month for a "comfortable" house.

Absolutely. You can get a very comfortable 3 bed bungalow with access to a communal pool for 15-20k baht a month, possibly even cheaper.

[Nereus]

Sell up now and enjoy your hard earned retirement together.

Hmm, no offense, but this easy advice to give when you have nothing to sell yourself. I'd explore the possibility of renting out your property in Aus to (i) live here off the income + 1 pension and (ii) give yourselves a bolt hole if things don't work out here (which is a possibility that should be borne in mind)

You don't need to spend even near 25K a month for a "comfortable" house.

Absolutely. You can get a very comfortable 3 bed bungalow with access to a communal pool for 15-20k baht a month, possibly even cheaper.

Yes, very sound advice. The problem with that is: if you have an income from rental property it could very well cause you to lose your pension, at least in part, and also be hit up for income tax.

Nobody can predict the future of the Australian Dollar, but right now would not be a good time to be converting dollars to Baht. I would be inclined to sell something such as a car, come to Thailand on the longest tourist visa you can get, rent a small Condo or house, and see if living here is still as attractive to you both as it appears to be now.

The goal posts keep changing in both places, but another consideration is living here without either of you being Thai, and trying to cope with some of hoops we have to jump through.
There is no government social network here to fall back on, such as medical care. Provision must be made for that, either with expensive insurance, or a lump sum put aside.

Good luck.

[JamesWest]

yes and for anyone, even at 60 years of age, it might be impossible to know what to do and what things will be like in 20 years. a very big challenge.

i went through this with my 92 year old dad and 89 year old mom.

until you see the challenges they faced in their 80's everyday living in their own country even with tons of money and insurance and you try to plan for that you are not prepared.

SEA PERHAPS is going to get more expense while the western world fights deflation. IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW.

I retired at 58 and live like a monk in Thailand. No wife, no kids.

I get by on 45,000 baht a month, live in a three bedroom Thai house for 11,000 baht 100 yards from the beach and eat mostly Thai food. Walk on beach, ride scooter, motorcycle, ride train, explore, computer, watch my diet and exercise. Movies and TV from internet. Those are all things I like to do. The last thing I want to do is hang out with farang people.

Remember, the more you make Thailand like the USA, UK, EU, AU, the more expensive it gets.

My health insurance is 60,000 baht a year in Thailand.

My big entertainment is talking to my friends in the USA who are working like dogs just to give all their money to health insurance companies.

Remember, you may one day have to move to Cambodia or Myanmar to make ends meet in the future. NO WAY TO KNOW FOR SURE.

I do know that as long as you are worth more alive than dead, there is a Thai who will work for you to help keep you alive in your old age.

and even that is no longer a given as the Thais standard of living is going up right in front of our eyes.

[oakdale160]

The dont make irreversible decisions is GOOD advice. Plan a 6- 12 month stay here , burn as few bridges as possible. I looked after a house for friends for 12 months until it sold at MUCH less than they had hoped. They had been here for 4-6 weeks a year for many years and were sure that they wanted to retire here,but the separation from family(4 emergency trips home in the year) was more than they could stand. . Also the slow life, lack of óld' friends and Thai-irritations made them go home. They are going to go back to their 6 weeks a year routine. Other people have other dislikes,another couple it was the driving habits and the way Thais dump garbage on the roadside. Another couple the wife objected to the minor-wife thing. None of those things would drive me away, but everybody has their own comfort level.

[kopite]

I retired at 58 and live like a monk in Thailand. No wife, no kids.

I get by on 45,000 baht a month, live in a three bedroom Thai house for 11,000 baht 100 yards from the beach and eat mostly Thai food. Walk on beach, ride scooter, motorcycle, ride train, explore, computer, watch my diet and exercise. Movies and TV from internet. Those are all things I like to do. The last thing I want to do is hang out with farang people.

Remember, the more you make Thailand like the USA, UK, EU, AU, the more expensive it gets.

My health insurance is 60,000 baht a year in Thailand.

My big entertainment is talking to my friends in the USA who are working like dogs just to give all their money to health insurance companies.

Remember, you may one day have to move to Cambodia or Myanmar to make ends meet in the future. NO WAY TO KNOW FOR SURE.

I do know that as long as you are worth more alive than dead, there is a Thai who will work for you to help keep you alive in your old age.

and even that is no longer a given as the Thais standard of living is going up right in front of our eyes.

This sort of description of expat's experiences of living in Thailand is what I love to hear and read it would be a great topic on it's own - is there another thread where these experiences are talked about and discussed?

[StevePIraq]

My health insurance is 60,000 baht a year in Thailand.

JW, If I may ask what health insurance do you have and with which company, I have company insurance but that will end soon and my last health insurance through a European provider was US$2,300 a year with no out of hospital cover.