Apr03
What are the Pros/Cons about retiring in Thailand?
Author: thailandretire | Category: retire in thailand
Rutgers Student asked:
I’ve always wanted to retire in Thailand, then again, i’m 21, so I might change my mind whenever. But it seems like such a great, relaxing, and friendly place to retire…
I am a Chinese American male, speak mainly english, a little Chinese/Japanese, very little Korean, if that makes any difference…
Tags: pros and cons about retireing in thailand, retire in thailand
April 6th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Not sure of the cons other than it is a less affluent country than the states. I think it would be great to retire in Thailand near the beach though.
The food is great, everything is so cheap, and the beaches are gorgeous. I’ve heard that Thailand is to Australians what Hawaii is to mainland Americans. Also, if you can get a pension check and avoid American taxes that would be great, you’d live like a king.
April 8th, 2010 at 7:29 am
If you listen to the “greenie” alarmists Global Warming will kill you before you reach retirement age!
When you are an old fart and living on a set pension, as of right now, it is cheaper to live in Thailand than to live in the US! Forty years from now who knows!
Right now old farts 65 and older are moving to retirement communities in the US and only sitting on their front porches watching the world go by waiting for death!
Same retiree in Thailand, without a spouse, divorced, widowed, widower will have a place to live at that may have a maid for clean up and be living with a mate 30 years younger too! I think you will live longer being active overseas than sitting on your arse on some porch waiting for the Grim Reaper! I even see retired Farang couples living in Thailand now too!
Will Thailand be affordable 40 years from now – who knows? Maybe with Obama the US will be a third world country and rich Asians will visit there for retirement!
April 10th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Karazyal said it well. Why would you want to stay in the US (or Canada for that matter…) at retirement age, just to sit at home doing nothing and waiting to die, because you can’t afford to do anything due to the high cost of living. Most old folks nowadays are in that situation and live at or below the poverty line. Unless you have accumulated a little fortune or have a good pension plan, it doesn’t make sense.
Retiring in Thailand (or Mexico…) hopefully with my beautiful wife is still an elusive dream but it is the only one that makes sense to me.
Edit: young man, I want to congratulate you on your pro-active thinking. If I had known about Thailand when I was your age, I would have gone there a long time ago, and stayed…I envy Khun Bob…
April 11th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Your 21 and been wanting to retire in Thailand for a long time put a big grin on my face.
Well if you really plan to retire here, try to keep informed about the situation over here. Learn the culture first hand. Visit as often as you can and learn the does and don’t, learn the language and visit many different locations to see what areas you like.
Most of all work hard and earn a good living open a 401k retirement plan and save as much as you can for a enjoyable retirement.
Good luck
April 13th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Hard to imaging thinking about retiring at 21. I would say learn Thai, vacation here, don’t do drugs, look at different parts Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Issan, the beaches and the south of the country, drinking on the beach may be great when your twenty but when your retirement age a nice piece of land with house and a pool and a Tesco might be better.
The pros: cheap to buy a house outside the city, people are friendly for the most part. Easy to get around even without a car. If you want to spend a week at the beach it won’t cost an arm and a leg. Unlike the US if you want to go out of the country there are plenty of places to chose from that aren’t too far away.
The cons: learning how to live with things being done the Thai way, sometimes its stifling hot in the summer, some of the things you enjoy may not be available or may be real expensive (like vegamite or kraft mac and cheese). remembering to drive in the right direction.
You have to accentuate the positive. In order to know what the weather is like in Thailand you have to get off the computer and go outside. Crybaby Bob plays in the yard everyday some people just look out the window and dream. I envy no man. I just try not to remember all the babies I killed and Nam, the horror, the horror.
April 13th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
It would be good to retire in Thailand if by which time you have accumulated sufficient wealth. In say 40 years time, things might change. For sure, the USD is coming down and by that time, USD might worth very little that you want to start accumulate your wealth in Thailand starting from now. Seriously, as countries are moving their reserves from USD to EUR, or Chinese Yuan, and so on.
Again, no one can really tell ahead 40 years, Thailand might go under water because of global warming and you might instead want to retire in Mars.
April 16th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
good idea – I figured it out when I was 24 – and managed to retire when I was 48 – - start saving now – -
April 19th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
There is no cons, just pros. I can’t wait to retire in Thailand. My only concern is if social security will run out or not in 40 years. From what I heard, the first year I retire is the year they run out of money. That’s the beauty of retiring in Thailand. Your dollar goes a long way.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:05 am
Some good answers above, especially the unknowns about the future. It is a good place to retire now but if your assets are in dollars they may be worthless one day, who knows. For now there are a lot of pros. A few cons, however.
A few of the cons:
- Foreigners cannot easily own land. You cannot simply purchase a house and land and take title to it. There are some ways to hold a controlling interest and actually a couple very limited ways to take title but most likely you can never own the land on which you are living.
- If you retire before age 50 you cannot get a retirement visa so you must find another way to stay long term. After 50 and with enough money in the bank you can get a retirement visa quite easily. But the visa laws change at the whim of whatever government is in power and you might find yourself screwed at some time in the future.
- Discrimination against foreigners is institutionalized. For example, foreign citizens pay 10x the Thai price to enter a national park. Capricious changes in land and immigration laws are common – many government administrators’ goal is to take as much as possible from foreigners, and they are quite open about it.