"Retiring" in Thailand?

I am not sure if he had kids in Australia, if he did they would have long fled the nest. He went over there in his late 50's and he'd be around 80 odd now.

This is him, I had met him through motor racing and mutual friends, he was a very humble person from my recollection.
Pattaya Survivors: Dr Iain Corness - Pattaya Mail

 

Yes, he does have 2 Thai kids .

 

Boom boom

 

I tried it as a semi-FIRE in 2019 for 3 months. Rented a house with some land, a pool and a granny flat for the maid and gardener. It was in Hua Hin, where the rich Thais have their weekend villas. Lovely expat community, more families, less seediness.

But I found the general quality of life is just so much lower, you pretty much need lots of servants just to live the same as in Australia. For example, there is no grocery delivery, so you have to go shopping. In some areas you can't drink the tap water and need to lug bottles etc. The air quality... It all adds up. Then scratch the surface, add the political situation around the current king and yeah nah...

I discovered Darwin. Similar climate and for me, once you add everything up, quite a bit cheaper.

In an ideal world, I'd like a ski chalet in Europe and a pad in Darwin for retirement, spend a few months in each.

 

There is grocery delivery these days. I think all areas you wouldn't drink the water, but there are water filling stations all about for a few cents per litre. Political situation is bad though.
My mate's mum retired to Huahin and she lasted less than 3 months.
Its not for everyone.

 

LOL

FWIW some (most?) people I know who had dual-citizenship kids with locals, eventually opted to return to their home country (Australia / Western Europe) for the kids' high school education and career start. Which sort of cuts 'retirement' short. But YMMV

 

Love Australia too much to leave. Perhaps extended holidays though!

 

Don't worry, one day they will grow up and if you wish them to come in to say hello or have a meal, sorry Dad/Mom, too busy, shall call you again, bye...

 

Bali will soon release a new digital working nomad visa allowing people to make Bali a "home office" as this visa will allow remote workers. No details released yet. Announced as up to 5 years. Successful persons may need to be self employed or employed as a employee outside Indonesia. No local tax would be payable as the applicant isnt a tax resident. I would imagine care should be taken for self employed Co Directors since it does create a permanent establishment for the presence of a company rendering it liable to Indo tax. Same rate as Australia.

 

Whoa so good....pity I can't partake.

 

I used to live in a busy Asian city for a while for work, and one thing I found was the air quality was a lot worse than Australia, even in rural areas. I'd be worried about lung issues, especially if I was older. Wasn't even places like Bangkok or Jakarta, it was just a mid-sized city of less than 10m.

 

I am thinking of returning to Thailand soon for a holiday and see If it where I want to retire to part time or full . I spent the best part of 12 months there all up 4 year ago & loved it . Yes there's good & bad just like Oz just have to way it up . Although prices have increased there in living cost's , I didn't find the cost of food any cheaper than here unless you eat Thai food all the time in some cases it was a little dearer . My biggest positive was living away from western society , living amongst people more down to earth and happier living with less and a simpler way of life .
I ended up using there hospitals for minor stuff and no problems only thing is annoying there's 1 price $ for Thai's and a higher price charged for westerners .

Maybe an Ideal scenario would be 6 - 9 months Thailand 3 months back in Oz .
My Thumbnail is of a Thailand beach , oh I miss those sunsets .

 

Also consider if a pension will be available as the rules are fiddly - Its common its cancelled automatically and then you have to fight to get it back. Sometimes.
Since COVID Thailand is a country that has tightened its visa requirements and tourism is short periods (max 30 days?) and staying longer may fall under their non-immigrant rules (Visa O-A type) NON-IMMIGRANT VISA TYPE O-A - Royal Thai Consulate-General, Sydney, Australia

Many got caught with overstaying in COVID and they dont want a repeat I suspect and maybe are doing checks....Anytime I have been nobody seemed remotely interested in arrivals . I recently heard of a older aussie who went there and was sent home for arriving as a tourist. The media article reported they saw a lot of luggage and asked q's.

Dont think its ever occurred in past.

 

New rules KITA rules come into effect in Dec. Local expats are up in arms. I haven't read all of it but seems you need $200k in a local bank account.

 

Is that for Bali or Thailand? Thailand has been successively increasing the required asset base for years, with no grandfathering. The consequences of such rule changes can be devastating for people with longstanding ties to the country.

One way or another, I feel strongly that any non-standard retirement plan needs a solid Plan B.

This applies equally to grey nomads who sell up, pump all their equity into a Winnebago only to return to a real estate market that has moved on them and left them priced out.

I would always keep at least one fully paid off property in Australia (which can be done quite cheaply - it is an insurance, not a dream forever home after all).

 

Thats a sponsored work arrangement? kitas + imta
Its different to digital nomads. A nomad cant "work" for a local employer or operate a indo business but can perform work for a foreign business eg a digital nomad can be working for Google, Uner etc and be lounging on a beach and tapping away on a keyboard

I get the indonesian etc issue. I wouldnt want a plane load of aussies arriving and expecting to take locals jobs without some approvals. Seems too many did this in the past and opened bars and other businsses even with a local partner without approval. When covid hit they bailed and seemed to have left a number of inoperable businesses

Bali.com says : Allowed to stay but not to work

There are many foreigners in Bali, and several are working as tourist guides, dive teachers, English teachers, real estate agents, cooks etc without having a work permit. It is an illegal practice. They usually get a social or business visas (allows you to stay on Bali but neither will enable you to work) that they extend a few times, leaving to Singapore for a day or two and then coming back.

This practice will slowly but surely not work for much longer as Indonesia, and particularly the immigration in Bali has become stricter with checking travel documents of people who come to Bali often and leave for a couple of days to Singapore or KL to return as tourists again. There is a special task force in Bali with the sole purpose of finding illegal foreign workers. Often they receive alerts from other people.

The rules are quite strict, and if you are caught working illegally, you will get deported straight away – and pay a nice fine. Sometimes you can pay a certain substantial amount to avoid the hassle and humiliation of a deportation, but still, immigration officers will make sure you leave the country. However, paying for a more graceful way out is also becoming more difficult. The government of Indonesia wants to make sure that foreigners only hold jobs for which there are no available Indonesian employees.

The idea behind this whole process is that Indonesia wants to accept only people with higher qualification to work here. Applying as a waiter or even assistant manager is not going to work. One reason being, that this person should not “steal” a job from a local person, and second, that hopefully, the Indonesians will learn something valuable. That there is some transfer of knowledge.