Retiring in Thailand - Where to begin?  How about 2002.  I traveled to Thailand twice in 2002, once on business and once to visit an old friend.  The people were so friendly and I had a wonderful time.  When retirement approached, I thought of Thailand because of the much lower cost of living and climate.  Having been born and raised in Canada, I have a real understanding of cold winters.  The older I got, the less I could tolerate them. Fortunately, I also had a friend who had done the retirement thing in Thailand, so off I went.  My friend helped me NOT make the mistakes that most farang (foreigners) make.  And I have been able to improve on his advice. Can you afford it?  You bet you can. Rent an apartment in downtown Bangkok for only $300 U.S. per month.  How do I know this?  Because that is what I am paying for rent.  And it includes basic furniture, hydro, water, cable TV and high speed WiFi.  If you don’t need to live downtown you can rent for as little as $75 per month, but that does not include furnishings or utilities.  That’s NOT a typo, it is $ 75.- Retire in Thailand

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Real Estate In Thailand Real Estate In Thailand - Current Listings - The economy of Thailand is a newly industrialized economy. It is a heavily export-dependent economy, with exports accounting for more than two thirds of gross domestic product (GDP). Recently, Thailand experienced GDP growth by 7.8% in 2010 making it one of the fastest growing economies in Asia and the fastest growing economy in South East Asia. The country has a GDP of 9.5 trillion Baht, or US$584 billion (PPP) making it the 24th largest economy in the world. This classifies Thailand as the second largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. Also see Real Estate in South-East Asia Real Estate By Type - Islands, B&B's, Plantations List Your Property In The Marketplace

Articles on Living & Investing in Thailand

Is Thailand Just for Single Male Expats?  - Many nations have league tables or standards and grading of schools available so that parents can research which schools are best, which might suit a particular child, and which are affordable or otherwise…when it comes to Thailand however, it’s a bit of a minefield. The very reassuring news is this however, you can find a very decent standard of education for your child in Thailand – from preschool right through to tertiary level.  The bad news is that it may cost you a lot of money depending on the establishment/s you choose – and it will certainly cost you an awful lot in terms of time as you research all of the options open to you. Any expat who chooses to live away from the main cities will have limited choice in terms of international schools or English language schools – but homeschooling is always an option – as is entering your child into the local Thai school system. For those living in Bangkok or Phuket to name but two very popular expatriate choices, there are plenty of schools to choose from.  Your choices may be restricted in part by budget – but just because an educational establishment charges the most, it most certainly doesn’t mean it’s the best.  This is why researching is key.

Living in Thailand: Too much fun off the tourist track  - There are several types of expats in Thailand, the corporate employees in Bangkok and the already wealthy who come to live a life that’s even grander then they could afford from wherever they came. They exist in a world of TV reality, sequestered in gated compounds of luxury villas, served by live in maids, chauffeured around the city to well covered events in Mercedes. In a country with a staggering rate of poverty they vacation at exclusive resorts on privately owned islands, these are the expats the government loves. Then there are the pensioned retirees; hordes of aged men from Europe, England, Australia and America come to live their days out measuring their retirements glass by glass of cheap beer. They are often married to Thai women from poor backgrounds and set up in their home villages elevating the entire extended family to a level of modest upper middle class.  The expats that butter the government’s bread. - It was a cheap place where you made your own food, there was no pool or amenities but it sat on the river which flowed into the sea just a couple hundred meters away. It was here that I met up with a friend from Brooklyn who told me she thought something odd was happening in my building and maybe I should make some phone calls to find out what was going on. I couldn’t be bothered right away, I was relaxing but once I did my return was immediate.

Real Estate In Thailand - A Question Of Ownership  -  I will freely admit having been one of those green-horn expats that would twist up his face while looking at real estate in Thailand and say, “Yeah, but you don’t own it”. It’s a common knee-jerk reaction given by those from my home country, and a few others.  After reshaping my idea of what the word “ownership” really means, I’d never want to “own” property the way I used to. The only people I know in the US that actually possess the title to their home are my octogenarian ex-in laws.  The irony of it all is that my ex father-in-law is a retired banker; perhaps because he knows the difference between “ownership” and renting from the bank. Nobody owns their home in America, the bank does.  Watch some old silent movies sometime and you’ll see the evil banker foreclosing on the poor family as a major plotline. We’ve been doing it this way a long time.  For most Americans, buying a home without involving a banker is an alien concept. For generations of Americans, a home is more than a building and dirt, it’s a financial instrument.  Many families’s only savings plan is in their home.  During the late 80’s we started breaking open the piggybank with home equity loans financing everything from college education to mid-life Corvettes.

An Expat In Thailand Describes The Thai World -  While driving to the market I witnessed an unfortunate dog that had lost his life attempting to cross 3 lanes of morning traffic.  All week I passed this site, wincing a little more every day as the dog’s body succumbed to the elements. -- I had just assumed that in a Buddhist country with all that compassion and temples and monks and such, someone would take it upon themselves to take care of the poor creature.  Ask ten Thai people the same question that I asked my wife and 8 of them will answer the same way; “not my dog”.  The other two would say, “How much you pay me?” While visiting a friend who runs a property development firm here in Pattaya, he closed a huge deal for 63 units in his off-plan condo project.  With that deal he had the funding to break ground with confidence immediately.  He danced around the office in his bare feet and sent one of the staff out for champagne. The remaining staff members observed his antics like cows watching a train pass.  None of them cared but the sales people; and they were unhappy.  That would make 63 units they couldn’t sell and collect commission on.  They could care less about the success of the company or financial health of the project.  For them it was money out of their pocket. The self-centered pathology of Thai people is more than just individual selfishness, it’s a nationwide epidemic.  Last year, a gang of royalists clad in yellow shirts stormed the huge international airport, gumming up regional transport for days and costing the tourism, shipping and export industries dearly.  The economic damage to all sectors of Thai business suffers to this day.  Nobody is sure what they wanted.

The Bent Light of Thailand’s Sexual Prism  -  Straight, gay, male and female; these are the basic set of variables we are limited to where I come from.  In Thailand, sexuality is measured on a sliding scale with more dimensions; a prism would be a more accurate way to describe it.   Expats, sex-pats and locals come in all the colors of the rainbow. Sitting in a ramshackle seafood restaurant by the river in Bangkok, my friend’s and I are approached by our server, Khun “Bee”.  Bee appears to have started out as a squatty little man and now in mid-transformation to something else.  Since “Bee” is a nickname usually given to a beautiful young woman, we’ll refer to Bee as a “she”. From the waist down Bee is dressed in perfectly pressed black trousers and highly shined shoes.  Above the beltline she sports a bright pink blouse, full-blown make up and hot pink nail polish.  Bee speaks in a falsetto voice and is dramatically effeminate.  After she takes our order and swishes away, I asked my friend’s wife, “What do you think that is?” In typical Thai fashion she replied, “I think that is Bee”. Trans-genders of all description abound in Thailand, in fact “katoeys” or “ladyboys” are literally recognized as a third sex and given different consideration under Thai laws.  Where I come from, the only trans-anything I saw were employed in places like record shops or night clubs.  In Thailand, katoeys are respected and revered at many levels of society.

Property Ownership In Thailand - Buy-To-Let ? Make Mine “Rare”  - “Buy a nice place … rent it out … live on the rent … sell for a profit” … it seems like a simple plan.  Being a landlord is second only to English teacher as the choice occupation for expatriates in Thailand. With a little money, you can set yourself up in such a one-person real estate enterprise which will feed you quite well without much hassle.  Welcome to the world of BTL (Buy-To-Let).  Choosing the right property and making it a home to the right kind of renters is the key to success. When I first moved to Bangkok I was a typical greenhorn expat.  I wanted to live in a James Bond bachelor’s pad in the middle of the action.  Shopping for rental apartments in a city of 12 million people can be a grind.  Most places I saw were small with crappy generic furniture.  Serviced apartments are nice, but hardly home.  I broke down and took a place in a prestigious building on Wireless Road; mostly to impress my attractive property agent. I’ve never hated living in a place more in my life.  It was cold and unfriendly.  The wealthy Chinese-Thai families living there resented the very sight of me. My landlord tried to charge me extra for taking the plastic wrap off the sofa and chairs.  During a fire alarm I learned that our fire escape stairwell was completely blocked with overflow storage of other tenant’s crap.

Real Estate in Thailand – The Counterfeit Condo  - And so it is with condos in Thailand.  For some developers, if it looks like a condo, then by God it’s a condo! I’m not sure how long the idea of condominiums has been around in Thailand, but one thing is for sure … some folks clearly don’t understand the original concept. When I lived in the US, rarely was a condo building’s management an issue to consider.  Some were naturally run more efficiently than others, but a framework of laws concerning condo ownership and management has been in place for a long time and can be strictly enforced.  What’s more, US condo laws are decidedly pro-owner.  Bad managers can expect little tolerance from a building full of disgruntled inhabitants. Here in the Land of Smiles, assuming that a building’s management is okay could mean what you bought looks like a condo, but acts like a money trap.  Your ability to control the destiny of that property could be hindered or stolen away altogether.  If you are in-country for any length of time you’ll start to hear the horror stories.

Living in Thailand – Look at Little Sister  - When most people think of “going expat”, visions of deserted white sand beaches and quaint village markets are conjured up.  Moving to a foreign country with breathtaking scenery and warm-hearted people is an escape artist’s dream. But, don’t let the salt-spray get in your eyes … the reality of expat living requires a little more practicality.  There are plenty of roadblocks to living the good life many people don’t consider. Language skills tend to more necessary in remote locations.  Even in the Philippines, a country widely perceived to be English speaking, a beach house in Palawan will mean you have to learn Visayan or Tagalog.  Trust me it’s not as easy as it sounds. And, a small town is still a small town.  Anyone who’s lived in one knows there is a certain invasion of privacy.  Especially if you’re a foreigner; everyone seems to know your business.  Remember, you probably won’t be living like a native with native people … you’ll be part of the expat community.  Being stuck on an island with a couple hundred people you may not like is not my idea of paradise.  After living on the remote end of Phuket through three rainy seasons, I discovered I’m in a high risk group for “island fever”.  We used to call it “Mayberry-by-the-sea”. For sure a person could live without many modern conveniences, learn the language and go native; but what happens when you need medical care? With only a pharmacy/shampoo shop for first aid, a case of appendicitis could do you in before you get to an operating table hours away.

Living in Thailand is like Saturday Night Anywhere - It made my girlfriend’s evening when I called and told her we should go out for dinner.  It’s her last work day of the week and some Saturday night seafood sounded good. We live walking distance from a little fishing village on the Gulf of Thailand called Ban Ampur.  There are a cluster of waterfront seafood restaurants that all have one thing in common.  The food you eat in them comes from boats bobbing in the water right in front of you.  “Fresh” is the main ingredient in Thai food. In Thailand, where restaurants outnumber people, deciding where to eat can be challenging.  Most of these places are all the same business model; Chinese family-style.  The only way to separate them is to discern the specialties of the house.  You end up choosing a place to eat based on a favorite dish that one place makes better than all the rest.  On this night we were on the hunt for our favorite, Black Pepper Crab. Good Black Pepper Crab means Si Nuan (pronounced see-noo-wan), a mega-restaurant that can easily hold 500 people.  Saturday night at Si Nuan means being in loud, noisy, crowded and busy Thai seafood joint with battalion-size families marching in and setting up camp. We drank most of a bottle of wine at home before venturing down the beach.  You really have to prepare yourself for the sensory assault you’re walking into.  It’s like being in a huge aquarium full of aggressive fish.  I find it best to give in, plant myself right in the middle and hit “record”.

Tightwad Living In Thailand - The cost of living in Thailand is much lower than in the USA or Europe. It is possible to get by on a budget of $10 but these tight-wad tips on how to live cheaply in Thailand will make your money go much further and you might even be able to live on less than $10 a day. Plan Your Visit According to the Season – The low season in Thailand is between May and November and is notably cheaper than high season.  Everything related to tourism is heavily discounted and so you will pay much less for rooms, food and vehicle rental. Another off season benefit is that there are fewer tourists which means your dollars will be heavily competed for and you can expect a warmer welcome and a higher level of personal service. Avoid the tourist Areas -  Pattaya, Phuket and Ko Samui are all tourist traps with tourist prices, rip off merchants and have plenty of ways of tempting you to part with cash.  Alternative destinations for a taste of the real Thailand can be found in the North East and South. Limit Your Time on the Islands – The islands are gorgeous and well worth visiting, but as with all islands majority of provisions have to be imported.  That adds costs which can be considerable in comparison to prices for similar goods on the Thai mainland.  Go ahead and explore the islands but don’t buy anything there that you really don’t have to.

Hiring Domestic Staff in Thailand – Maid For Trouble - When you move to a jungle republic like Thailand, expats are always flaunting their maids at you. “My maid Lek, she cooks every meal, washes my car and teaches my dog tricks”  … “My maid Nut killed a cobra in the back yard” … “My maid Oy painted the house, dug a new well and had her Uncle finance my car” … and on and on. Mostly I hear it from people who’ve never had a maid before. I’ve had a maid before.  In the US I had two.  In my downtown condo the maid was actually a brother and sister team.  All I really remember about them was she was fat, he was gay and they didn’t just clean my place, they sanitized it.  The maid I used at my beach condo was an ex-biker chic named Dixie (no really, her name was Dixie).  She had a gold tooth, a wood-side station wagon and held strong convictions about punctuality and the power of Clorox.  They were expensive, but worth every dime. They didn’t interfere in my affairs.  They didn’t pour out sad stories of their personal lives.  They didn’t become members of my family.  They showed up on a regular schedule and cleaned my living quarters … period..

Retiring On $500 A Month - South East Asia - Some people regard Third World and Developing World countries with fear or even derision. Granted they don’t have the same lifestyle, things happen more slowly in some countries, often not at all. Problems that locals shrug off, like power outages, or water shortages could drive you nuts. Yet if you are prepared to adapt you’ll find there’s a uniqueness of culture, warm weather and warm people. Places where $500 a month can afford you a nice retirement are becoming harder to find. South East Asia allows you to tick the retirement-with-ease boxes. Granted it is an adventure and you’ll certainly never live like a king. But then, do you really live like one now!

Retiring on $500 a Month – Part 2 ~ Following on from last month, Ken Bayliss provides information and insight on how you can comfortably retire on an income of just $500 a month in Cambodia and the Philippines. Once, nearly a thousand years ago, it was the big player in South East Asia. Its empire became vast and influential but Cambodia now seems like any another Third World country.  Time has taken these glories and in the modern period, after a trying internal war, they are finally coming out of the nightmare. The 10 million Cambodians are a surprisingly happy lot, considering their recent difficult history.

A Year of Teaching in Thailand - I arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, where my new home in suburban Land and Houses Park is sweet, light and airy. It has tile floors and a traditional outdoor kitchen with two gas burners, a temperamental microwave and a sink. I shop at Carrefours for a crockpot, a toaster, a coffeepot and a wok. I open an account at Siam Commercial Bank, arrange a rental car and visit the university where I will teach. It is modern and manageable in size. The next day, my neighbor guides me to the Internet cafe, the cell phone shop, and the cheapest place to buy gas. I hook up the T.V. In short, my Chiang Mai life has begun.

Kissing the Property Frog In Thailand -  Ah yes, the “Real Estate Agent” … profession of default for the mildly educated expatriate … second only to “English Teacher”. Where I live on the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand, there are well over 300 Property agents and agencies hanging their shingle as purveyors of land, house and all other manner of abode.  From corporate conglomerates like Colliers and CB Richard Ellis to humble little shop-house operations like “Location, Location, Location Property Partners”; everyone wants a piece of the real estate pie. This past week I had the formidable task of sorting this list down to a manageable target and visiting those I thought were most capable of renting or selling my condo near Jomtien Beach.  The agent who sold me the unit is the best candidate as his firm also built and now manages the low-rise luxury building.  Naturally I listed with him.  But, in Thailand there are no rules or even a clearly defined etiquette regarding property listing or sale.  So, I decided to go on a road show, listing with as many agents as possible.

White, Grey, and Black Passports: What’s the Difference?  -  I am frequently asked by folks about how to acquire a 2nd passport.  As you may imagine there are a multitude of ways to acquire one, some good, some bad, some ugly.  In this article we will discuss a general overview of what I consider the 3 categories of 2nd passports and how they are acquired. For the purpose of this article, I have classified them into 3 categories:  White, Grey, and Black.  Please be advised, this is not a recommendation for either category, only generalized information to help you make the right choice on direction as well as pitfalls to avoid. White 2nd Passport.  A white 2nd passport is divided up among 3 subcategories; ancestral or cultural, naturalization, or economic. Acquiring a 2nd passport through ancestral or cultural methods is typically the easiest and least costly way to go about the process.  For example, if your parents or grandparents are from Ireland, you have the ability to (relatively) easily acquire citizenship and a passport from Ireland.  The same holds true for many European countries.  An EU passport is widely accepted around the world and is an excellent travel document. If you can acquire citizenship and a passport through one of these methods, this is highly recommended.  In many cases it is as simple as filling out some forms and submitting the recommended documentation like birth certificates.

Why Being an Expat Is So Fantastic (Hint: Your Expat Taxes!)  -  Imagine if you could live in a tropical paradise US tax free – you can!  There are a number of benefits that you can take advantage of on your expat taxes to save and protect your income.  We will discuss the main ones here, but it is highly recommended that if you want to maximize the savings on your expat taxes you should seek expert expat tax advice. The Foreign Income Exclusion – This allow US expats who are earning money abroad to exclude up to $92,900 of their income from US taxation (this doubles if you are married). This is the most common and arguably the most profitable tax savings tool you can us on your expat taxes.  If you combine this with the Foreign Housing Deduction, which allows you to deduct things like rent, utilities and insurance, they you and your spouse may be able to avoid paying taxes on over $250,000 of income each year! LEGALLY! The Foreign Tax Credit is also a great tool, but unfortunately you will need to be paying taxes to someone to take advantage of it. The foreign tax credit gives you a Dollar for Dollar tax credit for any taxes you have paid to a foreign government.  Basically, if you have a good income someplace like Europe where taxes are high, then this will ensure that you are not taxed by two governments leaving you with the scraps.

8 Signs that the US Government is Making it Harder For You to Become an Expat  -  One of the most common reasons for wanting to expatriate from the United States is the concern about government overreach. Many feel that the expansion of government in recent years has been chipping away at the freedom and liberty that the country was founded upon. What with more and more agencies, regulations, surveillance, and mandates, the right to privacy and self - determination is steadily shrinking right along with financial outlooks. So, are you among the increasing number of people who feel that the only real solution is to get out of the country? Well, using the exact same tactics that are driving you away, the government appears intent on preventing you from leaving. Changes that have recently been put in place as well as proposals for future changes in rules and regulations might be intended to discourage. But they might also drive your resolve to take your destiny into your own hands and do whatever it takes to make your move overseas.

A Soon-to-be-Expat’s Relocation to Thailand (and Beyond) - This is after all the Land of Smiles. I’m not dreaming this. It is however, my personal vision of my very near future. You see, I’m in what I call my “pre-expat” mode (according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary; the definition of expatriate is: to leave one's native country to live elsewhere). Now, there are numerous reasons why one chooses to become an Expat. In my case there are a few but the biggest of all is “money” (as in the lack of it), especially since I’m basically going to survive on Social Security. Then of course, there’s that great big catastrophic storm cloud that’s being prophesized for the U.S.A. in the very near future (both financially and politically).

Health Insurance: Thailand -  Expatriates from all over the world are visiting Thailand in increasing numbers for a myriad of different reasons. Some are choosing to go to the country for the serene sights that can be found in the country & many lush jungles and forests. Some foreign nationals are going to Thailand in order to enjoy a relaxing beach holiday in one of the many infamous resort locations. There may even be economic reasons for the relocation; many expatriates however, are choosing to visit, or permanently relocate to, Thailand because of the low cost, high quality healthcare services that the country can offer.

Filmmaking in Thailand - Rather than importing entertainment media from the United States as its primary entertainment, Thailand has long nurtured its own film and television industries. Now, the 2010 film, Uncle Boonmee: Who Can Recall His Past Lives directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which won the Palm D’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival has brought more interest than ever to Thai filmmaking. Thailand has also been a popular location for foreign filming, and the list of foreign films shot in Thailand is long, as this location was used not only to represent stories that take place in Thailand, but also as a stand in for neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia, and just about any other tropical setting anyone can imagine. Among those motion pictures that are set in Thailand are the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974); Bruce Lee’s 1972 film Fists of Fury; the 2000 adventure drama, The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio; American Gangster (2007) Ridley Scott’s amazing film about the heroin trade; the crime drama Bangkok Dangerous (2008) with Nikolas Cage; and the very latest is The Hangover Part II (2011).