Why are UK expats still doing the 800K deposit for retirement extensions ?

[Pumpuynarak]

15 hours ago, Lemondropkid said:

Thanks for the info.

In my case you seem to have answered your original question😉

Am in agreement with @Stillearly I'll take hit on the loss of interest, let's call it £500 to be fully compliant. 

I find it a wierd risk to take to looking to save £500 p.a as the upside, and on the downside placing yourself in a vulnerable position, where you can be tapped for "fines" or booted out of the country. But we all have our own circumstances

 I'm seperating out what I need to live as one concern. So there's a large monthly transfer each month, and some savings for a rainy day.

Then as a seperate concern, what I need to be compliant. That's most likely going to be a ring-fenced 20k on fixed term deposit.

So I will have most likely, do a transfer of around £2k pcm, the £20k for a fixed term account, + accumulate a building balance in a flexible account paying a little interest. 

So put me down as the "crazy" 80k THB man😛

Good topic, and thanks from me you've helped clarify a very key point(proof of income), and solidified my thinking.

 

We all think different and i'm so glad we do, conversation/posting would be pretty boring without differing opinions ehh ? I have to admit the £500 p.a. is in reality no big deal but i got this thing about Thailands attitude towards expats and i'm not alone in my thinking if mates i have here are anything to go by, ''we want your money but you can f*** off'' is how i see it.

They do absolutely nothing for me or any expat in recognition of us being married and supporting a Thai citizen and her moma in my case ( i got her out of her tin shack in the village by having built a small bungalow, no big deal for me but you would have thought she'd won the lottery lol) and living here supporting their economy year after with monies brought in from our home countries.

In conclusion i will never ever have any monies on deposit in Thailand that i don't need to have especially when i don't have complete freedom of access to that money any time i want, its my money not their money, basically i don't trust the bastards when dealing with expats and depositing 800K when i can easily and readily comply with the income method is a no brainer or me and my thinking.

I repeat ''We want your money, you can f*** off'' is exactly how i see things. We would not be living in Thailand if wifey did'nt insist upon it as she has an ailing aged moma and i accept her feelings of responsibilty towards her moma. 

Med Spain/Portugals algarve looks wonderful to me, my opinion of course lol

[Lemondropkid]

5 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

We all think different and i'm so glad we do, conversation/posting would be pretty boring without differing opinions ehh ? I have to admit the £500 p.a. is in reality no big deal but i got this thing about Thailands attitude towards expats and i'm not alone in my thinking if mates i have here are anything to go by, ''we want your money but you can f*** off'' is how i see it.

They do absolutely nothing for me or any expat in recognition of us being married and supporting a Thai citizen and her moma in my case ( i got her out of her tin shack in the village by having built a small bungalow, no big deal for me but you would have thought she'd won the lottery lol) and living here supporting their economy year after with monies brought in from our home countries.

In conclusion i will never ever have any monies on deposit in Thailand that i don't need to have especially when i don't have complete freedom of access to that money any time i want, its my money not their money, basically i don't trust the bastards when dealing with expats and depositing 800K when i can easily and readily comply with the income method is a no brainer or me and my thinking.

I repeat ''We want your money, you can f*** off'' is exactly how i see things. We would not be living in Thailand if wifey did'nt insist upon it as she has an ailing aged moma and i accept her feelings of responsibilty towards her moma. 

Med Spain/Portugals algarve looks wonderful to me, my opinion of course lol

Well your money, your choice.

Spain/Portugal sounds lovely. I'm sure the expats there, never, ever complain about their host government!!!

I don't doubt you are correct that the Thai Govt is after your money, and has no love for you. The Thailand Elite program is prima facie evidence of the former.

But I still fancy giving living in Thailand a go for a while, and I'll take the hit the in loss of interest. Maybe the attitudes you describe will drive me elsewhere in time, who knows?

 

 

 

[Pumpuynarak]

3 minutes ago, Lemondropkid said:

Well your money, your choice.

Spain/Portugal sounds lovely. I'm sure the expats there, never, ever complain about their host government!!!

I don't doubt you are correct that the Thai Govt is after your money, and has no love for you. The Thailand Elite program is prima facie evidence of the former.

But I still fancy giving living in Thailand a go for a while, and I'll take the hit the in loss of interest. Maybe the attitudes you describe will drive me elsewhere in time, who knows?

 

 

 

Good post LK, i spent 4 years travelling to the Costa Blanca (Denia on the coast to be precise) every month for 4/5 days as i was having a villa built there and all my neighbours were Norwegian and we became great friends even to the extent that they would'nt have me staying in a hotel they insisted i stay with them, they took turns in putting me up, bloody lovely people.

In all the time i spent with them they had nothing but praise for Spain and its governments attitude towards them and i felt the same, i can't say that about Thailand i'm afraid to say.

The rest of my Spanish villa experience is history as my Thai wifey did'nt want to move there lol

[Lemondropkid]

1 hour ago, Pumpuynarak said:

Good post LK, i spent 4 years travelling to the Costa Blanca (Denia on the coast to be precise) every month for 4/5 days as i was having a villa built there and all my neighbours were Norwegian and we became great friends even to the extent that they would'nt have me staying in a hotel they insisted i stay with them, they took turns in putting me up, bloody lovely people.

In all the time i spent with them they had nothing but praise for Spain and its governments attitude towards them and i felt the same, i can't say that about Thailand i'm afraid to say.

The rest of my Spanish villa experience is history as my Thai wifey did'nt want to move there lol

Thanks Pump, interesting thoughts on Spain. I've only ever made as far as Barcelona a couple of times!

Will add Alicante to my relatively short bucket list. I don't intend to stop travelling just because I'm based in Thailand

Edited September 29, 2023 by Lemondropkid

[Jambo]

8 minutes ago, Lemondropkid said:

Thanks Pump, interesting thoughts on Spain. I've only ever made as far as Barcelona a couple of times!

Will add Alicante to my relatively short bucket list. I don't intend to stop travelling just because I'm based in Thailand

I have been mostly stuck in my flat/condo for well over a year.

I cannot fly long haul for months (well it is not recommended) so I fly to Alicante shortly hopefully to get some autumn sunshine.

Totally free of opioid painkillers I anticipate a good few San Migs and Carlos Primero brandies with my coffee! 😄

[Pumpuynarak]

17 hours ago, Lemondropkid said:

Thanks Pump, interesting thoughts on Spain. I've only ever made as far as Barcelona a couple of times!

Will add Alicante to my relatively short bucket list. I don't intend to stop travelling just because I'm based in Thailand

Barcelona's lovely, went there quite a few times over the 4 years. I used to mainly fly into Alicante rent a car and drive 1 hour northwards up the coast to Denia, sometimes i would fly to Valencia instead and drive the 1 hour southwards. Valencia is also lovely imo.

I lived in Southampton where i only had a 10 minute taxi ride to the airport and would fly with Flybe for the 2 hour flight, it was all so easy which made Spain a no brainer when it came to retiring in the sun. 

[rajs123]

On 9/27/2023 at 8:28 AM, Lemondropkid said:

I am going to retire to Thailand starting next week!! 

You beat me by a few days 🙂 I start mine on 8 October! Flying Thai Airways. Leave on Saturday at 12:30pm - arrive 6:00am on Sunday.

[KWA]

Another reason some may use the 800K in the bank method is to ensure they are grandfathered in should the requirements change, and potentially the agent route for the new requirements is more expensive or even not available.

[Toy Boy]

Bizarrely, the 800K has (so far, anyway) turned out to be a decent investment for me. I turned 50 back in 2007 so was able to get a Non-Imm O and start applying for one-year extensions based on retirement, and that's when I brought the 800K into Thailand. What was the rate back then? This was before the financial crisis so it would probably have been above 70 THB/GBP. I remember that I didn't even think twice about bringing in the £11 or £12K at the time, anyway, and for quite a few years was even getting a usefully better interest rate on it than I would have if I'd left it in the UK with its QE and ZIRP. Even at today's "wonderful" exchange rate of almost 45 THB/GBP, the 800K is worth around 50% more in GBP than it was back in 2007. And as a bonus, I've never touched the fixed-term deposit account where I hold the money, and it's now grown to around 900K. What's not to like, lol? And as another bonus, of course, it's allowed me to stay in Thailand hassle-free for the last 16-odd years. I can't claim this was down to my brilliant financial planning, of course, just the luck of the draw and the old saying that 'timing is everything.'

[Pumpuynarak]

13 hours ago, Toy Boy said:

Bizarrely, the 800K has (so far, anyway) turned out to be a decent investment for me. I turned 50 back in 2007 so was able to get a Non-Imm O and start applying for one-year extensions based on retirement, and that's when I brought the 800K into Thailand. What was the rate back then? This was before the financial crisis so it would probably have been above 70 THB/GBP. I remember that I didn't even think twice about bringing in the £11 or £12K at the time, anyway, and for quite a few years was even getting a usefully better interest rate on it than I would have if I'd left it in the UK with its QE and ZIRP. Even at today's "wonderful" exchange rate of almost 45 THB/GBP, the 800K is worth around 50% more in GBP than it was back in 2007. And as a bonus, I've never touched the fixed-term deposit account where I hold the money, and it's now grown to around 900K. What's not to like, lol? And as another bonus, of course, it's allowed me to stay in Thailand hassle-free for the last 16-odd years. I can't claim this was down to my brilliant financial planning, of course, just the luck of the draw and the old saying that 'timing is everything.'

Yes no doubt TB if like you anyone depositing monies over 16 years ago when exchange rates come into play and the rates are totally in your favour should see a handsome profit. I arrived in Thailand in January 2007 to hook up with my new found wifey and from memory the rate was circa 65bht to the pound which meant i only had to transfer £2000 to achieve 130,000bht pm, wifey and i were in financial heaven what with the cost of things in those days. Nowadays i have to transfer £3200 to achieve 140,000bht per month !!!

I've just done some number crunching and the 800K at 2% over 16 years is 256000bht not taking into account the compound effect which will be negligeble. Without asking my friend Google what interest rate were you receiving from your Thailand bank back in 2007 ?

Your stated amount of 900K baht looks too good to be true, but i could be wrong lol

Your quote ''it's allowed me to stay in Thailand hassle-free for the last 16-odd years.''

I also have had 16 hassle free years using the income method to obtain my retirement extension.

[Toy Boy]

10 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

Without asking my friend Google what interest rate were you receiving from your Thailand bank back in 2007 ?

Thai banks have never paid great interest rates, but I recall that I was getting around 5% on my offshore deposits back then so it may well have been 3% for a few years, I'd have to check my old bank books to find out but they're stashed away in my shack in Pattaya while I'm sunning myself (not lierally, lol) on the Welsh Riviera. I was getting enough interest that it was worth reclaiming the 15% withholding tax, anyway, and for a few years I made the trek to the Jomtien tax office to ask for my dosh back, please. It was in my final year of doing this that they started interrogating me about my then non-existent pension, so I thought it safest to stop reclaiming the tax, but the interest rates in Thailand dropped to 1% or so and the refunds were no longer worth the trouble anyway. The downside of this is that I have a dreaded Thai TIN, which I may come to regret if the worst interpretations of the 'new' tax directive come true. I just checked the SCB app on my phone and the 800K fixed deposit account now has a total of 867,822.47 Baht in it. Still, for an investment around 15 years ago of maybe £12K that's now worth close on £20K, I can't complain. In simple inteerst terms it's around 4.5% pa net of tax, hardly hedge fund territory but a lot better than the banks in either country have been paying for the last decade or more.

[Pumpuynarak]

11 hours ago, Toy Boy said:

Thai banks have never paid great interest rates, but I recall that I was getting around 5% on my offshore deposits back then so it may well have been 3% for a few years,

I asked my friend Google and did some digging and yes you are correct, in 2007 the deposit interest rate was circa 3 - 3.75%.