Solomick Posted January 9, 2006 Report Share Posted January 9, 2006 Retirement? I have been toying with the idea of scaling down the amount of work I do and go into sort of semi-retirement. I have seen to many family and friends get to retirement age having saved all that money and kick the bucket. Would it not be better to scale down work now when I am still young enough to enjoy it and all my body parts still function without the aid of medical science? Or carry on till I?m pretty much fucked. At present I work approximately 8 to 9 months a year, taken 3 months vacation split over the year. I am self employed contactor in the oil and pipeline business so I can choose the jobs I do and the frequency of them. I am due to retire when my pension matures at 55, I am currently 36. I spend most of my vacation time in Thailand but this is not the same as getting a property and living there. So the questions are for those people who actually live there:- 1. What sort of money do you need for a good lifestyle/apartment and other expenses roughly per year? I don?t want to get rid of the houses in Europe. 2. Is it hard to stay within your budget with so many temptations? 3. Does the novelty wear of after you live there rather than holiday? 4. Is learning to read and speak the language properly essential? 5. Does it get hard to return to work after being there for longer periods? The longest I?ve stayed in one trip was 6 weeks and it was pretty hard to leave. My wife loves Thailand and would be happy to relocate. She is Dutch not Thai and I wonder if anybody else has a farang wife living with them in Thailand? Any advise or comments would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Encore Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 >I am due to retire when my pension matures at 55, I am currently 36. I spend most of my vacation time in Thailand but this is not the same as getting a property and living there. So the questions are for those people who actually live there:- 1. What sort of money do you need for a good lifestyle/apartment and other expenses roughly per year? I don?t want to get rid of the houses in Europe.< LEAVE THAT ONE TO LOCAL XPATS >2. Is it hard to stay within your budget with so many temptations? < Temptations.....Really, up to you and what you want. Do you want to get a mia noi, or go out and fk a different woman every night/day? 3. Does the novelty wear of after you live there rather than holiday? yes, but different things may capture your attention. 4. Is learning to read and speak the language properly essential? YES!! 5. Does it get hard to return to work after being there for longer periods? The longest I?ve stayed in one trip was 6 weeks and it was pretty hard to leave. Don't know, I think ir will, but depends on you My wife loves Thailand and would be happy to relocate. She is Dutch not Thai and I wonder if anybody else has a farang wife living with them in Thailand? Oh Ooh! How does she feel about the 'temptations you mention under "2"?? IMHO, you may be courting disaster for your marriage. You can run the highwire for a while, but you're bound to crash, if 'giving into temptations" is what you anticipate. I didn't get there until my early 50's, and it nearly killed my marriage. Now living close, and only occasionally dabbling. Anymore would drive me off the edge or distroy my marriage. GOOD luck Any advise or comments would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomick Posted January 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Thanks for the comments. As for number 2 my wife's Dutch so she is quite liberal, could see you point if I was married to a girl from UK. The temptations part I was refering to was going on the piss with the lads 24/7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 1. Do you want to buy or rent? Do you bring your children? Make sure that you find a good school for them. Costs you porbably more than in Holland to get the same level of education. What's your life style in Holland? Probably at least 60 to 80K per month you need I reckon.................. 2. Alcohol is relatively expensive. Other 'temptations' may be evn more expensive, pending how much you indulge. 3. Not for me. My only 'concern' is that I don't get to travel around the LOS. In your postion that'd be a lot easier. You can also reitre and start a small business here, something to keep you busy and possibly make a bit of money without having to work 7 days a week, 10 hrs a day! 4. It ain't easy but it will work wonders. If you decide to come here, spend the first months following langauge courses. Will pay big dividends later on. 5. Difficult to answer for me. Only can refer to my past before I lived here. Everytime I came over I stayed longer and every time it was more difficult to leave. It may be different if you know that you're coming back anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomick Posted January 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 limbo said: 1. Do you want to buy or rent? Do you bring your children? Make sure that you find a good school for them. Costs you porbably more than in Holland to get the same level of education. What's your life style in Holland? Probably at least 60 to 80K per month you need I reckon.................. [color:"red"] [/color] Rent at first until I find the right location and make my mind up about were I want to be. 2. Alcohol is relatively expensive. Other 'temptations' may be evn more expensive, pending how much you indulge. [color:"red"] [/color] Alcohol is a lot cheaper than Limburg and so is golf. 3. Not for me. My only 'concern' is that I don't get to travel around the LOS. In your postion that'd be a lot easier. You can also reitre and start a small business here, something to keep you busy and possibly make a bit of money without having to work 7 days a week, 10 hrs a day! [color:"red"] [/color] Can you own a business without Thai wife? My friends who run businesses in Thailand all have Thai patners. 4. It ain't easy but it will work wonders. If you decide to come here, spend the first months following langauge courses. Will pay big dividends later on. [color:"red"] [/color] As my wife is Dutch she is shit hot of langauges, I on the other hand been English and from Newcastle struggle like hell. 5. Difficult to answer for me. Only can refer to my past before I lived here. Everytime I came over I stayed longer and every time it was more difficult to leave. It may be different if you know that you're coming back anyways. [color:"red"] [/color] My trips seem to be getting longer, started at 2 weeks then onto 3, then 4 then 2 months with the odd stopover if I was working in Asia. Each time it's getting harder to generate any motivation to leave. [color:"red"] [/color] Thanks for the comments Limbo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 1. Rent first and check out where you wanna be makes total sense. 2. That's possibly true. Still, in Soi Green Mango a beer is easily 90,-Baht. 3. You can own bussinesses as a Farang, but I'm not sure what it entails exactly. My advice is to get very good advice before you start something. Maybe some stories/references from experiemced Farangs may help here. 4. Sorry Mick, you'll be only understood in Newcastle, don't worry about learning Thai 5. Well, if you know you have a home and a family here, it may be easier to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomick Posted January 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 2. That's possibly true. Still, in Soi Green Mango a beer is easily 90,-Baht. A beer in Maastricht now for a pint is 4.50 euros. 3. You can own bussinesses as a Farang, but I'm not sure what it entails exactly. My advice is to get very good advice before you start something. Maybe some stories/references from experiemced Farangs may help here. Will have to look into this but never really thought about a business. 4. Sorry Mick, you'll be only understood in Newcastle, don't worry about learning Thai That was a cheaper shot, I could also say the same about Limburgese. :: 5. Well, if you know you have a home and a family here, it may be easier to leave. My wife is actually worse than me, usually she flies before me as I go direct to work. I always make sure she has a earlier fight to make sure she gets on the plane and does not go AWOL. :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Mick, At least we Limburgers understand that we have to speak another lingo besides Limburgs since otherwise nobody will understand us. I still need to meet the first Toffee whom I can understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomick Posted January 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Sorry I couldn't understand a word you said. :hubba: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 easy to loose overview in this dutch dialogue! my brief input! 36 and thinking about retiring! i am a bit older than you and will not be able to afford to do so during the next 10 years! please calculate careful if you have enough resources for a decent lifestyle. i knew many americans who were close to early retirement 5 years ago...and then the stock market crashed and melted away their 401k money and now they have to work until they are 75 before then can even think of planning retirement. 1. apartment and yearly expenses very broad range. i know those who stay in 5k THB per month apartments and those in 200k per month condo's. also expenses: car is much more expensive than in the west; so are wine, some special western food. otherwise living costs are considerable lower as in the west. 2. no idea as i have no budget 3. if you mean bars and bargirls yes it wears off. in my early days i was despite heavy workload 2-3 times per weak in bars. nowadays there are months that i hardly make it once to the bars 4. as limbo said; it make things easier and you also get better understanding about culture and the way the thais are thinking. and it is of course also much more fun in the bars. 5. can not answer as i never made longer than 10 days vacation during all those years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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