Retiring in Thailand
The four (4) questions/ answers to retiring overseas
By Jonky 3/12/23
Figuring out ones retirement is a bridge to your next chapter of ones life. There’s so much to consider and often times is a daunting thought. The embedded normal is do I have enough money, and what is enough money, but there’s more. The four (4) questions to be answered for International retirement I’ve come with are:
- Money
- Family
- Property
- Visa
Money
I think everyone has their own idea what the comfortable number is for retirement and how to invest it, but I think the question is how to make it all work internationally. Do I put my money in a foreign bank or just use an ATM machine? Putting your money in a foreign bank of $10,000 or more requires the filing of a FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report). Failure to report can be subject to 50% of the deposit and up to 10 years imprisonment. Interest rates are pretty grim too, but I found it’s good to have some money available in a foreign bank for emergencies, quick access.
The other method I found to be the most efficient is to use the ATM machines. The ATM machines dispense the currency of the said country not American dollar expectedly. The shocking part is they charge $6.50 for each transaction no matter if its $ 3.00 or $300, that approximately adds up to around $100/ year just to get your money! The solution is to get a Charles Schwab account. Charles Schwab is the only bank I found that credits back ones ATM fees. I actually called the bank to ask why they do this, and their reply back was that it’s just the price of doing business. Thank you!
Family
Maybe the most gut wrenching question to answer, I’m going to miss my family. Thanks to our great today’s technology we can now talk and video chat all for free. The app is LINE where you can text, call, video chat all for free, and no time delays. It’s really like having your family next door it’s absolutely wonderful. But yes I recognize this is not the perfect solution, we have to see our loved ones in person for sure. I try to make it a goal to fly back once a year to visit everyone for at least 1-3 months and then back to where I call home in Thailand. Well that sounds expense. Not really when you add up the new incredibly low cost of living, international flying is not that expense towards your budget. It’s basically 2/3 less to live in Thailand then the USA! Example $ 50,000 cost of living in the USA will cost you about $16,000 in Thailand. Skype is the other calling app too for a must have, the need to call other countries at affordable rates.
Property
Or sometimes referred to as your S____ is also a problem to solve. Do I store it, bring it with me, sell it… what? Storage fees are going to run about $150/Month and like renting an apartment is subject to annual price increases. The other conundrum is you may not return to the city or state. I quickly found after holding on to my stuff for a year is to just sell it with the important note is to keep all your pictures and memorabilia. I sadly also came to the realization that furniture must be the worst investment of all time, it’s just impossible to get any sort or reasonable money back.
Shipping it internationally is of coarse another option, but I really think by the time you add up the shipping costs, import fees and logistics is it really worth it. Sell I say!
Visa
One’s Visa is a very important part of ones retirement. Lets face it we’re a guest in another country and like having someone at your house, you can always be asked to leave at anytime. There’s a slew of different types of Visa’s but the most common is the Retirement Visa. If you’re 50 years old or more, you can get a 1 year stay with the stimulation of reporting in every 90 days. Renewable every year. There’s also other requirements to include sufficient monies, police report, residence form, and a medical report.
After 30 days on my retirement visa I became quickly restless. There’s really only so much partying and site seeing one can do till I found I wanted to contribute in some way and make my life meaningful. Working in Thailand without the proper filings and Visa can easily get one expelled from the country, and if the thought occurs that you can maybe skirt the law and go un-noticed is a grave error. It seems everyone knows everybody its actually a very small country.
Getting a work visa can be done considering the mountain of requirements, but I can personally say that I did it. It was a long arduous process but thanks to a Thai Visa Agency it was all possible and may I also say the documents are all in the Thai language.
Summary
Having decided on retiring internationally was my best decision. There’s so many benefit’s to now I have a standard answer to when asked why retire in Thailand:
- People
- Food
- Culture
- Medical
- Cost of Living
All to be covered more in-depth in my next up-coming blog reviews. Retiring in Thailand is awesome!