Surging Thai Baht Shatters Expat Dreams of Easy Retirement

[misskit]

Brian Maxey moved to Thailand from the U.K. expecting his sterling pension to afford him an easy retirement. Instead, he’s finding it harder to meet his visa’s financial stipulations because of the strong baht.

The former aircraft technician easily bought a townhouse, pickup truck and motorcycle when he arrived at the age of 55 two decades ago. Back then the pound bought about 60 baht, but now it fetches a little less than 38 baht.




“It was a cheap place to live then,” Maxey said in an interview in the coastal city of Pattaya, which is popular with European retirees. “It’s not anymore.”




The pressure on foreign pensioners is just one example of how the baht’s sharp appreciation is rippling through Thailand. The currency is the world’s top-performer against the dollar over five years, hurting export competitiveness and putting the economy on course for the weakest growth since 2014.


The Thai government issued almost 80,000 retirement visas last year, a climb of 30% from 2014. To qualify, foreigners must show a deposit of 800,000 baht ($26,261) in a Thai bank or have a monthly income of 65,000 baht. Another route is to have income and deposits totaling 800,000 baht combined.


Britons accounted for the largest number of retirement visas in 2018, Immigration Bureau data shows. They were followed by Americans, Germans, Chinese and Swiss pensioners seeking affordable, sun-dappled golden years.


Once best known for crashing and sparking the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the baht is today seen as a haven by global investors. A trade surplus and annual foreign tourism receipts exceeding $60 billion underpin its resilience.


The currency has appreciated more than 6% against the dollar so far in 2019, the best performer in a basket of Asian economies tracked by Bloomberg.


It’s likely to stay resilient, said Masakatsu Fukaya, an emerging-market currency trader at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. There could be more upward pressure if firms relocate production to Thailand to skirt U.S. tariffs on China-made products, according to Fukaya.

Some pensioners are already voting with their feet, according to Niels Colov, who moved from Denmark about 40 years ago and helps to organize a club for expats in Pattaya.


“There’s an exodus of foreigners from this area to Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines,” he said. “We’re talking thousands of people.”


Up until six months ago, it was common to see overflowing queues of foreigners at Pattaya’s immigration office, but now there’s no line, according to Colov.

Some of those remaining may have to cut back spending, said Christian Foerster, an Austrian who retired to Thailand 20 years ago.


“There’s an enormous change,” he said. “Everything is more expensive. But it’s about adjusting, adapting and living modestly.”

At the same time, the cost of living in Thailand remains lower than in developed nations such as the U.S. or in Europe, and officials continue to promote it as a retirement destination.


Baht strength leaves Pattaya retiree Maxey’s 1,000-pound ($1,235) pension far short of the minimum monthly requirement. As a result, he maintains the equivalent of a 22,000-pound deposit to satisfy the bank savings rule when renewing his visa.


“That’s a lot of money to hold in a bank account that you can’t touch,” Maxey said, while adding he wants to stay on in Thailand despite the difficulties as he’s settled in the country.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...asy-retirement

[Luigi]

Some pensioners are already voting with their feet, according to Niels Colov, who moved from Denmark about 40 years ago and helps to organize a club for expats in Pattaya.

Now where do I know that name from.




Do pity the fookers though, when I moved here around 2005 it was around 70b to the pound and blokes hitting 60 were retiring on 1000gbp pensions. Everything was as cheap as chips.


Now they're getting 38k per month rather than 70k and everything is twice as expensive.

[raycarey]

https://www.andrew-drummond.com/2018...-against-time/

[HuangLao]

Lifestyles beyond their means.

Simplicity and humility take a back seat.

[Saint Willy]

https://www.andrew-drummond.com/2018...-against-time/

Wow. Simply wow.

[Luigi]

He's had a few friends on this site in times gone past.



One of them was an advertiser for a while.

[HuangLao]

He's had a few friends on this site in times gone past.

Indeed.
Also associated with those underwriting TVF.

Birds of a feather.
Broad Mafia Farang reaches.

[harrybarracuda]

Indeed.
Also associated with those underwriting TVF.

Birds of a feather.
Broad Mafia Farang reaches.

Ah yes. Impignorating nudiustertian.

[David48atTD]

https://www.andrew-drummond.com/2018...-against-time/

Interesting read

[Headworx]

^To be fair, they use to have these hotdogs at his Hamburger stands that were an 11 out of 10. Crispy skin that snapped as you bit into them, some sort of a homemade relish on top, and just a good squeeze of tomato sauce needed for that perfect start to the day while on a 30hr bender. To also be fair, I was drinking a lot back then.

[kmart]

^Lol. Yep, solid food from Mr Colov's outlets may have actually saved my life back in the 90's.

Drummond seems to still have a hardon for Colov, Noyes, and Broudie after all these years..

[Seekingasylum]

Bloomberg seem to have missed the significant factor in relation to we grunters reliant on £ denominated pensions in that no mention has been made of the 20%+ depreciation in the currency over the past three years arising from Brexit. Also, it fails to cite the Thai policy of deliberately maintaining a low debt to GDP ratio, a mere 41%, at the expense of development prejudicing the majority who subsist on monthly incomes of 15,000 baht or less, a factor that helps to peg the currency highest in the region.
But, this is all nothing new, I have commented on this way last year when the Thai developed the stupid visa extension rigmarole after the US/Brit/Australian and Danish embassies withdrew retirement income letters from their consular repertoire of citizen assistance.

Mr Maxey is I think chained to the millstone of Thailand not necessarily out of choice but simply because of the economic reality he cannot sell his 'townhouse' in Pattaya because it is a buyers market and there are no buyers unless he is front rank on a beach.

[Klondyke]

Baht strength leaves Pattaya retiree Maxey’s 1,000-pound ($1,235) pension far short of the minimum monthly requirement.

At least he (and the others) will not die because of a cool home:

The cold weather during winter months increases the risk that people develop ill
health. Over winter 2017-18, we estimate that fuel poverty may have contributed
to 5,500 excess winter deaths and that 16,500 excess winter deaths may have
been linked to people living in cold homes.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/file...y_market_0.pdf

[HuangLao]

Drummond seems to still have a hardon for Colov, Noyes, and Broudie after all these years..

Ironically, they all have something in common.

[Seekingasylum]

They're Caucasian? Men?? Homo Sapiens???

[OhOh]

he cannot sell his 'townhouse' in Pattaya because it is a buyers market and there are no buyers unless he is front rank on a beach.

But property always goes up in price.........



Never buy anything you can't walk away from.

[harrybarracuda]

Bloomberg seem to have missed the significant factor in relation to we grunters reliant on £ denominated pensions in that no mention has been made of the 20%+ depreciation in the currency over the past three years arising from Brexit.

But that's OK because we have you to remind us on an almost daily basis.

[taxexile]

he cannot sell his 'townhouse'

land increases in value.
properties less so, especially in the overdeveloped "gold rush" resorts that attract foreigners along with the duplicitous characters that feed off their naivety, inexperience and in some cases downright stupidity.

i have come across a few people in hua hin who find themselves in similar positions.

they arrived 10 or 15 years ago, "holding folding" full of excitement and anticipation and were quite happy to burn their bridges and declare loudly to anyone that would listen that they would never ever return to fucking blighty, "that shithole, with its rain and cold, with its council tax, with its rules, with its tony effing blair and david cameron, with its parking tickets, with its equal rights and divorce settlements, with its expensive beer and its horrible fat birds, with its polish plumbers and ethnically diverse taxi drivers. oh no i'm never going back there, never. i've landed in paradise and i'm living like a king, hey lek, pour me another beer will you and empty the ashtray whilst your at it"

come 2019 and evicted from their luxury townhouse or lifestyle pool villa, the once gleaming 4x4 pick up replaced with a little honda wave and now ensconced in a 3000b bedsit with its plastic furniture, neon green nylon bedcover, squeaking fan and flowery curtains, they find themselves sitting on a plastic garden chair in a decrepit beer shack, kitted out in tescos finest, swatting mosquitoes off their veiny legs, faces bloated and eyes puffy, choking on their skinny roll ups, nursing a beer, complaining about the price of everything in thailand, the bastards in the immigration office, the exchange rate, the cost of getting their piles cauterised and their livers fixed and instead of sexy lek serving the beers and changing the ashtrays its some gross thai bird with a face like fucking thunder and weightlifter thighs.

i'm afraid its hard to feel much pity for folk so unable to read the runes and manage their finances.

[nidhogg]

^ Despite our many differences, I do have to note that both you and seeking ass are fucking masterful wordsmith when the flow hits you.

[Dragonfly]

land increases in value.
properties less so, especially in the overdeveloped "gold rush" resorts that attract foreigners along with the duplicitous characters that feed off their naivety, inexperience and in some cases downright stupidity.

i have come across a few people in hua hin who find themselves in similar positions.

they arrived 10 or 15 years ago, "holding folding" full of excitement and anticipation and were quite happy to burn their bridges and declare loudly to anyone that would listen that they would never ever return to fucking blighty, "that shithole, with its rain and cold, with its council tax, with its rules, with its tony effing blair and david cameron, with its parking tickets, with its equal rights and divorce settlements, with its expensive beer and its horrible fat birds, with its polish plumbers and ethnically diverse taxi drivers. oh no i'm never going back there, never. i've landed in paradise and i'm living like a king, hey lek, pour me another beer will you and empty the ashtray whilst your at it"

come 2019 and evicted from their luxury townhouse or lifestyle pool villa, the once gleaming 4x4 pick up replaced with a little honda wave and now ensconced in a 3000b bedsit with its plastic furniture, neon green nylon bedcover, squeaking fan and flowery curtains, they find themselves sitting on a plastic garden chair in a decrepit beer shack, kitted out in tescos finest, swatting mosquitoes off their veiny legs, faces bloated and eyes puffy, choking on their skinny roll ups, nursing a beer, complaining about the price of everything in thailand, the bastards in the immigration office, the exchange rate, the cost of getting their piles cauterised and their livers fixed and instead of sexy lek serving the beers and changing the ashtrays its some gross thai bird with a face like fucking thunder and weightlifter thighs.

i'm afraid its hard to feel much pity for folk so unable to read the runes and manage their finances.

brilliant

[Luigi]

Never buy anything you can't walk away from.

Wheelchair?

[Crown and Anchor]

when's it going to fall? What's going to make it fall? At the moment I can't see anything weakening it.

I also remember the days of 75 baht/UKP when a ratkaow meal was 20 baht.

[OhOh]

Well, other than a wheelchair.

[fishlocker]

I must say that despite the scenario described Tax made me laugh out loud despite being hungover horizontal on the waking of my first day off in a long time it justifies why I'm still in the game.

Good read and thanks guys, now where are those crutches, I'm off to tinkle.

[Storekeeper]

Never buy anything you can't walk away from.

Expat planning should include an escape hatch in case egress becomes a necessity.