Where would you go when you hit state pension age?

**Simon43** · 11-05-2024, 08:26 AM

This is the question that I'm pondering right now, because in 12 months or so I will finally hit the big 66, which is the age when I will start to receive my UK state pension. I will have paid in 29 out of the 35 years, thanks to making voluntary top-ups to the UK national insurance system since leaving the UK about 23 years ago. When I hit 66, I will start to receive the equivalent of $1,000 USD every month.

Now, due to a combination of stupidity, divorces, wanton expenditure and bad business decisions throughout my life, if I stop my online teaching then I will have no other income, (unless I create an additional and new income). But hey! that's not a problem if I remain single, remain debt-free and live a modest and healthy lifestyle in a low-cost country.

I currently live in Luang Prabang, Laos. Out of all the places that I have lived in (Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane, Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket, Nong Khai, Kanchanaburi, Pattaya, Bueng Kan, Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyitaw) in south-east Asia, I feel most at home in Luang Prabang

So why am I pondering my retirement destination? This is why....

1 - My lungs are 'delicate'. The annual burning season has seen my lungs badly affected for almost 3 months. At night I have to sleep on my stomach with my head lying off my bed so that gravity helps the white frothy phlegm out of my body and dripping onto the floor (too much information there!). Each week I spend $$$ on cough medicines, throat pastilles etc. Now, as the rains start in Laos, my lungs and throat are recovering well and I'm almost back to my normal health. But the annual burning season will never go away, not here in Laos nor north Thailand nor Cambodia. I can make my rented house 'airtight', but it would not be much fun living in a 'bubble'. Really, for the sake of my own health and life-expectancy I need to get away from air pollution. So perhaps south Thailand, such as Ao Nang, where my ex #3 (the sane one!) has a small, modern house that she doesn't live in and will rent out to me for about $250 a month. The air is salty sea air, hot and humid, and that's good for my lungs.

But now, issue 2 raises its ugly head....

2 - My UK state pension will remain frozen for the rest of my life at the initial monthly amount if I continue to live in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia etc etc. This is because of a lack of agreement between those countries and the UK social welfare system. So my $1,000 a month will still be $1,000 a month when I reach 90 years old (if I last that long), whereas a typical annual increase in the UK state pension of 5% will see my monthly pension hit $4,000 a month (compounding) if I live in the UK OR.... if I live in a country with a social welfare agreement.

The Philippines has such an agreement

Therefore, if I were to move to a coastal region somewhere in that country, my lungs would thank me, and so would my bank manager. And I would no longer need to fear another police raid on my ham radio station in Laos! (There are many radio hams in The Philippines).

Well, I have never visited The Philippines, but maybe I need to make an important decision about my future. Yes, I've heard that the food is terrible and it's a dangerous place, but Mr Google tells me otherwise if I choose a rural location, away from a big city. Mr Google also tells me that certain islands such as Palawan are generally not affected by typhoons and certainly no earthquakes or Volcanoes.

So what should I do? Any good reason not to take a visit to The Philippines to see what it's like and perhaps find a cheap house to rent?

**DrWilly** · 11-05-2024, 08:29 AM

Sounds like you have answered your question.

both tizme and topper have provided threads on doing the same.

**misskit** · 11-05-2024, 08:35 AM

^^ The food is pretty terrible but don’t know why the Philippines would be so dangerous. I find Filipino people very nice and they speak English. I’ve not been everywhere in the Philippines but I was impressed with Bohol as a lovely and laid back place to retire.

**Simon43** · 11-05-2024, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by misskit

^^ The food is pretty terrible but don’t know why the Philippines would be so dangerous. I find Filipino people very nice and they speak English. I’ve not been everywhere in the Philippines but I was impressed with Bohol as a lovely and laid back place to retire.

Yes, Bohol was one place suggested to me. I'm cautious about making such a move because it would mean uprooting from the countries where I've lived for more than 20 years, so having to find a new place to rent, opening a bank account etc. But I am also very concerned that whilst my UK pension will see me fine when it starts next year, that might not be the case after 10 or so years if it is frozen. So it's better to 'bite the bullet' and make the move soon whilst my brain is still functioning correctly!

**misskit** · 11-05-2024, 09:04 AM

TD poster Takeovers has family on Bohol, if I’m not mistaken.

**Stumpy** · 11-05-2024, 09:13 AM

Good Luck Simon, Its a big decision. I look forward to my SS pensioners days. I have been to quite a few places in the Philippines. There are nice places and bad depending on what you are willing to accept and or tolerate ( Like anywhere). There are a lot of westerners there and English is spoken pretty much everywhere even though it can be pretty marginal pidgin English. Local food is awful pretty much everywhere but in major metro areas you can at least track down some restaurants.

Uprooting and moving at 66 isn't always easy nor fun but maybe you have 1 more in ya.

**Edmond** · 11-05-2024, 09:52 AM

Yup, would be looking at that move.

1 year of slowly planning and setting it up should be adequate.

**Simon43** · 11-05-2024, 10:06 AM

The alternative is that I stay here in Luang Prabang. A good Lao friend (the bank manager) and from a wealthy family who owns houses and land in/around the town has offered to let me rent a piece of his land for a nominal rent (actually he said rent-free but my lawyer says it's better to pay $10/year for legal reasons), and that I could built a small and air-tight house (ie decent windows/doors and frames, not wooden DIY crap). I could live there rent-free until I die. (His reason for offering this is not only because he is a good friend, but he wants someone to live on that large piece of land to show that it is 'inhabited', since his family do nothing with the land. That land is maybe 30 rai, so half a rai among the trees is of no loss to him...

If I can really live rent-free in a small, decent cottage, then my UK pension will see me fine

Decisions, decisions.

**misskit** · 11-05-2024, 10:10 AM

Since the locals speak English in the Philippines it wouldn’t be so hard to find accommodation or get your banking started. Also, getting the raises on your retirement pension is important. We can get an idea of what living on $1000 a month is now but in 10 years, we have no idea.

**cyrille** · 11-05-2024, 10:19 AM

I guess only you know how important good food is to you.

Take a holiday in the Philippines and find out.

**Edmond** · 11-05-2024, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by misskit

We can get an idea of what living on $1000 a month is now but in 10 years, we have no idea.

When I first moved here around 2005-2006, I met a good few Brits that had just retired on UK state pensions, around 1000 quid a month, aged 66 or whatever.

That was around 70,000thb a month (cyrille/SA can correct me) and everything was as cheap as chips. Probably more like 120k in today's spending power. Okay for an older single guy.

Probably not many of them left alive now in their late 80s, but I bet their 70s became less enjoyable as it went down to only 40k a month, wasn't even enough for retirement visa extensions and the price of everything doubled.

**cyrille** · 11-05-2024, 11:05 AM

Assuming an historically unusual exchange rate will last is never wise.

Yasojack never quite got over the rate for sterling not staying at the level it was at when he arrived shortly after the 1997 crash.

Well, durr...

**Bonecollector** · 11-05-2024, 05:39 PM

Firstly congratulations for reaching 66 mate, with all the pitfalls in the world today, it's definitely a marker and now our shitty Gov can start paying you back! may it long long long continue! God Bless

I would be concerned at living/ surviving on a static amount for the next 24years lets says. All things and fuck ups considered, you will need that inflated pension later and your Lao mates life could drastically change and he might have to sell that land. Think in 10years time if you are still on 1KUS, you can't teach anymore, your health and sanity have suffered from the pollution and you are upsticked from the land only to find nowhere decent to live at the price you can afford. Would you want to have to move to the Philippines then at that age or just do it now and probably be able to save more over the next ten years, be on a better pension rate and the possibility that the UK may then have agreements with Thailand, Laos etc

I say go where the money is best and

**BLD** · 11-05-2024, 06:31 PM

It's a no brainer simon, get thee ass to the Philippines find somewhere you like and crack on. Definatately a highly underrated country and these days the food complaints aren't justified you can find any kind of food in the Philippines they also burn ( ka ing ing) for crops but its nowhere near as bad as lao/ Thailand. Of course you might be unlucky enough to be in the vicinity of an extinct volcanoes that suddenly erups then you will think luang prabang pollutions a walk in d Park highly unlikely though. So go for it.

**BLD** · 11-05-2024, 06:32 PM

Better health care in the p.i also. As opposed to.lao

**david44** · 11-05-2024, 06:41 PM

Avoid eruptions , there's always Blackpool

**Bonecollector** · 11-05-2024, 07:08 PM

Blackpool is targeted for Nuke testing, sorry that's off the table

**taxexile** · 11-05-2024, 07:23 PM

If you have family in the UK, and if they are willing, then register that address as your residence for NHS, GP and pension entitlements and live in Thailand if that is your preference, returning to the UK occasionally to show your face.

If you live in one of the following countries and receive a UK State Pension, you will usually get an increase in your pension every year:

Barbados
Bermuda
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Gibraltar
Guernsey
the Isle of Man
Israel
Jamaica
Jersey
Kosovo
Mauritius
Montenegro
North Macedonia
the Philippines
Serbia
Turkey
USA
The UK has social security agreements with Canada and New Zealand, but you cannot get a yearly increase in your UK State Pension if you live in either of those countries.

The block on pension increases for retirees who, after contributing to the system throughout their working lives, only to find themselves disadvantaged should they choose to live in a country not deemed to have a social security agreement with the UK is just another heartless condition imposed on its people by successive heartless UK governments. They can find billions to giveaway to any old fuzzy wuzzy that washes up on our shores, but they treat their older citizens and ex-servicemen like shit.

I am normally against anybody that dupes the benefit system for gain, but for pensioners and ex-servicemen, its open season and they should take what they can by any means possible.

**cyrille** · 11-05-2024, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by Bonecollector

Blackpool is targeted for Nuke testing

Unfortunate but, well, I can see their point.

**BLD** · 11-05-2024, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by taxexile

If you have family in the UK, and if they are willing, then register that address as your residence for NHS, GP and pension entitlements and live in Thailand if that is your preference, returning to the UK occasionally to show your face.

The block on pension increases for retirees who, after contributing to the system throughout their working lives, only to find themselves disadvantaged should they choose to live in a country not deemed to have a social security agreement with the UK is just another heartless condition imposed on its people by successive heartless UK governments. They can find billions to giveaway to any old fuzzy wuzzy that washes up on our shores, but they treat their older citizens and ex-servicemen like shit.

I am normally against anybody that dupes the benefit system for gain, but for pensioners and ex-servicemen, its open season and they should take what they can by any means possible.

Indeed. The Aussie govt fuck with pensioners wanting to live abroad also.. it should be none of there fucking business where YOU choose to retire.

**cyrille** · 11-05-2024, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by BLD

it should be none of there fucking business where YOU choose to retire.

Completely agree.

Just one of the things wrong with the whole crooked deck.

**Looper** · 11-05-2024, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by Simon43

The Philippines has such an agreement

The fils sounds like a no-brainer Simon

Or get yourself to Puerto Rico and patch up the big radio ham dish at Arrecibo

Where would you go when you hit state pension age?-screenshot-2024-05-12-04-16-a

**Topper** · 11-05-2024, 11:29 PM

Simon,

I really like it here in the PI. There's no fooking about with visas and if you get out of the city, like Bantayan Island the air and sea are delightfully pollution free and for 50K php a month you can actually have a nice, if somewhat quiet, life.

Here where I live in Bacolod, you can get a furnished one bedroom house for less than 10k php a month, probably 15k with total expenses.

**BLD** · 12-05-2024, 06:43 AM

I think there's a perception among westerners that filipino food is shite. I think it's not. Perhaps it used to be? but these days you can get pretty much anything you want. Maybe because of so many Filipinos working and living outside of the p.i they are bringing there acquired tastes back with them.

**Bettyboo** · 12-05-2024, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by Looper

The fils sounds like a no-brainer Simon

Or get yourself to Puerto Rico and patch up the big radio ham dish at Arrecibo

Simon probably would give it a go while making three local ladies pregnant...

Look after your health, Simon, and Good Luck. The air quality is a big reason as to why I didn't move to Chiang Rai.

BTW, has anybody lived in/around Macau/Hong Kong recently? How's the air quality?

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