presto3

I have a massage just about every day that I am in Pattaya - helps greatly to un-wind the stress of working in London. I have not had a bad massage yet: every one has been excellent. Tried the oil massage, foot massage and head/shoulders massage. The oil massage is my fav: some of the girls can get you sooooo horny... A tip of 300bht is about the going rate for a 'special message'... Also, I only found out recently (3rd trip to Pats) that some of the massage girls are available for hire. The rates vary but on my next trip I have arranged to LT my favourite massage girl for a few

Lots of great advice on this thread. Thanks for starting it, and thanks for all the contributions. You have all got me thinking...

I'm a cautious type of person - sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes bad. In relation to retiring in Thailand I presume it's wise to also consider the currency exchange rate, market performance, inflation and changing tax laws (at home and in Thailand). I would keep most of my assets in the UK (even if I lived in Thailand: I don't - yet) - Thailand's economy has been growing well over the past few years but it's stilll regarded as an emerging economy and who knows what will happen in 10-20 years: the UK should be a more stable environment for the bulk of my assets. What will the po

That's good advice regarding pumping as much into a pension plan as possible. You can now do the same in the UK - thanks to April 6th 2006, ie Pensions 'A' day. You can now put 100% of earnings into your pension scheme during any given year. Beware, however, that if you're a higher rate (40%) tax payer then you can only claim 40% pension contribution tax relief on the portion of your earnings that you pay higher rate tax relief on. You can also help hedge your bets by ensuring you are paying your National Insurance contributions (to get the UK state pension), and also ensure you are