wagger

The girls all tend to use 1-2-call because it's better coverage in pty, up country your probably better off with Dtac

I'm in town just now so wouldn't mind coming along for a look. Where exactily is New Living Dolls 1?

I'm just about to apply for my non-immigrant O visa here in the UK and the application form states very clearly that it is most unlikely that a visa wll be issued anywhere other than your own country. i geuss it's a way of ensuring you leave the Kingdom and go home at least once a year. It gives them a chance to refuse entry next time if you are an undesirable with certain responsbilties back home!

Air Asia flies BKK to Macau, I paid about 80 GBP last time for a return ticket. Book well ahead if you want a good price. They have an arrangement where to get off the ferry and straight onto the plane, no need to go thru Macau immigration.

no flame here, i'm interested in the same thing from Nov 1st so keep us up to date with anything good you see! oh and i know i can do a search but things change quickly over there and latest info would be good.

Air Asia goes into Macao, they do a direct transfer to the high speed ferry so you only go through immigration once.

I've used this a few times. You can book/pay in the foyer at Nana hotel and they will pick you up from any central downtime hotel. There are 2 rates, 300 for van to bus to van and 450 for a van all the way. BE CAREFUL in low season the direct van is ok but in High season both services will drive you round every hotel pick up before starting the run to Pats. Worst case this can add nearly 2 hours to your journey if you are first on and last off! That said they are pretty relable if you need to go BKK downtown to Pats/Jomtien

No problem... everybody says the 5 stars don't like mongers but it's just a case of customer is always right. You will be paying top dollar so are they gonna send you away? I stay at the Conrad when i'm working in BKK and i'm always taking bar girls back at lunch or night time or whenever, they never say a word to me even when i take them to the pool or into the exec lounge for breakfast! They have plenty of hookers working the bars there anyway, just that it's gonna cost you a lot more to take a girl from there. Probably best to be discrete and not come back rolling drunk though Don't know about the location but if you are anywhere near the BTS it's just 50 baht or so to get back late night so i wouldn't worry about it.

Sygate Personal Firewall s a free applcaton to download and seems to gve me good protecton. It also gives comprehensve info about actvity and connections in real time.

Yes Alan you are dead right LOL! The problem with all these calculations is that at the end of the day you have to make some kind of assumption... which may or may not turn out ok, the only "safe" way to be sure is to go for annuities where the insurance company assumes the risk of you living longer than planned at the expense of some of your return. I think my planning is following your train of thought, I will will retire early and use equity capital to fund the interim up to pension payout at 55 and then go for the full tax free sum. My calculations are based on living to 90 and i really think that is on the safe side considering my lifestyle... haveing said that i wont have much cash coming in if i live any longer! The only point i was trying to make with the rule of thumb calculation is that it seems to come up with the same sort of results as more sophisticated tools that are available but at the end of the day one just has to go with a lump sum risk profile that you feel comfortable with, for some i suppose it is £700K and for others £300K I think i'm somewhere in the middle. I'm still keen on the idea of having some cash invested in UK property investment trusts so that if the UK market does run away then i can still get back in if the need arises, I agree with the hassle factor of renting out... it's a headache you can do without when you are 5000 miles away!

The differance between £700K and £350k is significant! This topic has been covered before and i remember there was one post which simplistically gave the easy awnser! I have checked it against many models now including the Trinity study and fireseeker and it is used widely by professionals as the "rule of thumb". Always seems to come out pretty close. It is: to achieve an inflation proofed return from a mixed portfolio of investments drawing down on Capital to zero requires a fund of 25 x target income (before tax) so.... £700K / 25 = £28000 p.a or 163,000 Thai Baht p.m £350K / 25 = £14000 p.a 98,000 Thai Baht p.m and i am thinking that: 80,000 Thai baht p.m needs invested capital of £342K (not accounting for tax) one has to assume that investments will return greater than LIBOR over the longer term and i presume this accounts for the differance. Interesting to note though how we can come up with such wildly varying figures and just goes to emphasise how careful you need to be in this area. N.B so long as the investments are in the economy of currancy chosen then efficient market theory would suggest that inflation should be factored into the investment yields

wow! so many opinions... some informed some not. As i understand it (and i am not a tax advisor) the issue of capital gains tax due on sale of the primary residence IS subject to your country of residency (country of residency in Tax terms another subject that needs qualification). After convincing the Tax office that you are no longer UK resident you have 3 years within which to dispose of your primary residence (unless you had to sell it to prove you are non resident) and not be liable to CGT. During this time you can be renting it out and claim income tax relief as mentioned by previous posters. This seems like a good tax efficient strategy to me... and keeps your options open for a few years. I plan to put the money into UK property funds after the sale so that theortetically i will always be able to buy back into the UK market whatever happens in future and avoids the hassle of rental administration. If there is anyone here qualified to comment please correct my understanding if this is incorrect... it may effect my planning in a big way LOL!

"A" day is next April and along with many other changes the retirement age goes up to 55, i'm not aware of any way it is planned to be staggered! i'm caught in the same trap. From 55 you can then release cash from private pensions but not from the state pension which remains at 65. The restriction on being able to cash in your private pension is because of all the tax relief that was given as the pot accumalated. I wouldn't worry too much because there are many things you can do to get at this money and also more relief available to you and more flexibilty following "A" day eg being able to put your house into the fund and claim tax relief on it. I plan to borrow against my fund until 55 and pay back out of the 25% tax free cash drawn you can take.

ok, the obvious question then... what short term interest rates can you get on deposit in Thai? ummm and what is the what is the current inflation rate?

Yes i recall the retirement Visa option is available although my recollection was that it required nearer £14K and this had to be annual income. No need to hold the total balance at all times just use it as living expenses and demonstrate an income stream. A couple of other points of interest is that there is no double taxation agreement between UK and Thailand consequently you don't pay tax on money brought into the country but you are still taxed at source on UK income from Pension and investments over the annual personal allowance. Also someone could comment because i was told recently that Thai banks currently paying 0% (zero) interest on cash deposits at the moment, is this true?

hmmm you raise a good point, i have not discounted the tax issue but my model is fairly simplistic at the moment. £24K is a net target figure and 60% of my cash has already been taxed (or will be when i take the cash free lump sum) so i will be exposed to tax on the annuity and state pension income at 65. I know i will have to build this factor in but my rationale at the moment is that i will need more cash in the early years rather than later when naturally you begin to slow down. My key driver in this exercise is make sure i use up as much as possible as i don't have any heirs to pass onto and i don't want the tax man to take anything if i can help it. On the other hand i don't want to run out! It doesn't seem to be a very precise science this retirement planning LOL.

ahhhhh yes! I think you could be spot on there, i completley forgot about the charges associated with annuities and i know they are significant. Thanks for that, it helps me understand my model a bit better.

ummmmm i like this thread... it ask many questions that i have been struggling with about when to cut and run. I have had the spreadsheets churning and checked out the trinity study but i'm coming up with 2 different results when comparing an asset base converted to annuity's vs a drawdown plan using Trinity at 4% initial with a 3% annual increase. My target income would be £24K and the annuity route plan assumes finishing work at 50 and converting to annuity at 65 needs a pot of £700K where the Trinity calculation suggests i only need £600K. Maybe i have some assumptions not quite right but is there a specific reason why they should be so far out?

Sunshine Vista seemed almost exactly the same as Flipper Lodge but without the security arrangements. Personally i found it a long way from where i tend to hang out (7 & 8) so you have to count on paying for a couple of taxis each way for you and your girl everyday. Breakfast isn't up to much even if you are up before 10:30 to get it in time, i always ended up eating out.

ok i know i will get a thousand people disagreeing with me on this one and also it should be in the hotel report section but... i'm interested if anyone else has noticed when they stayed at Sabai Lodge that the bed linen has an intense chemical smell? I found it so strong it was giving me headaches and in the end had to change hotels. Never noticed a similar problem at the flippers or sunshine etc it seems to be unique to sabai. I know it's reassuring that the bed is clean but i could have breathed easier in a paintshop! oh and at least some of the standard rooms definately have double beds.

This is the peak UK summer holiday time... I got a £520 fare from BHX leaving next week but had to book 6 weeks ago, i don't think you will find much for less than £650 + taxes leaving before the next Bank Holiday. Soon after that they drop back again though until the November so if you can hang on until September that is your best bet.

hey looks good, i was just about to book Sunshine Vista for 21 nights in August but now you have got me thinking! How easy is is it to get to central PTY, i mean soi 7 & 8 and sure i would like to see a few shots of the inside too! Thanks for the "heads up"!

yeah i could be up for that.... some time between 15 August and 4 September is good for me.

i just booked for December 23 to jan 23 with Lufthansa out of BHX UK and all in it cost me £702! hurts like hell paying this much but they are going fast, i missed one by not booking 2 days before, i could have got the same flight for £630 so i thought better to know for sure i have the dates i want. dunno if they will come down at all but i seem to remember last year it was real hard to get anything for Christmas week if you leave it to the month before.

ummm isn't that the same as getting 50 TB off each night? i mean 50 * 14 = 700 TB same same.... it think is normal if you are long stay ie over 10 days you can get a discount more or less anywhere!