Should you retire overseas?

Yes that Russell & I discussed whilst at the curbside @ BNE international waiting for a ride home. Russell who is about our age commented that ‘they have you all ways’ indicating the costs of parking at the airport.

We moved onto the costs of living overseas.

Russell mentioned that on his last night in Jakarta at an ‘upmarket’ restaurant  he & others paid a total $120 for mains & a good number of drinks.

That resonated with us as the previous day  4 of us in Chiang Mai = CNX  had  for lunch a total of 3 mains, a salad, an entree, two Singha beers & 2 soft drinks. A total of ~$20. Yes ~$20 & the restaurant was in a very nice water setting & certainly not ‘street food’ although we recommend some of that also.

Russell also mentioned that he had been to the dentist in Jakarta for a bridge & crown. The dentist was Sydney trained & if we recall correctly she charged $1000. What does that cost here? We suspect three times more. We certainly know of clients Joseph & also Paul who have traveled to Thailand after being quoted prices here. We are all at that dental stage.

Now what about accommodation? 

Ann just now mentioned & who just had a necessary holiday away in Tasmania that one hotel ‘that had nothing’ cost them $140 one night. Now we had a very good hotel in CNX with brilliant happy staff that cost the same. There are many guesthouses & from a casual observation a 1 bedroom unit is 1,500 per month.

We didn’t research buying property up there but understand that a ‘farang’ or foreigner in Thailand generally needs a Thai partner to do so. A small price to pay maybe. 

We read in the CNX Mail 21/9/14 ‘New condo for sale on 7^th Floor  fully furnished & equipped @800,000BTbt’ = $29,630.  Mind you  also ‘New house 3 Br, 3 Bath, new furniture , 10 min from airport @ 4.5M Tbt = $166,166. The Bangkok Post would provide you with another idea on Real Estate.

 Malaysia does have a ‘make Malaysia your second home’ programme. An European lady we meet strongly recommended that buying world class brands is smart in KL = Kuala Lumpa.

Some money traps we found out & hence some alerts for you.

Frank from Chicago was out to ‘buy some gold’ & did as then the price was US1200. Note the % charge there is 1% compared to the 9% here.  However we read ‘ Get ready to see gold fall to US$931 per ounce next year’.

Drawing from our debit card cost 180Tbt = $6.43 each time. That was the Thai bank charging us. 

The subtlety of course is the exchange rate that is determined by us. 

 It was 26Tbt when we loaded the Visa cash passport card here. It was 28TBT generally up there although of course there are variations every second. 

 There is a currency conversion fee of 5.95% of the transaction amount.

The initial load fee is 1.1% of your initial amount or $15 whichever is the greater. 

What charge is that? 

Of course as with most financial there is an exit fee which is $10 to close that cash card account. There is also a $4 per month charge on it if you aren’t using it. 

We note a negative balance fee of$ 20 if your amount is negative. 

In fact as there was only 30Tbt on it closing the account required a donation to UNICEF.  Do we continue to read the PDS?? 

It doesn’t work that way Sir says Matthew in Cambridge. Maybe we are too cynical.

 As we should have, read the booklet PDS before you load any amount.

A very good reason to take cash as there are plenty of money changers as every bible student knows.

Russell did mention that when he transfers money to his Indonesian account the money actually goes via New York & then to Indonesia  before he receives it in three weeks time.

Russell yes they have you all ways. We suspect if you are they for a long stay them opening up a local account makes sense.

Russell also mentioned that an Aussie retiree needs ‘fifty thousand’ to live here. All surveys & our observations would agree with that. Russell commented that an Aussie would be better off to retire up there.  

From our observations they would be much happier if they did. That is the real reason for retiring surely.

Of course you can’t do nothing when you retire. 

We traveled with Glen & family who left Australia three years ago  can & does work anywhere there is Wi-Fi & the internet. Our contemporary Steve wants to retire  up there  in 2016 & work his business from there.

We saw some simple one man businesses up there thriving because they knew how to maximise social media with a website. Photos of our experiences with them were up on Facebook either immediately or within two days. They did make great use of TripAdvisor. 

We enquired today for a frame of a picture painted by Thongperm an elephant. Up there the cost was 800Tbt = $ 29.62 & here the quote was $86, 136 and 153. Just another example & why so many live in SE Asia or elsewhere.

Whoops almost forgot. The Young travel agent & I had a 60minute Thai massage.  It was 200Tbt = $7.41 which we felt was embarrassing. It is the standard as the taxi driver Muoy had 2 hours at same rate.

What about the pension you say? Hopefully you are ‘self funded’&  don’t need it but 80% need it here so as to meet their 50,000 cost of living. If you have ever been to Centrelink now called something else then you realise that a short paragraph is insufficient.

 Lets decide if you wish to take a longer or maybe permanent holiday first before we walk through that minefield.

This idea is nothing new as today then would be 1-2 M Aussies overseas. Some certainly have retired elsewhere. As Andrew & Holly said  to us in CNX  we won’t go back.

We recall talking to 2 US Vets in 1975 who in 1906 has been in an US expeditionary force into Russia. They were retired & drinking in a bar in Zamboanga Peninsula, Philippines where the some of the population prefer you Not to drink.

However  there is certainly change happening on the 1^st January if you are considering retirement & are aged over 55. You have maybe 6 weeks to maybe optimise your future. This will certainly be very relevant if & when interest rates go up as it will affect deeming rates which then affect government pensions.

If you would like the opportunity at our expense for lunch here for an initial meeting then as  others do you are welcome to call us on 07 3848 1088 or email us or visit our websites.

‘ we believe that we can generate significant financial certainty for you throughout our relationship & importantly add substantial value to ensuring you achieve all that is important & valuable to you as you have articulated to us.’

If we were to sit down in three years time & looked back what do we need to do today so that you are financially & personally better off & happier.


  John McAuliffe