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so that gives you an idea as to what kind of tourist goes there
It doesn't, really. Thailand gets over 30 million tourist visitors every year, and only a very tiny fraction are sex tourists. Most are people just looking to have fun just like anywhere else with pretty beaches, cool temples, and cheap beer.
My older brother is one of those single men who "never grew up." He lost his retirement nest egg due to his risky speculation in oil stocks and is now retired in the Philippines on Social Security. I wish he had found a middle age woman but he is living with and supporting a 25 year old woman and her 3 kids and younger sister. As she is 40 years younger than him, I guess that is every man's dream. But at least he limits his bar visits to once or twice a week, mainly to watch football games with other ex-pats. Most of his extra money, the little there is, goes to help her family.
The fly in the ointment for retiring abroad for most Americans would be..... HEALTH INSURANCE.
By the time many people are in their 50s, they have at least a pre-existing condition or two which would make qualifying for international health insurance very difficult.
Medicare also won't cover you if you live overseas.
So what happens if you get cancer or have a heart attack abroad without insurance? You're in deep doo-doo.
It's not as bad as you think it is. Healthcare is fairly good some places, and there are posters here that have had critical care after a stroke, for a week in a decent hospital, and total cost was $800 out of pocket if I remember correctly. This happened recently with a CD poster living in Cebu.
My last visit to Bangkok in 2004, in July, was a complete disaster. 90-95 degree temps with 80-90% humidity almost had me crashing to the sidewalk. I spent most of my time in the hotel near the pool. I bought a cheap scattered rate to get there, and it was unalterable. Who on earth would you want to retire there???
That low cost of living is not going to last long as the fertility rate keeps dropping in Thailand (1.8) and they're now seeking immigrants from Myanmar and Cambodia to fill the gap, and when their fertility rate drops, then what? Just like Mexico, fertility rate down to 2.2 and falling.
I have a cousin who retired over there and he doesn't even have to tell me why, I had to take him off Facebook, as it generated 100's of Friend Requests from young women in Thailand, and just like in the Philippines, or Mexico, you marry one these women and you're going to end up trying to support their immediate and not so immediate family members. And love, where art thou?
I had a language teacher who was an early adopter of moving to Thailand to retire. I think he must have retired a few years after I graduated in the mid ‘90s because he was already around 70 at the time and with his teacher retirement and social security, everyone said he was just living the life. He apparently taught some English (and maybe a few other languages) and had a very nice house. I think he passed away just recently so he lived well into his 90s. It doesn’t seem like healthcare would be that bad if he made it into his 90s.
My last visit to Bangkok in 2004, in July, was a complete disaster. 90-95 degree temps with 80-90% humidity almost had me crashing to the sidewalk. I spent most of my time in the hotel near the pool. I bought a cheap scattered rate to get there, and it was unalterable. Who on earth would you want to retire there???
This is kind of a silly question, Florida has similar weather for much of the year and it's full of retirees.
The health care may be cheap but you are fooling yourself if you think it would be adequate. Not a chance I retire to a 3rd world country for that reason alone.
Former coworker of mine married a woman from Thailand. I’ll just leave it at this: he gets what he wants and she got out of Thailand.
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