Gay farangs living on the breadline

[Olddaddy]

I always thought especially nowadays with increased retirement funds many of the gay farang expats living in Thailand were quite comfortable.

This was not my feeling when I went last month, there was even expat bar owners who cried poor to me .

And there was several cases I saw on Grindr of older farangs who were selling their services .

" hey mate I will suck you off for 500 baht ,interested?

One farang was persistent going into detail on what he could do for baht , looking at his profile he was in his 70's ,I guess trying to supplement his pension.

I spoke to some expats who were living on their monthly  pension around 43,000 baht a month...which...I might add they said they were comfortable on.

Obviously they don't pay tourist rates for boys 

Speaking to a bar waiter in JC he pointed out a  farang , " he doesn't have much money , only comes when we have party ' he just walk up & down all night "

But it begs the question how many are living on the breadline ,did they retire too early ,maybe didn't work or there is even some cases of gay farang being married and split up and lost half of their savings then moved to Thailand.

I guess and I'm only guessing though that the majority would be financially comfortable 

I mean this generation of retirees should be more financially comfortable than say the ones 20 years ago but....they seem different in the fact they don't seem to care as much and I noticed quite a few in their 50's smoking weed.

Anyway life goes on 

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

 

And there was several cases I saw on Grindr of older farangs who were selling their services .

" hey mate I will suck you off for 500 baht ,interested?

 

with dentures on or removed ?

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

But it begs the question how many are living on the breadline ,did they retire too early ,maybe didn't work or there is even some cases of gay farang being married and split up and lost half of their savings then moved to Thailand.

 

certainly there will be some who underestimated cost on living abroad, perhaps moved when exchange rates were more favourable and now they are stuck. They still have advantage over tourist of knowing  best places to east and shop.

When I visited Pattaya first about 10 years ago my first impression and it's recorded somewhere in the forum in my report was many sad looking farangs walking the streets. It was bit depressing. Although it could be other factors like loneliness or poor health , not just economic woes

[KeepItReal]

4 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

I always thought especially nowadays with increased retirement funds many of the gay farang expats living in Thailand were quite comfortable.

This was not my feeling when I went last month, there was even expat bar owners who cried poor to me .

And there was several cases I saw on Grindr of older farangs who were selling their services .

" hey mate I will suck you off for 500 baht ,interested?

One farang was persistent going into detail on what he could do for baht , looking at his profile he was in his 70's ,I guess trying to supplement his pension.

I spoke to some expats who were living on their monthly  pension around 43,000 baht a month...which...I might add they said they were comfortable on.

Obviously they don't pay tourist rates for boys 

Speaking to a bar waiter in JC he pointed out a  farang , " he doesn't have much money , only comes when we have party ' he just walk up & down all night "

But it begs the question how many are living on the breadline ,did they retire too early ,maybe didn't work or there is even some cases of gay farang being married and split up and lost half of their savings then moved to Thailand.

I guess and I'm only guessing though that the majority would be financially comfortable 

I mean this generation of retirees should be more financially comfortable than say the ones 20 years ago but....they seem different in the fact they don't seem to care as much and I noticed quite a few in their 50's smoking weed.

Anyway life goes on 

Why would you assume that? At least here in the USA, the older generation had company or government funded pensions, retirement health care and social security.  The current generation no longer has company pensions, health care, they had to fund their own retirement savings (401k plans or IRAs) during their working loves and many failed to do so. Today's retirees may very well be far less well off than previous generations and it is likely to get worse as social security gets into deeper trouble. Can't speak for other countries tho. 

[scott456]

31 minutes ago, KeepItReal said:

Why would you assume that? At least here in the USA, the older generation had company or government funded pensions, retirement health care and social security.  The current generation no longer has company pensions, health care, they had to fund their own retirement savings (401k plans or IRAs) during their working loves and many failed to do so. Today's retirees may very well be far less well off than previous generations and it is likely to get worse as social security gets into deeper trouble. Can't speak for other countries tho. 

Then why did they move to Thailand when they could not afford to live in Thailand?

[reader]

8 minutes ago, scott456 said:

Then why did they move to Thailand when they could not afford to live in Thailand?

They could afford to live in Thailand when they first decided to make the move. But as you may have noticed, things can change in 10-20 years.

[Londoner]

Twenty years or so ago, I was investigating the possibility of relocation to Thailand, having just met the love of my life. The UK pound was exchanging at around 73 bht; now it's close to 40 and dropped even lower recently. There's your answer, Scott......who could have foreseen such a rapid and (for some) devastating drop in the value of pensions and assets? 

[Olddaddy]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

with dentures on or removed ?

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣That's the funniest thing I read in a long time !

I was just on a train here in Sydney 11pm reading this and I laughed out loud continuously laughing , 3 people in  my train carriage got up to leave to another carriage !🤣

A guy opposite me looked at me and for some reason I looked at him and said " dentures ! And started laughing 🤣🤣🤣

He shook his head sideways slowly and walked off ,I'm sure he mumbled under his breath "weirdo  🤣

[scott456]

46 minutes ago, Londoner said:

Twenty years or so ago, I was investigating the possibility of relocation to Thailand, .....who could have foreseen such a rapid and (for some) devastating drop in the value of pensions and assets? 

20 years is not so rapid, is it?

[Olddaddy]

58 minutes ago, Londoner said:

Twenty years or so ago, I was investigating the possibility of relocation to Thailand, having just met the love of my life. The UK pound was exchanging at around 73 bht; now it's close to 40 and dropped even lower recently. There's your answer, Scott......who could have foreseen such a rapid and (for some) devastating drop in the value of pensions and assets? 

Very true ,I forgot about that .

Many live on the Australian old age pension that I spoke to , something like 43/44k a month 

[Boy69]

@OlddaddyYou raised interesting issue !

There are many reasons: the strong Baht,  the rising  of living cost in Thailand, shrinking pensions,  underestimate of long term living costs , not enough savings and so on. Also heard many horror stories of falangs who lost everything to Thai partners gold diggers or failed business in Thailand. 

I am not sure it's a new phenomenon 20 years ago when I did organize visa run every month to Cambodia( back then it was easy and allowed)  my impression was that many falangs who did it with me were living from hand to mouth. 

[Boy69]

1 hour ago, Olddaddy said:

Very true ,I forgot about that .

Many live on the Australian old age pension that I spoke to , something like 43/44k a month 

I am not sure what quality of life in Thailand you can live with 43/44 a month,  the bare minimum ; housings and bills about 10k , food 10k , transportation 5k are the basic costs that leaves you 18k for all the rest expenses - about 600 BHT a day not much to enjoy life at the land of smiles but maybe better than living at the expensive Western World. 

[scott456]

34 minutes ago, Boy69 said:

I am not sure what quality of life in Thailand you can live with 43/44 a month,  the bare minimum ; housings and bills about 10k , food 10k , transportation 5k are the basic costs that leaves you 18k for all the rest expenses - about 600 BHT a day not much to enjoy life at the land of smiles but maybe better than living at the expensive Western World. 

Did he say 43/44 AUD or BHT?

[Boy69]

2 minutes ago, scott456 said:

Did he say 43/44 AUD or BHT?

The logic says he meant BHT 

[10tazione]

10 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

hey mate I will suck you off for 500 baht ,interested?

Are you sure they meant YOU paying?

[Mavica]

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but my understanding is that expats residing in Thailand, no matter the visa category, are required to demonstrate economic solvency (i.e., verifiable monthly / annual income or other financial assets).  True?  If so, then the destitute expats being referred to would appear be in Thailand in violation of the law / regulations.

[scott456]

3 hours ago, Boy69 said:

The logic says he meant BHT 

We have been spelling this wrong.  It's THB, not BHT.

[macaroni21]

3 hours ago, scott456 said:

Did he say 43/44 AUD or BHT?

If he had meant 43,000 Australian dollars a month as pension, I should be planning to move to Australia.

But back to the topic, maybe we shouldn't assume that those on a tight budget are miserable. They may still decide they're happier in Thailand than back home, all things considered.

I think of it this way: when younger I travelled on a shoestring budget. They were the happiest times of my life. I don't think I would have the same experience if I had money to splash around.

[scott456]

If he get 43/44 monthly pension, I am sure it's a livable income in Australia because there must be some other people getting the same pension there. Perhaps they are qualified for free senior housing in Australia. 

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, KeepItReal said:

Why would you assume that? At least here in the USA, the older generation had company or government funded pensions, retirement health care and social security.  The current generation no longer has company pensions, health care, they had to fund their own retirement savings (401k plans or IRAs) during their working loves and many failed to do so. Today's retirees may very well be far less well off than previous generations and it is likely to get worse as social security gets into deeper trouble. Can't speak for other countries tho. 

that is one part of equation. Another is enormous transfer  of wealth as baby boomers slowly fade into history but are leaving behind  their assets , mainly houses but often also substantial savings or investments. So people of quite modest means are inheriting quite a bit from their parents and if they are smart enough they put that money into good use.

Chance meeting today on the street with my former  neighbour , humble librarian in early 60's prompted my comment. Her divorced parents in late 80's died in short time of each other leaving her and her sister respective houses. Smart girl cashed out and for her share purchased life annuity.

[Ruthrieston]

I have lived in Thailand for almost twelve years now, and I have a work pension of 60,000 Baht a month and next year I can claim my old age pension. What has hurt me a lot was the UK vote to leave the European Union. The day before the vote the exchange rate was 56 Baht to the UK pound, the day after it fell to 36! Currently it is around 44 so still a serious loss of income.

[PeterRS]

20 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

I spoke to some expats who were living on their monthly  pension around 43,000 baht a month...which...I might add they said they were comfortable on.

I always wonder how these guys get their retirement visas because the minimum monthly inward remittance from a recognised pension scheme or social security by law has to be 65,000. About 4 years ago there was a big fuss among many of the retirees when the immigration Department decided too many retirees were getting visas illegally when going the lump sum annual 800,000 route. Although this was supposed to be in the bank account for a minimum of 2 or 3 months prior to applying for the next year's visa, we were informed that in future the 800.000 had to be locked untouched in a bank account for 7 months with a reduction to 400,000 permitted for the remaining 5. Have one satang less - bye bye visa.

The rationale for this move was that there were too many crook agents and Immigration officers. So rather than clean out the mess in the Augean Stables, the Director of Immigration put the onus on to retirees. Unless those living on 43,000 have been saving part of their 65,000 monthly remittances, I can only assume that they took advantage of the crooks to obtain their annual visa renewals.

The idiocy of the Immigration Department has recently again been seen with the scandal of the withdrawal of certain key benefits from the Thailand Elite 5-year Easy Access membership. Given 3 weeks to make key decisions involving a considerable cash outlay or find oneself without the possibility of renewing for 15 extra years, there was a huge outcry with on one day a near riot at the office of Thailand Elite on Sathorn. The end result of that idiotic decision was that less than 24 hours before the self-imposed deadline, Thailand Elite withdrew the decision. 

We are told that the upcoming reorganistion of the Elite programme is also partly to get rid of crook agents and Immigration officers! So what have those clowns been doing over the last 4 years? Look more closely and we note that as early as February 1 questions were raised in parliament that there are already too many of the Chinese triads who have inflitrated the country by purchasing the Elite visas. This time it may not be the Immigration officials at fault since they have no jurisdiction overseas. But why have international criminal records not been checked? When I first applied overseas for the O-A visa prior to obtaining a retirement visa, I had to go to the police for a certificate confirming I had no police record. Why one rule for not very wealthy retirees and another for mega-rich Chinese criminals?

[Olddaddy]

9 hours ago, scott456 said:

If he get 43/44 monthly pension, I am sure it's a livable income in Australia because there must be some other people getting the same pension there. Perhaps they are qualified for free senior housing in Australia. 

Yes ,I often wonder how old age pensioners who don't have the government housing can afford to live in Australia on that amount (around 44k) especially in Sydney.

And that goes for all of you around the World who are on a Government old age pension ,whether your in Sydney, Blackpool , or Glasgow, it's far better quality of life in my opinion to live on that in Thailand or Philippines.

Of course then you maybe giving up your   pension benefits such as free healthcare ,free transport , maybe even subsidy for housing etc so there's pros & cons in this 

I have no idea about the US and their government pension , I think there it starts at 62 unlike the UK & Australia where we have to wait until 67

Of course I have forgotten about the expense of medical insurance so if your on a government pension it would be difficult to pay ,something you have to consider to live in Asia without medical insurance, if you get sick you would have to go back to the UK or Australia.

[musgrave]

9 hours ago, Mavica said:

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but my understanding is that expats residing in Thailand, no matter the visa category, are required to demonstrate economic solvency (i.e., verifiable monthly / annual income or other financial assets).  True?  If so, then the destitute expats being referred to would appear be in Thailand in violation of the law / regulations.

A payment to a visa agent will get you a visa without having the financial requirements - I agree with what you say but as one acquaintance said to me once you get the stamp in your passport you are surely here legally

[asdsrfr]

17 hours ago, vinapu said:

When I visited Pattaya first about 10 years ago my first impression and it's recorded somewhere in the forum in my report was many sad looking farangs walking the streets. It was bit depressing. Although it could be other factors like loneliness or poor health , not just economic woes

Felt the same thing when I visited there the first time over 20 years ago as well as more recently. I see a lot of Farangs sitting at a bar alone with a sad, blank look on their face. To be sure there are others out that seem to be enjoying themselves but I wonder what happened to those people that ended up in Pattaya seeming so sad and alone.