Moving to Thailand (1)
Who once in Thailand will wonder whether he would like/could live (semi)permanently in the 'Land of Smiles'. Particularly among people who are approaching retirement age, the possibility of exchanging the cold and relatively expensive Netherlands for a long-lasting holiday feeling is on the mind. But beware, because the intended earthly paradise can quickly degenerate into a true hell if the step is taken too rashly, so I can tell you after years of experience.
In most cases it is 'love' that leads to the move. The number of bachelors (men) who move to Thailand far exceeds the number of women. I do not consider here the expats who often come to live here with family. The main question is: do I want to burn all ships behind me, or do I keep one or more lifeboats. Those who deregister from the Netherlands lose an annual accrual of 2 percent for their state pension. Moreover: what do we do with health insurance? Thai companies rule out any existing disease and above sixty we can usually forget about it completely. However, special expat insurance in the Netherlands can be quite expensive. Selling or renting out the house in the Netherlands? The latter is guaranteed to cause a lot of trouble, if only with the tax authorities and possibly also with the tenants. What do we do with the car? Sell, or keep for those few weeks/months a year we come back? It certainly doesn't get any better than that.
You will lose your accommodation when you sell it, but you would probably make little use of it anyway. Good advice is expensive in this case and you would do well to review the consequences extensively. Bringing household goods to Thailand does not make much sense, unless it concerns things that you are extremely attached to. The transport costs to Thailand are not bad, apart from the problems with customs here. In addition, things such as TVs, refrigerators and furniture in Thailand are priced so friendly that importing from the Netherlands makes no sense. Do not sell all personal items immediately (for example via marketplace). It is true that you cannot take much with you on the plane, but when you return to the Netherlands for a while, it is best to take some of your beloved books, etc. with you.
Subsequently, every emigrant must ask himself whether he wants to live so far from children and/or grandchildren and friends. Although the flight connections with the Netherlands are excellent, it is still a great experience every time. The often chosen solution is to spend the gray and gritty Dutch winter in Thailand and the summer in the homeland. However, one must be able to afford that, because it requires maintaining accommodation there.
And make sure you have a good financial buffer. Life in Thailand is a lot cheaper than in the Netherlands, but prices are also rising here. In any case, the buffer must be large enough to absorb, for example, a fall in the euro exchange rate of approximately 20 percent (as happened this year).
I don't have the conviction to show all the cliffs and pitfalls here. With final emigration, things can be arranged, such as with the pension fund, tax authorities (read http://www.rnw.nl/nederlands/article/nederlandse-overheid-kost-bakken-met-tijd en huiver), insurance companies and so on but by. Long lists are available on various internet forums with what to do or not to do. And I am therefore happy to be recommended for additions. The problems you may encounter when settling in Thailand are next. I can only give good advice: look before you leap…unfortunately, the profession is the other way around.
Those who deregister in the Netherlands lose their 2% state pension accrual…. Unless you decide to pay that 2% accrual that you miss every year yourself. But that amount per year has risen considerably in recent years given the enormous aging of the population. As far as I understand, you must indicate this upon departure within a not too long period of time that you want to use the fully paid-up scheme.
For those who turn 15 in 65 years or later.
The state pension plan to age 67 as it stands now and perhaps with minor adjustments will also be accepted by the 2nd chamber.
If you stop working at the age of 65, you will lose 6.5% state pension for each year that you stop earlier, which you will no longer receive until your death. If you stop before the age of 65, you will lose 65% per year before the age of 2 and 65% per year after the age of 6.5. You can pay up the former, the latter not as far as I understand. And you always miss that. Retiring at the age of 60 will therefore cost you 23% of your state pension.
As compensation, you will now receive a 15% state pension increase over the next 0,7 years. This means that if you do continue to work until you turn 67, you will receive a higher state pension than the current generation of state pensioners. At least provided inflation does not rise too much, because then it is nothing. 15% for 0,7 years is roughly equivalent to the 13% that you have to give up if you still want to stop at the age of 65. It is a bonus to encourage you to work longer, but in this way they still want to offer the opportunity to stop working at the age of 65 with an approximately equal state pension as now.
Hans, I'm curious about the rest of your story.
The state pension story seems plausible, we just have to work until we are 67 or sooner drop dead of dull misery. The government is happy with that, because the pension of this man/woman no longer needs to be paid. Of course, it has already been calculated how many extra thaws this measure will yield. In a nice word, this is called a side effect of this measure. And to think that it is almost impossible for someone over the age of 50 to find work somewhere, this scheme will have the result, among other things, that relatively more will be paid out on unemployment benefits or social assistance. But they will then be tackled again and scooped further down.
The people who come up with these kinds of measures often have a very high income, a good fortune and rarely live in a terraced house. They don't worry about the future. They have an enormous network and can therefore easily absorb any job losses. Jan met de Pet has no network and with his meager collective labor agreement wages or benefits, he should certainly be concerned.
ALSO I have been thinking about this issue for years and to be honest I have not yet found a conclusive solution other than winning the Dutch state lottery.
For the time being I am sticking to my ega's solution: "that question is for tomorrow". After all, the Thai don't take it that seriously, 90% have nothing to worry about, let alone about the future. So it is the farang who are concerned.
So if you spend little, you also need little. So I didn't really think the salaries in Thai were great and I decided to work in the Netherlands for a few months a year. Now my income is very reasonable, so it's manageable. My wife has a good job plus a real pension and we don't have high costs either.
If you want to stay permanently and you are not rich or wealthy enough, then you clearly have to come up with something else. They are screaming at English teachers, then you can quickly grab 30.000 a month for 20 hours. Or take the step to start something for yourself, but beware! Be very careful about what you are going to do, where and with whom. Before you know it you've lost everything, you're underground or you're stuck.
Looks like the best option is just to hibernate there for 3 or 4 months on a low budget and spend the rest in NL. Thailand is nice, but a lot of things drive me crazy. You are and will remain a foreigner who, on balance, has (almost) no rights. A Thai tolerance that borders on indifference. (or maybe it is). An organization of o comma o. And all the uncertainties that come with it. Better take the best of both countries and let them keep the rest.
There are a number of things wrong, because why do workers have to work until they are 67, and civil servants sometimes only work until their 52 or 55th year, while they have not contributed enough. I know several civil servants who did not function, and they are paid in full until they are 65, while they do nothing for it. In the business world they get unemployment benefits and then social assistance. Moreover, it is unjust that if someone dies just before the age of 65, his girlfriend or companion does not receive any payment. He has paid for this all his life and the empire says; Thank you for this early passing. I think that these life partners are at least partly entitled to this, or the surviving relatives. This has not been properly arranged by our government.
Dear Forum,
in 2 years my wife and I are planning to move permanently to Phuket.
Our question concerns the rental price of a bungalow/villa.
What is a reasonable rental price?
Are there any tips for negotiating and haggling over the asking price and length
of a contract? 1 year or 5 years?
Thank you very much for the effort,
René
What you forget in your story as an advantage is the following.
If you spend the winter here, you do not use water, electricity and gas.
This is the price of a flight
And don't forget I only wear shorts here