𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮?

𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸!

A lot of foreigners are planning on retire in Asia, and especially Thailand, and a lot of people has already done it. After a long life of work and good income, many countries give the benefit of a pension and for people especially from Europe and the US, that pension is worth a lot more life-quality in foreign countries such as Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand than their home-countries.

The most popular country for foreigners to retire has so far been Thailand, and the first thing you have to ask yourself is; Why is that?!

𝘈𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥?

Well… you know that many has already retired there, but do you know if they are all happily living there, or does many of them actually struggle? The answer is in fact that a LOT of them actually struggle. And those are the stories you never hear about. Usually, people likes to talk about how happy they are and how good life they have. Very few talks about the faults they made, the wrong decisions they took and the wrong advise they listened to. Especially in public forums and social media.  

But, why are they struggling? And why didn`t they get the life that they planned? What went wrong?

There are a lot of things that can go really wrong when moving to a foreign country, but there is a way of avoiding all these challenges and struggles, if you follow some ground rules.

𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 10 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆:

1. Firstly, you need to learn about the country to see if the culture is really 𝐟𝐨𝐫 you or against you. You can bring your own culture with you of course, but you can only practise a small piece of it. The rest doesn`t fit in, and needs to be left at home. Are you willing to sacrifice that?
3. You need to look at the costs of living. What are you craving? What are you used to? What do you want for yourself? Is that possible to get there?
4. Once you get older, who is going to take care of you? When you live abroad, nothing comes for free, even if it might be affordable, it all costs money. Are you prepared to pay for those services? Some are planning to find a wife or husband and marry a local. Will that person be able to take care of you? Or would his/her family do it?
5. Climate – Thailand and most of South East Asia is very hot. Do you think the heat can be nurturing for you, or will it in time only be a pain in the a..? Are you the type that needs to have it cool not only when you sleep, but also most of your awaken time?
6. How is the locals going to welcome you? Where are you going to live? What community are you planning on belonging to? Do you think the locals welcome you with open arms, just because you are you, or what is needed to fit in?
7. What are you going to spend your time on doing? Are you going to open a business, or just get a hobby?
8. Are you a habitual drinker, or addicted to drugs? Are you in need of medications, or maybe you will be? Is there an insurance that will cover that for you?
9. What is the main reason for you to leave your home-country? Do you run from problems? Personal, professional, money problems, drinking or drug problems? Or are you just tired of the country for other reasons? Or maybe someone just told you that Thailand or Asia is so much better?
10. What do you expect to find that will make your life better than in your home country?
11. Do you know the rules from your home country about moving to a foreign country? How to get your pension with you? How to deal with ownership of property there, taxes, insurances and so on. How to get access to your belongings?

Thailand and some of the surrounding countries can be the best place on earth to live, but it can also literally kill you! If you make the wrong turns along the way, you can end up on the total opposite side of happiness. But, if you follow some simple rules and advice, it can bring you the best life you can dream of.

Myself, I did not move to Thailand to retire, I moved for a career opportunity when I was only 34, and that is 20 years ago. I learned it all the really hard way, and I went through struggles and challenges that no one actually would believe. Most people tell me that they would have given up a long time ago, but I am the person who never gives up, so I stayed.  From being pushed around in bureaucracy, to finding out how much some people stretch themselves just to get a hold of people’s money, without actually delivering what they promise. But it was not until I started my service centre in 2009, helping foreigners with their struggles, I found out what really can happen if you don’t keep your head on straight. Most of them was expats, living in Thailand, but also tourists that managed to get themselves into all kinds of trouble. We took care of it all! 

I got an experience that most people hasn`t. In our service centre and tour company, we were specialising in helping foreigners with their all kinds of problems, challenges, pit-falls and accidents. We managed to steer them away from it all when they contacted us before it became a serious incident, but in most cases the damage was already done and we needed to clean it up, helping them out of a mess that no-one else could.

Embassies and governments from your home country cannot assist you, remember that! They are only there to let you be able to contact someone that can help you, nothing else. And if you are so unlucky to be prisoned or deported, they will make sure that you get a trial or get home. That`s ALL!

We operated our service centre, that was also a tour company for 9 successful years. But these things are really tiring and can easily war you out, so when I got a great offer to rest my head, working in a real estate company with a normal 8 to 4 job, I couldn`t refuse.  But that only lasted until covid came as both companies became history.

Now, I am back serving foreigners with my expertise and assisting them to deal with their challenges both for those who are already here, but also for many that needs some knowledge and assistance on moving here.

I love to help others, and I think the best gift I could ever ask for is seeing other people be happy. Especially if I have done something to get them there.  

𝐃𝐎𝐍`𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐎𝐔𝐓, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊:

Book an online one-on-one meeting with me here: https://youareoneofus.kartra.com/calendar/booking20min