Surging baht shatters expat dreams of easy retirement
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/17 ... retirement
Brian Maxey moved to Thailand from the United Kingdom expecting his sterling pension to afford him an easy retirement. Instead, he’s finding it harder to meet his visa’s financial stipulations because of the strong baht.
The former aircraft technician easily bought a townhouse, pickup truck and motorcycle when he arrived at the age of 55 two decades ago. Back then the pound bought about 60 baht, but now it fetches a little less than 38 baht.
“It was a cheap place to live then,” Maxey said in an interview in the coastal city of Pattaya, which is popular with European retirees. “It’s not anymore.”
The pressure on foreign pensioners is just one example of how the baht’s sharp appreciation is rippling through Thailand. The currency is the world’s top-performer against the dollar over five years, hurting export competitiveness and putting the economy on course for the weakest growth since 2014.
The government issued almost 80,000 retirement visas last year, a climb of 30% from 2014. To qualify, foreigners must show a deposit of 800,000 baht in a Thai bank or have a monthly income of 65,000 baht. Another route is to have income and deposits totaling 800,000 baht combined.
Britons accounted for the largest number of retirement visas in 2018, Immigration Bureau data shows. They were followed by Americans, Germans, Chinese and Swiss pensioners seeking affordable, sun-dappled golden years.
Once best known for crashing and sparking the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the baht is today seen as a haven by global investors. A trade surplus and annual foreign tourism receipts exceeding $60 billion underpin its resilience.
The currency has appreciated more than 6% against the dollar so far in 2019, the best performer in a basket of Asian economies tracked by Bloomberg.
It’s likely to stay resilient, said Masakatsu Fukaya, an emerging-market currency trader at Mizuho Bank in Tokyo. There could be more upward pressure if firms relocate production to Thailand to skirt US tariffs on China-made products, according to Fukaya.
Some pensioners are already voting with their feet, according to Niels Colov, who moved from Denmark about 40 years ago and helps to organise a club for expats in Pattaya.
“There’s an exodus of foreigners from this area to Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines,” he said. “We’re talking thousands of people.”
Some of those remaining may have to cut back spending, said Christian Foerster, an Austrian who retired to Thailand 20 years ago.
“There’s an enormous change,” he said. “Everything is more expensive. But it’s about adjusting, adapting and living modestly.”
At the same time, the cost of living in Thailand remains lower than in developed nations such as the United States or in Europe, and officials continue to promote it as a retirement destination.
Baht strength leaves Pattaya retiree Maxey’s £1,000 pension far short of the minimum monthly requirement. As a result, he maintains the equivalent of a £22,000 deposit to satisfy the bank savings rule when renewing his visa.
“That’s a lot of money to hold in a bank account that you can’t touch,” Maxey said, while adding he wants to stay on in Thailand despite the difficulties as he’s settled in the country.
Surging baht shatters expat dreams of easy retirement
Surging baht shatters expat dreams of easy retirement
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Re: Surging baht shatters expat dreams of easy retirement
Would that be the same Neil Colov that is referenced in the article below?Some pensioners are already voting with their feet, according to Niels Colov, who moved from Denmark about 40 years ago and helps to organise a club for expats in Pattaya.
“There’s an exodus of foreigners from this area to Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines,” he said. “We’re talking thousands of people.”
Some of those remaining may have to cut back spending, said Christian Foerster, an Austrian who retired to Thailand 20 years ago.
“There’s an enormous change,” he said. “Everything is more expensive. But it’s about adjusting, adapting and living modestly.”
https://www.andrew-drummond.com/2018/02 ... inst-time/NIELS COLOV’S RACE AGAINST TIME
February 21, 2018 Andrew 5428 Views Drew Noyes, Drew Walter Noyes, Niels Colov, Niels Martens Storm Colov, Pattaya People, pattaya times, Thailand scammers, The Paradise Residence Koh Kut Co. Ltd. 10 min read
REIGN OF PATTAYA’S CHIEF ‘FOREIGN COP’ AND ‘MEDIA TYCOON’ DRAWS TO AN END
With his media empire collapsing about him Niels Colov, the former Copenhagen pimp, who rose to the giddy heights of a newspaper tycoon and chief of the local police foreign volunteersin Pattaya, is making one last desperate bid for survival.
With the Pattaya People Media Group unable to pay its printing bill for its newspaper and broadcast fees for its TV programmes on Sophon Cable and now running debts totaling over 13 million-baht (US$412,620.00), Papal blessed Colov is now hoping to save himself by launching a new property scam on the island of Koh Kut (aka Koh Kood).
It’s a race against time.
If it works, he believes he’ll get a lot more than the half a million or so dollars he needs, and he’s been touting the project around the healthy and wealthy.
Colov has set up a company, he says, called The Paradise Residence Koh Kut Co. Ltd. to buy beachside property on Koh Kut, to buy land and build a resort, and he predicts the revenue from sales to be US$8.3 million by selling the units on 30-year-lease to naive* foreigners. (*my comment)
The costs of purchase of the land, and construction to completion, he estimates at US$5 million and all investors need to put up is US$3 million. And for that they get 45-50% of the company – and presumably that $8.3 million. But let’s not presume too much here.
What is Colov bringing to the table?
“On our side we have a substantial amount of already purchased construction materials that will be our investment along with a deep know how of the island, Thai law, and Thai procedures. I have lived in Thailand for 35 years and have excellent connections and relations with high ranking Thai people, and I believe that will be of importance to the success of this project.”
Does anyone see any snag to this deal? Or is Niels simply saying, please build me a resort for my retirement, and you can have the smaller share!
He is bringing nothing to the table. Unfortunately, his contacts with high ranking Thai people have now all but been demolished.
While he once had comfortable relationships with the various Chiefs of Police and the long-term Mayor Ittiphol Khunpleum, there are new boys on the block and a new government in power.
And while the new officials may be equally or even more greedy, they have not included this Danish chancer in their plans.
Colov, recently married a massage lady and his venture into the massage business with ‘Darling Massage’ in Pattaya resulted in a police raid, Bt500,000 in fines, and a closure order, which may indicate his relationship with local police.
He also went into the construction business, borrowing cash from the Siam Commercial Bank, on the property occupied by the Pattaya People Media Group, to set up a construction company which went bust.
If the construction materials, which Colov says he has, are those left over from his collapsed construction business he’ll probably need to explain how on earth he is going to get them to Koh Kut (Kood).
The cat is out of the bag on Thailand’s ’30-year-leases’, which property sharks have been selling with promised automatic extensions of lease up to 90 years built into the asking price. Those promises are without any legal foundation.
Nobody in their right mind, or who has conducted the right research, would buy. Too many people have been swindled in these deals on Koh Samui and other Thai paradise islands.
If Colov has local officials involved they will be on ‘his side’ not that of his investor(s).
The beauty of the deal is that as we know Thai police, do not, as a rule, pursue cases of foreigners defrauding other foreigners. If or when this deal goes wrong and the foreigner wants his money back then he will have to join the queue. But, in any case by the time the litigation has finished Colov will have along ago attempted to brandish his papal blessing at the pearly gates.