Making the most of your money in retirement | Retire to Thailand | Low cost of living equals higher standard of living

Whenever you look at places around the world to retire overseas to where you can make the most of your money, it’s not long before you come across Thailand as one of the favourite destinations for retiring abroad. Nowadays Thailand has great infrastructure and healthcare, friendly people, delicious food, and some great shopping, especially in Bangkok, and economically the country is going from strength to strength and living standards, healthcare and infrastructure are all improving with time. But in recent years with the weakening of some foreign currencies such as the British pound and the Euro and increasing costs of living have made retiring overseas more expensive for pensioners, so there’s an increasing need to find somewhere to live where you can make the most of your pension.

Pensioners need to consider exchange rates, and there’s no doubt they are a factor to consider when retiring abroad and living off such income, and although it’s possible, it’s unlikely that exchange rates for the British pound, Euro and US dollar will fall very much further against the Thai baht, and it’s arguably more likely that as these western economies begin to recover from their economic misfortunes, so their currencies will slowly start to return towards their former strength, and therefore the exchange rate against the Thai baht will strengthen, making Thailand even more affordable in the future. To a minor degree this has already started to happen in recent months, as the US dollar and British pound have strengthened slightly against the Thai baht, reflecting the green shoots of recovery and the anticipation of future interest rate rises in these countries once the economic situation is strong enough to tolerate them. But for the moment due to problems in Europe the Euro is still suffering somewhat in respect of it’s former value.

Yet which ever way you look at it, Thailand really does have the best of both worlds those looking to retire abroad : high standards and good infrastructure, but with a low cost of living.

Foreigners can retire here in Thailand and live a very comfortable life with a high standard of living and western standards of shopping and comfort on a fraction of what it would cost in their home country for the same standard of living. House and condo apartments in Thailand are still far cheaper than in western countries, or indeed many other popular retirement locations overseas, and a major factor in the decision of why to choose Thailand as your retirement destination of choice. Affordable housing makes it possible to leave sufficient spare funds to be able to afford a new car or boat, or to enjoy taking more holidays to travel to other exotic destinations around the world and thereby have some new and exciting adventures during your retirement.

But in Thailand you needn’t travel to other exotic destinations around the world if you don’t wish to or don’t have sufficient funds to do so, since Thailand itself as well as neighboring countries have plenty of wonderful and exotic locations to explore, and lots of new adventurous things to do too. With mountains and rivers, waterfalls and jungles, castaway islands with beautiful white sand beaches, coral reefs with fabulous scuba diving, national parks with nature walks and wildlife, thousands of wonderful temples to marvel at, there’s no shortage of things to see and do, and every month of the year there’s festivals around Thailand to enjoy too.

With labour still being very cheap compared to western countries private healthcare is much more affordable here in Thailand too, and some expats employ a maid for convenience and/or nurse to assist them in their retirement years if they are disabled or finding it more difficult in their later years to get around and do the things they used to. Even on a moderate income it’s possible to afford the luxury of a maid to do the cleaning, cooking and washing, and several properties here in Thailand have their own maids quarters for this purpose so that the maid and/or nurse can live on site, but not within the main house so that you can retain your privacy if you wish.

So once you have decided that Thailand is the place for you to spend your retirement years, you then have to decide whereabouts in Thailand you wish to live. For those who don’t care about being close to the ocean for all the benefits that living near the sea provides, then Chiang Mai or indeed somewhere within easy reach of any of the big cities are affordable. But if your desire is to live near the ocean, but not suffer from the constraints of living on an island, then Thailand’s Golden Coast, the Rayong coastline between Rayong and Klaeng, is your best bet, with the prime location being the Mae Phim area due to the quality of the beach and expat community in the area. As an up and coming coastal area within Thailand this area has yet to boom, but is becoming a true real estate hotspot as the pace of foreigners flocking to this beautiful coastal area increases year on year. Thus, property here is cheaper than other destinations, for the moment, but will most likely catch up to the prices elsewhere in the future, making this the number one coastal area of Thailand for a real estate investment.

2 bedroom properties start from a price as low as only 1.5 million Thai baht,

which is about 30,000GBP | 45,000USD | 40,000EUR | 350,000SEK | 290,000NOK

But take a look at our Sales and Rentals page for a summary of the properties listed on our website, and click any of the properties for full information.

For more advice and information about Thailand’s Golden Coast from Rayong to Klaeng, and the choice of properties in the area to meet your requirements, please contact us.