For the guys who don't know me I am 54 years old and I work in a car factory. I've worked in the car factory since the 17th October 1977 so I have been there for nearly 36 years. Anyway this week I was taken by surprise. On Thursday afternoon I had to go and see the director of personnel and HR. When I went to see her she pointed out that I will be 55 at the end of August and she asked me if I would be interested in retiring. She said that she would be happy to let me go and offered me 9 months pay plus my pension. Also for a long time now at the car factory I have been paying into the Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC's) and when I take retirement I would take a big amount of cash amount from the AVC. I've been told to spend a few days thinking about taking the offer or not. I'm going to say YES and leave.
In recent years I have always said that when I retire from work I would love to retire to Pattaya
I now have to make a BIG decision. Should I go and live in Thailand or split my time between England and Thailand.
There are reasons as to why I am unsure what to do
(1) My pension will be about £1000 a month but because the exchange rate has gone down a lot I will only get about 43000/44,000 baht for the £1000. The worry for me is that I would be tempted to spend some of the lump sump I would get from work when I finish. The lump sum is 9 month pay plus all my money from the AVC which will be a nice amount and all tax free
(2) My house in England is worth about £100,000 and if I sold it so that I can buy something in Pattaya I feel as if I would lose out in a big way because of the exchange rate. It didnt seem all that long ago we could get about 70 bahts to the english pound. So todays exchange rate looks pretty sick
(3) I had a hear attack in September 2005 so tablets and insurance could take a big chunk out of my money
(4)I have a gf in Thailand and I might want her to move in with me and I would have to support her
(5) And lastly I'm an only child and my parents are still alive. My dad is 79 and my mother is 75 next month. So should I go and live in Thailand whilst my parents are still alive.
I have a lot of thinking to do. I will take my time thinking about what to do. And before I reach 55 I will be taking a 3 week holiday in Pattaya and will talk to my gf about what to do. I know she would like me to move to Thailand but while the exchange rate is not very good can I afford to live in Thailand. And very importantly should I live 6000 miles away from my parents