Good Reasons (business coaching) to Retire in Thailand
No commentsBy Raul Levine
Retiring in Thailand has been my dream for many, many years. My dream will come true in about 2 years and I am making some serious plans now. I can be anal when planning and there are numerous considerations when planning for the final chapter in your life. I intend to plan everything down to the nitty-gritty details.
Let me preface this by saying that I have been going to Thailand for the past 35 years. I have served there as a soldier and visited numerous times on vacation. I love the people, food, customs and culture and plan to live out my life there.
I have been doing my homework checking out my financial status and how much I will be getting when I hit retirement age. My situation is unusual in that I will get a small pension from my current government job, additional fund from a military retirement in about 4 1/2 years, and even more from social security in about 6 years. I also have a 401K and a government equivalent (Thrift Savings Plan) and will also profit from selling my house when I retire.
So, money is no problem. I plan to buy a house in Thailand. Well, actually, lease a house since foreigners cannot legally own land. I don’t want to put the property in my girl’s name because she could potentially sell it and I would have no recourse. There is also a small loophole allowing foreigners to incorporate themselves and lease the property back. I don’t trust this one and worry about laws changing and having my property taken out from under me. I will go with the lease or something called a usufruct.
The usufruct I don’t entirely understand but I will be meeting with an English speaking lawyer during my trip in March, 2008 and will get all the details. All I know is that it is similar to the lease but has some benefits. I have gotten some email answers but prefer the face to face explanations.
I have had my girl looking for properties so that during my next 3week vacation I will only have to spend a short amount of time looking. So far, I have seen some pictures of nice properties for about $50,000 USD. This is for a 3-bedroom, 2 bath, 2-story place. Will be nice to see them in person and then make my “purchase”.
The monthly pension/retirement checks will easily take care of my day-to-day needs. Food and drink are cheap as are the utilities for the house. I will be able to have air conditioning and a satellite dish to receive English speaking programs along with the Thai TV shows.
Shopping is dirt cheap so clothes and other daily items will not be a burden. Going out will be very pleasant as a night on the town with dinner, drinks and going out to a club will be less than fifty dollars - and that is living large.
Medical plans are available and care is comparable to US or European standards - maybe even higher. Prescription drugs can be had over the counter and medical treatment is second to none.
Staying in Thailand legally has gotten easier with the loosening of visa requirements. Foreigners can now get one year visas that are easily renewable. All you have to do is check in every 3 months. Thailand likes expats’ money even though we can’t own land.
Retiring in Thailand will make my life much easier than retiring in Hawaii - even if my condo is paid for. The cost of living, the attitude of the Thai people, and the food and culture has me counting the days until April 4th, 2010.
Visit the Interesting Animals website to learn about ferret care, ferret treats, ferret facts, fish food, fish pellets , fish facts and other information.
The ABCs of Bankruptcy
By Raul Levine
Bankruptcy is a choice many consider when faced with unmanageable multiple debts. But finance experts agree that declaring oneself bankrupt should be an indebted individual’s last resort to meet his dues. It may free a person’s mind from the pressure of paying his debts but it can also seriously damage the person’s morale and credit history for a long time. Aside from this, people who declared themselves bankrupt are often met with hostility by the people around them. But as an option to reduce financial burden, bankruptcy is still worth considering.
By filing for and declaring oneself bankrupt, a debtor’s relationship with his creditors is adjusted. Many of his debts are forgiven and he is also allowed to keep some properties labeled as exempt items. However, all of his valuable properties are sold off and the proceeds are distributed among his creditors. As a result, some of his debts can be paid in full or just partly. If most of his valuable properties (i.e. house, car) are named as collateral for any debt such as mortgage or a car loan, the proceeds from the selling of these items are used to pay these specific debts. Only the balance or excess is used to pay off the other debts. In a sense, bankruptcy fulfills two ojectives: it frees the debtor from paying his debts and ensures that all assets are distributed among the his creditors.
Bankruptcy happens in two ways: voluntary or involuntary. Declaring oneself bankrupt is categorized as voluntary whereas being forced into declaring bankruptcy by creditors is involuntary. Lawyers who specialize in finance cases advise debtors to cooperate in cases of involuntary declarations. There are also different types of being bankrupt. One is filing for a straight bankruptcy wherein all your properties are sold to pay off debts and the other is arranging for a repayment plan to avert foreclosure or repossession of properties. People whose debts are incurred by temporary setbacks (sickness, divorce) are usually considered for the partial type.
Although being bankrupt does lighten one’s financial burden, it also has drawbacks. First, the debtor loses all control over his properties and assets. Any business the debtor owns is closed and all its employees are dismissed. Second, his credit accounts are closed such as loans, credit cards, and bank accounts. Also, bankruptcy remains in a person’s credit history for 10 years which can seriously damage his credit reputation. Third, his bankrupt state is made public by advertisements in local papers. In addition, the bankrupt individual must inform every person he deals with about his bankrupt state unless after he is discharged. As a result, the bankrupt often faces hostility, or prejudices in terms of business or professional opportunities.
Finance experts generally recommend assessing financial situations before filing for bankruptcy. It is often the case that debtors declare bankruptcy without first exploring other options to settle their debts. However, if it is unavoidable, they advise debtors to seek professional help such as financial advisors or finance lawyers to help them understand the process and its effects. Debtors need to pay court application fees, but if they cannot afford it, there are non-profit legal aid organizations that are willing to help.
Learn about spiders, woodlouse spider, dangerous spiders, talking parakeets, bourke parakeet , caring for parakeets and other information at the Interesting Animals site.
An Introduction to Futures Trading
By Raul Levine
Many people have the notion that commodity futures trading is very difficult to understand. It may only seem difficult when you are new to futures trading, but once you understand the inner workings and get a hang of it, you will be well on your way to success.
People have a common misconception that commodity exchanges determine or establish the prices at which commodity futures are bought and sold. This is not true. Prices are determined by supply and demand conditions. Just keep in mind that if there are more buyers than sellers, prices will be forced up and vice versa.
Buy and sell orders, which originate from all sources and are channeled into the exchange-trading floor for execution, are actually the ones to determine the prices. These buy and sell orders are translated into actual purchases and sales on the trading floor.
The major function of the futures market is the transfer of risk, and increased liquidity between traders with different risk and time preferences, for instance from a hedger to a speculator. Futures trading is a method used to eliminate or minimize risks that occur when the prices in the market fluctuates.
Futures contracts are exchange-traded derivatives. A futures contract is traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a pre-set price. Futures contracts are basically for assumption or hedging.
There are two groups of futures traders: the hedgers, who are interested in the underlying commodity and are seeking to hedge out the risk of changes in price; and the speculators, who are interested in making a profit by predicting market moves and buying a commodity “on paper” for which they have no practical use. For example, commodities in the market can be bought today at today’s price, with the speculation of selling them at a higher price in the future.
On the other hand, hedging protects against fluctuations in market prices. This protection is made by allowing the risks of price changes to be transferred to professional risk takers. For instance, a manufacturer can protect itself from price increases in raw materials they need by hedging in the futures market.
Hedging has two types, hedge sale and hedge purchase. A person can buy a commodity and sell futures at the same quantity as protection against fluctuation in prices when he is still holding the stock.
You might think that this is gambling, but the fact is that speculation refers to the condition of a legitimate enterprise based on the current condition of the market trends. However, it is very risky for inexperienced futures traders who try to predict the market and speculate without having enough resources or experience.
Since the prices are distributed via telecommunications network and the internet, it makes online futures trading very convenient and simple for an individual. Nowadays many brokers offer their services for trading commodity futures online. Because more risk is involved in online futures trading than stock trading, you must judge for yourself whether or not it is worth the added risk of trading commodity futures online.
Keep in mind that an investment in futures can result in losses. Past performance results does not necessarily indicate future performance results.
To read about cheetah facts, what do cheetahs eat, cheetah food, newt facts, what do newts eat , newt care and other information, visit the Interesting Animals site.
Get A Business Coach To Assist You With Building Your Fortune
Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at 12:15 pm and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
