Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking the question: Are Retirees in Thailand “past their prime”?  And I thought I will get to the article that made me think of this video but what we are talking about here is it seems to be a kind of cynicism growing up in the retiree community and I think it is unfounded, to be clear. I don't think Thailand is looking to get rid of retirees. Yes, they have made some substantial changes to certain aspects of the Retirement Immigration scheme here in Thailand but that is not to say that they are fundamentally averse to retirees here and in fact I think quite the opposite is true. The other thing to keep in mind when we are talking about some of the major changes to the O-A Visa Retirement Visa, the O Retirement Visa remains as it was. It hasn't changed. 

The reason for this video or the reason I thought of making this video came from reading in a recent article in the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Pattaya can longer rely on Elderly Retiree Expats. (I can't figure out if this was meant to be "Pattaya can no longer rely" or if it is "Pattaya can longer rely" like kind of a play on words). In any event, we will put it up on screen so you can see it for yourself. Quoting directly, this was the excerpt I found was pertinent to making this video: "The compulsory Insurance net is slowly closing - how be it with multiple loopholes for now - whilst the assumption that third parties and Visa agents will be able for all time to arrange extensions of stay for those unable to fund themselves is speculative at best." I think that is solid analysis on the funding side of things. That said, there may be options that creep up in the future with respect to using property possibly as a mode of evidence for financial threshold down the line. Who knows, things could actually go more positive. In fact I am of the mind that in the aftermath of all the substantial downturn we saw during all the lockdowns and now we are sort of coming out of it, I am kind of hoping that if anything Immigration Authorities are more amenable to retirees moving forward, but that remains to be seen. Quoting further: "Whatever Thailand's future in international Immigration, the traditional retiree is past his prime, Pattaya is no exception." I don't know if I agree with that. I think if anything, retirees have proven to be a bread and butter demographic for Thailand in terms of money brought in; money maintained in the country; money spent in the country. Now perhaps that wasn't as appreciated as it otherwise could have been in the past few years, but moving forward I think it seems logical to infer that as policymakers see that we need investment in Thailand, we need foreign funds in Thailand, we need to stimulate the economy, I am hoping we will see actually that a retiree in Thailand is far from past his prime.