Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the question of well basically the plight if you will, of retiree expats here in Thailand. I'm still under my own self-imposed moratorium right now regarding talking about tax; I'm just not doing it at the moment, in fact it’s probably for my own sanity that I not discuss it. That being said, it's out there. Believe me, you are going to hear from me again. 

That said, the point of this is not to talk about tax per se, it's to talk about the overall circumstances here in Thailand. And due to the actions of some and just the general nature of humanity, there is a lot of consternation in the retiree space right now over whether or not it's worth it to retire in Thailand, whether or not it’s worth it to stay here, what's going on with everything. And unfortunately, there are those who seem to want to profit off of this consternation but at the same time, there are those - and tip of the hat down there to old Barry Kenyon at the Pattaya Mail - who seem to just are trying to help and for my part, I've been trying to help, but it is what it is. 

In any event, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thai lawyer downplays expat visa awards versus personal taxation worries. Quoting directly: "Thai international law attorney Victor Wong doubts that the major concern of either Thai Immigration or the Revenue Department is the plight of retiree expats on fixed incomes." And yeah, yes, I don't think it has ever been, especially Immigration's concern, what is going on in a retirees’ finances other than seeing whatever the requisite number is depending on what type, so are you using finances, are you using 800,000, are you using income, are you using some kind of mix? I've gotten into a big shake up over the years with you people in the comments over the mix thing. I don't understand why you, yes mixing is theoretically possible, but as have I said constantly, you never want to put yourself into the discretion of immigration because if you do, the most likely answer is no. That has always been our experience. That said, setting all of that financial stuff aside, it has not been Thai Immigration's obsession by any stretch of the imagination, to nitpick all of these expats to try to figure out if they owe tax or not. Meanwhile, I would say really frankly the Revenue Department isn't even all that up in arms over it; again, not talking about this stuff specifically. 

The point I'm trying to make is the plight of retiree expats, is it worth it to move here? My opinion yes. I urge you to read the article I cited because as he gets into and I will get into later on down the road, look, at the end of the day the final analysis of this stuff hasn't changed okay, really. There are certain folks that may fall into issues regarding recent policies and things, but for the most part, retirees here, especially Americans, generally speaking it's as good as it has ever been and I expect it will continue to be so.

So regarding the plight of retirees, yeah we are going through a bit of a moment here I have referred to this year as sort of the DMZ year on all these issues. But that being said, I think we are going to see them resolved in fairly short order and while yeah, down the road there may be issues related to documentation on finances, I think that's way down the road, if at all. And my personal opinion is at least for the forthcoming year, I don't think there is going to be any major negative change to retirement here in the Kingdom of Thailand.