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Thai Retirement Visas: Is the 800,000 Baht Method Bad?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Retirement Visas. Specifically we are discussing the methodology of using 800,000 Baht maintained on balance in a Thai Bank account as financial evidence for not only obtaining a Thai Retirement Visa but maintaining one through use of a Bank Account here in Thailand using ongoing Visa extensions and the question posed is: "Is this a bad method?" 

I have seen some YouTube videos out there by folks who, on a professional level I am kind of ambivalent about folks, the ones that basically say look the videos that say this was my experience, those I think are fine. In fact I think they are very informative. I watch them myself to gain some insight especially in how they do things in certain local offices here in Thailand. Oftentimes though I will see things put out by lay people and folks that really don't have a really detailed grasp on Thai Immigration and they will post things on YouTube discussing things in definitive terms that in my opinion you shouldn't be discussing things definitively like that because again as we have noted and I may sound like a broken record, all cases are different. But a theme that I have kind of seen here recently and I totally understand it, given the fact that the Thai baht, the currency has weakened a little bit up against other currencies such as the US Dollar, and folks are a little bit apprehensive about holding 800,000 Baht on balance in a Thai Bank Account. Understanding that and I do really get it, I want to be clear, I am not belittling that position, it is a major issue. Retirees, things like exchange rates and inflation have a substantial impact especially on people with fixed incomes or who have fixed assets that they are using as the basis for their retirement. 

The notion that the 800,000 Baht method in and of itself is somehow worse than using income again it is going to be very case specific. There are going to be people that "yeah it probably is not the most optimal way to maintain their retiree status". For others there is going to be a situation where it probably is; every case is different. So do I think it is necessarily bad? No and I think that is the wrong word. I just think it is going to depend heavily on the financial situation of the retiree who is seeking a Retirement Visa here in the Kingdom of Thailand.