4 ms·

It wasn't a factor for me, because I am more attracted to European/Caucasian women. And sure enough Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful Thai

by pentae 9y ago

It wasn't a factor for me, because I am more attracted to European/Caucasian women. And sure enough Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful Thai lady, I dare say could possibly be out of my league in the US or Australia. However this was not by design. I came mainly for the tax benefits base and low cost of living of setting up an office in Thailand. There's quite a lot of annoying bureaucracy involved but a good agent can handle that. It's also a great place to self fund a startup as your team can all live quite cheaply giving you double the runway. Anything else I can add has probably already been said.

thinbeige 9y ago
Honest reply, kudos.
charlesdm 9y ago
Women aside (since I'm in the same boat as you), how's the tax situation like? How much are you spending per month on CoL?
- pentae 9y ago
  Well as someone who is NOT a US Citizen (this doesn't work for US citizens) I'm able to base my tax residency in Thailand, which has no CFC Laws and enables me to remotely manage and control my offshore corporations and not pay tax on income abroad unless its remitted to Thailand within 12 months of earning it. In other words, I only pay tax on what I spend on Thailand. As for my local Thai company it exists mainly to issue work permits and pay a small amount of taxes to justify our existence. The profits from our creations are generated in overseas corps. As for CoL costs it totally varies. Some of the local people I hire can live off their salary of $700 a month. A comfortable western lifestyle would be about $3k a month, imo. I spend a lot more due to travel.
  - toomanybeersies 9y ago
    As someone who spends less than $3k a month and lives a comfortable western lifestyle in a first world country, that seems rather high. Now I haven't been to Thailand, but in Vietnam you could live very, very comfortably for half that.
    - stephenr 9y ago
      It depends on your idea of comfortable. Some western foods for example are highly priced compared to local options: imported au/us beef is similar cost to Australia ($20-$30 a serve) but local "steak" is maybe $3 to $4 a serve. It also has the consistency of a finely barbecued shoe. It also depends on the area. A lot of expats want to live in areas surrounded by other expats, so things are priced higher in general. If you go live "in the sticks" ie you will stand out as one of few/only foreigners in the district, things can be cheaper (once people know you're a "local")
      - toomanybeersies 9y ago
        I would qualify spending $20 per serve on steak as bourgeois, rather than comfortable, at least if you're making a habit of it.
    - sirn 9y ago
      You can definitely live a very comfortable life in Thailand at about $1300. This includes swimming pool, gym, to-the-door food delivery, etc. I'm locals, though, so it might be a bit more expensive for expats.
  - closeparen 9y ago
    You could be on the low end of "comfortable western lifestyle" in the Bay Area for $3k/month, renting at $2200 in the East Bay, spending $300 on groceries and $500 on entertainment. Something doesn't seem right.
    - charlesdm 9y ago
      What doesn't seem right is that, if you're in the Bay Area, it probably feels like you're just barely scraping by with $3k. He's running his businesses in a tax efficient way so he's keeping a lot more of his money than when living in CA.
    - pentae 9y ago
      So the equivalent of that in Thailand would be about $1300 a month. My estimate of $3k includes a spacious 2 bedroom western style condo with a pool, gym, a nice motorbike, uber, eating out almost every meal, drinking, vacations to the beaches/islands every few months and entertainment.
  - charlesdm 9y ago
    Also not a US citizen. Interesting -- very nice that there are no CFC laws! That said, I honestly don't understand why not every country has them. Not having CFC laws generally makes it super easy to avoid tax, leading to a massive loss of tax revenue.
    - pentae 9y ago
      Some would argue just because you live somewhere doesn't entitle the government to profits generated in another country that has nothing to do with them. Also in Thailands case they seem to just be happy as long as we are living there and spending money in their economy due to its appetite for tourism.
      - charlesdm 9y ago
        That's a valid argument. But if you're sitting in Thailand controlling an entity (i.e. making payments, etc) on say Jersey, does that argument make sense? It's an artificial arrangement for the most part. (Not that I'm against the practise since it's legally possible in some jurisdictions; just an observation)
djrogers 9y ago
> Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful Thai lady I’m not sure what our think Murphy’s Law says, but it doesn’t result in someone finding a soulmate. In a nutshell, Murphy’s Law states that “anything that can go wrong, will”. It is sometimes decorated with the add-on “and at the worst possible time”.
- pentae 9y ago
  Yeah you're right, I'm quite jet lagged right now and it was a poor choice of phrasing. oops

by pentae 9y ago

thinbeige 9y ago

Honest reply, kudos.

charlesdm 9y ago

Women aside (since I'm in the same boat as you), how's the tax situation like? How much are you spending per month on CoL?

pentae 9y ago
Well as someone who is NOT a US Citizen (this doesn't work for US citizens) I'm able to base my tax residency in Thailand, which has no CFC Laws and enables me to remotely manage and control my offshore corporations and not pay tax on income abroad unless its remitted to Thailand within 12 months of earning it. In other words, I only pay tax on what I spend on Thailand. As for my local Thai company it exists mainly to issue work permits and pay a small amount of taxes to justify our existence. The profits from our creations are generated in overseas corps. As for CoL costs it totally varies. Some of the local people I hire can live off their salary of $700 a month. A comfortable western lifestyle would be about $3k a month, imo. I spend a lot more due to travel.
- toomanybeersies 9y ago
  As someone who spends less than $3k a month and lives a comfortable western lifestyle in a first world country, that seems rather high. Now I haven't been to Thailand, but in Vietnam you could live very, very comfortably for half that.
  - stephenr 9y ago
    It depends on your idea of comfortable. Some western foods for example are highly priced compared to local options: imported au/us beef is similar cost to Australia ($20-$30 a serve) but local "steak" is maybe $3 to $4 a serve. It also has the consistency of a finely barbecued shoe. It also depends on the area. A lot of expats want to live in areas surrounded by other expats, so things are priced higher in general. If you go live "in the sticks" ie you will stand out as one of few/only foreigners in the district, things can be cheaper (once people know you're a "local")
    - toomanybeersies 9y ago
      I would qualify spending $20 per serve on steak as bourgeois, rather than comfortable, at least if you're making a habit of it.
  - sirn 9y ago
    You can definitely live a very comfortable life in Thailand at about $1300. This includes swimming pool, gym, to-the-door food delivery, etc. I'm locals, though, so it might be a bit more expensive for expats.
- closeparen 9y ago
  You could be on the low end of "comfortable western lifestyle" in the Bay Area for $3k/month, renting at $2200 in the East Bay, spending $300 on groceries and $500 on entertainment. Something doesn't seem right.
  - charlesdm 9y ago
    What doesn't seem right is that, if you're in the Bay Area, it probably feels like you're just barely scraping by with $3k. He's running his businesses in a tax efficient way so he's keeping a lot more of his money than when living in CA.
  - pentae 9y ago
    So the equivalent of that in Thailand would be about $1300 a month. My estimate of $3k includes a spacious 2 bedroom western style condo with a pool, gym, a nice motorbike, uber, eating out almost every meal, drinking, vacations to the beaches/islands every few months and entertainment.
- charlesdm 9y ago
  Also not a US citizen. Interesting -- very nice that there are no CFC laws! That said, I honestly don't understand why not every country has them. Not having CFC laws generally makes it super easy to avoid tax, leading to a massive loss of tax revenue.
  - pentae 9y ago
    Some would argue just because you live somewhere doesn't entitle the government to profits generated in another country that has nothing to do with them. Also in Thailands case they seem to just be happy as long as we are living there and spending money in their economy due to its appetite for tourism.
    - charlesdm 9y ago
      That's a valid argument. But if you're sitting in Thailand controlling an entity (i.e. making payments, etc) on say Jersey, does that argument make sense? It's an artificial arrangement for the most part. (Not that I'm against the practise since it's legally possible in some jurisdictions; just an observation)

djrogers 9y ago

> Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful Thai lady I’m not sure what our think Murphy’s Law says, but it doesn’t result in someone finding a soulmate. In a nutshell, Murphy’s Law states that “anything that can go wrong, will”. It is sometimes decorated with the add-on “and at the worst possible time”.

pentae 9y ago
Yeah you're right, I'm quite jet lagged right now and it was a poor choice of phrasing. oops