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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing retirement in Thailand. Specifically though we are discussing retirement facilities. Now this is an issue that sort of our younger retirees don't generally tend to worry about but I have noticed over time, it becomes more and more of a concern obviously as people get older as I myself am getting older, I can certainly understand how things can kind of change. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the telegraph that's telegraph.co.uk, the article is titled: Meet the elderly Britons swapping the NHS for luxury care homes in Thailand. Quoting directly: "Peter Mallard, a 75-year old retired hospital manager, and his wife, Rita, 81, are among the growing British contingent here Care Resort Chiang Mai. It's in oasis of calm: quaint bungalows, lakeside walks, stunning mountain views - and plenty of sunshine." Quoting further: "Since moving over from Eastbourne in February, the Mallards haven't looked back. Quote: "People have the feeling, certainly as you get older, that you're going to be stuck in a room in a lounge playing bingo once a week ... whereas you just can't compare [to Thailand]," says Peter. Quoting further: “Care Resort Chiang Mai, a retirement facility that offers 24-hour nursing care, including physiotherapy and dementia support, has seen the number of residents climb from 22 at the end of 2020 to 59 today. Over half are now from the UK." Quoting further: "It's a similar story across Thailand, with more and more elderly Britons arriving to enjoy their retirement years and benefit from the country's flourishing social care sector. The number of British residents at Sunshine International, a nationwide chain of retirement resorts, has jumped from zero prior to the pandemic to 27 today, according to co-owner and founder Andrew Stocks." So interesting here. We're seeing kind of a demographic shift in terms of the age of certain retirees and those retirees are needing facilities more and more to cater to their specific physical issues or mental issues, as they brought up with the dementia facilities.

So I think this is really good news for Thailand insofar as I think it will be a major benefit to not just retirees here in Thailand, foreign retirees but it also I am betting or I would speculate may become a major sector in and of its own right here in Thailand insofar as we will probably see more of these facilities popping up over time. And at the end of the day it may become a major draw for retirees. 

Again the medical facilities here in Thailand are top notch and they are very reasonably priced. I mean it's really kind of staggering sometimes how I will just do cash payments to go see a doctor and get some medicine for something and I just can't even believe that they provide that level of care for that level of money, especially coming from the United States where it seems like, especially if you have insurance, everything just costs exorbitant amounts of money in a medical care sort of context. Now again I.am not going to get into a big deep dive into the American Medical situation or the American Medical system but here in Thailand it is great. I'm here to tell you, as they say, like “luxury resort” is not too far off. These aren't "retirement homes” they're basically four star hotels that happened to have medical staff on hand to assist folks. So I think this is a real benefit.

For those retirees, even the younger ones, who might be slightly worried about well ‘long-term how am I going to be able to, what happens if I have some physical ailments’, Thailand is still probably going to be one of the great places to be for that, because again the medical care and the infrastructure is top-notch and it's very reasonably priced.