# The Baht vs the US dollar



## synthia

For people who have retired in Thailand on a fixed income from the US, things are getting a lot more expensive. The baht was at 37+ to the dollar in October, and now its is at 31+. That's a huge change, and doesn't take into account inflation.


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## chicowoodduck

*COLA (cost of living allowance)*

Those of us on a fixed income are so way down on the economic food chain that the best we can hope for is that our retirement provider increase our cost of living payments. I'm thinking "fat chance," but one never knows.


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## synthia

My social security will increase, but at the rate of inflation in the US. So if inflation in the US is 3%, and I live in a country with 10% inflation, and the dollar loses against the currency at 10%, I'm behind 17% per year in purchasing power. So even if I had twice as much as I needed when I retired, I won't have enough in five years.


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## annamartha

I just checked and according to xe.com, the baht is now just below 30 to the dollar.


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## chicowoodduck

*Falling Baht*

The only positive spin I can put on the fact that the baht is falling below 30 is that what goes down will go back up. The trick is to not to worry about the day to day swings...doing that is sort of like stepping on the bathroom scale all the time during weight loss attempts.


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## synthia

There is no guarantee that what goes down will come back up. Long, long ago the British pound was worth $5 US. It has never gone back to that. The Nikkei was once at 33,000. It's barely over 18,000 today. It went down as low as 13,000, and when I was in Japan in 1992-1993, it climbed to 17,000. Imagine if the Dow Jones Industrial Average hadn't moved in fifteen years.


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## chicowoodduck

*The Baht Blues*

Point well taken Synthia. I just remember living in Australia in the early 70's and shipping a ton of money home as the Aussie dollar was worth a $1.50 back home in the US. Of course by the time I left the Land of Oz in the early 80's, the Aussie buck-er-roo was worth 75 cents!  Talk about doing a flip flop. At the moment I think the exchange rate is $1 USD = $1.20 AUSD. In a couple of words, I guess one could say that the "US buck sucks."


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## synthia

I knew someone who speculated in the forex market a long time ago by purchasing travelers checks. He'd buy T/C in a currency he thought was going to rise, then cash them in later. There was a 1% fee, but he bought and turned them in at American Express offices, to avoid the extra commission banks usually charge. I'm wishing I had bought the GBP a few years ago.


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## annamartha

One of the things I am concerned about is that the money I have for travel and job-hunting won't hold up if the dollar continues to fall.


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## chicowoodduck

*Falling Dollar :-(*

Besides Bill Gates, I'm sure your concerns are felt by all of us trying to budget for health care, travel, retirement, etc. For myself, I just continue to work on my "Wants and "Needs" list on a monthly basis and continue to scratch things off my list that would not cause me to alter my lifestyle in some dramatic fashion (ie, computer gadgets, new vehicles, new clothes, etc.). I just wonder how far out it is until I reach the tipping point? The COLA for my retirement isn't going to keep my head above the murky waters forever. :-(


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## synthia

Inflation is another issue. For one thing, COLA is based on the country where you are being paid the money, so if you are collecting social security in the US and live in a place with higher inflation, you get hit with that, as well. That's why Thailand is fast moving out of my affordable range.


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## annamartha

I noticed today that with the stock market bloodbath, exchange rates seem to have improved across the board, and the baht is over 31 to the dollar.


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## chicowoodduck

Just returned from my latest retirement scouting trip to the Pattaya City area and was pleased to see the baht hovering around the 34+ range. I did not notice any change in the COL from my February trip. I'm making the retirement plunge the first week of January, so hopefully the trend will continue or at least stay flat.


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## synthia

The baht is weird in that what you can get for cash and travelers checks is considerably higher than what your bank will use if you take money out of an ATM. So those rates you see are only available if you brought money with you. But it is back up over 32!


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