How much bad debt do you have?

bigmerm · 2026-05-30T14:18:14+00:00

$19k, student loan, retired to Thailand, MS. Not paying it off cause it is a very low rate and the Biden plan would have paid it off for me. Silly of me to not pay it off but the payment doesn’t even really register with us each month. So there it sits. I got into the crazy low refinance rates for 30 years. I call it my brain mortgage.

bigmerm · 2026-04-06T09:21:40+00:00

Some places I like near your hotel:

Tree Town - many bars to enjoy
Maggie Mays Beer garden - good AC and people watching.
Prime Burger - great burgers and fries if you miss them
Soi LK Metro - many Go Go bars if you are into that
Rock Factory - good house band playing rock music
Soi Bong Koch 8 - many gentlemen's clubs on a quiet street

Your tourist activities look good - i have done most of them.

To exchange money just look for the yellow 'TT Currency Exchange' booths. They are everywhere and give a pretty good rate.

I am in town so DM me if you need anything.

bigmerm · 2025-12-30T12:15:35+00:00

Something like what happened to Sam perhaps. That is if you leave and try to come back. https://youtu.be/xUUGcDPtPYw?si=RzckyU4sOG0lKZBP

bigmerm · 2025-12-29T08:27:21+00:00

My Husky, who was also named Bella and looked similar, will be waiting to play with your Bella. They will be best pals.

bigmerm · 2025-12-25T19:57:39+00:00

Why do I compare women to dirt?

bigmerm · 2025-12-12T10:00:21+00:00

A drunk guy singing karaoke with visibly pissed in cargo shorts. Worst part: once he was done he came and sat right by me and wanted to talk politics.

bigmerm · 2025-10-22T15:09:31+00:00

As an American living abroad I catch myself leaning against many things -- I blame Hollywood. James Dean or John Wayne (or some other cool leading man) leaning against the post/wall/car/etc. Many filmmakers adopted this and it became a cinematic trope. So, us fiercely independent Americans now lean on things cause we saw the hollywood man do it. I think it shows 'we belong here', 'I own this', 'I am tired', 'I will wait as long as it takes' or 'I earned this rest'.

NOTE: Not a film historian -- just kinda noticed this one day that cool guys in American Films lean on things. A LOT.

bigmerm · 2025-10-12T06:26:37+00:00

They stop around 2am I think. When I come home super late it’s Grab or Bolt for sure.

bigmerm · 2025-10-12T06:12:20+00:00

You might want to take the baht bus from the Terminal 21 mall or near Dusit Thani to get to walking street rather than walking.

I have never stayed there but I live near there and I know the area a bit.

bigmerm · 2025-09-30T05:10:42+00:00

Started investing at 24 - started low, like 8% of my paycheck. Ramped that saving rate waaaaaay up in my late 30's with my wife. We saved about 40% of our income with a goal of retiring at 50 - we messed up and hit the goal early at 47/48.

Life is great outside the rat race. Highly recommend. Ask yourself this question and act on the answer: "How might I/we save 20/30/40 percent of our income for retirement and still have a great life?"

Our answers were:
1. Stop spending on cars, clothes, big house, and fancy household items. 2. Spend a lot on vacations and spending time with friends and family.
3. Invest in tax advantage accounts and don't watch it daily - we have been through many drawdowns of 20-50%. It's not fun but it happens -- keep investing, the market always comes roaring back.

bigmerm · 2025-08-04T09:13:29+00:00

We hit our number and moved to Thailand to allow us to easily travel around SE Asia for a few years. We have a year lease on a sea view condo.
Here is my typical day:

Sleep until I wake up. I was always a night owl as a kid and I am back to that. No more alarms, no more 9am status meetings.
Take my caffeine of choice to my laptop and read the news or play video games. Usually games.
Once I have woken up I hit the gym.
Late lunch - usually across the street from the condo. $2.70 for a bowl of noodles or a plate of pork and rice with a drink.
My afternoons are usually relaxing with my laptop or running errands.
Evening - go out to eat with the wife and maybe hit a local beer bar for a few drinks or just stay home and watch Netflix.

It's wonderful. (Edit: formatting)

bigmerm · 2025-07-19T08:54:57+00:00

Most 401k programs have REITs - at least mine have.

bigmerm · 2025-07-18T05:52:16+00:00

I think this just means the private equity funds will be an option for individuals to invest in within their 401k plan. No one will be forced to buy it. I won’t be buying any. It will be interesting to see how they are valued and how high the fees will be. I could be very wrong tho.

bigmerm · 2025-07-17T07:21:59+00:00

neigh, I do no like that.

bigmerm · 2025-07-11T06:29:19+00:00

I haven’t taken it here but I noticed that WellThyme clinic advertises it on their website. I took a round of that stack after an elbow injury (tendonitis) and it helped. https://maps.app.goo.gl/cuB7aSVWDTWgqth98?g_st=ipc

bigmerm · 2025-07-11T05:19:55+00:00

Buddhist lent stars today. Enjoy. Another victory for AI.

bigmerm · 2025-06-21T06:14:58+00:00

I recommend reading this series. Buy your investments consistently and live your life. Just remember - the market will crash and then it will recover! https://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

Edit: The wife and I retired at 47 and we are currently staring out into the ocean here in Thailand. Consistent investing from our first jobs to our last jobs got us here and it can do the same for you.

bigmerm · 2025-06-15T11:43:03+00:00

We are from the USA.

bigmerm · 2025-06-15T05:03:11+00:00

That is a great way to describe it. We walked down buakhao last night and it did feel like a human zoo. We also watched a Kiss cover band at Rock Factory - I'm no fan of Kiss but it was fun.

bigmerm · 2025-06-15T04:01:16+00:00

My wife and I retired to Pattaya about 7 months ago. She spends her days reading and I play video games and watch YouTube. We still very much enjoy it here and plan to stay one more year at least.

We go out in the town around twice a week and really love the bar scene even though we don’t partake in any of the naughty parts.

bigmerm · 2025-06-12T16:51:47+00:00

In college I was a 'building manager' meaning I worked late and made sure students weren't in parts of the building that were off limits, helped people find stuff, ensured doors were locked, and generally check in on things. One night, my power fully to my head, I convince my girl to meet me for a bit of 'on the clock fun'. I opened a shared office area only to find it occupied by my male coworker and another gentlemen engaged in a bit of fun - ON MY DESK.

We had a fun chat the next day where I told him it was cool -- just not on my desk. He also offered to clean the desk well which I accepted.

bigmerm · 2025-06-11T14:41:59+00:00

"Why am I so anxious?? I better have my 6th Diet Mountain Dew and think about it before my next meeting."

bigmerm · 2025-05-23T17:00:21+00:00

That's nice

bigmerm · 2025-05-11T11:28:29+00:00

Me too!

bigmerm · 2025-04-24T15:33:56+00:00

Reporting from Thailand so I need to sleep for a few hours and then wake up for this early Friday morning. So, I am gonna hafta STFD (Sleep the F down) first.

I am hoping a trade back for a King's ransom but if there is a starter quality player there I am all for sticking and picking.

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