Yes, there are easy ways to do it all.Giggle wrote: ↑December 6, 2018, 10:23 pmI don't understand why it has to be so difficult.
I have one bank in the US. I have one bank in Thailand. All my US income goes into my US bank. Once a year, I make a large single international transfer that will get me through the coming year. I pay one transfer fee (about $60) annually. Next year I will buy a new car, so I will likely make 2 transfers that year. Keep it simple.
I hear stories about people who survive on weekly or monthly ATM withdrawals from foreign banks or monthly transfers. These folks must get hammered in fees. They get wound up in chasing favorable exchange rates when they're bleeding out in bank fees.
I understand dollar-cost averaging and know that my single annual transfer might not come at the best time, but over a decade or two it will all average out. The worry and angst in dealing with availability and holidays and time zones is not worth the few hundred (or thousand) baht you might save in keeping your money abroad. If you intend on living here for a long time, open a Thai bank account, move 50 percent of your savings here, and never have to worry about exchange rates again. When you get poorer in one currency, you get richer in the other. This is a good example of when diversification has actual utility.
If it shits you that you get a crappy interest rate being a foreign account holder in a Thai bank, put your 800k into a joint account with your thai wife for 8 months and transfer it to a single account 4 months before visa extension -- then move it back. Personally, I can't be bothered for the few hundred baht difference. Don't make it harder than it needs to be.
I've been making free international ATM withdrawals from my US bank for over a decade. I've had thousands of US dollars wired to Thailand in baht for no more than $50 for each wire transfer. It didn't take a massive investigation for me to find these inexpensive instruments for transferring funds.
There is always a "cost of doing business" when one chooses to live in another country. It's just part of the drill.
I'm thankful that I don't have to spend 19,000 baht to pay for an intermediary with immigration (in places like Jomtien), but it's an example of people doing what they have to do to stay where they want to live. If it's worth it for anyone to live here, they do what they have to do.