Who this is for
People who typically come to me about this.
Persona 1
Pre-retirement professionals
55–65, planning the move to retirement, want a sustainable drawdown plan that survives a thirty-year horizon.
Persona 2
Recent retirees in Thailand
Already drawing pension, want a second opinion on the sustainability of the current rate.
Persona 3
Retirees with multiple income sources
State pension, occupational pension, savings, possibly a rental property, want it all sequenced sensibly.
What's involved
How the work actually plays out.
Most retirement plans are sales tools dressed up as planning. The real work starts with the numbers that actually matter: your pensions, savings, investments, monthly cost of living in Thailand, and your exposure to sterling against the baht.
From there, the aim is to create a long-term retirement income plan that can survive market falls, rising healthcare costs, currency movements and the reality that retirement may last thirty years or more.
Where appropriate, this can be structured through a recognised international pension trust, established and regulated as a pension rather than an insurance product, and recognised across multiple jurisdictions worldwide. Properly structured pension arrangements can provide materially different tax treatment in Thailand compared to standard investment or insurance wrappers, helping preserve more of your retirement income rather than losing it unnecessarily to taxation.
Sequence-of-returns risk
A 30% market decline in your first three years of retirement is structurally different from the same decline in year fifteen. Sustainable withdrawal rates depend on the sequence, not just the average.
The 2024 Thai remittance overlay
A withdrawal plan that was sustainable under the old Thai rules may not be under the new ones. The drawdown sequence has to account for the tax overlay or the plan understates true costs.
Common mistakes
Where this most often goes sideways.
Drawing too much, too soon.
The 4% rule is a heuristic, not a plan. A sustainable withdrawal rate depends on market conditions, age at retirement, and the desire to leave an estate. It is rarely actually 4%.
Ignoring currency exposure.
GBP / THB has moved 30%+ over decade-length windows. A retiree drawing GBP income to fund THB cost of living needs an explicit position on currency risk.
How I work on this
The process, in three steps.
01
Document the inputs
Income sources, asset balances, cost of living, longevity assumptions, currency exposure.
02
Stress-test the plan
Multiple market scenarios, multiple longevity assumptions, multiple currency assumptions.
03
Build the drawdown schedule
A written, sequenced withdrawal plan that you can act on. Annual reviews adjust as the picture changes.
Fees and what to expect
Plain-English fee transparency.
I am paid through commission on the products arranged and an ongoing fee on the assets managed. Every cost, and what it pays, is set out in writing before you decide.
You may ask what any recommendation pays me, and the figures that apply are agreed in writing in the engagement letter before you proceed.
A first 30-minute consultation costs nothing and obliges you to nothing.
Client assets are held in your own name on FCA-regulated platforms or SEC-licensed brokers, never by me.
Writing
Related reading.
- Pensions
Pensions · 8 min
The UK state pension is frozen in Thailand, what that actually means
Why the UK state pension does not uprate annually for expats resident in Thailand, and what to plan around it.
Read article - Retirement
Retirement · 6 min
Can you retire in Thailand on £2,000 a month?
A grounded look at what £2,000 a month actually buys in Hua Hin and Chiang Mai in 2026.
Read article
Questions
Questions about this.
Begin a conversation.
Thirty minutes, by Zoom or in person at the Bangkok, Hua Hin or Pattaya office. Free, and without obligation. You leave with a clearer view of what is in front of you, whether or not the work proceeds.
Book a meeting
Choose a time that suits you.
Thirty minutes with Richard Knight, ACSI directly. By video, phone, or in person. No obligation.
