From Bangkok Post

The cabinet has approved waiving personal income tax for three foreign groups of taxpayers: high-income earners, retirees and those who want to work remotely from Thailand, said Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

Mr Arkhom said on Tuesday that the beneficiaries would be considered investors in Thailand as required by the government offering them long-term residence (LTR) visas.

Foreign retirees must be at least 50 years old, have an annual income of $40,000 or more, and invest $250,000 in government bonds or real estate.

Continues at

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2268283/long-stay-visa-to-waive-personal-income-tax

For anyone who might know about such things ( I don't) are the Govt Bonds mentioned above any good in terms of safety and rate of return ( versus other standard methods of low risk investment) and are they worth the paper they're printed on in terms of long term safety ( knowing that the Thai Govt can and do move the goalposts regularly in many areas just as and when it suits then and to hell with the consequences ( to investors in this case perhaps ?)

 

* Ps I'm not actually running out to buy $250k's worth of bonds tomorrow or anything, just wondering what a sensible / crazy thing that might be for those who might ??

 

 

My read is that government bonds pay around 2%. If you could earn around 6% elsewhere, you're giving up 4% a year, which on a $250K investment is $10,000K a year.

If you want to keep that much of your portfolio in a bank account or Thai bonds, I guess it works.  But if you don't, there's a real cost.