Dispatches from an American retirement abroad

Pattaya, Thailand 12.93°N  100.88°E
First dispatch — fall 2026

What it actually costs to retire out here.

Not a brochure, and not a 26-year-old's packing list. The forms, the fees, the exchange rates and the paperwork queues — recorded by someone standing in them.

Written on the ground in Thailand and the Philippines by a US veteran who moved here, kept the receipts, and is happy to show them.

Why this exists

There is a great deal written about retiring abroad and almost none of it contains a number you can act on. The visa guides are out of date, the cost-of-living posts are guesses, and the people who know how the Foreign Medical Program actually reimburses a claim are not the people writing blogs.

The Pension Post is the opposite of that: one household's real figures, filed as they happen, with the documents attached.

First dispatches

  • 01The VA Foreign Medical ProgramRegistering from abroad, and what a claim actually paid back
  • 02Social Security into a Thai bankThe forms, the timing, and what the transfer really costs
  • 03A month in Pattaya, itemizedEvery line, dated, with receipts — not an estimate
  • 04Health insurance at 56What four insurers quoted, and what the fine print excluded