How much would it cost to live in Thailand (HH) for one year

[margaretcarnes]

I think to compare the basic allowance in the UK with the amount the Thai government requires that expat pensioners bring to this country is like chalk and cheese.It is not a right to settle in another country.The issue of the Thai government giving low cost health care. Why? Insurance is available and sufficient and healthcare is cheaper usually than western countries.
I think generally that Thailand is cheaper to retire to than many other countries some who even demand that larger sums of money are brought in.
I personly believe that if a pensioner who decides to move to Thailand and does not have at LEAST 800000 Baht per year to SPEND in this country is not an asset to Thailand and should stay at home.
Why do mainly Brits ( I am one ) try to get other countries to follow the example of the BROKEN UK?

Of course it isn't a 'right' to settle in any other country - but the point is that some people who manage perfectly well in their home country - using the UK as an example - still have too little income to qualify as acceptable, decent citizens in a country where - so it seems - many expats can manage on a fair bit less than 800,000 bt. And where, as you rightly say, it is generally cheaper to retire than some other countries anyway.
To some expats these days it seems that income denotes status and social acceptability. True - as someone else has pointed out - Thailand doesn't need the so called dregs around Victory Monument. In fact the income requirements now in place were partly aimed at sorting that problem out. But neither does it need IMO an expat community built solely around higher end income people. Any balanced society consists of people from a huge range of backgrounds, skills and income levels.
All expats living there will of course spend their money there - and at least pension income is generally pretty secure and regular. Unlike income from some expat run businesses. Plus pensioners who buy property there are unlikely to cause trouble, and unlikely to inconvenience anyone by having to renew their 30 year leases.
As far as health care costs are concerned my point was not that Thailand should provide cheap health care for expats. Far from it. I would simply like to see a good, reliable Thai run expat insurance scheme which people would of course pay a fair premium for. The emphasis being on 'fair' - and users would ultimately be the judges of that. Just as I would like to see the health scheme for Thais developed into something more worthwhile. Whether the health insurances currently available are adequate is debatable - as many expats who have had to return to their home countries to have botched treatment put right would testify.

[johnnyk]

Good points Margaret, it does seem to be Thai style to toss out the baby with the bath water though. Certainly understandable to get rid of the dregs but an expat community made up only of very well off people would be at least as boring as it would be at home. And being rich doesn't always mean they are nice and decent people.
But Thailand doesn't seem to understand there are many decent and decently-off folks who would be an asset to the country despite not being rich.
At the other end, I have a mate who decamped after about 3 years because he got tired of visa run crap. He couldn't get a retirement visa because he was 40 at the time and the requirement is to be 50+.
His income is a mere $US50,000. A month.
Thailand's loss.

[HuntingTigers]

Mate of mine lives in the sticks near Lan Sak, Uthai Thani. Him and his GF plus two kids live in shop front style accommodation, so its rudimentary - no air con / no windows - the open doors let the light in /standard Thai toilet / dirt track road.

His rent is GBP 9.00 / THB 450 per week. Food is dirt cheap, it's Thai, there is no farang food available in the two nearby markets. Transport is a push bike although they can borrow another sister's Honda Wave bike. Two large bottles of Chang at the 'local' cost me 90 baht - it is 5 baht a bottle cheaper in the market.

He pays for one of the children's education but I can't remember how much it was. Tobacco he buys by the 1/2 kilo from the market - GBP 2.00 / THB 100. The biggest expense is the satellite TV. He doesn't have an internet connection. He has lived there for 6 years on an income of GBP 130 per week.

He is happy and content. He has just sufficient money to live on - but even so he admits it is tight with rising prices. The extended family, or as he calls them - the tribe, lives in what he calls the outback. I went there the following day and it really is the outback.

As I was the visiting 'falang' it was expected I would treat the family to a meal. As it turned out all that was expected of me was that I would pay for the food from the market. The food cost me 500 baht and there was piles of it - it made in total a good meal for 17 people. I'll describe the meal another time as I don't want to go too far off topic.

So, in summary you can live in Thailand, away from the main centres for about 6000 / 6500 baht a week, round about 340,000 per year. But that style of life wouldn't be for me - I'd be lost without my internet connection / running water / 7/11 on every corner / pool table and even the occasional 'fillet o fish' burger.

[E-Dork]

40,000 - 50,000 a month and you are laughing..... simple!

With this money you can have a comfortable, enjoyable time here NO problem. This includes a few cold ones every now and then (daily even if you ain't drinking in the bar area). If you have 1000 baht a day after expenses life is, to quote me pal Del Boy, 'cushty'. Others obviously disagree reading prior posts.

60,000 - 100,000 a month. You will need around this much if you enjoy daily/frequent trips down the bar area. (more if you intend to bring a little dolly back frequently).

[stgrhe]

IMO one needs around 100,000 a month for a family if one wants to live a comfortable western lifestyle here in Hua Hin. The more Thai to the lifestyle, the cheaper it will be.

[hhfarang]

^ Agree wholeheartedly! This is about our budget (support 3 people) and we don't travel much or go out to eat much and I do 90% of my drinking at home. I do live a very western lifestyle with all the TV I can get, internet, and air con, etc.

[Johan]

I have much more here than i ever had in my life for a simple mac donald's employee salary in my country.

[tarakandi]

I have never really thought about it, but I can't imagine that I could get by spending less than 100,000Bht a month. That is me, my wife and two kids.

[Nereus]

^ Agree wholeheartedly! This is about our budget (support 3 people) and we don't travel much or go out to eat much and I do 90% of my drinking at home. I do live a very western lifestyle with all the TV I can get, internet, and air con, etc.

For somebody that does not go out to eat much, HHF, you sure make a lot of comments about restaurants!

But surely, going out to eat in itself, a lot or otherwise, has to be qualified by WHERE you go out to eat. It is not unreasonable to expect to blow what could be somebodies weekly food budget, by going out to some fancy restaurant.

[Korkenzieher]

Johnnyk
>>an expat community made up only of very well off people <<

Sounds like Switzerland.
Or Petchabun, where most of the expats are Swiss anyway.

[hhfarang]

For somebody that does not go out to eat much, HHF, you sure make a lot of comments about restaurants!

I go out to lunch about once a week and to dinner on special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries so I don't eat a meal out most days like a lot of people do, in fact I probably don't even leave my property on average for around 5 days each week. When I do go out for lunch my bill is usually around b500 for the wife and I or the same for myself alone if I go with a friend and drink a few beers. If I do go at night I go to cheap buffets accept on those special occasions so I don't think that's going out to eat much. My "eating out" budget is probably only between 2000 and 3000 per month out of the 90,000 to 100,000 per month it costs me to live here, not a significant percentage. I guess I make a lot of comments because when I do go out I try to find and try new places each time since I don't go often so I can get the full experience.

And I haven't left the country in over 5 years and only travel within the country about once a year to see in-laws and once a year for a medical trip to Bangkok. The only real vacations I've had in the last few years has been a stopover in Ayudhya, a trip to Chiang Mai, and a trip to Kanchanaburi. I'm looking forward to a three day trip to Pattaya this month. So, travel is an insignificant part of my budget too. I'm managed 6 or 8 rounds of golf in the last year, but all but three have been free (on a coupon or at Dolphin Bay). The others have been during the times when the courses give deep discounts. So all my expenses are "living" expenses and mostly not recreation or enjoyment and yet it costs me almost as much to live here as it did in Florida.

The only things that seem to be cheaper here are unskilled labor, property taxes, and insurance. Golf is much higher (the reason I don't play much) and electricity costs me more here than it did there in the same size house and the same climate 9 months out of the year. I don't think Hua Hin is cheap at all unless you want to live like a Thai.

[Homer]

I think that Homers spreadsheet ( ok for him) is not many peoples vision on how their retirement should be!

Nor would I expect it to be, based on how I saw my fellow co-workers spend their comparable incomes back in the states. I hesitated before posting the spreadsheet because the spending has been atypical for me. I've been keeping spending well with in my budget just so I can establish what it costs to live here at a comfort level that is acceptable. I posted it because such a viewpoint might be useful to the original poster. Once I get the one year extension to the non-imm type 'o' visa I expect my spending to rise.

300 Baht a day on food 250 Baht on entertainment

After 18 months in the Philippines, it's pure joy to spend 30 - 40 baht on a plate or bowl of something that tastes good, isn't full of MSG and isn't going to make me sick.

The two main ways I keep my entertainment costs down is rarely drinking :-) and actually enjoying the following, though I expect most people wouldn't except for maybe the first two.

* Reading. No problem finding free books on the net. Moby Dick is next on my list.

* Hour long walks in the morning, with or without a podcast playing.

* I was a computer programmer for the last 20 years. Now I am back doing programming as a hobby, just like it was before I got my first job doing it. The Linux based software is free. This could easily eat up most of a day, most days of a week, if I let it.

* Learning a foreign language. Spanish, not Thai, because I traveled in Latin America in the years before retiring and expect to do more. Nope, I don't really 'enjoy' it but it is rewarding.

* Photography.

* Once I settle someplace I'm buying a piano keyboard. In the meantime I tried learning the blues harmonica.

[Siani]

It is interesting to read about the cost of living in HH. Are the estimated figures quoted based to include the costs of rental? Therefore without rental costs, what would the estimated cost for food, fuel, aircon etc be alone?

[Korkenzieher]

That's going to depend on a whole bunch of things. In particular how many aircon units you are discussing and what you eat and where you eat it - home, outside, Thai, Farang, prepared meals or self cooked. There are too many variables to answer it directly. I guess if you want to strip out rental costs, that makes you an outright owner? Or at least intending to own. In that case you are looking at including a lot of other variables - cooking gas, refrigeration, property & pool maintenance, transport, maid & gardener perhaps. Without some specifics of your circumstances, offering up a guess would be little better than shooting in the dark.

[Siani]

That's going to depend on a whole bunch of things. In particular how many aircon units you are discussing and what you eat and where you eat it - home, outside, Thai, Farang, prepared meals or self cooked. There are too many variables to answer it directly. I guess if you want to strip out rental costs, that makes you an outright owner? Or at least intending to own. In that case you are looking at including a lot of other variables - cooking gas, refrigeration, property & pool maintenance, transport, maid & gardener perhaps. Without some specifics of your circumstances, offering up a guess would be little better than shooting in the dark.

Yes own the villa. Eat out 3/4 times a week, I like Thai food, would so buy local products from markets when possible. Yes -partial aircon, not on all the time, at night mainly. Yes cooking gas, refrigeration, pool maintenance, transport, possibly gardner, but not vital. Without the rental of a property, what would be your estimate please? It is just that during the forum quotes they were say 800000 baht and I wondered if that was including rentals. Thanks