JW - A good sensible answer. I am constantly searching these topics for a reality answer so I know when I can quit my job and have enough to live on before I can draw my pension (another 20 years).
JW - Can I ask some questions ? you can PM the answers if you don't want them on the board.
Do you live alone ? Approx how much for rent and utilities ? Do you eat in the night market (I regularly do) and street stalls or somewhere up market ?
You stay in 2 nights a week so are the other nights spent around town/Bintabaht drinking ?
Thanks.
How Much Is Enough?
How much ?
'If you didn't have a wasted youth you wasted your youth'
Man in pub circa 1987.
Man in pub circa 1987.
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Wanderlust
- Legend
- Posts: 2862
- Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:27 pm
- Location: Hua Hin
buksida has said it very succinctly, but essentially most people will live according to their means - if JW didn't have that money he would either cut back or go somewhere else to have the life he wanted, and this also applies to others who like to lead a 'simple' life - they can be very happy eating from noodle stalls and drinking Chang from 7/11 and good luck to them. Most Thais exist on less than 10k a month so if that's your choice who can knock it? Each to their own basically. 
My wife and I get by on 36-40,000 a month. I get more, but need to save back home to take care of my business/property in London that I rent out. We have a decent house, I get out 2-3 times a week and we almost always cook and eat at home. Both of us enjoy cooking, although it dosn't really save us any money. We get away some weekends with friends. All in all, a quite adequate lifestyle for that expenditure. I'd like to get out on the golf courses like JW. I used to play twice a week with the society, but it's unfortunatly got a bit expensive these days, so it's become a casualty of marriage.
There have been difficult times over the years here when I've needed to spend a lot on maintenance and as a result have cut my cloth accordingly. A bad time can be 20-25,000 p mth. You can get by, but it sure isn't much fun.
Sometimes it has to be done and it's good to know that it's possible. My beers definitely come from 7-11 then
There have been difficult times over the years here when I've needed to spend a lot on maintenance and as a result have cut my cloth accordingly. A bad time can be 20-25,000 p mth. You can get by, but it sure isn't much fun.
Sometimes it has to be done and it's good to know that it's possible. My beers definitely come from 7-11 then
Hi Pagey,
I live alone at the moment (thank god!), I pay 12000 a month for rent, about 1200 for electric, air con used only on a night for a few hours, water about 60 baht. I eat a little bit at roadside places, but mostly in bars in town (Crawfords, Little Danish type of places), go to restaurants rarely the prices arent much different to bars etc. Most nights are spent having a wander around bars, there are maybe 4 or 5 in Bintabaht that i go in. Hope this helps and get yourself here as quick as you can - its great!
I live alone at the moment (thank god!), I pay 12000 a month for rent, about 1200 for electric, air con used only on a night for a few hours, water about 60 baht. I eat a little bit at roadside places, but mostly in bars in town (Crawfords, Little Danish type of places), go to restaurants rarely the prices arent much different to bars etc. Most nights are spent having a wander around bars, there are maybe 4 or 5 in Bintabaht that i go in. Hope this helps and get yourself here as quick as you can - its great!
I have been reading the posts with great interest. Thank you all for the detailed repsonses concerning living expenses. I guess one really never knows how much everything will cost until it is experienced firsthand. I think my benchmark level will be between 50 and 55k a month. That is the figure i will base my future planning on. Anything above that, I will consider as "gravy". Problem is: I love my gravy! Cheers!
Maverick
To avoid misunderstandings...the question wasn't how much money someone has on his accounts or get on a regular monthly basis, the question was how much someone needs to have an acceptable life in LOS, right?
Of course, the costs depend to the biggest part on the rents to be paid.
I.e., in my street foreigners pay for the same kind of house between 4,000 to 10,000 Baht!
I also know older guys, which aren't very interested to visit pubs, bars or restaurants, but have not less than 100k/month.
They like to buy their beer in 7/11, enjoying beach-life or are playing golf...
One of these guys (a former proven medical doctor) has even the meaning; nobody should needs more than 20k/month for a good life in Thailand.
(He doesn't pay any rent, but bought the house on his gf's name)
Now, getreal, tell these guys, that they shouldn't be here!
It's up to everybody, how much they're willing to spent for their life in LOS, right?
In my eyes it isn't an acceptable sign of cleverness to let money fly like confetti… but even this is up to everybody!
Of course, the costs depend to the biggest part on the rents to be paid.
I.e., in my street foreigners pay for the same kind of house between 4,000 to 10,000 Baht!
I also know older guys, which aren't very interested to visit pubs, bars or restaurants, but have not less than 100k/month.
They like to buy their beer in 7/11, enjoying beach-life or are playing golf...
One of these guys (a former proven medical doctor) has even the meaning; nobody should needs more than 20k/month for a good life in Thailand.
(He doesn't pay any rent, but bought the house on his gf's name)
Now, getreal, tell these guys, that they shouldn't be here!
It's up to everybody, how much they're willing to spent for their life in LOS, right?
In my eyes it isn't an acceptable sign of cleverness to let money fly like confetti… but even this is up to everybody!
Value of the Baht
A very interesting topic. I have been reading about this for some time since I hope to retire to Thailand.
One thing not mentioned here is the fluctuating value of the Thai Baht. It would be a shame for someone to retire with the bear minimum income and then have the value of the Baht go down against their countries currency. Best to have a little wiggle room on the income.
Bushman
One thing not mentioned here is the fluctuating value of the Thai Baht. It would be a shame for someone to retire with the bear minimum income and then have the value of the Baht go down against their countries currency. Best to have a little wiggle room on the income.
Bushman
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HansMartin
- Professional
- Posts: 270
- Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:50 am
- Location: Back Home in CA
A comment and a question:
1. The concern is the bhat going UP relative to the home country currency, In March 2005 it was about 41 bhat to the USdollar. Now it is 38.3 bhat to the dollar. This is about a 10% decrease in the value of the dollar. This doesn't mean much when buying a bottle of Chang, but makes a hell of a difference when thinking about buying property. We keep some money in Thai banks as a hedge, and have other overseas stock investments in case there is a continued erosion of the dollar, but you never know about this.
2. So the question is what do you guys do about health insurance? Do you stay with your home country program? Get Thai insurance? Get some rider for your home country program? And is this figured in your monthly cost of living?
1. The concern is the bhat going UP relative to the home country currency, In March 2005 it was about 41 bhat to the USdollar. Now it is 38.3 bhat to the dollar. This is about a 10% decrease in the value of the dollar. This doesn't mean much when buying a bottle of Chang, but makes a hell of a difference when thinking about buying property. We keep some money in Thai banks as a hedge, and have other overseas stock investments in case there is a continued erosion of the dollar, but you never know about this.
2. So the question is what do you guys do about health insurance? Do you stay with your home country program? Get Thai insurance? Get some rider for your home country program? And is this figured in your monthly cost of living?
Wherever you choose to live, you should never live to exist in life, you should always live life to enjoy it.
The only way to get an idea is to get over to HH and live for at least a month in some sort of long term rental, carry on as you would do in a normal life situation, check what you have spent and that should go a long way to answering your original question.
It is a very hard question to answer as people have a diverse range of tastes in food, entertainment and sporting activities.
I have been to Thailand for the last three years on holidays, treated it as such, so my calculations based on my spending would be way out of wack.
If I am on holidays, I could spend around 20-30,000 baht a week on food, accomodation, entertainment etc, but if lived there for any amount of time, realise that I could not afford to support that sort of lifestyle
If I ever thought of coming to stay over in HH, I would do exactly as I have just said above, live my month or so there as I would here in Australia and see what I have spent after my time there.
I would then evaluate whether I enjoyed living in HH in the fashion I did, spending what I did and then come to some sort of conclusion.
There are also a lot of other isues other than the money that you spend to take into consideration, and could only be addressed by living in HH for a while and making sure that you are going to make the correct choice on where you are going to live.
Good Luck
The only way to get an idea is to get over to HH and live for at least a month in some sort of long term rental, carry on as you would do in a normal life situation, check what you have spent and that should go a long way to answering your original question.
It is a very hard question to answer as people have a diverse range of tastes in food, entertainment and sporting activities.
I have been to Thailand for the last three years on holidays, treated it as such, so my calculations based on my spending would be way out of wack.
If I am on holidays, I could spend around 20-30,000 baht a week on food, accomodation, entertainment etc, but if lived there for any amount of time, realise that I could not afford to support that sort of lifestyle
If I ever thought of coming to stay over in HH, I would do exactly as I have just said above, live my month or so there as I would here in Australia and see what I have spent after my time there.
I would then evaluate whether I enjoyed living in HH in the fashion I did, spending what I did and then come to some sort of conclusion.
There are also a lot of other isues other than the money that you spend to take into consideration, and could only be addressed by living in HH for a while and making sure that you are going to make the correct choice on where you are going to live.
Good Luck
There seems to be many different opinions here as regards quality of life and what that costs but I must confess that I myself would find it hard to exist on 1,000 baht a day, it seems difficult but I guess some of the guys in here do it and if the alternative is an existance in the Uk then I can't bame them.
Actually, 1,000 baht a day is not bad if you exclude:blue nose wrote:There seems to be many different opinions here as regards quality of life and what that costs but I must confess that I myself would find it hard to exist on 1,000 baht a day, it seems difficult but I guess some of the guys in here do it and if the alternative is an existance in the Uk then I can't bame them.
Petrol / Deisel
Rent
Clothes
Medical Care
Electricity
Car / motor bike maintenance & licence
traffic fines
gardners
medicine
house repairs
cleaners
Cable TV
Internet cost
DVDs
etc.!
I dunno. A grand a day for living? Well, food @150 for two (that's cooking at home and eating really well). Packet of fags 50. Beer tokens ( if at home I find it difficult to get through 250 at 30 odd per large beer. If out, then obviously a lot more). Female companionship - I'm married.blue nose wrote:There seems to be many different opinions here as regards quality of life and what that costs but I must confess that I myself would find it hard to exist on 1,000 baht a day, it seems difficult but I guess some of the guys in here do it and if the alternative is an existance in the Uk then I can't bame them.
So, very basically, 350-400 a day if at home. 12k a month.
Rent and bills - 10k a mth.
That leaves plenty for clothes, brief holidays and 2/3 times a week out on the lash.
I've had some hard times here over the years, as have others. When your accommodation, food and water are the most important things, anything over 20 grand a month is bliss. So, back to my previous post that, for us, 36-40k does it. If we want or need more, we've got it.
As we all say, everyone's different, but I'm happy with that and am saving for the future at the same time.
How much
keep the posts coming boys - all the information is being absorbed and will be used to determine when I can retire.
At the moment I have set myself 50,000 baht per month based on your posts and although my calculations show I will be able to afford that from the end of this year, its a long way to my pension !!
I guess no one can say how much house rent etc. will be in 10 years time so I need to factor in a little extra to cover inflation.
At the moment I have set myself 50,000 baht per month based on your posts and although my calculations show I will be able to afford that from the end of this year, its a long way to my pension !!
I guess no one can say how much house rent etc. will be in 10 years time so I need to factor in a little extra to cover inflation.
'If you didn't have a wasted youth you wasted your youth'
Man in pub circa 1987.
Man in pub circa 1987.