Nest egg requirements

[anthemite]

A recent post mentioned the possibility of moving to Thailand outside the city ("living the dream"), and a responder mentioned that a nest egg would be wise.

I have been planning a move to Thailand in the next couple of years, possibly outside the city as well, but possibly into a large university. Unlike the previous poster, it is actually my dream to teach Computers and English at a University, so this would not be a "just getting by" job.

From all of your years of experience, what kind of money are we talking about for a fair nest egg? 1 million baht? 10 million baht?

I am thinking something on the order of a house outside the city with the wife and kids, a condo provided by the university, and a car or two (meu song of course!).

[caughtintheact]

A condo provided by a university here?  I've never heard of this, but it might be possible.  A couple of new cars will cost you about 1.5 million baht, but the best way to figure this is to make a budget of forseen expenses, add on about 25-35% minimum for unforseen expenses, and then try to calculate how long you are likely to live.  What happens if you are out of work?  Would you go elsewhere?  Or would you try to survive here? Have you even tried asking any universities here if they will accept you?  Are you a qualified English instructor?  Have you taught before?  If you don't meet the requirements you might as well just consider it a dream - long distance.

[singa-traz]

Have a look here for job offer on Ajarn.com.

Salary from 20 to 40K THB per month.

For your 2nd hand car,

Here !

2 x 300K THB, for not too old car.

For the House ... well, you would have to tell us where you plan to be "outside the city".

As for the size of the "Piggy Bank" ... what's your burn rate ?

[anthemite]

caughtintheact, i misspoke: I meant that i have heard many reports the universities often provide an apartment (and not a condo) to professors. Does that make more sense, or is that equally unlikely and unheardof?

Also, what I meant when I said the cars would be "meu song", I meant "second-hand" used cars a couple of years old, not new ones, so thank you singa-traz for picking up on that, I will keep my Thai-glish to a minimum from now on

CITA, I have had only email correspondance with a few univerities, several of whom have shown interest in my computer experience, but all of course require that I go see them. I plan to do just that next month when I arrive in BKK. I have an ESOL teaching certificate, but otherwise my degree is in Computer Science. singa-traz, thanks for the link, I will keep that around for future use.

When I wrote outside the city, I was specifically referring to the Ganchanaburi area, or maybe Suphanburi, I am thinking on the order of 10 to 20 miles outside the Amphur Meuang (thaiglish: sorry!).

I don't really know my "burn rate", I don't drink or drug, and except for a broadband connection and a satellite for American Football, I  don't go in for the latest gadgets or anything like that.

Hopefully this will make it a little clearer... and thanks for the responses so far!

[caughtintheact]

anthemite,

I know meu song มือสอง.  I just missed it as my eyes are a bit tired.  I do read, write and speak Thaiใ

Agree on apartments vice condos.  The Ajarn website has  a lot of openings posted, so you shouldn't have much of a problem finding work.  The real problem might be making a decision on where to teach.

Having the ESOL should be an advantage, as the school might want you to teach both English and computers.  

If you are willing to stay in the city, you might want to contact Bangkok University and/or Siam University, as I've heard that they are fairly liberal on hiring farangs - You also might want to talk to Sukothai University on Chaengwatthana Road.  

Even though you seem to have a pretty frugal lifestyle, you may find that with the cost of sending your children to any kind of good school you will need quite a bit of money for here.  I'm not sure what the tea money is these days, but it could run into a few hundred thousand per child per year at some of the international schools.  And of course you will have daily expenses for the wife and children.  I'd roughly estimate that you will need a minimum monthly amount of about 50K, but probably more.

[pnustedt]

As a guide, to live modestly in NE Thailand, I believe you would need a min. US$1k/month income to retire.

To finance this you would need an investment of US$240K.

Obviously, this depends on your lifestyle and commitments - you will not regret having more money.

Do not rely on income from casual employment in Thailand.

[jayenram]

I have my own house, fully paid for; a pickup, fully paid for; and I drink Chang at a reasonable rate. Given normal monthly expenses (nothing special) my girlfriend and I live on my Bht 35,000/month pension in comfort. That's in Issarn.

[anthemite]

Man, you guys kick A**! Thanks for the advice! Now I've at least got a starting point and some numbers to kick around.

Considering I was looking to shell out about 70k in setup costs for a boondocks house, two used cars, and a small business (video store, hair salon, internet cafe, whatever), and considering it feels like I can guarantee myself 20k baht income a month minimum between my skills and whatever piddling business I start, it sounds like I need to guarantee myself another 20k (according to pnustedt and jayenram) a month, which is $6k a year or so, which is 5% of $120k.

So I need about $200k (sorry for the math, but I included it so that I can be corrected if anyone detects anything fishy).

Now I just gotta go beg my boss for that long-awaited raise...