Many expats live in Thailand on less than 45,000 baht a month

[Jo3200]

1 minute ago, madmen said:

Not in Bangkok. my ex on 87k a month and GF before that was a ffutures trader , don't know what she earnt but driving a new beemer. 30k is the lower end for middle class

Yeah ok, but I said the average. I guess that's on point enough. There are many more people who don't make that amount. Of course people get more rich, but for 1 person who is doing well, quite many are still behind.

[Nemises]

And you should ask yourself why you are here? Better settle in some temperate or cold country if you're not getting used to the heat.

Besides that you're sweating like a pig if you spend 24/7 in AC room and being outside for 5 minutes because your body isn't used to it.

 

Spoken like a jealous, low budget person who cannot afford the luxury of 24/7 a/c. Enjoy the oppressive Thai heat and humidity whilst inside your home and when trying to sleep[emoji106]

[moontang]

Just now, Jo3200 said:

Yeah ok, but I said the average. I guess that's on point enough. There are many more people who don't make that amount. Of course people get more rich, but for 1 person who is doing well, quite many are still behind.

Median household income is under 30k in BKK.  

[CLW]

 

Spoken like a jealous, low budget person who cannot afford the luxury of 24/7 a/c. Enjoy the oppressive Thai heat and humidity whilst inside your home and when trying to sleep[emoji106]

Wrong, I could turn it on 24/7 if I wanted to but I enjoy the warm climate in Thailand all the year as opposed to the cold and grey winters in Europe.

I have a wonderful and replenishing sleep with the fan next to my bed.

[nong38]

I would say that my outgoings have gone up by a third in the last 8 years, inflation has caught on here, unless you are a Thai pensioner, you still get the 600 bts a month you did over 10 years ago! To make things worse for them the claim age has just gone up from 60 to 66.

A lot of the blame goes on the Governments who raised the daily minimum wage without any productivity in return, the costs are passed onto the public.

Expats feel the pinch in the exchange rate, the price rises here and the lack of pension increases from home, standards of living are bound to be hit.

[totally thaied up]

10 minutes ago, madmen said:

The day of the big bwana  with his powerful currencies and big pension is looooong gone and are now in the position of being overtaken financially by the natives in a second world country, at least in Bangkok

Yet in my village, if you are being paid 500 baht a day, your on good money. The other 50-60 million people that are not living in Bangkok are not on anywhere near that type of money. I have many friends from all walks of life but in average Joe Thailand, is not earning big money.  

[Bangkokazy]

43 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Yeah and you have the average income of a greek worker... 

 

Not too bad at all, let's not act if thailand is singapore or monaco... It isn't. Know plenty of people in germany who have less than 1500 usd/45k thb per month available and do ok. 

 is a table of minimum wages in Europe

[bkk6060]

13 minutes ago, madmen said:

Not in Bangkok. my ex on 87k a month and GF before that was a ffutures trader , don't know what she earnt but driving a new beemer. 30k is the lower end for middle class Thais and even sukhumvit stall holders selling fake garbage at 500 % mark up are minimum 30k

Every car on sukhimvit is late model with countless 200k Mercedes

 

The day of the big bwana  with his powerful currencies and big pension is looooong gone and are now in the position of being overtaken financially by the natives in a second world country, at least in Bangkok

Yes.

Actually funny.

So difficult and a big ego blow for many to grasp that people in this country make more then they do.

Many in BKK especially.

45,000b is a joke of a salary for many professional Thais.

 

 

[CLW]

Yet in my village, if you are being paid 500 baht a day, your on good money. The other 50-60 million people that are not living in Bangkok are not on anywhere near that type of money. I have many friends from all walks of life but in average Joe Thailand, is not earning big money.  

Exactly. Recently Thailand overtook Russia and China as the country with the most unequal distribution of wealth and income.

[Mikisteel]

I do not any professional Thais beyond medical professionals but I'm pretty sure salary and take home pay differ greatly. If the kickback world exists so openly in the public sector then it's got to be 10 fold in the privado

[bkk6060]

15 minutes ago, Nemises said:

 

Spoken like a jealous, low budget person who cannot afford the luxury of 24/7 a/c. Enjoy the oppressive Thai heat and humidity whilst inside your home and when trying to sleep

Minimalists living a minimalist lifestyle.

And they are darn proud of it.

[Fred white]

8 minutes ago, CLW said:

Wrong, I could turn it on 24/7 if I wanted to but I enjoy the warm climate in Thailand all the year as opposed to the cold and grey winters in Europe.

I have a wonderful and replenishing sleep with the fan next to my bed.

During the dry cooler months we just use a fan if our house had of been insulated and a whole house fan installed most of the year we wouldn't use a/c but as it is when we run the a/c it's set at 27 

[totally thaied up]

11 minutes ago, CLW said:

16 minutes ago, totally thaied up said:

Yet in my village, if you are being paid 500 baht a day, your on good money. The other 50-60 million people that are not living in Bangkok are not on anywhere near that type of money. I have many friends from all walks of life but in average Joe Thailand, is not earning big money.  

Exactly. Recently Thailand overtook Russia and China as the country with the most unequal distribution of wealth and income.

I can get on my motorcycle and ride for hours either side of our village just through poor rice fields and I am only 30 minutes out from Chiang Mai. If I go further out, it just gets poorer and once I hit the Mountains, it goes into another level of poverty again. Talking about 100,000's of people. This is NOT Bangkok, but the average area where most Thais live. We do not have a concentrated pool of wealth that Bangkok has put on show. This is not the 1% but the other 99% that live in the real world. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by totally thaied up

[ThomasThBKK]

Yes.
Actually funny.
So difficult and a big ego blow for many to grasp that people in this country make more then they do.
Many in BKK especially.
45,000b is a joke of a salary for many professional Thais.
 
 

The average thai doesn't, that's all that matters. I know plenty of medicine students with a phd who arw below that.

Soo... Doesn't matter what a bunch of hisos make, thais in general don't.

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[baansgr]

45k is ample providing there is no salary payable to a gf/wife and no extended family requests.

When a healthy meal for 4 can be cooked at home for 60 baht i dont see why people struggle.....beer, fags, entertainment is the problem for many.

Meat, veg, fruit and sauces are extremely cheap in Thailand.

[bkk6060]

44 minutes ago, moontang said:

I guess it was just a coincidence that the largest exodus in farang history came after a ban on sworn letters...

I would say false.

Unless you have some solid stats to prove it.

Not the TV "I am leaving"  but still here crowd. 

[moontang]

33 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

I would say false.

Unless you have some solid stats to prove it.

Not the TV "I am leaving"  but still here crowd. 

it can be hard to differentiate tourism from those living here, but farang expat mostly live somewhat close to the tourist areas, and I heard worst year in 15 for Hua Hin, and Chiang Mai is in a coma...in addition to official reports in dramatic decreases in Danes on long stay.  The Chinese can make a lot of numbers, but don't make small businesses do well.  If you are denying the countless reports of downward business, you either live in a cave or have been on another visa run.  I have seen it first hand in KSR, Sukhumvit, and HH in the last month.  they aren't doing 40 thb beers on soi 11, because th eir rent went down.  Dreadful.  I joked with a friend that Sukhumvit was so dead, I actually missed the prison gang brits, and the men can be fun to have a drink with, too.

Edited August 22, 2019 by moontang

[mommysboy]

54 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Yes.

Actually funny.

So difficult and a big ego blow for many to grasp that people in this country make more then they do.

Many in BKK especially.

45,000b is a joke of a salary for many professional Thais.

 

 

Perhaps it is, but it's a salary that can only be dreamed of for tens of millions of Thais.

 

And many farangs would settle for it, as it pays the way.

 

You sound like a very young man; I hope that is the case.

Edited August 22, 2019 by mommysboy

[SheungWan]

Sounds like you are rich but lacking other skills.

Isn't that a shame.

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[bkk6060]

11 minutes ago, moontang said:

it can be hard to differentiate tourism from those living here, but farang expat mostly live somewhat close to the tourist areas, and I heard worst year in 15 for Hua Hin, and Chiang Mai is in a coma...in addition to official reports in dramatic decreases in Danes on long stay.  The Chinese can make a lot of numbers, but don't make small businesses do well.  If you are denying the countless reports of downward business, you either live in a cave or have been on another visa run.  I have seen it first hand in KSR, Sukhumvit, and HH in the !set month.  Dreadful.  I joked with a friend that Sukhumvit was so dead, I actually missed the prison gang brits, and the men can be fun to have a drink with, too.

So, like I said.

You and others have nothing to prove your "largest mass exodus in farang history" theories.

Things that you "have heard" have nothing to do with facts.

I would say very few have left.  If you know anything about business here, in many cases downward business is due to poor business practices and models.

If so many have, there certainly is a lack of reports from those "other places" everyone is threatening going too.

So, like I said you have no facts to support your "mass exodus" conspiracies...

But, believe what ever you want if it makes you feel better.

 

 

[SheungWan]

No absolutely not.I appreciate the value of money rather than wasting it for overpriced and useless things.

Whereas some of us originally came to LOS precisely to waste what we could.

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[ben2talk]

26 minutes ago, baansgr said:

45k is ample providing there is no salary payable to a gf/wife and no extended family requests.

When a healthy meal for 4 can be cooked at home for 60 baht i dont see why people struggle.....beer, fags, entertainment is the problem for many.

Meat, veg, fruit and sauces are extremely cheap in Thailand.

When I'm saving, I buy 2kg cheese 800 baht, enough sandwich ham for a month costs me 150, then a kg each of chicken and mince plus a tray of eggs - it's enough to make dinners for me and my son for a month.... add some vegetables and spices and I'm spending maybe 4-5k for shopping on food, good breakfasts, real butter, lots of milk...

 

As you say, it's the white man's lifestyle that costs more here. My idea of luxury is more reading a book than sitting drinking beer looking at the girls. I have a very nice razor that cost me $10 from Aliexpress (Mercur Futur clone) and it costs me $0.07 per week for blades (Astra Platinum from Russia) and $6 for a puck of soap that lasts about a year...

 

As for salaries - well it's quite an unknown. My brother pulls in between 55 and 60k per month, his uneducated daughter married a similarly uneducated guy and they drive pickups doing transport stuff, they're buying a 6M baht house.

 

Partly it's about scaling your spending to your income, and managing your spending and insurances remembering that you're no longer in the UK in my case...

 

There has been an exodus, steady for the last ten years - probably more. There's also been an influx of graduates who can't get jobs in their own country... so the balance is hard to judge. I know that there seem to be white folks all over places they weren't some 15 years ago, so it obviously isn't that bad.

[Nemises]

Wrong, I could turn it on 24/7 if I wanted to but I enjoy the warm climate in Thailand all the year as opposed to the cold and grey winters in Europe. I have a wonderful and replenishing sleep with the fan next to my bed.

 

Wow! You have a fan that converts 100% tropical humidity into comfortable, dry air for “wonderful” sleeping??? In your (WET) dreams.

 

[suzannegoh]

15 minutes ago, mommysboy said:

Perhaps it is, but it's a salary that can only be dreamed of for tens of millions of Thais.

 

And many farangs would settle for it, as it pays the way.

 

You sound like a very young man; I hope that is the case.

Getting a job that "pays the way" in a low cost country is a trap. If your salary is going to be proportional to your living expenses and is greater than your living expenses, then you will be able to save more money if you work somewhere where the cost of living is higher. That's what digital Nomads generally seem to get backwards - the time to concentrate on reducing expenses is during retirement not during your prime earning years.

[dcnx]

When they raise the marriage and retirement financial requirements, it’s curtains for a lot of expats here.
 

I’d start planning for this and getting your funds together now if you’re someone who won’t be able to afford a 25%+ increase. Then when it happens you’re not left holding your <deleted> and you’re good.

[moontang]

8 minutes ago, dcnx said:

When they raise the marriage and retirement financial requirements, it’s curtains for a lot of expats here.
 

I’d start planning for this and getting your funds together now if you’re someone who won’t be able to afford a 25%+ increase. Then when it happens you’re not left holding your <deleted> and you’re good.

people were grandfathered last time they raised it...looks like for now, IMM is content on clamping down on existing rules.

[dcnx]

5 minutes ago, moontang said:

people were grandfathered last time they raised it...looks like for now, IMM is content on clamping down on existing rules.

There’s a pattern happening in many countries now where people are moving for retirement or getting investor visas, the prices are being raised considerably. Some have even doubled and tripled the amount. Once Thailand catches on, it’s going to get a lot more expensive.
 

Hopefully the old timers will get grandfathered in, but I wouldn’t count on it. At least not if the current government is in charge. They are clearly anti foreigner.

 

Best everyone wanting to stay long term can hope for is a regime change. But that’s also temporary because another one will come after that. And then another.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by dcnx

[moontang]

Mexico is so doable for North americans, but the resorts are a ripoff.  I wonder if those beheading videos scared people away.  Cold beer, steak, cigars..no problemas.

[Max69xl]

1 hour ago, Jo3200 said:

Yeah ok, but I said the average. I guess that's on point enough. There are many more people who don't make that amount. Of course people get more rich, but for 1 person who is doing well, quite many are still behind.

Out of about 64 million Thai, there are only a small portion of people with education who makes good money,and Sukhumvith is not exactly Thailand. And almost every expensive car driven by a Thai is not paid in cash. They borrow money for everything, not only for motorbikes,cars and houses/condos.

[moe666]

On 8/5/2018 at 11:04 AM, ross163103 said:

I wonder what the farangs living on 45,000 baht a month do for health insurance......I guess they don't have any as that's a pretty big expense over here now days. Thailand is not a cheap place to live anymore in my opinion, of course that depends on the lifestyle you choose to maintain.

Thailand is still cheaper than the States.