Cost of Living in Thailand: Save money? You're having a laugh!

[poanoi]

i remember an old friend who truly enjoyed saving money,

he spent around 20k a month and just enjoyed that lifestyle.

i also enjoyed watching how i could save money,

sadly it doesnt bring a buss any longer so i never try,

i dunno where i got lost or why

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Rents here range from 3000 baht a month to 25000 baht a month. 

 

[Lacessit]

9 hours ago, Jeremy50 said:

 Embrace the voluptuousness of austerity. 

That's deep.

[Lacessit]

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

 

I have the feeling you might be battling to find a water supply and electricity there.

[meechai]

12 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Wasn't there a similar survey in the USA, saying most families are only $500 from bankruptcy?

Thailand is just becoming part of the modern world, relying on credit and luck to survive.

True but does Thailand offer, food stamps, Cash if you have children or are over certain age, completely free medical if a couple make less than $1300 a month,free housing etc etc?

 

It is true folks all over the world do not understand the debt trap but some countries have so many safety nets the fall is not as bad.

 

To be poor in Thailand can be very painful with no safety nets in sight

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, meechai said:

It is true folks all over the world do not understand the debt trap but some countries have so many safety nets the fall is not as bad.

Never met any Thai that doesn't have a family farm they can go and live on.

Food grows all year round in Thailand, life never gets that hard.

And if you don't know how to forage, any temple will feed you.

[simoh1490]

11 hours ago, HOAX said:

@simoh1490 - To add to that, just use your eyes, “the new era” lives in a fake “luxury/good times”, where even 7/11 workers buys 35k iphones and 700k pickup trucks. What’d you expect. Its like seeing the average western macdonald’s worker driving around in brand new Mercedes benzes. It doesn’t happen, and for good reasons that I shouldn’t need to tell you.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

You don't know what you're seeing or looking at, you've never seen a 7/11 worker with a 35k iphone that's for certain and they certainly don't drive new 700k pickup trucks either - if you want to make a point about consumer credit, use fact and don't exaggerate or invent things!

 

Consumer lending is quite high although Bank non-performing loans (NPL's) are very reasonable at 2.98%, consumer NPL's are below average  http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/BOTWEBSTAT.aspx?reportID=794&language=ENG

 

Average salaries in Thailand have doubled over the past fourteen years from around 7k to 14k per month, that's starting from a very low base and increasing by 500 baht a month every year for fourteen years, not exactly a huge amount and certainly not enough to buy a 35k iphone! https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/wages

 

Now, where do you want to go with your arguments from here?

 

[Lungstib]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Never met any Thai that doesn't have a family farm they can go and live on.

I dont know where you meet your people but I live out in the country and I am surrounded by people who own no more land than that which there shack sits on. And some rent and dont even own that.

[Lacessit]

4 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

You don't know what you're seeing or looking at, you've never seen a 7/11 worker with a 35k iphone that's for certain and they certainly don't drive new 700k pickup trucks either - if you want to make a point about consumer credit, use fact and don't exaggerate or invent things!

 

Consumer lending is quite high although Bank non-performing loans (NPL's) are very reasonable at 2.98%, consumer NPL's are below average  http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/BOTWEBSTAT.aspx?reportID=794&language=ENG

 

Average salaries in Thailand have doubled over the past fourteen years from around 7k to 14k per month, that's starting from a very low base and increasing by 500 baht a month every year for fourteen years, not exactly a huge amount and certainly not enough to buy a 35k iphone! https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/wages

 

Now, where do you want to go with your arguments from here?

 

I think I would go with the aphorism there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

[roo860]

Actually many clothes are  cheaper in the Uk when I was back there a few  days ago, I got some from TK MAX.............then flew  back as normal............business class[emoji16]

My wife (Thai) came over to the UK in the summer this year, she was amazed how decent quality clothing etc was so cheap.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[simoh1490]

A poster earlier mentioned 1997 and the crash.....that wasn't about excessive consumption, that was a structural lending problem in the finance sector, offshore borrowings in USD couldn't be serviced when the Dollar/Baht peg was removed and BOT's foreign currency reserves were tied up in long dated instruments hence they couldn't defend the currency.....the validity and strength of Thai businesses remained intact, some such as SCG quickly renegotiated their USD loans and survived, the speculators didn't and the finance houses that supplied the loans didn't either but the rest of the business population carried on as normal.

[simoh1490]

6 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I think I would go with the aphorism there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

That's usually a fall back reply from people who don't want to believe the facts and don't have a rebuttal....the numbers are wrong, oh wait, the numbers are Thai they're not credible, that sort of thing!

[mikebell]

12 hours ago, HOAX said:

driving around in brand new Mercedes benzes

Are we talking police and army here?

[Lacessit]

22 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

That's usually a fall back reply from people who don't want to believe the facts and don't have a rebuttal....the numbers are wrong, oh wait, the numbers are Thai they're not credible, that sort of thing!

The accuracy of all statistics depend on the sample of the population that is taken. Garbage in, garbage out.

My GF lives in a village of about 10,000 people near Chiang Rai. The main source of employment is the rice fields. Most of the villagers are averaging 2000 baht/month. I say average, because work in the rice fields is not continuous - there are times when it is full on, others when there is no work to be done.

Or take my GF's father, in his eighties. He gets a pension from the Thai government of 800 baht/month. How many villagers and elderly village Thais do you think there are in Thailand with those incomes, distorting your "facts"?

I'd suggest instead of thinking up put-downs, you try getting out into the real world. Yes, that's a put-down too.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Lacessit

[jaiyen]

Well, there must be a huge population with millions of baht to spare for shopping. Just look at the huge number of big shopping malls everywhere.  I know the biggest ones are mainly composed of window shoppers, but they must be making profit to stay in business

[simoh1490]

13 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The accuracy of all statistics depend on the sample of the population that is taken. Garbage in, garbage out.

My GF lives in a village of about 10,000 people near Chiang Rai. The main source of employment is the rice fields. Most of the villagers are averaging 2000 baht/month. I say average, because work in the rice fields is not continuous - there are times when it is full on, others when there is no work to be done.

Or take my GF's father, in his eighties. He gets a pension from the Thai government of 800 baht/month. How many villagers and elderly village Thais do you think there are in Thailand with those incomes, distorting your "facts"?

I'd suggest instead of thinking up put-downs, you try getting out into the real world. Yes, that's a put-down too.

You lecture about the size of the sample used in the stats. and you do so using the example of a handle of farmers in your GF's village, really!

 

You then talk about your GF's father who has income of 800 baht a month and how that distorts the facts....do you understand what averages are and how they work!

 

In the case of the BOT stats that I posted which is indeed the source of the data for both links, BOT requires every bank to report on NPL's monthly, every month hence the sample size is 100%.

 

[yellowboat]

13 hours ago, Lungstib said:

On the very far north border where I live people earn minimal wage and know they have to live simple, make it go round and there is little competition to outdo their neighbours. Saving is virtually impossible. But down in C Mai there is a class of workers who want the good things in life and are not prepared to go without. They buy expensive big screen TV's, computers, mobiles, auto's and even houses to keep up with their neighbours and borrow to do so. You'd be hard pressed to find a group of Thais with ordinary jobs who actually save money monthly. For that you would need to look at business owners, managers etc. Bangkok is maybe a different world, I know nothing of how they live.

Bumped into single moms that cook food for sales in markets, schools, hospitals and they seem to do okay.   On soi Bang Na in Bangkok during the early morning, you see hundred of motorcycle driven food carts.  That seems to be the progression.  Once your costs out pace your salary, make. sell food. 

 

This is old old news.  

 

If you are diligent and have ambition, Thailand is a cruel place. Best to look outside the country,

[alex8912]

13 hours ago, Lungstib said:

On the very far north border where I live people earn minimal wage and know they have to live simple, make it go round and there is little competition to outdo their neighbours. Saving is virtually impossible. But down in C Mai there is a class of workers who want the good things in life and are not prepared to go without. They buy expensive big screen TV's, computers, mobiles, auto's and even houses to keep up with their neighbours and borrow to do so. You'd be hard pressed to find a group of Thais with ordinary jobs who actually save money monthly. For that you would need to look at business owners, managers etc. Bangkok is maybe a different world, I know nothing of how they live.

Yah Bangkok is a little different. I was in Siam Paragon last night and saw a new Bentley get the last parking space at the premium parking lot with the sparkly diamond like floor and then a new Lambo came in and had to park in the regular parking lot. It must have been devastating. 

[simoh1490]

Here's the living costs in Thailand at the detail level, Chiang Mai versus Bangkok as an example, feel free to change the locations to compare as you wish: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Thailand&country2=Thailand&city1=Bangkok&city2=Chiang+Mai&tracking=getDispatchComparison

 

What we see from the link is that Bangkok is about twice as expensive as Chiang Mai but earnings are also double, I'm sure if we look at nakon nowhere in Issan we'll see the same discrepancies. So on that basis, how is it possible to generalise about the cost of living in Thailand, simply, it's not!

[Lacessit]

4 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

You lecture about the size of the sample used in the stats. and you do so using the example of a handle of farmers in your GF's village, really!

 

You then talk about your GF's father who has income of 800 baht a month and how that distorts the facts....do you understand what averages are and how they work!

 

In the case of the BOT stats that I posted which is indeed the source of the data for both links, BOT requires every bank to report on NPL's monthly, every month hence the sample size is 100%.

 

Dear God, why is this so difficult for you to understand? There are tens of thousands of villages in Thailand virtually identical to the one my GF lives in.

Do you know where the statisticians are gathering their data? The 14K baht/month average income you quote - is that data from the cities alone, or does it include village data? I've never seen a policeman in my GF's village, let alone any other kind of government official. Most of the villagers don't have bank accounts, it's a cash and barter economy. Some like my GF's father have never been outside the village in their entire life. How do you get a sample size of 100% on BOT stats for people whose biggest capital investment is a bicycle?

As I said before, try getting out into the real world.

[CALSinCM]

As long as the rich can buy private jets, the commoners don't matter.  Let them eat sticky rice.

[simoh1490]

4 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Dear God, why is this so difficult for you to understand? There are tens of thousands of villages in Thailand virtually identical to the one my GF lives in.

Do you know where the statisticians are gathering their data? The 14K baht/month average income you quote - is that data from the cities alone, or does it include village data? I've never seen a policeman in my GF's village, let alone any other kind of government official. Most of the villagers don't have bank accounts, it's a cash and barter economy. Some like my GF's father have never been outside the village in their entire life. How do you get a sample size of 100% on BOT stats for people whose biggest capital investment is a bicycle?

As I said before, try getting out into the real world.

Calm down!

 

The BOT reference is for NPL's.

 

I live in rural Chiang Mai Province, I've done so for sixteen years, the wifes family live in rural Sukhothai Province and I do mean rural, it's a very poor village.....I do live in the real world, I see it daily.

 

Here once again is the detailed living costs (and incomes) by location in Thailand, these are figures to which individuals such as you and I have contributed to over time, plug in your own location and see what you get:https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Thailand&country2=Thailand&city1=Bangkok&city2=Khon+Kaen&tracking=getDispatchComparison

 

And if you don't believe those numbers we'll have to go with the official version which involves sampling, the same technique used by many western countries to arrive at population and economic data and which is used extensively in Thailand. Now that's not to say that you GF's father will be included in the sample, it doesn't work that way, but the results are usually very reliable and consistent over time. 

 

 

[crazykopite]

Koh Samui and Koh Phangan are regarded as the most expensive places to live in Thailand you can pay upwards of 150 baht for a meal that would cost 40/50 baht in other parts of the country , gasoline and diesel is more expensive as for furniture it’s double what you would pay in Bangkok but saying all that there are plenty of Thais who drive in nice cars how they manage I don’t know.

 

[ZeVonderBearz]

11 hours ago, Lacessit said:

it's possible to live here on 20,000 baht a month. I have several farang friends that do. It's a matter of not buying overpriced pickups and cars.

Rents here range from 3000 baht a month to 25000 baht a month.  It's a question of how well one wants to live, and how much one wants to impress friends and neighbours.

 

I feel you. I can and do live on less than 10k a month. I've got no interest in keeping up with the Jones' and neither does the missus so that makes life nice. 

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, crazykopite said:

Koh Samui and Koh Phangan are regarded as the most expensive places to live in Thailand you can pay upwards of 150 baht for a meal that would cost 40/50 baht in other parts of the country , gasoline and diesel is more expensive as for furniture it’s double what you would pay in Bangkok but saying all that there are plenty of Thais who drive in nice cars how they manage I don’t know.

 

You are looking at those costs in terms of your past years experience of living costs in THB and using your home currency as a reference - Thai people think about these things in THB terms, not Pounds or Dollars, it's an exchange rate trauma for many westerners.

[Lacessit]

5 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

Calm down!

 

The BOT reference is for NPL's.

 

I live in rural Chiang Mai Province, I've done so for sixteen years, the wifes family live in rural Sukhothai Province and I do mean rural, it's a very poor village.....I do live in the real world, I see it daily.

 

Here once again is the detailed living costs (and incomes) by location in Thailand, these are figures to which individuals such as you and I have contributed to over time, plug in your own location and see what you get:https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Thailand&country2=Thailand&city1=Bangkok&city2=Khon+Kaen&tracking=getDispatchComparison

 

And if you don't believe those numbers we'll have to go with the official version which involves sampling, the same technique used by many western countries to arrive at population and economic data and which is used extensively in Thailand. Now that's not to say that you GF's father will be included in the sample, it doesn't work that way, but the results are usually very reliable and consistent over time. 

 

 

I give up. I can explain it to you, I can't understand it for you. You remind me of a Ralph Waldo Emerson aphorism.

You do get my award for exasperating poster of the week. Just give me some time to think of a suitable prize.

[Easy Come Easy Go]

54 minutes ago, jaiyen said:

Well, there must be a huge population with millions of baht to spare for shopping. Just look at the huge number of big shopping malls everywhere.  I know the biggest ones are mainly composed of window shoppers, but they must be making profit to stay in business

The Thais are one of the most prevalent online shoppers of any nation globally 

[alfalfa19]

Kind of like America, in other words.  Where commoners work 2 or even 3 jobs in order to pay rent, household expenses, and car payment/insurance/gas/registration/tax, etc. 

[kevin612]

It is not just in thailand, it is everywhere in the world.

[simoh1490]

3 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I give up. I can explain it to you, I can't understand it for you. You remind me of a Ralph Waldo Emerson aphorism.

You do get my award for exasperating poster of the week. Just give me some time to think of a suitable prize.

You want me to agree with your theory that Thailand is populated almost exclusively by poor rural villages where the population earns next to nothing and as a result the average wage in Thailand should be next to nothing....I don't the evidence suggests otherwise.