good salary to support family in Thailand

[Autonuaq]

All is depending on what area you want to loie and what the Thai family expects.

 

School for the childern depending to the education you want to provide them.

 

Do not forget you are foreigner so the govement expects you ro have 80000 thb or more per month for income so you can applly for the visa renewal.

Based on that tje expect you to have the life style of the foreinger. And for that they will (over)charge you.

 

Then you have to compensate the inflation and the costs of living in Thailand.

 

And Thailand is getting as expensive or even more expensive then the same western countries with daily things needed.

 

When you love in rural areas all is cheaper then when you life in for example Bangkok or so.

 

All prices are quick rising in Thailand. When you depend on income from abraod you also have to take in account the exchange rate. Which can drop as wel have seen and hear many complain about.

2009 for example i got more then 50 thb per euro and needed a few bath for living in Bangkok or the rural area. Today many expats complain about all the costs and have problems to comply to the 80.000 thb montly income needed for visa exention. (Half when married or take care of child who is a Thai national).

 

You have to take this in accountthe devaluation of money or the inflation as well the exchange rate issues and when you have no local sustainable source of income to backup you need to be sure you have the space to compensate.

 

100.000 thb is what you need to stay and all you want to do is extra needed on top. Of the 100000 is included the 80.000 is the damanded income by the immigration.

 

Can be less for as long as they gave the 50% rule when you are married or that the inmigration accepts that you provide the support your Thai child.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[khunPer]

On 6/8/2019 at 12:43 AM, Clive said:

I was wondering what would be considered a good wage to support a family (wife and a couple of kids) for a Thai national in Thailand?

30,000 baht and up – its like a rubber band, really depending of life-style – what kind, or level, of school, and education, do the family expect the kids to have?

 

If the options for a child is a bi-lingual or so-called "English Program" primary school – i.e. Kindergarten classes K1 to K3, and from P1 to P6, equivalent to International Year 1 = K3, and Year = P6 – they should count in the area of 100,000+ baht per year per child; second child normally get 10% discount.

 

What after P6, change to international school, or Thai government school from M1 to M6, or a selected private Thai school, and should it be a boarding school?

 

Thai government schools – P1 to P6, and M1 to M6 – are free from tuition fees, but uniforms and extra this-and-that apply, including often some recommended extra teaching, so still adds up to several thousand baht a year.

 

Thai private schools from M1 can be quite costly, and up to same level as some international schools.

 

International schools could be anything from around 210,000+ baht a year plus some extras – i.e. 3 terms of 70,000 to 80,000 baht – and up to more than a million baht a year, depending of choice and reputation; many international schools are in the cost level around 450,000 baht a year.

 

So just choose one option, time it with two, and divide with 12, then you know what to add to basic living costs for two children's school education; it could be anything from a few thousand baht a month, to almost 200,000 baht a month.

 

My next door Thai neighbor has two children in high-end schools – international in Bangkok for a girl, and (the right) military school for a boy – and manage it for a monthly budget little over 300,000 baht. Many other Thais with two children in my circles "survive" for a lot less, and down to around 30,000 baht a month – dual income – with two children in a government school.

 

As poster @NCC1701A said, 45,000 baht, which would be a reasonable minimum family income to keep a life-style just over the lowest income group – the consumer price index inflation has however been low the later years, less than one percent in average – and up to level of 300,000+ for children's prime level school education.

????

[mike787]

WHY are you supporting them?  Do they not have anyone else to help?  You are the only option?  Really?  

[natway09]

You would need 150,000 pm to live reasonably

[NicoBKK]

at least 200k

[Bigz]

On 6/8/2019 at 7:26 AM, BritManToo said:

Op is talking about his Thai kids,

They won't need medical, insurance or VISAs.

Op is talking about a family. Wife, kids.. they need to eat, dress, transport, going out, some gadgets and an occasional holiday. 50k is not much for a family unless you want to keep them in a shed and feed them with water and rice.

[BritManToo]

18 minutes ago, Bigz said:

Op is talking about a family. Wife, kids.. they need to eat, dress, transport, going out, some gadgets and an occasional holiday. 50k is not much for a family unless you want to keep them in a shed and feed them with water and rice.

My family and I are living on 40K.

me (foreigner), and Thais gf, daughter at university, son at junior school, former MiL.

We're living in a fairly new 3 bed house with mortgage repayments.

[rickudon]

Going by the posts here, half of you come from a pretty privileged strata of society. Need 200,000 baht a month? That's 5,000 GBP. In the UK half of full-time workers earn less than 2400 GBP month. Others are part-time, do not work, or are retired, and have even lower incomes. The average pensioner makes about 1300 GBP a month (52,000 baht).

 

If the average person can live on this in the UK, I am sure they can do it here. 

 

In the UK, housing costs are higher but very few are spending 2500 GBP (100,000 baht) a month. Outside of Bangkok, it is easy to find a modern house for 15,000 baht a month, and a smaller, more thai style house for half that. Food, drink, dining out, entertainment, household bills and travel overall cheaper. Only big headache is medical costs in Thailand.

 

I have a family in Udon, We can live on 40,000 baht a month, but less would be difficult. Actually spend 45-50,000 most months. 60,000 would be more comfortable. Many Thai families live on less than 15,000 baht.

[Fex Bluse]

If your kids are half Farang blood, as the Thais like to say, I would say the first order of business is to assess how much you're willing to sacrifice their futures by them being schooled and socialized in Thailand. A VERY dangerous plan.

 

The cost of living in Thailand is low, but the opportunity cost is high!

 

Cost of living questions are always inherently difficult to answer because one guy might be able to live comfortably on a tenth of what another requires.

 

To be comfortable in Thailand, excluding non-Thailand income, I needed about THB 150,000 NET minimum. For my wife and I, we would double it as she works as well.

 

International schools in Thailand are expensive and of questionable quality, like everything else in Thailand.

[BritManToo]

48 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

If your kids are half Farang blood, as the Thais like to say, I would say the first order of business is to assess how much you're willing to sacrifice their futures by them being schooled and socialized in Thailand. A VERY dangerous plan.

The cost of living in Thailand is low, but the opportunity cost is high!

I can't agree with you.

Four grown children in the UK, one at University, one at Junior school in Thailand.

The kids in the UK work hard to rent accommodation, repay educational debt, put food on the table and only speak one language.

The kids in Thailand have an easier life, already own a farm, and have many more opportunities from being bilingual.

If my Thai children don't want to work much, they can still own a house, eat well, and live in nice surroundings.

If my English children don't want to work much they'll probably be a bit cold, and stuck in a bedsit or shared house.

[Tagged]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I can't agree with you.

Four grown children in the UK, one at University, one at Junior school in Thailand.

The kids in the UK work hard to rent accommodation, repay educational debt, put food on the table and only speak one language.

The kids in Thailand have an easier life, already own a farm, and have many more opportunities from being bilingual.

If my Thai children don't want to work much, they can still own a house, eat well, and live in nice surroundings.

If my English children don't want to work much they'll probably be a bit cold, and stuck in a bedsit or shared house.

To survive here they need less than 6000 a month living village side, and in city, they can easy live on 8 000 if they have to. Enough to eat sleep, and pay bills. That is impossible in Europe. 

[Fex Bluse]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I can't agree with you.

Four grown children in the UK, one at University, one at Junior school in Thailand.

The kids in the UK work hard to rent accommodation, repay educational debt, put food on the table and only speak one language.

The kids in Thailand have an easier life, already own a farm, and have many more opportunities from being bilingual.

If my Thai children don't want to work much, they can still own a house, eat well, and live in nice surroundings.

If my English children don't want to work much they'll probably be a bit cold, and stuck in a bedsit or shared house.

I understand you. 

 

However, the way I think about it is that kids educated and socialized in the UK would have vastly more opportunities than kids educated and socialized in Thailand. 

 

So, your kids in the UK could, if so inclined, move to Thailand with a relatively superior mind but not so easy for the kids in Thailand to have competitive careers outside Thailand. 

 

Every family is different of course. 

[Fex Bluse]

4 hours ago, Tagged said:

To survive here they need less than 6000 a month living village side, and in city, they can easy live on 8 000 if they have to. Enough to eat sleep, and pay bills. That is impossible in Europe. 

True, but forgive me for saying that this is a retirement mindset. 

 

Young kids should be aiming for the stars, not worried about settling for poverty. 

 

However, if I inherited some Thai kids, I would definitely not care much about their ambitions or lack thereof. 

 

If they were my biological kids, however, I'd want them to be ambitious. 

[Tagged]

6 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

True, but forgive me for saying that this is a retirement mindset. 

 

Young kids should be aiming for the stars, not worried about settling for poverty. 

 

However, if I inherited some Thai kids, I would definitely not care much about their ambitions or lack thereof. 

 

If they were my biological kids, however, I'd want them to be ambitious. 

Of course it is difference, and of course most will do as much they can for their kids to have a good start. 

 

But this was just an answer to britman, where I aggreed, you can survive on less here in Thailand than back in Europe. 

[BobBKK]

Own or rent?  international school or no?  own car?  bike?  millions of variables. I own condo and car/bike and would say 40,000 is enough for a decent life and 80,000 for a fantastic life.

[BritManToo]

55 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

So, your kids in the UK could, if so inclined, move to Thailand with a relatively superior mind but not so easy for the kids in Thailand to have competitive careers outside Thailand.

I don't know about other parts of the world but working in the Uk is not a great option for most professions these days.

Everyone is on zero hour contracts and no pensions.

And what's the point of a 'competitive career' if you're not to be able to buy a house, have nice holidays and save for your retirement?

 

My Thai teenager will be getting a starting wage of 25k/month (already a done deal as she is a native Thai/English speaker and learning Mandarin) when she's 22, with no educational debt, that's enough to get a mortgage on a new 3 bedroom house by herself. Which is considerably better than my kids in the UK have managed (ages 32,30, 20, 19)

[ThaiBunny]

Just now, BritManToo said:

Everyone is on zero hour contracts and no pensions.

Do you have a link that would give us the statistics?

[Bigz]

22 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My family and I are living on 40K.

me (foreigner), and Thais gf, daughter at university, son at junior school, former MiL.

We're living in a fairly new 3 bed house with mortgage repayments.

I am glad that you manage on that amount but I doubt you can have a reasonable decent life in Thailand for 10k a head minus mortgage and bills. I am pretty sure that you not paying uni and school fees for the kids from that money. I live in my gf's house no rent to pay only bills and 8000 a month for car repayment. No kids, going to town for a meal a couple of times a week but nothing fancy. Have a few beers and smokes, a cinema sometimes, short 3-4 days holidays occasionally and easily over 50k a month...

[BritManToo]

12 minutes ago, Bigz said:

I am glad that you manage on that amount but I doubt you can have a reasonable decent life in Thailand for 10k a head minus mortgage and bills. I am pretty sure that you not paying uni and school fees for the kids from that money. I live in my gf's house no rent to pay only bills and 8000 a month for car repayment. No kids, going to town for a meal a couple of times a week but nothing fancy. Have a few beers and smokes, a cinema sometimes, short 3-4 days holidays occasionally and easily over 50k a month...

Everything is paid from the 40k, 11k/month mortgage, 12k/term university, 5k/term junior school.

Most foreigners waste a lot of money.

 

The teen is drawing excessive amounts from my budget at the moment, lucky she has less than 2 years left then she'll be either contributing or gone.

[richard_smith237]

* Deleted

[Bigz]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Everything is paid from the 40k, 11k/month mortgage, 12k/term university, 5k/term junior school.

Most foreigners waste a lot of money.

Good for you. I couldn't live on 13k a month after bills with my family. Yes, could survive but not able to go anywhere or do anything let alone saving up for a flight to Europe would make me miserable. Everyone's different I suppose.

[rickudon]

Would i prefer that my daughter was educated in the UK? Yes. But due to divorce, i have no home there. And i am retired. If i took my family back to the UK the visa costs for my wife would seriously dent my savings, and she might not be successful (as no home). We would have to live in squalid rented accomodation and count every penny.

 

Better to be a big fish in a small pond than the other way round. In Thailand we have a large 5 bedroom house (although old), a large garden, farm and fish ponds and relatives close at hand. Our daughter will do well enough and if she wants to go live and work in the UK rat race she can, but will always have the option of both countries. In 20 years time, UK may not be a nice place to live without money. Correction, not a nice place already..... My son is generation rent and can see little prospect of ever owning a house in london, where he works. In his suburb, an average house costs more than one million GBP. There are cheaper areas, but a 2 bedroom house in London will still cost at least 250,000 GBP. You need an income of 60,000 GBP to get a mortgage on that...... and you have to live close enough to where your work is. I know people who do a 3 hour commute to get to work ... which is insane.

 

You can have a miserable, safe, boring life in the UK or something more interesting in Thailand. Only thing about Thailand ..... no safety net.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Everything is paid from the 40k, 11k/month mortgage, 12k/term university, 5k/term junior school.

Most foreigners waste a lot of money.

 

The teen is drawing excessive amounts from my budget at the moment, lucky she has less than 2 years left then she'll be either contributing or gone.

I'm amazed you can handle all that for 40k baht a month – I've also read others of your post about budget – well done, respect...????

[MarkyM3]

3 hours ago, rickudon said:

Would i prefer that my daughter was educated in the UK? Yes. But due to divorce, i have no home there. And i am retired. If i took my family back to the UK the visa costs for my wife would seriously dent my savings, and she might not be successful (as no home). We would have to live in squalid rented accomodation and count every penny.

 

Better to be a big fish in a small pond than the other way round. In Thailand we have a large 5 bedroom house (although old), a large garden, farm and fish ponds and relatives close at hand. Our daughter will do well enough and if she wants to go live and work in the UK rat race she can, but will always have the option of both countries. In 20 years time, UK may not be a nice place to live without money. Correction, not a nice place already..... My son is generation rent and can see little prospect of ever owning a house in london, where he works. In his suburb, an average house costs more than one million GBP. There are cheaper areas, but a 2 bedroom house in London will still cost at least 250,000 GBP. You need an income of 60,000 GBP to get a mortgage on that...... and you have to live close enough to where your work is. I know people who do a 3 hour commute to get to work ... which is insane.

 

You can have a miserable, safe, boring life in the UK or something more interesting in Thailand. Only thing about Thailand ..... no safety net.

Agree that for your position as retired and divorced you are certainly in the best set-up living in Thailand.  

 

Problem is - for someone of working age wanting to be in Thailand, given the employment restrictions farang are somewhat limited in finding genuinely well paid legitimate work (setting aside being an expat sent to work out there by your company). I am sure it is there but best chances seem to me to be to set your own business up (i.e. requiring you already have capital) or non-Thai work like IT freelancing for overseas clients or oil/gas.

 

As for commuting,...my gf can sometimes sit in traffic for 2 hours each way just traversing Bangkok - took her 3 hours to get home last week due to the flooding! Meanwhile, I work from home in the UK most days so not always as cut and dried as it may seem. And I'm not sure a Thai university degree will carry much clout overseas, unfortunately, so options to move to Europe are limited. Plenty of UK graduates with questionable degrees can't get high paid work. 

 

Totally agree with the point about exorbitant cost of housing in the UK but London has never been cheap. A better cost comparison would be Bangkok to London, which is still bound to be definitely in favour of Bangkok. Go to other parts of the UK and things would change a bit. For example, I live in in Surrey in a flat with current market value £265k. That would go a long way to buying me a far bigger property away from the south east. But of course - certainly not equivalent to what that may buy you in the Thai countryside. However.....I have no legal right to own land in Thailand, so that has to be factored in.  

 

Other costs are not always cut and dried in favour of Thailand. A couple of examples...

 

- I find the range and quality of supermarket goods to be of better value in UK (even using a pre-Brexit 50 baht exchange rate). I spend around 4 months per year in Thailand so am using my own direct experience when making that comment. I am constantly surprised how much I am laying out for everyday items when heading to Big C etc., not just imported goods which of course carry a premium. Obviously, if you eat Thai local food it's a different equation. Bought 10kg of fresh pineapples from the roadside for 100 baht on a road trip with gf a few months ago - won't find anything that in the UK.

 

- Range and vfm of clothing are also better value in the UK unless you buy your gear from stalls or F&F. Case in point - gf commented on this and took plenty back to Bangkok on her previous visit to UK last summer.

 

This thread is pertinent to me as someone contemplating retirement in the next 3-5 years. I'm 48 and I am not sure I would have been in this position working a similar job in Thailand (2 properties mostly paid for and an OKish private pension at 60, I might as well forget the state pension LOL). My gf works a decent job  (45k baht monthly plus bonus) but apparently has no company pension provision, for example. So I wouldn't say it's accurate to call life outside Thailand miserable in that context. Yes it's safe and possibly boring (depends on the individual) but I have had plenty of advantages I may not have had otherwise working or living full-time in Thailand.

 

As for monthly budget under a retirement scenario, was hoping to target 75k-80k baht plus my gf's contribution, so that I can try preserve my capital. Will probably target an 8/4 split in favour of Thailand, that's enough for me. The place isn't quite what it was since I first pitched up in 2005 imo. 

 

 

 

[bubblehead]

On 6/11/2019 at 5:10 AM, richard_smith237 said:

 

Mileage varies and there are those who are able to do life much more frugally and 'go native'.. but for someone making a true evaluation it depends what lifestyle they are after here and what standards they expect for their children. 

 

1) Schooling - International School Entrance fee's: 200-250k Baht entrance (one off payment)

2) Schooling - International School Yearly fee's: 500-600k baht per year

3) Healthcare - Medical Insurance:  100-200k (for a reasonable Policy for a family of 3-4)

4) Travel - Yearly flights back home: 120-180k (for a family of 4)

5) Transport - Car: 1.3 Million Baht for a CRV / Fortuna etc  (Honda Jazz / Mazda 2 about 600k) - On the other hand Taxi's are very cheap.

6) Supermakerts - Variable 15,000 baht per month (western items are more expensive)

7) Eating Out - 20,000 baht per month at restaurants (if eating out 4-6 times per month)

8 ) Rent - In Bangkok 50,000 - 200,000 baht per month / Outside of Bangkok: 15k to 50k per month (this is very much area dependent) 

 

Explanations: 

1 & 2: Local schools are awful and do not compare to Schools overseas (some will argue otherwise but they are trading their children's education for their weekly Rub'n tug or access to cheap women 1/4 their age).

2: The best international Schools are in Bangkok. Prices of living in Bangkok are generally higher than elsewhere in the country, but the standards of education elsewhere is poorer (Good Schools: NIST, Bangkok Patana, Harrow, Shrewsbury, St. Andrews 71)

3: Healthcare - Local health care is ok, but its worse than the UK NHS. You can end up waiting a long long time for a non Emergency procedures (like the UK). Healthcare at the Private hospitals is expensive, you'll get faster treatment, better facilities, many of the Doctors in private hospitals also work one or two days per week in a government facility (there is good info on ThaiVisa.com about which Doctors are good at which procedures etc - in BKK especially).

4: Travel - only a concern if you are going to travel back regularly but it adds up especially if you are going to travel back more than 1x per year. 

5: Transport - Taxi's are very cheap (in Bangkok) - but how old are your kids (need a car seat?), driving in Bangkok is ok. A car is not a necessity in Bangkok, its a 'nice to have' item rather than a 'need to have' a car makes life easier... especially for a school run, supermarket run and getting out of the city for a short break etc..  If living outside of Bangkok a car becomes somewhat of a must unless you are looking to live in the center of a town. 

6: Supermarkets - Food can be obtained from the markets etc and much cheaper. Normal items are similarly priced to the UK supermarkets. Items considered luxuries (cheese / Wine etc) are vastly inflated. 

7: Eating out - Is variable, it can be much cheaper or more expensive than anywhere. Basic restaurants are incredibly cheap and a decent family meal can be had for 1,000 baht, a quality 'higher-end' family meal may cost around 5,000 baht+ and more if ordering wine or a good few beers etc (again, this is highly individual and dependent on where / what you want to eat). 

8: Rent - A decent house in Bangkok costs anywhere from 40,000 baht per month up to 200,000 baht per month - it depends what you want. A crappy aging town house can be found for 25k per month. Rents outside of Bangkok are much cheaper and a rather decent house can be rented for anywhere from 15k in the sticks up to about to 50k per month for a decent house in a town area such as Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai or Hua Hin etc...  (this is very much area dependent). 

 

 

There is another thread which ran recently and discusses budgets (with a vote) many people can and do live very frugally, but the moment we live to Westernised standards (and forgo the 40 baht street noodles, drive instead of using the 2baht bus service etc) and aim to live life with the levels of comfort we'd expect back home, life in Thailand can become fairy expensive....  its common for a family of 3-4 to live on a budget of 200,000 baht+ per month when living a lifestyle which more closely resembles Western standards.

 

Great post which I can relate to.

You hit the nail on the head!!

[rickudon]

On 6/12/2019 at 10:44 PM, bubblehead said:

its common for a family of 3-4 to live on a budget of 200,000 baht+ per month when living a lifestyle which more closely resembles Western standards.

Common? Rubbish. 200,000 baht is 5000 GBP. How many can afford that sort of  monthly expenditure, maybe a few in the top expat jobs in Bangkok. And that is expenditure, not income (do not forget tax). We are talking about an expenditure equivalent to double the average UK income, before tax. I doubt that even one in ten expats could afford that.

[manchega]

On 6/11/2019 at 5:28 PM, BritManToo said:

My family and I are living on 40K.

me (foreigner), and Thais gf, daughter at university, son at junior school, former MiL.

We're living in a fairly new 3 bed house with mortgage repayments.

3 bed detached or town house? is this in BKK?

that would cover mortgage for 1 house and possibly utilities for us

 

 

[manchega]

On 6/11/2019 at 12:15 PM, richard_smith237 said:

You'll have to make a point...  

 

I wrote 'Mileage varies'...  this is what I see my fellow Westerners spend - many of my fellow Thai's too (who may also save when owning their own house or living in extended family houses).

 

I think you may have looked too hard in an attempt to take offense... also note that a CRV is not a luxury car, neither are houses which can be rented for 40,000 baht gigantic or luxurious, at the higher end of the scale yes, hence the provision of the range, which I guess you also took offence at in searching for bias. 

 

If you live on a much more frugal budget, good for you... why not list your spends and provide insight for the Op instead of displaying jealousy or what ever it was that seems to have rubbed you up the wrong way?

you edited your post after I had commented

[koma]

I "look after"...

My partner, 3 year old son, myself. I rent a 3 bedroom house. Pay for his schooling. Go out from time to time. Eat well. Buy bits and bobs. Pay bills and insurance...

All that is usually under 50-60k a month. 

[tootall]

On 6/8/2019 at 4:33 PM, Clive said:

Thank you all so much for taking the time out to reply.
I was planning for around £100k ppm so I believe after all your replies I think my figure is writing the realms of possibility.......Thank you

I constantly tell my wife she spends too much money. Big problem, she can go through 30,000 BHT in 2 weeks if I do not put my foot down. I pay monthly rent on a nice big house in Pattaya, 16,000 BHT, monthly trips to Big C for shopping food 7,000-10,000 BHT. Kids get sick and the Thai 30BHT hospitals give that kind of treatment-need to go better hospitals or clinics. Water/electric 5,000 BHT a month. The foriegn currency to the BHT is super poor and getting worse. Thailand is not cheap anymore for a family of 4 like you and me (2 boys). The truck and motorbike are paid for, then there is always her family drama and needing money.