What is there to save if you earn 300 baht a day?

One thing that surprised me here when I first started work and had surplus cash was that it was damn hard to find an ATM with deposit facilities.  Back home you could deposit money in most ATMs. 

Who gives a toss

8 hours ago, nev said:

I am surprised they still have 50baht in their accounts, I left 500baht in a bangkok bank account and year later went to look and it was all gone. 

50baht a month account keeping fee apparently ????

I had virtually the same experience a few years ago.

 

I went  close an account that I had not used for a while only to be told that it had been closed already! When I asked by whom I was told "By the Bank" so I asked what had happened to my money. "Gone already" was the reply - "Administration costs"!!!

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

while 4.7 million had less than Bt50.

Amazing, 4.7 million people? I wonder if they actually realise they still have 1 bowl of noodles in the bank?

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Almost 5 million Thai depositors have less than Bt50 in their bank accounts

And my wife is one of them. As soon as I transfer her any money, she withdraws it all and spends it.

Its crazy that the going rate for 8 hrs labor is 300 BHAT fir 8 hr day.

It should be at least twice that for a living wage.

We have the same maid for 4 yrs and she does everything, inside and outside, can take care of my bees, the pool, house sits when we are away, takes care of dogs and rabbits, paints,   And is 100% honest plus does many other things and we are happy to pay her 600 a day.

8 hours ago, fforest1 said:

I think Bangkok Bank charges 20 baht a month for the privilege of having a account... 

Bangkok Bank charges per year.

8 hours ago, steven100 said:

so i'm in that 0.2% bracket I guess ….  

+ 10 million in a Thai bank you must not worry about investing wisely, so many better places to put it!

1 hour ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Who the F.... let them look into peoples accounts?Why are the publishing peoples data on public forums?Why are they allowed to publish private data on public forums?Why is it now everybody's business what people have in the bank accounts?Do we now just take it for granted that this kind of thing is acceptable?What have I got to hide?Well that's certainly nobody's bloody business but mine!

It isn't private date, no names mentioned, it is statistics.

8 hours ago, Ventenio said:

sometimes I wonder what kind of person I would be if I was born in Thailand.  I don't know if my personality is hardwired, probably not.  If it is, I would have gone to America at the age of 18 and came back to Thailand at 50.  But then what if then came back and everyone I knew here was poor?  

 

yea, i see people constantly stressing over 20 baht and i'm sure they have no idea to get out of this poverty well.  education is the absolute basic necessity...  you need the will.  that means going to where the money is.  that's Bangkok.  

because most people are poor because they lack the 'will', nothing to do with the system they are in then?

Edited December 21, 20196 yr by PremiumLane

3 hours ago, Grandpa Cool said:

Does there have to be a purpose?

"Useless"?.... it gives us some perspective. That's useful. Bring on the revolution!

Do you mean a communist revolution?

I lived in China during 1970ies and Vietnam early 1980ies : there was true equality....everybody had "zero"

It shows how poor Thai people really are !  Only a few have most of the money and they ain't giving any of it to the the poor.

Don't really need money in the bank if the powers that be keep giving you 1,000 baht vouchers to spend

Many Thais I know won't keep any in bank,  the government would know they had some

Many Thai farmers keep their savings in the agricultural bank (tokasol or something like that). I don’t think this is included under the commercial banks mentioned in this article. 

10 hours ago, fforest1 said:

I think Bangkok Bank charges 20 baht a month for the privilege of having a account... 

I have a number of accounts with Bangkok Bank, my first book I had millions of baht but through the years I opened and move things too lazy to close the account. For years never took out any baht no matter how low it got in the end the balance was like 2000 baht, I told manager to update the book and transfer the balance to my other account, by the time she was done took out 250 baht each month there was something like 200 baht left told had to go to the original branch to close it. Being a few hours away I said forget it next time I updated the book by the machine they were taking 50 baht out I guess until zero balance. ????

5 hours ago, legend49 said:

Whats the purpose of this useless data?

For me- it reinforces the data showing  that Thailand is number one in the World in lincome disparity.   The top 1& in Thailand control 64% of all the wealth of Thailand, while the remaining 99% have access to the remaining 36%.

 

The old saying the rich are geting richer and the poor getting poorer applies to Thailand.  The crux of the problem is the haves refuse to allow the poor to have an opportunity to move up the ladder.

 

The Thai minimum wage was just raised by a measily 5-6 Baht per hour- hardly enough to make any difference in the poverty level.  Lack of an opportunity to get a real education or needed technical skills  provides no hope for the poor.

 

This complete lack of opportunity and hope has sparked a drug crisis that is out of control and a huge dependence on alcohol.

 

The greedy elite and an incompetent  array of officials refuse to accept the fact that changes must be made if Thailand is to prosper in this century.

 

 

4 hours ago, racket said:

What’s up with the picture. Why are they smiling? Lol

Maybe the photographer shouted out "Say Cheese!".

11 hours ago, steven100 said:

so i'm in that 0.2% bracket I guess ….  

Thai depositors

10 hours ago, Ventenio said:

sometimes I wonder what kind of person I would be if I was born in Thailand.  I don't know if my personality is hardwired, probably not.  If it is, I would have gone to America at the age of 18 and came back to Thailand at 50.  But then what if then came back and everyone I knew here was poor?  

 

yea, i see people constantly stressing over 20 baht and i'm sure they have no idea to get out of this poverty well.  education is the absolute basic necessity...  you need the will.  that means going to where the money is.  that's Bangkok.  

I think the same. I was born into a struggling ‘low class’ family back home. Manual labourers and non-skilled workers in a regional town. 
I spent most of my life from 14 up until my mid 20’s working dead end jobs, working night club doors and partying with no plans for the future. If I had $100 in the bank at anytime it was a surprise. 
 

I vividly remember the night I looked at a 60 year old crowd controller still working 2 jobs to make ends meet and him thinking he was winning and decided I didn’t wanna be like that. 
I quit my day job and went back to school to upskill. I got a mature age apprenticeship after 6 months of working for nothing to get my foot in the door. I then worked for less then $5 an hour while still working nights just to get qualified and the chance to make some money. 
 

I finished my apprenticeship early and moved to metropolitan Melbourne for diversity of work and the chance to move forward in the trade. 
within 6 years I owned my own car & bike, had cash I’m the bank and had just built a million dollar home. 
 

I realise those kind of money opportunities aren’t readily available So much in Thailand but I’d like to think in any situation I would find a path to success no matter the obstacle. I have the track record to prove it 

11 hours ago, fforest1 said:

I think Bangkok Bank charges 20 baht a month for the privilege of having a account... 

Really?  I've had an account with them for the last 20 years.  I've never seen any bank charges, just the opposite.  A miniscule amount of interest put in the bank every 6 months.

11 hours ago, fforest1 said:

I think Bangkok Bank charges 20 baht a month for the privilege of having a account... 

No fees at Bangkok Bank

11 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Only 0.2 per cent of total depositors had over Bt10 million in their accounts.

That 0.2% must be the stupid ones.  Why would anyone with a brain leave 10 million in a bank account, unless it was 'working account' with constant high deposits and withdrawals. There are many ways of investing that kind of money and a bank account should not even be on the list.

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Almost 5 million Thai depositors have less than Bt50 in their bank accounts, according to a recent joint study by Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research and Deposit Protection Agency on the savings behaviour of Thais.

The problem is certainly not the saver, a government that pushes citizens into expenses that they cannot afford is the culprit of this misery!

36 minutes ago, MadMuhammad said:

realise those kind of money opportunities aren’t readily available So much in Thailand but I’d like to think in any situation I would find a path to success no matter the obstacle. I have the track record to prove it 

I salute you for your ability to prosper.  In the West, there are apportunities  like you describe because Governments are not an obstacle to success.

 

It is extremely difficult for Thai people to break the cycle of poverty because there are so many obstacles in their way.  Even with an education- the wages are too low for the level acheived.  The Thai elite do not want the average Thai to succeed as trhey feel threatened that their power will be usurpted.

 

Is it any wonder that thais desire to go abroad to make a decent wage and an access to success.  Once a Thai is established abroad- they have no desire to return to Thailand except for vacations or for retirement with a foreign pension and money in the bank.

 

 

Also, 32.8 per cent of the total or 12.2 million had an account balance less than Bt500 each, while 4.7 million had less than Bt50.

 

How did they get my data? 

12 hours ago, Denim said:

Give it another year and that figure will be 10 million.

 

The generals bank accounts on the other hand are now bulging and that is the important thing.

 

Happiness has been returned to the families of those generals.

I am thinking there is much to be said that this is the issue the world over. Oh, the income/wealth gap varies but I attribute, in large measure, the economic squeeze on the working middle class for much of the frustration/anger resulting in the dis function in the USA, the Brexit issue, the growth of the European nationalist party growth, etc. Thailand is not an exception, wealth accumulates to a distinct minority. They keep control over the masses, in part by declaring the necessity of security ...

And whose to blame?

 

All those farang and expats the government has stopped or sent home.

 

Nobody to help support the 5 million thais and their families. 

1 hour ago, DoneTravelling said:

No fees at Bangkok Bank

Gee I wonder why my saving account goes down by 20 baht a month when I never use it.....

 

Bangkok bank sure as heck does charge a saving account fee every single month...I guarantee you 100%....

Edited December 21, 20196 yr by fforest1