My friend is intending to move to Thailand and not work. He is well off but asked me how much money to live here long term. ie how many millions of baht to retire here permanently. He has visited a few times as short term tourist but never long term

 

I told him he should have budget of 100k a month minimum. If he is aged around 50 and lives to 80 then he might need 36 million

 

Essentially I said to him he could easily spend a 100,000 a month in Bangkok living quite well. 

 

Any thoughts on this. I expect this is the first time this kind of thread has ever been raised

 

 

How long is a piece of string?, almost impossible to answer as there are far too many variables. Lifestyle likes dislikes, standard of living, drinker/non drinker and so on etc.

 

Could be as low as 40k a month or 65k (the Govt figure for Visa's).

The other main issue is the unpredictability, you never know from year to year which way the Visa/Insurance ball is going to bounce, constantly shifting sand and it really is just impossible to predict/forecast. (IMHO)

OP, do you live here ?

 

If you do, where do you live.

 

Did you buy land, build house or rent ?

 

How much do you spend every month ?

 

Do you have pensions ? Or do you spend your savings ?

 

If you can answer any of the above you should be qualified to answer your "Friends" questions.

 

Why didn't your friend join and ask himself ?

 

And lastly, this has been asked so many times it's unreal.

 

And why would you reccomend 100,000 baht a month, outrageous, I and many others have a great time on half that, just need to know where to go ????????

 

????

 

 

1 hour ago, advancebooking said:

He has visited a few times as short term tourist

Then he should have a pretty good idea... swap out an apartment for a hotel and some savings here and there... I think the person will have a better chance of figuring it out on their own, than strangers from TVF... 

With the pollution in bangkok he will not live till 80

so he should be ok

1 hour ago, Ron jeremy said:

With the pollution in bangkok he will not live till 80

so he should be ok

Never mind the balconies...

Well there are so many personal factors. 

 

If he has lots of money, a lot of it should still be invested for growth. 

 

Then will he have any pensions, or be eligible for any future pensions such as social security?

 

I would ignore the visa requirement of 65K per month. That's arbitrary. Many people especially if they buy a condo live on much, much less and the visa thing is often satisfied with a bank account in Thailand as opposed to income. 

 

Obviously as you already know, the younger you quit work the bigger the chance a person will eventually run out of money. 

When I read the responses of the crypto fanboys in the crypto forum, I would say, 1 bitcoin.

 

After some more consideration, make it 2 coins, so he has some reserves

 

2 hours ago, advancebooking said:

Essentially I said to him he could easily spend a 100,000 a month in Bangkok living quite well. 

Quite well is a relative concept.  

Just tell your friend how you precisely calculated the 100000.

He will then decide by himself if it is too much, not enough or fair. 

People have different priorities too. 

I have a house, a car, and a pied-à-terre to pay. 

An acquaintance has ca. the same monthly income, he lives in a small room, no car, no motorcycle, he loves to go out and ring the bell. 

He spares a lot of money lately. 

I am married with a daughter and have an income to Thailand (when I'm allowed in) of about 60k a month, made up of an early pension and tenant income - this will rise to near 90k a month when fully retired (35 years done for the full uk pension). We live a relatively simple life, we don't eat out or splash out on much and rent is not expensive (9000 2 bed house). This is more than plenty for us, and I feel we live a relatively OK lifestyle.

 

If your friend wants a easy relaxed life like mine (but with the odd , erm, you know), then 50-60k is more then plenty. You can live on much less - me and the wife got by on 30k when times were harder.

 

If your friend wants the expat, super go-go sex, super drunk, eat out fancy restaurants lifestyle then obviously that 100K wont last you the month. I think most of us have blown out more than that in our early 'sweet-shop' days.

 

My advice to your friend is two fold.

1. Get an income from a property coming to you each month if you can - a house income  is an excellent form of subsidising a pension - and most importantly means your friend has an escape route as you never know the future. For heavens (some will disagree) don't sell his  house if he has one to fund a new life. I'd much prefer money in a house than share investment.

2. Budget budge budget, never spend more than you can afford to and that applies to partners too ! Set a monthly amount and keep to it.

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, advancebooking said:

I told him he should have budget of 100k a month minimum. If he is aged around 50 and lives to 80 then he might need 36 million

 

I think this is a pretty decent guideline for a middle of the road lifestyle in Bangkok. I always thought if I had a million baht for each year that I expect to live, that would be enough to provide a nice lifestyle, neither low-end nor living high on the hog.

 

Of course it's a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string question and there is no right answer. But given the possibility of inflation, medical issues and the unexpected, I would beware of any suggestions that you can live fine on 40,000 baht / month or other low numbers, as some people suggest. They're right - you CAN - but it's when the unexpected comes along that you really want to be prepared and have something of a buffer....that's why I think your 100K / month figure is sound.

 

 

Ask him how much he pays in rent (or would if he was renting not owning the house he lives in.

Half that amount. Add what he spends a month where he is to that total.

Add a few 1000 bht a month for health insurance costs.

That total will give him a good idea of what Bangkok will cost to live his idea of a comfortable life.

 

5 hours ago, advancebooking said:

My friend is intending to move to Thailand and not work. He is well off but asked me how much money to live here long term. ie how many millions of baht to retire here permanently. He has visited a few times as short term tourist but never long term

 

I told him he should have budget of 100k a month minimum. If he is aged around 50 and lives to 80 then he might need 36 million

 

Essentially I said to him he could easily spend a 100,000 a month in Bangkok living quite well. 

 

Any thoughts on this. I expect this is the first time this kind of thread has ever been raised

 

 

 

4 Bitcoin should do it!

In the current climate he will be able to buy a province each month for a 100k and wait for this government to deal with the pandemic and he will get change as well????

20 minutes ago, sidjameson said:

That total will give him a good idea of what Bangkok will cost to live his idea of a comfortable life

 

Bangkok has many areas, cost of live is different in Thonglor than in Bang Na. 

Does he have an active diversified investment portfolio?

100,000 would be good and very comfortable now.

But, you need to calculate inflation into those 30 years.

The people I know who have come here with a load of cash thinking it will last, it never does.

I know a guy in Pattaya who blew thru $500,000 US in about 7 years. 

 

If his loaded why retire here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this place has been turned into a total dump by some of the Thai people.

Better places around the world.

 

7 minutes ago, quake said:

If his loaded why retire here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this place has been turned into a total dump by some of the Thai people.

Better places around the world.

 

I think he likes the ladies

17 minutes ago, quake said:

If his loaded why retire here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this place has been turned into a total dump by some of the Thai people.

Better places around the world.

 

Hookers why else does anyone come here?

8 minutes ago, advancebooking said:

I think he likes the ladies

That only lasts so long,  trust me.

ladies all round the world, especially if loaded.

 

Ps But Thailand is a great place to visit for a few months a year.  

 

 

 

 

On 1/7/2021 at 11:32 PM, advancebooking said:

I told him he should have budget of 100k a month minimum. If he is aged around 50 and lives to 80 then he might need 36 million

 

That'll work 

II have a group of friends who have retired here. Their net worth  ranges from hundreds of millions of Baht, to 50K a month income and no cash reserves,  bar the 800K needed for a extension.  As Charlie H said, how long is a piece of string.  It depends entirely on what kind of life you want to lead here and what kind of infrastructure you need around you, house car, medical cover etc, and also where you want to live and with whom.   Each individual needs to do their own calculations, there is no template for that, that I know of. 

8 minutes ago, The Man Who Sold the World said:

 

That'll work 

half of that would work. 

4 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

half of that would work. 

Not for me - As a happily married non-drinker I'm easily going through 75k/mo in Nonthaburi.

 

Could I/we live cheaper - yup. Would I/we - nope. Determine your required standard of living, determine your budget, feasible? Up to the individual. A personal decision.

On 1/7/2021 at 11:32 PM, advancebooking said:

He has visited a few times as short term tourist but never long term

How much did he spent as a short term tourist?

That should give him an idea how much he needs.

 

And please tell him to try to be realistic. I remember a guy who visited Thailand two or three times a year. He regularly rung the bell, most of the time not just in one bar per night. I guess it happened very seldom that he spent less than 1,000USD per night. And then he planned to retire and he had a budget of 60k THB per month in mind...

 

99 mln

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

How much did he spent as a short term tourist?

That should give him an idea how much he needs.

 

And please tell him to try to be realistic. I remember a guy who visited Thailand two or three times a year. He regularly rung the bell, most of the time not just in one bar per night. I guess it happened very seldom that he spent less than 1,000USD per night. And then he planned to retire and he had a budget of 60k THB per month in mind...

 

dumb as a brick eh? 

On 1/7/2021 at 11:32 PM, advancebooking said:

I told him he should have budget of 100k a month minimum. If he is aged around 50 and lives to 80 then he might need 36 million

I live happily enough on 40kbht/month.

That's supporting a Thai women, daughter at university, son at junior school, and paying the mortgage on my 3 bedroom house.

No need to budget, the pension arrives every month.

 

Although when I arrived at 52, my drinking and womanising pushed my spend up to 60kbht/month

2 hours ago, Pilotman said:

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

How much did he spent as a short term tourist?

That should give him an idea how much he needs.

 

And please tell him to try to be realistic. I remember a guy who visited Thailand two or three times a year. He regularly rung the bell, most of the time not just in one bar per night. I guess it happened very seldom that he spent less than 1,000USD per night. And then he planned to retire and he had a budget of 60k THB per month in mind...

 

dumb as a brick eh? 

Actually no. The guy was well educated and had a good job.

But as we all know that is no guarantee that the brain also works well in Thailand.

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Actually no. The guy was well educated and had a good job.

But as we all know that is no guarantee that the brain also works well in Thailand.

None of our brains work well here,  it's one of the many advantages of living in Thailand, you can get by very well with using no more than  50% of your brain power.