How Do You Make A Living In Thailand?

[qwertz]

P.S. Blizz. Just noticed, I'm on the verge of my 1000th post. Without being banned. See what you can achieve by being nice to people?

[JimsKnight]

Yup! I heard exactly the same thing in Bangla Road back in 2001! Two low-life farang Brits, rambling on and on about the way to live forever in Thailand is to get work as English Teachers! Don't know whether they managed it but odds on that they did!

[qwertz]

Yup! I heard exactly the same thing in Bangla Road back in 2001! Two low-life farang Brits, rambling on and on about the way to live forever in Thailand is to get work as English Teachers! Don't know whether they managed it but odds on that they did!

Sounds like the two I knew, now offering lightning TEFL courses somewhere behind the Patong Merlin. In the land of the blind a one eyed man can be king.

Extract from conversation beteen 2 TEFL students in bar.

" 'Ey up Skags, managed the ackers for a ticket then. 'ow's things in't Pool."

"Kin deadly, Adge, deadly. So what's the score then on this TEFL thingy?"

" 's a walkover bro. Kin tutors are pig ignorant, can't talk sense when they're sober"

" Yeah, but I mean the kin teachin' after, right? You don't get paid for doing nowt, know what I mean?

" Course tha does Skags, that's why I'm 'ere innit. Ax Franz 'ere. E's a German, not learned English isself yet and the Thais think e's a farang. Ha ha."

" But they can read and write, right? I mean the Thais, English, know what I mean?

" Nay lad, they don't understand a bloody word. Read and write? That's advanced stuff that is."

" That's a relief, I can't either. Are you getting 'em in or what? I'm skint. Anyway, where's the crack 'ere."

Edited May 15, 2007 by qwertz

[kankaroo]

Well, IMHO you should make the most out of the border runs and just transport large quantities of red pills back with you each time - as much as you can get yer hands on. Then just peddle them on the streets/schools/bars etc - VIOLA

PS : that was a joke BTW, but seriously I have ended up skint in Thailand not once but twice (but never again) and it was shi*e seriously so!!!!!!!!!

Good Luck

[blizzard]

i think the real reason farngs become teacher is becoz they can oogle uni girls all day.

what were the administrators thinking when they made up the dress code for coeds?

tight skirts that whenever a girl goes up a long flight of stairs she will make sure it is hard for thai boys to cam her undies.

equally tight fitting blouses that at certain angles expose her chest area to thai boys............lol.

is this what higher education is in thailand..............god i lub it.

[jeebusjones]

i think the real reason farngs become teacher is becoz they can oogle uni girls all day.

what were the administrators thinking when they made up the dress code for coeds?

tight skirts that whenever a girl goes up a long flight of stairs she will make sure it is hard for thai boys to cam her undies.

equally tight fitting blouses that at certain angles expose her chest area to thai boys............lol.

is this what higher education is in thailand..............god i lub it.

You're probably onto something here... But I doubt most teachers work at universities.

Anyway it's pretty off topic. I'm dying to know, Blizzard, how do you make your living here?

[blizzard]

i got real lucky in usa real estate market. not necessary to make living here..............lol.

im one of those who just waits for checks to come in the mail. and if you do things right they actually do show up.

[jayjayjayjay]

i got real lucky in usa real estate market. not necessary to make living here..............lol.

im one of those who just waits for checks to come in the mail. and if you do things right they actually do show up.

You guys want to get back on topic! Toptuan, Qwertz and Blizzard, I dont think your help out!

[Samuian]

.... I gross about 2.5 k € for a 21 hour week and it's comfortable work. ...

2.5 K a week ?????? 10 K a month? as a teacher? For just 5 hrs, a day? I think some of the posters in this thread are taking people for a ride!

Sure, not everyoneis on a pension fund already, or is raking in dividend checks... there are still people out there who have to make a livin' one way or the other - not everyone is born with a golden poon in his mouth!

my deepest regards to all the people out there who still try - try hard and keep things moving!

[jeebusjones]

^^ In all fairness, I think he meant to say 2.5k € per month, working a 21 hour week. Am I correct, Qwertz?

[Maigo6]

I wish I had the patience to teach English...

I could get by on an English teachers money, I own my own car / motorcycle, house, no rent or monthly payments, I just don't think I'm teacher material.

I could never teach really young kids as I have no patience, and I could never teach 16 - 17 year olds for the same reason.

Good luck to those that can.

Though I do seem to have patience with my g/f's Sister and her friends when it comes to helping them with their English. I doubt I could do it for a living though.

[qwertz]

I wish I had the patience to teach English...

I could get by on an English teachers money, I own my own car / motorcycle, house, no rent or monthly payments, I just don't think I'm teacher material.

I could never teach really young kids as I have no patience, and I could never teach 16 - 17 year olds for the same reason.

Good luck to those that can.

Though I do seem to have patience with my g/f's Sister and her friends when it comes to helping them with their English. I doubt I could do it for a living though.

Respect, maigo, it's good when you can admit that, unlike a lot of folks who really believed it was a soft option and are now visiting therapists. I wouldn't entertain a teaching job there without an offer of at least the usual going rate. The rate there is peanuts and reflects the expected standards. A good teacher here woudn't turn out for less than 200,000B per month. Okay, living is cheaper in LOS but I'd reckon 50,000B is breadline for a farang.

[bruceboy]

what kind of business you got boy, we good at helping guys with "businesses"

I have several agricultural concerns in Thailand. I have invested heavily but am still awaiting financial returns.

[lazeeboy]

what kind of business you got boy, we good at helping guys with "businesses"

I have several agricultural concerns in Thailand. I have invested heavily but am still awaiting financial returns.

used to make a living building and selling houses ,lets hope that picks up again soon

[Ulysses G.]

my point is that i dont feel that the majority of people (farang)teaching english in thailand are doing it for the love of teaching, but they are doing it because its the only option,but i'm sure there are exceptions.

I was a teacher because I had no choice - and not a very good one for most of my "career".

It took me a few years to really get a grasp on the subject and how to teach it effectively even though I took the RSA Celta Course and a shorter one shortly after I started teaching. The funny thing is that I think I actually got to be pretty good towards the end, but then I got a gig that would actually pay the bills and that was the end of that.

[pokoal2000]

I really don’t know why you all saying that teaching English is hard job with little money. I have been teaching here for two years, with working permit , teachers licence and no problem with visa.its great job, nice kids and money is enough for decent living. I don’t get any money from England. It all depends what you want, I have nice house, great garden, sea around the corner, good wife. I live better then my teacher friends in UK. It all really comes to what you want from life.

[pokoal2000]

50 000 baht is a breadline for farangs?? What makes you that you are that much better then Thais? Most Thai teachers at my school get 10 000 baht a month or less and they still live on that. You can live quite well on 30 000.

[qwertz]

Sorry, correction to my earlier post, I meant 2.5K€ a month from 21 hours per week.

Pokoal, I know a Thai can live on 10,000 a month.

However, a farang without a Thai to do the shopping and negotiating for him will be charged farang (i.e. tourist) prices.

I quoted 50,000 as a comfortable figure to live as a farang over there.

Edited May 20, 2007 by qwertz

[torito]

Sorry, correction to my earlier post, I meant 2.5K€ a month from 21 hours per week.

Pokoal, I know a Thai can live on 10,000 a month.

However, a farang without a Thai to do the shopping and negotiating for him will be charged farang (i.e. tourist) prices.

I quoted 50,000 as a comfortable figure to live as a farang over there.

This is a reasonable amount for a farang.

> 6 - 12k rent (you an find a services apartment room for 6k, or a room for 5k/month in Sukumvit)

> 3 - 8k transport (100THB a day is use buses and BTS)

> 6 - 15k eating (200-500BHT/day, but can be far less if eating local)

> 4 - 15 leasure (3.5k for weekends)

My guess is that a farang can not live reasonable with less than 20K, but not necessarely. A good spender and casanova may be short with 50k a month.

So I would guess that any activity that gives you over 20k allows you to survive. Now what activity?....the most incredible easy one is teaching as almost anybody can teach in Thailand. There is a huge demand, and I guess it will increase with the time as this country needs to be English speaking if wants to be competitive in Asia.

The other alternative is a business, but you need more than 1-2 millions to get one viable, and the profit for this investment may just be in the lower range.

[qwertz]

Right, torito but the pay for teaching sounds attractive until you have to earn it.

A warning to all aspiring teachers - a boring class can make your day very long and hard.

Motivation and interest are not something you can teach unless you're very experienced and a hard worker.

That's why I cut my hours to accommodate only selected classes and I'm glad I did.

Teaching over there is maybe okay for for younger folks with a lot of energy to burn.

But I'm getting lazier as I get older and I'm looking for an easy option, which teaching is not.

Anyway, as an interpreter, it's not first line for me and I wouldn't teach over there for the usual TEFL rates.

BTW, Torito, Spanish is popular in England. You might make a little beer money teaching there.

[MTW]

Getting back to the original post, "how do you make your rice and curry?" ... I make it from investment money only. In the three years I have lived in Thailand I have never earned any money here, or worked anywhere in the world.

Re how much do you need to live in Thailand questions that have come up: this seems to depend a lot on what your standard of acceptable living is, where you live, and how long you plan to stay here when you plan your budget.

I have noticed on various threads, people discussing their cost of living. And these costs leave out many things, which IF you are only planning to stay here for 1 or 2 years, you can get away with. People here for the short term don't talk about many expenses that surely we all have. They mention only rent, utilities, food, drinking, some talk about girls, and usually public transport costs.

Not many talk about the cost of getting whatever visas you need, about buying clothes, I happen to have 4 dogs, and 3 parrots, and I know many farang who live here long term have pets. How about your maid, your laundry, the cost of buying furniture, autos, doing house repairs, gym memberships, golf, farang magazines, UBC, cosmetics, spa teatments, massage, a ticket to go "home" every 1 or 2 years, vitamins, drugs in the pharmacy, dog grooming, vet bills, new computers, insurance for medical, home, car, car repairs, gas, the gardener, vacations, loans to Thai people, legal bills, phone calls outside Thailand, medical bills, language lessons, etc.

If you only plan to live here in the short term, you can go without many of these things for a while. But if you are here for the long run, you need to consider all of these things. Have you tried to buy a decent set of sheets for a king size bed here??? That alone will cost you more than an English teacher makes in a month.

If you actually live a full life here, it is not so cheap, as some things cost much more than in our own countries. And, if you live here long term, you will probably buy some things from your own country because they are not available here.

[philliphn]

Some advice for you OP. You are a very young man. It is the time in your life where you should have gotten an education and have begun some kind of career. Yes, you will probably have to work hard. Their is more competition by more people for less resources than ever before. You will have to put your time in, in the grind. It is true that most of us have not had jobs that we loved. Most people really have not! We had responsibilities, had to pay the bills, and make our way in the world the best that we could. We tried to do the best we could with whatever oppourtunities we had such as they were. We saved as much as we could over the long years. Some of us were fortunate enough to earn pensions. We stuck it out. For me it has been difficult. I have a job working with the worst elements of society. In 3 years, I will have earned my pension. I also have managed to save a fair amount of money. If I had attempted to acomplish all that in Thailand, it would likely have been impossible. The years would have been wasted. I would never get them back. You don't usually make money in Thailand. However, you are ahead of the "game" in some ways. You have discovered Thailand at a young age. You know life can be better here than where you are from. Work the years ahead, save your money, earn a pension, and invest. Take vacations in Thailand. In the long run you will have the necessary resources to live permanently in Thailand. Don't waste the early years trying to earn a future working in Thailand. Though a few have been able to do that. it is still a few. Thailand will still be here!

Edited May 20, 2007 by philliphn

[qwertz]

MTW and philliphn - amen to that.

How many times when I was younger doing a crap job have I thought - there must be something better than this.

I'm glad I didn't discover LOS earlier, I'm sure it would have screwed up my head and my future big time.

Now I have a solid earner, pension prospects and a safe base to run back to in case things don't work out.

But I had to do 3 years of hard study in Germany to qualify.

You can't just pull down credentials off the internet here and you'll only get good work after you prove you can do it.

Any young German could do the same as me but I'll have no competition in my field until some kid gets wise and sees that 3 years study are insurance for your whole life.

There'll always be a need for interpreters, that's why I zeroed in on the job but there are many other things you can qualify for.

Study is work too and most kids today don't care for that.

[pokoal2000]

I realized now that we live in different kind of Word. Just out of interest. I have been teaching for two years, job is great, kids from 8-14 years are great, no problem at all. Just out of interest I give you my budget:

About

2000 baht a months – food (for two people)

4000 baht a month transport (two people- car and motorbike)

1000 baht a months – house expenditure, electricity etc.

500 bath a month – telephone

500 baht and insurance

1000 bath a month for clothes that is in excess. Tea shirts 99 baht.

Laundry? Have a washing machine

Gardener?.....God fun if you try yourself.

Pet food? They eat leftovers

Dog grooming?????

Maid? = what for? We can clean the house ourselves

Cosmetics? Gym membership? Golf? Spa treatment? What’s that? Nature, sea is free

Farang magazines- have computer, can find any news I want.

Vitamins? There is so much cheap fruit and vegetables, you think you need them?

Language lessons? Wife is a Thai teacher, but I think I am getting to old, my memory is slipping

[torito]

I realized now that we live in different kind of Word.

'pokoal2000' , I would give the "Mother of the year" award. .

...cool, you can teach some farangs in here a little bit about modesty! ..different worlds are real too!

[rgs2001uk]

I realized now that we live in different kind of Word. Just out of interest. I have been teaching for two years, job is great, kids from 8-14 years are great, no problem at all. Just out of interest I give you my budget:

About

2000 baht a months – food (for two people)

4000 baht a month transport (two people- car and motorbike)

1000 baht a months – house expenditure, electricity etc.

500 bath a month – telephone

500 baht and insurance

1000 bath a month for clothes that is in excess. Tea shirts 99 baht.

Laundry? Have a washing machine

Gardener?.....God fun if you try yourself.

Pet food? They eat leftovers

Dog grooming?????

Maid? = what for? We can clean the house ourselves

Cosmetics? Gym membership? Golf? Spa treatment? What's that? Nature, sea is free

Farang magazines- have computer, can find any news I want.

Vitamins? There is so much cheap fruit and vegetables, you think you need them?

Language lessons? Wife is a Thai teacher, but I think I am getting to old, my memory is slipping

can you please tell me where, my wife must be going to the wrong shops.

maybe we need to move down your way, that equates to just over 30 baht per day per person.

[pokoal2000]

OK, my mistake should have been about 3000 baht. My wife worked out and it is about 100 baht per day.She does the cooking.We both have a lunch at school, so its really breakfasts and evening meals.

[Okidoki]

OK, my mistake should have been about 3000 baht. My wife worked out and it is about 100 baht per day.She does the cooking.We both have a lunch at school, so its really breakfasts and evening meals.

I do understand that people have different perspectives.

However, why live at that level if you can spend more? I do believe everyone really likes to spoil themselves and their loved ones.

Life is short so make the best out of it.

[qwertz]

Make yourself useful - and prove it.

[Alf Witt]

Rupert, I have not hitherto posted on this subject as I felt that I had nothing to contribute and then, Eureka! The solution became clear.

Apparently Thailand suffers from a recurring incidence of "buffalo sickness" and "unexpected premature buffalo death". What is desperately needed is buffalo carers to tend to these unfortunate animals.

Apply in any bar.