Are you still able to live comfortably?

[georgegeorgia]

46 minutes ago, Swimfan said:

You can claim rental assistance on top of the pension as a separate supplement. I believe it’s about an additional $65 a week 

i dont think you get the rental supplement or utilities supplement on the aussie pension if you are overseas,i think its just the normal pension $890 a fortnight or whatever it is

Edited October 2, 2021 by georgegeorgia

[RafPinto]

20 hours ago, topt said:

Kudos to you and your partner. Unfortunately my partner spends more than that a month on herself alone.........not including living expenses

Wowww. What is she spending the money on?

That's more than most Thais earn in a month.

[RafPinto]

2 hours ago, Johnny Mac said:

30k don't think so. Your rent and bills will be circa 20 if you want anything passing as comfortable.. I'd say a tramp as opposed to a schmuck.

Rent a room at:

4k a month

Electricity and water: 500 (no aircon)

Food (Thai) 3x50Baht a day= 4,500

Phone package incl internet: 300

Cheap motorbike: fuel 500

A few beer from 7/11

 

You could live with 10k a month

[georgegeorgia]

As this is becoming more all Asia type forum i was talking today to my filipino girlfriend here in Australia about this topic and she said you could live great in the Phillipines on this amount thus the large amount of Aussie pensioners apparently living there ,so times are changing i guess

[Johnny Mac]

22 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Rent a room at:

4k a month

Electricity and water: 500 (no aircon)

Food (Thai) 3x50Baht a day= 4,500

Phone package incl internet: 300

Cheap motorbike: fuel 500

A few beer from 7/11

 

You could live with 10k a month

Haha! You actually used the word ''live''

 

Popping you on ignore just for saying that.

[LosLobo]

19 hours ago, EvetsKram said:

Aussie aged pension is nowhere near 50k, I was looking at it yesterday.  I'm still a few years from it

Now it's 47,930 baht a month ????

[KhunLA]

Living on 50k a month should be easy.  I'm living on about 30k a month, (non-sipper) and we don't deny  (myself & wife) ourselves anything.

[LosLobo]

4 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Living on 50k a month should be easy.  I'm living on about 30k a month, (non-sipper) and we don't deny  (myself & wife) ourselves anything.

Being a self-confessed non-sipper you obviously deny yourself sipping. ????

[RafPinto]

25 minutes ago, Johnny Mac said:

Haha! You actually used the word ''live''

 

Popping you on ignore just for saying that.

Thanks.

Missing ju too mut.

[georgegeorgia]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Living on 50k a month should be easy.  I'm living on about 30k a month, (non-sipper) and we don't deny  (myself & wife) ourselves anything.

where are you based though? sounds like phillipines?

[EVENKEEL]

2 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Rent a room at:

4k a month

Electricity and water: 500 (no aircon)

Food (Thai) 3x50Baht a day= 4,500

Phone package incl internet: 300

Cheap motorbike: fuel 500

A few beer from 7/11

 

You could live with 10k a month

"Canary Sun" used to post about his grand life pre covid on 10 K/mo in Pattaya.

[georgegeorgia]

18 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

"Canary Sun" used to post about his grand life pre covid on 10 K/mo in Pattaya.

I remember him,must be about 8 years ago  i guess ? 

i think just like glitterman he went back to the UK or wherever he came from,havent seen him since

[EVENKEEL]

15 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

I remember him,must be about 8 years ago  i guess ? 

i think just like glitterman he went back to the UK or wherever he came from,havent seen him since

Yeah, CS walk and biked for entertainment, cooked at home, didn't drink or smoke. It would certainly take a disciplined individual. I probably spend 10K/mo on 7-11 alone ahahaa

[Salerno]

9 hours ago, Swimfan said:

It’s about 45k Baht a month for full singles pension you get some additional supplements if living in the country. You have to remain in the country for the first 2 years of the pension after that it is full portable depending on how many years you worked for. 37 years gives you the full amount out of country. Anything less is paid prorata if you only worked for 25 years then you would only get 25/37 out of country. 

The two years is only relevant for those that have lived overseas i.e. it's to stop people going back at pension age, claiming, and going straight back overseas. If you work/live in Australia until pension age it is portable immediately. If you live overseas and go back a couple of years before pension age it is portable immediately. If you go back a year before pension age it's portable a year after. 

 

The amount of years you work in Australia is irrelevant, it's not based on working it's based on residency (minimum 10 with five consecutive) from the age of 16; 35 years being the full pension (increased from 25 years in 2014).

 

[Leaver]

8 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Rent a room at:

4k a month

Electricity and water: 500 (no aircon)

Food (Thai) 3x50Baht a day= 4,500

Phone package incl internet: 300

Cheap motorbike: fuel 500

A few beer from 7/11

 

You could live with 10k a month

 

That's called, "Living the Dream."  ????  

[Leaver]

 

If you are only on 50,000 baht a month, live in Vietnam like a king, and holiday a few times a year to Pattaya.  

[ozimoron]

8 minutes ago, Leaver said:

 

If you are only on 50,000 baht a month, live in Vietnam like a king, and holiday a few times a year to Pattaya.  

I think that's only practicable if you are American because of the visa issues?

[KhunLA]

8 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Being a self-confessed non-sipper you obviously deny yourself sipping. ????

Not completely, and guess I should have been more specific.  Non alcoholic, as I may have a beer or 3 a month, maybe, rarely 4, so budget wise, 4 X ฿55 = a minimal monthly expense vs 3 or 4+ every day = ฿6000+ a month habit = a major monthly expense.

 

.... where are you based though? sounds like phillipines?

 

No, Prachuap Khiri Khan, and mandatory monthly expenses, rent & utilities < ฿10k (6000 & < 3000), leaves ฿20k to live on.  If you can't live on ฿600+ baht a day, you probably have an issue or 2

Edited October 2, 2021 by KhunLA

[thaibeachlovers]

On 10/2/2021 at 12:07 AM, Denim said:

Well, my wife is currently paranoid about catching covid and spends all day on the sofa watching Korean soaps. Mindless stuff but very low maintenance. Won't even go to do the shopping run at Big C with me , which is good , as if she comes along the bill goes up 50%

Buy an exercise machine for her to use while watching her soaps, or she's going to get fat.

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, Leaver said:

 

That's called, "Living the Dream."  ????  

Hmmmm. For me the dream was outside the room, and the less I spent on the room the more for the dream.

[Mike Teavee]

11 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Hmmmm. For me the dream was outside the room, and the less I spent on the room the more for the dream.

I think if Covid has taught is anything it's the benefit of having a nice place so you don't mind staying at home, I can only imagine how depressing it's been to be stuck in a shoebox sized condo staring at the same 4 walls day after day (Did enough of that when I was working & would do 6 month stretches "Living" in hotels whilst away on projects).

 

Please don't say "Well get out more", 1 there has been nowhere to go & 2 it's normally either too hot or p155ing down with rain. 

 

Nope, would much rather give up a couple of nights out a week & stay in a place where I was happy to chillax at home & if I can't have a room with at least 1 wall between the living room & bedroom then I'd move somewhere where I could.

 

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, Leaver said:

That's called, "Living the Dream."  ????  

Better living that dream here than in the UK.

[jacko45k]

22 hours ago, Pravda said:

The price of insurance will go through the roof for old folks and this is what will make the stay unaffordable for many.

I fear them making health insurance compulsory for those of us on long term extensions here. I believe there is a lot of pressure to make this happen, from the medical services to the insurance companies themselves. And both are terrible deals, good medical services are astronomically expensive, and insurance is a very poor deal, high priced and offering very limited cover and an excess of weasel words.

The solution I would prefer, like the retirement extension itself, would be self insurance, by keeping a lump sum available in the bank. How does insurance of limited value (maybe max of 1 mil, one time, if the cards fall right), costing 65,000-85,000 pa, really compare to the flexibility of money in the bank? No exclusions there.

 

[newnative]

4 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I fear them making health insurance compulsory for those of us on long term extensions here. I believe there is a lot of pressure to make this happen, from the medical services to the insurance companies themselves. And both are terrible deals, good medical services are astronomically expensive, and insurance is a very poor deal, high priced and offering very limited cover and an excess of weasel words.

The solution I would prefer, like the retirement extension itself, would be self insurance, by keeping a lump sum available in the bank. How does insurance of limited value (maybe max of 1 mil, one time, if the cards fall right), costing 65,000-85,000 pa, really compare to the flexibility of money in the bank? No exclusions there.

 

Or, at least have your solution as a second option.  

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, newnative said:

Or, at least have your solution as a second option.  

Of course, someone who has good cover from outside Thailand or their home country must not have this forced upon them. But isn't that the case with Visas like the O-A, O-X these days....is that insurance all Thailand sourced?

[Orinoco]

16 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I remember him,must be about 8 years ago  i guess ? 

i think just like glitterman he went back to the UK or wherever he came from,havent seen him since

Wimbledon, Uk, i think

[Kanada]

On 10/1/2021 at 6:53 PM, Mike Teavee said:

There are 2-3 guys on a popular Pattaya Forum that post regular budget updates on how they live on around 50K pm & they seem to have an ok lifestyle, but I've found that around twice is about the right amount for me & I would really struggle on < 60K.   

 

I think inflation will be a big factor over the coming years, I don't know how the Aussie pension CoL increases work, on paper UK State pensioners are covered by a "Triple-Lock Guarantee" so should get an increase at least in line with inflation BUT UK State Pensions are frozen if you move to Thailand so they actually get nothing (assuming they've told the government that they're living in Thailand which not all do). 

 

 

 

 

[patman30]

my wife and i plus 2 others, 8 dogs and 1 cat and 6 hens
do just fine on 30K/month (house money, travel not included)
of course both of us rarely drink alcohol
but i am a carnivore and eat only meat, mostly beef and lamb
although my wife does eat Thai
we do eat a good bit of dairy, cream, cheese which is also not cheap
although we do not pay rent
we live in nice house with pool and electric is about 5-8k/month, have a well for water (net is paid 1yr in advance, not included)
i literally plan for 500k/year knowing i am over what we need
most months we do not spend all the 30k

it is very easy here to spend more than you need too.

TIP: rent a place with a decent garden,
as others have stated, there are also much cheaper places to live than Thailand.

Edited October 3, 2021 by patman30

[Kanada]

My wife and I don’t have any debt and spend about 40,000 bt a month!

We live on four rai close to Samoeng with 2 dogs and three cats which are an expense with monthly medicine and food (about 3000 bt) but they all have a job to do and work well for us!

We don’t have rent or vehicle payments….just electric, water and two phones and Netflix!

Shes an excellent cook so “groceries” are an expense for us but she’s not big on restaurants and we do grow a lot of fruits and some veggies! We are both gardeners so have to admit we love to buy new flowers and trees…

The biggest difference between us and our friends is we don’t drink or smoke or etc…..

We have a great place to live….2 newer vehicles with gas and insurance etc. and a normal life for us and we do it nicely on 40,000 bt a month….we don’t lack anything at all!

That’s just us….people’s habits and wants and needs are different…toss in a night a week on the town and a car payment and our monthly expense would work at all!

[4MyEgo]

On 10/1/2021 at 5:22 AM, gk10012001 said:

If I had punched out early, i.e. three years ago, I would have been right on the edge of being comfortable and not worrying about the future.  For various reasons, mostly COVID, I kept working, got some huge windfall engineering gigs, and my social security has gone up by 7 % each year. So current expenses and future look like a sure thing... knock on wood.  That Thai baht drop since 2004  of course was drastic for many. 

Respect.

 

I too could have punched out earlier, even though I did at 55 which is much earlier than most, now in my early 60's and enjoying retirement, those few extra years made a huge difference.

 

You really shouldn't stop earning money because you have retired, e.g. the cost of living never stops and if you don't want to dip into your savings, then you keep earning as I do, while your retired.

 

There is nothing wrong with continuing to work and especially if you enjoy the work that you do, that said, even when I retired and invested half of my savings, the other half in the bank earning zero interest (fall back position), I still do take on some work when an old client or referral makes contact, it's an easy 8,000-10,000 baht for an hours work and I probably average 2-3 a month so I would be insane not to continue, although one could say, but you could have planned better and taken on more work, now that would have defeated the purposes of retiring, add to that what I make from my tax free investments, and I can say that in the 11 months of my annual income/expenditure year it has cost me 1,200 baht per month to live here inclusive of everything, even the 10,000 baht per month private health insurance which is a must for me.

 

Some might say but your not making your money grow, well, you take the good with the bad, suffice to say 14% tax free is good figure as far as I am concerned and it pays for my lifestyle here.

 

I could have kept working and earning the 6 figure salary I was making, but I didn't enjoy the pressure/stress/long hours/taxes and cost of living back home, now I earn a stress free comfortable life here, not because I kept a property back home, the opposite, I cashed in and invested half of it to avoid the future and ongoing taxes, remembering no place is perfect, it's how you deal with it, but when you have money, you have choices.

 

64 is still young, keep enjoying working while you can, until you have enough, only advise I would give you if you are looking at moving here to retire is to not buy a house, as that could put you in a capital gains tax nightmare in the future, taxes on rent, land tax, repairs, insurances, etc, etc.

 

The above said, seek out other options for investments that can make your money work for you while your living the retired life here. 

 

I am too young to get the pension, but I couldn't rely or depend on a pension, that would be so restrictive for me.

 

Good luck, and don't let the $ entice you to keep working, make your money work for you, life is too short, we never know when the candle will blow out, so make the most of it NOW !