Making Money In Thailand ?

[gharknes]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

[sgunn65]

So, johnson36, do you have kids (if so how old are they?) and how old are you?

Will 150,000 pounds be your total assets if you sell your home?

What line of work are you in?

I think more info will help with responses.

Im 36 yrs old. My wife is 25 yrs. I dont have any kids yet and im not planning to have any in the next 5 years or so. Yes 150k would be my only asset at the moment ! Which is why I would want to invest it to get maximum interest with no risk. 6.61% or 6.56% monthly interest 1 or 2 year bonds sound good for most of the money, probably 120k and the rest in a instant access internet account with around 6.3% interest.

By the way am only looking to rent a very modest house / bungalow with 1 or 2 bedrooms and 30 minutes or so out of town.

I am not looking to rent a millionares pad like most of you probably own.

By the way some of you talk unless someone has several properties rented out + 1 million £'s / 2 million US dollars in the bank and a monthly income in the hundreds of 1000's bahts then its not possible to live anywhere else in the world other than the place you were born.

your taking the hump a bit mate - most are giving good advice - 150K simply aint anough and dont think your going to make

money here - you might and my cap of to you but for every 100 who try 50 scratch a living 49 fail and 1 makes it

up to you but dont think 150k is anywhere neough unless you can work here and your wife can as well in some form of

decent jobs earnign say 40k a month between you

sorry stop kidding yourself and listen a bit to those whove lived here for years and years

I am not in Thailand so I probably don't know anything......but I agree 150K GBP/308K USD is not enough unless you can be earning more somehow in Thailand.

That brings me to my question......How much is enough without earning more in Thailand?

How much is enough? that probably is a good question.

For me, enough is:

Capital 300,000 GBP invested to return 6% minimum, ie. £18,000 per year, or £1,500 per month (97,500 baht). However some funds have been doing 40-80% a year.

UK property holdings, 10 houses at a market value of £1,096,000 exposed to a UK housing market, historical trend since 1970 rising at 100% every 10 years, hopefully. ie long term capital appreciation to out pace inflation.

Monthly rental income, currently £4,550 per month (also rising at inflation) to cover a mortgage debt of £816,000 @ 6.25% ie. 4250 per month, leaving currently £300 per month, converted into baht is = 19,500 baht.

Total worth over the years will be

1. Long term capital appreciation on £1,096,000 @ 100% every 10 years

2. 117,000 bath per month.

So long as interest rates don't do anything silly. personally I expect them to go up another quarter to half percent then dip next year. hopefully inflation will report well by then.

Additionally, alas that is not enougth for me to come thailand and to let go completley of western ties. I will still continue my work, but only six months per year, with the other six months (winter months) in thailand. My work is contracting (temporary) in SAP (computer business software), and pays approx £140,000 (before overtime) per year ie. over six months can save £60,000.

Will keep this going for a few years, before making a decision to cut ties all-together and stay in thailand or return to the UK. Hopefully would know better by then.

I'm 36.

So currently approx 150,000 baht per month so long as I'm fairly safe over the longer term. But I don't know what do to with all that time!

So far the out and out winner of the "Look how clever I am " post. Also the leader in the "I'm considerably richer than you" stakes.

Well fantastic Loadsamoney! That has really helped the OP to know how clever and rich you are. The gratutitous flashing of your wealth was quite fashionable down our way in the late 80's but these things are cyclical so maybe its fashionable again.

Perhaps we can forget the OP and change this thread to a big swinging d**ks contest.

[samran]

stop the flaming please.

Advice one way or other to the OP only please.

[SARDINES]

Hi Johnson,

moving here, making a living, etc is possible. Yes, there are high risks but still possible. The Thai's have a saying for the entrepreneurs to be successful, you need to be not only "keng" (good/talented) but also "heng" (lgood luck). Sometimes the "heng" is enough but since you can't depend on it...

- I suggest that you don't just come hopping over immediately. Do your homework and have firm business plans of what you plan to do. Come over and visit and study the market however many times it requires for you to be sure of the facts and figures of what you are going to be doing.... DO YOUR HOMEWORK... this is imperative.

I am also a trader and I do understand that you have to take chances. Try to make those as much calculated risks as possible. For me, a 50/50 chance doesn't cut it. If I wager it 70/30, I'll consider, if 80/20 or above, I go for it.

- If your interested in trading, you can use Thailand as a base, but don't limit your trade considering only Thai oigin products. There are definitely high possibilities in Thailand's neighboring countries that if you compare to Thailand, you can can practically call them new frontiers. Find your niche.

- You mentioned buying cars off the auctions. I don't know the exact details but I have general info. on the business. Difficult to get into but if you can, not a bad business, but the scope of this business in Thailand is wider than you might know of.

Most of the folks buying from the auctions are used car dealers. That is the main line of business. Most of these dealers are Thai and know each other. I hear that they pretty much make agreements amongst themselves for the majority of the cars up for auction before the auction takes place of who gets which car and at what price so they don't inflate the prices of the targets.

These cars go to their used car lot. This is only one source of their supply chain. They also have "scouts" who drive all over the city every day looking for used cars up for sale by the owners as well as "walk-ins". The average Gross Margins are about 15-20%. This is the info. I have from my good friend who is doing this business.

I can go on in details, but I won't at this point because as you can see, it doesn't sound like the business you might be interested in once you take into consideration the very large investment you require to put up front. You'd end up needing most of the money you've got.

So I go back and suggest that you might do investigating in alternative business such as Trading or Services, etc, etc.. However, the important point I am tryin to make is make sure you have firm plans of what business you will be doing BEFORE you pack everything up and leave here and (I stress again) do your homework!

good luck

sardines

[bendix]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

So, I repeat, where are the 10% tax free bank accounts in Singapore?

[Heng]

The Thai's have a saying for the entrepreneurs to be successful, you need to be not only "keng" (good/talented) but also "heng" (lgood luck). Sometimes the "heng" is enough but since you can't depend on it...

They do say you need to make your own Heng in life.

[ashacat]

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

I was pretty confused by that link as well. There is nothing on there to hint at 10% pa accounts, just a load of out of date rubbish.

[johnson36]

Hi Johnson,

moving here, making a living, etc is possible. Yes, there are high risks but still possible. The Thai's have a saying for the entrepreneurs to be successful, you need to be not only "keng" (good/talented) but also "heng" (lgood luck). Sometimes the "heng" is enough but since you can't depend on it...

- I suggest that you don't just come hopping over immediately. Do your homework and have firm business plans of what you plan to do. Come over and visit and study the market however many times it requires for you to be sure of the facts and figures of what you are going to be doing.... DO YOUR HOMEWORK... this is imperative.

I am also a trader and I do understand that you have to take chances. Try to make those as much calculated risks as possible. For me, a 50/50 chance doesn't cut it. If I wager it 70/30, I'll consider, if 80/20 or above, I go for it.

- If your interested in trading, you can use Thailand as a base, but don't limit your trade considering only Thai oigin products. There are definitely high possibilities in Thailand's neighboring countries that if you compare to Thailand, you can can practically call them new frontiers. Find your niche.

- You mentioned buying cars off the auctions. I don't know the exact details but I have general info. on the business. Difficult to get into but if you can, not a bad business, but the scope of this business in Thailand is wider than you might know of.

Most of the folks buying from the auctions are used car dealers. That is the main line of business. Most of these dealers are Thai and know each other. I hear that they pretty much make agreements amongst themselves for the majority of the cars up for auction before the auction takes place of who gets which car and at what price so they don't inflate the prices of the targets.

These cars go to their used car lot. This is only one source of their supply chain. They also have "scouts" who drive all over the city every day looking for used cars up for sale by the owners as well as "walk-ins". The average Gross Margins are about 15-20%. This is the info. I have from my good friend who is doing this business.

I can go on in details, but I won't at this point because as you can see, it doesn't sound like the business you might be interested in once you take into consideration the very large investment you require to put up front. You'd end up needing most of the money you've got.

So I go back and suggest that you might do investigating in alternative business such as Trading or Services, etc, etc.. However, the important point I am tryin to make is make sure you have firm plans of what business you will be doing BEFORE you pack everything up and leave here and (I stress again) do your homework!

good luck

sardines

Cheers sardines.

ill take all that onboard.

I would like to be selling something through the internet. I like selling on Ebay, its just one massive world wide shop and if you find the right products at the right buying price you can make a lot of money.

The thing is the people living in thailand and making a lot of money from Ebay are not going to post a list on here of what they buy, where they buy it from and how much profit they make.

I would not neither.

Its a case of doing your homework and finding something new, and keep finding something new as others are always following and you cant have the whole of the internet to yourself.

PS: if anyone does have a list of things that do sell and make a good profit please PM it to me along with an address of where I can buy from, how much they cost and the person I need to ask for to do the best price

[gharknes]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

So, I repeat, where are the 10% tax free bank accounts in Singapore?

fixed deposit rates on this page, what is it you don't understand ?

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Bankingfinancefdint.htm

[seykota]

I do not understand where it shows a current rate of 10% pa or infact 10% pa at any time. The information is also a tad out of date.

Fixed Deposit Interest Rates

Monthly interest rates (overview)

1983 - 1989 1990 - 1999 2000 - 2006

Updated on 20 Feb 2006

[kdvsn]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

So, I repeat, where are the 10% tax free bank accounts in Singapore?

fixed deposit rates on this page, what is it you don't understand ?

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Bankingfinancefdint.htm

Those rates are not per month they are per year.

[bendix]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

So, I repeat, where are the 10% tax free bank accounts in Singapore?

fixed deposit rates on this page, what is it you don't understand ?

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Bankingfinancefdint.htm

Those rates are not per month they are per year.

Hahahahahahaa

Priceless. Please don't tell me he thought those rates are per month? What a financial wizard.

dear old gharkness, those are the rates you get PER YEAR.

[ashacat]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

So, I repeat, where are the 10% tax free bank accounts in Singapore?

fixed deposit rates on this page, what is it you don't understand ?

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Bankingfinancefdint.htm

Those rates are not per month they are per year.

Hahahahahahaa

Priceless. Please don't tell me he thought those rates are per month? What a financial wizard.

dear old gharkness, those are the rates you get PER YEAR.

Nice one mate.

[Edonista]

Dear Johnson,

If you live in Thailand and "go local" without squandering your money on go-go girls you will be surely able to live on much less then 52,000 baht/month.

You have to.In fact you cannot be sure that interest rate on your principal will always be 6%. It could go lower. The exchange rate also could get worse. And inflation erodes your principal every year. You might find out that your 6% GBP rate is actually negative when taking into account inflation and baht appreciation.You cannot rely on extra income coming from business in Thailand as Thai laws for farangs are persecutories to say the least.

So you have to increase your principal nominal value by saving every possible satang.

Meanwhile watch around to spot some job/business opportunity, both for you and your wife. But do not expect great incomes and lifestyles.

[Naam]

You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

you'll also find banks in SIN which will give the same or even better rates on AUD or NZD which banks in Oz or NZ pay.

[bendix]

You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

you'll also find banks in SIN which will give the same or even better rates on AUD or NZD which banks in Oz or NZ pay.

Examples Dr Naam?

I'm not doubting you cos I know you make a point of knowing this kind of thing. But - for the record - I'm currently getting 6.15% for instant access with an online account with Citibank Australia, and 7.5% for a 30 day term deposit at the Bank of New Zealand.

Do you know Singapore NZ/Ozzie dollar accounts that can do better? I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

[johnson36]

Anybody think this was a good deal for 16000 per month ? ( its already rented now )

http://www.thailand-property-guide.com/ind...;PropID=0003369

[bkk_mike]

I'm going to give my two cents worth here...

You say your wife has been in the UK 4 years. Assuming she came into the country on a settlement visa initially, and without 6 month trips back to Thailand, I think it's only one more year before she can apply for a UK passport (and then never having to get a visa to travel to the UK). The ILR status that I'm assuming she has at the moment will disappear after 2 years out of the country, and you'd have to apply for a visa simply to go there on holiday. (and visa's aren't free, and go up each year by what seems like a lot more than inflation.)

Also, you say you've got a lot of Equity in your property, but it's not 100% Equity, so you wouldn't make enough money just by renting it out.

I would suggest continue working in the UK until your wife gets the UK passport, and try to pay down as much of the mortgage as you can (like those TV programmes where people scrimp and save to pay off their mortgage in 12 months). She can keep the Thai nationality at the same time as getting the UK nationality - then come out here, using the slightly increased income from the rental of the property. (i.e. presumably you'd have less to pay out each month on the mortgage after interest). You could even remortgage if you want to have some cash in hand to set up with, just allow for the lower monthly income from the UK because of the increased mortgage payments.

The advantage of living on the interest on the property you're renting out is hopefully that the property is also an appreciating asset, and the income on it should also increase over time with inflation. - i.e. If you put 150K in a bank and live on 100% of the interest, in 10 years time you'd have exactly the same UK income - the interest on 150K - and if interest rates have gone down, you'll be getting a lot less. - If you're renting out a property for £550/month now, hopefully it would be renting out for a bit more in 10 years time, and certainly not for less, and also, hopefully the property would be worth more too.

Add in the security of keeping the place in the UK as a fallback (If you do have kids - free fairly decent schooling (postcode dependent maybe), healthcare, and child benefit may draw you back).

[capco1]

Anybody think this was a good deal for 16000 per month ? ( its already rented now )

http://www.thailand-property-guide.com/ind...;PropID=0003369

I thought it was a REAL good deal! showed it to my Thai wife and she just laughed. She said she can get the same house for about 5K baht per month.......She says anything on the net is geared to farangs...

[bendix]

I thought it was a REAL good deal! showed it to my Thai wife and she just laughed. She said she can get the same house for about 5K baht per month.......She says anything on the net is geared to farangs...

OK . .here's a challenge. If she can find a house like that for 5000, I'll pay her six months rent as a finders fee.

[blizzard]

if thai girl say can get for 5k then can get for 5k.............lol.

[gharknes]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

So, I repeat, where are the 10% tax free bank accounts in Singapore?

fixed deposit rates on this page, what is it you don't understand ?

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Bankingfinancefdint.htm

Those rates are not per month they are per year.

Hahahahahahaa

Priceless. Please don't tell me he thought those rates are per month? What a financial wizard.

dear old gharkness, those are the rates you get PER YEAR.

Nice one mate.

those links where posted here buy someone else a while ago, it clearly states per month, so don't blame me, that aside there are many finacial intitutions that will give a handsome rate for money tied up for 12 months or more.

'What a financial wizard" we could do without comments like this. We're not all the real deal like you obviously are.

[Edonista]

None whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. Singapore is a low interest rate jurisdiction. 10% my arse.

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_banks.htm

Yes, fascinating website but please direct me to where you get 10% interest rates in Singapore. I checked the current DBS website for example and S$ accounts are struggling to get 1%. You can get Oz or Kiwi dollar accounts in Singapore paying around 5% but that's much lower than you would get in Australia and NZ for the same thing.

So, I repeat, where are the 10% tax free bank accounts in Singapore?

fixed deposit rates on this page, what is it you don't understand ?

http://www.getformesingapore.com/Bankingfinancefdint.htm

Those rates are not per month they are per year.

Hahahahahahaa

Priceless. Please don't tell me he thought those rates are per month? What a financial wizard.

dear old gharkness, those are the rates you get PER YEAR.

Nice one mate.

those links where posted here buy someone else a while ago, it clearly states per month, so don't blame me, that aside there are many finacial intitutions that will give a handsome rate for money tied up for 12 months or more.

'What a financial wizard" we could do without comments like this. We're not all the real deal like you obviously are.

The "monthly" in that web page means that the rates are monitored on a monthly basis, but they are actually per year.

[johnson36]

I thought it was a REAL good deal! showed it to my Thai wife and she just laughed. She said she can get the same house for about 5K baht per month.......She says anything on the net is geared to farangs...

OK . .here's a challenge. If she can find a house like that for 5000, I'll pay her six months rent as a finders fee.

Get me one aswell for 5000 and ill the mates if they want one

[ArranP]

So, johnson36, do you have kids (if so how old are they?) and how old are you?

Will 150,000 pounds be your total assets if you sell your home?

What line of work are you in?

I think more info will help with responses.

Im 36 yrs old. My wife is 25 yrs. I dont have any kids yet and im not planning to have any in the next 5 years or so. Yes 150k would be my only asset at the moment ! Which is why I would want to invest it to get maximum interest with no risk. 6.61% or 6.56% monthly interest 1 or 2 year bonds sound good for most of the money, probably 120k and the rest in a instant access internet account with around 6.3% interest.

By the way am only looking to rent a very modest house / bungalow with 1 or 2 bedrooms and 30 minutes or so out of town.

I am not looking to rent a millionares pad like most of you probably own.

By the way some of you talk unless someone has several properties rented out + 1 million £'s / 2 million US dollars in the bank and a monthly income in the hundreds of 1000's bahts then its not possible to live anywhere else in the world other than the place you were born.

your taking the hump a bit mate - most are giving good advice - 150K simply aint anough and dont think your going to make

money here - you might and my cap of to you but for every 100 who try 50 scratch a living 49 fail and 1 makes it

up to you but dont think 150k is anywhere neough unless you can work here and your wife can as well in some form of

decent jobs earnign say 40k a month between you

sorry stop kidding yourself and listen a bit to those whove lived here for years and years

I am not in Thailand so I probably don't know anything......but I agree 150K GBP/308K USD is not enough unless you can be earning more somehow in Thailand.

That brings me to my question......How much is enough without earning more in Thailand?

How much is enough? that probably is a good question.

For me, enough is:

Capital 300,000 GBP invested to return 6% minimum, ie. £18,000 per year, or £1,500 per month (97,500 baht). However some funds have been doing 40-80% a year.

UK property holdings, 10 houses at a market value of £1,096,000 exposed to a UK housing market, historical trend since 1970 rising at 100% every 10 years, hopefully. ie long term capital appreciation to out pace inflation.

Monthly rental income, currently £4,550 per month (also rising at inflation) to cover a mortgage debt of £816,000 @ 6.25% ie. 4250 per month, leaving currently £300 per month, converted into baht is = 19,500 baht.

Total worth over the years will be

1. Long term capital appreciation on £1,096,000 @ 100% every 10 years

2. 117,000 bath per month.

So long as interest rates don't do anything silly. personally I expect them to go up another quarter to half percent then dip next year. hopefully inflation will report well by then.

Additionally, alas that is not enougth for me to come thailand and to let go completley of western ties. I will still continue my work, but only six months per year, with the other six months (winter months) in thailand. My work is contracting (temporary) in SAP (computer business software), and pays approx £140,000 (before overtime) per year ie. over six months can save £60,000.

Will keep this going for a few years, before making a decision to cut ties all-together and stay in thailand or return to the UK. Hopefully would know better by then.

I'm 36.

So currently approx 150,000 baht per month so long as I'm fairly safe over the longer term. But I don't know what do to with all that time!

So far the out and out winner of the "Look how clever I am " post. Also the leader in the "I'm considerably richer than you" stakes.

Well fantastic Loadsamoney! That has really helped the OP to know how clever and rich you are. The gratutitous flashing of your wealth was quite fashionable down our way in the late 80's but these things are cyclical so maybe its fashionable again.

Perhaps we can forget the OP and change this thread to a big swinging d**ks contest.

Looking through the figures, the message I try to convey is:

1. stay invested in the UK property market, over the long term it is important to remain in it, because although in the short-term there is an attractive gain however over the long-term it would be so much more difficult to buy back in at a later date and if you would have stayed in-an even more attractive gain! think-about-it.

2. what-ever plan you make be prepared to move both ways, contemplate both scenarios, moving to thailand and returning to the UK if you needed to. Make as sure as you can, you are ok on both these scenarios

[en184]

It is never easy to live off assets alone. I think you would need about 500,000 pounds invested in good dividend stocks and rental property to live in pattaya. In addition, it would probably increase your chances if you own a business in pattaya, which provides some kind of income. Areas I was thinking of include - renovation business, bar, chemist, coffee shop in central location, moneylenders,..

The problem with fixed income, is that the principal and income fall with inflation (since the money is not reinvested), so you still need to work after some years.

The risk is suicide, as returning to the UK or whereever is difficult once you been in pattaya for a while.

You also need to sort out the visa issue, which probably requires an investor visa (ie: 10m bhat invested in thailand).

So, johnson36, do you have kids (if so how old are they?) and how old are you?

Will 150,000 pounds be your total assets if you sell your home?

What line of work are you in?

I think more info will help with responses.

Im 36 yrs old. My wife is 25 yrs. I dont have any kids yet and im not planning to have any in the next 5 years or so. Yes 150k would be my only asset at the moment ! Which is why I would want to invest it to get maximum interest with no risk. 6.61% or 6.56% monthly interest 1 or 2 year bonds sound good for most of the money, probably 120k and the rest in a instant access internet account with around 6.3% interest.

By the way am only looking to rent a very modest house / bungalow with 1 or 2 bedrooms and 30 minutes or so out of town.

I am not looking to rent a millionares pad like most of you probably own.

By the way some of you talk unless someone has several properties rented out + 1 million £'s / 2 million US dollars in the bank and a monthly income in the hundreds of 1000's bahts then its not possible to live anywhere else in the world other than the place you were born.

[keestha]

It is never easy to live off assets alone. I think you would need about 500,000 pounds invested in good dividend stocks and rental property to live in pattaya.

500,000 pounds, let's say it brings 6% interest which would be 30,000 pounds per year, which translates to 2,010,000 Baht per year, which is 167,500 Baht per month. Yes I think you can survive on this, and many of those reading this get by with considerably less. Discussing how much money per month is needed to live doesn't make much sense, people's situations and lifestyles just vary too much. The guy with the fat expat salary maybe thinks that 100,000 Baht per month is barely enough to scrape by, whilst the English teacher gets by on 28,000 Baht per month.

[LaoPo]

Ive been married to my Thai wife 3 years, she has lived with me in England for over 4 years.

I am fed up with the weather here and am hoping to move out to Bangkok in the next year.

Ive thought about renting out my house in the UK and renting in Bkk but what I will get in rent for my house after paying a % to an agent and paying buildings insurance etc just will not be worth the hassle.

I think the best idea is to sell it. In doing this I will be able to bank £150000 and at the moment it is possible to get 6.25% interest in an intant access internet account this would give me about £781 ( 52000 baht ) per month. I am looking to rent a cheap house on the outskirts of Bkk in areas such as Nonthaburi / Taliang Chan / Bang Na (open to ideas)

Basically you have indeed 2 options, IF you and your wife wish to relocate to Thailand:

1. Rent out your house

2. Sell your house.

With #1 you need a good agent but be prepared people, renting your house, disappear...leaving you in trouble for a few months until you find a new tenant. It happens...I had tenants disappear for what ever reasons; yes, I was left with prepaid money but nevertheless, it's a headache if you're far away.

With #2 it's a question of: is the market at it's highest point or not, selling now?

I would sell now or very near future.

Why?

"... the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said that UK house prices had risen by 204% in the past decade compared with a 94% increase in average wages." *

How much further will house prices in the UK go up ? Who knows, but I fear that the top is there already OR very cose. After that the market will go down.

Based on that scenario I would sell the house NOW (or near future) leave my money in the UK and relocate to LOS and see from there WHAT to do next but maybe you have a plan...?

150.000 Pounds is some 42 Million Baht and it's easier spent than made -again-.

* http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6549299.stm

Good luck

LaoPo

[A_Traveller]

150.000 Pounds is some 42 Million Baht and it's easier spent than made -again-.

150,000 GBP is equivalent {off shore} to @ 9.1 million THB.

Regards

[LaoPo]

150.000 Pounds is some 42 Million Baht and it's easier spent than made -again-.

150,000 GBP is equivalent {off shore} to @ 9.1 million THB.

Regards

I stand corrected. I misread the calculation on my Vista screen and missed a few millions To be correct, it read: 10.242.049.598 Baht

But, you're right....as I was some 30+ million wrong...

Mea Culpa!

LaoPo