Who lives on 20k a month ?

[Celsius]

I live on 20k a month.

 

I spend 20k and wife adds another 30k

[scubascuba3]

8 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Flybird is walking distance of tukcom ,gym etc 

That Nirun is too far 

It might have been Pattaya Rungfah Condo 

[CallumWK]

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

IF you own your own residence, then yes, quite easy, and we do in now, on about 17k a month.   

 

Another one of your creative calculations.

 

I assume your EV - solar installation - land and house all came for free?

[pomchop]

3 hours ago, CharlieH said:

I don't but I know of quire a few who do up here in the North.

With no rent I would have some trouble spending 20 k a month in chiang rai....assuming you are only supporting yourself and not a few young ladies in which case forget about it.

[CallumWK]

8 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

No neither is it 9Karot or Pattaya Pad, it's one on the cut through between Sukhumvit and Arunothai 

 

Spanish place

[PJ71]

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I think it's called the OA visa 

 

As for health insurance,self insure and use the Australian system if needed 

 

 

If you have a living budget of 20k p.m then i'm 100% sure that you're too poor to self insure.

[SAFETY FIRST]

10 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

No neither is it 9Karot or Pattaya Pad, it's one on the cut through between Sukhumvit and Arunothai 

Oh OK, maybe that's the Spanish condominium 

[herfiehandbag]

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Ok so I have been envisioning my lifestyle and please I added this word "envisioning" after I saw it written on here so don't qoute me as I don't know the meaning !

 

But I have been thinking that I buy a Flybird Condo  ( Pattaya) and have it beautiful with nice neon colours and clean 

 

Then I own it ....I have 20,000 baht a month now to live on?

 

Can I do it ?

Food shopping ? Where can I shop ? Markets I guess 

Electric should be 1500

 

The problem is....even though I live in Australia I am still not acclimatise to the heat so need Air conditioning although most Flybird have a balcony with a breeze 

I may have to buy several fans 

 

Food bill may be high,I need to eat protein 

Gym I will have to use Tony's ( Pattaya) as it's walking distance 800b a month 

Please tell me how working class this  do it ?

 

Minimum wage ( effectively the standard wage) is about B350 a day. Assuming a 6 day working week that means B9500 a month or so.

 

Plenty of Thais do so.

 

 Don't go to the gym - you don't need a gym to exercise.

 

Don't have aircon but use fans ( I have a moderate size house (4 rooms, hallway and 2 bathrooms and my electricity is about B600 a month).

 

If you buy Western food from city supermarkets they are expensive - shop in local markets.

 

It is doable, you can live quite comfortably. After putting my daughter through university and paying off debts my ex wife left me with that (20K) is about what I have for the month

[Olmate]

20k month is less than half the OAP, Why dont you qualify, or whats the reasoning GG?? 

[Lacessit]

IMO, no. 20 K baht/month leaves absolutely no wiggle room for unforeseen events, such as illness or accidents.

 

Let's say the OP develops pneumonia, and needs hospitalisation. Even in a government hospital, a couple of days will be 7000 baht, which digs a pretty fair-sized hole in his budget.

 

Or he buys an apartment cheaply, in an old condo. The management slaps a 100,000 baht assessment on every owner for urgent repairs, because the last juristic person took off with the maintenance budget. 5 months living expenses gone. Old condos are cheap for a reason.

 

If he does not have the 800K for a retirement visa, a dodgy agent will be wanting 20 - 30K for their services.

[KhunLA]

22 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

 

Another one of your creative calculations.

 

I assume your EV - solar installation - land and house all came for free?

Did you read the OP ???

... "Can you live on 20,000 baht per month if you own your own home /condo"

 

So yes, we (2) live on <17k a month.  And as ' I ' stated, ' I ' could easily live on 20k a month, even if renting & no transport.

 

As the OP stated, single, and not wanting transport.

 

A little reading comprehension goes a long way ... 

 

With the OP's 1M super, he'll have not prob.  I really don't reply to his posts, unless of course, I think someone, as ignorant, would benefit from a reply 

[novacova]

If someone really wanted to, they’d be able to live in th for dirt cheap. 2000฿ a month for a fan room, 100฿-200฿ for electricity and water. Cook your own @~ 100฿-200฿ a day x 30 = 3000฿-6000฿ a month. Walk for free or ride a wave 100 for about 500฿ a month in fuel. Round up to 9000฿ a month, leaves an extra 11000฿ to play with. 

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, mania said:

 

They will stabilize you at a govt hospital while you arrange your Go Fund Me & deteriorate

 

 

 

 

He's gunna self insure and fly back to Aus for anything he cannot cover !!

 

I can just see it now...

gets busted up in a scoot accident, local hospital is wanting 250k proof of funds before admission... He's like nah feck that, take me to the airport, I'll fly home to a hospital there !

[Jingthing]

33 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Why would you need a 45k sofa?

Even in my apartment in Australia I bought a secondhand one off Facebook equivalent of 3000 baht and free delivery 

Didn't need it.

Wanted it and can easily afford it.

Obviously. 

[Gecko123]

People ignore that you can't realistically spend your entire budget because you have to set aside money for all the contingencies which may arise: currency exchange, inflation, medical and dental expenses, repatriation (voluntary or involuntary), casualty losses (injuries, fire, theft), repair and replacement of appliances and furniture, potential raising of immigration requirements, etc. If you only have 20K/month, and subtract out all the set asides listed above, the money left over for daily expenses is more like 10K than 20K.

[john donson]

don't buy your condo, rent it...

 

cook yourself, most meals, no alcohol and whores, no startbucks (20 baht 7/11) or instant coffee at home

 

 

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, Gecko123 said:

People ignore that you can't realistically spend your entire budget because you have to set aside money for all the contingencies which may arise: currency exchange, inflation, medical and dental expenses, repatriation (voluntary or involuntary), casualty losses (injuries, fire, theft), repair and replacement of appliances and furniture, potential raising of immigration requirements, etc. If you only have 20K/month, and subtract out all the set asides listed above, the money left over for daily expenses is more like 10K than 20K.

Agreed. You need a separate fund for stuff that happens and the bigger the better.

So while it's easy enough to "live" on the 20k, is it really 20K if you factor in that NEEDED fund? Not having a healthy buffer fund is insane. 

[BritManToo]

8 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

People ignore that you can't realistically spend your entire budget because you have to set aside money for all the contingencies which may arise: currency exchange, inflation, medical and dental expenses, repatriation (voluntary or involuntary), casualty losses (injuries, fire, theft), repair and replacement of appliances and furniture, potential raising of immigration requirements, etc. If you only have 20K/month, and subtract out all the set asides listed above, the money left over for daily expenses is more like 10K than 20K.

Nobody has to reserve money for 'contingencies'.

It's only middle class western culture that suggests this, the rest of the world lives hand to mouth.

[BritManToo]

11 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

People ignore that you can't realistically spend your entire budget because you have to set aside money for all the contingencies which may arise: currency exchange, inflation, medical and dental expenses, repatriation (voluntary or involuntary), casualty losses (injuries, fire, theft), repair and replacement of appliances and furniture, potential raising of immigration requirements, etc. If you only have 20K/month, and subtract out all the set asides listed above, the money left over for daily expenses is more like 10K than 20K.

Nobody has to reserve money for 'contingencies'.

It's only middle class western culture that suggests this, the rest of the world lives hand to mouth.

[Njoku]

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I think it's called the OA visa 

 

As for health insurance,self insure and use the Australian system if needed 

 

 

You can afford the $AU800 to fly back every time you get something wrong with you? 

 

Ps once you "leave the country" your medicare stops, or not long after, you will need time to reinstate so that pressing illness will take longer to get looked at. You might want to look up the requirements on that one.

 

The point is 20k will give you just a basic life here, no frills assuming you own where you live, living in Pattaya you will need at least a motorbike at some point.

[novacova]

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Can you live on 20,000 baht per month if you own your own home /condo 

I am very very poor and will need to live on this

Then rent a cheap fan room. 

[jvs]

3 hours ago, BarBoy said:

USD yeah.

Good morning Bob.

[BarBoy]

2 minutes ago, jvs said:

Good morning Bob.

Morning.

 

Colin N.

[ChaiyaTH]

On my lowest months in 12 years or so I have lived on like 35-40K baht a month and that was very tight. Keep in mind I did also lose like 5K monthly on renting a motorbike and visa costs alone. Then 5K more for rent incl utilities (studio room CM).

So basically the average real budget would be like 500 baht daily if it comes to food, drinks, snacks and if anything left; whatever else. To then still have like 5K baht left for some random things incl. perhaps 2 times a month a cheap 1K fun short time.

You then still have to like pay for things like insurance, replacing clothes, a phone, laptop etc, X amount to have a 1 time a year trip back home or even if it's 1 time per 2-3 years it can still add up too. As well as a general emergency cash buffer. 

I guess if you would do groceries and home cooking, own the place, have a yearly visa at like 2-3K baht a year, insurance, no girlfriend or children plans, it can be doable. But to do that budget then in Pattaya? A lot of temptations... 

Guess the big benefit of lower budgets today is that weed is also legal, and you can even grow a few plants and smoke free. This already offset a lot of costs compared to doing beers.

 

Guess if you can get that budget to at least 30-40K, you would be able to have weekly 2 nights out, it actually becomes quite realistic assuming above. Maybe you can supplement by becoming bar manager in soi 6 :D

 

But if i would otherwise be stuck in the west on a similar tight budget, I would do it. Then again, in case of being single too, you def get way more for your money in Vietnam. 20K is like 35-40K there.

 

The streets and street food are still much more alive and vibrant in Vietnam as well, this makes the low budget much more fun as you actually can just keep going outside and wander around while even having within budget food + beers.

[Gecko123]

27 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Nobody has to reserve money for 'contingencies'.

It's only middle class western culture that suggests this, the rest of the world lives hand to mouth.

 

Thank you for the timely reminder that becoming destitute in a foreign country is always an available option. 

[Njoku]

3 hours ago, Upnotover said:

Of course they do.  They can't afford it but it's necessary.  It should not be part of your plans however.

Wont pay 150 for a meat pie but would pay 125 for a Starbucks coffee...laughable, this guy has to be trolling..

[EVENKEEL]

110K month barely covers the essentials for us. Villa and merc paid for with cash. Hey GG we're looking for a dependable grounds keeper, PM me and maybe we can help you out.

[ChaiyaTH]

4 minutes ago, Njoku said:

Wont pay 150 for a meat pie but would pay 125 for a Starbucks coffee...laughable, this guy has to be trolling..

Why people have their own specific luxuries, just as much there is people living in cheap rooms, eating thai street food only but blasting 4 nights a week thousands in bars aside from thousands on girls.

 

Same time plenty that rent expensive condo's in BKK to then mainly cook and stay at home.

[scubascuba3]

42 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

 

Spanish place

 

40 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Oh OK, maybe that's the Spanish condominium 

 

42 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

 

Spanish place

Was probably Pattaya Rungfah Condo

[Gecko]

2 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

 

Hello Gecko :

 

I agree with what you wrote, but I don't think the issue is whether you can manage to live on 20K for a year or two long stint, but whether you can do it on an ongoing basis in retirement (10-20 years). I get the rural lifestyle: 2K row house, farmer's market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, mountain biking and shooting hoops at the local elementary school lifestyle, but over time other issues/"wants"/needs emerge which will likely make a 20K budget constraining, especially as you get older and may have more medical expenses. Maybe not true for everyone, but true for many.

Nope.  No rural life at all, apartment in the city; Big C,  Tesco, Robinson are here. Lived on 20k for some years. It still can be done.  But if you want more comfort, a good health insurance and enjoy western food and  lots of traveling, 30 k is the least.