The eternal battle: how much does it cost to live in Thailand.

[NorthernRyland]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Some Thai people survive with their family on 10k per month. If it is possible for Thais, why should it not be possible for farangs?

And then I remember a friend who told me he just can't understand how anybody in Thailand can live with less than 100k per month...

People are different.

 

My first year in Thailand in 2005 my budget was $400 month but USD to THB was over 40. My rent was 4000/month (which was hugely overpriced looking back) and Thai food was 20 baht per plate. There were some American breakfast places that maybe 100 baht but you get bored of those more than once a week. Easy to make the budget back then.

 

These days you'd be screwed I think. I haven't dug too hard but the people earning 10k I know don't have rent by some means and are the types that are distinctly awkward eating in restaurants unless they're the absolute bottom on the barrel places, noodles and such. Even at 50-60 baht for most food now they'd be hurting if they ate fried rice outside once a day. Not so bad though, we always cooked at home in the US and going out all the time is annoying too.

[Celsius]

11 hours ago, Confuscious said:

Example 1:
A friend of mine, 75+ years and living in Korat, is posting every day pictures about how cheap it is to live in Thailand.
He lives on a NON-O visa, Thai wife.
He purchased a house (on name of his Thai wife) and feeds the Thai family.

Yet, about 7 years ago, he start having a head ache.
He went to several hospitals, but everywhere they told him that it was nothing serious and send him off with a bunch of Anit-Biotics.
After 2 months of ordeal, he went to Belgium and was diagnosed with brain Cancer.
He got help from the FREE BELGIAN HEALTH CARE, and is now still alive thanks to the FREE BELGIAN HEALTHCARE.
He lives now 9 months in Belgium (medical care) and 3 months in Thailand.
Nevertheless, the 3 months that he is in Thailand, he keeps postiong pictures and claiming how cheap life in Thailand is.

Example 2:
A friend of mine, an 80+ old german guy, was diagnosed with AAA at the same time as me (2018).
He had no health insurance.
When asking for the cost of that surgery, he got an estimate around the 1 million baht.
He chosed to take the risk and skip the surgery.
I went to Belgium and had the surgery done in Belgium.
He died about 1 year later from a rupture of his aorta.
I am still alive and kicking.

Example 3:
A friend of mine, 75+ years and living in Korat, was posting every day pictures of the house he purchased for his Thai wife and the good life he was living in Issaan.
One day in 2023, he started to feel a bump in his neck.
He went to the local hospital (where his wife was working) and they said that it was nothing serious.
Gave him a bunch of Anti-Biotics and if he symptoms did not improve with 3 months, he would come back.
But 2 months later, the bump on his neck start to have the size of a golfball and was hurting badly (see picture).
Back to the hospital, the hospital took a sample of the bump to anaylize.
When he went 1 month later to the hospital to ask for the results, the sample was lost and never send for analysation.
By that time the bump was already very big and the only option was to remove it.
I spare the readers from the picture after the operation which costed him 400K baht.
He send me a message asking how I did it to have a big surgery in Belgium while I was living in Thailand and I answerred him that as long anyone is living on a Belgian pension that person is also registrered for the Belgian healthcare.
His answer was: "I did'nt know that. I was told that when I chose to leave Belgium I was not anymore registred in the health care".
Anyway, his Cancer was too much advanced to return to Belgium and he dies short after that.

I have a lot of examples after living 25 years in Thailand, but I will leave it here.

The cost of living in Thailand is not only the price of food and dring (and bar hopping) but also the health care and other costs which doesn't occur on a weekly or monthly base.
 

 

Watch the losers post sad and confused emojis because they don't like the truth 

[digger70]

The eternal battle: how much does it cost to live in Thailand.

 

No Battle . What it cost is what one has to spend to Fill their needs ,Not what they want. 

That can vary from where one lives like a city or a village and how one want to live ,Lavish or Modest.

Pretty easy  ,set a budget and stick to it  It can be 50K or it can be 100 K a month  Depending of course on the funds one gets per month.

[OneMoreFarang]

30 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

My first year in Thailand in 2005 my budget was $400 month but USD to THB was over 40. My rent was 4000/month (which was hugely overpriced looking back) and Thai food was 20 baht per plate. There were some American breakfast places that maybe 100 baht but you get bored of those more than once a week. Easy to make the budget back then.

 

These days you'd be screwed I think. I haven't dug too hard but the people earning 10k I know don't have rent by some means and are the types that are distinctly awkward eating in restaurants unless they're the absolute bottom on the barrel places, noodles and such. Even at 50-60 baht for most food now they'd be hurting if they ate fried rice outside once a day. Not so bad though, we always cooked at home in the US and going out all the time is annoying too.

 

At Thai markets they still have food for <50B per portion. Eat that twice a day 30 days and that is 3,000B. 

Rent in some cheap places is cheap, but obviously no AC and such luxury and it's not right next to the BTS.

Many of us are just spoilt if we think 40k or something like that is the bare minimum. 

 

Edit: Previously I wrote that 30 times 2 times 50 is 9000. Which is obviously wrong. Thanks to @BritManToo for correcting me.

 

[BritManToo]

8 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

At Thai markets they still have food for <50B per portion. Eat that twice a day 30 days and that is 9,000B. 

Rent in some cheap places is cheap, but obviously no AC and such luxury and it's not right next to the BTS.

Many of us are just spoilt if we think 40k or something like that is the bare minimum. 

50bht x2 x 30 = 3,000bht

[Celsius]

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

At Thai markets they still have food for <50B per portion. Eat that twice a day 30 days and that is 9,000B. 

Rent in some cheap places is cheap, but obviously no AC and such luxury and it's not right next to the BTS.

Many of us are just spoilt if we think 40k or something like that is the bare minimum. 

 

No wonder you have diabetes 

[leonard beaven]

Why do all you people rich or poor spen your days worrying about tomorrow.Live where ever you are and let tomorrow wait until you get there.I live comfortably with my Thai wife on a state pension,I have had two hernia ops and being unable to pay second one spoke to a government hospital,my name is on record and they allowed me time to pay.no gofund me no griping on an .

[OneMoreFarang]

6 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

50bht x2 x 30 = 3,000bht

Ok, yes, you are right. It seems my brain is already in weekend mode. I will try to edit my post. 

[Yellowtail]

2 minutes ago, leonard beaven said:

Why do all you people rich or poor spen your days worrying about tomorrow.Live where ever you are and let tomorrow wait until you get there.I live comfortably with my Thai wife on a state pension,I have had two hernia ops and being unable to pay second one spoke to a government hospital,my name is on record and they allowed me time to pay.no gofund me no griping on an .

I plan, I don't worry. 

[OneMoreFarang]

7 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

No wonder you have diabetes 

Why?

Luckily, I can afford also food from many other places.

But sometimes I eat those 50B dishes, maybe noodle soup or pork or BBQ. Mostly it's not bad. 

It's in "Thai only" places where you will find very few foreigners. They have often very reasonable prices. 

Khlong Toei Fresh Market is such a place. 

[noobexpat]

I have a tiny breakfast and only have one proper meal per day.

My typical day - mess about until noon. Work until 4pm.

Head to iron pan restaurant and with a coke zero its about 160b.

I'll do another hour and by then i will have invoiced £400x42.5=17,000 baht equivalent.

Don’t have the time to spend it.

Last friday ...??...i think!

 

 

[Ben Zioner]

10 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

What job is this and where? She's earning close to the US median salary in Thailand. This is a huge amount of money in Thailand I personally couldn't spend that if I wanted to.

 

(100000/33.5)*12=$35,820

 

 

Now I understand why so many people have two jobs in MAGA.

[Shwaman]

Ah! It's so entertaining to  whatch the true believers  play out in real time the age old maxim " figures lie and liars figure " nough said.

[NorthernRyland]

8 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Now I understand why so many people have two jobs in MAGA.

well yeah American middle class is hurting and that's why they're upset. What do you think this is all about anyways? 39k USD per year is hard so you need two incomes to even start scratching the surface and with house prices you may be stuck renting or in a high stress mortgage for 30 years. Not good times to be an American on the lower levels.

[NorthernRyland]

Just now, Shwaman said:

Ah! It's so entertaining to  whatch the true believers  play out in real time the age old maxim " figures lie and liars figure " nough said.

I'm just trying to make sense of this. If you have any information to contribute please do.

[Sigmund]

If you plan to go to Hua Hin I wont mention a figure....I'd say as a friend, better to forget it and go some place up north in Udon Thani where prices are far cheaper, people more humain and friendly and the girls are hotter and cheaper to maintain.

[Yellowtail]

11 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

well yeah American middle class is hurting and that's why they're upset. What do you think this is all about anyways? 39k USD per year is hard so you need two incomes to even start scratching the surface and with house prices you may be stuck renting or in a high stress mortgage for 30 years. Not good times to be an American on the lower levels.

Where do you come up with these numbers, AI? 

 

"Census Bureau estimates that the median annual earnings for all workers (people aged 15 and over with earnings) was $47,960; and more specifically estimates that median annual earnings for those who worked full-time, year round, was $60,070"

[NorthernRyland]

2 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Where do you come up with these numbers, AI? 

 

"Census Bureau estimates that the median annual earnings for all workers (people aged 15 and over with earnings) was $47,960; and more specifically estimates that median annual earnings for those who worked full-time, year round, was $60,070"

 

Top hit from Google.

 

 

 

[dinsdale]

This thread is just an open invitation for those who have lots of money to brag about they have lots of money. Who cares. We all manage one way or another otherwise we wouldn't be here.

[rwill]

22 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

Here's another question what is the average monthly wage in Thailand? I hear this 29,000 baht number quoted often but I don't think it's correct. GPD per capital is 7000 USD year which is 583 USD/month and currently 19,500 baht per month which sounds right to me. I did a little research and GPD per capita is pretty closely tied to average wage as I understand it.

 

I think that's tight but I know many Thai people live in generational homes and may not have rents or built homes on family land which is a one item purchase.

I'd say 80% are getting paid less than 12,000 baht/month

[NorthernRyland]

12 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

This thread is just an open invitation for those who have lots of money to brag about they have lots of money. Who cares. We all manage one way or another otherwise we wouldn't be here.

The point of the thread was supposed to talk about why this happens and now here we are. 😂 

[NorthernRyland]

2 minutes ago, rwill said:

I'd say 80% are getting paid less than 12,000 baht/month

 

Could be so. I only know what my wife earns and she's a manager so she tells me how much some of the other employees earn. Sometimes I see a for hire sign and of course we know the minimum wage. The rest is deduction. 

 

[EVENKEEL]

My 110K baht/month deposit is spent pretty easily. 2 adults and a kid. The money doesn't include travel, school fees or insurance. No house or car payments. I spend freely and stopped trying to budget to much. A monthly trip to Makro is 12K easily. Some months I try to put 20K aside, but doesn't happen often. 

 

If I was single I'd be living large on 110K. But, with family not so much. Eating out usually means a seafood joint on the beach 1200-1500 baht for 3. I eat the 60 baht meals occasionally but not often, cook at home alot. 

[Yellowtail]

2 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

My 110K baht/month deposit is spent pretty easily. 2 adults and a kid. The money doesn't include travel, school fees or insurance. No house or car payments. I spend freely and stopped trying to budget to much. A monthly trip to Makro is 12K easily. Some months I try to put 20K aside, but doesn't happen often. 

 

If I was single I'd be living large on 110K. But, with family not so much.

If I were single, I'd be spending twice what I'm spending now...

[NorthernRyland]

3 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

My 110K baht/month deposit is spent pretty easily. 2 adults and a kid. The money doesn't include travel, school fees or insurance. No house or car payments. I spend freely and stopped trying to budget to much. A monthly trip to Makro is 12K easily. Some months I try to put 20K aside, but doesn't happen often. 

 

If I was single I'd be living large on 110K. But, with family not so much.

what are you buying that costs so much? A Thai family with one kid would be spending less than half of that and have house and car payments.

[EVENKEEL]

Just now, NorthernRyland said:

what are you buying that costs so much? A Thai family with one kid would be spending less than half of that and have house and car payments.

Money goes easily when you don't budget. And I'm at a stage in life where I want to enjoy. But, I hear what you're saying about Thai families. You know if the kid needs clothes I toss the old lady 5K for the market. And so on. There's always something. Phones, ipads, service 2 cars.

[NorthernRyland]

Just now, EVENKEEL said:

Money goes easily when you don't budget. And I'm at a stage in life where I want to enjoy. But, I hear what you're saying about Thai families. You know if the kid needs clothes I toss the old lady 5K for the market. And so on. There's always something. Phones, ipads, service 2 cars.

I don't know what I would buy. More expensive whiskey and gummy bears probably. I guess if I wanted to waste money I could let my wife buy some junk she doesn't need. 🤷 

[NorthernRyland]

5 hours ago, noobexpat said:

I'll do another hour and by then i will have invoiced £400x42.5=17,000 baht equivalent.

 

wait, you're making 400 pounds in how many hours?? what do you do? Sounds like consultant or lawyer.

 

My brother has done some consultancy in Bangkok and around Thailand helping to design kitchens for resorts and makes some fat cash too.

[noobexpat]

56 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

wait, you're making 400 pounds in how many hours?? what do you do? Sounds like consultant or lawyer.

 

My brother has done some consultancy in Bangkok and around Thailand helping to design kitchens for resorts and makes some fat cash too.

 

I bill at £100/hour approximately. So did about 3.5 in the condo and another in a restaurant whilst eating dinner.

 

Wealth management stuff - deliberately vague, of course. Been running my own business for 10 years. Tax free as well. 

 

People don't believe that you can make decent money but also spend very little. Earned 17,000 baht today and spent 228b in a restaurant. 

 

Tomorrow i'll go to my local coffee shop and do an hour. 60b for a  mocha frappe. Same problem again, albeit a nice one!

 

Also, I don't actually spend any earned income or remit it to thailand. It stays in UK. 

 

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

15 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

What job is this and where? She's earning close to the US median salary in Thailand. This is a huge amount of money in Thailand I personally couldn't spend that if I wanted to.

 

(100000/33.5)*12=$35,820

 

 

 

I have a friend doing sales in a similar clinic in Bangkok and she makes about the same.  She said she lies to her friends and family about the salary because she doesn't want them knowing how much it is.