He Lives On 28000 B Per Month

[Gary A]

I'm not trying to do a one up, but I know a guy who lives on slightly more than $600 a month. I don't think he bothers with a visa anymore. He is a notorious balloon chaser and knows every spot in Pattaya and Jomtien to get a free feed. He doesn't bother anyone and I say more power to him. His income comes from Social Security and it has gone up a little with the COLA increases, but not much. I'm not sure he could afford to get back to the US for medical care if he has a medical problem. He's well over age 65.

He's far better than those younger guys who lie, steal, cheat and scam to stay here. I don't remember him ever asking anyone for anything. He's quite a good pool player and frequently wins a game called killer. Everyone puts in a hundred baht and last man who has not missed a shot wins. There are often 10 or 12 guys who play so it is a good payoff for him. What will happen to him if he gets sick is anyones guess.

[Bagwain]

Without more info I am at loss as to how he can do it as well.

Reporting to SS Social Security every 3 months. (Minimum 25,000 baht return flight plus the extras)

Bank account balance and income requirements for the retirement visa in Thailand?

The bloody Ozzie Gov would rather you lived as a prisoner in Oz under squaller.

[actiondell4]

Without more info I am at loss as to how he can do it as well.

Reporting to SS Social Security every 3 months.

Is this only for aged pensioners receiving a aged penion overeseas?

Because my mother who lives in Australia and receives the cenrelink government aged pension does not have to report Dept Social security/centrelink.

So just who has to report to Centrelink/Social security department every 3 months?

Are you talking about disability pensioners and/or just overseas recipcients?

Howevere to answer some questions,im not sure how the old bloke meets the financial requirement as he told me he has $5000 aud in his bank account.

I do know there is a group of old expats in jomtien who are transferring money in between each others bank accounts,dont quote me on this because i cant prove it but i heard about it.

Secondly the old bloke uses a address in Sydney Australia for his centrelink/social security business.

Im pretty sure however centrelink/social security dept have computers to monitor your leaving the country,so i dont know,BUT I DO KNOW he DOES NOT go back to Australia every 3 months,in fact it was one of my first questions and he told me he went back last July 07.

He is fit for his age ,for how long i dont know.

I know he buys from from the markets,bananas as he was going on about how they give you energy etc.

He told me he does not LIVE on Thai food as it is not nutritious.

He seemed to eat Bran/muesli for breakfast,hot water poured over it,no milk.

A lot of fruit bought at the same markets.

He bought bread,and had sandwiches.

He drank a lot of tea.

EWhen he went to play darts,apparently they didnt sell tea at the place he played so he brought his own tea bag and they charge him 20 b for the hot water.

Obviously you would have to be a regular because im sure if me or you turned up with a cup and a tea bag we would be told where to go.

Now ,HE TELLS ME that several old expats,not him,but others in similar circumstances were caught at the LEKS HOTEL putting food into there own doggy bag.

They go to the Leks hotel 110 baht all you can eat breakfast and sit down the back and put the sausages and other food into a bag and take it home.

Anyway some were caught doing this,and he was laughing how they were given a warning and were watched at every breakfast.

I know he reads a lot of books on the beach but doesnt sit on the chairs there.

Not a exciting life. He also walks kilometres a day.

The point is if something such as a major sickness,cancer etc happens then he will have to come back to Australia.however im still mysified how he told me he used the Public Hospital for free service.

Also he is a person who can say no,meaning i was sitting with hin and a lady with 4 kids with her was asking for money and i felt very sorry for her and he said no to her.

He told me they were not her kids and anyway she could go to a temple as he cannot help everyone.

I did feel he was a bit mean on some things,doesnt buy salt or pepper ,doesnt have sugar,drinks milk in his tea only and brings his own to darts.

Going to the beach,he brought a flask with tea already made and a book.

When i told him his diet lacked calcium,re only drinking milk in his tea,he told me the vegetables he eats have calcium.

Also one thing i found dirty was he uses a towel to dry himself about 3 times before taking it to the wash.

he hangs it out on the balcony to dry.

[vegas]

I spend 3,000 baht a day and I'm very happy.

[actiondell4]

What do you spend that on?

Come to think of it,a lot of us in the West probaly wouldnt spend over 30,000 b a month if we too lived in Thailand.

If i had something to do during the day to get up for and to keep busy i would be happy there.

If you have a busineess/job during the day then you wouldnt go out at night spo you would spend less.

The thing is,these expats dont live like us tourists.

We dont waste time wasitting watching TV like some of these guys do,we dont sit for hours reading a book on the beach and bring our own flask ,we dont have the time these guys do.

[Westerner]

It seems that some of you are missing the point that he is 72 years old. At 72 you don't stop thinking about sex but it is not something you are going to be active in like a 30 year old. Even viagra only works to a point.

So I doubt if he spends much on the girls.

True, and those drugs only work on performance, not desire or appetite. This area is as good as any beachy place to relax and there is no law saying you must be a full time sexpat to live here. Regarding the visa, I have already explained, easy for anyone who can show such a 28K pension and rather modest savings, no visa runs needed.

Wouldn't he need to show 80K pension to qualify for a retirement visa?

[Jingthing]

Wouldn't he need to show 80K pension to qualify for a retirement visa?

No. Actually I live here on a retirement visa and have NO pension. I didn't realize before the Aussies have a special problem with their government. That isn't very nice of them.

[skullyman2727]

well,im posting in the Pattaya section as this topic is set in Pattaya.

Last year I posted about a elderly man I had met whilst holidaying in Pattaya,actually Jomtien.He is 72 yo.

Well I have just come back from my holidays to Pattaya and I bumped into the old bloke again.

He lives in Jomtiem ,and receives the Australian old age Govt pension .

He gets around 28000 baht a month he says.

He was horrified on how much money I spent on things.\

He says he is lucky to spend half that.

I was very interested how he survived on that amount.

Well this is what he told me and what i observed over the few weeks.

He only pays 10 baht for a baht bus from Jomtiem to Pattaya,i thought it was 20 however he told me that he pays 10 baht and walks away saying khob korn kup.

Another thing is he knew of all the buffett all you can eat places and he told me of Leks hotel for 110 baht.He doesnt eat at places over that amount.

He was surprised i pay 60 baht for a coffee and stold me at flanagans i can get it for 40 baht plus a newspaper.

Better still you can get it for 12 baht at a 7 eleven he said.

He however drank tea and he buys his own and mostly eats at home.

He always drank tea in the same bar as me however he knew the bar owner where he drank everyday and they charged him 20 baht as he was a regular.

I told him I was staying in a 600 a baht a night place in Jomtiem and he was horrified and took me to his apartment building where I got a studio room for 6000 for the month which included electricity and water.

He pays 5000 baht in the same building but he lives there.

Anyway I asked him if his room was the same as mine so he took me there,his room was a bit cleaner,had one of those portable hotplate stoves and a microwave .

The room is a studio,with balcony,includes electricity and water,it was in jomtiem in soi 4 i think it was.It was pratically the same as mine with double bed,wardrobe etc however he had bought his own cooking equipment.

The place was great and i couldnt believe i didnt know about it.

Anyway he told me you can get monthly rooms cheaper than 5000 a month !!!!

I was shocked,he pointed over to another building in Jomtiem which looked like it had no windows nor any lights,it was all boarded up,apparently they pay only 1000-2000 b a month to live in there.Not a place i would live.

Now i told him about the high cost of Laundry ,funnily enough i took my clothes to the same laundry as his and guess what !

They charged him less as he was considered a local or regular.

Towels they charged me 25 b,he is charged 15 baht etc.

However he told me to soak/wash my own clothes and hang them on the balcony.

But its very hard to wash a towel in the bathroom sink and i like most people use a clean towel to dry everyday.

He uses the laundry once a week and washes mostly his own clothes in the sink i presume such as underpants except large things as sheets.

But they(businesse)do seem to charge farang locals less than tourists,some do anyway.

Another place i didnt know was a 30 baht rice and pork place that i took him to as i paid for him.

However it didnt fill me up so in reality i could NOT live only on Thai food.

He pays 15 b for a loaf of bread and 25 b for a can of tuna for dinner.

But he is something like 60 kg so he doesnt eat much unlike me.

He mostly buys tin tuna but says he buys steak from the supermarket and cooks it in his room.

Im thinking to myself half the sttuff in supermarkets is more expensive than eating out.

He would have to get a baht bus from Jomtien to a big supermarket,do his shopping and a baht bus back and then start cooking !!

I would prefer just going out to a restaurant,still if i lived there i may think different.

He didnt drink alcohol,BUT he smoked ,however he says he can afford it in thailand.

He use to live in Government housing in the notorious crime ridden Sydney suburb of Redfern in a apartment,a bit like the Bronx,probaly a bit worser.

I never saw him take prostitutes so i dont know about that but he told me about the beach in pattaya ,the street girls there.

He said he is far happier in Jomtien than living in Govt housing in Sydney.

Apparently the final crunch came in 2005 when he was mugged and bashed for groceries and he said he had a small dog and when he went to walk it one late night he was bashed by several teenagers who were using drugs outside the apartment building so he thought one day just to pack up and leave for Thailand.

He lived on his 28000 baht a month in Sydney so he said its no different in Thailand.

He has a few thousand dollars in his Thai bank account,just enough to get back to Australia BUT no home in Australia,so if he went back he would have to pay the high rents or try to share a small room somewhere until he could get Govt accomodation again.What a scary thought.

He doesnt have medical insurance,however i was very surprised when he told me that a farang living in Thailand can visit a Thai Public Govt hosptal and he has done so?

How does he hace fun,well his fun it seems is doing the same things pratically everyday.

He gets up at 7am,makes his bed and cleans his room and then has a cup of tea and muesli and goes for a walk and goes to a gym.

He meets the same guys everyday plays cards and darts.

When he told me he went fishing,i was shocked as i just went fishing at a private fishing pool on jomtiem where you pay 200 b to fish but must throw the fish back.

He told me why would you go there then.

Anyway this old guy is very smart with money,so i really wanted to ask where his money went in his life .

He apparently use to be a alcholic,he was dovorced and had 2 daughters he hasnt seen for 20 years and use to be a worker in a factory in Sydney.

Anyway this old bloke was very shrewd,he even haggled prices he told me ,which i cannot do.I get embarrssed haggling.

Another thing i really wanted to know is if he gave tips which he does if he goes to the same place all the time but doesnt for baht buses etc.

I did see him give a tip one night after his checkbin,he gave 10 baht.

He can live on his aussie pension quite well.

However im pretty sure but im not certain that he may not have "ladies of the night" everyday,if at all,i dont know, ,however im not certain as i he didnt tell me,only the told me that he hasnt been in a go go bar for years.

Anyway he told me of a lot of other cheap savings and i will post a bit more later.

Im not his age but i suppose its no different living in the West as it is in Thailand.at his age.

Some people cant even live on 60,000 b a month .

Now he told me he knows of at least 5 other farangs living on 35,000 or less a month from pensions.

But the strange thing is,he said hundreds of farangs who own businesses and are school teachers are living on 20,000 baht a month.!

Anyway i post more of his savings tips later.

-

[rick75]

Great thread, its nice to read a story that does not involve, farang being ripped of, he has a simple life but i guarantee you 100% his life would be more fulfilling than if he was living on that sort of money in Australia.

[edwardandtubs]

It isn't at all difficult to live on 28,000 baht a month. I'm surprised that anyone else is surprised. The Chonburi minimum wage is 175 baht so how do you think the locals survive? Of course if you want modern comforts and status symbols like a nice apartment, car, new clothes and a rich and varied social life you need a lot more than 28,000 baht. It's totally subjective and depends on the individual. Sometimes if I'm working long hours for a few days I just pop to the local street hawkers to eat. 3 meals at 30 baht each plus Thai dessert or fruit and you can eat well for 150 baht a day. I wouldn't want to keep that up for more than a few days though. A few nights out and I could easily blow this old guy's monthly allowance.

Edited May 4, 2008 by edwardandtubs

[NanLaew]

I spend 3,000 baht a day and I'm very happy.

My wife (the artist formerly known as girlfriend - but she's really different), spends 12,000 baht a day and she is very happy.

[vegas]

Yes, the wife and child have some influence on my spending.

[Bagwain]

Good on the bloke and I wish him well.

Here is a warning that I found out today.

I am not sure of the details and whether it is disabilty or old age pension.

(My friends daughter was in charge of Centrelink) up until recently.

Every six months in OZ you have to report to the SS for dissabilty pension.

medical report etc. for validity.

Now they are to look at every case and check where you are and who is signing the Docs.

So if you are overseas and somebody else is signing then it is fraud.

For all that may read be warry!

Cheers

[Tinkelbell]

While growing up, my father's faverite word while preaching us children.........

" Spending money is an art."

Obviously, this elderly gentleman had proved that my father was right.

He certainly on top of his game. I have nothing buy praise him highly.

To be able to lead the life as he's doing now needs a strong will and lifetime disciplinarian.

I have totally respectful of this gentleman.

[MisterFingers]

Howevere to answer some questions,im not sure how the old bloke meets the financial requirement as he told me he has $5000 aud in his bank account.

I do know there is a group of old expats in jomtien who are transferring money in between each others bank accounts,dont quote me on this because i cant prove it but i heard about it.

That's brilliant. I didn't even think of this. Ten guys could pool together 10% each of the required amount.

However, a certain amount of trust would have to be applied here.

[ozzydom]

Good on the bloke and I wish him well.

Here is a warning that I found out today.

I am not sure of the details and whether it is disabilty or old age pension.

(My friends daughter was in charge of Centrelink) up until recently.

Every six months in OZ you have to report to the SS for dissabilty pension.

medical report etc. for validity.

Now they are to look at every case and check where you are and who is signing the Docs.

So if you are overseas and somebody else is signing then it is fraud.

For all that may read be warry!

Cheers

Not so, I suggest you read the pinned thread in the Visa,s to other countries re Oz pensions.

[Jefferson]

Do expats in Bangkok, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, Ayathaya suffer from this stereotype? No. they don't.

Yes, they do.

Internationally, at least.

[martyh01]

Sorry to better that I lived for one year after loosing my job on 15,000 Per month broken down as follows, 2,500 rent aircon (dont use) apartment cable TV, 2,500 Motor Bike, 700 Electric = 5,700 say 150B / day food = 4,500 = 10,200 3 large Chang / day =3,420 leaves 1,380 for the little things ie soap etc or you can have your washing done for 400B / Month leaves roughly 1,000B

Just got back in employment and back on my feet again

So it can be done my friends know me and i am still here which is what matters by the way to those who helped me G&SP TF and all at the condom supermarket thanks a lot to those mates that walked away, some day some day

[Heng]

Howevere to answer some questions,im not sure how the old bloke meets the financial requirement as he told me he has $5000 aud in his bank account.

I do know there is a group of old expats in jomtien who are transferring money in between each others bank accounts,dont quote me on this because i cant prove it but i heard about it.

That's brilliant. I didn't even think of this. Ten guys could pool together 10% each of the required amount.

However, a certain amount of trust would have to be applied here.

Just like an immigrant money club. An excellent idea that bypasses the system.