Cost Of Living

[troyryz]

Hi All

This is my first post. Me my wife and two children where planning to move to thialand in about 2 years, we were thinking of Samui, Krabi, phuket, places like that, we want to live near the water. Our children will need to go to a international school. My question is what is the average cost of living in these type of areas. We will be buying a 3 bedroom house approx. 2300ft2(with no mortage), we will buy a car, and we are acustom to a moderate to high standard of living here in canada. We like to golf, travel, and entertain. I know it is hard to estamate what other people might spend, but was wondering what some of you are spending with a family and living well in these areas. We were thinking of $5000/mth canadian would do us, am i far off? Thank You for your time in advance.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Hi All

This is my first post. Me my wife and two children where planning to move to thialand in about 2 years, we were thinking of Samui, Krabi, phuket, places like that, we want to live near the water. Our children will need to go to a international school. My question is what is the average cost of living in these type of areas. We will be buying a 3 bedroom house approx. 2300ft2(with no mortage), we will buy a car, and we are acustom to a moderate to high standard of living here in canada. We like to golf, travel, and entertain. I know it is hard to estamate what other people might spend, but was wondering what some of you are spending with a family and living well in these areas. We were thinking of $5000/mth canadian would do us, am i far off? Thank You for your time in advance.

Troy

If you own the house and car etc then C$5,000 a month should afford you a very enjoyable lifestyle most anywhere in Thailand. That is enough to have a housekeeper, gardener and a lot of time on the golf course.

Good luck and enjoy LOS

[lazygourmet]

If you own the house and car etc then C$5,000 a month should afford you a very enjoyable lifestyle most anywhere in Thailand. That is enough to have a housekeeper, gardener and a lot of time on the golf course.

Good luck and enjoy LOS

With to kids at international school, I doubt that you would be able to make it without some serious lifestyle sacrifices.

[Pierrot]

If you own the house and car etc then C$5,000 a month should afford you a very enjoyable lifestyle most anywhere in Thailand. That is enough to have a housekeeper, gardener and a lot of time on the golf course.

Good luck and enjoy LOS

With to kids at international school, I doubt that you would be able to make it without some serious lifestyle sacrifices.

Agree, with the kids, it's going to be a bit tight.For the lifestyle you're looking for, add a minimum (real minimum) of 50%, around C$7,500. Education is not cheap in Asia. Actually nothing is cheap when you want a high standard European life style.

Edited May 10, 2009 by Pierrot

[BigSnake]

Hi All

This is my first post. Me my wife and two children where planning to move to thialand in about 2 years, we were thinking of Samui, Krabi, phuket, places like that, we want to live near the water. Our children will need to go to a international school. My question is what is the average cost of living in these type of areas. We will be buying a 3 bedroom house approx. 2300ft2(with no mortage), we will buy a car, and we are acustom to a moderate to high standard of living here in canada. We like to golf, travel, and entertain. I know it is hard to estamate what other people might spend, but was wondering what some of you are spending with a family and living well in these areas. We were thinking of $5000/mth canadian would do us, am i far off? Thank You for your time in advance.

Shouldn't be a problem on C$5000 a month, a few minor adjustment here and there, but overall you and the family should be just fine here. Come on over

[dbrenn]

If you own the house and car etc then C$5,000 a month should afford you a very enjoyable lifestyle most anywhere in Thailand. That is enough to have a housekeeper, gardener and a lot of time on the golf course.

Good luck and enjoy LOS

With to kids at international school, I doubt that you would be able to make it without some serious lifestyle sacrifices.

Agree, with the kids, it's going to be a bit tight.For the lifestyle you're looking for, add a minimum (real minimum) of 50%, around C$7,500. Education is not cheap in Asia. Actually nothing is cheap when you want a high standard European life style.

Right $5,000 can give you a decent lifestyle but the international schools in Thailand are very expensive and would likely need additional budget. The OP Check the prices and availability before making a decison.

[katabeachbum]

School is 10-20k a month each, so you would have 140.000 baht left to spend. With car and home payed, it should work. see you soon

[GuestHouse]

There's a lot unsaid, and therefore a lot assumed or not considered.

As others have said, the kind of spending you are proposing would give a reasonable life style (the amount you mention is in the order of an expat local allowances package if school fees, health insurance and R&R expenses are excluded - that is, those are extra costs over and above the amount you mention when compared to an expat deal.). I think a reasonable life style, not an extremely comfortable life style.

The bigger question you need to address, and I'm not suggesting you give details here, is how is your life in Thailand being financed and what are your longer term needs?

If your income is fixed then depending on your age, and the age of your children/wife the impact of inflation may be an issue, a big issue or a huge issue.

Two years is plenty of time to look at all these wider issues, I'd suggest getting an accountant/financial advisor to go over your plans and crunch the numbers on income and expenditure versus inflation.

You haven't given those details, and again I'm not suggesting that you should, but I would suggest getting an independent 'cold eyes' review of your plans.

If you did that now you would have two years to put matters in order.

[wasabi]

The better schools run about 30K Baht a month so for two kids that's an immediate 60K hit. I would say this + your other expenses puts you at about 120K-150K Baht a month. It's strange if you just eat Thai food from a place other Thai's eat it's like 30 Baht a plate but as soon as you want any international cuisine it's easy to run up bills over 1000 Baht for two people.

Edited May 10, 2009 by wasabi

[PattayaParent]

School is 10-20k a month each, so you would have 140.000 baht left to spend. With car and home payed, it should work. see you soon

Please tell me where I can find an International School, that cheap.

I'm paying 25,000 Baht a month for 1 kid.