400K Baht A Year For 13 Years Invested...

[farang000999]

Just something I was pondering. Which would be better for your child. Having around 6m baht to offer them when they are 18 years old or when they have finished their college education and having sent them to public school or sending them to private school and spending that 6m baht.... 6m could buy your child a decent first home and two more to rent out or start a business.

[saraburioz]

Go for the middle way - send them to a school you can afford and stick a little away for them.

[Loz]

if you have sound fiscal knowledge to give your child then go public maybe in special programs like english or science. then let 'em rip!

[Loz]

if you have sound fiscal knowledge to give your child then go public maybe in special programs like english or science. then let 'em rip!

[PattayaParent]

A good education would be worth a lot more than 6 million Baht which in 13 years time I doubt would buy 3 houses.

[sarahsbloke]

Depends where they intend to live after school.

Live in Thailand, state school and save the money.

Live in the UK/USA, boarding school in that country.

Edited November 1, 2010 by sarahsbloke

[danbradster]

400,000 baht would turn into 1.5mill at 10% return per year for 13 years, not including inflation. Including inflation it would be worth roughly 850,000 baht in real money terms.

Where did the 6 million figure come from? 22% return per year for 13 years?!

I don't know what Thai public vs private school is like. Parents offering quality business and financial knowledge since childhood has a great effect though. Thanks to my financially minded mother teaching me about money/interest/investment since I was a toddler, at 21 years old I have a reasonably successful business and a lot of investments (1mill baht per year in reasonably passive income).

I never studied too hard (except in things I love, like business) and only went to a private school for 2 years of my education. Parents make the biggest difference, not the school.

[farang000999]

400k baht/ year is around the average tuition cost of international schools in my experience.

[MJo]

With decent education they will be able to secure good positions easily making 400k a month. I mean if they are motivated and intelligent enough to make it.

[GuestHouse]

I'd say you can do nothing better to secure your children's future than to get them the very best education you can - This may not mean paying school fees, it may mean moving to live in the right school district.

I'd also say that I can think of nothing more destructive to a child's outlook, both in terms of outlook towards life's duties and responsibilities and outlook towards a healthy relationship with it's parents than to provide a large sum of cash sitting in a pot for them to pick-up when all the other kids they are going to have to battle life with are out there making their own way in the world.

Trading the former for the latter is, to my mind, as good as setting the wheels of disaster in motion.

[lovelomsak]

I would send him to public school. Stay close to him to hopefully keep communication and be his teacher for how to deal with life. I would take the 400,000 annually and invest it all in my name. If when he was mature and I felt he was the man I respect then I would open the investments to him to watch him make them grow even more. What I am saying is over the next 13 years teach him with privilege comes responsibility. So when you hand over the investments he will be capibale of understanding what he has.

[sidjameson]

I read on a website yesterday that seemed to be accurate that 80% of the world live in less than $10 a day. 6million baht at 18 puts them into the top 20% forever. What an amazing fact eh!

[geriatrickid]

Invest the money wisely and conservatively.

I attended an expensive "prestigious" private school. I reckon that in the decade I attended, the real value of the funds expended would have been worth about 5,000,000 baht today. What did I gain? Not much. What did I learn? Not much. How do I rank in comparison to some of my university classmates that went to crappy public sector schools vs. the elite school? No better and no worse. Does it matter? Private schools are best suited for those students that can actually gain from them, i.e. need special assistance, or are extremely gifted. IMO, for the majority of the population, the schools bring no benefit. These private schools are obsessed with dumping homework on kids. They have to demonstrate their value I suppose. However, the homework serves no purpose and does not impart knowledge nor even discipline. The most cost effective way of learning is to spend some time with the kid discussing subjects learned in school and applying them to daily circumstances and by encouraging reading and the exploration of knowledge. These two skills are not taught at schools. They come from the parents.

Save the money and instead spend 10-20 minutes each day sharing your own knowledge and skills. The return on investment will be better than derived from the tuition. Spend the money on extracurricular sports. The concepts of learning how to get along with others and leadership are far more important than taking advanced calculus at the age of 12.

[ilyelol]

Invest the money wisely and conservatively.

I attended an expensive "prestigious" private school. I reckon that in the decade I attended, the real value of the funds expended would have been worth about 5,000,000 baht today. What did I gain? Not much. What did I learn? Not much. How do I rank in comparison to some of my university classmates that went to crappy public sector schools vs. the elite school? No better and no worse. Does it matter? Private schools are best suited for those students that can actually gain from them, i.e. need special assistance, or are extremely gifted. IMO, for the majority of the population, the schools bring no benefit. These private schools are obsessed with dumping homework on kids. They have to demonstrate their value I suppose. However, the homework serves no purpose and does not impart knowledge nor even discipline. The most cost effective way of learning is to spend some time with the kid discussing subjects learned in school and applying them to daily circumstances and by encouraging reading and the exploration of knowledge. These two skills are not taught at schools. They come from the parents.

Save the money and instead spend 10-20 minutes each day sharing your own knowledge and skills. The return on investment will be better than derived from the tuition. Spend the money on extracurricular sports. The concepts of learning how to get along with others and leadership are far more important than taking advanced calculus at the age of 12.

Uh, this is a thailand forum.

Thai public school and private school are completely different.

one of them you can't tie your shoes on your own by age 16

[sidjameson]

geriatric kid. You are in Thailand, are you working? If you are on an expat package and not a english teacher then your education has paid off for sure. If you are pushing the past simple, then your parent deserve a refund.

But I do agree with a lot of what you say.

[StreetCowboy]

Invest the money wisely and conservatively.

I attended an expensive "prestigious" private school. I reckon that in the decade I attended, the real value of the funds expended would have been worth about 5,000,000 baht today. What did I gain? Not much. What did I learn? Not much. How do I rank in comparison to some of my university classmates that went to crappy public sector schools vs. the elite school? No better and no worse. Does it matter? Private schools are best suited for those students that can actually gain from them, i.e. need special assistance, or are extremely gifted. IMO, for the majority of the population, the schools bring no benefit. These private schools are obsessed with dumping homework on kids. They have to demonstrate their value I suppose. However, the homework serves no purpose and does not impart knowledge nor even discipline. The most cost effective way of learning is to spend some time with the kid discussing subjects learned in school and applying them to daily circumstances and by encouraging reading and the exploration of knowledge. These two skills are not taught at schools. They come from the parents.

Save the money and instead spend 10-20 minutes each day sharing your own knowledge and skills. The return on investment will be better than derived from the tuition. Spend the money on extracurricular sports. The concepts of learning how to get along with others and leadership are far more important than taking advanced calculus at the age of 12.

I suppose if the worst came tthe worst you could talk to your kids each day after they'd been to the expensive school - I know, depserate times, desperate measures...

FOr kids who speak no Thai, I am guessing they would really struggle in most of the local schools, and since they have no right of abode, it would be reckless to gamble on overcoming the hurdle of having to learn the language. I don't know what the cheapest English-medium schools cost... I don't think a third-language education would be a good idea - Chinese, for example - unless the parents are at least passably fluent and able to help with the homework.

I' m gambling on them getting extremely well-paid jobs, and looking after me in my dotage...

SC

[danbradster]

400,000 baht would turn into 1.5mill at 10% return per year for 13 years, not including inflation. Including inflation it would be worth roughly 850,000 baht in real money terms.

Where did the 6 million figure come from? 22% return per year for 13 years?!

I don't know what Thai public vs private school is like. Parents offering quality business and financial knowledge since childhood has a great effect though. Thanks to my financially minded mother teaching me about money/interest/investment since I was a toddler, at 21 years old I have a reasonably successful business and a lot of investments (1mill baht per year in reasonably passive income).

I never studied too hard (except in things I love, like business) and only went to a private school for 2 years of my education. Parents make the biggest difference, not the school.

Silly me, 400k per year for 13 years. Like others mentioned, go half half. Go for a moderate school and save up a fair amount of money. There's no point giving 6 million baht to a silly son/daughter.

Anyway, if you make a smart and business minded child, they can make money from nothing. Give them a small amount like 200 baht per week and encourage them to grow it. Or help them brainstorm business ideas with no capital outlay. Soon they'll value their money and have business experience under their belt before they hit 18 years old.

[ilyelol]

or guess what

pay 400k and save 400k on top of that

thats only like 25k USD a year

Edited November 1, 2010 by ilyelol

[Naam]

With decent education they will be able to secure good positions easily making 400k a month. I mean if they are motivated and intelligent enough to make it.

excellent advice! it's a piece of cake making 13,000+ dollars a month after taxes in Thailand. that is... as long as the wet dream and the motivation lasts. after waking up it's 13,000+ Baht for a college graduate.

[sirineou]

A good education would be worth a lot more than 6 million Baht which in 13 years time I doubt would buy 3 houses.

I am reminded of the old Adage, " give a man a fish and he eats for the day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime"

in addition a good education had more to offer than simply financial rewards.

[jackr]

Parents make the biggest difference, not the school.

, although a half-decent school with a couple of decent teachers and a lack of the roughian element one is more likely to find in a state school helps. For me, of all the schools and colleges attended, there's just two teachers that standout; the rest were mediocre at best. The only time I started to really learn was when I picked up a book, although I only did that when a teacher brought a topic to my attention.

I'd say go halfway as perhaps too much expectation on a top place, but getting them to find interest in books is a biggie.

[StreetCowboy]

With decent education they will be able to secure good positions easily making 400k a month. I mean if they are motivated and intelligent enough to make it.

excellent advice! it's a piece of cake making 13,000+ dollars a month after taxes in Thailand. that is... as long as the wet dream and the motivation lasts. after waking up it's 13,000+ Baht for a college graduate.

I suppose the first thing they'll learn, attending a 400K/month school, is that the world is bigger than just Thailand - if they haven't learnt that already from their parents...

No one mentioned 'after taxes" - though even before tax, 400K is quite a lot for anyone to aspire to...

SC

[bermondburi]

Is there really that much difference in the stuff that children learn in a top international school compared to other private schools in Thailand. I don't mean the facilities or environment or class sizes or extra curricular activities but the actual subject matter. I mean schools pretty much teach the same stuff don't they. I think that if a kid is clever they do well and if they're not they don't. All the money in the world doesn't make a thick kid clever, a better school environment might make him/her do a bit better but not by a massive amount.

The foreigners who send their kids to top international school are probably on big expat packages so they can afford the fees, plus the fact that they might only be here for a few years and the child will speak no Thai at all probably unless they were born here so they have no option but to send their child there. The Thais that send their kids to these schools do so for one reason only IMO and that is because they want their child to have very good English skills as a stepping stone to an overseas university degree.

In my case I've gone for a bilingual school for my two boys. It's pretty much half and half Thai / English and the fees aren't that bad. After everything about 70,000 a year per kid. Some of the Thai kids there come from very rich families so for 400K a year people must be loaded. And if you have two..... I still want my kids to mix with other ( what I would call normal ) kids. It's working so far.

[bermondburi]

Forgot to add that giving an eighteen year old 6 million is totally fuc_king stupid. Maybe give it to them when they are thirty and know what is what a bit more. Hopefully when they are thirty they wouldn't waste the money on crap ideas / women / drugs / places etc.

[Loz]

I'd want to educate kids in the West.

Many of the seriously monied Thais feel the same way. Could be something in it...

[bermondburi]

I'd want to educate kids in the West.

Many of the seriously monied Thais feel the same way. Could be something in it...

I'm probably leaving Thailand in a year or so for my kids education, not back to the UK ( not yet anyway ) because I can't see it being that great there , going from my own memories. Not going because I have problems with the Thai school either but purely for my kids English to develop. The best way I can see for that is for them to go somewhere where no one speaks Thai.

Good for them to go to different places as well. Hopefully make them more rounded individuals and all that <deleted> at the same time.

[ExpatJ]

As a parent the best option is to spend as much as you can afford on your kids education. Going to a private school does make a difference- if you kid is abit less bright in private schools they will get extra attention, if they are v. intelligent in private schools they have a great environment to flourish. The opposite is true of public schools- less bright kids will suffer, bright kids maybe be stifled and unable to meet their potential.

Deep down we all would pay for our kids to go to the best private schools if we had the means. Trying to justify not spending money on your kids education- well its just an exercise in trying to make yourself feel better when you know you are not doing the best you could for your kids.

[ilyelol]

As a parent the best option is to spend as much as you can afford on your kids education. Going to a private school does make a difference- if you kid is abit less bright in private schools they will get extra attention, if they are v. intelligent in private schools they have a great environment to flourish. The opposite is true of public schools- less bright kids will suffer, bright kids maybe be stifled and unable to meet their potential.

Deep down we all would pay for our kids to go to the best private schools if we had the means. Trying to justify not spending money on your kids education- well its just an exercise in trying to make yourself feel better when you know you are not doing the best you could for your kids.

Sorry but you should remove your post before all the rednecks start posting about how every kid is the same and no 1 is dumber than anyone else, "it's all the education man"

[Englander]

Trying to justify not spending money on your kids education- well its just an exercise in trying to make yourself feel better when you know you are not doing the best you could for your kids.

Ive recently thought similar to the OP, i am in the process of registering my baby daughter at a few private schools in the UK ..... lets say she stays on until A Levels its approx 12k PA x 14 years = 168K, then university fees which by then id imagine will be 15-20K PA so lets say 50K for a 3 year degree .... plus accommodation and living cost another 10K PA ... so your looking at somewhere near 250K if your wanting a top end education.

I could put down 50k deposit on a house for her now, rent it out and by the time she is 21 itll be paid off, then if i were to save the remaining 200K for her she'd be set up for life ...... and just send her to state school in a decent area, throw in some private tuition and keep my fingers crossed she's got natural academic ability and doesnt get involved with the wrong crowd.

Edited November 2, 2010 by Englander

[Englander]

As a parent the best option is to spend as much as you can afford on your kids education. Going to a private school does make a difference- if you kid is abit less bright in private schools they will get extra attention, if they are v. intelligent in private schools they have a great environment to flourish. The opposite is true of public schools- less bright kids will suffer, bright kids maybe be stifled and unable to meet their potential.

Deep down we all would pay for our kids to go to the best private schools if we had the means. Trying to justify not spending money on your kids education- well its just an exercise in trying to make yourself feel better when you know you are not doing the best you could for your kids.

Sorry but you should remove your post before all the rednecks start posting about how every kid is the same and no 1 is dumber than anyone else, "it's all the education man"

Its the educated liberals point of view to think this way, hence the dumbing down of the education system by not streaming into groups of ability and closing grammar schools to stop the best excelling.