Living Off Your Investments ...

[backflip]

"Smart guys invented condoms"

Years ago, Bob Greene - a Chicago reporter - travelled around the country talking with people who had odd jobs. He ended up @ the Trojan factory watching women test condoms. In front of every woman were two glass "penises". The inspector would roll one one and, as it inflated, she would roll the secong one on. As the 2nd one inflated, she rolled off the 1st one, and rolled on a 3rd one. This went on for eight hours a day. The women would talk throughout the shift, and work the condoms without thinking. Bob wrote he had two observations:

1. it was the most boring job in the world

2. the women would make great dates

[JimsKnight]

Sorry mate, you don't have enough.

25,000 bht a month even with an apartment is not enough if any emergencies arrive.

Conventional wisdom says that whilst you are young, you should invest in stocks, because you are in for the long term and more importantly, you are still earning money from a job.

Once you retire, wealth accumalation is no longer the goal; it is wealth preservation. The bulk of your retirement money should be in ultra concervative bond, fixed deposits and gilts with maybe 10% still in stocks to take care of inflation.

If you rely on your stocks to support you, sooner or later; if, not when, you will take a big hit when the stockmarkets nose-dive. You say you are thirty-two? You can expect to live until seventy. The chances of the market going down by shit-loads within the next thirty-eight years is pretty good.

Forget retiring, you really don't have enough. Go back to work.

As a rough idea, you will need house, car and at least US$500,000 before you can even think of retirement at such a young age.

Disagree with this.

A basic 25,000 baht monthly income is fine, you just have to budget well. Decent apartments outside BKK are all over for 5K. Any less is basic. Have an emergency reserve of 100,000 baht for flight emergencies etc. Good luck!

[JimsKnight]

Numbers aside, once you have your home and whatever toys you require paid for here (or anywhere), your funds from whatever income streams you have will last longer here than in the west. And needless to say, if your income stream is of any substantial amount (although of course substantial is a relative term), it goes hand in hand that because of the low cost of living here, your wealth will continue to grow because you can simply continue to plow whatever you have left back into your investments.

This is wisdom!

[tc101]

Lots of good advice here. For even more detailed discussions of financial planning and retirement, the best place I know is http://www.diehards.org/

One other point I would like to add. The best thing is to find work that you enjoy. Then you will not be in such a hurry to retire. I am 56. I retired 2 years ago but just recently started working again part time because I enjoy my work. I am a computer programmer and I am lucky that I got into something that I really enjoyed at an early age. If you don't enjoy your work, think about changing what you do. There are lots of books and web sites about this. The book "What color is you parachute" is a good place to start.

[Taggart]

Seems like you've got a bad case of itchy feet. Unfortunately, there is no cure that I know off. I'm not an expert on Thailand, since I only visit the country with my Thai wife once every couple of years (since 1986)for a few weeks vacation. What I do know is the symptoms you have, since I had the same in my 20's (I'm now retired at 56).

I can't tell you to go or not to go to Thailand, but what I can tell you from experience is to at least have a contingency plan in place, in case your dreams don't quite work out, and you think you and your wife must head back to Canada. Don't tell me that can't happen, because I've met too many people in my life who had to return whence they came from.

On the financial side, I can remember just over 10 years ago, when you could only get about 18 baht to the Canadian $. Today, you can get a little over 33 baht. Let's hope for you and your wife's sake, the currency exchange doesn't head down to that 18 baht again over the next few years. As for your portfolio, I would diversify it on a worldwide basis. That's easy to do now with index funds and ETF's (exchange traded funds). I would also advise you save at least 10% of your yearly income to re-invest in your portfolio. At your age I wouldn't have less than 50% equity, and in fact would advise a bit higher percentage than that. You need bonds to save you if markets crash, but you need equities to beat inflation over the long term. Unfortunately, as in anything else in life, nothing's guaranteed.

[Gary A]

I've been QUITE well off and I've been poor. Being poor is no fun but being QUITE well off isn't all it's cracked up to be. It sent me to the hospital with chest pains. The final diagnosis was that I was lucky there was no heart damage but if I kept burning the candle from both ends I should expect to eventually drop dead. Stress KILLS!

I retired a little early at 58 years old. I had a financial plan but wasn't at all sure how it would work out since I would have a maximum of $1,500 per month until my pensions started. As it worked out living as I wanted in Jomtien was costing me about $1,100 per month. About half of that was for entertainment, meaning boozing and women. I felt financially comfortable enough to buy a condo. That eliminated what I considered as my biggest expense variable. Then I met my girlfriend (now my wife) and I was living on less than $700 per month. I will probably always be a cynic so I refuse to spend more on things NOT in my name than I can afford to walk away from.

I'm happy to say that I did very well in the stock market in 2005 and the first two months of this year. I sold out of the market and now enjoy collecting monthly dividends which are direct deposited in my US bank account.

My wife and I live in her house up country. It is a small western style two bedroom house. Nothing fancy but comfortable. I have all the toys I want and some that I certainly DON'T need but we live on less than 25,000 baht per month (less than $700). I finally rented out my condo after it sat empty for a year. I really didn't care if I rented it out or not. It was kind of nice to have a place to stay when I made my rare trips to Jomtien. I avoid traveling as much as possible. A trip every three months is more than enough so it made sense to rent it out.

My small Chrysler retirement pension started at age 60 and along with my dividends I can live very comfortably. Next March my Social Security benefits start (44,000 baht) and that will simply be surplus. My life style won't change at all because I am quite happy with things as they are. And, YES, I have friends who can and do easily piss away 150,000 baht a month. I DON'T like five star hotels when I do have to travel. I DON'T like fancy restaurants and I am happy with my two pick up trucks. I always liked to drive four wheel drive pickup trucks when I lived in the USA and that hasn't changed here. I have raised my two children and refuse to raise anyone else's children. My friends here up country tell me that I give my wife entirely too much money every month. She pays everything except my small bar bills, my infrequent trips and the insurance premiums with 20,000 baht per month. She does have money left over and she enjoys taking care of our household expenses. She is happy being able to save about 5,000 baht a month in her bank account. I don't intend to tell my friends up here that in March she will get an extra 10,000 a month for her future.

Life is good out here in the boonies.

[Sophon]

Example in this case, Mr. Canadian invests $510,000 in Commonwealth Banks shares. They pay 5% Fully Franked, which is tax paid. Times 510K by 5% = $25,500 AUD. Times that by 28 Baht to The AUD and you have 714,000 Baht per year tax paid income. Divide that by 12 and you have 59,500 Baht per Month income, not too bad for a good lifestyle in Thailand.

I'm not in the "26 years are too young to retire" camp. If that's really what you want to do, and you have the funds to support yourself then go ahead. Personally I will retire as soon as I have saved enough.

That being said, to retire very young, you really need to have serious funds to make sure changing circumstances doesn't leave you penniless in your old age. If you retire at 60 you can plan ahead for the rest of your life with some degree of certainty. But if you retire at 26 you can reasonably expect to life for another 50 or even 60 years, and a lot can change over the course of 60 years, just think of what has happened in (or should I say to?) the world since the 1940's.

I agree that you can have a very nice life in Thailand for 60,000 Baht per month, and could personaly probably live happily on about half of that. But the example of Mr. Canadian doesn't include the efects of inflation. With an average annual inflation rate of lets say 2.5 percent, the 60,000 Baht in 50 years time would only be worth the equivalent of 17,500 Baht today, not very much to live on. On top of that the currency exchange rates could change infavourably for you, plus a myriad of other things could happen that you have no way of predicting. For example who knows what the taxation will be like 50 years from now?

I guess what I am trying to say is, that if you retire very young, you should really have savings far in excess of what you think you will need. If you start running out of savings when you are in your fifties, it won't be easy having to start working again after having been retired for 30 years.

On the other hand, no need to keep your nose to the grindstone until you fall down dead from your office chair.

Sophon

Edited August 20, 2006 by Sophon

[Taggart]

I know of an American couple who retired in 1984 at the age of 35. They retired on total assets of about $500,000 U.S. I just checked an American inflation calculator and that same $500,000 in 1984 dollars, is the equivalent today of just over $925,000 U.S. The couple are PT's (perpetual travellers), and spend a few months in Thailand every so often. They usually stay at inexpensive (clean) guesthouses, and know where the cheap Thai food is. As of three years ago, their daily average spending (not including international air travel) was less than $25 U.S. while staying in Thailand.

It helps if you're the frugal type.

[cobra]

Some excellent advice has been posted, I would add the wild card that is often devalued, rising health costs.

In your thirties, medical considerations are almost a non-issue. But as you age insurance premiums are going to go up, God forbid you have to check in the ER and have a lengthly stay while under- insured, it could be a major setback.

[bmanly]

Example in this case, Mr. Canadian invests $510,000 in Commonwealth Banks shares. They pay 5% Fully Franked, which is tax paid. Times 510K by 5% = $25,500 AUD. Times that by 28 Baht to The AUD and you have 714,000 Baht per year tax paid income. Divide that by 12 and you have 59,500 Baht per Month income, not too bad for a good lifestyle in Thailand.

I agree that you can have a very nice life in Thailand for 60,000 Baht per month, and could personaly probably live happily on about half of that. But the example of Mr. Canadian doesn't include the efects of inflation. With an average annual inflation rate of lets say 2.5 percent, the 60,000 Baht in 50 years time would only be worth the equivalent of 17,500 Baht today, not very much to live on. On top of that the currency exchange rates could change infavourably for you, plus a myriad of other things could happen that you have no way of predicting. For example who knows what the taxation will be like 50 years from now?

I guess what I am trying to say is, that if you retire very young, you should really have savings far in excess of what you think you will need. If you start running out of savings when you are in your fifties, it won't be easy having to start working again after having been retired for 30 years.

On the other hand, no need to keep your nose to the grindstone until you fall down dead from your office chair.

Sophon

You have taken inflation and tax into consideration and that is of course absolutely necessary othwise the retirement plan will fail. My example has taken that into account. A portfolio of shares that pay fully franked dividends is tax paid income. Most stocks in Australia pay fully franked dividends, (company tax paid) and it means that you pay no more tax. The other thing is that as companies grow in size and value so does your income from those companies grow. In my example above with Commonwealth Banks shares it is exactly what happened. In 1996 the income per share was 90c for the year. In 2006 the income was $2.24c and in the last 10 years the price of these shares have gone from $10 to $45, that has quadrupaled. That is far far better than Australias current inflation rate and is both a strategy that works against inflation and the effects of tax.

I know of an American couple who retired in 1984 at the age of 35. They retired on total assets of about $500,000 U.S. I just checked an American inflation calculator and that same $500,000 in 1984 dollars, is the equivalent today of just over $925,000 U.S. The couple are PT's (perpetual travellers), and spend a few months in Thailand every so often. They usually stay at inexpensive (clean) guesthouses, and know where the cheap Thai food is. As of three years ago, their daily average spending (not including international air travel) was less than $25 U.S. while staying in Thailand.

It helps if you're the frugal type.

Nobody is arguing about the effects of inflation, however if this couple had invested into a pool of blue chip shares they would be far better off today than what they were then. OK, lets use the Australian Stock Exchanges All Ordinaries index, you can use the Dow Jones if you like but I have data right here for the ASX so I will use that. The Australian All Ordinaries index (XAO) in 1984 was around 750 points, now in 2006 it is around 5,000 points, that is 6 times higher than then. The couples $500,000 would now be worth $3 MILLION....... not bad in beating inflation. I would be interested to hear what their capital is worth now but they might not devulge that anyway.

Some excellent advice has been posted, I would add the wild card that is often devalued, rising health costs.

In your thirties, medical considerations are almost a non-issue. But as you age insurance premiums are going to go up, God forbid you have to check in the ER and have a lengthly stay while under- insured, it could be a major setback.

You can get pretty good insurance here in Thailand from Bupa Blue Cross. My friend pays for a very good policy about 15,000 Baht a year which is only $300 USD anyway. However there is a cut off point, not sure I think it's around 65 YO or 70 YO. You must plan for the cut off, well brought up.

[Loom]

If you're thinking only of yourself and a partner, fine. But if you've got/or might plan to have kids and want to give them decent schooling, better add about bt25,000-30,000 per month to your budget without any assumptions for college tuition. The budget would be for an international school.

[Taggart]

bmanly wrote:

>>>I would be interested to hear what their capital is worth now but they might not devulge that anyway.<<<

They stated three years ago that their portfolio was worth over $1,000,000 U.S. Not bad considering they've been withdrawing from that portfolio for twenty plus years.

As for investing, most of us have been lucky to have had a tail wind for the last couple of decades or so. Whether that continues for the next couple of decades, I don't know, but then again, nobody else does either.

[BlackJack]

spend it all

die poor - like thais

leave enough for the grand exit party

[Gary A]

Perfect timing would be that the check for the "grand exit party" bounced.

spend it all

die poor - like thais

leave enough for the grand exit party

[BlackJack]

Perfect timing would be that the check for the "grand exit party" bounced.

spend it all

die poor - like thais

leave enough for the grand exit party

my friend in OZ maxed out $12000 on one credit card - possibly more (other cards)

then did a big swan dive of the GAP in Sydney area

He was very sick (not mentally)

now thats and exit

[Firefan]

For people asking me advise on this subject (cost of living in Thailand/investment returns) I always recommend a longer term visit to get to know the cost (not forgetting the bigger items one might want and only replace less often; car, fridge Etc.).

Then after deciding on the budget (say B 60k/mth or whatever) split it in 2 parts. 1 part being the base costs (rent/mng fee/utilities, transport, health insurance, basic groceries, visa Etc.) and then the "fun/discretionary"-costs: beers/food out, entertainment, car, travel Etc.

The first part should be covered by fairly safe investments; global short bonds, CDs, TIPs, time-deposits Etc., while the 2nd part can be put in higher risk investments in order to ensure one overall keep up with inflation. That way; even if the stock market/more agressive investments go through a weak period, one can still "always" cover the base costs and will not have to pack up.

It is also a natural reaction for most; they see their nest egg dwindle and probably feel much better not going on that trip to the Maldives ("Hua Hin will have to do!"), buy that car ("those taxis are CHEAP!") or eat at fancy seafood restaurants ("yummy street food!"). at least that is how I react myself.

Cheers!

[Gary A]

Perfect timing would be that the check for the "grand exit party" bounced.

spend it all

die poor - like thais

leave enough for the grand exit party

my friend in OZ maxed out $12000 on one credit card - possibly more (other cards)

then did a big swan dive of the GAP in Sydney area

He was very sick (not mentally)

now thats and exit

I'd like to be lucky enough to die peacefully in my sleep, BUT, I'm not ready to go yet.

[Napolean_Complex]

Sorry mate, you don't have enough.

25,000 bht a month even with an apartment is not enough if any emergencies arrive.

Conventional wisdom says that whilst you are young, you should invest in stocks, because you are in for the long term and more importantly, you are still earning money from a job.

Once you retire, wealth accumalation is no longer the goal; it is wealth preservation. The bulk of your retirement money should be in ultra concervative bond, fixed deposits and gilts with maybe 10% still in stocks to take care of inflation.

If you rely on your stocks to support you, sooner or later; if, not when, you will take a big hit when the stockmarkets nose-dive. You say you are thirty-two? You can expect to live until seventy. The chances of the market going down by shit-loads within the next thirty-eight years is pretty good.

Forget retiring, you really don't have enough. Go back to work.

As a rough idea, you will need house, car and at least US$500,000 before you can even think of retirement at such a young age.

Disagree with this.

A basic 25,000 baht monthly income is fine, you just have to budget well. Decent apartments outside BKK are all over for 5K. Any less is basic. Have an emergency reserve of 100,000 baht for flight emergencies etc. Good luck!

I also Disagree with this. I know guys here that have that much and are sure that they have well enough. Im sure that with the proper planning, and setting goals and limitations that I can achieve my goal. 25K you say? Is that that your currently doing/month in LOS?

Thanks alot for the imput all.

[Napolean_Complex]

Perfect timing would be that the check for the "grand exit party" bounced.

spend it all

die poor - like thais

leave enough for the grand exit party

my friend in OZ maxed out $12000 on one credit card - possibly more (other cards)

then did a big swan dive of the GAP in Sydney area

He was very sick (not mentally)

now thats and exit

I'd like to be lucky enough to die peacefully in my sleep, BUT, I'm not ready to go yet.

My grandfather died peacefu;;y in his sleep. The passenger beside him was yelling the whole way down though.

[Gary A]

After thinking about my 25,000 baht per month living expense I got to thinking about it and decided that figure may be deceiving. I DO indeed live well on 25,000 baht per month BUT, getting setup required a fair amount of investment. I bought a condo, furnished it and eventually bought a new pick up truck. I have no debt or payments other than normal utilities. At this point in my life I can't imagine having to borrow money for anything. Children would throw another wrench into the gears.

[BlackJack]

After thinking about my 25,000 baht per month living expense I got to thinking about it and decided that figure may be deceiving. I DO indeed live well on 25,000 baht per month BUT, getting setup required a fair amount of investment. I bought a condo, furnished it and eventually bought a new pick up truck. I have no debt or payments other than normal utilities. At this point in my life I can't imagine having to borrow money for anything. Children would throw another wrench into the gears.

well there are a few ongoings as well

there are maintenance foees on the condo for the year

could add a few thousand per month

then car running and insurance anc maintenance a few thousand more per month

then the killer

HEALTH

insurance for me (50 year old) goes up 16% per year and each year the insurance co pays out less and has more and more exclusions - but need it in case i have big sickness

so dont kid yourself and add these things in

it all adds up

and if you have a GF then there will be added costs again

mine is college fees, uniforms, transport to college, pocket money, etc etc

so it soon goes

[LoveDaBlues]

Sorry mate, you don't have enough.

25,000 bht a month even with an apartment is not enough if any emergencies arrive.

Conventional wisdom says that whilst you are young, you should invest in stocks, because you are in for the long term and more importantly, you are still earning money from a job.

Once you retire, wealth accumalation is no longer the goal; it is wealth preservation. The bulk of your retirement money should be in ultra concervative bond, fixed deposits and gilts with maybe 10% still in stocks to take care of inflation.

If you rely on your stocks to support you, sooner or later; if, not when, you will take a big hit when the stockmarkets nose-dive. You say you are thirty-two? You can expect to live until seventy. The chances of the market going down by shit-loads within the next thirty-eight years is pretty good.

Forget retiring, you really don't have enough. Go back to work.

As a rough idea, you will need house, car and at least US$500,000 before you can even think of retirement at such a young age.

Disagree with this.

A basic 25,000 baht monthly income is fine, you just have to budget well. Decent apartments outside BKK are all over for 5K. Any less is basic. Have an emergency reserve of 100,000 baht for flight emergencies etc. Good luck!

I also Disagree with this. I know guys here that have that much and are sure that they have well enough. Im sure that with the proper planning, and setting goals and limitations that I can achieve my goal. 25K you say? Is that that your currently doing/month in LOS?

Thanks alot for the imput all.

I have to lean toward Sir Burr on this one. Even if you pay cash for a house and vehicle 25,000 baht a month is pushing it. This is roughly 22 USD per day. Fine if you want to just 'exist' but personally you would not be 'living'. If you want to travel, enjoy a special meal from time to time (which could include treating friends), play golf, etc. you'll be a little short.

I think this is a good formula for a single guy or married (remember, expenses will offset each other when you transition from married to single; ex. I don't do the BG thing anymore but I have to support the TW....expenses offset). Pay cash for condo and vehicle. Then have income of 40,000 baht a month to live pretty well. 60,000 and you'll be looking for ways to spend the excess lol.......

Adding kids to the mix of course changes money required.

The only way to REALLY know how much you as an individual need is to actually live here awhile.

[Gary A]

well there are a few ongoings as well

there are maintenance foees on the condo for the year

could add a few thousand per month

then car running and insurance anc maintenance a few thousand more per month

then the killer

HEALTH

insurance for me (50 year old) goes up 16% per year and each year the insurance co pays out less and has more and more exclusions - but need it in case i have big sickness

so dont kid yourself and add these things in

it all adds up

and if you have a GF then there will be added costs again

mine is college fees, uniforms, transport to college, pocket money, etc etc

so it soon goes

I really didn't mention my condo. I rent it to a friend of mine for 9,000 baht per month. That's a cheap price because I don't think he can find anything as good for near the same price and I want him to stay. My condo fees are 600 baht a month. Ten baht per square meter so 600 baht.

I'm 61 years old and have health insurance that costs me about 20,000 baht per year. I don't know if it is any good or not except last year I had acute appendicitus and it paid all but 15 baht. It pays a maximum of 1,250,000 baht per occurance. The insurance for my two vehicles is about 25,000 per year. I live in my wife's house so no rent. She takes care of all the household expenses. I give her 20,000 baht a month and she has about 5,000 baht per month for her savings account. I pay my small bar bills and the insurance premiums. She pays for everything else.

My vehicles are fairly new so other than regular service they cost me very little. My wife pays for the fuel for hers and I pay for my fuel. She rides her motorbike most of the time so there is very little fuel for her to buy.

There are NO kids in the picture. Life is good.

[BlackJack]

well there are a few ongoings as well

there are maintenance foees on the condo for the year

could add a few thousand per month

then car running and insurance anc maintenance a few thousand more per month

then the killer

HEALTH

insurance for me (50 year old) goes up 16% per year and each year the insurance co pays out less and has more and more exclusions - but need it in case i have big sickness

so dont kid yourself and add these things in

it all adds up

and if you have a GF then there will be added costs again

mine is college fees, uniforms, transport to college, pocket money, etc etc

so it soon goes

can i ask what health cover you have

thanks

I really didn't mention my condo. I rent it to a friend of mine for 9,000 baht per month. That's a cheap price because I don't think he can find anything as good for near the same price and I want him to stay. My condo fees are 600 baht a month. Ten baht per square meter so 600 baht.

I'm 61 years old and have health insurance that costs me about 20,000 baht per year. I don't know if it is any good or not except last year I had acute appendicitus and it paid all but 15 baht. It pays a maximum of 1,250,000 baht per occurance. The insurance for my two vehicles is about 25,000 per year. I live in my wife's house so no rent. She takes care of all the household expenses. I give her 20,000 baht a month and she has about 5,000 baht per month for her savings account. I pay my small bar bills and the insurance premiums. She pays for everything else.

My vehicles are fairly new so other than regular service they cost me very little. My wife pays for the fuel for hers and I pay for my fuel. She rides her motorbike most of the time so there is very little fuel for her to buy.

There are NO kids in the picture. Life is good.

[Gary A]

I have my health insurance with LMG Pacific. It is the middle plan which is quite cheap BUT I have an optional rider that is supposed to pay for everything that the Executive plan doesn't cover. That puts the maximum per occurance up to 1,250,000. The rider costs as much as the basic policy.

My agent is PCD International in Pattaya.

[Blake7]

I'm a similar age to the OP and live in Thailand but do not work as such. Howver I am a partner in a business in China and get income from other "projects".

Personally I would not want to retire at such a young age. However, I also would not like a nine to five job.

I would suggest living in Thailand but investing the capital in a business. I way to hedge would be to get a mortgage on a property in the UK and let it out to repay. You would also have assets in the Uk which should rise with inflation. Imagine having sold your house in the UK in 1990 and want to buy it back in 2006. It woudl be impossible coming from Thailand.

[BlackJack]

I'm a similar age to the OP and live in Thailand but do not work as such. Howver I am a partner in a business in China and get income from other "projects".

Personally I would not want to retire at such a young age. However, I also would not like a nine to five job.

I would suggest living in Thailand but investing the capital in a business. I way to hedge would be to get a mortgage on a property in the UK and let it out to repay. You would also have assets in the Uk which should rise with inflation. Imagine having sold your house in the UK in 1990 and want to buy it back in 2006. It woudl be impossible coming from Thailand.

1. buy rental property here (can get 9%)

2. have cash in the thai bank (0% - 5% pay tax)

3. invest cash at call in UK bank (5% pay tax)

4. have some managed funds ( up to 100% pay tax)

Buy condo here - no rent

[Artamus]

As a newbie, and trying to calculate the unfathomable "how much is enough", I've read through this long thread and in trying to come up with the answer to how much do I need, tried to do some detailed calculations. Feedback is welcome. Are these amounts way off (either under or over)? The high and low estimates on this thread appear around 25,00 - 140,000 Bhat/month, with a figure of 60,000 - 80,000 appearing popular.

My basic scenario is me and the Thai wife living in our own house with major set-up expenses taken care of (eg, bought house, cars etc.). Kids left home and finished university, so no support costs there. We'd be living up north, somewhere Chiang Mai or Chaing Rai, and outside the city. We're not extravagant, but want to be comfortable, so not cutting corners either.

These are our first cut estimates in Bhat/month. I've tried here to break things down and think of almost all likely expenses.

Food/Drink - 12,000 (this is eat at home, so doesn't include eating out).

Utilities - Cooking gas - 200

Utilities - Water 400

Telephone and Internet - 2,000

Electricity - 3,000

Garbage collection / Security guards? - 800

House Insurance - 2,500

Home contents insurance - 1,800

Medical Insurance - 5,000 (for two people)

Vehicle insurance - 5,000 (two cars)

Vehicle maintenance cost - 5,000

Petrol - 10,000 (that's about 30,000 km at 30 Bhat/litre)

Road tax - 1,500

House repairs and maintenance - 4,000

Rates/local housing tax - 1,000

TOTAL = 54,200 Bhat/month

With a 10% contingency that would equate to about 60,000 Bhat/month.

Then of course entertainment and travel would be on top of that. I've seen other's post that for 60,000 Bhat they would include entertainment and local travel expenses, so maybe the above is a bit high. Comments?

[backflip]

Art,

Are you living in Thailand? If you are, you know how much it costs.

[Artamus]

Art,

Are you living in Thailand? If you are, you know how much it costs.

Very true, but as we are not in Thailand it was the reason for posting. Comng on holiday is not the same as living in the country.