Thai Household Debt

[arch77778]

We Farangs started this debt problem by being to lavish with our money.Over the years this problem has snowballed and the avalanche is just around the corner.

I am getting emails to commit myself to a new Condo ,with building to commence, late 2013 and completion in 2015.

I am sorry we are doomed.

[NeverSure]

Start at Sattahip and drive North to Pattaya and count the new hotel rooms. Of course no one will do this because your doom and gloom head would explode.

Then go to Maptaphut and drive South to Rayong and count the new factories. Boom there goes your head again.

50% of the economy is off the books and 50% of the loans are low or no interest loans also off the books.

Go to a bank and borrow the money to buy a house. The teller gives you 3 million baht cash. Yup right there in the bank she hands over 3 million in cash. Then you turn around and give that money to the person who owns the house. Cash. Is that how one buys a house in the West? No. Why do think?

I realize that there's a boom. Here's what happened in the US and I think everyone knows that all of that crashed. Even banks, Wall Street, GM and Chrysler needed bailouts. So did Ford but they borrowed the money privately and avoided crushing government strings attached.

There was a building boom everywhere. Houses, office buildings... GM built a ridiculous huge and fancy headquarters in ugly Detroit. Everything appeared to be booming and few thought it would end.

Then with almost no warning it crashed. The Emporer had no clothes. All of this building boom only left a lot of vacancies and empty buildings.

Fortunately I was preparing for retirement and had paid everything off. I sold some real estate investments before the crash and paid off my house. I have/had no debts at all, not even car loans. I was one of the lucky ones.

Even so, my house dropped about 50% in value and I do wish I had also sold it at the peak. I consoled myself by thinking "Oh well, it's just a place to live, I'm living here anyway so the value isn't all that important." How true that is if my plans stayed the same, but now I'm going to move to LOS, sell the house, and I sure wish that instead of $400,000 US it's worth today, I'd sold at the $750,000 US it appraised for before the crash. Oh well...

Guys, I've lived it. I saw a boom that few thought would end, but I'm a student of history. My 95 year old dad who lived through the bubble of the 1920's and saw the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression told me this looked the same to him, and told me to get out.

ONE THING. If you get out you have your money. If the bubble doesn't burst you have your money. If the bubble bursts you have your money. If you keep your money in real estate and it does burst, you're broke or if free and clear, a lot poorer.

YMMV. I'm still in one piece, didn't go broke, but I'm not worth what I was 7 years ago. Even my potential monthly income has dropped but I have enough. I wish I had what I would have had if I'd sold my house and a couple more things before the crash.

Edited October 18, 2012 by NeverSure

[chiangmaikelly]

Start at Sattahip and drive North to Pattaya and count the new hotel rooms. Of course no one will do this because your doom and gloom head would explode.

Then go to Maptaphut and drive South to Rayong and count the new factories. Boom there goes your head again.

50% of the economy is off the books and 50% of the loans are low or no interest loans also off the books.

Go to a bank and borrow the money to buy a house. The teller gives you 3 million baht cash. Yup right there in the bank she hands over 3 million in cash. Then you turn around and give that money to the person who owns the house. Cash. Is that how one buys a house in the West? No. Why do think?

I realize that there's a boom. Here's what happened in the US and I think everyone knows that all of that crashed. Even banks, Wall Street, GM and Chrysler needed bailouts. So did Ford but they borrowed the money privately and avoided crushing government strings attached.

There was a building boom everywhere. Houses, office buildings... GM built a ridiculous huge and fancy headquarters in ugly Detroit. Everything appeared to be booming and few thought it would end.

Then with almost no warning it crashed. The Emporer had no clothes.

Fortunately I was preparing for retirement and had paid everything of. I sold some real estate investments before the crash and paid off my house. I have/had no debts at all, not even car loans. I was one of the lucky ones.

Even so, my house dropped about 50% in value and I do wish I had also sold it at the peak. I consoled myself by thinking "Oh well, it's just a place to live, I'm living here anyway so the value isn't all that important." How true that is if my plans stayed the same, but now I'm going to move to LOS, sell the house, and I sure wish that instead of $400,000 US it's worth today, I'd sold at the $750,000 US it appraised for before the crash. Oh well...

Guys, I've lived it. I saw a boom that few thought would end, but I'm a student of history. My 95 year old dad who lived through the bubble of the 1920's and saw the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression told me this looked the same to him, and told me to get out.

ONE THING. If you get out you have your money. If the bubble doesn't burst you have your money. If the bubble bursts you have your money. If you keep your money in real estate and it does burst, you're broke or if free and clear, a lot poorer.

YMMV. I'm still in one piece, didn't go broke, but I'm not worth what I was 7 years ago. Even my potential monthly income has dropped but I have enough. I wish I had what I would have had if I'd sold my house and a couple more things before the crash.

I moved here and sold my house in the States 7 years ago. I just listened to the guys on Thai Visa and did the opposite. It is not rocket science. Of course they change as they fall by the wayside. Right now the OP is a good one.

[farang000999]

Facebook has added another level to wanting name brand accessories, that is what i read in an study recently about Singaporeans. I guess it is the desire to take and post photos of your stuff.

[Banzai99]

Facebook has added another level to wanting name brand accessories, that is what i read in an study recently about Singaporeans. I guess it is the desire to take and post photos of your stuff.

Or things that you want people to believe is your stuff.

Chatrooms, Anonymous Forums, Facebook, Dating sites, all known for their honesty and integrity.

[farang000999]

THE NATION October 2, 2012 1:00 am

The Bank of Thailand is pondering measures to prevent runaway household debt from threatening economic stability.

"The central bank will pay more attention to the surge in household debt, as it has gone up to 40-50 per cent of household income from 30 per cent previously," Deputy Governor Krirk Vanikkul said yesterday.

This debt burden does not include underground borrowing.

"Too high household debt could pose a risk to the whole economy's stability, so the central bank does not want it to rise too much. However, whatever measures we impose won't affect those who are in need of liquidity," he said.

The central bank will also try to ensure that creditors do not take advantage of debtors.

"We have tools in place such as credit-card regulations. We may revise these rules" to contain household debts, he said.

[Scully]

Start at Sattahip and drive North to Pattaya and count the new hotel rooms. Of course no one will do this because your doom and gloom head would explode.

Then go to Maptaphut and drive South to Rayong and count the new factories. Boom there goes your head again.

50% of the economy is off the books and 50% of the loans are low or no interest loans also off the books.

Go to a bank and borrow the money to buy a house. The teller gives you 3 million baht cash. Yup right there in the bank she hands over 3 million in cash. Then you turn around and give that money to the person who owns the house. Cash. Is that how one buys a house in the West? No. Why do think?

I realize that there's a boom. Here's what happened in the US and I think everyone knows that all of that crashed. Even banks, Wall Street, GM and Chrysler needed bailouts. So did Ford but they borrowed the money privately and avoided crushing government strings attached.

There was a building boom everywhere. Houses, office buildings... GM built a ridiculous huge and fancy headquarters in ugly Detroit. Everything appeared to be booming and few thought it would end.

Then with almost no warning it crashed. The Emporer had no clothes.

Fortunately I was preparing for retirement and had paid everything of. I sold some real estate investments before the crash and paid off my house. I have/had no debts at all, not even car loans. I was one of the lucky ones.

Even so, my house dropped about 50% in value and I do wish I had also sold it at the peak. I consoled myself by thinking "Oh well, it's just a place to live, I'm living here anyway so the value isn't all that important." How true that is if my plans stayed the same, but now I'm going to move to LOS, sell the house, and I sure wish that instead of $400,000 US it's worth today, I'd sold at the $750,000 US it appraised for before the crash. Oh well...

Guys, I've lived it. I saw a boom that few thought would end, but I'm a student of history. My 95 year old dad who lived through the bubble of the 1920's and saw the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression told me this looked the same to him, and told me to get out.

ONE THING. If you get out you have your money. If the bubble doesn't burst you have your money. If the bubble bursts you have your money. If you keep your money in real estate and it does burst, you're broke or if free and clear, a lot poorer.

YMMV. I'm still in one piece, didn't go broke, but I'm not worth what I was 7 years ago. Even my potential monthly income has dropped but I have enough. I wish I had what I would have had if I'd sold my house and a couple more things before the crash.

I moved here and sold my house in the States 7 years ago. I just listened to the guys on Thai Visa and did the opposite. It is not rocket science. Of course they change as they fall by the wayside. Right now the OP is a good one.

I am a member of another forum which is based around investment and the UK economy. I sold in 2007 and invested a lot in gold, I don't think anyone would base their financial future on going against a few posters on an expat site.

Unless of course you are just wanting a reaction.

[chiangmaikelly]

You never make any money doing something every else is doing. Just saying....

The problem with Australia is not only exports to China and the weakening prices for industrial commodities, it is also a lot of household debt and a housing market that is essentially very expensive," Dr Faber NOTED international contrarian said. Dr Faber, a Swiss-born investor who currently lives in the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai, jumped to fame when he advised his clients to exit the stockmarket ahead of the 1987 crash.

[loong]

Start at Sattahip and drive North to Pattaya and count the new hotel rooms. Of course no one will do this because your doom and gloom head would explode.

Then go to Maptaphut and drive South to Rayong and count the new factories. Boom there goes your head again.

50% of the economy is off the books and 50% of the loans are low or no interest loans also off the books.

Go to a bank and borrow the money to buy a house. The teller gives you 3 million baht cash. Yup right there in the bank she hands over 3 million in cash. Then you turn around and give that money to the person who owns the house. Cash. Is that how one buys a house in the West? No. Why do think?

I realize that there's a boom. Here's what happened in the US and I think everyone knows that all of that crashed. Even banks, Wall Street, GM and Chrysler needed bailouts. So did Ford but they borrowed the money privately and avoided crushing government strings attached.

There was a building boom everywhere. Houses, office buildings... GM built a ridiculous huge and fancy headquarters in ugly Detroit. Everything appeared to be booming and few thought it would end.

Then with almost no warning it crashed. The Emporer had no clothes. All of this building boom only left a lot of vacancies and empty buildings.

Fortunately I was preparing for retirement and had paid everything off. I sold some real estate investments before the crash and paid off my house. I have/had no debts at all, not even car loans. I was one of the lucky ones.

Even so, my house dropped about 50% in value and I do wish I had also sold it at the peak. I consoled myself by thinking "Oh well, it's just a place to live, I'm living here anyway so the value isn't all that important." How true that is if my plans stayed the same, but now I'm going to move to LOS, sell the house, and I sure wish that instead of $400,000 US it's worth today, I'd sold at the $750,000 US it appraised for before the crash. Oh well...

Guys, I've lived it. I saw a boom that few thought would end, but I'm a student of history. My 95 year old dad who lived through the bubble of the 1920's and saw the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression told me this looked the same to him, and told me to get out.

ONE THING. If you get out you have your money. If the bubble doesn't burst you have your money. If the bubble bursts you have your money. If you keep your money in real estate and it does burst, you're broke or if free and clear, a lot poorer.

YMMV. I'm still in one piece, didn't go broke, but I'm not worth what I was 7 years ago. Even my potential monthly income has dropped but I have enough. I wish I had what I would have had if I'd sold my house and a couple more things before the crash.

I really don't see what this post and so many others have to do with this topic, "Thai household debt"

[isawasnake]

I think the answer to this quandary is that Thais do buy way out of their league, but not many items. So a Thai may have an Ipad and be making payments on it, and those payments are literally dictating his/her whole life, but it doesn't matter because she can pull it out on the bts and show people she has it. That is what counts. Meanwhile, add in the extra benefit of living in a 3500 baht per month flat that she has to ride the bts for 45 minutes and she is golden, just think of all that extra time she can show off her goods.

[inthepink]

Thai household debt as percentage of disposable income 53%

US household debt as percentage of disposable income 130%

UK household debt as percentage of disposable income 176%

Canada household debt as percentage of disposable income 140% (2009)

Australia household debt as percentage of disposable income 150%

OP - you can belittle Thai people for getting into debt in order to buy shiny new things all you like but they are evidently nowhere near as stupid as many in the West.

I can't be bothered to look up debt as a percentage of assets for all those countries (I believe it is a little over 40% in Thailand) but as far as living within one's means is concerned, I don't think Westerners have much to teach the Thai nation.

Edited October 18, 2012 by inthepink

[draftvader]

Just to answer earlier question about loanshark "terms". Whilst living in a lo-so Soi in West Bangkok a local girl was shot dead, single bullet to the brain at 2am. Turns out her boyfriend hadn't made the payments on his Fino in a couple of months. The next day all the new Finos at the top of our Soi were gone and replaced with cheap old Honda Waves and the like. Guess the "small print" is quite effective!

Sent from my HTC Desire using Thaivisa Connect App

[chiangmaikelly]

Thai household debt as percentage of disposable income 53%

US household debt as percentage of disposable income 130%

UK household debt as percentage of disposable income 176%

Canada household debt as percentage of disposable income 140% (2009)

Australia household debt as percentage of disposable income 150%

OP - you can belittle Thai people for getting into debt in order to buy shiny new things all you like but they are evidently nowhere near as stupid as many in the West.

I can't be bothered to look up debt as a percentage of assets for all those countries (I believe it is a little over 40% in Thailand) but as far as living within one's means is concerned, I don't think Westerners have much to teach the Thai nation.

Well that shoots the idea of the OP eh? Wonder if he will change his mind? Or even say he is wrong?

[inthepink]

In all fairness I have to say that the average debt to asset ratio in developed economies (according to Credit Suisse) is between 20 and 30%, which is considerably lower than it is here. That would indicate to me that a fair proportion of debt in the West is due to property purchases. However, when people are unable to service their debts, such assets can quickly become a liability (pun intended). If global events over the last 5 years have taught us anything it is that house prices can and do go down as well as up, and borrowing more and more money using property as security is one of the reasons that developed nations got into trouble in the first place.

Edited October 18, 2012 by inthepink

[Pormax]

Unfortunately what a previous post has already stated. So mant Thai people are way over there head in debt.

I live in a rural village and my wife's family friends and most of the villagers have bank loans of quite incredible amounts when one considers their annual earnings. So many of them also borrow money locally at between 3 and 10% per month. Crazy, yes but they don't seem to care as this is the way they have been living for years. I heard when I stayed in Pattaya that if a Thai lady had to borrow money to pay rent or eat until their monthly pay check or next customer they would borrow at 20% per month.

[JaiLai]

There is a re occuring answer in a lot of these posts that you can apply to many Thai peoples traits - they just don't care, simple as that.

[somtumlion]

I had decided to keep my home in the US when I come to LOS to live next year, but I've changed my mind. I was going to wall off 1/2 of my 1200 sq ft 4 car garage, lock it up and use it for storage and keep some things like Harleys and Schwinn bike collection and my guns. I was going to put my pickup up on jack stands and hook a float charger to the battery. That way, if in 2 or 3 years I changed my mind about LOS, I could go back. I was going to have a property management company lease it and watch it.

Now I've decided to sell everything (ebay will make the bikes go away really fast and for good money, and gunbroker.com will make the guns go away fast at auction and for good prices.) I can sell the pickup to a dealer just as I leave. If I price the house right it will go away too. It's a great home in a great location.

I simply still don't trust the global economy, and would rather sit on the sidelines with liquidity including PM's and see what happens. If LOS crashes, I might buy. I don't know.

It's spooky times out there and I have no control over what will happen.

Guns, motorcycles and a pickup on jack stands? What a catch you are lol!

[cheeryble]

Nice.....InthePink and Neversure brought some actual information to add to the anecdotes....

As for Bank teller Cellphones and the local plumber over stretching to get a dam_n Fortuner hasn't it been that way for quite some years? The earlier credit cycles must have already come and gone, and the nation's not in jail?

This is an important topic for us all.

Is it possible we could get some more good data?

Edited October 18, 2012 by cheeryble

[NeverSure]

I had decided to keep my home in the US when I come to LOS to live next year, but I've changed my mind. I was going to wall off 1/2 of my 1200 sq ft 4 car garage, lock it up and use it for storage and keep some things like Harleys and Schwinn bike collection and my guns. I was going to put my pickup up on jack stands and hook a float charger to the battery. That way, if in 2 or 3 years I changed my mind about LOS, I could go back. I was going to have a property management company lease it and watch it.

Now I've decided to sell everything (ebay will make the bikes go away really fast and for good money, and gunbroker.com will make the guns go away fast at auction and for good prices.) I can sell the pickup to a dealer just as I leave. If I price the house right it will go away too. It's a great home in a great location.

I simply still don't trust the global economy, and would rather sit on the sidelines with liquidity including PM's and see what happens. If LOS crashes, I might buy. I don't know.

It's spooky times out there and I have no control over what will happen.

Guns, motorcycles and a pickup on jack stands? What a catch you are lol!

Well, I know you're joking but it was a hard decision for me. Today have 3 Harleys, a wonderful collection of 50's and early 60's Schwinn bikes, a late model Ford F150 4x4, and a gun collection to die for. Two of them are fully automatic (select fire) M16 clones made from Colt AR-15's. I have a manufacturer's license to "manufacture" fully automatic weapons and sell them to law enforcement for swat teams, etc. "Manufacture" simply means I take a Colt AR-15 and install a heavier firing pin, an auto sear, and a new trigger group and register it with the federal government - BATF.

I HATE the idea of giving up my guns and my bikes and my pickup. But I can't have them in LOS (or at least reasonably get the bikes and pickup to LOS) so it's time to let go. It's the hardest part of moving.

1960 (52 year old) Schwinn Speedster. 110% original and untouched except for the headlight and speedometer, and it didn't come new with any of those. I have 40 bikes like that to sell on ebay.

[Baloney pony]

On the low end of things i've seen how lower income Thais can afford iphones and such and it's not some grand mystery.

The latest iphone 4s only costs about 19k new. You can buy a second hand stolen one for around 13-15k at MBK. Your average lower income Thai persons makes about 6,000-12,000 a month in service or office peon jobs. They probably live with their parents or grandparents or other assorted relatives rent free. That means with just a few months of meager saving and maybe a little borrowing they can easily purchase an iphone, big screen tv, or whatever.

Thai car loans and such are available with extremely long terms so the monthly payment seems reasonable unless you actually do the math. A lot of lower income and even middle class folk couldn't care less about the bigger picture as long as they can afford the basic payments. It's short sighted for sure but they do get to drive around in a nice car. Banks like AEON make out big time here for this reason.

So your lower income Thai is probably making all sorts of payments from their meager salary but it's doable especially in multi-income families who aren't paying anything for rent, health care, insurance, etc..

Edited October 22, 2012 by Baloney pony

[WebBangkok]

Plus a lot of Thai's are not paying any rent which is a huge factor.

Eat locally and not go out much and they can save up for these items or get a loan and pay it off

In Australia, the wages are higher, but most people are renting or have a huge mortgage and expenses are much much higher when you talking about food, electricity etc...... They also can only afford them also with a few months savings too.

[chiangmaikelly]

Thai household debt as percentage of disposable income 53%

US household debt as percentage of disposable income 130%

UK household debt as percentage of disposable income 176%

Canada household debt as percentage of disposable income 140% (2009)

Australia household debt as percentage of disposable income 150%

OP - you can belittle Thai people for getting into debt in order to buy shiny new things all you like but they are evidently nowhere near as stupid as many in the West.

I can't be bothered to look up debt as a percentage of assets for all those countries (I believe it is a little over 40% in Thailand) but as far as living within one's means is concerned, I don't think Westerners have much to teach the Thai nation.

I just thought I would bump this. The Thais don't have a problem with household debt the UK has a problem with household debt.

[NeverSure]

I just thought I would bump this. The Thais don't have a problem with household debt the UK has a problem with household debt.

Why? Westerners have mortgages which tend to be, say, 30% of gross monthly income. That list merely says that if someone in the US makes $US100,000 per year, he has a total debt of $130,000. That would be house, cars - whatever. Western banks don't engage in usury the way Thai banks do either. You get quoted an interest rate and that's all you pay. At least in the US, it is illegal for a bank to refuse early payoff without penalty. You pay interest for the total dollar days only.

Now, at today's interest rates, if he had a $100,000 mortgage, the payments would be just maybe $1,000 a month including taxes and insurance, leaving him at least $7,000 a month to live on! If he also had $30,000 in car loans, the payments would be maybe $500 a month total. Now the poor fool has only maybe $6,500 left!!!!!

How many Thais have $US6,500 left after housing and transportation?

Oh, and the Westerner's cell phone bill, as a percentage of his income is so low it's off the radar.

That is a classic list of apples and oranges.

[chiangmaikelly]

I just thought I would bump this. The Thais don't have a problem with household debt the UK has a problem with household debt.

Why? Westerners have mortgages which tend to be, say, 30% of gross monthly income. That list merely says that if someone in the US makes $US100,000 per year, he has a total debt of $130,000. That would be house, cars - whatever. Western banks don't engage in usury the way Thai banks do either. You get quoted an interest rate and that's all you pay. At least in the US, it is illegal for a bank to refuse early payoff without penalty. You pay interest for the total dollar days only.

Now, at today's interest rates, if he had a $100,000 mortgage, the payments would be just maybe $1,000 a month including taxes and insurance, leaving him at least $7,000 a month to live on! If he also had $30,000 in car loans, the payments would be maybe $500 a month total. Now the poor fool has only maybe $6,500 left!!!!!

How many Thais have $US6,500 left after housing and transportation?

Oh, and the Westerner's cell phone bill, as a percentage of his income is so low it's off the radar.

That is a classic list of apples and oranges.

Survey: 40 Percent Of Americans Have $500 Or Less In Savings.

http://philadelphia....ess-in-savings/

Edited October 22, 2012 by chiangmaikelly

[JaiLai]

I just thought I would bump this. The Thais don't have a problem with household debt the UK has a problem with household debt.

Why? Westerners have mortgages which tend to be, say, 30% of gross monthly income. That list merely says that if someone in the US makes $US100,000 per year, he has a total debt of $130,000. That would be house, cars - whatever. Western banks don't engage in usury the way Thai banks do either. You get quoted an interest rate and that's all you pay. At least in the US, it is illegal for a bank to refuse early payoff without penalty. You pay interest for the total dollar days only.

Now, at today's interest rates, if he had a $100,000 mortgage, the payments would be just maybe $1,000 a month including taxes and insurance, leaving him at least $7,000 a month to live on! If he also had $30,000 in car loans, the payments would be maybe $500 a month total. Now the poor fool has only maybe $6,500 left!!!!!

How many Thais have $US6,500 left after housing and transportation?

Oh, and the Westerner's cell phone bill, as a percentage of his income is so low it's off the radar.

That is a classic list of apples and oranges.

Survey: 40 Percent Of Americans Have $500 Or Less In Savings.

http://philadelphia....ess-in-savings/

Probably a higher percentage of thais have less than 500THB!!

[NeverSure]

I just thought I would bump this. The Thais don't have a problem with household debt the UK has a problem with household debt.

Why? Westerners have mortgages which tend to be, say, 30% of gross monthly income. That list merely says that if someone in the US makes $US100,000 per year, he has a total debt of $130,000. That would be house, cars - whatever. Western banks don't engage in usury the way Thai banks do either. You get quoted an interest rate and that's all you pay. At least in the US, it is illegal for a bank to refuse early payoff without penalty. You pay interest for the total dollar days only.

Now, at today's interest rates, if he had a $100,000 mortgage, the payments would be just maybe $1,000 a month including taxes and insurance, leaving him at least $7,000 a month to live on! If he also had $30,000 in car loans, the payments would be maybe $500 a month total. Now the poor fool has only maybe $6,500 left!!!!!

How many Thais have $US6,500 left after housing and transportation?

Oh, and the Westerner's cell phone bill, as a percentage of his income is so low it's off the radar.

That is a classic list of apples and oranges.

Survey: 40 Percent Of Americans Have $500 Or Less In Savings.

http://philadelphia....ess-in-savings/

I'm not responsible for those idiots. There are some very low income people, but then there are some that no matter how much they make, they spend it.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the same numbers in other Western countries, but I don't know.

There is no doubt that Westerners make a ton more money than Thais on average, and live well, and could save if they were responsible.

I wonder how many Thais have $500 (17,000 baht) in savings?

[chiangmaikelly]

I just thought I would bump this. The Thais don't have a problem with household debt the UK has a problem with household debt.

Why? Westerners have mortgages which tend to be, say, 30% of gross monthly income. That list merely says that if someone in the US makes $US100,000 per year, he has a total debt of $130,000. That would be house, cars - whatever. Western banks don't engage in usury the way Thai banks do either. You get quoted an interest rate and that's all you pay. At least in the US, it is illegal for a bank to refuse early payoff without penalty. You pay interest for the total dollar days only.

Now, at today's interest rates, if he had a $100,000 mortgage, the payments would be just maybe $1,000 a month including taxes and insurance, leaving him at least $7,000 a month to live on! If he also had $30,000 in car loans, the payments would be maybe $500 a month total. Now the poor fool has only maybe $6,500 left!!!!!

How many Thais have $US6,500 left after housing and transportation?

Oh, and the Westerner's cell phone bill, as a percentage of his income is so low it's off the radar.

That is a classic list of apples and oranges.

Survey: 40 Percent Of Americans Have $500 Or Less In Savings.

http://philadelphia....ess-in-savings/

Probably a higher percentage of thais have less than 500THB!!

You are welcome to confirm your wild speculation with some kind of factual information. If not it is just your imagination.

[chiangmaikelly]

I just thought I would bump this. The Thais don't have a problem with household debt the UK has a problem with household debt.

Why? Westerners have mortgages which tend to be, say, 30% of gross monthly income. That list merely says that if someone in the US makes $US100,000 per year, he has a total debt of $130,000. That would be house, cars - whatever. Western banks don't engage in usury the way Thai banks do either. You get quoted an interest rate and that's all you pay. At least in the US, it is illegal for a bank to refuse early payoff without penalty. You pay interest for the total dollar days only.

Now, at today's interest rates, if he had a $100,000 mortgage, the payments would be just maybe $1,000 a month including taxes and insurance, leaving him at least $7,000 a month to live on! If he also had $30,000 in car loans, the payments would be maybe $500 a month total. Now the poor fool has only maybe $6,500 left!!!!!

How many Thais have $US6,500 left after housing and transportation?

Oh, and the Westerner's cell phone bill, as a percentage of his income is so low it's off the radar.

That is a classic list of apples and oranges.

Survey: 40 Percent Of Americans Have $500 Or Less In Savings.

http://philadelphia....ess-in-savings/

I'm not responsible for those idiots. There are some very low income people, but then there are some that no matter how much they make, they spend it.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the same numbers in other Western countries, but I don't know.

There is no doubt that Westerners make a ton more money than Thais on average, and live well, and could save if they were responsible.

I wonder how many Thais have $500 (17,000 baht) in savings?

Most Thai women have that much gold on their fingers. In Pattaya 4 times that much.

[NeverSure]

Most Thai women have that much gold on their fingers. In Pattaya 4 times that much.

Do you think that article about savings included American women's jewelry? The average nice engagement ring here will start at about $US5,000 (170,000 baht) and up.

The article wasn't discussing the $10,000 worth of shoes an American woman has in her closet, LOL. Which is why she may have no savings, LOL.

Seriously, when people start out young they have a bad habit of getting too much credit including student loans. Then they have kids and get a mortgage and cars and all on credit. They are idiots. Then most, in later years get better established and begin to save. Not all.

Note that the article also excluded 401k's which are the employer contributed savings accounts for retirement. I think that skews the numbers because for many that is the largest savings they have. An employee can put 3% of each paycheck into that, and most employers will match it. Someone making $100k a year may have $6k going into that each year, without mentioning what they are putting into their social security account which is now nearly 15% per year, half paid by employers.

So, you could have 15% going into SS, and another 6% into a 401k, and say you have no savings, like in a bank. This is still stupid, but not the whole picture.

Edited October 22, 2012 by NeverSure

[bermondburi]

Lot of people are forgetting that because we are in i-pad 3 now or whatever you can get a lot of these things pretty cheap 2nd hand now too . Thais love a bargain right . My wife bought a galaxy for 8000 baht reconditioned . It works fine ,it's just not the latest model . How many people can actually tell the difference ? WGAF ?