40K A Month Isn't Enough Anymore

[HardenedSoul]

I feel sorry for all the guys who have to pay for their wifes/GF.

I don't feel sorry for them at all.

They're idiots for getting into a relationship/marriage with a woman who requires a monthly stipend.

Well ... I must be an idiot then ...

My Thai gf gave up her job of 12 years as a manager and our agreement was that if she couldn't contribute through her current situation (acclimatising in my country or a Mum) ... I would cover her commitment to the Family.

I give about 1/2 what she gave.

... and it's viewed by the Thai Family as our contribution ... not just my contribution.

Every Rainbow has two ends and I know that I stay at her Farm for free, get fed and if we have a family ... built in Baby sitters, should we stay/visit the Farm.

EDITED:- to add that sometimes, when you enter into a relationship, the incoming partner has commitments which you, as part of a couple, inherit. Her commitments become our commitments ... but at a lower commitment then before ... it's all in the negotiation and that everyone keeps face.

When she starts working here ... she'll being helping to pay off my our home!

.

Well you said it, mate!

You didn't have to take her out of the country, did you? More than likely, it was at your insistence that she moved to the West.

I mean, if she'd stayed here, she'd still be doing perfectly well taking care of her family from the proceeds of gainful employment, wouldn't she?

Frankly, how the family perceives the contribution is irrelevant - all that matters is how your girlfriend will perceive it if the flow of money stops.

You really don't want to find that out while she's in the West.

It just seems that you've made a rod for your own back.

.

[norrona]

40k a month is very little money to have any decent sort of lifestyle. It's hardly sufficient for a single guy, so if such a guy earns only this and still have a gf, then he should consider himself very lucky in being able to score.

Maybe he has got a personality and is attractive to women?

Maybe his gf he is so lucky to have has a job and never been on the game....

Maybe........

[FunFon]

Your numbers are very very high for average Thais, cut them all in half would be more accurate, I know many many families living on well under 20K per month with children to support, and of course in your eyes they're dirt poor and suffering but that's their lot in life and they still manage to be happy most of the time, and manage to get by with the support of family and friends.

Thais are just a lot more accustomed to living close to the edge financially, things that would cause you undue "worry" are just par for the course here.

And worrying doesn't actually help anything does it? Thais tend to focus more on enjoying their lives and trust that things will work out in the end, which most often they do don't they.

Or you die, but then so do we all, still no point in worrying.

[somtampet]

Your joking right ? 40k a month!!! More like 120-200k a month when you add eating out 7 days a week, shopping, bar bill nightly for the man 2k. The wife drinks water.

Villa staff costs 20k ,

Then bills such as car fuel ,

I've met people out here who say they live on 30k their lives are very fugal (right word ?)

I'd love to know how you accomplish that!

How can u live on 200,000 baht a month,peanuts for some

[somtampet]

You're right if you've got an impatient mercenary wife, wrong if she has faith you're going to turn thing around.

Right if she's young and cute, wrong if she's older and/or unattractive.

Right if she's been raised with high expectations, wrong if she's straight off the rice farm.

Right if you're fat and old or a miserable old git, wrong if you're young and hansum or she really really loves you (whatever meaning you attach to that ambiguous term).

Bottom line - too many variables to say, each girl makes her own decisions and sometimes depends on the time of the month or on what side of the bed she got up this morning.

Am I mistaken, but are you the same guy who started a long & slightly ridiculous discussion about whether &/or how you should leave the country without paying 14 months' rent? If so, you are surely not qualified to comment on anything?

A brick short of a load methinks

[krisb]

My mil and fil have combined income of 20k a month and they have a great life. Stomachs are full, utilities are always paid and comfortable roof over their head. If I lived there full time, 30 or 40 would be plenty.

[HardenedSoul]

40k a month is very little money to have any decent sort of lifestyle. It's hardly sufficient for a single guy, so if such a guy earns only this and still have a gf, then he should consider himself very lucky in being able to score.

Pure <deleted>.

Only someone with little to offer a woman beyond a wallet would make such a moronic statement.

There are legions of guys with personality, charm and "game" who get high quality women without having to dish out a penny on gifts and stipends.

Maybe not here, though

Edited April 17, 2013 by HardenedSoul

[KonKorat]

I survive comfortably on 40,000 baht/month my Thai fiance resigned from her teaching job to be with me so i am not alone all day,which she was paid 10,500/month i give her 14,000/baht month.This money is for her to pay for her home loan. i live in her home.we eat at home most of the times.we go to dinner at a restaurant once a week and have coffee and lunch at a cafe twice a week.our food bill isn't high as you know Thai eat lots of rice and vegies,my fiance grows most of her vegies/fruits and herbs on her land.we still manage to go away for a week every 3 months.i forgot to mention she lives in a small village in Korat and everything is cheaper there than the tourist cities.Cheers!!!

[FunFon]

Well ... I must be an idiot then ...

My Thai gf gave up her job of 12 years as a manager and our agreement was that if she couldn't contribute through her current situation (acclimatising in my country or a Mum) ... I would cover her commitment to the Family.

...

...

It just seems that you've made a rod for your own back.

-

Or a mink massage mitt, all depends how it works out in the end doesn't it. . .

[BradinAsia]

I don't agree. Anyone that can't be content at 40K will not be content at 400K

Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you have.

Well, I am.

Seriously, when I walk up to a Krungsi ATM and push the buttons for 30,000 baht I am relieved when the machine spits out the 1000 baht notes. I can do that several times in a month. On the other hand, when there was a disruption and I was forced to use a SCB for 20K, I was stressing for 2 days until my bank sorted the account issues out. I can't live my life the way I want on 40K.

I'd be miserable relegated to living in a small room with no fan and forced to subsist on cheap Thai food. Sometimes I will take a cheap FD or NOK airfare at 2,000 baht or so, but mostly, I will pay the 3200 baht to fly in business so as to avoid the hassles of some airports. That's what the difference in income means. It also means being able to take care of those I love , and being able to support some charities that I hold dear. If I couldn't do that I would be unhappy.

Of course, everyone is different, but I don't understand how someone has to live a miserly life (with no fan) on 40k/month.

For me, with a monthly expenses budget of 40k, I live in a 14k-per-month condo, even though I could get a nice clean condo

with aircon for about half that, if I wanted. So I choose to live in a bit more luxury.

My monthly expenses budget --

- 14,000 -- condo rental

- 12,000 -- misc/unexpected expenses

- 10,000 -- food & eating out

- 2,500 -- electric

- 600 -- broadband internet

- 500 -- gas for motorbike

- 150 -- water

Besides my 40k monthly expenses, I still have 60k per month left for savings or travel.

Where else in the world could I have a quality of live even close to this at such a low cost?

The "cheap Thai food" is one aspect of living here that gives the greatest pleasure. Much

better than that expensive farang food with its built-in shortcut to triple bypass surgery that

so many of my unfortunate farang friends have experienced.

Life may be a gift from heaven, but happiness is a matter of personal choice (and outlook).

[kiniyow]

Many of the Thai men I know have a few Giks on this amount of Money~~~

[BradinAsia]

The car issue is key here.

IMO just on principle you should design your life so you don't need a car.

The financial savings are a by-product.

For some folks, it would be good to design their life so they don't have to pay rent.

It's hard to imagine how someone who has been a complete failure financially can

still have the gall to give advise on finances... or anything else.

[cardholder]

I don't agree. Anyone that can't be content at 40K will not be content at 400K

Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you have.

Well, I am.

Seriously, when I walk up to a Krungsi ATM and push the buttons for 30,000 baht I am relieved when the machine spits out the 1000 baht notes. I can do that several times in a month. On the other hand, when there was a disruption and I was forced to use a SCB for 20K, I was stressing for 2 days until my bank sorted the account issues out. I can't live my life the way I want on 40K.

I'd be miserable relegated to living in a small room with no fan and forced to subsist on cheap Thai food. Sometimes I will take a cheap FD or NOK airfare at 2,000 baht or so, but mostly, I will pay the 3200 baht to fly in business so as to avoid the hassles of some airports. That's what the difference in income means. It also means being able to take care of those I love , and being able to support some charities that I hold dear. If I couldn't do that I would be unhappy.

Of course, everyone is different, but I don't understand how someone has to live a miserly life (with no fan) on 40k/month.

For me, with a monthly expenses budget of 40k, I live in a 14k-per-month condo, even though I could get a nice clean condo

with aircon for about half that, if I wanted. So I choose to live in a bit more luxury.

My monthly expenses budget --

- 14,000 -- condo rental

- 12,000 -- misc/unexpected expenses

- 10,000 -- food & eating out

- 2,500 -- electric

- 600 -- broadband internet

- 500 -- gas for motorbike

- 150 -- water

Besides my 40k monthly expenses, I still have 60k per month left for savings or travel.

Where else in the world could I have a quality of live even close to this at such a low cost?

The "cheap Thai food" is one aspect of living here that gives the greatest pleasure. Much

better than that expensive farang food with its built-in shortcut to triple bypass surgery that

so many of my unfortunate farang friends have experienced.

Life may be a gift from heaven, but happiness is a matter of personal choice (and outlook).

So you have managed to avoid dysentery, diabetes and liver fluke

[Gweiloman]

40k a month is very little money to have any decent sort of lifestyle. It's hardly sufficient for a single guy, so if such a guy earns only this and still have a gf, then he should consider himself very lucky in being able to score.

Pure <deleted>.

Only someone with little to offer a woman beyond a wallet would make such a moronic statement.

There are legions of guys with personality, charm and "game" who get high quality women without having to dish out a penny on gifts and stipends.

Maybe not here, though

Presumably you're one of those legions of guys?

You are naive to think that the power of your personality, looks and charm alone are enough to keep a woman for a long time. It is only natural (and not just for Thai girls) to want better things in life, a nice house or condo, nice furnishings, car, clothes, jewellery, being able to afford to go out for nice meals, taking holidays etc etc.

No way to afford this on a 40k monthly salary.

Rental plus utilities alone can eat up 15k (and don't give me that crap about renting a 2br apartment for 5k - I'm talking about living a decent lifestyle, not roughing it out).

A nice evening out for 2 costs about 2-3k baht (main course about 5-600 baht each, bottle of house wine for 900 baht, starter, dessert, coffee etc). Do this once a week and that's almost 10k on 4 meals a month.

Weekly grocery shopping - say 1,000 baht each time - that's 4,000 a month

Run a car? Bike? Taxis only? Food? Other purchases?

LIke I said in my post, 40k is very little money to have any decent sort of lifestyle. I don't mean that one can't survive on that but you need more if you would like to have some extra goodies.

As for getting high quality women who don't want or expect to be occasionally spoilt, you're dreaming.

[Bikkii]

I feel sorry for all the guys who have to pay for their wifes/GF. I would only consider marriage with a girl 10X richer than me and if this means spending my life on my own so be it

I'm with you on that mate! Is it really a wife when you have to pay her a salary each month?? Believe it or not, there is actually REAL Thai girls living here who have REAL jobs and actually like us Farang. Sure you still spend money on them (doing the exact same shit as home-dinner,movies etc). Like you I woulod rather be on my own in between gf's and play up once or twice a week. Whoah, the money you can save!

[fxe1200]

Your joking right ? 40k a month!!! More like 120-200k a month when you add eating out 7 days a week, shopping, bar bill nightly for the man 2k. The wife drinks water.

Villa staff costs 20k ,

Then bills such as car fuel ,

I've met people out here who say they live on 30k their lives are very fugal (right word ?)

I'd love to know how you accomplish that!

Try "frugal" instead of "fugal"

[BradinAsia]

I don't agree. Anyone that can't be content at 40K will not be content at 400K

Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you have.

Well, I am.

Seriously, when I walk up to a Krungsi ATM and push the buttons for 30,000 baht I am relieved when the machine spits out the 1000 baht notes. I can do that several times in a month. On the other hand, when there was a disruption and I was forced to use a SCB for 20K, I was stressing for 2 days until my bank sorted the account issues out. I can't live my life the way I want on 40K.

I'd be miserable relegated to living in a small room with no fan and forced to subsist on cheap Thai food. Sometimes I will take a cheap FD or NOK airfare at 2,000 baht or so, but mostly, I will pay the 3200 baht to fly in business so as to avoid the hassles of some airports. That's what the difference in income means. It also means being able to take care of those I love , and being able to support some charities that I hold dear. If I couldn't do that I would be unhappy.

Of course, everyone is different, but I don't understand how someone has to live a miserly life (with no fan) on 40k/month.

For me, with a monthly expenses budget of 40k, I live in a 14k-per-month condo, even though I could get a nice clean condo

with aircon for about half that, if I wanted. So I choose to live in a bit more luxury.

My monthly expenses budget --

- 14,000 -- condo rental

- 12,000 -- misc/unexpected expenses

- 10,000 -- food & eating out

- 2,500 -- electric

- 600 -- broadband internet

- 500 -- gas for motorbike

- 150 -- water

Besides my 40k monthly expenses, I still have 60k per month left for savings or travel.

Where else in the world could I have a quality of live even close to this at such a low cost?

The "cheap Thai food" is one aspect of living here that gives the greatest pleasure. Much

better than that expensive farang food with its built-in shortcut to triple bypass surgery that

so many of my unfortunate farang friends have experienced.

Life may be a gift from heaven, but happiness is a matter of personal choice (and outlook).

So you have managed to avoid dysentery, diabetes and liver fluke

Ha ha ha...

Have you ever known anyone to get diabetes from eating fresh raw fruit and vegetables?

I've never had dysentery in 26 years in Asia? Have you?

Never heard of anyone getting liver fluke. Is that something you get from black pudding?

[Suradit69]

Why do you think the threshhold,for retirement visa is Bht 62,000 per month.

Not Bht 40,000.

Bht 80,000.is comfortable.

Because the government wants foreign residents who have money to spend. They didn't have a legislative confab to decide how much was needed to keep farang (and retinue) happy or comfortable. And I believe the minimum is Baht 65,000 for retirement.

I do agree that Baht 40,000 a month would make for a Spartan life if you need "stuff" to keep you happy. I guess some people, both farang and Thai, find pleasure in life without all the bells and whistles. As someone above said, the trick is to be happy with what you have and not covet your neighbors' possessions ... speaking theoretically, of course.

[DRONGOH]

40K is a fair bit of money even for a Thai "wife" or what the f#@%%^ you wish to call it.

However, 400K isn't enough for flowers for your mother in law.

My former would be my wife wanted 16 000 000 Baht, to build a hotel in Chong Mek.

But I am sure she needed that much money to cure her acne.

So bad it was.

[ajarnpot]

None of the Thai guys I know on the estate I live in are getting anywhere near 40k a month.

The combined wage of most Thai families I know is 24-28k a month.

Generally the wife seems to have a better education (degree) and wage (14k) than the man (10k).

This is in a middle class, Thai only, estate just outside CM, bank staff, office workers, teachers, nurses, police, etc.

I bet they are not paying Farang prices....................

It depends how much the misssis earns don't it. Mine earns = or more than me, take a look at adecco for thai slaries

[Blumpkin]

Am I mistaken, but are you the same guy who started a long & slightly ridiculous discussion about whether &/or how you should leave the country without paying 14 months' rent? If so, you are surely not qualified to comment on anything?

-

Some may say more qualified than most, having learned to live in the past few years on very very little.

Your opinion on my moral character may influence your objectivity about what I have to say, but that's your problem not mine.

Judging by your other thread you don't have any moral character!

[Robbie Dye]

When I opened this post I thought they would be complaining abut the UK Pension now equating to about THB 18800 a month. Most of us pensioners would be well pleased to get 40,000......think on it.

[happysanook]

If you're a geizer and have a 25yr old wife it's probably not enough.

Usually Thai women take care of me. They drive 2 hours form the city to see me, wash my clothes, do my dishes, cook for me, bring me food etc... Good looking girls too. But obviously they tire of it after a couple months when a giezer comes along and pays them to do it. No doubt people love money.

[muythai2013]

they can stay if their in love, you realise some people are in love with other things besides money.

Not sure I understand your point? Sure a woman may stay if they love you or they may not. My point is not that a relationship should be about money. It gets my back up when I see comments about giving a woman a monthly stipend and paying a woman a wage to stay with you. If that is someones out look on life then I pity them. What ever happened to the concept of the man being the provider, being a man, providing and protecting a woman and family? <deleted> if your wife / gf /partner is not working and is raising your children, maintaining your household how could you not give her access to funds of her own???

I get that there are guys in relationships where the money is high on the agenda for their partner, nothing wrong with that if the guy is not fooling himself that it is something other than what it is.

For people to suggest that giving your partner access to funds if she has none of her own is somehow buying love or faithfulness is ridiculous and frankly shows a misogynistic attitude.

Were did I mention not giving a home mum funds, where did I mention giving a girl money is buying love, start cutting and copying and show me where i said that.

you were right at the start when you said your not sure if you understand me, you should not start quoting if you dont understand because it turned into a rant about nothing i said.

my whole point was if a man can only make 40000bht, if she loves him she will stay through the hard times, if he could make more he would.

[cardholder]

I don't agree. Anyone that can't be content at 40K will not be content at 400K

Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you have.

Well, I am.

Seriously, when I walk up to a Krungsi ATM and push the buttons for 30,000 baht I am relieved when the machine spits out the 1000 baht notes. I can do that several times in a month. On the other hand, when there was a disruption and I was forced to use a SCB for 20K, I was stressing for 2 days until my bank sorted the account issues out. I can't live my life the way I want on 40K.

I'd be miserable relegated to living in a small room with no fan and forced to subsist on cheap Thai food. Sometimes I will take a cheap FD or NOK airfare at 2,000 baht or so, but mostly, I will pay the 3200 baht to fly in business so as to avoid the hassles of some airports. That's what the difference in income means. It also means being able to take care of those I love , and being able to support some charities that I hold dear. If I couldn't do that I would be unhappy.

Of course, everyone is different, but I don't understand how someone has to live a miserly life (with no fan) on 40k/month.

For me, with a monthly expenses budget of 40k, I live in a 14k-per-month condo, even though I could get a nice clean condo

with aircon for about half that, if I wanted. So I choose to live in a bit more luxury.

My monthly expenses budget --

- 14,000 -- condo rental

- 12,000 -- misc/unexpected expenses

- 10,000 -- food & eating out

- 2,500 -- electric

- 600 -- broadband internet

- 500 -- gas for motorbike

- 150 -- water

Besides my 40k monthly expenses, I still have 60k per month left for savings or travel.

Where else in the world could I have a quality of live even close to this at such a low cost?

The "cheap Thai food" is one aspect of living here that gives the greatest pleasure. Much

better than that expensive farang food with its built-in shortcut to triple bypass surgery that

so many of my unfortunate farang friends have experienced.

Life may be a gift from heaven, but happiness is a matter of personal choice (and outlook).

So you have managed to avoid dysentery, diabetes and liver fluke

Ha ha ha...

Have you ever known anyone to get diabetes from eating fresh raw fruit and vegetables?

I've never had dysentery in 26 years in Asia? Have you?

Never heard of anyone getting liver fluke. Is that something you get from black pudding?

You are the one going on about "cheap Thai food".

Good fresh fruit and veg does not necessarily come under the cheap bracket - man cannot live on fruit and veg alone.

Had the sh!ts a few times - mainly from Chang or cheap Thai food.

You will probably find liver fluke in your bplah rah (cheap Thai food) - even the Thais regularly take tablets to avoid it.:-

There are 55,000 cases of all types of cancer every year in Thailand.

"Liver fluke cancer makes up a third of these cases," says Dr Thiravud Khuhaprema, head of the National Cancer Institute, based in Bangkok.

"The forecast for next year is 74,000 cases," he says. "Cholangio-carcinoma cancer is expected to rise correspondingly." So concerned are doctors that a multi-million baht campaign with help from schools and village volunteers has begun, with sponsorship support from Bayer Thai, a leading pharmaceutical company.

Bayer Thai believes the many community events and nationwide media programmes

including TV advertising will create awareness and lower the death rate. "The best way to fight it is to prevent it," says a volunteer.

This cancer is largely due to eating contaminated fish. "All cases found the same parasite."

[BradinAsia]

40k a month is very little money to have any decent sort of lifestyle. It's hardly sufficient for a single guy, so if such a guy earns only this and still have a gf, then he should consider himself very lucky in being able to score.

Pure <deleted>.

Only someone with little to offer a woman beyond a wallet would make such a moronic statement.

There are legions of guys with personality, charm and "game" who get high quality women without having to dish out a penny on gifts and stipends.

Maybe not here, though

Presumably you're one of those legions of guys?

You are naive to think that the power of your personality, looks and charm alone are enough to keep a woman for a long time. It is only natural (and not just for Thai girls) to want better things in life, a nice house or condo, nice furnishings, car, clothes, jewellery, being able to afford to go out for nice meals, taking holidays etc etc.

No way to afford this on a 40k monthly salary.

Rental plus utilities alone can eat up 15k (and don't give me that crap about renting a 2br apartment for 5k - I'm talking about living a decent lifestyle, not roughing it out).

A nice evening out for 2 costs about 2-3k baht (main course about 5-600 baht each, bottle of house wine for 900 baht, starter, dessert, coffee etc). Do this once a week and that's almost 10k on 4 meals a month.

Weekly grocery shopping - say 1,000 baht each time - that's 4,000 a month

Run a car? Bike? Taxis only? Food? Other purchases?

LIke I said in my post, 40k is very little money to have any decent sort of lifestyle. I don't mean that one can't survive on that but you need more if you would like to have some extra goodies.

As for getting high quality women who don't want or expect to be occasionally spoilt, you're dreaming.

The problem for many is not the size of their budget, but their limited understanding of Asian culture.

Too many Western men have the idea that the best way to woe and win a lady's heart is by flashing

a lot of cash. In Asia, that will attract plenty of the mercenary types, but who wants that kind anyway?

Young ladies with a proper upbringing usually see that kind of farang as a bit abnormal -- if not foolish.

My wife is even more frugal than I am. The only reason I don't spend more money on her is that she

doesn't want me to overspend so easily. Better to save and buy things we really need.

Maybe I'm just lucky?

[bikerider21]

I feel sorry for all the guys who have to pay for their wifes/GF. I would only consider marriage with a girl 10X richer than me and if this means spending my life on my own so be it

[bikerider21]

I feel sorry for all the guys who have to pay for their wifes/GF. I would only consider marriage with a girl 10X richer than me and if this means spending my life on my own so be it

[SteeleJoe]

my whole point was if a man can only make 40000bht, if she loves him she will stay through the hard times, if he could make more he would.

Truth.

[Neeranam]

The car issue is key here.

IMO just on principle you should design your life so you don't need a car.

The financial savings are a by-product.

For some folks, it would be good to design their life so they don't have to pay rent.

It's hard to imagine how someone who has been a complete failure financially can

still have the gall to give advise on finances... or anything else.

Not too easy getting a mortgage here but I agree I wish I'd got one years ago. I got one recently and have to pay over 22k a month, which is half my salary. I have two kids at private school in Khon Kaen, I just had to fork out 25k for 1st term. We can't afford to eat out a lot but we did take a holiday to Scotland last year which cost a LOT. I don't drink or have sex with strangers which is a dubious luxury I can't afford, not just financially! Edited April 17, 2013 by Neeranam