Income In Thailand. How Much Is Considered Good Money?

[rainx]

Would anybody be willing to share how much money you can make working in Thailand? Do English teaching jobs generally pay better or worse than, say, office jobs? Thanks.

[raro]

Would anybody be willing to share how much money you can make working in Thailand? Do English teaching jobs generally pay better or worse than, say, office jobs? Thanks.

In order to obtain a work permit your minimum salary has to be 50k for Europeans and 60k for North Americans. English Teachers are somewhat excempted from that rule (as to my understanding) which hints to me that they generally earn less. The sly is the limit, depending on what kind of job you are looking for, qualifications etc...

Yes, you can live off 50k, depending on your lifestyle. It won't pay for a 3 rai beachfront villa.

[Tywais]

English Teachers are somewhat excempted from that rule (as to my understanding)

It may be teaching in general, at least university members such as myself are exempt. But depending on your qualifications to teach English will determine how much you make. Well qualified then working at an International school can get you some fairly decent wages. Unqualified (no certificate/degree) will probably have to free lance without a work permit with all its' associated problems.

Edited May 21, 2006 by tywais

[jdinasia]

You can pretty well forget about officejobs below the Manager level ...

Teaching ... well if you have experience etc you might do OK ...

But it all depends ... for a year out while you are young? OK ... but you won't be heading towards retirement that way ....

Older ? have your retirement all in order? You can do OK ...

In BKK you'd need at least 40k to have any live ... maybe a bit less upcountry ... 80k would be a pretty good life .... 120k/mo and you could actually save a little

[Sunbelt Asia]

In order to obtain a work permit your minimum salary has to be 50k for Europeans and 60k for North Americans.

No minimum salary to obtain the work permit. It is the extension of stay based on business that has that requirement.

Hence if the employee does 90 day visa runs on a one year multi entry visa, has a extension of stay based on education, investment or marriage, he does not need to have this minimum salary requirement.

www.lawyer.th.com

[EVO]

Our household has outgoings of 100,000/month.

We are a typical suburban family with 2.4 kids, the car financed and a 3 bedroom rented house, which we got an awesome deal on.

It all depends on how you wanna live.

[smartecosse]

it also depends on what level of lifestyle you will be happy at

personally i have gone from an average of six thousand sterling a month to about 40-50K baht a month ! quite a drop but i havent been stressed once in a year of being here, have a decent house and am generally enjoying life a lot more than i was

you do not NEED to have a baht income of 100k+

i have friends happily living here on 30K, it comes down to what you would be happy with....... of course those that "party" need a bit more disposable income

Edited May 22, 2006 by smartecosse

[~G~]

No minimum salary to obtain the work permit. It is the extension of stay based on business that has that requirement.

ASAIK there is a requirement that the salary you actually get (or at least, the income tax you pay accordingly) will be equal or higher to the sum written in your WP application. If the sum specified in the WP application will be very low, I doubt it if the WP application will be approved.

Sunbelt processes plenty of WP applications. What is the lowest salary you ever specified which was approved?

Edited May 22, 2006 by ~G~

[Heng]

Whatever figure folks come up with, don't forget to plan for your kid(s) K-12+ tuition, insurance, travel, etc.

[Phil Conners]

It's been discussed often before but I agree with the previous posters, I think you need at least 100k/month to live in reasonable comfort, preferably 150k or more.

Having said that I know of one guy who lives on something like 10k with his GF. No kids and no room for splashing out, but they make do and seem happy enough.

[RAZZELL]

It's been discussed often before but I agree with the previous posters, I think you need at least 100k/month to live in reasonable comfort, preferably 150k or more.

Having said that I know of one guy who lives on something like 10k with his GF. No kids and no room for splashing out, but they make do and seem happy enough.

What would would be the equivalent if you earnt £5k a month...

Standard of living wise?

120,000?

[britmaveric]

Greeny lad makes 20K month, and does alright. (mind you most of the food budgets are blown just on 20K)

[Phil Conners]

Difficult to say. A lot of stuff that is expensive in the west is cheap in thailand (rent, entertainment, restaurants, food), other things are more expensive in Thailand (cars, imported goods).

On balance I find our cost of living is about 30-40% below cost of living in a European Capital (not London) but YMMW depending on your lifestyle.

[pnustedt]

I live in Isaan on what is considered a middle class Thai Moo Ban. My neighbours are professional people working for various government departments. Salaries are about Bt30K/month and some households have 2 incomes. Most of them seem to live quite well but others get into debt and run into financial problems.

I also know of expat English teachers earning about Bt28K in our town.

In my experience people who are used to living within their means can live here quite comfortably here on Bt30-50K whereas people who are not used to living within their means will struggle. Main thing is to have a realistic long term plan and stick to it.

Edited May 23, 2006 by pnustedt

[OldAsiaHand]

Difficult to say. A lot of stuff that is expensive in the west is cheap in thailand (rent, entertainment, restaurants, food), other things are more expensive in Thailand (cars, imported goods).

On balance I find our cost of living is about 30-40% below cost of living in a European Capital (not London) but YMMW depending on your lifestyle.

While I agree with the premise, we find -- as a personal matter -- that our overall cost of living in Thailand is more or less the same as it is in the States.

Still, you're quite right. It depends entirely one's lifestyle. If you take advantage of what's cheap here rather than living about the same way you would in the west, you could probably lower your cost of living by the 30-40% you are talking about.

[Heng]

Depends on one's portfolio and business as well. Keeping XX number of properties in Thailand will incur virtually no tax costs at all year to year, while stateside they would. Thailand is also a virtual tax haven in terms of income tax auditing and enforcement, pretty much the polar opposite of the US + IRS.

[Thaidit]

When you say one should earn 100k+ to be comfortable, how much of that is going to rent, food entertainment, cars, ins, etc. THanks

[zxray]

I spoke with agentleman, That built a home on his inlaws land, wife and him raise some chickens, grow some fruits and vegetables for their own use, and claims to live on about a thousand baht a month.

Ray

[bendix]

that's not living.

it's existing.

each to their own, of course . .. .

[Gary A]

I know a number of US guys who live solely on US Social Security. Two in particular worked outside the US for much of their working lives and get only about $600 per month. They are both boozers and tend to be Pattaya balloon chasers to some extent but both seem to do just fine and they are happy to live in the Kingdom. I actually live on about $500 a month but I also like to have some nice things which takes much more money. I really don't need those toys but since I can afford them, why not? I'm kind of a worry wart and didn't retire until I was sure that money wouldn't be a problem. I CERTAINLY wouldn't be comfortable living on a tight budget.

I worked here in Thailand for about five years and made what would be equivalent to about 150,000 baht per month plus a company furnished townhouse, utilities, health insurance and a vehicle. That was less than I made in the US but much more than enough to live VERY well here.

[GuestHouse]

Get yourself over to Thailand for three months. Find somewhere to live (at whatever price you can) and then try to live for three months on the budget you have given yourself.

See how that goes, then see how much money you have left over for:

Visa Runs

School Fees

Medical Insurance

Minor medical expenses not covered by insurance

Cable TV

Internet Access and Phone

Clothes

Add all the costs of living

Then go back to how much you need and how much you have.

[RAZZELL]

Get yourself over to Thailand for three months. Find somewhere to live (at whatever price you can) and then try to live for three months on the budget you have given yourself.

See how that goes, then see how much money you have left over for:

Visa Runs

School Fees

Medical Insurance

Minor medical expenses not covered by insurance

Cable TV

Internet Access and Phone

Clothes

Add all the costs of living

Then go back to how much you need and how much you have.

I think like most expenditure in life...You think of a number...

And then double it to get the right one...

[lannarebirth]

Looks like none of the respondants to the OP has children in international schools. Add about 25k/mo per child to your budget for that.

[thaihome]

Looks like none of the respondants to the OP has children in international schools. Add about 25k/mo per child to your budget for that.

And that is not even the high side. Depending on the grade it can go up to over 50K a month (600k per year).

TH

[Heng]

It's all relative. You can spend 30,000 a month on dog food if you wanted to (a can of Pedigree each for say 5 dogs, 3 meals a day). Personally we mix Leader Price dried dog food + chicken legs and rice. Works out to just a few thousand a month.

[phuketsiam]

or you could just not have a dog

[~G~]

or you could have a dog and feed it with passing farangs

Edit: phuketsiam, do everybody look like that in phuket or is it only you?

Edited June 2, 2006 by ~G~

[Heng]

nah, too high in cholestoral.

[Dakhar]

In the US I brought in around 120K + 20K into retirement. I was able to save about 40K a year, and then my retirement fund. So then you are looking at a combined total of 60K a year saved. But 20K of that portion can not be touched until 67+ years old! So where is the fun in that?

Now here in Thailand, while only being here a short while, it looks as though I will be able to save about the same kind of money per month, while my over all income is quite less than what I made in the states.

The cost of living is so cheap here, it allows me to still continue to save the same, and even if I was not able to save the same.... so what, at least I am away from bush and his fellow oil boys.

[OZONE]

I spoke with agentleman, That built a home on his inlaws land, wife and him raise some chickens, grow some fruits and vegetables for their own use, and claims to live on about a thousand baht a month.

Ray

1000 Baht / month?

apparently electricity and phone and water is not a necessity for these 2