Are there many self-made rich people in Thailand?

[Thai at Heart]

I read it. It says 29% earned 15k or more. Well 20 to 50k might be an overestimation.

Still, it's relatively small. Go find the stats for the percentage with the top 20% of wealth. It is in the hands of a handful of families.

1000 quid a month to run a house and fund car loans etc is still very low by Western standards.

I am not sure if it is correct to asses the living standards of one country from another.

What one can do with 1K quid in TH is different to what could be done with that in the West, I guess.

Well, middle class is just a statistical measure on the average population distribution. From a practical point of view, Many in the middle class are funding cars (more expensive than the west) and mortgages with this 50k.

Its a measure. But, reality is, the middle class in Thailand aren't by a relative measure well off. Bear in mind this is above 20k. Try funding a household on 20k.

[Gutenberg]

I read a study (cannot find the link right now, I think it was some Deloitte or Kasikorn letter) that around 1,5m households in Thailand have more than 10mb in cash(?) assets.

So, yes, there are many rich people but still, the most people are low - middle class households within 10,000 - 50,000 THB monthly income. There is a couple I know consisting of a lower rank police officer + a gov lady working in the tax office and they pull together around 40,000 and I would definitely call them middle class or maybe even higher middle class, owning a Fortuner and a 4mb house.

Sure you can all all these guys with 8mb houses and real estate and 100k jobs middle class, but they are just not middle class anymore.

If you compare it, an US middle class is up to $60,000 per year = 100,000 THB / month = this would be already the 10% in Thailand. Of course there are professionals who earn 200,000 per month, but there are 65m people living in Thailand, not just "that one guy".

Besides a construction worker maybe earns 15k. The 30k is for the guy who orders the 15k guys around (1st hand experience).

Edited November 12, 2015 by Gutenberg

[Cook my sock]

I wonder if a 'yuppie' class will develop in Thailand, one that is happy to work hard and play hard.

When it happened in the uk during the mid 80s it completely changed the work ethic imo

Edited November 12, 2015 by Cook my sock

[puffy]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

What about all the Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Accountants, Journalists, middle and senior management in large companies, the list

goes on. There is an increasing middle class in Thailand. The village I live in most certainly is not Hi So but would say the majority are

middle class. House prices between 4.5 and 7 million. There are loads of similar villages all around me. Ridiculous statement.

Middle class but high class debtors. People living in a village living in a lets say a 5 million baht house. Something is out of wack. Yes I lived in a village and my then g/f's mother built a 600 square metre building for personal living and a store. The building was 3 times larger than what she needed. The bank loan was 7 million bahts. Her reasoning was that all her sisters in this village had stores so it was a case of one up manship. On top of that the quality of the build was so bad the first section was having leaking and construction problems before the contractor could collect all his money so he could cut and run. What a fiasco.

Sorry when I say Village, I mean gated secure community, not a village in the sticks. I would not be able to tell you about people's personal debt as they

have not told me, however I do know that the majority of people I know who live in my Village have good professional jobs and send their children to good Thai private schools or the lower to medium level International schools.

[fang37]

Where I live, the Thais are certainly not wealthy. Their homes!

But lately, with the release of the new Fortuner & Pajero, their purchases are incredible.

Nothing but the top model.

How much is on time payment?

[dddave]

Four or five years ago the Bangkok Post profiled the founder of Oishi. He started with a single noodle cart in Yarowat. I believe the original founder of what became Red Bull also came from humble origins in Thailand.

Many of Bangkok's most successful restaurants began as small pushcarts or stalls. The very large and famous "Op Aroi" seafood restaurant in Town in Town started as a street stall 20 years ago. I'm sure the family that operates it has become very wealthy.

[chiang mai]

Four or five years ago the Bangkok Post profiled the founder of Oishi. He started with a single noodle cart in Yarowat. I believe the original founder of what became Red Bull also came from humble origins in Thailand.

Many of Bangkok's most successful restaurants began as small pushcarts or stalls. The very large and famous "Op Aroi" seafood restaurant in Town in Town started as a street stall 20 years ago. I'm sure the family that operates it has become very wealthy.

Red Bull was invented by an Austrian, Dietrich Mateschitz.

[Berkshire]

Four or five years ago the Bangkok Post profiled the founder of Oishi. He started with a single noodle cart in Yarowat. I believe the original founder of what became Red Bull also came from humble origins in Thailand.

Many of Bangkok's most successful restaurants began as small pushcarts or stalls. The very large and famous "Op Aroi" seafood restaurant in Town in Town started as a street stall 20 years ago. I'm sure the family that operates it has become very wealthy.

Red Bull was invented by an Austrian, Dietrich Mateschitz.

Not quite:

[Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an existing energy drink named Krating Daeng (Thai: กระทิงแดง, Thai pronunciation: [kràtʰiŋ dɛːŋ]), which was first invented and sold in Thailand. He took this idea, modified the ingredients to suit the tastes of westerners,^[5] and, in partnership with Chaleo Yoovidhya, founded Red Bull GmbH in Chakkapong, Thailand.]

[chiang mai]

Four or five years ago the Bangkok Post profiled the founder of Oishi. He started with a single noodle cart in Yarowat. I believe the original founder of what became Red Bull also came from humble origins in Thailand.

Many of Bangkok's most successful restaurants began as small pushcarts or stalls. The very large and famous "Op Aroi" seafood restaurant in Town in Town started as a street stall 20 years ago. I'm sure the family that operates it has become very wealthy.

Red Bull was invented by an Austrian, Dietrich Mateschitz.

Not quite:

[Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an existing energy drink named Krating Daeng (Thai: กระทิงแดง, Thai pronunciation: [kràtʰiŋ dɛːŋ]), which was first invented and sold in Thailand. He took this idea, modified the ingredients to suit the tastes of westerners,^[5] and, in partnership with Chaleo Yoovidhya, founded Red Bull GmbH in Chakkapong, Thailand.]

I read that he modified an existing product to create a new one, but whatever, let's not split hairs, perhaps I should have written "created" and not "invented".

[Thai at Heart]

Four or five years ago the Bangkok Post profiled the founder of Oishi. He started with a single noodle cart in Yarowat. I believe the original founder of what became Red Bull also came from humble origins in Thailand.

Many of Bangkok's most successful restaurants began as small pushcarts or stalls. The very large and famous "Op Aroi" seafood restaurant in Town in Town started as a street stall 20 years ago. I'm sure the family that operates it has become very wealthy.

Red Bull was invented by an Austrian, Dietrich Mateschitz.

Uh no. It was copied by the Thai guy who saw a Japanese energy drink. Dietrich was working for Unilever or someone similar and saw red bull and approached the Thai guy, thus getting the international rights to it, and the Thai guy kept a shareholding in the international business.

[spidermike007]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

no middle class in Thailand? Say families earning between 30k and 200k per month I would consider middle class here. And this group has been growing steadily over the last 20 years and still keeps growing.

Thank you for dispelling and correcting such a fabulously simplistic and ignorant post. Or course there is a middle class here. And it is probably quite a bit larger than one would think. And they probably really drove the economy. The super rich represent what, maybe 2% of the population? There has to be another 10-20% that are in the 35,000 to 200,000 baht per month range. Most small entrepreneurs probably fall into that range.

[Thai at Heart]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

no middle class in Thailand? Say families earning between 30k and 200k per month I would consider middle class here. And this group has been growing steadily over the last 20 years and still keeps growing.

Thank you for dispelling and correcting such a fabulously simplistic and ignorant post. Or course there is a middle class here. And it is probably quite a bit larger than one would think. And they probably really drove the economy. The super rich represent what, maybe 2% of the population? There has to be another 10-20% that are in the 35,000 to 200,000 baht per month range. Most small entrepreneurs probably fall into that range.

By Thai standards, 200k per month is considered extremely well off. As I wrote elsewhere, statistically, the middle is 20 to 50k per month. The amount earning 200k per month is probably less than 1% of the population. The top 1% of the Thai population have a massive proportion of its wealth.

Too high by most measurements.

[Lukecan]

I can't believe some people say 200k baht pm in Thailand is middle class.

First of all, that 200k baht is certainly after taxes....

When you earn 120k usd per year in manhattan you get around 6k usd pm after 401k is maxed out taxes are paid health insurance is deducted.

We can safely assume Bangkok on average is at least 2.5x cheaper than USA

60k usd per year after taxes will easily is easily comparable to a 250-300k usd / per year salary in the states.

When was someone earning 300k usd per year considered middle class?

The biggest difference IMHO is salary in Thailand is quoted after taxes, whereas in the west its quoted before taxes. Sure 100k per year sounds nice but you aint netting 8k per month, it comes down to around 4000-4500 after government and 401k takes their share.

Edited November 21, 2015 by Lukecan

[fletchsmile]

Chompu seems to do alright for herself.As have many of the TV characters/presenters/actresses.

But here is the top 50..

http://www.forbes.com/thailand-billionaires/list/#tab:overall

A useful source. Shame it never really goes into details on how they got there

A quick scan thru the top10 highlights that these are by and large families/ inherited wealth etc rather than self-made rick people in Thailand.

Heinecke is probably the best known as a foreigner and he just about scrapes top 20.

I think it confirms that the majority aren't self-made - at least in the top top.

From personal experience most Thais I come across who are worth say USD 1mn or more tend to come from families with wealth.

Mind you if you went back say 200 years in the UK or to the Feudal era it would be similar

Edited November 21, 2015 by fletchsmile

[NCFC]

My Thai buddy has the concession for the klong San Saeb boat service. He is immensely wealthy. He gave my daughter an 8 million baht condo in Sukhumwit as a wedding present.

As a kid he was a Bangkok street urchin, Dad died when he was eight, Mum sold food on the street to feed six kids. He was extremely poor but is now worth millions in dollar terms. Very ruthless person but definitely a self-made man.