Typical thai incomes

[LannaGuy]

On 7/19/2017 at 9:08 PM, Flustered said:

But what on earth do you spend 150,000 baht on? As I said, that's some US$5,000 per month and you have no debts to speak of.

agreed that is monstrous most Thais I know are on 15k ish and most farangs 40k ish

[thehelmsman]

4 hours ago, Jim Turner Mad Punx said:

The problem with these constant income questions is that it's all subjective.

 

there is no required amount. Incomes range from a couple dollars a day to highly compensated politicians.

 

theres always someone above or below you.

 

these questions are really about what "you" are comfortable with, not what "they" make.

 

when you have figured that one out you have figured out everything.

Stop it with the common sense. Folks here want to hear from the guy living a great life on 10K bht/mo. so they can bash the guy spending 100K bht/mo. If the wife isn't bringing home a paycheck she must be a golddigger.

 

But, these threads made for good reading and entertainment, that's all.

 

 

 

 

[Jim Turner Mad Punx]

16 minutes ago, thehelmsman said:

Stop it with the common sense. Folks here want to hear from the guy living a great life on 10K bht/mo. so they can bash the guy spending 100K bht/mo. If the wife isn't bringing home a paycheck she must be a golddigger.

 

But, these threads made for good reading and entertainment, that's all.

 

 

 

 

well putting people down for being dull and/or immature is what i find entertaining. that's what i like to do.
and i don't care what you reputation is here or what fancy nicknames you  have or posting numbers or what you want to see. i will still put you and your posts down like a dog anyway.

 

that's what i like.

[thehelmsman]

19 minutes ago, Jim Turner Mad Punx said:

well putting people down for being dull and/or immature is what i find entertaining. that's what i like to do.
and i don't care what you reputation is here or what fancy nicknames you  have or posting numbers or what you want to see. i will still put you and your posts down like a dog anyway.

 

that's what i like.

yeah, I got no idea where you're coming from, but thanks for the nickname compliment. and I've got no reputation. Dog?? <deleted>

[gentlemanjackdarby]

On 7/21/2017 at 6:28 PM, Jim Turner Mad Punx said:

The problem with these constant income questions is that it's all subjective.

 

there is no required amount. Incomes range from a couple dollars a day to highly compensated politicians.

 

theres always someone above or below you.

 

these questions are really about what "you" are comfortable with, not what "they" make.

 

when you have figured that one out you have figured out everything.

 

On 7/21/2017 at 10:38 PM, thehelmsman said:

Stop it with the common sense. Folks here want to hear from the guy living a great life on 10K bht/mo. so they can bash the guy spending 100K bht/mo. If the wife isn't bringing home a paycheck she must be a golddigger.

 

But, these threads made for good reading and entertainment, that's all.

 

 

 

 

 

On 7/21/2017 at 10:58 PM, Jim Turner Mad Punx said:

well putting people down for being dull and/or immature is what i find entertaining. that's what i like to do.
and i don't care what you reputation is here or what fancy nicknames you  have or posting numbers or what you want to see. i will still put you and your posts down like a dog anyway.

 

that's what i like.

Jim Turner Mad Punx,

 

Boy, I really thought that I'd seen it all on the Thailand and Philippines forums to which I belong but I have to say, I've never seen anything like your posts in this thread.

 

The first one an enlightened post that boils down all the bulls**t contained in uncountable price and cost-of-living threads to their essence followed by a second post that can only be called a nasty, mean-spirited and sad response to what was intended as a compliment by "thehelmsman".

 

It's quite sad that someone would admit to putting others down for being "dull/or immature", finding it "entertaining" and something they "like to do".

 

You must be busy 24 hours a day, seven days a week because most people, most of the time are are dull or immature; that doesn't make them fair game for a self-appointed arbiter of what's interesting or mature to put them down. That makes them normal, more-good-than-bad people.

 

I'll bet people run to get on your side of the street when they see you coming just to bask in the warm glow of good feelings and positive energy that you exude.

 

Oh, and a bit of advice: one who takes it upon himself to put down the so-called dull and immature folks of this world should at least be able to recognize sarcasm and parody when it presents itself, so perhaps a little less "putting down" and a little more reading of say, Oscar Wilde, is in order? At most, an arbiter of whatever who is policing others should be above reproach in their writing, so maybe another couple of hours a day with a grammar primer and the Chicago Manual of Style?

 

 

[inThailand]

Why is it that most posts end up becoming a cat fight between two posters? Go to a pub and scratch each others eyes out.

Edited July 24, 2017 by inThailand
fat fingers

[Jonathang]

7 eleven pays 10-12k a month?

5 Star hotel start up is 9k, after 3 months 17k and some 5 star hotels give sur charge & bonus.

Massage pays 6-15k a month (talking about normal massage here, its variance with the amount of ppl that come in or not)(The ones who do 'bad things' in secret get fired or make a killing)

Security agent starter pays 9-12k a month

Edited July 24, 2017 by Jonathang

[inThailand]

Its interesting to see some of these salaries. Our condo development pays way over these. Is it because falangs are owners?

[hansnl]

On 7/8/2017 at 8:56 AM, mark5335 said:

Re: No 4, I worked in a Thai bank in Bangkok 8 years ago. Back then, a local EVP at head office in charge of department had a base salary of around 300K baht per month (depending on the dept function), plus a BMW 5 series with driver, health insurance, and annual bonus. That bank, whilst local, had a major foreign shareholder so the salaries compared well to international banks. Having said that, the bank employed hundreds of plodders of questionable productivity that would have been earning less than 30K per month.

 

 

 

You forget to mention the  plodders employed by the bank of no productivity  nor quality, at all, that would have been paid high salaries for just being there, being family members of higher ups also not worth the money they get.

Banks, as it is said, are legalised criminal institutions.

Remember that, next time you feel the urge to lower the worth of underpaid people doing their job.

 

[brewsterbudgen]

I have a student who is a pharmacist and she earns 60,000 a month.  I also had a junior doctor student who was making around 100,000, although she had to work horrendous hours.

[ChidlomDweller]

I get to see quite a bit if salary information, and let's say for mid twenties university graduates in Bangkok, it's a wide range, but typical would be around 30,000 and a range from low 20k to 40k.  I haven't really bothered to calculate a mean or median or even paid that much attention, but somewhere around there is what comes to mind.  More than 50,000 is rare but happens.  For examples, sales management if they're good at it, multinationals that will happily pay a large premium for the best, and tough jobs like being a flight attendant.  

Edited July 25, 2017 by ChidlomDweller

[bwpage3]

On 7/14/2017 at 1:22 AM, daphnia88 said:

Like I said.... someone who doesn't hire prostitutes or drink themselves silly or HAS to live in a high rise condo, can LIVE with 20k or 40k comfortably. 

 

THIS. Existing means "I have enough to not die, but I don't have enough money to afford the things I want". I was able to afford the things I both NEED, and WANT. Hence, I'm not existing, I'm living already. With 20k. The snobs you were talking about probably is ridden with STDs and have a liver so fatty the doctors give up on them.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

You can only "want" things that you can afford.

 

If you wanted a 25,000 baht Iphone and a 100,000 Macbook Pro, obviously your logic fails because you would want those items and not be able to afford them on 20,000 a month.

 

Your "wants" have to fall in line with the 20,000 thb per month. If not, they cannot be "wants" because you simply cannot afford them.

 

So in reality, you can only "want" things that fit into your budget.

 

Not the same concept.

 

I like to ask people like you if you were living on 20,000 THB per month in your own country before you ever heard of Thailand?

 

Were you living in a tiny one room flat that doesn't even have a proper bath? Was your kitchen, living room, bedroom all the same room as it is now?

 

You could live in a damn tent in Khao Yai and call that living if you really wanted to.

 

But you are not living.

 

You are only telling yourself you are living so you do not have to face the truth of living on almost nothing.

 

If you moved 10,000 miles to Thailand and end up living the same as a working class Thai, you didn't achieve anything called living.

 

Sad but true.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kim1950]

58 minutes ago, bwpage3 said:

Sorry to burst your bubble.

From a US perspective almost anyone with serious money will very unlikely retire in Thailand. Maybe visit as a tourist, and even that now gets poor press. Too crowded, too far, too complicated. There still is a niche market for the wayward. Or, dual residences. That's not cheap. 

 

So let's play with an average SS Pensioners budget of 80K baht per month, then maybe a modest IRA of 200K USD. Staying here, you get Medicare. Most decent towns have senior care services like meals-on-wheel, daily activities, even day or weekend trips, order your stuff on-line. If you look and are decent, and if you don't own, you can find decent rent. People even Group   Up.

 

Maybe the grass can be greener, right where you are. And, you don"t have to make yourself miserable living to a budget. Make the most of it, or stay in your pant load of woulda, shoulda, coulda. That goes for Thailand, too.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Kim1950

[Craig krup]

2 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

You can only "want" things that you can afford.

 

If you wanted a 25,000 baht Iphone and a 100,000 Macbook Pro, obviously your logic fails because you would want those items and not be able to afford them on 20,000 a month.

 

Your "wants" have to fall in line with the 20,000 thb per month. If not, they cannot be "wants" because you simply cannot afford them.

 

So in reality, you can only "want" things that fit into your budget.

 

Not the same concept.

 

I like to ask people like you if you were living on 20,000 THB per month in your own country before you ever heard of Thailand?

 

Were you living in a tiny one room flat that doesn't even have a proper bath? Was your kitchen, living room, bedroom all the same room as it is now?

 

You could live in a damn tent in Khao Yai and call that living if you really wanted to.

 

But you are not living.

 

You are only telling yourself you are living so you do not have to face the truth of living on almost nothing.

 

If you moved 10,000 miles to Thailand and end up living the same as a working class Thai, you didn't achieve anything called living.

 

Sad but true.

 

 

Drawing attention to the economist's definition of "effective demand" - a willingness and ability to pay - doesn't address daphnia88's point. On your account John Travolta doesn't "want" the 747 that Qantas offered him because he can't afford it, therefore he doesn't (meaningfully) "want" it, despite the fact that he squirms with desire. 

 

If you come from a country where you pay for healthcare then (perhaps) Thailand will be much cheaper for you, because 1) you'll save on housing costs, and 2) you may well save on healthcare costs. If everything else is overall a wash-out (losses and gains cancel) then that basic calculation holds. You can't rent a nice apartment with your own front door in a decent area in Europe or North America for $100, and it's just crass to claim that you can. In Glasgow, Scotland, (for example) 20,000 baht (£458) wouldn't even pay for an apartment: it would cover the rent and then you'd have local authority taxation of about £100 on top. 

 

My pal lives on Udon on what he's given for his disability. He gives up all the rent and housing help that he would get if he stayed in Europe. Why does he do that? Because even given the fact that he has to pay his own housing costs it's still cheaper in Thailand. 

 

Now I accept that there are a million "like for like" considerations, and they really kick in for Europeans who get free health cover. If I spend £600 a month in Thailand that's £520 on non-housing. But to compare like for like I should buy health cover as good as that provided by the British state, and only eat the foods that I choose to eat (however weak that preference is) in the UK. That means buying oats, pasta, beef and other farang food in Tesco. Those two things - buying health cover and making the same food choices - would obliterate a big part of the saving. 

 

But what if your preferences are weak; you'll eat pasta and beef if it's a plain choice, but you're cool with pork and rice? 
What if you're cynical - the chance of me not being able to be repatriated is slim to non-existent, and if it happens the last thing I'll worry about is the cost? 

 

You just cannot keep body and soul together for 20,000 baht in Europe. There are poor buggers in Spain and Greece trying it right now, and they're in a hell of a state. 

Housing costs (including local authority taxation) are the big thing for Brits and Australians, and local taxation plus health cover is the big thing for Americans. You can exist comfortably in a major Thai city for 20,000 baht. You can't do that in most other places. Some of the claims made about this are overblown, and don't involve comparing like with like. But if you've got $200,000 yielding $9,000 a year, 301,000 baht in Thailand allows you to live (whatever definition you adopt), and $9,000 in the US doesn't. Such Trustafarians and early-retired dot com entrepreneurs and post oil-boom geophysicists may be a small group, but they do exist. 

Edited July 25, 2017 by Craig krup

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

You can only "want" things that you can afford.

 

If you wanted a 25,000 baht Iphone and a 100,000 Macbook Pro, obviously your logic fails because you would want those items and not be able to afford them on 20,000 a month.

 

Your "wants" have to fall in line with the 20,000 thb per month. If not, they cannot be "wants" because you simply cannot afford them.

 

So in reality, you can only "want" things that fit into your budget.

 

Not the same concept.

 

I like to ask people like you if you were living on 20,000 THB per month in your own country before you ever heard of Thailand?

 

Were you living in a tiny one room flat that doesn't even have a proper bath? Was your kitchen, living room, bedroom all the same room as it is now?

 

You could live in a damn tent in Khao Yai and call that living if you really wanted to.

 

But you are not living.

 

You are only telling yourself you are living so you do not have to face the truth of living on almost nothing.

 

If you moved 10,000 miles to Thailand and end up living the same as a working class Thai, you didn't achieve anything called living.

 

Sad but true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but a lot of people wouldn't even consider living in a third world country like Thailand. Certainly most civilized folk think that only old losers retire here and are only existing because of the availability of cheap sex.

 

So, I wouldn't quite so liberally assume what living and existing is to other people while you're spending your days in a gutter.

 

 

 

 

 

[oldhippy]

On ‎22‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 8:44 AM, LannaGuy said:

agreed that is monstrous most Thais I know are on 15k ish and most farangs 40k ish

My income (pension) is 80.000 baht a month.

 

The 6 months in Thailand we live on 20.000 baht a month - no restaurants (what for?), no whoring (what for?), what could we want more than our tropical garden in the middle of nowhere? (in the winter)

 

With the money we "save" we fly to Europe at least once a year, and travel around Europe, staying mostly in apartments (booking com), cooking our own food, daily having a small meal / snack in a real local café - if we find one, they are getting rare in Europe.

 

So yes we can live happily on 20.000 baht in Thailand, but only because we can travel to Europe.

 

[ChidlomDweller]

The OP talked about Bangkok, by the way.  I wouldn't like living outside Bangkok on 20,000 but at least that might be tolerable (although still very boring to me and with another couple of decades of expected life to live not something I'm willing to settle for).  20,000 in Bangkok sounds like hell to me.

[LannaGuy]

11 hours ago, oldhippy said:

My income (pension) is 80.000 baht a month.

 

The 6 months in Thailand we live on 20.000 baht a month - no restaurants (what for?), no whoring (what for?), what could we want more than our tropical garden in the middle of nowhere? (in the winter)

 

With the money we "save" we fly to Europe at least once a year, and travel around Europe, staying mostly in apartments (booking com), cooking our own food, daily having a small meal / snack in a real local café - if we find one, they are getting rare in Europe.

 

So yes we can live happily on 20.000 baht in Thailand, but only because we can travel to Europe.

 

20k = can live

40k = life is good

60k = never have a problem + few luxuries 

80k = luxuries + even more luxuries

100k = bliss

 

Above assumes no rent, no kids and you like to play. If you don't own anywhere add 15,000 and kids?  30,000  BKK another 15,000

 

[Craig krup]

6 hours ago, LannaGuy said:

20k = can live

40k = life is good

60k = never have a problem + few luxuries 

80k = luxuries + even more luxuries

100k = bliss

 

Above assumes no rent, no kids and you like to play. If you don't own anywhere add 15,000 and kids?  30,000  BKK another 15,000

 

 

I tell you, I wish I was shallow. It must make existence easy. Note the word existence.  Not life. Existence.

 

The thing that really creases me about these threads is that it's always the people who can't live who talk most about living. Think about it. Descartes "existed" - in what you'd call absolute poverty - his entire life. He also wrote the Discourse on the Method and the Meditations. A hundred years later Hume went to the town where Descartes had been educated (LaFlèche) because his money would go further. This "loser" went on to write the Treatise of Human Nature,, making him the key Scot who (in Arthur Herman's words) invented the modern world. I used to live in the West End of Glasgow- trendy. I'd regularly see Alasdair Gray walking around with a quizzical look on his face. Gray wrote Lanark, one of the most staggering literary achievements ever. He made no money from it, and nor did the publishers, so difficult was it to produce. Gray has been poor his entire life, and he has lived one of the most impressive human lives you can imagine. 

 

My baht income this morning - unearned from investments - is 1.1 million a year, and I'm frightened to retire and live on it because I'm not Descartes, Hume or Gray. I can buy a ton of garbage, I can live in a big house, I can spend the entire day having poor people dance attendance, but - for all my limitations - I know that buying stuff isn't living. I can't write Lanark, but I can read it, and know that it would be a fine bargain to give everything I have to be the author. 

 

The great joke is that it's the people who bang on about their need for money to "live" who aren't living at all. Their aspiration isn't to be Caravaggio, it's to be Philip Green, with a gut like a bucket, the worldview of a chimp and D cups like Jayne Mansfield. I'd say "Get a life", but these characters wouldn't know where to start. 

[kannot]

On 7/24/2017 at 10:05 PM, inThailand said:

Why is it that most posts end up becoming a cat fight between two posters? Go to a pub and scratch each others eyes out.

I dont drink , how dare you invite me to your den of inequity

[sunny17]

Instead of creating a thread I seem to have created a monster.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

 
I tell you, I wish I was shallow. It must make existence easy. Note the word existence.  Not life. Existence.
 
The thing that really creases me about these threads is that it's always the people who can't live who talk most about living. Think about it. Descartes "existed" - in what you'd call absolute poverty - his entire life. He also wrote the Discourse on the Method and the Meditations. A hundred years later Hume went to the town where Descartes had been educated (LaFlèche) because his money would go further. This "loser" went on to write the Treatise of Human Nature,, making him the key Scot who (in Arthur Herman's words) invented the modern world. I used to live in the West End of Glasgow- trendy. I'd regularly see Alasdair Gray walking around with a quizzical look on his face. Gray wrote Lanark, one of the most staggering literary achievements ever. He made no money from it, and nor did the publishers, so difficult was it to produce. Gray has been poor his entire life, and he has lived one of the most impressive human lives you can imagine. 
 
My baht income this morning - unearned from investments - is 1.1 million a year, and I'm frightened to retire and live on it because I'm not Descartes, Hume or Gray. I can buy a ton of garbage, I can live in a big house, I can spend the entire day having poor people dance attendance, but - for all my limitations - I know that buying stuff isn't living. I can't write Lanark, but I can read it, and know that it would be a fine bargain to give everything I have to be the author. 
 
The great joke is that it's the people who bang on about their need for money to "live" who aren't living at all. Their aspiration isn't to be Caravaggio, it's to be Philip Green, with a gut like a bucket, the worldview of a chimp and D cups like Jayne Mansfield. I'd say "Get a life", but these characters wouldn't know where to start. 

Brilliant man.

[Craig krup]

25 minutes ago, sunny17 said:

Instead of creating a thread I seem to have created a monster.

 

You have become death. Destroyer of threads. [As Oppenheimer would have said if he'd had broadband. 

[thehelmsman]

5 hours ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

 

Brilliant man.

 

 

Sooo, to be a legendary author you should be bat shit crazy is what I get. Or at least it seems so according to some.

[binjalin]

15 hours ago, Craig krup said:

 

I tell you, I wish I was shallow. It must make existence easy. Note the word existence.  Not life. Existence.

 

The thing that really creases me about these threads is that it's always the people who can't live who talk most about living. Think about it. Descartes "existed" - in what you'd call absolute poverty - his entire life. He also wrote the Discourse on the Method and the Meditations. A hundred years later Hume went to the town where Descartes had been educated (LaFlèche) because his money would go further. This "loser" went on to write the Treatise of Human Nature,, making him the key Scot who (in Arthur Herman's words) invented the modern world. I used to live in the West End of Glasgow- trendy. I'd regularly see Alasdair Gray walking around with a quizzical look on his face. Gray wrote Lanark, one of the most staggering literary achievements ever. He made no money from it, and nor did the publishers, so difficult was it to produce. Gray has been poor his entire life, and he has lived one of the most impressive human lives you can imagine. 

 

My baht income this morning - unearned from investments - is 1.1 million a year, and I'm frightened to retire and live on it because I'm not Descartes, Hume or Gray. I can buy a ton of garbage, I can live in a big house, I can spend the entire day having poor people dance attendance, but - for all my limitations - I know that buying stuff isn't living. I can't write Lanark, but I can read it, and know that it would be a fine bargain to give everything I have to be the author. 

 

The great joke is that it's the people who bang on about their need for money to "live" who aren't living at all. Their aspiration isn't to be Caravaggio, it's to be Philip Green, with a gut like a bucket, the worldview of a chimp and D cups like Jayne Mansfield. I'd say "Get a life", but these characters wouldn't know where to start. 

Well Sir all i see is pompous claptrap and I don't need that with my morning tea!

[theguyfromanotherforum]

14 hours ago, LannaGuy said:

Haha what BS to justify your arrogant, boring life. I love to travel, I own property here and in the Philippines, I have lots sex... meet varied and interesting people and early retired from my very senior job so that I could enjoy all those things as early as possible. I worked hard to get to the top in my career, two degrees and a varied life living in London and other places and after that travelling to 30 or more countries. 

 

Your attempt at 'intellectualizing' yourself as some 'smart' cookie whilst the rest of us are 'dumbed down' doesn't work with me I'm afraid. I love my life, my books, music, travel, meditation and the rest and it's not for YOU to judge me or anyone else. Live and let live and keep your pretentiousness to yourself. Thanks for mentioning your income but I'd don't feel humbled... sorry and you keep 'working' wherever you are (I assume you are not in Thailand as it's too low class for you) and 'earn' that heart attack. I chose to walk away early and it's not for YOU to decry my decision.  

 

You worked hard to have property and lots of sex in third world countries?

 

 

[LannaGuy]

4 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

You worked hard to have property and lots of sex in third world countries?

 

 

I worked hard to retire early from a highly stressful and successful career. I am divorced and chose to live in Thailand and travel, mostly, in Asia because of the weather, economic reasons etc. I also enjoy the company of women and delighted to enjoy the 'exchange'. Don't tell me 'yours is different'? but... wait... you don't live here right? I enjoy studying still (it gets in the blood) and have an extensive library (mostly Krishnamurti, Tagore, Blavatsky interwoven with a sprinkling of Buddhist texts). Judge not lest Ye be Judged we are not all bar-stool drop-outs.

 

BTW Thailand is not a 'third world country'

Edited July 27, 2017 by LannaGuy

[kannot]

9 minutes ago, daphnia88 said:

tell him to not behave like that then, cause he brings a bad name for all you 65 year old pensioners. And tell him to mind his own business instead of telling me I don't want an iphone or a macbook because I cannot afford it. Typical holier-than-thou attitude from an old fart who is not at all better or wiser than his 19 year old little girl. 

 

As for you, you do you, man. You have your standards, I have mine. I don't consider my life "existing", so don't you dare claim that I am. People have different standards and different needs, dammit! If I say I'm perfectly happy with my 20,000, then shut up and leave me alone with it! How I live my life with my own money is none of your business. I was just telling the OP that it IS indeed possible to live on 20,000 Baht a month, while still getting whatever you want and need. If you people cannot live off that, then that's you. I find it sad how SOME old farts feel the need to say those like me are "not living", just to make themselves feel powerful and better. When in fact, I'm the one with vigorous youth. I'm the one who never has to pay for sex. I'm the one with a looooong colorful life ahead of me, that cannot be measured with money. Who's living life now, huh? Having more money doesn't necessarily mean you have a better quality of life.... You people have been in Thailand for too long, you measure everything with money. 

money gives you more choice

[daphnia88]

1 minute ago, kannot said:

money gives you more choice

except the best things in life cannot be bought by money

[oldhippy]

1 minute ago, daphnia88 said:

except the best things in life cannot be bought by money