gobbledonk Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 One of Stick's recent letters was from a guy in Sydney who claims to be living quiet well in a shared apartment in Sydney, on roughly 1.3 million baht a year. He questioned BKK expats who claimed that they couldnt make ends meet in BKK on 100k baht a month, citing the lower rents and generally lower cost of living. While I question our friend's ability to finance a car and eat out regularly in Sydney on the AUD equivalent of 1.3 million baht (lets call it 42K AUD), if he is getting a good deal on his rent its not unthinkable. Note that this is the amount he spends, not his income, but I reckon I could put a pretty decent hole in that in an afternoon's shopping in either BKK or Sydney, and I wouldn't own anything larger than a laptop at the end of my spending spree. Pick the shopping centre(s) of your choice, and start buying everything from tech to books to clothes, avoiding the really silly stuff at Emporium/Paragon etc (e.g. buying a single piece of jewellery is cheating ) and I think it would be incredibly easy to burn through the first 300-400k. With an assistant to ferry my goodies back to the hotel (!), I'm confident that I could knock the lot over well before closing time, without buying anything I didn't want (simply to make the total). Do I actually *need* a new laptop/ipad/smartphone/watch/camera/headphone/jade buddha/teak dagger/Thai silk ties/200 hardcover books/50 imported magazines/portable music player/100 'legit' CDs and a partridge in a pear tree ? Maybe not, but consumerism is about lust, not logic - you just need merchants who have enough of the toys you lust after to take your money and that's that. If anything, I think I could repeat the exercise in Sydney in less time, but I'd definitely want to be closer to my hotel. Now transplant this fantasy to someone working 12-hour days to earn that 100K+ spending money, and chances are that you are going to want to treat yourself every month. A laptop here, a few books there - what the hell, its only money, right ? Having been there and done it in Brisbane, I know how easy it is to widen your 'wishlist' every payday - throw in the nightlife on offer in BKK and I have no problems seeing how easy it would be to blaze through 100K+ disposable income. I know that figure is OTT for some expats (yes, ThaiHome, I know you make more than that) but our friend in Sydney would seem to have subtracted human nature from his calculations - happy to hear otherwise. Also happy to hear from anyone willing to sponsor me in this record-breaking attempt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexi Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Taking your teerak to visit a couple of gold shops would be an easy way to get rid of that amount As for living expenses,each to their own,but I`ve previously had a pretty good time on 40-50 k/month so no sympathy for those who complain they cant get by on more than double that amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Penny ante wankers! The US Congress goes through much more than than in a fraction of a second. p.s. All right, it is HM's birthday. Bottle rockets are one thing, but the dipshit neighbours do not need to fire rockets that sound damn near like a mortar round leaving the tube. I just jumped out of my chair a few minutes ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Penny ante wankers! The US Congress goes through much more than than in a fraction of a second. p.s. All right, it is HM's birthday. Bottle rockets are one thing, but the dipshit neighbours do not need to fire rockets that sound damn near like a mortar round leaving the tube. I just jumped out of my chair a few minutes ago. Hard to believe the cost of fighting the USA Civil War was only 2 billion dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Whose cost, the damnyankees probably. Of course, $15 dollar a month soldiers in both armies kept the costs down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted December 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 I suspect that every war has had periods where soldiers on both sides didn't get *fed*, much less paid. It certainly didn't help the Germans at Stalingrad, but I'm sure there were long-range patrols in Vietnam who found themselves living off the land and wondering if they would ever find their way back to base. Yow a Rat, I have little doubt that any Thai girl worthy of the term 'Thai girl' could put a massive dent in that figure in a gold shop, but how many of the expats who have lived in Thailand would have similar tastes ? I dont know too many males who can resist tech, and I walk through Kunokuniya and other bookstores thinking 'I want that, and that, and a massive teak bookshelf to put all these books in, and period furniture to impress the people who come over to read my books, and ...'. Gold and jewellery bore me witless, even if they might be better long-term investments. Of all the break-and-enters we have in Oz, I've never heard of someone stealing a library ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 I steal books nearly every day... Isohunt Pirate Bay Demonoid Kickass torrents.... Amazing picked up the new John Grisham book last week. Only came out in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Interesting to do the maths on these figures, 1.3 Million Baht is approximately GBP 27,000 per annum take home pay. In order to hit that figure top line salary would have to be circa 36,500 per annum with 5,805 Income Tax and 3,513 National Insurance (Social Security). Out of 472 listed professions in the UK only the top 50 make in excess of 36,500 Data Source My rent is probably slightly higher than Bangkok average since I choose to live in Sathorn, but even so total for rent and utilities (Cable TV, Internet, Water, Electric, Phones, Maid etc) only run to 20-22 K / month and even shopping at upmarket supermarkets and buying some imported goods grocery bills never exceed 13,000 / month so that is 35,000 total per month. Gadgets and Gizmos I save up for, a 90,000 Baht Macbook Pro works out at 2,500 / month if replaced every 3 years, a meal for two at a decent restaurant can be had for 2,000 Baht etc etc, a couple living together going out a couple of nights a week can have a comfortable lifestyle on 50,000 / Month. Living in Thailand and vacating in Thailand are two completely different entities. For the record my income far exceeds the aforementioned 50K but I don't let money burn a hole in my pocket, occasional trips to UK to see family and catch live football games, trips to Hong Kong and Macau plus long weekends away within Thailand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted December 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Living in Thailand and vacating in Thailand are two completely different entities. For the record my income far exceeds the aforementioned 50K but I don't let money burn a hole in my pocket, occasional trips to UK to see family and catch live football games, trips to Hong Kong and Macau plus long weekends away within Thailand Thanks Mekong, and I 100% get the part about the lifestyle difference between longterm expats and free-spending holidaymakers, but our Sydney friend based his observations on his *holidays* in Thailand and how cheaply he could do that, then asked how the hell anyone with 100K a month could possibly complain about the cost of living in Bangkok. To me, its pretty simple - their incomes have risen dramatically but so have prices, and I don't know too many who are prepared to accept the same lifestyle when their pay packets go up. Its scary how quickly you can start to take little things for granted - spending $30+ a day on breakfast+lunch (and often dinner), buying goodies here and there - it all adds up. Even in BKK, a couple of bagels and one of those fantastic iced coffees from Au Bon Pain, a Farang magazine to read while you enjoy your little treat and you can kiss a thousand baht note goodbye - you might not do it every day, but its only money, right ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.