lopburi3 Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 Wow. My elec. bill for April was 2,400 Baht (usually 1,400-1,800 / month) And mine was 7,500 baht! But had 10 to 12 people using house during the month. Normal is in the 4-6k range. Also as I get older appreciate the air conditioner running. But this is where the extra money comes in. If I did not have the funds could live without it. But prefer to live with it. Guess I never will have 'green eyes'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit_of_town_hall Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 Yes, I did mean air conditioning, something I would need most of the time indoors I'm afraid. STH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soongmak Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 I would be really interested in someone doing some meaningful research perhaps for their masters degree or similar on what is the average life/residency expectancy for someone from the west moving to Thailand. Singaporesteve, When it comes to life expectancy, the average life expectancy is not an interesting factor when doing your financial planning. After all, you are just an individual who will likely live longer (or shorter) than the mean. What you could do however is invest your money upon retirement in a lifelong annuity insurance that works with the average life expectancy for someone your age. In that way you will be sure to have income even when your life expectancy exceeds the average by let's say 10 years. Cheers, soongmak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legover Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 Bangkok can be pricey, less so beach resorts except Pattaya & Phuket (thai beach resorts with only a few hundred farangs are OK). 60,000+ for a decent lifestyle with a bit of nooky now and again (local friend has a pretty live-in for 6000/mo but her folks keep turning up looking for a sin sod, sends them packing upcountry) outside Bangkok. Know a 72 yr old backpacker who toured Burma, China Loas & Vietnam for 6 months on $1500. if you?ve got the inclination keeping fit helps. weights, biking, hitting 200 balls a day at the driving range stops body rot, firms up the paunch. Orphans can have siblings, cousins, aunts, can be just as bad & not necessarily a solution to the usual problem. A Thai girl i know with some assets has the same problems with ther family looking for some free cash. Doctors talk drivel, ignore them. If you like sing-a-song bars you take your own whisky & drink for almost nothing and get lucky with the girls. need more patience there. Burning ridges is a reality after 2 or 3 years or more here. Good thing. A friend in Kuta pays the rent for a girl every month and gets as much nooky as he wants, anal I believe no less, never tried this approach though. Inflation is the killer. if not working, you need investments that keep up with a cost of living index. Ultra important. No real need for AC. Not productive, who cares. Only thing that stopped me getting bored LA & UK was the pressure of paying bills. We?re a long time dead. Settle down? Why limit yourself with such fantastic variety. English teachers get free quality bunk-ups I hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelgianBoy Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 Says ultras67: Spend as much as you can afford on your apartment / house. Its where you live and where you will spend a lot of your time. If you try and economise and only get a B3000 / mth flat, you will be out everynight to avoid it and therefore spend as much money as you would getting a nicer B7000 place. ( It can be done even in Bangkok! a guy I know has moved in a 2 bed thai style house for B6500 a month, just off Sathorn by Surasak BTS ) Ultra, Excellent posting, putting the dots right on the iiiiiiiiiii I always did spend my time in nice hotels, will move soon and thought of renting something 'cheap'...... will definitely not ! Last 2 visits we borrowed a small condo from GF's sister, paid only for elec, water & phone bill, but was way toooo small, so we 'escaped' it daily to spend our time together. For the moment Gf is in Belgium with me on a 90-day visa in my 440 m2 house, here we hardly ever go out, guess why ? As for bridge, once I live there, will start a thread in sprorts to start something going I'll call it the NBC, NanaBridgeClub Cheers ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mongatu Posted May 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 U67, Thanks for taking the time to post all the good suggestions/advice. Several of the points you raise are things I've already thought about and answered for myself, but I'm still grappling with some of them, and, of course, some I won't know until I just try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJsushi Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 Says spirit_of_town_hall: Sounds like a nice life, do you get AC for that ammount? STH AC is for wimps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smittyjp Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 What a fantastic thread. I've oft wondered about the finances. Where do you keep your money? Thai bank or your own country and live by EFT or the ATM? No checks in Thailand right? What about a mailing address? Smitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mongatu Posted May 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 [color:"blue"] you have to make as many friends or aquaintances as possible outside the BG scene ( and I mean westerners who go every night to bars ) . . . . [/color]Yes, I can see this would be very important and not merely for saving money. It also would be likely to start a chain of events that could lead to other positive things and a more varied social experience . . . . [color:"blue"] You have to find something to fill your time whilst waiting for the girl of your dreams to appear ( and be careful about that as well ). [/color] And, even after the girl appears (assuming optimistically that she will), the need for something to fill my time would hopefully still be there. I think it is healthy for relationships if both participants have outside interests apart from each other. It would be interesting to hear more examples of what some of the posters who are living in LOS are doing to fill their time. But, of course, I understand that even without getting too specific, many may not be comfortable disclosing personal info of that sort in a public forum such as this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Jack Posted May 14, 2003 Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 Says BelgianBoy: For the moment Gf is in Belgium with me on a 90-day visa in my 440 m2 house, here we hardly ever go out, guess why? You're playing bridge? jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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