Horneytorney Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 not sure what is your problem! multiple personality is pretty common! or if you know Freud, you can be the id, while i keep the role of the ego and super-ego! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted February 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 A quick check of my funds into Thailand show 600K transferred in over the last 12 months, paid 160K for that Thai kitchen, furniture and fridge included. GF spends +-20k/month, so do I, thus 40K x12 = 480k + 160k gives 640k, might have used extra 40k from previous balance.Oh, I also bought that 60k samlor...from old money I guess.... I mainly pay petrol and more expensive restaurants, she pays for food, clothes, electricity Every 3 months we have some holidays in the region, hotel I pay with foreign credit card, food from my Thai money. House and car are paid for. I think you are doing very well, Tarty, but it really does come down to discipline vs devil-may-care : imagine how we would have spent our 20s and 30s in a 'Logans Run' environment, but we have the opposite problem - short of the Pattaya swan dive or driving trucks in Tripoli, not too many of us can predict our date of departure. FWIW, I have started a thread like this pretty much every year since I joined the board, and I seem to recall that a figure of 500k US was being thrown around back then for a comfortable retirement in the LOS, with all manner of assumptions re health costs etc. I could be wrong, but I dont think there was a Red Shirt movement 9 years ago - interesting times ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horneytorney Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 be grateful to the red and yellow shirts and all those freaks! they will keep Thailand a third world country and cheap for us! look how other cities in Asia got very expensive within 10 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Cheap? like the prices have gone up 30+% in the last year...maybe for the tourists that parachute in, it is cheap...but for us "regulars"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumsoda Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Don't really care what anyone "thinks"....but I'm with Tartie 100% A group of us....all living within similar financial parameters....enjoyed a magnificent Xmas together.. Had an absolute Ball..... and we didn't break the bank !! It's all about "reality" v. 2 week millionaires....JMHO Cheers DS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartempion Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Hey, that was a great Xmas party. I hope we will have a repeat Xmas 2011, same place?, my hut is too Western style for such kind of events. ND, I did like your two inter-connected village houses, very charming, not that I would like to live in such a Spartan environment... And welcome some more BM's such as LK who could fund the event directly proportional to his spending power of 200K baht/month? I'll try to import some more real French wine, not the watered down expensive red water you find in Thailand. Any way, back to the OP: Here's my spending over the last 9 years in Thailand: 9 million, thus one million/year. How did I spend it? 2.630.000 building house not including rent 5 first years at 5k/m, thus add 300k. (and all the places we rented were decent western style farang houses but NOT BKK Patters area) 1 million on two cars (sold the first to buy tyhe second). For the last 5 years I gave the GF 400k/year, thus 2 million. Cost of living is for her: food, body lotions!, clothes, noodle shops, som tam kai yang and village restaurant at 250-300B meal. She saved 700k into her bank account so far as a means for pension, she spends 20k/m, thus saving 160k/y. So far this totals 5.930.000. Add 40k/m 4 first years 1.920.000 Total 7.850.000 plus 1.150.000 own spending (car insurance, petrol, restaurants at 1k meal, some furniture) It does fit with my earlier post on our actual spending of 40K month, 20k each, total 480k, no more expenses for housing/car. Thus 2011 onwards 600k will do, inclusive of savings made by the GF on the 400k she gets from me. Re cost of living: I am glad house/car are paid for: cost of land is getting crazy even in the boondocks here. GF complains about increase food prices. noodle soup and fried rice in the village just increased from 25B to 30B, meat (porc, chicken) has increased around 40% in 9 years, so has rice! (and the bloody coocking oil) tomatoes, potatoes still around 20B and 40B. This all does not affect us so much, the Euro now at 41B coming from 51 Jan 2010 is bad, thus no more spending on housing is a good thing. 10K euro transfer Jan 2010 = 515k baht 10k euro transfer Feb 2011 = 412k baht That's 103k baht less to spend from the same 10k euro. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted February 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Cheap? like the prices have gone up 30+% in the last year...maybe for the tourists that parachute in, it is cheap...but for us "regulars"... I dont find it cheap, and I'm not just talking about the bars. Unless you spend your 'holiday' sitting in the hotel room with cartons of cheap beer watching cheap DVDs while beating off (each to their own..), I just cant see how spending over a 1500 USD on airfares and accommodation makes 2 weeks in Thailand cheap. Long, hot days with little to interest a holidaymaker - no surprises that the wallet comes out at night. One final point on how the Thais can live so cheaply - they know how to pool their money to make 40 baht buy a decent lunch, even in BKK. 3 girls, 40 baht each, divvy up the goodies and everyone is happy. For those who can cook veggies they grew themselves, kill their own chickens etc I'm sure there is a whole other level of 'thrifty living' to be had. There are also the moneylenders, but thats a topic for another thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Rent is the secret, if you are on a fixed income, what you have to live on is what's left after you pay the rent. Most of your other outgoings are flexible, you can eat cheaply and stay home with a couple of cartons of Chang and a bottle of lube for a few weeks if you run out of money. I suspect that the fast majority of farang living full time in Chiang Mai are doing so on less than 500K a year, and some may even be working full time for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Hey ...there is lots to see and do ..and doesn't have to cost much ...take an express ferry ride up the Chao Phraya river ..19tbt just for fun ....see the markets along the way ..great day out or at night .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 That's tourist stuff TB, it palls quite quickly. To live on a fixed income you have to have initial capital to set yourself up, plenty of toys to keep yourself occupied. I think it works out cheaper if you're in a relationship, there's plenty of free pussy around but you end up paying in other ways. I would spend less than 500K a year and consider I live extremely well, I don't drink but have a fairly active social life, I entertain visitors regularly with out embarrassment, I have satellite TV, run a car, have ADSL internet and imported farang food is a daily part of my diet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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