What to do with 5,000,000 Baht?

[Guest]

100,000 baht per month is more than my full time job pays here in Canada. Your lifestyle sounds like for the "rich and famous". I guess Elius is the one the who knows what type of lifestyle he wants to lead.

[ThaiHome]

Baht 100K a month is 30K USD pa. That is hardly "rich & famous " lifstyle. To the best of my knowledge that is about starting salary for a recent graduate in the US. Hell, Social Security says they will pay almost that much a month if I can stand to work another 15 years (65). Not that I expect to collect that.

 

 

 

My point was to carefuly consider what your lifestyle will be on 30K baht a month. Keeping in mind that this is going to more then a 2 week or even 6 month vacation.

 

TH

[Guest]

Golf 4 or 5 times a week is already a lot and to spend 30k you'd have to be playing golf 30 times a month. If you want to play that often you can get lifetime memberships of some courses for 50k and yearly memberships for 12k. Green fees are then free.

 

 

 

20k a month to eat out? Depends what you call eating out. I eat out every day, 3 times a day and don't spend 5k a month on food. 20k gets you a 1k meal every weekday for a month. Can you seriously spend that much???

 

 

 

40k a month will see you living very comfortably if you already have accommodation sorted. You can easily live off 30k a month, a lot of people do it on less.

[ThaiHome]

spend 30k you'd have to be playing golf 30 times a month

 

Even with discount card green fees will run 700-1000 each. Plus 500 for cart, 200 for caddy, 100-200 caddy tip, another 100 or so for drinks & food during round, and then lunch and beer (depends on who won). Sounds awful close to 2k each round to me. Granted, you can cut this down by walking, not tip, no beer, etc. But who wants to?

 

 

 

I eat out every day, 3 times a day and don't spend 5k a month on food

 

I'm talking about going to a nice resturant (Thai or Farang) having a 2 hour meal, couple of bottles of wine, coffee & brandy, (at least 1K, more likely 2K+), at least once a week. Ever been to one of the places on/near Convent Rd in Bangkok? Try getting out of one of those for less then 1,500 for 2 people.

 

 

 

My point continues to be that people should be very careful before commiting to a 40K a month income. I have talked to a number of people living that lifestyle. They tend not be the happiest people in the world.

 

 

 

TH

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Again, it all comes down to lifestyle. Someone who likes the bar scene every night, plays expensive sports, and entertains his or her friends and/or family at expensive restaurants, certainly they are going to need a lot of money.

 

 

 

Another person who likes the quiet life, can eat Thai style at market stalls or at home, who's not into golf or expensive clubs, they certainly can live a different lifestyle.

 

 

 

http://www.chiangmaimall.com/retirement3.shtml

[Guest]

An even cheaper town that recieved a good review would be Nong Khai.

 

 

 

http://www.globalassignment.com/8-07-01/worldsbest.html

[Guest]

I just read the entire thread and the one thing I don't understand is why would anyone want to bring THB 5MM from a Western country to Thailand.

 

 

 

In my way of looking at things, I would want to keep my money in a country with a rule of law and a real banking system. I wouldn't want it in a fluctuating currency, in the banks that are run by a mixture of government ministries and people with highly suspect personal interests. And I don't want to be caught in a nightmare in case I need/want to get the money out of Thailand.

 

 

 

Apart from that, looking at this scenario my approach would be as follows:

 

 

 

Invest 90% of the money in mutual funds, probably a 50/50 mixture of small cap and large cap. Make the investment over the period of next 12 months in bi-weekly or monthly increments to achieve cost averaging (or whatever it's called) and thus buffer the market fluctuations. 10% of the base ($25,000) stays in something liquid like Money Market Funds for liquidity.

 

 

 

Assuming that sometime between now and one year from now the market will turn around, I expect a conservative 7% (but probably higher) profit per year for the next 5-7 years.

 

 

 

With THB 10MM we're talking about USD 250,000; 90% of which is $225,000; the 7% annual profit is $15,750. That's before taxes and inflation.

 

 

 

The taxes on $15,750 are not going to be high.

 

 

 

Of the 7% profit I would leave 3% ($6,750 )in the mutual fund to offset (at least partially) the inflation eroding my principal, and use 4% ($9,000) for living expenses.

 

 

 

$9,000 per annum is $750 per month, or THB 30,000. I would look into supplementing this with part-time teaching job, bringing in another THB 20,000 per month. That's about THB 50,000 per month, with little or no capital erosion, and without touching any IRA/401(k) funds. Or up to THB 70,000 per month if I were to take out the entire profit, thus subjecting the principal to inflation erosion.

 

 

 

Regarding lifestyle, that's a very personal thing. On an IT salary I could easily affort the things that THAIHOME mentioned. And for a while I did. I found most people living the "'rich & famous' lifstyle" (to quote THAIHOME) completely vacuous. I understand that to some people it is important, but again, it's a personal thing. I stopped playing golf or hanging out at the Bar & Grill of the week, blowing $100 in one evening. Haven't missed it since and, short of getting a dementia, I can't see that I'd want to do it again.

 

 

 

In the past, many posts indicated that THB 50,000 per month is a comfortable amount to have a decent life including sanuk. Btw, I see part-time teaching as a good thing, as something that brings structure and contact with everyday life, without creating undue hardship.

 

 

 

Thoughts? Comments? Am I missing anything?

[ThaiHome]

I found most people living the "'rich & famous' lifstyle" (to quote THAIHOME) completely vacuous.

 

You have obliviously not read the thread as you claim. That is not my quote at all. That is a quote from Taggart, the Canadian making less then US$30k a year. I denied that my lifestyle was anything close to this. You say lifestyle is personal thing then go to insult people that live different then you (now).

 

Is there anyone out there on this board that has been retired in Thailand for any length of time on 30K baht a month?

 

TH

 

 

[Guest]

Elius:

 

 

 

Here's an article from the Pattaya Mail that may be relevant to your situation.

 

 

 

http://www.pattayamail.com/344/columns.htm

[Guest]

You have obliviously not read the thread as you claim. That is not my quote at all. That is a quote from Taggart, the Canadian making less then US$30k a year.

 

 

 

Sincere apologies. Credit where credit is due.

 

 

 

I denied that my lifestyle was anything close to this. You say lifestyle is personal thing then go to insult people that live different then you (now).

 

 

 

You seem to take this personally, denying that's your lifestyle and all. I wasn't talking about you. I found those people vacuous and I was talking about my own experience.

 

 

 

Actually, it's not as much the lifestyle ifself--after all, who can say they don't enjoy dinner at a nice restaurant. It's the people to whom it is important to do those things, to be seen at the right restaurants (preferable with the right people), to say they play golf 15 times a month.

 

 

 

Maybe part of the reason for the misunderstanding is that your outlook on things is different from the most of the board members. At least that's my perception from the posts you made over time.

 

 

 

You're posted to Thailand on an expat salaray, relatively short-term, with no apparent desire to learn much about the country in which you live (culture, language, customs, etc.). The things you talk about (golf, nice dinner with a bottle of wine) are the things that people in the West do. Though you may physically reside in Thailand, you essentially want to, and seem to, live in an oasis of West.

 

 

 

There's nothing wrong with that. It's your prerogative. But it is to be expected that you will find your opinions - regarding financial requirements as well as life priorities - at odds with opinions of those who are making major life changes and financial sacrifices so that they can live in Thailand.