Cost of living calculator for Thailand...pretty fun

[soi6 0]

Found this handy calculator!

 

http://www.retiredexpat.com/living-in-thai...-calculator.php

 

 

put myself in for going out nightly, 7 days a wk, and daily 'company', and living in best accomodations etc... Plus 12k/yr USD in visa runs a year..

came to 5.5k USD/mnth.

[Gary 4,096]

Total Monthly Budget 24,308

 

The interesting thing is that it estimated my monthly rent at 7,500. I don't pay rent. I give my wife 20,000 baht per month and she pays all the regular household bills. Am I giving her too much?

[Emil 0]

I give my wife 20,000 baht per month and she pays all the regular household bills. Am I giving her too much?

 

Not if that amount includes 1 S/T a week for you.

[vegasdave 0]

I came in at about 40k baht. So if I live it up looks like I can do just fine on $1500 a month.

[pompoiman 0]

about 45,000 which is about what i spent a month whilst i was there for 2 years,

[Saddic 31]

Really cool site... thanks...

 

Doh! I thought I had my calculations on cost of living mostly done... forgot to add visa run expenses... Site certainly pointed out my error...

 

Question is, what other surprise expenses do you guys incur (monthly or quarterly) that don't show up on the calculator? (i.e. paying the BIB their tea money? and other types of extortion...)..

 

Just wondering...

 

Cheers...

[Tengotodo 52]

Total Monthly Budget 24,308

 

The interesting thing is that it estimated my monthly rent at 7,500. I don't pay rent. I give my wife 20,000 baht per month and she pays all the regular household bills. Am I giving her too much?

 

 

Just for fun, I wonder if the word "give" is appropriate. (i.e. gift). I'm sure you share the money and the proper word is more likely "hand over". lol. Whatever.. My budget came out to be over 50K baht!! Is that per month? Is that like $1,700 USA per month? shit. I might have to stay in the US where it's cheaper!

[Emil 0]

Just for fun, I wonder if the word "give" is appropriate. (i.e. gift). I'm sure you share the money and the proper word is more likely "hand over". lol. Whatever.. My budget came out to be over 50K baht!! Is that per month? Is that like $1,700 USA per month? shit. I might have to stay in the US where it's cheaper!

 

The exchange rate in Pattaya on the 3rd was 34.6 which would equal $1445 for 50K baht, did you say you were an accountant? Also would you be getting laid as frequently in the US and by the same standard of looks?

[jacko 8,697]

Found this handy calculator!

 

http://www.retiredexpat.com/living-in-thai...-calculator.php

 

 

put myself in for going out nightly, 7 days a wk, and daily 'company', and living in best accomodations etc... Plus 12k/yr USD in visa runs a year..

came to 5.5k USD/mnth.

Drinks per outing only goes up to 6.....so I doubled my number of outings!

 

Not sure if it includes buying beer, soft drinks and water for the house....

 

Although I pay all the bills I still have to give a monthly 'salary' to my live in, didn't see this included. So my result of 55K was low on what I actually spend.

Edited April 7, 2007 by jacko

[joekicker 53]

This calculator is goofy. According to it I have to drink beer OR whiskey, not both, which indicates it was some cocktail-sipping, end-finger-stuck-out pussy who drew up the chart.

 

I can only have one UBC, this priss says, but I have two of them.

 

I don't pay any rent because I own my (large) house, but there's no way I can put that in. It asks me how many times I have companionship AND how many times I go diving - well, shit, muff diving is part of companionship, ain't it?

 

You live in Thailand and you're supposed to keep track of clothing expenses? For a year? Jeez. Even if the T-shirt vendor gave receipts, I still couldn't tell you.

 

And then, finally, after asking me about how many times I have pussy, and how many times I go pearl diving, it asks me how much I spend on health insurance. What do they suppose the companionship and the deep canyon diving is for?

 

Not applicable. Next.

[Tengotodo 52]

The exchange rate in Pattaya on the 3rd was 34.6 which would equal $1445 for 50K baht, did you say you were an accountant? Also would you be getting laid as frequently in the US and by the same standard of looks?

 

 

Yeah, well I did a quick estimate at 34. I'm an accountant not an actuary! And no, definitely could not get the same quality and standard in the US. Which is probably why 99% of us come to LOS in the first place.

[Gary 4,096]

Just for fun, I wonder if the word "give" is appropriate. (i.e. gift). I'm sure you share the money and the proper word is more likely "hand over". lol. Whatever.. My budget came out to be over 50K baht!! Is that per month? Is that like $1,700 USA per month? shit. I might have to stay in the US where it's cheaper!

 

My wife always HATED to ask me for money to pay the bills. Eventually I sat down with her and asked her to calculate exactly how much the monthly bills amounted to. She came up with the figure of 15,000 baht per month. I told her that sounded reasonable and told her that I would give her 20,000 and whatever was left over she could do with as she liked. This works great for us and she normally has about 5,000 left over to put in her savings account. She pays for everything except the car and health insurance premiums. She buys my cigarettes too but changed me from Marlboro to L&M and I do have to pay my own bar tabs.

[Cleiven 2]

Total Monthly Budget 28,603

 

But I'm not so sure about it being the truth.

I'd prefer to live upcountry, and to me it looks like the prices are calculated a bit high. But then, I might get tempted to spend more than this. My own budget were closer to 50.000 :)

But then it includes more traveling around.

[Emil 0]

Yeah, well I did a quick estimate at 34. I'm an accountant not an actuary!

 

At an exchange rate of 34 to 1 that would work out to around 1470 USD. For 50,000 baht to equal 1700 USD the exchange rate would have to fall to about 29.4. Did you work for either Enron or Worldcom as an accountant?

[Dr Mick 111]

My came to 73000 bts a month a thats with company 7 nights a week

 

Now I know why I want to retire next year and live in LOS

[scorpions 6]

My range would be:

 

min. 50'000 = 1'000 €/month

mid. 75'000 = 1'500 €/month

top 100'000 = 2'000 €/month (actually what I'm spending now in 2 weeks excl. flight already 4x year)

 

+yearly health cost, +international travel expenses etc. to be on the safe site 150'000 = 3'000 €uro/month

 

 

unforeseen: inflation rate, exchange rate, health costs, time frame etc.

[Tengotodo 52]

At an exchange rate of 34 to 1 that would work out to around 1470 USD. For 50,000 baht to equal 1700 USD the exchange rate would have to fall to about 29.4. Did you work for either Enron or Worldcom as an accountant?

 

I used to work at Worlcom before moving to Enron. Now I'm thinking about opening a beer bar in Pattaya. Why do you ask?

[Saddic 31]

Yeah, well I did a quick estimate at 34. I'm an accountant not an actuary! And no, definitely could not get the same quality and standard in the US. Which is probably why 99% of us come to LOS in the first place.

 

 

Funny thing is I've been keeping a spreadsheet for assets (savings, investments, retirement expected income, house, pensions, SS, etc) and rough passes for estimated income based on various returns 5-7% from those assets... subtracting off either 25% or 33% for taxes... multiplied by a bhat/$ rate... to get a rough pass on what I could spend monthly (once I make the move)...

 

When I started about a year ago... I was using 40 bhat/$ and feeling pretty comfortable... Today, I'm using 35 bhat/$ and don't feel any comfort level whatsoever...

 

Hmmm, maybe will try 30 next...

 

Depending on how the government thing shakes out... I figure my standard of living in LOS would still be better than in the US...

Edited May 2, 2007 by Saddic

[Flurblelv 0]

I'm heading to Thailand for the first time next week, I'm spending 3 months there(83 days) and have set what I consider a decent budget of around 2500US/month. I'll let you guys know how that works out as the weeks go buy. And I'm thinking of grabbing a condo/apt for at least a month or so as a home base, so that's only around 12k/month max for what I'm looking for.

[Tengotodo 52]

I'm heading to Thailand for the first time next week, I'm spending 3 months there(83 days)

 

 

Am I the only one who finds this peculiar?

[tom21 19]

Am I the only one who finds this peculiar?

 

i see nothing wrong with that. why

[Flurblelv 0]

i see nothing wrong with that. why

 

Thanks Tom, but the question is valid. I need some time away from home. I am lucky enough to have the means, and felt that to take a 2 week vacation was an insult to Thailand So I'm taking 3 months to get an idea of the place. Hope that helps

[tom21 19]

Thanks Tom, but the question is valid. I need some time away from home. I am lucky enough to have the means, and felt that to take a 2 week vacation was an insult to Thailand So I'm taking 3 months to get an idea of the place. Hope that helps

 

The reason I could find nothing wrong with going to Thailand for 3 months is that a lot of people work in industries in the middle east and oil, mining and shipping around the world. These often work on a 1 on 1 off basis so having 2-3 months off is not unusual. So unless they have commitments at home, Thailand is a good place to go as any. I was at sea 20 years ago and that was what I did. I spent most of my time in the Philippines ,I found it a lot easier do thing as I was not rushing or on a short time table. I have a better job now it’s called retirement and I can go when I want.

So have a good time and play it by ear and go with the flow.

[MM 6,562]

Am I the only one who finds this peculiar?

 

Not as strange as wondering if you could row a kayak to Ko Larn from Pattaya to save money.

[Tengotodo 52]

Not as strange as wondering if you could row a kayak to Ko Larn from Pattaya to save money.

 

 

And not as strange as suspecting lurking cyber shadows are out to get you either