Here’s an example of a most recent handyman bill and the story behind it:

The mounting of my sliding carport gate came adrift and needed three welds and my guest bedroom sink was leaking water because its drain and stopper had never been correctly installed and needed replacing.

Our Concierge tech team, two guys, showed up unannounced (everyone in Thailand shows up unannounced) welded the gate and took the sink away. They returned it with a handsome new chrome drain and stopper correctly installed and hooked it up to the plumbing and the problems were solved. Then they handed me the bill, which I read as 7,365 baht (US$225) fair, thought, for such repairs, especially since it included better quality plumbing hardware than the original. I handed the guys 8,000 baht and was about to tell them to keep the change when they burst out laughing and pointed to the numeral I had read was ‘7’. It’s the locals’ way of writing ‘1’.

Typical Expat Monthly Budgets. Our most recent survey shows that twenty-three percent of expats in Thailand have monthly budgets of 25K-45K baht a month. Forty-eight percent have budgets over 65k baht and ten percent with over 145K baht to spend.

When I wanted to create a Budget for Living in Thailand in 2018 I turned to an expert on Thai budgeting, Nancy Lindley. With years of bookkeeping experience, she makes personal budgets and also keeps to them. Better still, she keeps careful note of unexpected expenses and keeps her finger on the pulse of Thailand’s cost of living. Happily, a cost of living budget in Thailand is pretty easy to figure out. It’s been predictable since the Asian Financial Crisis (you’ve probably forgotten; Thais haven’t).

Significantly, Nancy has a second calling: she cares for expatriates who fall on hard times. She visits them in hospital, contacts their relatives, talks to the consulate and spends countless hours repatriating very sick people who cannot afford long-term or major medical care in Thailand and must go home for treatment. She has seen a side of expatriate life that few of us even think about, so my Thai budgeting conversations with her are always sobering.

I asked Nancy to draw up two budgets for living in Thailand , one for the average Thai and one for five times the average Thai’s cost of living budget, and to comment on each. I’ve added my own comments after hers. Both budgets are for living in Chiang Mai (learn more). For Bangkok add 15%; for the countryside subtract 15%. These figures are current as of 2014. E-mail me, godfree@trh.superfasttests.com if you have questions. I lived on this budget for 12 months:

Budget for Average Thai Salary of $500/mo

Nancy’s Comments on the $600 Budget for living in Thailand: “I’ve seen single people lead nice, pleasant lives on this budget. Here’s how they do it”:

• They have a fan (no a/c) room on the lower, east side (cooler) floor in the old city,
• They walk or bicycle just about everywhere,
• They use the AUA library for books,
• They breakfast at the Pub where they watch American, Australian and British sports.
• They take Thai lessons at a wat (temple), etc.
• There’s no room for a steady girlfriend or regular beer-drinking habit.
• You must have savings/insurance for medical costs which are not reflected in this budget.
• I’ve known several guys who have a pension of 30,000 – 40,000 baht/month who live on a 15,000 baht budget and save the rest for medical emergencies and to build a bank account to justify a retirement visa. This takes discipline, which disappears if they acquire a Thai girlfriend who learns about the existence of a savings account!”

Cost of Living in Thailand Examples:

Medical: Two farang friends have just delivered babies – girls – in Chiang Mai hospitals. Each had a private room, one for four days. Their total was pre-agreed: 60,000 Bt (US$1700) each. Both were delighted by the care they received which, in one case, included an autographed photo of the entire delivery team gathered around the bed of the exhausted mother holding her baby for the first time. Another friend got bad food poisoning and went to the hospital. She needed intensive care but every bed in the hospital was full, so the doctor, not wanting to put her back in an ambulance, had his desk removed from his office and a bed installed for her. The bill next day was 1400 Bt (US$40). When she protested that this was too low, staff told her it was because she did  not have a ‘proper room’. A nurse called her at home that night to check her progress.
Automotive: I’ve been doing a lot of fast driving through mountainous roads lately and can assure you that even remote roads are well maintained in the Kingdom. But taking thousands of curves stresses wheel bearings, apparently, because one of mine went out. I discovered this when I went to have the Toyota’s front alignment checked after I hit a pothole (in the middle of town!) and the steering went weird. The shop fixed the affected wheel and moved it to the rear, then balanced and aligned the front wheels. They refused payment because I’d bought the Michelins (3000 Bt each) from them and the work was covered by their lifetime warranty – a pleasant  surprise. There was no denying the wheel bearing problem (the grinding noise was obvious once they pointe it out) so the next day they came and picked up the car. It was back a few hours later along with a bill for 2,000 Bt. and the old bearing in the factory box that held the new bearing. Don’t worry too much about the cost of owning a car in Chiang Mai: it’s far less than you’re accustomed to at home.

Rick, Who Lives on $600 Budget in Thailand

Budget for Living in Thailand on Five Times the Average Thai Salary

 Nancy’s Comments on the $2,400 Budget for Thailand

There is much more room to play with this budget. In it I assume:

• The couple is renting a condo in town.
• Housing is cheaper further out but transportation costs are higher–making a car a necessity.
• No sane retiree is going to rely solely on a motor scooter [see the note below].
• The couple is fairly healthy,
• They eat local cuisine. They don’t have to eat expensive imported food for every meal.
• Drinks wine/beer very moderately [wine here is imported and expensive]

My Observations and Nancy’s Responses

• I lived on $1240/mo. during my first year in Thailand. I made lots of mistakes and wasted lots of money but, after 6 months, found I could live quite comfortably on $600. For example,
• I rented a long-term studio in town for $80/mo. [see photo below] Utilities added $10.
• My long-term scooter rental, $100/mo. includes registration and insurance, servicing, new tires as needed, and a new scooter every 12 months. I’ve had no scooter problems. But see Nancy’s observations about scooter danger, below.
• I stay within the $200 food budget and have never eaten a better diet in my life.
• All my regular medical and dental expenses are out-of-pocket because I’m over 70. Thai health care is excellent and cheap. I just paid $600 for a root canal and crown.
• Toiletries are cheap. An organic skin cream costs $4 a good haircut $7.
• ‘Entertainment’ is up to you. I like wandering around observing Thai culture.
• The Internet provides plenty of information and entertainment, and I went to the pub to watch major sporting events since I don’t like having TV at home.
• Cel phones are cheap; overseas calls are not. Skype or use Google Hangouts to call home.
• Nancy is not kidding about Thai girls and savings accounts. They’re not mercenary, it’s just part of Thai culture. You are a rich farang whether you think so or not.
• There are decent restaurants where you can have three bottles of ice-cold beer served at your table for a total of $5.33, and good meals for $3
• You’ll notice the absence of a clothing budget. Clothes are so cheap here and you wear so few of them – shorts, tee-shirt, flip flops – that it’s not an issue.
• So budget! Thailand’s cost of living is still a steal! Work out how you want to live, then just do it!

Budget for Living in Thailand Costs vs. Scooter Danger

When I shared my observations about scooters with Nancy her response was, as usual, grounded in a reality that I’ve never experienced. Here’s what she said: “I stand by my original observation the elderly shouldn’t use motor scooters. It isn’t a matter of “if” they’ll have an accident, but rather “when” and “how bad”. Just come with me to the orthopedic wards at Suan Dok hospital to see what a motor scooter accident can do. These aren’t the guys with the head injuries – they’re in another part of the hospital”. See my web page on scooter dangers in Thailand.

Video: Budget for Living in Thailand

More about Thai Budgets and Cost of Living

• Cost of Living in Chiang Mai, Thailand – A Little Adrift – A full break down of the cost of living in Thailand, specifically as an expat living in Chiang Mai–includes specific food, rents, internet costs and what those expenses buy you on the road. … **Alternatively, before you get too far into what this buys, consider that my friends also living here shared their Chiang Mai cost of living for two people living a bit more luxuriously than my budget. They spent under $1500 per month (jointly) and had a beautiful apartment and full kitchen, and also …
• How To Live Like a VIP in Bangkok for $285.06 Per Month – This budget cost of living in Bangkok, Thailand, is just a taste of living possibilities. I understand that we all have differing priorities, lifestyle comforts, wants and needs – but if you really want to make something happen, …
• Cost of living Thailand: Living in Chiang Mai for $505 a month – Cost of living in Thailand: Living in Chiang Mai for $505 a month. A break down of expenses … I have become accustomed to not eating large amounts of meat, which keeps my food budget low. Still, the steak is cheap if you …
• Thailand Cost of Living | Expats in Thailand | Expats in … – The most wonderful spot on the planet can only be the place to live if you can afford it. The most essential part of a family’s budget is food. We cannot live without it and, in the Western world, the cost of food has skyrocketed …
• If beachside living is your thing, read The Best places in Koh Samui.

So there’s food for thought for your budget for living in Thailand. Do you think you can make it?

Chiang Mai Cost of Living

The post Budget for Living in Thailand appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

Thailand runs on relationships, prestige, loyalty, money and the law – in that order, which often makes Thai property investment scams successful.Unless you’re a member of the Thai ‘club’ it’s wise to have a prestigious friend who is, because Thai Property Investment Scams are common.  The (current) experience of farang friend who owns a restaurant shows why: his restaurant has been a great success in its first year and, last month, the landlord announced he was doubling the rent. “But we have a 5-year lease agreement,” stammered my friend, caught off guard. The socially prominent owner made it clear that the increase was non-negotiable, and my friend realized that he was vulnerable to extra-legal actions (like cutting off the electricity) and recourse to the courts was hopeless since the case would take months to reach a magistrate and the landlord’s prestige would make it difficult to win a judgement.

My friend had fallen in love with the restaurant property – it was an abandoned karaoke bar when he found it – that he had brushed aside my suggestion of involving a third party to oversee the deal. After all, wha could go wrong? The owner is one of the most socially prominent women in northern Thailand, after all (and my friend is an upper-class Brit). He and his wife signed a standard lease agreement and proceeded to invest their life savings fitting out the building and grounds. Realizing that the landlord could redouble their rent whenever she chooses they’re now raising money from friends and relations to move the restaurant into town.

My friend’s mistake was imagining that (a) the law protected him and (b) his social status would make him the landlord’s peer. He was wrong on both counts. If you’re not a member of the Thai ‘club’ and you’re involved in a Thai transaction, third parties can save the day.

Thai society is intensely nationalistic and clannish (so are most: American society’s acceptance of foreigners is an outlier). It’s a club that you’re born into and your birth determines your status within it. So if you’re going to do any serious business – even a long-term lease – in Thailand it’s wise to have a third party present and on your side. That way, if the other party to your agreement attempts to abrogate it, your friend can approach them as a peer or, better still, a social superior and straighten things out for you. In reality, their presence at the consummation of the agreement will prevent such shenanigans – and that’s what you really want. Third parties’ participation is preventive.

How do you find such people? In Thailand it’s usually accomplished through gift-giving. Forced to give up driving after a heart attack, a friend recently donated his new BMW motorbike to the local Chief of Police, who bestowed it on an outstanding young officer. The officer, thrilled to own such a prestigious thing, showed it off to his fellows and praised his chief’s generosity. His chief repaid my client by handing him his business card: “Just show this to anyone who bothers you and tell them to call my personal number at the bottom”.  The friend was subsequently in a fender bender  and the other driver, who was drunk, demanded to be compensated despite being clearly in the wrong. Following the Chief’s instructions my friend flashed the card and the angry man vanished.

Property Law in Thailand isn’t what we’re used to at home so, instead of complaining, I recommend always using a third party when you’re transacting business. Sounds funny, I know, but that’s how Thailand works.

We can’t all give pistols to police chiefs, of course. But we can be on the lookout for opportunities to prove our good heart (jai ren) to influential members of Thai society. And we’ve now started issuing such get-out-of-jail cards to all our clients, just as a precaution.

Thai property investment scams are like property investment scams in Australia, China, or the USA. The thing to remember is that they exist and you can take precautions to prevent being ripped off.

Property investment is supposed to be a safe investment but, in Thailand today, pensioners are being cheated out of their life savings through investing in real estate. These unfortunate individuals are used to there being a substantial amount of rules and laws under which financial advisors and the like must operate, along with a substantial amount of education being required to become such a professional. Outside Europe, these laws are far from being a given, and (if they exist) they are frequently “overlooked” without there being real consequence. Companies in Thailand, for example, can operate without proper registration with the Thai authorities, and seldom do they face real persecution for doing so, despite this quite obviously being completely illegal.

The Harlequin company, for example, which has operated in both Thailand and the Caribbean, took in a huge amount of cash for several developments which were never built. Under the direction of Richard Haughton (President of the Pattaya – Jomtien Rotary Club) the land meant for development was put into a company called Headland Holdings. Thereafter, the already-sold properties were mortgaged to the Kasikorn Bank.

Subsequent involvement by lawyers from an embassy-recommended legal firm saw a plan created that would require the buyers to also buy out the debt with the Kasikorn Bank, or else risk losing their entire investment.  Fearful, many paid. Only now are Thai courts finally ruling that the condos actually belong to the buyers, and that they should not be held accountable for a massive debt that is not theirs.

More Thai Property Investment Scams: Many of the supposed “financial advisors” who get unsuspecting elderly to invest in such fraudulent schemes, such as the the British founder of the Chiang Mai Expats Club, simply flee back to Britain (or elsewhere) themselves, after having conned many people out of their pension.

Other elderly persons have been victimized by the failed Australian LM Managed Performance Fund, their funds deposited there by the same sort of “Independent Financial Advisors” mentioned above. These IFA invariable work on very high commission, and are not always registered with anyone at all. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has been ineffective in rectifying the damage done by this scheme.

Asia Pacific Pensions claimed that LM’s debt instruments were secured against Australian properties, but this turned out to be an almost complete falsehood. The only property the LM Managed Performance Fund had was a worthless property on the Gold Coast, for which LM had already taken out mortgages.

Finally, here are some tips for avoiding property investment scams in Thailand…or anywhere:

The post Thai Property Investment Scams appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

Yet despite all that, the streets are safe, clean and well lit, the roads well maintained, infrastructure is always being upgraded, and people are in a good mood 24×7.

Making money in Thailand is surprisingly easy because Thailand’s unemployment rate is 1%, everyone’s in a good mood,and the economy is growing at a steady 5-6%. Gross domestic product grew an impressive 19% last year. Much of that can be credited to the tremendous floods and the consequent rebuilding boom. But even so, the rate of growth surprised everyone. Experts had predicted growth to come in at 12–15% for the last quarter, but the resilient Thais blew that away. Here in Chiang Mai the signs are everywhere: building is booming and almost all of our hundreds of temples is on a major building or renovating tear. Exports are up, and so is domestic consumption. The ‘surprise’ part is probably attributable to the unofficial economy. Most Thai transactions are for cash, and almost all Thais have unreported income. When I rented a car last week, for example, the rental company refused my credit card and insisted on a cash deposit (only $170, on a brand new Toyota!).

After the USA, it’s fun to walk around in a booming economy. Normally happy Thais are now ecstatic. Everyone’s got a job, and everyone’s expecting bonuses. Friends who are hiring complain that most of the Thais who accept positions fail to show up on their scheduled first day – or ever! They’ve found better offers. Strangely, inflation has stayed low. I had an iced coffee, beef with noodles, and a large bottle of cold Singha beer yesterday for 134 Baht–$4.50. So… as the Aussies say, no worries! Here’s an Aussie video talking about exchanging money in Thailand:

And here’s more reading about money in Thailand:

• 7 Ways to Save Money Traveling in Thailand >> – Paper Planes – So we’ve covered the basic monthly expenses for living in the Land of Smiles and some surprising money sucks, now we’re on to how to save money in Thailand. While most things are very cheap, there are a few little ways to …
• Make Money while Living in Thailand for Expats | Thailand Expat … – Therefore, you will look for ways to make extra money in Thailand. This is especially true if you need to make money in your home country’s currency so that you can pay bills outside of Thailand. Thus, methods for earning …
• In Thailand Money comes first! – News from an Asia traveler – Read also: Credit card poker game in Thailand. Tags: ATM, ATM’s in Thailand, Money, Money in Thailand, Thailand · *. Home In Bangkok is an independent website that helps you find your perfect new “Home” in Bangkok.
• Cost of Living in Thailand: 1. Food | Understanding Thailand – Thailand’s culture, history, and present reality (by Godfree Roberts)
• 3 Simple Ways to Earn Money and make a living in Thailand … – Three easy ways for Foreigners to Earn an Income whilst Living in Thailand. With the western world deep in recession, lots of people losing their jobs and homes, there tends to be an air of doom and gloom amongst the …
• Travel in Thailand advice and information | TTN – Thailand Travel … – Before choosing the right time of year for a trip to Thailand, beginning with choosing the right airline that will offer the best prices. Use search engines and travel agency available on the website Thebestofthailand. The number …
• Travel Scam Asia Story And 5 Top Tips | engagingthailandtips Blog – Travel is such a marvellous thing and to open my eyes and learn the cultures and traditions of another people is of great interest to me. However whether a traveller or a tourist the one thing that must be paramount when …

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