Joe
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 71,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
41,000 from a school and 30,000 from a centre.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
10,000
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
7,000 for a fully furnished condo
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
13,000
Utility bills
5,000
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
15,000
Nightlife and drinking
2,000
Books, computers
2-3,000
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Comfortable by local standards, but not able to convert this internationally.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Food
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
30,000 a month
Phil's analysis and comment
Joe is married with two children, so although he earns a relatively whopping 71,000 baht a month, his outgoings are high. I'm sure Joe would be the first to admit that if he were single, he'd be living the life of Riley on that sort of income. Although he didn't say in his e-mail to me, I bet holding down two jobs means teaching a lot of hours, but you do these things when you've a wife and kiddies to support.
Oh, the 13,000 baht for transportation includes Joe's car payments.
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