Jon
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 75-80,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
70-85k a month from both university work plus extra jobs. I teach 15 hrs a week at the university and another 15 to 18 at outside gigs.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
I try to save 20k but mostly that goes towards traveling.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
21,000 for a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house with maid's quarter' near The Emporium
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
not much since I don’t need transport to work. I guess around 1000 a month just getting around.
Utility bills
4500 baht a month. I like air-con! There is also cable and ADSL plus 4500 for a maid
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
as little as 50bt a day with the weekly restaurant meal or two and monthly trips to Carrefour at around 2000bt. All in I’d say around 5000bt
Nightlife and drinking
around 2000-3000b
Books, computers
I like books and magazines, 1500 on books and computers
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Middle class I guess. I buy toys constantly and take at least 2 serious trips a year. Favorite hobbies are golf and Scuba…both expensive.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Food and hotel rooms if you don’t mind staying in cheaper digs
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
In Bangkok I think 25,000 to scrape by and 40,000 to live comfortably.
Phil's analysis and comment
Interesting one. I'm presuming that Jon is a single guy. If that's the case, then 70-85K a month is a good amount of money. A single man can live very, very comfortably on that income in Bangkok. That said, Jon certainly works hard for it. 30-33 contact teaching hours a week and probably a fair bit of travelling is no picnic. Scuba, golf and boys toys don't come cheap and I'm not surprised Jon only manages to stash away 25% of his salary. I would be looking to save more than that but it's different strokes for different folks I guess. I don't think there's any need to pay 21K a month for rent and what on earth do you do with the two bathrooms you're not in? The Emporium by the way is one of Bangkok's premier shopping malls and certainly one of the swankier areas of town.
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