Pat
Working in Hong Kong
Monthly Earnings 336,000 baht
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
I work at a top international school in Hong Kong. This is my full monthly take-home pay, including housing. My (Thai) wife works as a TA and makes another 65K baht.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
I send about 125K baht home every month for a rainy day. I also put about 10K in a retirement fund back home every month. Besides that, I save another 5K for incidentals. Not bad for a 28-year-old!
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
My wife and I rent a lovely large apartment with 2 bedrooms for 60K (it's very large by Hong Kong standards)
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Very little. We both walk to work together since it is less than 200 metres.
When we go further, we use public transportation, which is actually much cheaper and far more efficient than when I lived in Bangkok.
Utility bills
So cheap it is a steal. About 300 baht a month for water and maybe about 2,000 a month on electricity and another 2,000 for internet and phones
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
We eat out twice a week, resulting in 3,000 baht a month. Monday to Friday, we eat very healthily and simply, and that costs us about 1,000 baht a week. So food is less than 10,000 a month
Nightlife and drinking
I'm a married man with a very busy job so I am waiting to travel to Thailand to occasionally take part in some debauchery there. Here I spend zero!
I'd say perhaps 1,000 bath a month on the occasional drink
Books, computers
All provided by my employer, so zero!
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Absolutely fantastic. I am living in a marvelous country. I am saving more than most people make in a year and I still live well without going without.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Public transport!
Noodles!
The fantastic assortment of cold teas
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
At least the equaivalent of 100,000 baht a month.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you pat. Even though Hong Kong must be an expensive place to live (certainly for accommodation) I'm sure that 336,000 must cover things very nicely.
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