The International Schools Review Forum

Can a family of 4 make do in Bangkok on one salary of 170000baht per month? plus 50,000baht for housing? What type of place can we rent for 50,000baht. Can we manage to save anything on that salary? Kids are too young for school, so no tuition issues.

Thank you!

[quote="appleton"]Can a family of 4 make do in Bangkok on one salary of 170000baht per month? plus 50,000baht for housing? What type of place can we rent for 50,000baht. Can we manage to save anything on that salary? Kids are too young for school, so no tuition issues.

Thank you![/quot


Definitely. Housing money very good, you can get either a very nice condo or a house in a good location for that money.

Salary good as well, you will also be able to save some money if your children are small. Great place to bring kids up, I hope you'll have a great time there.

Thank you for responding!

That's pretty amazing money, especially if it's after taxes! Definitely enough for a family of four. I take it you're not a teacher, as you are mentioning tuition (or lack of) costs, as children's fees are usually taken care of by the school if you are a teacher. I was a teacher in BKK with 2 children and their tuition was taken care of and housing provided, but it was small. Was on about 125000/mo (after taxes) and we easily saved.

That's a great salary for BKK. You'll be taxed a lot, but you should have no problem supporting a family of 4.

Thailand has a 20% income tax. I know someone who taught there. She had only a 5% tax for the first six months, then it jumped to the full 20%. Make sure so there isn't a nasty surprise coming later on.

That's VERY good money. Even after tax, you can easily save money off that and have a good quality of life, even for a family of 4. No problem at all. There are a lot of ESL teachers in Bangkok making 40,000 per month, paying tax, and paying for their own apartments. You'll be having the same amount each.

50,000 is also great for an apartment. You can get a very nice serviced/hotel apartment on the river for that, though for anyone moving to Bangkok I would always advise living close to the school. You do not want to be far away and battling Bangkok traffic every day. For some ideas for apatments, check out www.thaiapartment.com

You can get a house for that money too but make sure you do A LOT of homework on the area before you move in. You'd want to be in a nice gated community which is not at risk of flooding. The flooding part is particularly important considering what has happened over the last couple of years.

Thanks for the feedback. That amount is post tax. Is it necessary to purchase a car if you have small children? Are cars reasonably priced? Even used cars appear to be quite expensive based on the online websites.

Thanks for the link Inman. Do you know of a good website for used cars? Is it better to purchase new?

Thanks!

Cars are rediculously expensive in Thailand (300% teax). You end up getting a Toyota Yaris 1.6 for about 700,000 baht. A Honda City is a similar price. Look straight at the Honda or Toyota dealership pages. The thing is, with 2 kids you'll most likely be looking for bigger than a Yaris, which, in Thailand leaves you looking for towards a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic, both of which are about 1.1 million baht. Ford often offer better finance deals as the resale value on Ford in Thailand isn't so good. You can get finance in Thailand but you will need 3 months of salary statements and foreigners pay a very high percentage deposit.

Second hand cars in Thailand are DODGY to say the least. There are no regulations that are enforced. It's risky even if you're single, but with a family I certainly would not risk a second hand car there. There are a lot of people who haven't had any bad expereinces, but there are also a lot that have.

Yes, cars are soooo overpriced in Thailand. The high tariffs and greed are to blame, and the dealers know that a car is the ultimate status symbol for the Thais so they figure they can charge whatever they want; people are still going to buy them. For a family your best choices would probably be a Honda Civic (1.1 mil) or a Honda Freed (950k). Accords are 1.4 mil. The prices are insane. I would not trust second hand cars as they are nearly as expensive as new ones and there are no standards or regulations.

You can always rent a car for the first few months before buying one - that way you can save up enough for a down-payment.

If you want to finance a vehicle look at a down payment of at least 50% as a foreigner.

A number of vehicles are manufactured in Thailand, Honda for example, which helps to keep the high prices a little lower.

Many Thais drive pickup trucks, either 2 or 4 door, because they are cheaper, I think because of tax reasons, although not 100% sure.

I agree with it being a good idea to hire a car for a few months. I always hire a car for the first few months anywhere I go, especially when it's a place that has somewhat erratic driving. If you really do want to go for second hand then you could ask the school if any families leaving this year are looking to sell, but it will still be a lot of money.

Public transport (the skytrain) and taxi's are good if you're single or a couple, but you don't want that battle with 2 kids. Like I said, I would recommend anyone in Bangkok always to live close to your school.

Hi appleton,

I have a 2nd yr Ford Fiesta (blue) that I need to either sell or lease for a few years as I'm moving countries to another school. It's in great condition as we only use it at weekends/hols.

Perhaps we could do something that would suit us both? Anyway, leave a message on here (perhaps a contact) if you think you want to consider it.

Cheers.

By the way, NIST is one of the best schools in Bkk. Congratulations!

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like a used car is out of the question. It seems like everything else is very reasonably priced.

No, not NIST. But I hear it is a pretty good school.

Thanks to all!