Brian
Working in Koh Samui
Monthly Earnings 40,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I teach at hotels on the island and my full-time salary is 40,000 a month. I work from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm five days a week.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
5,000 - 10,000.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 8,000 baht a month for a newish house with a pool and garden.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I bought a motorcycle for 6,000 and gas costs me about 500 per month.
Utility bills
1,500 for electric and 600 for water.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I spend about 5,000 a month on supermarket shopping and another 5,000 eating out at local restaurants. You get free 4-star lunches when working so that also brings down costs. But my wife and I feast each day. That's kind of our thing. We love food. We should open our own small restaurant with the amount of food she cooks up.
Nightlife and drinking
Nine years ago (before I met my wife) I could spend 20,000 on nightlife but now that's down to a couple of thousand. The wife only drinks soda so she's a cheap date! I'll still put a few beers away though if we are watching Thai boxing.
Books, computers
I spend about 300 baht a month on wi-fi.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's much more carefree and easy and I can go out to eat as often as I want.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Thai food, beach rentals, motorcycles, clothing and beer.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
You could do anything really. People are givers and takers. I'd recommend 30,000 as a solid livable figure though.
Phil's analysis and comment
This is the dream job for many people - teaching at hotels on some tropical island and zipping around on your motorcycle. Hotel work has something of a reputation though for being quite low paid but 40,000 is OK, especially when you factor in free meals. But I bet there's a huge temptation to do what the tourists are doing and hit the bars and party. My one concern would be the sustainability. How many years will it possible to live on 40,000? Eventually you're going to have to put more money away for the future. Hotel work in paradise always sounds to me like a young man's game - and something you might do for perhaps just a couple of years. Great experience though!
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