James
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 70,000 - 80,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a private school in Bangkok and my salary after tax is 43,000. I can add another 27 - 38,000 baht a month from teaching private students about 7 hours a week.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
20,000
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 14,000 baht a month for a one-bedroom condo.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
3,000 baht
Utility bills
Because I have a wife and baby at home all day, the air-con is constantly running so the bill is about 3,000 a month.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
At least 18,000 Baht. I have to add I've never believed the food bills people put up on these surveys. Are they really keeping track? By my logic even if you only eat street food you would spend 200 Baht per day (6k month at least and that's not even including a Cornetto from 7-11) and then I see people putting 3,000 a month. What are (or aren't) they eating?? Anyway, Saturday I buy 600 baht sushi and 2 bottles of "wine" from Tops (my weekly "treat") so that's my big dining expense.
Nightlife and drinking
At 7pm the baby has a bath, I do the dishes then go for a swim. After this I'll watch a few YouTube videos then bed.
Books, computers
Nothing
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's a good life but I don't feel fully relaxed yet. That's why I used a lot of savings to study for a Master's degree. Looking to the future and all.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Chinese made badminton rackets: 94 Baht for two and made from metal. I couldn't believe it. Was the best 37 minutes spent playing badminton ever.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
I'd say 50,000 a month. And can we put a ban on "living like a Thai" being the lowest bar. What does that even mean? The Thais around where I live drive Mercs. I bet they look at me and think, "I'm glad I don't have to live like a farang"
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you James, you made me laugh there.
But seriously, with a wife and baby at home, James is an example of a teacher who really depends on the income from private students rather than seeing them as just a bit of extra pocket money. And 27,000 baht a month plus from out of hours tuition is not to be sniffed at. By my reckoning, James is probably charging in the region of 1,000 baht an hour for his services (possibly even more).
That brings me to a very common question from teachers looking to go down the private teaching route - 'how much should I charge?' Many teachers get uncomfortable with setting an hourly price but I believe your free time is the most precious commodity of all. When I first started teaching private students at home, I was charging 400-500 baht an hour for a one-to-one lesson but quickly realised that I could make at least double that for groups of two or three - and very often it's far easier to teach a small group than just one student. The overheads are the same save for maybe a bit of extra photocopying.
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