Stephen
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 125,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
This is my full-time salary (including a taxed housing allowance) working at a medium-sized international school in the center of Bangkok.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
60,000 to 65.000 baht and in this amount I include the provident fund part we can use via work.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
25.000 for a one-bedroom condo about one hundred meters from the MRT. It is a bit noisy every now and then outside but that is what you get with a central location. The building has excellent facilities with two pools and two gyms (no need for a gym membership).
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
There are months where I rent a motorbike to drive to school, because it is faster than the MRT and shuttle bus connection to work, but only in the dry season.
If I rent a motorbike it is 3,000 baht a month, plus a few hundred for gas. On top of that. the occasional taxi and use of MRT/BTS. Let's say about 5,000 baht. If I do not rent a motorbike it is probably around 3,000 baht a month on average.
Utility bills
Around 1,300 for electricity, 100 for water and 1,500 for AIS (a combination of a mobile phone sim, home internet and TV channels), so in total about 3,000 baht.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
During the weekdays I get free breakfast and lunch at work. In the evening I usually use Polpa - pretty decent and healthy food for a reasonable price. Every now and then I order in, but I never cook at home, no point really with everything you can order, get delivered or just eat outside. On the weekends I have a splurge occasionally, so probably around 20 to 25,000 on food. Eating well is important to me :)
Nightlife and drinking
This really depends if I go out or not. Sometimes I meet people at the weekend and have a few drinks, sometimes I just stay in and do a bit of gaming. I do think nightlife and drinking is overpriced in Bangkok and you often pay Western prices or more if you really want to go out. Obviously there are plenty of good deals around and some places offer decent value, but if you want to go out for a night and drink cocktails it is not any cheaper than back home. I rarely go out for a full night, but I can have drinks at a pub or the occasional rooftop bar (though I am always on the hunt for happy hours with these rooftop bars). Let's say on average 8,000 baht a month.
Books, computers
None really. I have a good computer and download eBooks for my e reader using torrents. Our school has a well stocked library if I want the feel of a real book.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
My standard of living is pretty nice. I always said I would not live in Bangkok for anything less than 100,000 a month and that was a few years ago. The cost of living keeps rising, but I live in a nice condo, eat well, have fun in life, go on multiple holidays a year and go to my work with a smile on my face. Can't ask for more really.
I noticed you also mentioned you would like to know how much time an international school teacher needs to prepare lessons and all.
We are required to be at school by 07:30 and can leave after 15:00. If I do that every day I probably need about another hour of work to have everything ready. Obviously there are busier times when there is a lot of grading to be done, reports are due or when there are parent teacher conferences. On average though there are multiple times a week when I am home before 16:00. On top of that, the students are really pleasant to work with, classes are small (max 22) and there are hardly any behavioral problems. Lastly we have about 14 to 15 weeks of (paid) holiday a year (7,5 in the summer, 3 in December/January, 2 in April plus some more) so it really is a great lifestyle. On top of that we get international health insurance which is fully paid, visa costs and 90-day reporting taken care of and free breakfast and lunch at school.
I do not say all this to brag, but I would advise anyone who has the opportunity to get certified as a teacher to go back home for a year or two, get certification and start living a decent lifestyle overseas. There are more than a hundred international schools in Bangkok and this number will only rise with more and more students enrolling. There are plenty of opportunities.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Transportation (taxis, MRT, BTS)
Thai food
Cinema is still pretty cheap compared to back home.
Domestic flights if timed well.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
You can probably survive on about 50,000 a month, but that would not be living well. I would not work in Bangkok for anything under 100,000 a month. Anything lower than that and I think it is hard to live well, save money for retirement and go on a nice holiday every now and again.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thanks Stephen. This is a good insight on what you can earn if you are willing to become qualified enough to work at one of Bangkok's better international schools.
You can spend what you like on food, entertainment and travel if you still manage to stash away 60,000 baht ever month.
Sounds like you have a great lifestyle.
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