Tommy
Working in Central Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 140,000 baht a month.
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
I teach ESL full-time in a mid-range British International school in central Bangkok. My 140K salary is after tax and includes a 30K allowance for housing. Last year I supplemented this with small group IELTS / TOEIC / SATS lessons which paid at least 1,500 per hour and added an extra 30K. After a while I realised my daughter was growing up without me and stopped these classes. My 140K is enough.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
Every paycheck I bank 50K. At the end of the month I add what is left in my current account. Last year this added up to 800K including a 13th month bonus paid in August. I used to save more when I was teaching extra lessons, but I rationalised that 800K per year is enough, and time with my daughter is more important. I was also spending money on a nanny whilst I was teaching these extra classes (I'm currently a single parent, hopefully not forever though!)
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
30K for a two-bedroom condo which is relatively central and close to work. I know I could pay less, but I'm saving on commuting (both in terms of money & time). The facilities are also lovely and the area feels safe and is full of restaurants. I looked at cheaper alternatives but felt like I would be moving from a family home into something more akin to a student flat.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Very little. I don't own a vehicle and can walk to work. Sometimes I'll use taxis or the BTS (which is within walking distance) on weekends but doubt that the grand total is more than 2,000 baht. I don't consider this to be a major expense.
Utility bills
Whilst my condo isn't cheap, they don't pad the electricity & water bills. My daughter uses the aircon whilst she sleeps, which keeps the meter ticking over, and usually leaves me with a monthly bill of about 2,000. The water bill is extremely cheap (usually in the tens of Baht!).
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I feel that I'm lucky here. My school provides morning snacks and a good lunch which both my daughter and I can eat for free (it's part of the 'package'). This means I only need to cover breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is usually cereal, which when bought in bulk, is reasonably priced. Dinner however is usually more expensive, but as it's the only meal of the day I pay for, I don't mind :-). This evening meal averages about 500 baht which probably means I'm spending about 20,000 a month on food, a number which increases during school holidays.
Nightlife and drinking
Very little. Although I'd like to share a few beers with friends in the pub once a week, the reality of single parenthood means I'm usually out no more than once a month. Whilst I have a regular maid / nanny who I trust, I don't want to put on her too much, nor do I want to be away from my daughter too often.
Books, computers
These are more irregular purchases. Some months I might buy two new smart phones, several books and a new laptop, whereas in most months, I spend nothing. Say 3,000 a month average??
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
My standard of living is the thing that keeps me here. I work as a teacher and raise a child on my own. In the UK my life would be very different, I wouldn't be living in a central London two-bedroom apartment, I wouldn't be in Japanese restaurants most nights and I wouldn't be saving 20,000 GBP a year.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
This an easy one - the education of my child. My school is a great place to be educated, and by far the best 'perk' I receive is the waiving of all fees for two children (almost a shame that I only have one!). For a paying parent, the fees are approx 600,000 a year (most of my savings).
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
As a teacher from the UK, this question initially feels quite strange. Back home it wouldn't really matter what school I worked in, from the local comp to the best private school in the country, my salary would vary little. In Thailand however, things are much different. It would be possible to teach in a secondary school and earn anything between 20,000 and 200,000 baht a month.
For me, what makes this disparity possible are the legions of unqualified teachers allowed to work here, who don't have much choice other than to accept salaries that your average Thai office worker would walk away from. I believe teaching to be a profession in a similar way to being a doctor or pilot. I would be horrified to see a doctor who had learned their trade 'on the job' or on a plane piloted by someone who had taken an 'online course'. Likewise, as a parent I would never send my child to a school staffed by 'teachers' with no professional qualifications.
To get back to the question (sorry for waffling), I would likely not accept a job paying less than 100K per month. Earning less than this, I would be unable to save to send my daughter to university, nor would I be saving for my future. I fully intend to retire by the time I'm 60 (which is 20 years away), yet without property in the UK or wealthy relatives the only thing I can do is save as much as possible.
To those teachers earning much less than this, If you're serious about your career in teaching, then I suggest you invest in a professional qualification from a nation that 'exports' education worldwide (UK, USA, NZ etc) and then apply to the growing number of international schools in Thailand. The supply of qualified teachers is far outstripped by demand and decent jobs are very easy to come by.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you Tommy for a very nice survey. I take my hat off to you for raising a daughter as a single parent in Bangkok (and doing a fine job of it by the sound)
As you say, with no wealthy relatives or property back in the UK, the plan has to be simply to save as much as possible between now and when you retire in twenty years time. You're certainly on the kind of salary that will allow you to amass a nice pile of cash by then.
Good luck to you!
Submit your own Cost of Living survey
