How much can you save?

bendix

Castleman wrote: »

That is one huge income you'll have if you've not got to pay rent/mortgage and you have an income pm of over £3000 plus pension! Not sure I could even spend that much without having to make an effort to splash out - £100 per day!

wow.

Everyone has their dreams Castleman. For me, that's mine. I have a very rigorous plan to get to it. It should be 4-5 years if things go my way. 6-7, if not.

tara747

bendix wrote: »

That's a bit of a myth actually Tara. It could be done - and I knew many people who do live on that - but I wouldn't call it living well. I guess it depends on your definition. Those guys living on £600 or so that I know live in one room studios, have no security (health insurance etc), rely on very dodgy local transport etc.

There is no point being an expat in Thailand (or any third world country) if you are going to do it on a local income. It kinda defeats the object.

I reckon you need at least £1000 a month after accommodation costs, to have a half decent life, and even that would need to be outside of Bangkok.

OK, I guess I do slum it a bit when I'm there so my view is skewed...

bendix

tara747 wrote: »

OK, I guess I do slum it a bit when I'm there so my view is skewed...

Don't get me wrong. If you have a house already and want to live a quiet life in a city like Ubon Ratchatani or Khon Kaen, then it's easily doable. £600 equates to about 34000 baht a month - that is roughly triple what most Thai families in the location would likely live on, although they rely more on community cooperation to get by, which is something the foreigners can't really tap into.

Castleman

bendix wrote: »

Everyone has their dreams Castleman. For me, that's mine. I have a very rigorous plan to get to it. It should be 4-5 years if things go my way. 6-7, if not.

Absolutely and I wish you all the best. It is a very high income by nearly any standards though - so well done for being so close to getting there. :beer:

bendix

tara747 wrote: »

rictus123, can I just say that you need to make sure you are living a little. At 18 it is a bit much to be saving ALL your wages. Have some fun too ok?

Re shares, plan on keeping them for the long haul and go for ones with a good dividend.

Rictus is 18? How on earth, then, can an 18 year old be worried about their credit rating?

tara747

bendix wrote: »

Don't get me wrong. If you have a house already and want to live a quiet life in a city like Ubon Ratchatani or Khon Kaen, then it's easily doable. £600 equates to about 34000 baht a month - that is roughly triple what most Thai families in the location would likely live on, although they rely more on community cooperation to get by, which is something the foreigners can't really tap into.

Whereas I would want to live on Haad Tien in a nice wooden beach hut and still get to travel around the world whenever I wanted!

Where in Thailand would you settle?

bendix

I already have an apartment in Bangkok although I'd likely sell that and buy, instead, my dream house in either Chiang Mai, Hua Hin or - possibly - somewhere like Ubon.

My plans to have £2500-£3000 a month are achievable but - candidly - they are extremely conservative because I know i could live extremely well on half that sum.

Which makes me wonder, why aren't I doing it already?

rictus123

bendix wrote: »

Rictus is 18? How on earth, then, can an 18 year old be worried about their credit rating?

Am i not allowed to be worried about it because im 18? Whats wrong with wanting to start my saving now and have a healthy amout of savings behind me in 4 or 5 years?

tara747

rictus123 wrote: »

Am i not allowed to be worried about it because im 18? Whats wrong with wanting to start my saving now and have a healthy amout of savings behind me in 4 or 5 years?

Nothing at all, but you need to make sure that you are having fun as well ok? Your youth should be carefree. By all means save away, but live a little as well. Go on holiday, go out, see your friends, travel etc. These are all priceless. :A

bendix, have we put ideas in your head?

McSaver

* Savings Update - August 2009 *

I decided to leave my report to later on because I wasnt sure exactly where I was going to lie at the end of the month. Got paid more than expected plus around £600 profits from gambling and £350 that was borrowed out was returned to me meaning a total of £1,700 was saved during august (and beginning of september.) So this report was well worth the delay.

Savings Target For 2009 - Completed!
(But It doesnt mean I wont stop pressing on.)

The Percentage Has Been Updated - I have made it to platinum.

My Fonts Changed For Some Reason - Its Probably Because I'm now using Firefox