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You can live well in Thailand for less than $2,500 per month.
Where you decide to settle will have a large impact on your monthly expenses—a view of rice paddies from your balcony will be less expensive than looking out over the waves crashing onto a sandy beach. And a modern apartment in one of Bangkok’s many bustling neighbourhoods is not going to come dirt cheap.
There are still lots of opportunities to lead a quality lifestyle for not a lot of money in many places.
Here’s a sample monthly budget for two people living comfortably in Chiang Mai.
| AUD | |
| Rent (furnished, 2-bed condo or house) | $790 |
| High-speed Internet | $40 |
| Pay TV (top-of-the-line package) | $80 |
| Electricity (no AC): $30 / Electricity (constant AC) | $130 |
| Phone (basic cell phone data plan) | $25 |
| Water | $13 |
| Groceries/wine/beer | $400-650 |
| Entertainment (dining out and other activities) | $130-260 |
| House keeper (one day per week) | $80 |
| Healthcare (four $30 visits to a doctor per year for two people) | $26 |
| Health Insurance (outpatient coverage not included, $2000 deductible) | $400-650 |
| Prescriptions | $90 |
| Visa Maintenance | $40 |
| Transportation (maintenance and fuel for 150cc scooter) | $26 |
| Incidentals | $200 |
This gives a monthly total of $2,470 to $3,100, which would be a realistic budget for a retired couple living in various parts of the country and dining on a mixture of local and international foods. When you realise that Chiang Mai has a population of several hundred thousand and comes with all the amenities of a large, modern city, you can appreciate just how low some of these costs are.
It is certainly possible to live on less, especially in the smaller towns and more rural areas. You can still find studio and one-bedroom apartments available for under $400 per month. Buying most of your groceries at the local markets as opposed to the large international chains will save you a bundle. Finally, because of the relatively inexpensive cost of healthcare, many expats rely on savings for medical emergencies in place of purchasing health insurance with high monthly premiums.
Even after adding in a little extra money for travel and other extras, it is still a fairly low budget for a quality retirement in a tropical setting.
*Prices as of 2015
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The landscape in Hang Dong, the northern Thai district I call home, is a random mix of rural and urban Thailand. Rural villages with windy, country roads are dotted with Lanna-style temples amidst sprawling fields and tropical shrubbery. The urban roads are lined with low-rise shop-houses and local businesses selling everything from car parts to cosmetics. Residential areas range from pockets of small villages to grander, gated communities.
“The last time I went exploring by motorbike through the jungle, I saw an elephant just walking down the road. An elephant!” says Michael Brown, 53, who lives in the Thai resort city of Hua Hin.
David Smith spent every holiday for 20 years in Thailand, revelling in the country’s culture and way of life. In 2002, at the age of 52, he found himself unemployed and decided the time was right to move there permanently.
From the balcony of my 14th-floor home I can gaze upon a fertile landscape. The northern Thai city of Chiang Mai sits surrounded by views of lush, forested hills. The icing on the cake is the golden Buddhist temple on Doi Suthep mountain. During the day, it sparkles in the sunshine and at night local monks illuminate it, making it shine gold in a pitch black sky. The effect is stunning—the temple looks as if it’s floating in the darkness by magic.
“When I moved to Chiang Mai, I unearthed the rich and colourful life I thought was lost,” says Pam Manning of her new life in Thailand. Chiang Mai is famous for being a town of artisans and Lanna (Northern Thai) culture. It’s a place of flowers, temples, fruit, joyful festivals and colour is everywhere...velvety maroons, popping pinks…
Each morning, I begin my day by opening the French window of my studio apartment in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I am greeted by views of towering mountains on the horizon and the golden peak of the famous Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple glittering against the lush green background.
The last couple of years have been the most adventuresome of my life. Inspired by my wife, Bonnie, we’ve been pursuing our dream of seeing the world for some time now. But a number of months ago, we decided it would be nice to settle down for a while…and found the perfect place in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Retiring overseas could be the best thing you ever do…but it’s a big step. So if you’re not quite ready to make the move abroad on a permanent basis, the next best thing might be to go for a trial run and test the waters in one of your dream destinations.
Famous for dense mangrove forests, sheer limestone cliffs and hundreds of amazing islands that appear as if dropped into the ocean from somewhere else, Krabi, on the southern part of Thailand’s west coast across from the island of Phuket, is where many movies were filmed—think James Bond’s, Man with the Golden Gun and Leonardo DiCaprio’s, The Beach. In 2013 Kim Shield’s brother invited her and her husband, Michael, to Krabi to look at the house he was building there. And it was while exploring the area with their family, they noticed how much the area had to offer.
All we had to last us the next 30-plus years was our meagre life savings, accumulated superannuation and the proceeds of the sale of our assets in Australia. As we did not plan to be in Australia when we came of age to access our Australian Government Pension, it could not be part of our financial calculations. (We are not at retirement age as yet—Vivien’s 53 and I’m 58.)