supporting thai wife

[dee]

im currently supporting t/w as im away working.im giving her 10,000 bht a month.i have all ready paid the rent/cable for the year.do you think thats enougth ?

[old-timer]

Yes, that's plenty if you never want to see her again.............

[Geordie]

Simon, you can be very cruel at times.

[Stantheman]

im currently supporting t/w as im away working.im giving her 10,000 bht a month.i have all ready paid the rent/cable for the year.do you think thats enougth ?

Dee, my 74 year old mother-in-law is keeping our house in Udon along with one dog and a nephew (who pays most of his expenses), while going to a tech school there. My wife gives her about 13,000 baht a month for food, utilities, cable, trash service, temple visits, parties etc. (house paid for already). Don't know if this helps, but you might want to think about a little more at times, especially around Thai holidays.

[BobHelm]

Go to the Bangkok Post site.
Search archives for "Wage (or Income) levels Thailand".
Read at your leisure how much income your spouse could earn if she was working and not being supported by you...
Then decide....

[arjay]

Previous GF's or acquaintances of mine working in Thailand were generally paid about 5000 - 6000 baht per month. That includes English speaking hotel receptionists, house keeper, shop assistants, maybe a bit of commission on top for the latter. Teacher was getting about 9K per month with O/T. And they were all working long hours.

[marcusb]

First of Dee in my opinion I think you are paying a very fair amount, not outrageous and she should be more than comfortable.
In my first semester at WBU in bangkok I paid my "instructor" 10,000 per month. I am doing my second semester here in Udon and also paying 10,000 per month. As I understand the rules whether we live here or in Canada, whether she is working or not, married etc, the "tuition" fees will always be 10,000 per month. Family, sick mother, kids uniforms etc. I understand they are making way more than say working in a factory,and they have all expenses paid on top of that,food, drinks, housing. But I am led to believe that is the norm in this type of situation.
i have tried searching for allowances, on this site and have not found anything. I would also appreciate any figures from Farang with thai wife or girlfriend. Long term and short term.
It is weird at times as in the western world this does not occur in the same fashion. But also in the western world I doubt if I would have a beautiful companion 13 years younger than me.
thanks for any input
marcus

[legendarysurfer]

All of the above and it depends on what she's doing and how many other people are involved.

I support my wife, her daughter and my wife's parents. It's averaging about 25K TBT a month, but there's a lot of wealth spread around amongst the other dozen and more family members as well.

If it is just your wife and a little spread around to other family members, I'd say start with 10K TBT and let her know if she needs more to let you know. Try to stay in touch with what she's spending it on.

[jai yen yen]

In Issan 10,000 baht a month is enough for a basic lifestyle for Thai people. With the rent paid she would be fine and should have a little left over. The other thing though is emergencies such as sickness or accidents which of course can eat up the budget very quickly. I help my gf with a little money but she needed an operation last year and I took her to a good hospital with her own room for 4 days. This cost a little more but I could not see her in government hospital. I think in the future a good medical plan would be wise.

[fussychunk]

I send my GF £200 sterling which equates to about 11,000 baht this goes up and down(Mostly down) with the exchange rate. The house is paid for, the bike is paid for. I expect her to pay for the child's school transport, I pay the schooling, I expect her to feed and buy clothes for the child, pay electricity, water, gas and Internet.

Like a typical Thai you give her the money on Monday and by Friday shes down to the last 2,000. You might be better off considering sending her the money in 2 bits a month rather than 1 lump sum.

Fussy

[Bandung_Dero]

.............. You might be better off considering sending her the money in 2 bits a month rather than 1 lump sum.

Fussy

That is a very good point. During the first year I had to give TW her allowance (I'd prefer to call it 'House Keeping Money') weekly as monthly just did not work, I guess it's something to do with getting more money in one hit than they have ever had. No problem into the second year and onward, she is much more budget wise. AND that was the last of our blues, probably had no more than three in the last 7 years on any subject!

[pamthepsorn]

Be aware!easy money easy spend.I have been working in falang s land for many years.I known exactly !money do not grow on the tree Meant. happy spending everyone!!!

[BKKSTAN]

Does she ask for more than the 10K,if not ,it is obviously enough.Probably more than she would make working,but having not to work ,with probably more free time,experiencing some higher spending time with you,her living standards have probably increased and she might spend more than before!

Nobody wants to feel like a sucker or spoil the situation,but one has to take in account that while you were here with her,you both lived at a higher cost standard and it is not easy for the human psychic to go back to living ''poor'',once experiencing some relative carefree living standards.

I don't give ''long distance relationships'' much hope as they give very little opportunity for learning ,understanding,compromising and adjusting to each other and can have greater communication and other problems that make them most challenging!

That said,I also think that alot of the guys fail to think about the change of living standards that have occurred during their time together and the feelings the girl will go through as she is requested to live a lower standard when the guy is gone:Is he for real,is he just using me,Is he really a ''good heart'' and true,etc.etc. and she has all the family and other Thai friends that will have their input,much out of pure ignorance, false perceptions of falangs or greedy ideas!

There is no doubt that anyone can live in their known environment on more money than the would normally earn in that environment,but those are not the only considerations,IMO!

Good communication and underrstanding to develop trust are the keys,so whatever you decide on the money,make sure threr is a clear understanding about your thought,feelings and even your fears because her focus is on security,which isn't all money related!

Choke Dee

[mortiboy]

Been with my wife two and half years.Always gave her 10,000 bht a month.I pay for food bill, telephone, Cable,electric,school fee,(one child.)
Then last year.she took it on herself (bless her),to buy a 2 year old pick up.Just suddenly turned up with it!
Its 6,325 baht month.Bearing in mind, I already had a car,(old one) I asked why buy? Answer...Her friends all have new cars..... I Shy! Lose face syndrome!
My response was "up to you"She still gets 10,000 baht month.I am on a minimal budget here compared with other farangs staying Udon it seems.
However, she is happy with the income she gets so,I think she appreciates it is a better life than working for peanuts everyday!

[jetdoc]

I give my wife 10,000bt/mo but that is for her and her family, how she spends it is up2her. The new truck, well after stopping to check out the Ford display outside of T/L earlier this year, a few nights latter in bed and sleep eluding us, she says "heart me stay in Ford truck". So a couple days later we ordered one, but she cleared it with me, and a good idea for her as she doesn't have to use the "10 spot" to pay for it.

[jingjai]

http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/a ... 15187.html

parrot wrote:
BangkokPundit (http://www.bangkokpundit.blogspot.com) provided a interesting poll taken by ABAC (Assumption University of Thailand). Supposedly surveyed 1142 families in 17 provinces (no further info)

53.4% women and 46.6% men, those under 20 (3.9%),
those aged 20-29 (16.5%),
those aged 30-39 (22.4%),
those aged 40-49 (27.4%)
those aged 50+ (29.8%)

77.5% have less than a bachelor's degree, 20.1% have a bachelor's degree, 2.4% have a higher degree

35.3% are farmers/contractors 24.8% are traders/self-employed, 14.8% work for
private enterprises, 11.1% are civil servants/state enterprise employees, 6.2% are housewives/househusbands/retired, 5.1% are students and 2.7% didn't specify a job/unemployed

Income under 5,000 Baht, 51.9%
Income between 5,001-10,000 Baht, 30.0%
Income over 10,001-15,000, 18.1%

"When I see income levels such as those shown in this poll (I realize it's just a poll), it makes me wonder who's buying all those new homes/cars in the country.......or how they pay for such luxuries?"

[laphanphon]

being the OP doesn't say anything but girlfriend...................living where/with who, pay rent, have kids, impossible to assess if 10 k is enough.

although i agree with Stan, unless you retirement is at least within the year and you've known and trust the GF, I personally wouldn't send anyone i don't live with money for any reason.

there are no rules, regulations, amounts, the one poster, 1st semester at WBU 10K, new sememster 10 K, i think you need so new tutors, or no tutors.

i know this ISN'T farang land, but did anyone ever give there gf an allowance in farangland. or ever asked for one. i'm guessing a 99 % no answer. if in a relationship, living together or married, i usually provided everything, but never an allowance, as they were always working and had their own money. the one wife, we lived on mine and saved hers for a future house purchase. people working together.

here, all i here are stories of give give give...i simply don't understand it, never will.

personally my present relationship, everything is provided, nothing is needed, there is an allowance/pocket money, but that is my decision, never asked for, as i request/require that she not work, and be available to spend time with me. obviously i give her too much, actually, not much, but she is savvy and banks a majority of it. i am retired and now she is, if she worked, we wouldn't be together, but she needs pocket money so not be degraded by asking for 20-100-1000 baht every time she wants something, she has her money and budgets it for her extras, again, that 10th pair of shoes or bag i won't buy. check that, just informed, as she is usually reading and laughing along with me, she has 16 pairs of shoes, and probably as many bags. i have one pair of flip flops, and one pair or regular shoes i wear on regular basis, with a couple back ups, that never get worn. 16 pairs.............yikes, obviously she knows not to ask me to buy a new pair if out shopping, along with new bag. but all necessities and couple extras are provided. pocket money is simply that, so she never has to ask me for anything, or knows better not to. had to change that last statement, yes, she is stil sitting next to me and felt the need to though a 'cheap arse' in the conversation. since i haven't been to the bank this month yet, hmm, allowance...

but to answer the OP question, depending on her true bills, 5-10k baht should be more than enough. especially if living with parents in village and now kids.

[beer monkey]

*** Mod Note - off topic text removed***

10k is a good figure.

[old-timer]

I cannot believe that the general opinion here is that 10k a month is adequate for your partners, whether that be girlfriend, wife or homo. Why does everyone find it neccessary to pay the least possible amount to their partners - let's take a closer look, it's about 300baht a day, now I have heard people mention that, for instance, construction workers earn 200 baht a day... B/S... a rice growing farmer who attempts to be a multi skilled construction worker when one of his close relatives brings a falang into town earns that, sure, but a skilled tradesman - welder, bricklayer, plasterer, plumber electrician etc etc will earn more than 500 baht a day on daywork, which is 200 baht a day more than 10k a month will give your partner. My next door nieghbour (thai) who has a mediocor job gives his wife 60k a month, my thai brother in law is currently earning 1500 baht a day doing skilled external construction work...now before you all pile in saying the average wage is 30 baht an hour or whatever, the point that I am making is why would you want your partner to not have the best standard of living that you can provide.
Maybe some people can never be sure..........

[Galee]

If 10k isn't enough, what's there to stop them working for some extra money? Maybe it's easier to sit on your backside and expect the farang to pay.