I first went to Thailand in 1997 and immediately fell in love with the country. Thailand at that time to me was mysterious and exotic, full of potentials and pitfalls.
Fast forward to 2010 and here I am after 13 years and many trips to the LOS sharing, with the help of my 
Preparing For The Move To Thailand
When I started Thailand Musings it was with the intention of sharing all kinds of great information about Thailand with people across the world. I was hoping to build a community and create a dialogue about Thai culture and Thailand travel for those who love Thailand and for those who were planning on visiting for the first time. In many respects this has been extremely rewarding and I have met some wonderful people. There’s no way I could have anticipated the great response and support from everyone over the past 2+ years. Thanks to you all.
Being based in the U.S. of course presents some problems at times in coming up with original content and definitely has hampered my ability to share photos and video. I’ve always wanted to be able to add as much media besides just text to make Thailand come alive for the readers. My intention is to keep growing TM and the community here and begin to add photos and video directly from Thailand. When will this happen you ask. Very good question and the reason for this post is to begin to put an answer to that question.
When Golf arrived here almost exactly 3 years ago, we promised each other that we would move back to Thailand in 5 years. Probably a lofty goal considering my financial situation at that point, but we have been struggling for the past 3 years to stay on track to meet this goal and I think it is still very possible. I’m sure we will still struggle once we move to Thailand, but isn’t all life a struggle? The important part is that we will be in a place we love and we will be with people that we love.
Because we are getting close to the goal of moving to Thailand (I know 2 years seems far away, but I’m sure it will fly by) I want to start posting about our planning and budgeting for the move to Thailand. I am hoping this will be both informative and inspirational for anyone else considering this type of move and at the same time will hopefully generate a useful conversation about the practicalities of a cross globe move like this. So far my research into this has been superficial at best, but as the move date comes closer I will be diving into many issues in depth such as visa issues, start up costs, ongoing income in Thailand, saving and planning for retirement, raising children in Thailand and a host of other issues many of which I’m sure haven’t even occurred to me yet.
In order to keep myself focused and accountable I am going to start being financial transparent here on TM. This is a concept I am borrowing from Adam Baker over at ManvsDebt. Of course the idea isn’t originally his, but his site is where I first came across financial transparency, so he gets credit 
. While our situations are different, Adam has inspired me to take a closer look at our budgeting, expenses, income and debt and put together a more detailed plan to achieve our goals. While I do follow a budget and have paid off over $50,000 in debt over the past three years I feel that it is time to tighten up so to speak. Because we spend much less than we make our discretionary spending has simply gotten out of hand because I have stopped tracking all those small purchases that really do add up.
I haven’t entirely figured out how I’m going to go about tracking and displaying my financial picture here on TM. Adam has some nice widgets that come from his account at PocketSmith, but after investigating the product I wasn’t completely happy with it. Plus the widgets aren’t publicly available as yet. My initial thoughts are to either do it as monthly updates or even better to set up a page dedicated to tracking our spending, debt reduction and savings on an ongoing basis. While the page alternative seems the best to me I’m not sure how to include the information on that page in an easy fashion at this stage. If anyone has any ideas I’m definitely open to suggestions.
In the spirit of financial transparency here’s our current debt situation in a nutshell (I’m sure some of you think I am crazy for posting this publicly):
Credit Card Debt = $12,312.51
Student Loan (Steve) = $9419.37
Student Loan (Golf) = $6000 (approx.)
Car payment (Steve) = $328.48 (This is a leased car and the lease is up in April 2011)
Car payment (Golf) = $249.06 (6 year loan with 4 ½ years remaining. Car will be sold when we leave for Thailand)
No mortgage. Rent is $625/mo
No other debts.
Current cash savings = $2505.97
Obviously there is more to our financial picture than that and once I determine how I will be posting the information here I will go into much more detail regarding our current budget, planned Thailand budget and our savings and retirement plan (big consideration on how to save while living in Thailand). No, I am not becoming a financial planning blogger here, I just feel that this information could be helpful to others and will help me to focus as well. I should have a much more detailed picture posted in some form within the next two weeks.
One subject that I haven’t really touched on and will be devoting more time to is that of raising children in Thailand. I will be looking at this for the obvious reason…Golf is pregnant and we are expecting our first child together this coming May!
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Check out these similar posts:
- Beginning Financial Transparency
- Should I Move To Thailand?
- Thailand Startup Costs
- Happy New Year 2010!
- Questions of Retiring to Thailand
- The Thailand Musings Survey Results Are In
- Thailand is Expensive!
Congratulations!
A brave move, but I am sure it will be fascinating reading and of a lot of interest to others out there considering / dreaming of the same.
Ballsy. That’s great that you’re still considering moving to TH even with baby on the way. We’re thinking about going the other way… just not sure.
Steve,
This is a great idea! I’ve been to Thailand 18 times in the last 6 years and have fallen in love with that country it’s great! Do you have a budget for living in the land of smiles and it is truely that when you get out away from the tourest traps as all over the world it’s the same you do not get a good feel for the country until you get out side of these areas. Will look forward to hear from you.
Hi Jim,
18 times in 6 years is quite a lot and shows a definite passion for Thailand on your part.
I do have a rough budget for when we make our move to Thailand. It is based on living in Bangkok for 3 people, me, Golf and our expected baby. Yes it is quite high compared to what we would spend in other parts of Thailand, but not nearly as much as we spend here in the U.S.
The budget will be forthcoming this week and will likely undergo several revisions over the next two years. Hope you find it helpful in some way.
–Steve
I wish I had known of your site prior to my previous visits to the LOS. I visited in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but as a “tourist” and not really knowing all of the things that I’ve learned from you makes me feel that my visits were in vain. However, I’m going to re-group, arm myself with knowledge gained and return to the LOS. I had wonderful times there and at one point was beckoned to sing each night at the Prince Palace Hotel where I was staying (2007). The following years have found me here, contemplating retirement and moving, while at the same time, trying to improve, improve and improve on my Thai language skills. I have a few ladies that seem to be eager to help me online and in return, I help them with English. I never met them in person, but on (TLL) and for now it’s pretty cool to do that. Anyway, just wanted you to know that I thank you, and wish you Happy Holidays and Happy Thai travel planning.
Hi Norman,
Thanks for visiting and for taking the time to leave a comment letting me know how much you appreciate TM. Just remember that none of your visits were in vain. I’m sure you’ve learned loads about Thailand on each visit and have also met some great people. Each visit improved your connection with Thailand and I’m certain soothed your soul in some way.
Keep coming back to the LOS and one day we will meet there and we can share some stories and beer and some laughs.