Making Money In Thailand
Some people have said to me that I've got lucky in Thailand being about to make money without having to resort to getting a job or teaching, being able to live here before retirement and the pension. I don't think it's luck but more to do with hard work and determination. Luck only happens when you make opportunities for luck to arise. Your not lucky if you live in Thailand but probably lucky if you survive.
I'm from a new generation of expats to Thailand, a generation without borders or reliance on THE MAN. I only pay sales Tax and don't expect to ever see a pension I'm funding my own way through life and do so with three things a keyboard mouse and monitor. What we can do now was not even possible 20 years ago however the opportunities exist now and anyone can do it.
I havn't talked much about the book I wrote how to make money in Thailand because Adwords wouldn't let me advertise it unless I made changes to the book which I wasn't willing to do so. In the end the Adwords isn't really worth that much to me since my traffic is coming from Google search anyway and when you advertise on other blogs people just click on the ads to help the website owner earn revenue I don't see any value in that.
I've probably given away a lot of good information on this website about making money in Thailand actually one guy emailed me and told me off about giving the information about scamming people online. Guess he was running a similar scam and making enough but after telling everyone his livelihood was shattered. Sorry dude but you can't just keep scamming people you need to do something else.
Mostly what I've done to make money in Thailand was selling items on eBay. Even with all the fees and returns you can still make a profit on eBay but you have to find a few products that sell really good. That sounds hard but once you put 500 different products up on eBay you'll find the ones that sell. To save you all the trouble though the how to make money in Thailand book tells you exactly which products that sell well out of Thailand on eBay and just do different variations of those products and you'll find the gems. Since my eBay account has over 15,000 feed backs you can imagine the kind of volume I've done. Now i'm winding down my eBay opperation because I don't want to spend the time on it anymore so i'm giving away all my secrets of how to sell on ebay in Thailand.
Also in the book I talk about creating websites exactly how to set them up and what to do exactly to market them. It really isn't that hard to do at all and if you read the book you'll know what to do. Creating a website that generates money is one of the best ways to live globally.
If you have a skill that can enable you to work remotely like programming writing or graphic design then definitely you should read this book. I've only ever been a programmer, database manager/developer and web developer. I don't have any other skills that I can offer except for picking up wet Thai chicks but no one is paying me for that unfortunately. Using just those skills I have been lucky to get some really good paying gigs off eLance.com which is a website that freelancers can go to get work. Getting good paying work on eLance is very difficult because trust isn't there. In the book I tell you how to establish trust and get the work and the pay you deserve.
In the end the book about how to make money in Thailand is exactly like this blog. It's straight forward and tells you exactly what to do. When I say exactly I mean just that, it doesn't fill your head with a million ideas and you left wondering what to do next you follow the blueprint and put enough effort in you'll be able to make money in Thailand.
Hey Chris,
I ordered you book a while ago since I’m still planning to move to Chiang Mai later this year and wanted to know what else I could do instead of teaching English (in fact I’m sitting in my class waiting for my students writing this comment). Your book really opened my eyes to what else is out there to do to make money while living in Thailand except teaching. I HIGHLY recommend this book for ANYONE who is living in Thailand and wants to do something else other than teaching to make some money.
Keep up the good work!
-Jon
I’m curious as to what adwords wanted you to change in the book Chris ? Assuming that isn’t sensitive information of course ?
They wanted me to write more information on exactly how to make the money, if I told you how to do it then why would you read the book.
Want to make 50,000 baht/month tax free? If you have $200,000, invest $50,000 each in the four major banks. They pay a dividend of 7% that’s full franked. So you get $14,000 a year plus $6,000 a year in franking credits. After 1 July the tax free threshold will increase to $18,000. Lodge your tax return and you’ll get most if not all of the franking credit as a tax return. That’s $20,000 a year after tax = 50,000 baht/month. Australia has a tax treaty with Thailand, meaning that you only pay tax on the income once and in the country of origin. A dollar in the west is good for three times that in Thailand (Purchasing Power Parity of 3 to 1). Your $20,000 a year in Thailand is as good as getting $60,000 a year in the west. By my reckoning $20,000 a year, especially if you are paying Thai rent or mortgage is a very healthy income, and fantastic if you have a Thai wife and buy a house and car outright – 50,000 baht/month of disposable income! Better still, the divident per share increases each time keeping pace with inflation…
Hi Chris,
Have you got an opinion on purchasing new condo apartments in say Pattaya or Phuket as an investment?
Hello Chris, I wanted to ask your advice about making money in Thailand. I’m sure that my situation is different from others on this site as I have obtained Thai citizenship, (I come from America, have some Thai ancestry, can also speak, read and write the language) which would allow me to work several jobs without need for a work permit or any kind of special visa. I’ve been here for over a year now and I haven’t had to do any sort of visa renewal although very soon I will have to go to the military draft. Is there any field of work you would recommend for me?
military draft dude that sux isn’t that for 2 years? I don’t know what skills you have or your financial situation however getting into realestate is an easy way to riches in Thailand.
To be honest with you I have almost no skills at the time (academic credentials in the linguistic field), but being a Thai citizen I can purchase property. I currently have about 30 rai (not much, just growing rice which gets me about 120,000 baht a year but I have to split it with the people who work the fields for me) and plan to buy about 20 more. The general at the drafting office even told me himself that if I want to get out of it then I have to pay about 300,000 baht, which is a lot, so I just hope I don’t get a red slip, and if I do then I’ll just say fuck it and go through with it. As long as I don’t get sent to the southern provinces to deal with terrorists then I am fine. One of the advantages of having citizenship and a thai birth certificate though is that you don’t need a work permit, so I can actually do most of the jobs that a native Thai could do. Being a speaker of English I’m sure I could be a language teacher but I would hate that kind of job. My financial situation currently is pretty decent but things can change very quickly and I’m trying to find something smart to do with my money, as I’m sure I have a big advantage over many people here but I don’t want to go broke and lose it.
Hi folks
I think also MLM could be a good option with a rigth company !
Many US network companys are represent in Thailand, the business is booming, daily 2-3 hours work ! But you need a skill, like to everything!
not sure about that, MLM is a lot of work to get going and takes a lot of time, i started with ebay and was making 30,000 baht the first month.
yes you have rigth Chris, MLM is not easy, but I won’t say if takes lot’s of time too!
What delivery company are you using from Thailand to oversea?
Unfortunately this information is in the VIP section only.
hi chris..i am staying in thailand more then 2 years and now i am stuck with business and everything and my financial position is very bad…so i start ebay but i dont know what can i sale easy and fast..plz if u give me some advise…..
ebay is now over, you’re better now with amazon FBA business.
Any ideas for a liberal arts, unpractical college graduate type who does not qualify for IT or anything like that? Is Thailand an option to live in or just for vacation?
I’ve lived here for 5 years now so I’d have to say yeah it’s great place to live.