Vietnam is a place that provoked a lot of feelings, rescued us from a bad living situation in Manila, and won us over with everything it has to offer. It is one of our favorite destinations so far on our international adventure. I have dedicated a lot of time to examining the day to day living in Vietnam, and in this expat family budget breakdown the focus will turn to the financial side of things.
Using our actual spending in Vietnam, I will show the cost to live in Vietnam long term. Like most locations this year, I will provide numbers for a rent scenario and a buy scenario. There isn’t always available data for the buy scenario, but I feel like I have that data for Vietnam. With the numbers based on our actual spending amounts, there is little to no guesswork involved. Wherever I have used a number that is different from our actual spending, I have called it out and provided the reasoning.
To give an idea of what it would cost for a single person traveling alone, I will provide single person values on each budget line item, at least where it actually differs from the family amount. In the summary section at the end you can see the single person spending and investments needed alongside the family of four values.
Assumptions
The following assumptions will be made to simplify the scenarios presented:
- You are selling everything and moving to Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam.
- You are renting/buying a 3 bed 2 bath condo in a nice complex in district 2 (not tourist ground zero, but also not far removed).
- You are using international health insurance, something similar to Cigna Global. You may have different more affordable options depending on your immigration status in Vietnam.
- You will not own a car and will use Grab instead. We made all local trips farther than walking distance using Grab, and it was reliable and extremely affordable. Even more affordable when you are going somewhere alone and can choose the motorbike option.
Initial Projections
Before we started traveling, we projected location-specific costs for every candidate location using numbeo. It will be interesting to see how close the projections were to reality. The location-specific projections for Vietnam were:
| Grocery Store | $378.90 |
| Airbnb | $1,608.00 |
| Transportation | $50 |
| Discretionary Spending | $200 |
Scenario: Renting Accommodation
In this scenario our family of four is renting a place, and a couple of our actual numbers are tweaked for long term residency. The most important one is the accommodation figure. If you were moving to Vietnam as an expat long term, you would not be renting through Airbnb. Renting a place directly via a one year lease is less than half the cost of the same place on Airbnb. If you are in fact renting through Airbnb, just living there a few months at a time, I have noted the actual Airbnb price we paid.
Big Picture Numbers
| Monthly Expenses | $2,403.59 |
| Annual Expenses | $28,843.12 |
| Investments Needed | $721,078.00 |
Detailed Monthly Budget
| Accommodation | $704.98 | I found a listing for an identically built 3 bed 2 bath unit in the same complex we stayed in (Sun Avenue) for $704.98 with 1 year lease. For comparison our Airbnb rate was $1,723.33 for a full month. Single Person: What you will pay as a single person depends on how much privacy you need. Do you mind renting a room and having two roommates? If not you can pay $228.14 in rent and $26.62 in shared bills, for a total of $254.76/month. You can see the listings here. If you want more privacy the rent on a 1 bed 1 bath is $456.28, and you’d have to cover utilities and bills yourself. |
| Cigna Global Silver w/ US | $558.42 | This assumes you pay the year up front, which is slightly discounted. Single Person: ~$300 even if you are middle aged. |
| Grocery Store | $600.00 | Our actual spending was $822.28. This was the most shocking category because that’s more than double our projection of $378.90. More on this in the analysis section below as to why I went with $600 here. Single Person: ~$150 |
| Discretionary | $143.77 | This is the non-tourist discretionary spending that would continue month after month. It’s things like streaming services, alcohol, and other fun-related stuff. Single Person: Keep at least this value because I would hope you’re out socializing. |
| Transportation | $50.00 | We spent $125.35 in this category to move four people around Ho Chi Minh City a lot doing tourist things. Allocating $50 here for normal life, which allows for several roundtrip rides per month to destinations around HCMC. Single Person: Keep at least this value because I would hope you’re out doing things. |
| Clothes | $50.00 | We allocate $100 to a sinking fund regardless of location. From our purchases at Vietnam a family would need roughly half that amount if living in Vietnam full time. Single Person: $20 |
| Vaccines | $91.58 | For Vietnam you need the full set of vaccines that we got for this year. Single Person: $22.90 |
| Phone (Google FI) | $43.18 | Single Person: $20 |
| Gifts | $60.00 | Single Person: $0, insignificant |
| E-Sim (Airalo) | $20.00 | Single Person: $6.67 |
| Virtual Mailbox (Postscan Mail) | $21.00 | |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 | |
| Unplanned Expenses | $57.67 | These were unplanned purchases, like a hair cut for BC, and a loss we took on converting currency. |
Analysis
For the most part costs were in line with expectations. The only category that caught me off guard was grocery store spending. It cost us $9.14 per meal to cook at home on average, which is almost as high as our costs back in Colorado.
We could have easily reduced grocery store spending to $600/month given more time and some intentional spending. Possibly the biggest inflationary factor is we only ate 28 meals at home. That’s only nine days worth of at home eating.
The initial meals in a new location are always the most expensive because they are inflated by new location expenses, many of which are not even food but still come from the grocery store. Those purchases include up-front bulk items like coffee, toilet paper, paper towels, condiments, etc. Also worth noting is that potable water alone cost $90. That could be done much cheaper than the 5-liter bottles we bought at Circle K.
Scenario: Buying Accommodation
In this scenario our family of four will buy the same 3 bed 2 bath condo, and will do so paying cash for the entire thing. This is the condo we are buying for $212,928:
Big Picture Numbers
| Monthly Expenses | $2,203.19 |
| Annual Expenses | $26,438.30 |
| Investments Needed | $660,957.57 |
| Cash needed up front to buy condo | $212,928.00 |
Detailed Monthly Budget
| House Escrow (taxes, insurance) | $25.00 | With a purchase price of $212,928, the high end of taxes (negligible) and insurance is about $300/year total. Single Person: You can buy a 1 bed 1 bath in the same complex for $133,080, making this value $15.63. |
| Utilities and Other Bills | $79.86 | This is from the rent listing I found where two roommates who were seeking a third roommate stated they each spend $26.62 on shared bills. Single Person: $26.62 |
| Cigna Global Silver w/ US | $558.42 | Single Person: $300 |
| Grocery Store | $600.00 | Single Person: $150 |
| Discretionary | $143.77 | |
| Transportation | $50.00 | |
| Clothes | $50.00 | Single Person: $20 |
| Vaccines | $91.58 | Single Person: $22.90 |
| Phone (Google FI) | $43.18 | Single Person: $20 |
| Gifts | $60.00 | Single Person: $0 |
| E-Sim | $20.00 | |
| Virtual Mailbox | $21.00 | |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 | |
| Unplanned Expenses | $168.57 | As a homeowner, there are unexpected repairs that in my experience come in at about 1% of the value of your home per year. Adding that amount ($110.90) to the $57.67 of uncategorized spending we had. |
Final Comparison And Analysis
The table below shows the scenarios examined, and the final investment total needed for each. The most interesting takeaway for me is that this is the first location I’ve analyzed where buying isn’t better right out of the gate. Based on these numbers, buying would not even become the better option over time. Taking the family buy scenario for example, which requires nearly $153K extra. Buying only saves about $200 in monthly expenses, whereas investing that $153K would produce $510/month.
Vietnam is a very inviting option if you wish to FIRE as quickly as possible. Obtaining $314,925.75 for a single person is a realistic goal within anyone’s grasp. The family scenarios are also affordable when you consider that for well under $1M an entire family can FIRE in a major city in Vietnam.
| Scenario | Monthly Cost | Investments Plus Up Front Cash Needed |
| Family Buy | $2,203.19 | 873,885.57 Investments: $660,957.57 Condo Purchase: $212,928.00 |
| Family Rent | $2,403.59 | $721,078.00 |
| Single Buy | $948.14 | Total: $417,522.75 Investments: $284,442.75 Condo Purchase: $133,080.00 |
| Single Rent | $1,049.75 | $314,925.75 |
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