Sri Lanka turned into a tough stay for us. Given the short time we stayed in Sri Lanka, I debated not doing a Sri Lanka expat family budget analysis. The initial two weeks are not necessarily representative of long term costs. For example the initial grocery numbers at the start of a stay are always heavily inflated due to initial one time purchases (condiments, bulk items, etc). Despite that, I ultimately decided there would be some value in these numbers, even if they are rough at best.
Assumptions
I will be making the following assumptions to simplify the scenarios presented:
- You are a family of four, selling everything and moving to Colombo Sri Lanka.
- You are renting a 3 bed 2 bath condo somewhere outside of the main tourist areas (i.e. a few km away from Galle Face Green).
- You are using international health insurance, something similar to Cigna Global. You may have different more affordable options depending on your immigration status in Sri Lanka.
- You will not own a car and will use PickMe instead. We made all local trips farther than walking distance using PickMe, and it was reliable and extremely affordable.
- Tax implications are not factored into these numbers. US citizens must file US tax returns regardless of where they live, and the interplay between US and foreign tax obligations is significant and warrants consultation with an international tax professional.
Expenses
The Sri Lanka numbers fall within the budget for February, mixed in with Thailand numbers from that month. For this analysis I have extracted just the Sri Lanka numbers and then projected them out to a 30 day month. This has been my first look at these numbers in isolation, and my first understanding of Sri Lanka’s affordability (or lackthereof).
Big Picture Numbers
| Monthly Expenses | $3,664.18 |
| Annual Expenses | $43,970.16 |
| Investments Needed | $1,099,254.00 |
Detailed Monthly Budget
| Accommodation | $1,317.00 | This is the monthly rate for the exact place we stayed, whereas we paid a slightly higher weekly rate. Single Person: This 2 bedroom place for $797 is a very similar scaled down version of where we stayed, in nearly the same location. |
| Cigna Global Silver w/ US | $558.42 | Sinking fund Single Person: ~$300 even if you are middle aged. |
| Grocery Store / Food | $1,199.70 | In Sri Lanka we spent $213.24 on 16 meals cooking at home. Projecting the $13.33/meal out to 30 days. This definitely would have been lower per meal if we spent more time in Sri Lanka, and this is heavily skewed higher due to the initial grocery build-up. Single Person: $299.93 |
| Discretionary | $138.67 | This removes tourist activities, leaving those things that would remain on a long term stay (streaming services, alcohol, etc). Projected out to 30 days. |
| Transportation | $114.20 | Many Pickme rides around Colombo, projected out to 30 days. |
| Clothes | $100.00 | Sinking fund Single Person: $25 |
| Vaccines | $91.58 | Sinking fund for the average monthly vaccine amount for all of us if we continued traveling forever. Single Person: $22.90 |
| Phone (Google FI) | $43.47 | Single Person: $20 |
| Gifts | $60.00 | Sinking fund Single Person: $0 |
| E-Sim (Airalo) | $20.00 | Sinking fund Single Person: $6.67 |
| Virtual Mailbox (PostScanMail) | $18.15 | |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 |
Analysis
For the family numbers, yikes that’s a lot of money to live somewhere not particularly enjoyable. If you have a FIRE number of $1.2M, you should look anywhere else.
The single person numbers are of course more reasonable, but if you have $523K you are better off in Costa Rica, Vietnam, or Thailand. Those places are not only cheaper, but they offer a higher quality of life.
Summary Single vs Family
| Scenario | Monthly Cost | Investments Needed |
| Family | $3,664.18 | Total: $1,099,254.00 |
| Single | $1,745.49 | Total: $523,648.25 |
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