Let's talk about the kind of people that really shouldn't live in SE Asia... Part 1

I write this as someone that really like it here to the point where I have gone to great lengths to stay here for nearly the past 20 years. I no longer feel an attachment to the country that is on my passport because while I am a citizen, I don't have any attachment to that country outside of watching the Super Bowl once a year. I have no real beef with USA, I just don't want to live there ever again. I prefer the freedom that comes along with being an expat and basically not having a country. I lived in Thailand for over a decade and now I am slowly approaching the 5 year mark of having lived in Vietnam.

I believe that living over here can be a wonderful experience for most people, but there are certain types that I think the life over here is very detrimental to their overall well-being and a lot of this is precisely because there are some people out there that when left to their own devices and basically no oversight, can't be relied on for self-preservation. These people will eventually fail in their efforts to live overseas and I have seen it happen to dozens of people since moving over this way.

It might be difficult for people to admit that they fit into one of these categories, but if you are considering moving overseas and you just think you MIGHT be one of them, perhaps take a long vacation here first rather than pulling the trigger and relocating entirely.

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I want people to keep in mind that I have only lived in Thailand and Vietnam with a brief stint in Singapore. I'm going to go ahead and say that most people shouldn't even attempt Singapore because it is even more expensive than your home country. Seriously, I don't know how they managed that but it is the case. That place is ludicrously expensive.

The benefits of SE Asia are immense and the main thing is that it is much more affordable to live over here than in most Western countries. With just around $1000 a month you can live a rather good existence, although at that price point you are really pushing the limits as far as how much you are actually going to live well. You will miss out on a lot of things if you try to live that cheaply, therefore, I am going to make this my first category of people that shouldn't attempt to move here.

It is not as cheap as many people think it is

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While the two major countries that I have lived in (Thailand and Vietnam) are both dramatically cheaper than most western countries, that doesn't mean that you'll never be worried about money. If you want to live like a westerner with AC running all the time, a lot of security, a nice place near nice scenery etc, you are going to be splashing out more than $1000 a month. Also, unless you truly embrace the street food and stay away from favorites like burgers and pizza, your food bill each month is likely going to be more than the average SE Asian overall salary. Sure you CAN eat here for a couple dollars a day but you probably want to enjoy your food don't you? Well, if you do that you are going to be spending more than a couple dollars a day. I know very few people that always eat local food and things like sandwiches being delivered to their house is a regular occurrence. The average monthly salary in Vietnam, for example, is $277. I easily spend much more than that each month on food and drink. So will almost any other foreigner as we tend to enjoy stuff that isn't served off a street cart for our meals.

A lot of older couples think that their retirement will be more than enough to tide them over any expense comes their way but twice I have seen this fail, badly. In a particularly tragic incident, an Australian couple that were retired ran way over budget and have already returned to Australia and had to rejoin the workforce in their late 60's. They thought they were done with working but then the Australian dollar didn't perform as well as they had hoped and the pension plan changed and they were no longer going to get their full pension unless they lived in Aus for 6 months of the year. They were very distraught when they had to fill up the shipping container with all their gear and send it BACK from whence it came. I still keep in touch with this couple and they are seriously regretting moving to this part of the world too early. Neither one of them ever wanted to go back to work but there they are, punching a clock with people that are 20-30 years younger than they are.

Also, a lot of people get delusional about how much money it takes to live here and then flippantly get involved in an industry that doesn't afford them the ability to put away any savings or make any investments. I have seen this happen time and time again as someone squanders their 20's and 30's making $1000 a month teaching English only to have to call up their own parents to bail them out and fly them back to the States with their tails between their legs. Imagine wasting your prime earning years and then having to boomerang back to your parents' house in your early 40's? It can't be a pleasant feeling for either you or the parents. One friend of mine had 3 kids over in Thailand and his parents had to bail him out when his business ventures failed and the amount of money that he could make as a teacher failed to keep up with inflation. He now works an entry-level job in Boston and tries to put on a happy face, but he knows he made a terrible mistake by thinking he could live overseas doing a job that pays near nothing.

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I know a bunch of people that teach ESL for a living and outside of the ones that are properly qualified and teach at really expensive international schools, none of them make enough money to actually be preparing for the future. These jobs can be fun for a few years, but they need to be treated as an extended vacation because they are not careers. Everyone that enters this game ends up leaving it. I can't think of any exceptions in the near 2 decades I have been living over here. It simply doesn't work and by design, they don't pay more for these positions because you are easily replaceable by the long line of international workers who are dying for your spot to open up. Why would they pay more if they don't have to?

Yes rent is cheap, but so are wages

Basically, if you are depending on the local wage scale to pay for your life, you are going to end up poor. Where I live in Da Nang, a "decent" condo the likes of which I live in costs around $400 a month, which if you were paying attention before, is $123 MORE than the average Vietnamese person makes in a month. So this sort of place is considered extravagant by local standards. Too many people in these local jobs end up spending their entire salary every month and never build up a nest egg of any sort. Eventually, reality will set in and people are going to be very worried about the fact that they have zero savings and are approaching an age where it is no longer desirable for them to be employed in these jobs. It sounds unfair but once you get over 40 most schools don't want anything to do with you anymore regardless of the amount of experience that you have. They want young faces and don't seem to be all that concerned with how well you can do the job.

That's just the way that it is.

I think the only time that a person should really consider settling down over here is if they have a job that they are doing remotely that pays western wages. If you are able to do that, then yes, you are going to live very nicely over here since you are going to be getting paid many times more than a local wage.

I have been her since I was in my late 20's and just by chance, I happened upon an international job online that pays me well enough that I can live over here and also put money away every month. This is absolutely critical because at least for Americans, since I am not paying into the social security fund, I will not be able to pull from it later when I do finally retire. Not as many people pay attention to this as they probably should, and they will eventually end up running back home to their own parents and being a burden on them. That's is not a very desirable fate now is it?

So if you are harboring any sort of desire of coming over here and finding a great job that pays well I hate to burst your bubble but these positions are not in great supply and unless you do something very specialized they could hire 10 locals for what it would cost to hire one of you... so ask yourself: Which option do you think most of the companies go with? I'll give you a hint: It isn't you.

The only successful people I have met over here are online remote workers or someone that does something that I didn't really even know was a job such as being able to build massive boats for the shipping industry.

I've seen too many people throw their lives away thinking that they are somehow going to "make it work" over here and nearly all of them have been wrong. I now communicate with them via some messenger app and they are almost always back in their home country doing a regular job with no plans to come back to Asia. If you want to visit over here than come and visit! It's a wonderful place to be but honestly, this isn't something that just everyone can pull off. Most of us, including me, ends up going wildly over their budget and ends up paying a price for it later. I just got lucky.