The Secret To Making Money Legally And Successfully In Thailand

[Chittychangchang]

The 6 million dollar question is "How can i legitimately stay, work, live successfully in Thailand?"

This has been a subject of contemplation for myself, many other foriegn nationals and Thaivisa members who have not met the ripe age of retirement and can draw on their pension/s, this i hasten to add with the current economic climate is no guarantee of solvency in LOS.

So this topic is engineered as a quick reference tool and would be useful to members to have it pinned with constructive opinions and references.

From my my research and some experience i have researched the following legal ways to earn money in Thailand.

1, Teaching English in Thailand is a decent and fair way to make money in Thailand, it does have it’s pitfalls though. Most people who come to Thailand see Teaching English as an easy way to make money and more often than not are not trained to do so. There are many trained teachers who come to Thailand seeking a teaching job, but it’s not for everyone. Most English teachers make around 30,000 baht per month, this is a good wage in Thailand and you can live of that but the hours stress and general unwillingness to learn from the Thai students may have you questioning why you decided to take the job. The perks however are you get 4 months vacation per year while still getting paid, though on a meager teachers salary there’s not much you can do in that period of time. If your trying to make a lot of money in Thailand Teaching English is NOT the way to do it. In order to teach English you’ll need to get a TOEFL certificate and do some training, the market is very competitive and don’t expect pay rises as you gain experience. For Thai people the salary you get will seem high to them already and will be unwilling to pay more, you can make extra money and perhaps more money if you do private tuition or open your own language school.If you don’t already have your TEFL certificate

2, The most common thing I’ve noticed with all the successful eBay sellers in Thailand is that they all test their products and they all have only new items for sale with great photographs.
The thing about eBay is you don’t need a million items though that approach does work it requires a lot of capital. What you want to find are those identical items that can sell 20-100 times a month at a markup of 4 to 1 but a better ration is more like 8-1. Basically an item you can buy for 300 baht then sell it on eBay for 8 times as much or 2100 baht that’s roughly $69.95 at today’s rate of 30 baht and do that 100 times a month on the one product. Have 10 products like this and you have your eBay empire made.
A ten dollar item like the one you picked up is still just a $10 item it’s your job to make people want to pay the $69.95 amount and the way to do that is to get a professionally designed graphic and photographs of your product and make it look like the amount are asking for. People shop on eBay for bargains sure but they are also shopping for dreams make it seem like your product is the best of it’s kind and come across as a professional. People are always willing to buy quality when you sell something of quality and the markup is great you begin to make more money for doing less work.

3,It helps that the timeshare industry seems to have outgrown an earlier image problem. I didn't have a high impression of the industry; timeshare had a bad reputation. When people hear timeshare, they cringe because they've all been through the 90-minute time pressure sales pitch." But concerted efforts by the industry have cleaned up the image and professionalized timeshare operations. Indeed now the rewards for a sales person can be as high or a low as you desire, it's all about you and your motivation. The resorts also supply work permits.

4,Invest in a farm, not for the faint hearted or novice although there is a wealth of information in the farming forum on thaivisa to assist you in your venture be it breeding pigs, shrimps ot working a rubber farm.

5, AdSense is a great way to get paid for doing what you love to do: blogging! AdSense allows you to show targeted ads on your blog and earn revenue from your traffic. It also helps your visitors find things they may be interested in, based on the content of your blog posts. Best of all, AdSense is free and you have the option to remove the ads at any time.

The AdSense system shows ads relevant to the content of your blog and you can easily customize the look and feel of the ads to match your blog. If your blog is about shoes, you may show ads for shoe designers or clothing stores. If your blog is about cars, you may see ads for car dealerships or auto shops. Using filters, you can have control over the content of the ads you display by choosing to block categories of ads or even specific advertisers.

With the free suite of powerful AdSense reporting tools, you can pull detailed reports that will help you track your revenue and identify opportunities to earn more money.

6, Open a guesthouse with a restaurant!
Running a guesthouse is a bit like having a new baby - lots of early mornings and laundry, a seriously diminished social life and the constant need for energy. But if you love caring for people, don't mind having strangers sharing your living space and are always able to give service with a smile, it's all worth it. Your biggest outlay will be on the premises - either buying an existing guesthouse or adding lots of en-suites to your home. Top earners can hit live comfortably, but the lower rungs are anything from loss-making upwards once the financial pressure of a big mortgage has been chucked in.running a guesthouse is no easy feat. Expect very early mornings (everything has to be ready for when guests wake up) and say goodbye to weekends and most ventures out (as someone always has to be on-hand should a guest need you).
Day-to-day activities will be repetitive: having to undertake the same tasks you did yesterday, with the knowledge they'll have to be done again tomorrow. Cleaning rooms, making breakfast, doing laundry, repairing broken fixtures, greeting or saying goodbye to guests, and keeping strict accounts are all part of running a guesthouse.
The personal touch is what draws people to guesthouses, and things like learning guests' names and advising them on what to do during their stay are really important.
Above all, your job is to make sure guests enjoy themselves and want to come back again, or at least recommend to others. Being a farang you will however need a Thai partner after all the laws of Thailand must always be adherd to.
For more infomation on visas and legalities this can all be sourced from the visa section on Thaivisa forum.

Good luck in whatever venture you decide and i look forward to more input on the subject.

CCC

[BrianCR]

I have known many guys make a small fortune here in Thailand..... of course they came here with a large one first!

[fletchsmile]

Stick to what you know. If you have skills back home, they'll likely shine even brighter here

Fletch

[IrishIvan]

The 6 million dollar question is "How can i legitimately stay, work, live successfully in Thailand?"

 

This has been a subject of contemplation for myself, many other foriegn nationals and Thaivisa members who have not met the ripe age of retirement and can draw on their pension/s, this i hasten to add with the current economic climate is no guarantee of solvency in LOS.

 

So this topic is engineered as a quick reference tool and would be useful to members to have it pinned with constructive opinions and references.

 

From my my research and some experience i have researched the following legal ways to earn money in Thailand.

 

1, Teaching English in Thailand is a decent and fair way to make money in Thailand, it does have it’s pitfalls though. Most people who come to Thailand see Teaching English as an easy way to make money and more often than not are not trained to do so. There are many trained teachers who come to Thailand seeking a teaching job, but it’s not for everyone. Most English teachers make around 30,000 baht per month, this is a good wage in Thailand and you can live of that but the hours stress and general unwillingness to learn from the Thai students may have you questioning why you decided to take the job. The perks however are you get 4 months vacation per year while still getting paid, though on a meager teachers salary there’s not much you can do in that period of time. If your trying to make a lot of money in Thailand Teaching English is NOT the way to do it. In order to teach English you’ll need to get a TOEFL certificate and do some training, the market is very competitive and don’t expect pay rises as you gain experience. For Thai people the salary you get will seem high to them already and will be unwilling to pay more, you can make extra money and perhaps more money if you do private tuition or open your own language school.If you don’t already have your TEFL certificate

 

2, The most common thing I’ve noticed with all the successful eBay sellers in Thailand is that they all test their products and they all have only new items for sale with great photographs.

The thing about eBay is you don’t need a million items though that approach does work it requires a lot of capital. What you want to find are those identical items that can sell 20-100 times a month at a markup of 4 to 1 but a better ration is more like 8-1. Basically an item you can buy for 300 baht then sell it on eBay for 8 times as much or 2100 baht that’s roughly $69.95 at today’s rate of 30 baht and do that 100 times a month on the one product. Have 10 products like this and you have your eBay empire made.

A ten dollar item like the one you picked up is still just a $10 item it’s your job to make people want to pay the $69.95 amount and the way to do that is to get a professionally designed graphic and photographs of your product and make it look like the amount are asking for. People shop on eBay for bargains sure but they are also shopping for dreams make it seem like your product is the best of it’s kind and come across as a professional. People are always willing to buy quality when you sell something of quality and the markup is great you begin to make more money for doing less work.

 

3,It helps that the timeshare industry seems to have outgrown an earlier image problem. I didn't have a high impression of the industry; timeshare had a bad reputation. When people hear timeshare, they cringe because they've all been through the 90-minute time pressure sales pitch." But concerted efforts by the industry have cleaned up the image and professionalized timeshare operations. Indeed now the rewards for a sales person can be as high or a low as you desire, it's all about you and your motivation. The resorts also supply work permits.

 

4,Invest in a farm, not for the faint hearted or novice although there is a wealth of information in the farming forum on thaivisa to assist you in your venture be it breeding pigs, shrimps ot working a rubber farm.

 

5, AdSense is a great way to get paid for doing what you love to do: blogging! AdSense allows you to show targeted ads on your blog and earn revenue from your traffic. It also helps your visitors find things they may be interested in, based on the content of your blog posts. Best of all, AdSense is free and you have the option to remove the ads at any time.

The AdSense system shows ads relevant to the content of your blog and you can easily customize the look and feel of the ads to match your blog. If your blog is about shoes, you may show ads for shoe designers or clothing stores. If your blog is about cars, you may see ads for car dealerships or auto shops. Using filters, you can have control over the content of the ads you display by choosing to block categories of ads or even specific advertisers.

With the free suite of powerful AdSense reporting tools, you can pull detailed reports that will help you track your revenue and identify opportunities to earn more money.

 

6, Open a guesthouse with a restaurant!

Running a guesthouse is a bit like having a new baby - lots of early mornings and laundry, a seriously diminished social life and the constant need for energy. But if you love caring for people, don't mind having strangers sharing your living space and are always able to give service with a smile, it's all worth it. Your biggest outlay will be on the premises - either buying an existing guesthouse or adding lots of en-suites to your home. Top earners can hit live comfortably, but the lower rungs are anything from loss-making upwards once the financial pressure of a big mortgage has been chucked in.running a guesthouse is no easy feat. Expect very early mornings (everything has to be ready for when guests wake up) and say goodbye to weekends and most ventures out (as someone always has to be on-hand should a guest need you).

Day-to-day activities will be repetitive: having to undertake the same tasks you did yesterday, with the knowledge they'll have to be done again tomorrow. Cleaning rooms, making breakfast, doing laundry, repairing broken fixtures, greeting or saying goodbye to guests, and keeping strict accounts are all part of running a guesthouse.

The personal touch is what draws people to guesthouses, and things like learning guests' names and advising them on what to do during their stay are really important.

Above all, your job is to make sure guests enjoy themselves and want to come back again, or at least recommend to others. Being a farang you will however need a Thai partner after all the laws of Thailand must always be adherd to.

For more infomation on visas and legalities this can all be sourced from the visa section on Thaivisa forum.

 

Good luck in whatever venture you decide and i look forward to more input on the subject.

 

CCC

Depends what school or university you work at. There are some paying some very decent salaries now. The 30, 000 baht a month crew are working at government schools with minimum qualifications. If you have a degree from a decent uni in farangland you can earn double or triple that

[machans88]

is there agism in teaching english.If you are over 50 is it hard to be employed as a first time teacher?

[BrianCR]

is there agism in teaching english.If you are over 50 is it hard to be employed as a first time teacher?

60 is the norm, but if you are really qualified who the hell cares, it can go on for years

[BangkokHank]

is there agism in teaching english.If you are over 50 is it hard to be employed as a first time teacher?

I just started a career as an English teacher in Bangkok last year at the age of 52, after having been in Thailand for 18 years. There are farang teachers at my school who are nearly 70 years old, and the youngest is around 30, so at my age I'm right in the middle.

[HarryMilton]

The heading to this post indicated that there would be ideas for successfully making money (which suggests making a reasonable amount) in Thailand. Your ideas are:-

(1) Teaching. No, I don't think so. It may be possible to just get by.

(2) Flog stuff on eBay. Never tried it or know anyone who has, successfully. Maybe you're right but got a feeling you're not.

(3) Sell timeshare. You can't be serious!

(4) Farming. That would be agriculture which is a restricted occupation. If it was available to foreigners I think some experience would be absolutely necessary, like being a farmer.

(5) AdSense. Great if you're a blogger.

(6) Run a guesthouse or restaurant. Think you may have to be fairly successful already to be in position to do that (which defeats the object of the exercise).

All in all some very useful suggestions. Don't give up your day job, I don't think business consulting's for you.

[54321]

The heading to this post indicated that there would be ideas for successfully making money (which suggests making a reasonable amount) in Thailand. Your ideas are:-

(1) Teaching. No, I don't think so. It may be possible to just get by.

(2) Flog stuff on eBay. Never tried it or know anyone who has, successfully. Maybe you're right but got a feeling you're not.

(3) Sell timeshare. You can't be serious!

(4) Farming. That would be agriculture which is a restricted occupation. If it was available to foreigners I think some experience would be absolutely necessary, like being a farmer.

(5) AdSense. Great if you're a blogger.

(6) Run a guesthouse or restaurant. Think you may have to be fairly successful already to be in position to do that (which defeats the object of the exercise).

All in all some very useful suggestions. Don't give up your day job, I don't think business consulting's for you.

you are quite correct. I am sure more than half of the postings here are by interested parties to "drive footfall"

[somo]

Private teaching can be rewarding. Knew a Japanese guy who taught english! Earnt 100k/month doing it privately but took him a few years of low paid school work to build his biz.

Ebay - know one guy who makes a reasonable living but also 4 others who gave it a go and failed to make enough money.

Farming - My wife and I have some land and grow cassava profitably but to make decent money ie 100k/month you will need to invest over 10 million Baht and a lot of time initially. Not something most people can just try out and walk away from if they can't hack it.

Check out the farming forum and most members there will tell you to forget it. Very few make enough.

[fletchsmile]

On teaching my observation is that Thais respect older people as part of their culture, so for an older person/ retiree looking for some extra cash it could be useful. Similarly as a first step while looking around in Thailand it could be a reasonable start while looking around for what's next. I have a TEFL certificate tucked away for the future in case I fancy doing it later in life. I did a course down in Ban Phe which I thoroughly enjoyed and made some good friends. So for me teaching English is a first or last step, or perhaps a fall back. I wouldn't want to raise a wife and 2 kids on it though and live the life I want, even though I'd enjoy the teaching. International School teaching as a qualified teacher would be a different ball game, and having your kids in school for free being an excellent perk.

So for me, it's stick to what I know and be flexible. When I used to work similar job to where I came from, just being an expert in my field here compared to locally.

Then doing the other thing I do best and enjoy: investment. Ignore all the doom mongers and don't invest in Thailand blah blah blah. Invested in Thai mutual funds just like back home, I used to do with western mutual funds/ units trusts. Started with Aberdeen Growth, up +1,450% since December 2000.

I don't know much about property, running bars, running guesthouses, or e-bay, so wouldn't expect to be an expert on them here just because I'm in Thailand. That said if needs must and my family depended on it I'd learn quickly, but better stick to what you know. Accept some things you're good at and acknowledge some people will be much better than you on others so don't try and copy what you don't understand.

Cheers

Fletch

[fletchsmile]

On teaching my observation is that Thais respect older people as part of their culture, so for an older person/ retiree looking for some extra cash it could be useful. Similarly as a first step while looking around in Thailand it could be a reasonable start while looking around for what's next. I have a TEFL certificate tucked away for the future in case I fancy doing it later in life. I did a course down in Ban Phe which I thoroughly enjoyed and made some good friends. So for me teaching English is a first or last step, or perhaps a fall back. I wouldn't want to raise a wife and 2 kids on it though and live the life I want, even though I'd enjoy the teaching. International School teaching as a qualified teacher would be a different ball game, and having your kids in school for free being an excellent perk.

So for me, it's stick to what I know and be flexible. When I used to work similar job to where I came from, just being an expert in my field here compared to locally.

Then doing the other thing I do best and enjoy: investment. Ignore all the doom mongers and don't invest in Thailand blah blah blah. Invested in Thai mutual funds just like back home, I used to do with western mutual funds/ units trusts. Started with Aberdeen Growth, up +1,450% since December 2000.

I don't know much about property, running bars, running guesthouses, or e-bay, so wouldn't expect to be an expert on them here just because I'm in Thailand. That said if needs must and my family depended on it I'd learn quickly, but better stick to what you know. Accept some things you're good at and acknowledge some people will be much better than you on others so don't try and copy what you don't understand.

Cheers

Fletch

[BrianCR]

Private teaching can be rewarding. Knew a Japanese guy who taught english! Earnt 100k/month doing it privately but took him a few years of low paid school work to build his biz.

Ebay - know one guy who makes a reasonable living but also 4 others who gave it a go and failed to make enough money.

Farming - My wife and I have some land and grow cassava profitably but to make decent money ie 100k/month you will need to invest over 10 million Baht and a lot of time initially. Not something most people can just try out and walk away from if they can't hack it.

Check out the farming forum and most members there will tell you to forget it. Very few make enough.

Totally illegal, and against the rules but, the mods will let it go

[ThailandInvestmentGuide]

After reading the OP's list, TV members might be interested in getting a book by Philip Wylie called (something like) "How to make money in Thailand" ... I assume it will be available online somewhere. It deals with the same ideas plus a few others, in more detail.

I would suggest though, taking a step back and thinking about your whole financial 'big picture' and then working through a structured process to decide the best way/s forward ... rather than zooming straight in and focussing on a specific money-making (losing?) idea. Either way the single most important thing is to do your homework first. So many of the bad experiences I have heard about were wholly (or at least, mainly) due to people rushing in with a 'great idea', too lazy, impatient or egotistical to read widely and talk to others with first-hand experience.

Edited May 15, 2013 by ThailandInvestmentGuide

[Chittychangchang]

7, Another possibility is diving instructor.
There are many variable involved regarding how much you earn including the contract you have, if you are a full time employee, if you earn a salary and commission, or you work just on commission. The most popular is salary and commission, this normally works out well for all concerned.

Although new instructors, by definition do not have much experience they are in demand as:

New instructors will have more enthusiasm than an instructor who has been teaching for a number of years they will "never" get bored of teaching DSDs or OW courses. If and experienced instrutor was to teach a DSD tomorrow they would not have the same enthusiasm that a brand new instructor would.

New instructors are much easier to "mould" into the kind of employee that the Dive Center owner or Course Director wants in their dive center.

Once you pass your IDC and IE and get yourself out there you would stand a very good chance of getting work, obviously this depends on your personality and if your face fits.

On average on Phi Phi rent for a bungalow is about 6,000 - 8,000 THB per month for long term rental of a bungalow and full time instructors earn about 30- 40,000 THB.

If you looked for a 12 month average, and again it does depend on where you are working as Phi Phi Instructors typically earn more than Phuket Instructors but the cost of living is higher, You should be looking at 30,000 to 40,000 THB per month.

High season may be up round 40 to 60,000 THB. Low season maybe 25 to 30,000 depending how low and of course who you are working for and what your contract is.

CCC

[MrWorldwide]

The heading to this post indicated that there would be ideas for successfully making money (which suggests making a reasonable amount) in Thailand. Your ideas are:-

(1) Teaching. No, I don't think so. It may be possible to just get by.

(2) Flog stuff on eBay. Never tried it or know anyone who has, successfully. Maybe you're right but got a feeling you're not.

(3) Sell timeshare. You can't be serious!

(4) Farming. That would be agriculture which is a restricted occupation. If it was available to foreigners I think some experience would be absolutely necessary, like being a farmer.

(5) AdSense. Great if you're a blogger.

(6) Run a guesthouse or restaurant. Think you may have to be fairly successful already to be in position to do that (which defeats the object of the exercise).

All in all some very useful suggestions. Don't give up your day job, I don't think business consulting's for you.

I know two TGs who will tell you otherwise re E-Bay but they can have it. I spent 3 hours at Chatuchak one weekend and swore 'never again' - I guess that's what separates the doers from the dreamers, but they see it as 'easy money'. I don't know about any of the other males on this forum, but my idea of 'shopping' is : know what you want, go to a shop and buy it. Apparently that doesn't guarantee you the best possible outcome - who knew, right ?

The only (ad funded) bloggers I'm familiar with are in the high-end audio domain, and many claim that no-one would ever choose that subject if they were looking to make money : my interpretation is that any ad revenue pays for the ongoing maintenance of their blog and the real kickback is that they are sent components for review and build contacts that give them advance warning of new gear etc. Whatever you think of Stickman;s site, his dissatisfaction with having to constantly report on the nightlife is abundantly clear - my tip would be to write about something you genuinely love and actively participate in. My other tip would be to have someone proof-read everything you publish - no-one particularly cares about typos on a forum, but it's different on a site festooned with advertising.

If I was going to blog, it would need to be at this level, and I know the owner of this blog didn't arrive at this level overnight ...

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/

Chris has to appease two sets of absolute zealots - audiophiles and computer geeks - and he does it with style. Aside from the odd typo and a glitch with his 'Comments' section, I find the website a real pleasure to navigate, and that is extremely rare in my experience. Most of the template-driven sites fall down as soon as the site owner runs into something he can't handle, and we have all had the underwhelming experience of being confronted with a raw PHP or database error message on a site that isn't well maintained - I have never had that experience on Chris' site. Anyone contemplating starting a blog should spend a few hours looking at the competition before sitting down at that keyboard.

[yoshiwara]

Re: The 6 million dollar question is "How can i legitimately stay, work, live successfully in Thailand?"

All the options discussed are dead ducks. And so is the question. Why anybody with no indicated career experience, no indicated work experience, no indicated qualifications appropriate to a career anywhere expects to make a success particularly in Thailand is beyond comprehension. All that remains is hand to mouth language teaching for an individual who has expressed zero vocational interest in this area other than that it facilitates staying in Thailand. Time shares? Ebay? Hopeless. The guys who can have an appropriate expectation of working in Thailand are those with appropriate skills and experience such as engineers in the oil industry or those with specialist financial expertise ie they have skills in demand from Thailand or other countries. Starting with Thailand and then working backwards is putting the cart before the horse, but hey! nothing will stop you whatever the options and that is shame but its a long queue.

Edited May 17, 2013 by yoshiwara

[MrWorldwide]

Right, so clearly the best strategy is to go straight to the nearest bar and get so hammered that we wont feel a thing when we leap from the balcony of our Pattaya condo, right ? Whew - finally a clear and concise roadmap for the future.

[yoshiwara]

Right, so clearly the best strategy is to go straight to the nearest bar and get so hammered that we wont feel a thing when we leap from the balcony of our Pattaya condo, right ? Whew - finally a clear and concise roadmap for the future.

Thailand is stuffed full of washed up graduates with irrelevant degrees and 6 months TEFL experience drifting around going nowhere. And endlessly whining on and on about 'what can I do?' A bit like jumping of that balcony in slow-mo. Nice girlfriend though.

[mccw]

@ Yoshi

Some people love Thailand ; some people love thier woman and want to find a way to stay together; some people put life style and surroundings before riches. Why not.?

Dive instructor; TEFL are two easily doable options, not going to make a fortune but can live a decent life. Business can follow if worked out properly. Drive instructor of many years comes to be dive shop or school owner, teacher starts an institute or moves in to management or something similar. Another thing not mentioned is project management- there are often adverts for paid positions at charities if you have correct qualifications. Hospitality is another option with a bit of training.

My friend school pal went to Thailand traveling with 8,000 great British pounds in his pocket 12 years ago and turned that in to today's x2 restaurants, a bar and a club. Pretty good goin for an uneducated council estate boy out of Kent. By your dumb logic everybody should not bother trying and just stay home doing what ever Menial work that happen to be qualified for; or go back to study for oil and gas or accounting as if big bucks are the only ones worth casing. I've seen this again and again with you, you must have some issues with your youth being spent knuckled down and missing out and now you try to advocate that that is the only way possible to make yourself feel better

[yoshiwara]

@ Yoshi

Some people love Thailand ; some people love thier woman and want to find a way to stay together; some people put life style and surroundings before riches. Why not.?

Dive instructor; TEFL are two easily doable options, not going to make a fortune but can live a decent life. Business can follow if worked out properly. Drive instructor of many years comes to be dive shop or school owner, teacher starts an institute or moves in to management or something similar. Another thing not mentioned is project management- there are often adverts for paid positions at charities if you have correct qualifications. Hospitality is another option with a bit of training.

My friend school pal went to Thailand traveling with 8,000 great British pounds in his pocket 12 years ago and turned that in to today's x2 restaurants, a bar and a club. Pretty good goin for an uneducated council estate boy out of Kent. By your dumb logic everybody should not bother trying and just stay home doing what ever Menial work that happen to be qualified for; or go back to study for oil and gas or accounting as if big bucks are the only ones worth casing. I've seen this again and again with you, you must have some issues with your youth being spent knuckled down and missing out and now you try to advocate that that is the only way possible to make yourself feel better

@ Yoshi

Some people love Thailand ; some people love thier woman and want to find a way to stay together; some people put life style and surroundings before riches. Why not.?

Dive instructor; TEFL are two easily doable options, not going to make a fortune but can live a decent life. Business can follow if worked out properly. Drive instructor of many years comes to be dive shop or school owner, teacher starts an institute or moves in to management or something similar. Another thing not mentioned is project management- there are often adverts for paid positions at charities if you have correct qualifications. Hospitality is another option with a bit of training.

My friend school pal went to Thailand traveling with 8,000 great British pounds in his pocket 12 years ago and turned that in to today's x2 restaurants, a bar and a club. Pretty good goin for an uneducated council estate boy out of Kent. By your dumb logic everybody should not bother trying and just stay home doing what ever Menial work that happen to be qualified for; or go back to study for oil and gas or accounting as if big bucks are the only ones worth casing. I've seen this again and again with you, you must have some issues with your youth being spent knuckled down and missing out and now you try to advocate that that is the only way possible to make yourself feel better

Rare as hen's teeth. Follow the money and qualifications every time. Most of the lifestyle baloney is just self indulgent nonsense. The young guys wasting their youth slowly and surely and nothing to show for it at the end except luurve.

[mccw]

Not every one is academically gifted. Trying differencing entrepreneurial ideas or even just getting by in Thailand sure beats the just getting by as another zombie drone on the bottom end in falang land or worse still being unemployed. At least in Thailand with hardly any qualifications you as a falang can earn the same like a very good Thai wage and live much better than a lowly western wage would give you in more high cost of living countries. Its not for every one but I certainly wouldn't say those that chose such a life are wasting thier time. Life is subjective and however can be happy is really the goal isn't it. Just some people could do with balancing immediate happiness/ comfort with the long term happiness, but each to their own and good luck to em.

[mccw]

Life style choice is not "baloney" at all.

Why does a businessman retire early once he feels its enough?

I know UK teachers who chose that route due to the short days and long holidays to travel in. Many example i could go through. Not everybody wants to be an accountant or O&G engineer Yoshi! You really have a terrible problem with the narrow thinking Man

Edited May 19, 2013 by mccw

[Phronesis]

The title of this thread is an oxymoron.

[Riverman63]

Perhaps the title should be changed to making a living?

[yoshiwara]

Life style choice is not "baloney" at all. Why does a businessman retire early once he feels its enough? I know UK teachers who chose that route due to the short days and long holidays to travel in. Many example i could go through. Not everybody wants to be an accountant or O&G engineer Yoshi! You really have a terrible problem with the narrow thinking Man

No more long holidays and short days for teachers. A myth. As for narrow thinking its called focus and stop day-dreaming. Edited May 20, 2013 by yoshiwara

[yoshiwara]

Perhaps the title should be changed to making a living?

Or pratting around in Thailand when younger when one should be earning a living.

[mccw]

Life style choice is not "baloney" at all. Why does a businessman retire early once he feels its enough? I know UK teachers who chose that route due to the short days and long holidays to travel in. Many example i could go through. Not everybody wants to be an accountant or O&G engineer Yoshi! You really have a terrible problem with the narrow thinking Man

No more long holidays and short days for teachers. A myth. As for narrow thinking its called focus and stop day-dreaming.

My bro works in a London Private school- 10 week paid holiday over the summer, 3 weeks at Easter and 4 over X-mass, finished at 4:30pm. He could have a lot more money if he went for career in the city instead; but I can see why he chose teaching. Saved enough to buy a London flat to give for rent to boost income and looking to teach overseas Asia or South America inter school for be interesting place and culture. Fair play to him.

Personally after travelling every year since 16 I eventually realised there was no way i was interested in kissing ass and working 9-5 standard. I was never able to stay in that kinda job more than 5-6months. I dropped out of Uni to go the entrepreneurs route and I'm not doing too badly for myself either. Its much easier and more rewarding to work harder for yourself than less for someone else. That's just me. The world needs worker bees also so I'm not knocking them but its no bad thing to go a different way.

Edited May 20, 2013 by mccw

[yoshiwara]

Life style choice is not "baloney" at all. Why does a businessman retire early once he feels its enough? I know UK teachers who chose that route due to the short days and long holidays to travel in. Many example i could go through. Not everybody wants to be an accountant or O&G engineer Yoshi! You really have a terrible problem with the narrow thinking Man

No more long holidays and short days for teachers. A myth. As for narrow thinking its called focus and stop day-dreaming.

My bro works in a London Private school- 10 week paid holiday over the summer, 3 weeks at Easter and 4 over X-mass, finished at 4:30pm. He could have a lot more money if he went for career in the city instead; but I can see why he chose teaching. Saved enough to buy a London flat to give for rent to boost income and looking to teach overseas Asia or South America inter school for be interesting place and culture. Fair play to him.

Personally after travelling every year since 16 I eventually realised there was no way i was interested in kissing ass and working 9-5 standard. I was never able to stay in that kinda job more than 5-6months. I dropped out of Uni to go the entrepreneurs route and I'm not doing too badly for myself either. Its much easier and more rewarding to work harder for yourself than less for someone else. That's just me. The world needs worker bees also so I'm not knocking them but its no bad thing to go a different way.

He's telling you porky-pies re hours and time. Or you are making it up. Or it is a rubbish school off the radar.

Edited May 20, 2013 by yoshiwara

[mccw]

You know nothing obviously Yoshi.

The state schools (the ones you'd probably consider rubbish) have shorter holidays (but finish at 3:30pm) ; many private schools still have long holidays like this, his is no exception. Often it works out that the posher the school the longer the holidays are. Hours per day are often a bit longer for the higher up academic staff but not for him.