California Couple Moves To Thailand To Avoid The Financial Stress of Living In The US
MADELINE STONE

BANGKOK: -- Eight months ago, Jeff Johns and girlfriend Marina Dominguez made a decision that would change their lives forever. They packed up their belongings, bid goodbye to their friends and family, and headed to paradise: Phuket, Thailand.

But this move wasn't about taking a vacation — for the couple, moving abroad was a financial decision they felt they had to make.

After graduating with degrees in visual journalism from Brooks Institute in 2010, Jeff and Marina struggled to make ends meet. The short-term freelance jobs they worked were low-paying and unreliable, and they faced thousands of dollars of student loan debt with no foreseeable way to pay them.

"With my struggle to find steady income, working for a production company's office in their backyard, and the very sobering reality that in our current positions we were never going to climb out of our debt, let alone save for a wedding, a house or a family we had to change the paradigm we had found ourselves in," Jeff said in an email to Business Insider. "The facts were simple, we couldn't afford not to move abroad."

Full story: http://www.businessinsider.com/couple-moved-to-thailand-to-avoid-us-financial-struggles-2013-10

-- BUSINESS INSIDER 2013-11-13

Why bring that story here?

Telling the expats in Thailand how well off they are?

They could have moved to any other state and lived cheaper then California. To say they moved to Thailand because it is cheaper to live in Thailand is asinine. I lived in Michigan and it cost me the same to live here as it did in Michigan. The only thing cheaper in Thailand is labor and medical.

Have you tried buying a car lately or a computer or go buy some petrol for your car. The big difference in cost is you can buy

cheap china products that USA does not allow in country.

I'll give them a year... any takers?

Wishing them all the luck, but I did already knew that, I live here too

Wonder how they sorted the work permits?

So this is about a couple of graduates who ripped off their banks by doing a runner to Thailand and not paying back their student loans.

Life is hard isn't it.

They have run away from what they call a struggle? This is no different a situation than most young people breaking out into the real world from mummy and daddy's financial apron strings have to endure.

It's called building a life from the bottom up and we all had to do it. They are not running from the stress of living in California and their student loans, they are running away from life itself.

They won't last a year here with that attitude.

This story does not belong here. It is not news to anyone.

So this is about a couple of graduates who ripped off their banks by doing a runner to Thailand and not paying back their student loans.

 

Life is hard isn't it.

 

They have run away from what they call a struggle? This is no different a situation than most young people breaking out into the real world from mummy and daddy's financial apron strings have to endure.

 

It's called building a life from the bottom up and we all had to do it. They are not running from the stress of living in California and their student loans, they are running away from life itself.

 

They won't last a year here with that attitude.

 

This story does not belong here. It is not news to anyone.

 

 

Did you bothet to read the article because it says they are paying off the student loans.

Slow learners these two. The money for their degrees well spent I see.

Good luck for them.

Business Insider??

A story about a couple not able to face up realities, fleeing their responsibities!!

Good Us taxpayer money wasted on their "educations".

Good luck to both of them and best wishes to make a new life.

They could have moved to any other state and lived cheaper then California. To say they moved to Thailand because it is cheaper to live in Thailand is asinine. I lived in Michigan and it cost me the same to live here as it did in Michigan. The only thing cheaper in Thailand is labor and medical.

Have you tried buying a car lately or a computer or go buy some petrol for your car. The big difference in cost is you can buy

cheap china products that USA does not allow in country.

Yes I have. I don't need a car to live here because the public transportation is so good and available, saving me quite a bit of cash. Yes I bought a computer here quite a bit cheaper because of the software included. All in all I spend 500% less for the same lifestyle as the States.

So this is about a couple of graduates who ripped off their banks by doing a runner to Thailand and not paying back their student loans.

Life is hard isn't it.

They have run away from what they call a struggle? This is no different a situation than most young people breaking out into the real world from mummy and daddy's financial apron strings have to endure.

It's called building a life from the bottom up and we all had to do it. They are not running from the stress of living in California and their student loans, they are running away from life itself.

They won't last a year here with that attitude.

This story does not belong here. It is not news to anyone.

Did you bothet to read the article because it says they are paying off the student loans.

Yes I did read it, but obviously not in the same way you read it. So I re-read it and can't see where it conclusively says that they are paying off their loans. It does say that they couldn't repay their loans, so were leaving to go and live in a country that pays a lot less than the salary rates of California.

It also does not conclusively say that they are now able to pay off their loans as a result of moving to Thailand.

I suppose you are assuming that they are skipping to the other side of the world in order to repay their loans. But I would be willing to bet that given the distance and the inability for the bank to effectively collect, that they will consider the debt as 'avoidable'.

I have already determined that these two people are totally irresponsible with their lives, because I think it is a huge mistake to come here for the reasons they stated. There are many other reasons to come, but their reason is a bit silly really.

How do you spend 500% less?

They could have moved to any other state and lived cheaper then California. To say they moved to Thailand because it is cheaper to live in Thailand is asinine. I lived in Michigan and it cost me the same to live here as it did in Michigan. The only thing cheaper in Thailand is labor and medical.

Have you tried buying a car lately or a computer or go buy some petrol for your car. The big difference in cost is you can buy

cheap china products that USA does not allow in country.

Yes I have. I don't need a car to live here because the public transportation is so good and available, saving me quite a bit of cash. Yes I bought a computer here quite a bit cheaper because of the software included. All in all I spend 500% less for the same lifestyle as the States.

You can't even get the same lifestyle here as you can get in the States.

 

So this is about a couple of graduates who ripped off their banks by doing a runner to Thailand and not paying back their student loans.

 

Life is hard isn't it.

 

They have run away from what they call a struggle? This is no different a situation than most young people breaking out into the real world from mummy and daddy's financial apron strings have to endure.

 

It's called building a life from the bottom up and we all had to do it. They are not running from the stress of living in California and their student loans, they are running away from life itself.

 

They won't last a year here with that attitude.

 

This story does not belong here. It is not news to anyone.

 

 

Did you bothet to read the article because it says they are paying off the student loans.

 

 

Yes I did read it, but obviously not in the same way you read it. So I re-read it and can't see where it conclusively says that they are paying off their loans. It does say that they couldn't repay their loans, so were leaving to go and live in a country that pays a lot less than the salary rates of California.

 

It also does not conclusively say that they are now able to pay off their loans as a result of moving to Thailand.

 

I suppose you are assuming that they are skipping to the other side of the world in order to repay their loans. But I would be willing to bet that given the distance and the inability for the bank to effectively collect, that they will consider the debt as 'avoidable'.

 

I have already determined that these two people are totally irresponsible with their lives, because I think it is a huge mistake to come here for the reasons they stated. There are many other reasons to come, but their reason is a bit silly really.

 

Click on the link and read tge fifth paragraph. It says they are paying off the loans.

They could have moved to any other state and lived cheaper then California. To say they moved to Thailand because it is cheaper to live in Thailand is asinine. I lived in Michigan and it cost me the same to live here as it did in Michigan. The only thing cheaper in Thailand is labor and medical.

Have you tried buying a car lately or a computer or go buy some petrol for your car. The big difference in cost is you can buy

cheap china products that USA does not allow in country.

Yes I have. I don't need a car to live here because the public transportation is so good and available, saving me quite a bit of cash. Yes I bought a computer here quite a bit cheaper because of the software included. All in all I spend 500% less for the same lifestyle as the States.

You can't even get the same lifestyle here as you can get in the States.

Don't knock the aging metro areas of the USA. I know Thailand has a lot that is not available in the States but some people like the USA and good for them. Thailand does not have room for that many new people.

So this is about a couple of graduates who ripped off their banks by doing a runner to Thailand and not paying back their student loans.

Life is hard isn't it.

They have run away from what they call a struggle? This is no different a situation than most young people breaking out into the real world from mummy and daddy's financial apron strings have to endure.

It's called building a life from the bottom up and we all had to do it. They are not running from the stress of living in California and their student loans, they are running away from life itself.

They won't last a year here with that attitude.

This story does not belong here. It is not news to anyone.

Ignoring your knee jerk reaction to an article you obviously didn't read, have you ever thought that some people do not want to live their life as you do, or did. They are running away from the stress of California, not life itself. There are other parts of the world which are far less stressful than California (though personally I wouldn't have picked Phuket as a refuge)

If life in California is to be judged as the de facto standard of "life" than we're all in deep kak. If they can get away with bumming around the world doing video editing and freelance photography, Fair Play to them.

Why is it all "old" or should I now say "middle aged" (and I could be considered around that perceived age bracket) people who feel they have the "superiority" to determine how others should live their lives? I know that not everybody can do this sort of thing but why not leave those who can, alone.

I always remember being asked how I could do "it" (leave a very good job in a in a huge corporation) when I went walkabout. It's easy, just resign and walk out. As they say "even a journey of a thousand miles"

Some of those who dream, condemn, those who can, do.

Edited November 13, 201312 yr by fab4

Click on the link and read tge fifth paragraph. It says they are paying off the loans.

I didn't read the article in the link.... my bad.

As you were.

Sounds like a case of bar stool investment counseling done mad. Save money - live in Phuket, Thailand. Please do a follow up story on this one.

What are they going to do for jobs here?. Teach English for 800 baht a day? I suppose with two of them they can pool enough money to live comfortably in Phuket.

Theyre not going to like the expensive cars,.petrol and filthy streets.

Lets have a follow up to this story in 12 months.

They could have moved to any other state and lived cheaper then California. To say they moved to Thailand because it is cheaper to live in Thailand is asinine. I lived in Michigan and it cost me the same to live here as it did in Michigan. The only thing cheaper in Thailand is labor and medical.

Have you tried buying a car lately or a computer or go buy some petrol for your car. The big difference in cost is you can buy

cheap china products that USA does not allow in country.

Yes I have. I don't need a car to live here because the public transportation is so good and available, saving me quite a bit of cash. Yes I bought a computer here quite a bit cheaper because of the software included. All in all I spend 500% less for the same lifestyle as the States.

You can't even get the same lifestyle here as you can get in the States.

Don't knock the aging metro areas of the USA. I know Thailand has a lot that is not available in the States but some people like the USA and good for them. Thailand does not have room for that many new people.

Who are you to decide whether Thailand has enough room for more people?

If you can't live and let live, then just die already.

they could have moved to a different state and would have been the same. But in The USA they would want to buy a new car and sit in traffic for hours. Always strange how people can give up cars and cable Tv when they move to another country but they never did that while at home. Travel in this area is cheap- but go out and buy a car and not a cheap motorcycle and you are back to square one.(oh and they work from home here- I assume could not or did not do that back in USA)

I guess for some reason people tend to spend less when working in a foreign country.(car vs motorcycle or even public transport)

If they think living in California is financially stressful, wait until they have to file their first income tax returns as self employed people living overseas, and deal with FICA for the overseas self employed.

I'm forecasting beans and wienies, and a lot of peanut butter.

Also kind of interesting that they would allow an article to be published about them breaking Thai work permit laws, and put them on the radar for the Thai tax authorities.

As others have mentioned, they could have saved just as much money by moving almost anywhere in the USA but California.

Edited November 13, 201312 yr by impulse

Man, they didn't know what the word stress really means,until they moved to Thailand.

So this is about a couple of graduates who ripped off their banks by doing a runner to Thailand and not paying back their student loans.

Life is hard isn't it.

They have run away from what they call a struggle? This is no different a situation than most young people breaking out into the real world from mummy and daddy's financial apron strings have to endure.

It's called building a life from the bottom up and we all had to do it. They are not running from the stress of living in California and their student loans, they are running away from life itself.

They won't last a year here with that attitude.

This story does not belong here. It is not news to anyone.

Did you bothet to read the article because it says they are paying off the student loans.

Yes I did read it, but obviously not in the same way you read it. So I re-read it and can't see where it conclusively says that they are paying off their loans. It does say that they couldn't repay their loans, so were leaving to go and live in a country that pays a lot less than the salary rates of California.

It also does not conclusively say that they are now able to pay off their loans as a result of moving to Thailand.

I suppose you are assuming that they are skipping to the other side of the world in order to repay their loans. But I would be willing to bet that given the distance and the inability for the bank to effectively collect, that they will consider the debt as 'avoidable'.

I have already determined that these two people are totally irresponsible with their lives, because I think it is a huge mistake to come here for the reasons they stated. There are many other reasons to come, but their reason is a bit silly really.

Click on the link and read tge fifth paragraph. It says they are paying off the loans.

Perhaps all start with very good intentions...

''For millions of federal student loan borrowers, they — like Simon‚ are also waiting for a miracle. According to a recent analysis from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), nearly half of the outstanding $1 trillion in federal student loan debt is not in a stage of repayment. This is compounded by the fact that one in every eight borrowers are currently in default of their loans.''

So they would be coming to Thailand for some kind of financial miracle. Certainly thinking that Buddha listens more to cries of help than J.C. is...

Wonder how they sorted the work permits?

'No money, No Honey' mate!

One morning they will wake up and realize that they've just spent ten dollars U.S. at Starbucks for a few cups of coffee and the dream will be over because they aren't sex tourists on holiday.

Best of luck and all that rot...

Yes I have. I don't need a car to live here because the public transportation is so good and available, saving me quite a bit of cash. Yes I bought a computer here quite a bit cheaper because of the software included. All in all I spend 500% less for the same lifestyle as the States.

The finest pirated software in Asia. Spending 500% less?....doesn't 100% less bring a person to zero cost?...my mind is I'm still trying to understand this 500% less quantum mechanics math for living costs.