If not retired - How have you funded living in Thailand?

[baneko]

Offshore

[tamsloon]

Offshore

[Cypress Hill]

Yeah work hard, save hard and hope you don't retire just after a meltdown in the equity and bond markets; then hit Thailand as a balding, overweight divorcée with hypertension looking for a young local who'll "love you for you"

Anyone under 40 who follows the old route laid out here by perfectly well-meaning people, could very well find Thailand way too rich for them in 20 years.

People are so convinced you can't earn good money in Thailand because they assume there will always be a huge difference in the value of the baht against other currencies.

You only need look at the exchange rate with the EUR and GBP now compared with 7 years ago to know that's a crock

[JB300]

Yeah work hard, save hard and hope you don't retire just after a meltdown in the equity and bond markets; then hit Thailand as a balding, overweight divorcée with hypertension looking for a young local who'll "love you for you"

Anyone under 40 who follows the old route laid out here by perfectly well-meaning people, could very well find Thailand way too rich for them in 20 years.

People are so convinced you can't earn good money in Thailand because they assume there will always be a huge difference in the value of the baht against other currencies.

You only need look at the exchange rate with the EUR and GBP now compared with 7 years ago to know that's a crock

True & you could just as easily find yourself like the guy I was talking to on my last trip to Bangkok who was trying to get a job back in the UK but every company was looking at his 10 years in Thailand/BKK with a bit of a snigger (his words, not mine).

FWIW, I made my "Early Retirement" money (more accurately doubled it as I'd already retired once at 40 but wasn't mentally prepared to stop working & was climbing the walls after 3 months) from 6 1/2 years working in Singapore (plus picking up bargains during the GFC) & would recommend to the OP that they look for roles there or HK or Tokyo etc... & have the best of both worlds.

[willyumiii]

If not working for an out of the country company, it will be very difficult.

Without specialized, needed skills you may find employment in Thailand that will pay you a modest living wage at Thailand's low cost of living.

Remember, Thailand prohibits foreigners form working in many occupations that can be filled by Thai people.

You will probably never find employment here that will allow you to invest or save for your future.

What will you do when you are too old to be employed?

In many cases Thailand considers 35 years old too old to hire!

A person in his 20s, 30s or 40's should probably not put all of his eggs in the basket called Thailand.

Plan well, or this could be you...

[dageurreotype]

No one selling Kamagra and copy football tops?????

No. Only you

[fey]

Yeah work hard, save hard and hope you don't retire just after a meltdown in the equity and bond markets; then hit Thailand as a balding, overweight divorcée with hypertension looking for a young local who'll "love you for you"

Anyone under 40 who follows the old route laid out here by perfectly well-meaning people, could very well find Thailand way too rich for them in 20 years.

People are so convinced you can't earn good money in Thailand because they assume there will always be a huge difference in the value of the baht against other currencies.

You only need look at the exchange rate with the EUR and GBP now compared with 7 years ago to know that's a crock

Interesting. I'm looking up the exchange rate tables now in the archives. Stay tuned for my lecture coming shortly that will discuss the previous 10 years of exchange rate for those who are interested.

Where's that mai thai?

[ev1lchris]

If not working for an out of the country company, it will be very difficult.

Without specialized, needed skills you may find employment in Thailand that will pay you a modest living wage at Thailand's low cost of living.

Remember, Thailand prohibits foreigners form working in many occupations that can be filled by Thai people.

You will probably never find employment here that will allow you to invest or save for your future.

What will you do when you are too old to be employed?

In many cases Thailand considers 35 years old too old to hire!

A person in his 20s, 30s or 40's should probably not put all of his eggs in the basket called Thailand.

Plan well, or this could be you...

Foreigners-Homeless-in-Thailand.jpg

I agree. I don't see how people can spend years here working at Thai government schools. Personally I couldn't put my faith in a Thai employer. They can't run shit.

I'm going back to the USA to learn programming.

[JB300]

If not working for an out of the country company, it will be very difficult.

Without specialized, needed skills you may find employment in Thailand that will pay you a modest living wage at Thailand's low cost of living.

Remember, Thailand prohibits foreigners form working in many occupations that can be filled by Thai people.

You will probably never find employment here that will allow you to invest or save for your future.

What will you do when you are too old to be employed?

In many cases Thailand considers 35 years old too old to hire!

A person in his 20s, 30s or 40's should probably not put all of his eggs in the basket called Thailand.

Plan well, or this could be you...

Foreigners-Homeless-in-Thailand.jpg

I agree. I don't see how people can spend years here working at Thai government schools. Personally I couldn't put my faith in a Thai employer. They can't run shit.

I'm going back to the USA to learn programming.

OUCH!!! I wouldn't do that... Do you know how many "Programmers" India & China (Philippines & Vietnam now getting in on the act) churn out each year who will do the job for a fraction of what you'd be looking for.

Be at the higher end of the food chain (Architect, Designer, PM) or write your own mobile apps to sell, but don't be a programming grunt (no offense, I spent almost 10 years between 1988-98 writing/hacking code & know how hard it is to do #well#, I loved doing it but that boat has well & truly sailed).

[zierf1]

Freelance work aka "digital nomad".

[rwdrwdrwd]

I agree. I don't see how people can spend years here working at Thai government schools. Personally I couldn't put my faith in a Thai employer. They can't run shit.

I'm going back to the USA to learn programming.

OUCH!!! I wouldn't do that... Do you know how many "Programmers" India & China (Philippines & Vietnam now getting in on the act) churn out each year who will do the job for a fraction of what you'd be looking for.

Be at the higher end of the food chain (Architect, Designer, PM) or write your own mobile apps to sell, but don't be a programming grunt (no offense, I spent almost 10 years between 1988-98 writing/hacking code & know how hard it is to do #well#, I loved doing it but that boat has well & truly sailed).

You'd be surprised, I know personally a number of people that currently work remotely from Thailand as programmers earning north of 100k USD.

They are senior level and very experienced of course, but there is plenty of well paid pure programming remote work for those who can show experience and ability - in fact I would say the number of remote opportunities has risen within the last 5 years, there are an increasing number of profitable western organisations that operate distributed teams and hire based upon skill not price.

There are many more, but Buffer are a particularly interesting example, since they are 100% remote and transparent regarding pay and equity for every team member (though I've seen higher at other places) - https://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries/

Edited May 19, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[ev1lchris]

I agree. I don't see how people can spend years here working at Thai government schools. Personally I couldn't put my faith in a Thai employer. They can't run shit.

I'm going back to the USA to learn programming.

OUCH!!! I wouldn't do that... Do you know how many "Programmers" India & China (Philippines & Vietnam now getting in on the act) churn out each year who will do the job for a fraction of what you'd be looking for.

Be at the higher end of the food chain (Architect, Designer, PM) or write your own mobile apps to sell, but don't be a programming grunt (no offense, I spent almost 10 years between 1988-98 writing/hacking code & know how hard it is to do #well#, I loved doing it but that boat has well & truly sailed).

You'd be surprised, I know personally a number of people that currently work remotely from Thailand as programmers earning north of 100k USD.

They are senior level and very experienced of course, but there is plenty of well paid pure programming remote work for those who can show experience and ability - in fact I would say the number of remote opportunities has risen within the last 5 years, there are an increasing number of profitable western organisations that operate distributed teams and hire based upon skill not price.

There are many more, but Buffer are a particularly interesting example, since they are 100% remote and transparent regarding pay and equity for every team member (though I've seen higher at other places) - https://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries/

Did you know that japanese penis size is at an all time low?

Lol, can I retire because of that?

[jspill]

I moved in my early 20s, been here nearly 6 years. I knew a lot about a hobby of mine, online poker, which at the time was booming around 2003 - 2009. So I applied for a freelance writing gig at a rakeback affiliate site in the industry. After a couple years asked them to put me on a permanent salary, around $2k/month. Then supplemented that income with other freelance writing, easy to find thanks to being able to show I had experience. Can find one article of mine Googling 'poker in Thailand', should be the first hit.

With the internet nowadays it really is as simple as that, find something you enjoy, and you'll be good at writing freelance web content about it, affiliate blogging about it, developing your own products about it, monetizing Youtube videos about it, selling ebooks about it, podcasting about it, or whatever approach you take. Google '200 ways to make money online'. May take a few years but with enough effort you'll be able to make $2k+ per month (some make much more) which is fine for Thailand. I save over 25% of that every month.

[JB300]

I agree. I don't see how people can spend years here working at Thai government schools. Personally I couldn't put my faith in a Thai employer. They can't run shit.

I'm going back to the USA to learn programming.

OUCH!!! I wouldn't do that... Do you know how many "Programmers" India & China (Philippines & Vietnam now getting in on the act) churn out each year who will do the job for a fraction of what you'd be looking for.

Be at the higher end of the food chain (Architect, Designer, PM) or write your own mobile apps to sell, but don't be a programming grunt (no offense, I spent almost 10 years between 1988-98 writing/hacking code & know how hard it is to do #well#, I loved doing it but that boat has well & truly sailed).

You'd be surprised, I know personally a number of people that currently work remotely from Thailand as programmers earning north of 100k USD.

They are senior level and very experienced of course, but there is plenty of well paid pure programming remote work for those who can show experience and ability - in fact I would say the number of remote opportunities has risen within the last 5 years, there are an increasing number of profitable western organisations that operate distributed teams and hire based upon skill not price.

There are many more, but Buffer are a particularly interesting example, since they are 100% remote and transparent regarding pay and equity for every team member (though I've seen higher at other places) - https://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries/

Point being that they're "Senior Level & Very Experienced" and no doubt have lots of connections from their previous career(s). Somebody just setting out on their programming career is looking at a minimum of 5-10 years to get to that level, assuming they can get a step on the ladder in the 1st place (Degree probably mandatory so add on another 3 years if you don't have a decent one).

Www.freelancer.com & www.upwork.com (was oDesk) are the 2 main sites I'm aware of for getting "remote" work, never used them as I'm not actively looking for work (& haven't written production level code for 12-14 years) but might be worth looking at to get a feel for the sorts of "Jobs" in demand.

I mentioned Mobile Apps may be a good area to get into, another interesting area (to me) is Automation (e.g. PowerShell on the Microsoft Platform) not as sexy as mobile apps but the potential for companies to save money & meet increasing regulatory demands around Logical Access Management & Control/Auditing of Privileged Access are huge, so feels like there will be a lot of demand for those kinds of skills.

Just my 2cents, having worked in IT for 27 years, I'm actually looking for something completely different, but happy to sit back & chillax for a while until I work out what...

Edited May 19, 2015 by JB300

[JB300]

Freelance work aka "digital nomad".

May I ask, "Doing What"?

[JLCrab]

Freelance work aka "digital nomad".

May I ask, "Doing What"?

Phishing still seems a popular online vocation.

[rwdrwdrwd]

You'd be surprised, I know personally a number of people that currently work remotely from Thailand as programmers earning north of 100k USD.

They are senior level and very experienced of course, but there is plenty of well paid pure programming remote work for those who can show experience and ability - in fact I would say the number of remote opportunities has risen within the last 5 years, there are an increasing number of profitable western organisations that operate distributed teams and hire based upon skill not price.

There are many more, but Buffer are a particularly interesting example, since they are 100% remote and transparent regarding pay and equity for every team member (though I've seen higher at other places) - https://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries/

Point being that they're "Senior Level & Very Experienced" and no doubt have lots of connections from their previous career(s). Somebody just setting out on their programming career is looking at a minimum of 5-10 years to get to that level, assuming they can get a step on the ladder in the 1st place (Degree probably mandatory so add on another 3 years if you don't have a decent one).

Www.freelancer.com & www.upwork.com (was oDesk) are the 2 main sites I'm aware of for getting "remote" work, never used them as I'm not actively looking for work (& haven't written production level code for 12-14 years) but might be worth looking at to get a feel for the sorts of "Jobs" in demand.

I mentioned Mobile Apps may be a good area to get into, another interesting area (to me) is Automation (e.g. PowerShell on the Microsoft Platform) not as sexy as mobile apps but the potential for companies to save money & meet increasing regulatory demands around Logical Access Management & Control/Auditing of Privileged Access are huge, so feels like there will be a lot of demand for those kinds of skills.

Just my 2cents, having worked in IT for 27 years, I'm actually looking for something completely different, but happy to sit back & chillax for a while until I work out what...

Yep - I agree with 5 - 10 years, but the poster who mentioned programming can likely do this if they are returning to the US to study. Degree is not essential, even these days, so long as there is a portfolio.

There are some other options to the freelance type sites that are more geared to long term roles, for example:

https://weworkremotely.com/

https://nomadjobs.io/

http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs?searchTerm=&type=any&location=&range=20&distanceUnits=Miles&allowsremote=true

These are also handy for seeing where demand is - currently Rails, Android, iOS and increasingly JavaScript - personally I would also expect to see lots more roles related to IoT and robotics in 5 years time, and JavaScript to lead demand.

Edited May 20, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[metisdead]

Offensive troll posts have been removed.

[ev1lchris]

You'd be surprised, I know personally a number of people that currently work remotely from Thailand as programmers earning north of 100k USD.

They are senior level and very experienced of course, but there is plenty of well paid pure programming remote work for those who can show experience and ability - in fact I would say the number of remote opportunities has risen within the last 5 years, there are an increasing number of profitable western organisations that operate distributed teams and hire based upon skill not price.

There are many more, but Buffer are a particularly interesting example, since they are 100% remote and transparent regarding pay and equity for every team member (though I've seen higher at other places) - https://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries/

Point being that they're "Senior Level & Very Experienced" and no doubt have lots of connections from their previous career(s). Somebody just setting out on their programming career is looking at a minimum of 5-10 years to get to that level, assuming they can get a step on the ladder in the 1st place (Degree probably mandatory so add on another 3 years if you don't have a decent one).

Www.freelancer.com & www.upwork.com (was oDesk) are the 2 main sites I'm aware of for getting "remote" work, never used them as I'm not actively looking for work (& haven't written production level code for 12-14 years) but might be worth looking at to get a feel for the sorts of "Jobs" in demand.

I mentioned Mobile Apps may be a good area to get into, another interesting area (to me) is Automation (e.g. PowerShell on the Microsoft Platform) not as sexy as mobile apps but the potential for companies to save money & meet increasing regulatory demands around Logical Access Management & Control/Auditing of Privileged Access are huge, so feels like there will be a lot of demand for those kinds of skills.

Just my 2cents, having worked in IT for 27 years, I'm actually looking for something completely different, but happy to sit back & chillax for a while until I work out what...

Yep - I agree with 5 - 10 years, but the poster who mentioned programming can likely do this if they are returning to the US to study. Degree is not essential, even these days, so long as there is a portfolio.

There are some other options to the freelance type sites that are more geared to long term roles, for example:

https://weworkremotely.com/

https://nomadjobs.io/

http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs?searchTerm=&type=any&location=&range=20&distanceUnits=Miles&allowsremote=true

These are also handy for seeing where demand is - currently Rails, Android, iOS and increasingly JavaScript - personally I would also expect to see lots more roles related to IoT and robotics in 5 years time, and JavaScript to lead demand.

Could someone be working remotely at the junior level?

[rwdrwdrwd]

Highly unlikely to be honest, at least, not whilst earning anything decent whatsoever - and you'd get very stuck in a rut at junior level. You're basically competing with interns.

I'd recommend you put 5 - 10 years in in the US and rise to senior level - maybe do one of the bootcamps and get a placement as a junior - low wage initially but big demand and rates but will increase quickly if you are decent. After 5 years you should be on 100k+ if you're in a tech heavy location (California, New York, Texas, Seattle). It is a major positive these days to have an open source presence, and be really visible - this will strongly aid your career and accelerate your progress.

Should highlight that you do actually need to be decent, it's not just going to be a case of doing a course, getting a junior role and then being patient - you need to be an autodidact and motivated to constantly learn new languages and tools.

You do have the option of starting your own thing and building a strong portfolio, and entering on a mid-senior level on the basis of this, but it's not easy to do, is unlikely to bring in any income for a long time (if ever), and also will not allow you to easily demonstrate teamwork or dev process experience, which are major factors.

Edited May 20, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[ev1lchris]

Highly unlikely to be honest, at least, not whilst earning anything decent whatsoever - and you'd get very stuck in a rut at junior level. You're basically competing with interns.

I'd recommend you put 5 - 10 years in in the US and rise to senior level - maybe do one of the bootcamps and get a placement as a junior - low wage initially but big demand and rates but will increase quickly if you are decent. After 5 years you should be on 100k+ if you're in a tech heavy location (California, New York, Texas, Seattle). It is a major positive these days to have an open source presence, and be really visible - this will strongly aid your career and accelerate your progress.

Should highlight that you do actually need to be decent, it's not just going to be a case of doing a course, getting a junior role and then being patient - you need to be an autodidact and motivated to constantly learn new languages and tools.

You do have the option of starting your own thing and building a strong portfolio, and entering on a mid-senior level on the basis of this, but it's not easy to do, is unlikely to bring in any income for a long time (if ever), and also will not allow you to easily demonstrate teamwork or dev process experience, which are major factors.

What if I became mainly a web developer and helped with content?

[fey]

Highly unlikely to be honest, at least, not whilst earning anything decent whatsoever - and you'd get very stuck in a rut at junior level. You're basically competing with interns.

I'd recommend you put 5 - 10 years in in the US and rise to senior level - maybe do one of the bootcamps and get a placement as a junior - low wage initially but big demand and rates but will increase quickly if you are decent. After 5 years you should be on 100k+ if you're in a tech heavy location (California, New York, Texas, Seattle). It is a major positive these days to have an open source presence, and be really visible - this will strongly aid your career and accelerate your progress.

Should highlight that you do actually need to be decent, it's not just going to be a case of doing a course, getting a junior role and then being patient - you need to be an autodidact and motivated to constantly learn new languages and tools.

You do have the option of starting your own thing and building a strong portfolio, and entering on a mid-senior level on the basis of this, but it's not easy to do, is unlikely to bring in any income for a long time (if ever), and also will not allow you to easily demonstrate teamwork or dev process experience, which are major factors.

What if I became mainly a web developer and helped with content?

Most interesting question. If you did that you would take on a web developing role. Your duties would focus mainly on developing great content.

Could you explain some of your strengths related to developing content. In what areas could you improve? Could you give us an example of your web developing as it relates to great content.

Edited May 20, 2015 by fey

[Cirencester]

No one selling Kamagra and copy football tops?????

Bizarrely only yesterday I had someone from FB offering me 1000 Valium/Diazapam for around £145 delivered in the uk. Obviously I declined but I did wonder how he knew that I was prescribed them occasionally for a back muscle problem

[Throatwobbler]

I spend my life as a Thai Visa warrior. Constantly looking to belittle and criticize the country that I have chosen to live in. I am so much better than them and I prove it by posting comments that just show my sad life. Of course not all people in Thailand are like this so I must carefully scour the threads to see if anyone is telling the lies that This is a good place to live. I have lived here longer than you so I know better than all of you.

Signed TV warrior (loser).

[ev1lchris]

Highly unlikely to be honest, at least, not whilst earning anything decent whatsoever - and you'd get very stuck in a rut at junior level. You're basically competing with interns.

I'd recommend you put 5 - 10 years in in the US and rise to senior level - maybe do one of the bootcamps and get a placement as a junior - low wage initially but big demand and rates but will increase quickly if you are decent. After 5 years you should be on 100k+ if you're in a tech heavy location (California, New York, Texas, Seattle). It is a major positive these days to have an open source presence, and be really visible - this will strongly aid your career and accelerate your progress.

Should highlight that you do actually need to be decent, it's not just going to be a case of doing a course, getting a junior role and then being patient - you need to be an autodidact and motivated to constantly learn new languages and tools.

You do have the option of starting your own thing and building a strong portfolio, and entering on a mid-senior level on the basis of this, but it's not easy to do, is unlikely to bring in any income for a long time (if ever), and also will not allow you to easily demonstrate teamwork or dev process experience, which are major factors.

What if I became mainly a web developer and helped with content?

Most interesting question. If you did that you would take on a web developing role. Your duties would focus mainly on developing great content.

Could you explain some of your strengths related to developing content. In what areas could you improve? Could you give us an example of your web developing as it relates to great content.

Back in the 90s I ran a few website. One was a Dwayne The Rock Johnson fan site. I thought I was hot stuff because I made an image map.

The problem is my HTML is 4.1. I still use tables. Depreciated tags. My coding is stuck in the 90s!

A plus is I'm a decade plus user of Photoshop. That hasn't changed nearly as much. I would make all my splash pages and graphics.

I want to get caught up with HTML5. I also want to learn Python and Ruby on Rails.

[jspill]

Freelance work aka "digital nomad".

May I ask, "Doing What"?

Phishing still seems a popular online vocation.

Lot of people do see 'working online' as all scams, porn, and instructional courses on how to make money on the internet. There is a lot of that but there are also endless scams in brick and mortar businesses too.

Basically though the possibilities with online businesses are limitless, you don't even need to sell products. There are teenagers on Youtube who just broadcast themselves playing video games and talking, the top ones make millions (e.g. PewDiePie). Others just make quick lifestyle advice videos like 'should I sleep with my boyfriend now he has herpes' or some trivial topic, and if they have enough viewers make a living out of it (e.g TheHodgeTwins) from a little in-video advertising that users don't even need to click, being on the page as an 'impression' is enough. Same with any kind of blog or website with ads on.

Edited May 20, 2015 by jspill

[Rocketsurgeon]

You cant make money building websites or copy writing especially if you are just getting into it. Same with programming at 30 years old. Forget it. If you are making money on Google ads, you're gonna have a bad life. Same with porn. No money.

The only way to make money online is to sell products or services.

Everything is going mobile, even search is modifying returns to favor mobile.

[Lukecan]

I work at a gay bar as a waiter.

I'm 6'0 160lbs

I live off tips.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Lukecan

[JLCrab]

There may be loads of legit ways to make money online. I have a very active non-ThaiVisa presence online but not about making money. That's not to say that I still don't get obvious phishing messages most of which end up in a Spam file so people must still find that approach yields results or they wouldn't be doing it.

[jspill]

There may be loads of legit ways to make money online. I have a very active non-ThaiVisa presence online but not about making money. That's not to say that I still don't get obvious phishing messages most of which end up in a Spam file so people must still find that approach yields results or they wouldn't be doing it.

It does yield results over time. As does the age old profession of being a conman face to face.