small money and being young but happy

[Thaidream]

I share the Op wanting to stay in Thailand and live the dream at a young age. Some people teach English or live as digital nomads and can earn 30-50K Baht which for most is a very livable wage in Thailand. How much you save if any is determined by your life style.As many of the posters mentioned- what happens when you reach 50 or over and the schools don't want you anymore or the digital nomad income starts to decline.

For an American, there is also having enough work credits to obtain Social Security. I never wanted to leave Thailand either but when the economy turned bad in the 90's I returned to the US for a lengthy period of work . In retrospect it was lucky I did as I earned enough credits to get my Social Security so I shall always have a source of income until the end.

I have several friends who are much younger in their 30s and 40s mostly from the US, Uk and Australia working in various jobs, some low paying. When we discuss this subject they really just want to enjoy their happiness and are not planning for the future.Most of them left their home countries because they were just too disgusted with the lack of advancement and opportunities. I then couple this with my own daughter in the US who is in her late 30's and just finished her Master's Degree. She owes the US government $240,000 for her education and it should take her 20 years to pay it off. She makes about $70K per year and would love to return to Thailand which is her birthplace. However, all her income goes to paying the government, housing and food. She is completely disgusted with the fact that she is saddled with such huge debt and the government does not offer much relief. She will probably get a decent Social Security payment when she retires which will probably be at the Age of 70. When I think of my young friends in Thailand enjoying their life with much less than my daughter has - I really wonder who has made the right choice.

[Don Mega]

the beach is free, thai women host, and i can cook noodles and eggs in the rice cooker, booze is easy .

just learned in kalgoorlie western australia long time is 1000 australian dollars to.

so im living a millionaires lifestyle and didnt know it.

In Pakistan you can get a whore for the night for $6.00. If you move there you can live like a billionaire !!

[phuketruski]

the beach is free, thai women host, and i can cook noodles and eggs in the rice cooker, booze is easy .

just learned in kalgoorlie western australia long time is 1000 australian dollars to.

so im living a millionaires lifestyle and didnt know it.

In Pakistan you can get a whore for the night for $6.00. If you move there you can live like a billionaire !!

pakistan is a dump

[mikiea]

So you are saying a young lad who cannot work a job to pay the bills/buy a house is better off in Thailand.

How does he support himself in Thailand ?

the same as he did back home , mommy and daddy will take care of him . young lad = lazy , shiftless , and poop for brains ..........

[SoiBiker]

There seems to be a certain amount of resentment from the older contingent towards those who choose to enjoy their prime years rather than working like a dog until they're too old to enjoy the spoils.

Leave the protestant work ethic in the west, chaps, and try not to envy those who're enjoying what you missed out on.

[NoshowJones]

There seems to be a certain amount of resentment from the older contingent towards those who choose to enjoy their prime years rather than working like a dog until they're too old to enjoy the spoils.

Leave the protestant work ethic in the west, chaps, and try not to envy those who're enjoying what you missed out on.

I do agree with you SB, but there is still the fact that these young people need to think about what they will do when they reach retirement age.

If they are able to contribute to a pension all their lives until they retire, then good on them.

[SoiBiker]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

[MaeJoMTB]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

If you aren't there, you certainly won't get one.

In the UK, even unemployed people get NI payments made for them.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was there, if you really wanted a job, you could get one ..... start at the bottom and work your way up.

Has something changed? is it the employment market or the work ethic?

Giving up in your 20s just looks like an excuse to me.

Edited October 24, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[Aussieroaming]

OP, you say that your old man worked, lived miserably and gambled all of his money away at the TAB, so you don't want that life. Easy, work hard, save your money and prove to your old man that you don't need to waste your life like he did. He's a step up from you, at least he worked and didn't want to cope out and bludge somewhere.

What you are failing to recognise is that the longer you hang around Thailand not working the further behind the 8 ball you put yourself financially and from a career perspective. A lot of us older guys aren't sitting here on our asses all year. I live here with my wife when I'm on R and R, the rest of my time is spent working to provide for my family. You might want to find a job that you enjoy and then you will find that work isn't the hardship you think it is.

As for the comments about the GFC, all of the guys on this forum that are still working have had to deal with the ups and downs of the job market. The blokes that are retired and living here have done their hard slog and deserve their retirement.

[phuketruski]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

If you aren't there, you certainly won't get one.

In the UK, even unemployed people get NI payments made for them.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was there, if you really wanted a job, you could get one ..... start at the bottom and work your way up.

Has something changed? is it the employment market or the work ethic?

Giving up in your 20s just looks like an excuse to me.

things changed , the baby boomers acumulated all the wealth and this generation is left with a downward spiraling economy , high unemployment, rediculous real estate prices, overpopulation and high taxes.

[MaeJoMTB]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

If you aren't there, you certainly won't get one.

In the UK, even unemployed people get NI payments made for them.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was there, if you really wanted a job, you could get one ..... start at the bottom and work your way up.

Has something changed? is it the employment market or the work ethic?

Giving up in your 20s just looks like an excuse to me.

things changed , the baby boomers acumulated all the wealth and this generation is left with a downward spiraling economy , high unemployment, rediculous real estate prices, overpopulation and high taxes.

One of my daughters has just turned 30, she already has a flat in London and earning 45kGBP/year with occupational pension (Pharmacist)

Another of my sons age 27 started as a shelf stacker in the local Co-Op, now deputy manager, only renting (no qualifications)

Who are these people that can't get jobs?

Yeah, we know who they are, there are always slackers looking for an excuse to give up.

Edited October 24, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[phuketruski]

There seems to be a certain amount of resentment from the older contingent towards those who choose to enjoy their prime years rather than working like a dog until they're too old to enjoy the spoils.

Leave the protestant work ethic in the west, chaps, and try not to envy those who're enjoying what you missed out on.

My old man just rang me first thing he asked was if im working? why im not working? what im doin all day? why im here in thailand?

little does he know im living with a thai model in her early 30's and she cooking for me and buying me new cloths, and im not paying her a dime.

Somehow I'm in the wrong?

[JLCrab]

The legendary Broadway show producer George Abbott died in 1995. This was part of his memorial service recount in The New York Times:

In the last year of his life, George Abbott, at the age of 107, was asked what was the biggest change he had seen on Broadway. He paused, then replied, "Electricity."

I don't quite understand this alleged resentment on the part of 'older persons' on those younger persons having a good time in Thailand. 30 or 40 years ago it would not have been possible to do what the OP now considers routine. When I first started traveling to PRChina in the late 1980's everything had to be done by TELEX. When I first came to Pattaya in the early 1990's you had to go to the central TOT office to make a long-distance telephone call. No mobile phones. No ATM's No internet. You had to bring traveler's checks to get cash.

BTW I consider these to be my prime years right now. Hopefully, in 30 or 40 more years, the OP will be able to say the same.

Edited October 24, 2015 by JLCrab

[Thaidream]

I shall tell you that the job market has changed. In my prime working years, it was relatively easy to get a job but not many of us jumped from Company to Company- we were loyal to those that hired us. In addition, most companies had a pension plan that one could tap into after a certain amount of time. Then so called globalization happened where companies opted for moving offshore because they could get tax breaks and lower labor costs. As the years went on those once secure jobs became not very secure. Huge investment companies took advantage of loose regulation and bought up a company simply to destroy it, lay off its workers and then either close it or merge it with another entity. Hark the era of greed.

Now what you have is huge costs for an education, an economy in which many people are frozen out of the housing market and health costs that are beyond the average citizen. In addition, that company that once conducted business based on worker loyalty no longer cares about its employees. Those once very high paying entry jobs now consist of call centers where people start at the minimum wage and then attempt to work their way up the ladder to a diminished manager core. However, the President or CEO now makes 200 times what the lowest worker makes. So you take your college education which you paid dearly for and are in hock for years to come and enter a work force that just cannot support the high costs in the economy. Couple this with no Company pension plan and a Federal Government that is in hock up to its eyeballs.

When you consider all of the above- it is no wonder that people all over the industrialized World are opting out. I admire these young people who have voted with their feet and state in essence- I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it any more. The problem is going to be what will happen when they reach their senior years. In my humble opinion- the greed bubble will break before then and we who are still here will see an economic revolution unlike the World has ever seen. The poor will inherit the Earth simply because there are more of them.

[onni4me]

...that these young people need to think about what they will do when they reach retirement age.

If they are able to contribute to a pension all their lives until they retire, then good on them.

When if and what, I once said to my lawyer drafting a will that it is done IF I drop dead. He answered and corrected me: WHEN you die.

There are plenty that never reach retirement. If I remember, years ago there was a statistics about my country. There were about 11% of people over 65 years of age and about 1% that reached above 80. Something to think about.

I suggest that life is meant for living, not saving for next life. I have managed my life and saved a bit but I also realize that I don't get anything with me departing this world. Seems quite a many see life as some sort of a schedule thing like they know what the future will bring. I say that whatever they plan, life will happen differently.

I say, don't be stupid but do what your heart desires. Shakespeare said it better:

Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee! And these few precepts in thy memory See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. 60 Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 70 But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;

For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine ownself be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

[JLCrab]

From a post above: There are plenty that never reach retirement. If I remember, years ago there was a statistics about my country. There were about 11% of people over 65 years of age and about 1% that reached above 80. Something to think about.

Here's what I think about: My Father died a few years back at age 84. Played 18 holes of golf 2 days before he died. My Mother will turn 91 in a few weeks.

[Thaidream]

I believe the Bard said it all. I can't top that.

[MaeJoMTB]

Now what you have is huge costs for an education, an economy in which many people are frozen out of the housing market and health costs that are beyond the average

I don't believe the housing market to be anything but a scam for most men.

Too easy for a woman to take it away from you. Easier for a man to rent.

In Europe, health care is free. Your problem for living in the wrong country.

There are plenty that never reach retirement. If I remember, years ago there was a statistics about my country. There were about 11% of people over 65 years of age and about 1% that reached above 80. Something to think about.

I retired 15 years ago, aged 45, If I go tomorrow, no complaints from me.

Edited October 24, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[Beechboy]

The OP summed it up in post # 29 by writing, "I can get by."

Life isn't about getting by, it's about getting on.

Looking to secure one's future has to be the first instinct of any sensible human being. Living with such a sad outlook as his must be quite awful and I fear that he is kidding himself. His darkest hours must be very dark indeed despite the "fun" he claims he is having.

Besides work achievement and having security is more fun in any case.

It is a phony "fun," and deep down he must know it.

He writes poorly, makes no mention of qualifications or special talents except cooking noodles and does not even seem aware that once his "idyll" crumbles he will have no social security system to fall back on in Thailand, and God-forbid should he get seriously ill in the meantime.

Already, I fail to envy his chosen lifestyle and he's hardly started on the trip as yet. He's no "prospect," that's for sure.

A father-in-laws nightmare.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Beechboy

[Thaidream]

Hardly my choice to be an American. however I will keep my citizenship because while I may criticize the Us frequently there is still many things it has done well.- My grandparents emigrated from Europe for a better life and I was born in the USA. It's rather ironic that I actually believe Europe has a better system now than the US. The UK and most of Europe have National Health Care unlike the US which still refuses a single payer system. Europe is much more progressive than the US in taking care of its citizens. Americans are being worked to death with no hope of breaking the cycle.

[smotherb]

So you are saying a young lad who cannot work a job to pay the bills/buy a house is better off in Thailand.

How does he support himself in Thailand ?

Teach English or another NS language

[smotherb]

So you are saying a young lad who cannot work a job to pay the bills/buy a house is better off in Thailand.

How does he support himself in Thailand ?

well if hes young people will often see hes poor and opted for a different lifestyle and maybe let him couchsurf for long periods.

Yeah, great life-plan, dependence on the pity of others

[phuketruski]

So you are saying a young lad who cannot work a job to pay the bills/buy a house is better off in Thailand.

How does he support himself in Thailand ?

well if hes young people will often see hes poor and opted for a different lifestyle and maybe let him couchsurf for long periods.

Yeah, great life-plan, dependence on the pity of others

its called networking through social media.

grandpa

[NoshowJones]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

I suppose not.

[Don Mega]

There seems to be a certain amount of resentment from the older contingent towards those who choose to enjoy their prime years rather than working like a dog until they're too old to enjoy the spoils.

Leave the protestant work ethic in the west, chaps, and try not to envy those who're enjoying what you missed out on.

My old man just rang me first thing he asked was if im working? why im not working? what im doin all day? why im here in thailand?

little does he know im living with a thai model in her early 30's and she cooking for me and buying me new cloths, and im not paying her a dime.

Somehow I'm in the wrong?

Is the model post-op the reason why you are too ashamed to tell your father ?

[Thaidream]

I say let the Op decide what he wants to do himself. His destiny is in his own hands. I don't see him asking anyone here for a handout.

[micmichd]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

If you aren't there, you certainly won't get one.

In the UK, even unemployed people get NI payments made for them.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was there, if you really wanted a job, you could get one ..... start at the bottom and work your way up.

Has something changed? is it the employment market or the work ethic?

Giving up in your 20s just looks like an excuse to me.

Both,the labour market and the work ethic, have changed.

There's a convergence between the wages for standard jobs and welfare, it makes less and less economic sense to work in the West.

[micmichd]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

If you aren't there, you certainly won't get one.

In the UK, even unemployed people get NI payments made for them.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was there, if you really wanted a job, you could get one ..... start at the bottom and work your way up.

Has something changed? is it the employment market or the work ethic?

Giving up in your 20s just looks like an excuse to me.

Both,the labour market and the work ethic, have changed.

There's a convergence between the wages for standard jobs and welfare, it makes less and less economic sense to work in the West.

[micmichd]

But we're talking about people who can't get a decent job back home. They're hardly going to be contributing to a pension either way, are they?

If you aren't there, you certainly won't get one.

In the UK, even unemployed people get NI payments made for them.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was there, if you really wanted a job, you could get one ..... start at the bottom and work your way up.

Has something changed? is it the employment market or the work ethic?

Giving up in your 20s just looks like an excuse to me.

Both,the labour market and the work ethic, have changed.

There's a convergence between the wages for standard jobs and welfare, it makes less and less economic sense to work in the West.

Even worse, it hardly makes any sense anymore to accumulate money and save it up for later. Banks, governments and other institutions are out to expropriate you.

[GOLDBUGGY]

I totally disagree with this way of thinking. At age 22, this not the time to be bumming around wasting your life and going nowhere. It is a time when you should be planting your seeds for future growth as you still have over 40 years left to work. Unless you plan to be pumping gas for the lowest wages the rest of your life you need to think and plan ahead.

The Economy hasn't failed you. It only changed. A High School Education isn't god enough anymore. The age we live in requires highly skill and highly trained people to work it now. Go back to school and get yourself in a field that looks promising for the future. Many Western Government have sponsorship to help you achieve a higher education with the goal of finding some decent paying job at the end. We all can't be Doctors, but there is always a need for a good Plumber, Electrician, or Instrument Man.

Youth is a time to further your education and not be bumming around on some beach someplace. Get a Trade Certificate or University Degree first, and then if you feel like bumming around a beach for a few months before you start work then go ahead. At least then you earned that.

As someone suggested here stay away from Western Women and the Wife and Kids scene, if you really want to come here and live here in a hurry. If you work for yourself only, save and invest wisely, you will be able to do this a lot early than you think. If I could go back in time I know this is what I would do. Sadly, if you want any success in life you can't think of for today. You have to think about tomorrow.