Living in Thailand comes with a ton of anxiety.
Even more so for the younger crowd.
Many expats have settled into Thailand, married, have kids and now are stressed with all the “what ifs” anxiety can bring.
The biggest fears seem to center around income, visa’s and whether they have a viable plan for the long term.
When you start to think about living over merely surviving, things can get anxious.
Many young people have not given much though to how much life costs to make it to retirement.
When they finally do, anxiety sets in because they cannot validate their financial situation and it may may change over the years; expenses creep up and they have no way to make extra money.
Case in point one 26 year old expat. Living in Isaan on a house he built on his wife’s land and a new baby. He has a business online and is making enough to live in Thailand and meet all the legal requirements.
However, that job has no security, no guaranteed salary or anything. While companies in the west offer bonus’, 401K matching, investment, pensions, working on your own from Thailand offers none of that.
So there is anxiety, and a huge amount.
“What happens if my income slips and I can no longer afford to live here?”
The anxiety of packing up your family (or having to leave them here) while you head back home for a job is super stressful. But it is always a possibility.
People do not give much thought to the long term, and maybe the reason is the anxiety is just too much to deal with.
If you think how much the world has changed the past 40 years (for those old enough), things will change even greater in the coming 40 years.
Working without any kind of financial guarantee or job security will always put you at risk of getting sent home.
To relieve the anxiety now, it is best to have a guaranteed concrete plan to fall back on.
Having to make additional money in Thailand is almost impossible.