I read this morning another Irish expat has packed it in and moved home.
This lad came to Thailand at age 23 and returned to Ireland at age 35.
In between, he married a Thai lady.
One can only assume he started work in Thailand teaching English, then over the years tried to make a go as a Youtuber.
Now at age 35, he is forced into moving back to Ireland (With his Mom and Dad).
The reason is financial of course. Although he is not admitting it.
Thailand requires a steady income and as costs rise, more money is required.
Making peanuts as a low paid English teacher is not going to get you there and without any other source of income, financial doom is a certainty. The more years you waste, the more it will damage your future.
What these young lads do not understand is that it is just not living for today.
People work their entire lives (40+ years), struggling and saving, with the hopes one day of being able to retire in a location such as Thailand.
All those years in your youth working in Thailand, come at a serious cost of wasting a good chunk of life where you could have been earning and saving in your own country.
As he is finding out, age 35, owns no assets and forced to move back home and start all over again, although this time with a Thai wife in tow.
When he reaches age 65, he may look back with thanks that he was sent back. Although now he is in serious mental anguish, at having to move back to further uncertainty and no job.
It reminds me of the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper. The ant working hard all summer to save food for the winter. The grasshopper frolicing around all summer and starving to death in the winter.
Expats that move to Thailand at a very young age, have absolutely no idea or outlook to their golden years, where they must have saved their entire lives to be able to retire.
None of them ever think about how much they must save over the cost of their lifetime to be able to retire.
This lad is a good example. 12 years in Thailand with nothing. Nothing saved. No house, car, no assets at all. Now a Thai wife to support.
Life isn’t free. Retirement is NOT guaranteed unless you work hard your entire life and save for your own retirement. No one is going to do this for you.
It is a sad day for this lad, however, he should have known better.
He should have realized that life costs money. He should have realized retirement takes committment and years of saving.
But they never do when they are that age.