Living and surviving in Thailand comes down to 2 things.
A visa and money.
When boiled down, it is that easy, 2 things.
Long term visa’s are not free or easy.
Over 50 years old have the retirement visa and those married have a visa option for being married.
ELITE visa for those with lots of money.
LTR visa for those working on-line that can earn more than US $80,000 a year.
Visa’s cost money, understand that.
The second issue is money.
You can survive for short terms in Thailand, however, in order to live in Thailand long term, it is no where close to the same thing.
You really need a guaranteed income you can rely on. Pension, social security, investments, retirement etc.
The risk of living in a foreign country with no fixed income is super high.
Not only that, money issues can cause significant stress that many can never overcome.
Don’t do that to yourself, the pain and misery is not worth it.
Jobs – It is hard to find a job in Thailand that pays well enough to afford a decent living and being able to save for retirement.
Teaching English may be a way to survive, but you will not earn enough to save for retirement, then when you get old you are up the creek with no way to survive.
I try to understand if Thailand is this magical myth that people dream about or because they have visited on a holiday one time with a fist full of money?
Daily life in any country has financial requirements. Those requirements should include a way to save for retirement.
Retired people worked they entire lives to get a pension to allow them to live in Thailand. A guaranteed fixed income until they pass age 60 to 90, they will have the money to survive.
All the younger expats thinking Youtube is the answer?
Simply foolish, unless your name is Mark Wiens.
Visa and Money.
If you can sort out a long term visa and GUARANTEED INCOME, you will have it made.