Why are Some People Losing Interest in Expat Life?

Hey YouTube.

Hey YouTube.

Alex here and I wanted to do a live stream today.

It's a chilly day here in Northern California and I wanted to do a video talking about why I think some people are uh losing interest in expat life or it seems like it seems like views are going down for a lot of popular expat content creators.

Certainly not all.

Uh certainly not all, but many expat content creators seem to have declining views.

I don't think they're going to zero.

I don't think that it's totally going away, [snorts] but I do think that based on some things that have happened in the last year or two, there's some level of decline in moving overseas, or at least people have a more realistic picture of what it's like to live overseas.

It seemed like a few years ago, especially like postcoid, there was all this excitement.

people had been locked down.

And now it seems like some of that luster is worn off because you've seen so much content get created and people have managed to form more opinions of what it's like to live abroad.

And for various reasons, some people are finding, hey, you know what?

I really don't need to move overseas or it might not make sense or I'd prefer to work back home and live the standard of living I can afford to live back home than to not work and live at a lower standard in some cases.

But anyway, uh, feel free.

We'll just give it a moment for people to chime in, but I'll I'll start to get into some of the things that have come to my mind, and I'll probably do a video on this topic as well, [snorts] just because I think it it needs a lot of repeating.

Do I still plan to eventually retire overseas?

Probably.

It's it's I say it's like an 80% for me is very likely that I will still uh move abroad when I hit retirement years.

Um, I'd also say I plan to do trips in the meantime that that between now and then I plan to travel overseas.

I enjoy [snorts] it a lot.

It is very meaningful for me.

But just discussing why I think some of the the interest has declined a bit.

Um, one I would say is geopolitical tensions.

It seems like that has has risen in the last few years.

you're seeing some some conflicts on a global scale where people are are concerned about that uh for better for worse you might say some are paranoid some are overreacting but when you hear about some of the stuff in the news lately and I know some people will say oh they're fear-mongering but it seems like prior to co there seem to be more of a collaborative kind of mindset between different countries and now it seems less that way I I don't know if you feel that way.

But that's just kind of what I've noticed.

Um, another one I would say is natural disasters.

A number of popular expat destinations have had problems with flooding, earthquakes, and that really scares a lot of people because here in the US there's, you know, there's natural disasters throughout the country, but you can but you can count on disaster response improving over time, right?

you can count on.

Okay.

Well, we what did we learn from Hurricane Katrina?

What did we learn from past earthquakes in California?

Uh so there seems to be this like improvement where in some other expat destinations it seems like there isn't a lot of improvement as far as disaster response.

um it seems like things are not really handled as effectively as they could be and that scares a lot of people especially if you have major health issues and you're thinking man I really need to be able to get to the hospital quickly and then disaster strikes and you're unable to effectively respond because the infrastructure is just not designed for it.

Um, that's another one.

I I would say three is just some of the the drama in various expat destinations.

There's a lot of, you know, uh, basically online dialogue about the challenges of living in these places and people going back and forth about he said, she said, and people getting into how broke or how rich some people are.

And when you hear about and see that stuff, I know some people think it makes for good entertainment, but it's kind of like Jerry Springer.

I mean, it's um you don't really feel confidence or inspired to go live in that place or those places.

And it doesn't matter where.

I mean, you hear a lot about in South America a lot of the the scope stuff, for example.

None of these these stories, while they're interesting and they drive a lot of viewer engagement, they get a lot of people to pay attention, they don't make people think, oh, you know what, I want to go live there.

That that sounds like a great a great place to live.

And so I I think that's another one is you hear about a lot of the challenges in some of these places and it doesn't really inspire confidence.

You also hear about expats not really treating each other well.

I think that doesn't inspire confidence either.

And when people talk about like, oh well, I just need to be in a bubble.

Often in our home countries, you can form a bubble if you've got the resources.

You don't have to move halfway around the world to live in a bubble.

It can be very comfortable to live here in the US.

And there's very limited drama because of the services that exist.

You don't have to rely on other people like you do when you're an expat.

I mean, people talk about expats being independent.

And to some extent, that's true, but in other ways, like it's not necessarily true because you may not speak the language.

And if you speak the language, you may not speak it probably fluently.

You're probably reliant on a visa, right?

You're probably not a citizen of that country.

So, you're having to rely on the approval of uh the visa services, whatever that may be, to extend your stay.

Right here in the US, I I have a passport.

I don't have to check in with immigration.

I don't have to go in every uh few months or whatever to do some kind of background check or anything like that.

I just By the way, guys, please give a thumbs up if you uh like this content.

So you're you're more reliant on other people in some ways.

Another one would be the import store.

Right here in the US, any kind of groceries I want.

I can go to several different grocery stores here in town.

I live a few hours away from many other grocerers of all kinds.

Like in this one of the cities closest to me, there's like a Korean grocery store.

There's a Filipino grocery store.

There's a Japanese grocery store.

There's Trader Joe's, Costco.

I think there's a Whole Foods.

I'm not a big Whole Foods guy.

It's a bit above my pay grade at the current time.

Uh there's multiple Costos.

There's uh Kroger, like you got probably 10 or 12 grocery stores minimum.

Uh and that's the ones I've been to.

There's probably more that I just haven't had any need to go there.

Where if you're living abroad and you want some Western food, you're reliant upon the expat uh import grocery store, right?

So, uh, you're hoping, hey, I hope they stock things in a timely manner.

I hope there's enough demand here to to provide for this product.

I don't have that issue.

And and the inverse is not true.

Like for Asian groceries, I guess, because there's high enough of a markup or a profit margin.

There's enough Asian people with the money to buy Asian groceries that it's rare that I want something and I go to a ger here in the States and it's out of stock.

So, I don't not.

And also there's alternatives.

I could drive to another city very easily.

Just get in my car and drive to another city to find that product.

Where over there in in just we'll just say Southeast Asia, uh driving is challenging.

Cities aren't necessarily that close to one another.

There tends to in my experience there tends to be more challenges with going from like I'm not going to get on a plane to go grocery shopping.

That I mean that's ridiculous.

where here I've got my car very comfortable, very easy to get around.

Um, more points as far as why I think it's losing its luster.

I think that people go more people are going and testing it out and finding out, you know what, this isn't what it was sold to me as.

You've got some bloggers, not all, okay?

Not all, uh, maybe not even 50%, but you got some bloggers that are willfully deceptive about what it's like to live overseas.

um they they don't want to share some of the challenges that come with living abroad.

Whether it be visa runs, whether it be uh dealing with immigration processes, whether it be pollution, whether it be a language barrier, and some of these things you think, "Oh, that's fine.

I'll deal with it." It's one thing to say, "I'll deal with And it's another thing to actually go over and to be be faced with situations where um where you're dealing with that in perpetuity.

Uh you're you're okay.

For the fifth time this year, I'm having to go deal with this problem.

For the eighth time this year, this is an issue.

[snorts] Um some of these things aren't a thing here.

U so Eli Easy street.

Yeah.

Um, what are some other challenges why I think some interest in expat life is declining?

I think that there's So, like I said, people are getting more of the reality.

People are seeing some guys crash and burn.

Some people are starting to see that it's it's what's the word I'm looking for?

Certain lifestyles are more accessible overseas, but other lifestyles are not.

I really like having a car.

It's very comfortable.

It's private.

If I go and drive to a neighboring city or even within my own city, I'm riding by myself.

I can choose to listen to a podcast.

I can choose to listen to music.

I can enjoy roads that are decently maintained.

I would say it's not perfect where I live.

The infrastructure is not perfect, but it's pretty decent.

I don't have to listen to somebody else playing music on a speaker.

I don't have to listen to other passengers having loud conversations.

I don't have to deal with stopand go traffic.

I found that these schedules can be very demanding in some other parts of the world where the driving culture is not safety oriented to the extent that it is here.

Is it perfect here?

No, it's not perfect.

I'll never say it's perfect here in the US, but there were a number of times living abroad when I tried to use public transportation and even private transportation, even cabs, and I had some concerns over the the safety mindedness of the transportation professionals.

And that's not as much of a thing here, is it?

Can it be in certain parts of the country?

Sure.

I've had a rough cab experience in Miami, Florida.

This was probably 15 years ago.

But it's uh I I I can tolerate some of this stuff as a young guy, but I could imagine when I hit retirement age, I don't want to be uh dealing with some of this stuff.

I just even if I don't have the same level of freedom, if I was that concerned about it now, I'm targeting more of a walkable life.

I'm targeting when I retire overseas.

I want to live in an area where I can walk around probably a city and have a lot of these conveniences at my fingertips.

Also, access to healthcare.

But as far as where I'm at now, I I imagine like, wow, you know, am I going to have to worry about riding a motorbike around town?

I that doesn't sound very safe.

And it's like I said, it's fine when you're you're younger.

I think when you start to get older, you have to be more concerned about your mobility, more concerned about your reaction time, your ability to react quickly to changing circumstances.

So, I think that that's uh I think that's something that that needs to be discussed more is is the changes that we face as we get older and our willingness to tolerate some of the challenges of being overseas that when I'm young, it's like, oh, yeah, whatever.

This is not a big deal.

But as you get older, you realize, wow, this this is not this issue or this challenge is not really being addressed and I don't know that I want to tolerate it forever.

Um, and some people would say just have a western life abroad, but I think that for a lot of people, if I'm going to have a western life, why don't I just do it in my home country?

It doesn't make sense for me to move overseas just to live in a big house and drive a big vehicle and eat like American food.

That that lifestyle is easier to do here in the States.

There's nobody the the traffic is not nearly as extreme if you can pick and choose a more modestized city.

The um the security concerns, right, are not to the same.

I mean, some of these countries have pretty severe uh poverty.

to where your concern for your personal safety and security is much higher than it would be here in the US.

Here in the US, I feel pretty safe.

Unless I go to a bad area of a city, it's mostly safe.

People exaggerate how dangerous it is in the US.

Are there problems?

Certainly, there are.

But, uh, yeah, I would say that's a good another point to I'd share.

What else?

Um, [snorts] I would say dating.

I mean, a lot of vloggers have have made their money on describing the locals in these expat destinations as scammers.

I talked about the scoping in Colombia.

This is becoming more and more of a thing.

And people think like, oh, it's just a video.

It's just a video.

But these the media can change public sentiment.

It can heavily impact how people think about these places, how they perceive the potential advantages of these places.

And so, uh, you have to be mindful that when every other video is so and so got scammed, I got scammed, Bob, you know, whoever got scammed, then it, uh, it really makes people question whether or not it's it's going to be the way that they thought.

But, uh, Eli, uh, where are you headed to at the end of the year?

[snorts] >> Um, what else what else can I share here?

I would say the economy.

It's probably something I should have mentioned earlier in the video, but the economy is not doing so well.

And [snorts] I think when you have economic challenges, people start to think, maybe I should work a few more years.

Maybe I should try to save up some more money.

Inflation might be higher than what I thought.

Maybe I'll have some unexpected expensive health issue when I move abroad.

I need to save money for that.

And if you have inflation, people may feel like, look, I can't save as much money as I thought I was going to be able to.

Had some unexpected expense, a car issue.

I've had some issues with my car in the last couple months.

I've had to pay for those.

Fortunately, I haven't been uh to the extent I need to replace my car, but yeah, I had to replace tires.

I had to get an oil change.

I had to uh even replace the wheel at some point.

Where are you headed to in Vietnam, Eli?

Um but yeah, these things these things come up.

Uh I would say with the economy too, inflation is rising faster in many of these expat destinations than uh than it is here in the States.

Um I I do think it's very expensive here in the States, but I've noticed prices in some countries increase substantially.

They've raised the minimum wage in some of these countries.

they um they are raising the pay rates and also as more and more people bring money into these countries and purchase whatever [snorts] uh it can increase the cost of living also just like a lot of expat destinations I found don't produce their own oil and so they're dependent on oil imports and so when oil goes up in price which fortunately right now it's going down but e but even if it went up in the past there's a stickiness to that if like I noticed prices don't really seem to come down much.

Some will stay the same like and go down a little bit, but a lot of prices don't really come down.

And so if the oil prices went up a couple years ago and that got baked into the uh cost of energy in that country or oil in that country, even if the oil prices come down, like I noticed here in town where I live, gas is pretty expensive.

Gas has come down and the uh primaries the stations in town have not lowered their prices.

So even though I go to the nearest like cities uh in the region and their prices have come down, it's kind of similar to that where you go to these countries and you're thinking, oh yeah, well gas prices came down so naturally when I go to Phil, it's like no, not really.

The prices they import everything so or they import a lot.

So um they feel that those prices should be sticky and not uh come back down.

So, that's another one.

I think as some of these countries get more and more expensive, they will be less appealing from an economic perspective.

It's awesome when you go over there and everything's a deal.

It's less awesome when it's like, "Oh, wow.

I'm having to buy a worse uh laptop for more money.

I don't have consumer protections here where if something goes wrong with it, I'm so I can't just go back and, hey, can you fix this?" Or, "Hey, what about the warranty?" Um, so the lack of consumer protections along with increased prices in the US it's like, okay, yeah, I'm paying a high price, but I get consumer protections.

I can return there's a a generous return policy with Amazon.

For example, if I buy something on Amazon and it it turns out to not be good, I can easily send it back within 30 days.

And so a lot of these hassles just accumulate and and you start to see the reality.

Oh, this is why people from this country want to move to the United States.

It's because the United States, even though it's not in the best shape it's ever been, it still functions pretty well overall.

Things are still pretty um, you know, pretty comfortable here.

Where am I heading this year?

I don't know if I'm going to travel this year or not.

Uh, maybe I might do something down to like Mexico.

I haven't been to Mexico since Gosh, it's been about Wow, it's been almost four years since I've been to Mexico.

So, yeah, I might do a trip to Mexico, maybe down to like uh the west coast of Mexico sometime this year.

We'll see about scheduling it.

Let's see.

Yeah, I haven't been, like I said, I haven't been to Mexico in a while.

I miss Mexico.

So, I've always had a good time when I go down there.

What are your plans for Ho Chi Min City, Eli?

[snorts] So, what else besides Mexico?

That might be it this year to be honest.

Just like with scheduling and with work, I'm doing a career change and it I might not be able to pull off another uh trip this year.

We'll see.

I wouldn't mind doing something in Europe, but it's uh because Europe is actually pretty good for shorter duration trips.

Like I think Asia is better for longer trips, but Europe is because the countries are smaller, closer together, transportation's easy.

Then [snorts] maybe I could do something there uh this year.

Like if I get a couple weeks, I could do something like France, Italy, and Netherlands or something like that.

I kind of want to do like another Europe trip where I I hit like three or four places.

And that, you know, the twoe duration, maybe two and a half week duration, lends itself to that.

Um, some of the trips on my radar, I want to do like an Argentina trip.

Uh, Argentina and Uruguay.

Um, I want to do a Central Asia trip, but that's that's going to be a little bit trickier logistically because it's not as easy to get around.

Um, the language barrier, uh, these kinds of things.

But as I get older, I don't know.

I I'm also starting to want to do some trips to more developed places that are a little bit more comfortable.

Um I think as I get older, I'm less comfortable with roughing it.

I notice I feel a bit stiffer, a little bit more achy, and that also tends to wear on my ability to uh handle countries that are lower in terms of development.

Um, [snorts] it's one thing to live there.

It's another thing to be needing to move around and trying to do sightseeing and that kind of thing.

I would say too, um, what else?

Um, I covered a lot of reasons why I think that some people are losing interest in expat life.

I would say also it could just be a numbers thing going down like it may not be a percentage thing but I think that a lot of the people in the baby boomer generation that have moved abroad or who wanted to move abroad they're all hitting retirement age where they're there's this what's the word a lot of them have made the move over and the subsequent generations are smaller and So, uh, there's not going to be as many, right?

Um, there's not going to be as many just by sheer numbers of those people who want to move overseas.

My generation is probably multiple decades off from standard retirement.

Gen X is a pretty small generation.

So, it's I think you're going to see a gap in the next I think 5 to 10 years, maybe 15 years of far fewer expats just because of the generational numbers.

uh Gen X is a small generation and it won't be until my generation uh hits retirement years when I think you'll see another boost.

But that depends on the state of the US economy.

I mean robotics could improve enough in the next 10 20 years that people look at the cost of moving abroad and having a home help robot becomes so cheap.

It's like, okay, I could move abroad and afford a lot of services or because robotics has improved so much in this country, why not just stay here and enjoy life here, not have to worry about visas, not have to worry about immigration, not have to worry about a language barrier, not have to worry about health care, like all these things that can become an issue.

I think there's kind of a sweet spot right now where the western economies aren't doing so good.

robotics isn't advanced enough yet to fill in for a lot of the service work that uh it's more appealing.

I think explains waxes and waines in terms of appeal based on the economy, based on the production capacity, that kind of thing.

Yeah, I I agree.

Uh Eli, the US is a great country.

The government is not the best.

[snorts] What What's everybody doing this weekend?

Anybody do anything fun this weekend or traveling [snorts] >> [snorts] >> I'd like to go for a walk or a hike today if it's not too cold.

It's Yeah.

>> [snorts] >> Yeah, I would agree with that.

I think the US is not the best for social life.

That's a a big challenge here in general.

It's just uh I feel like it's just hard to find people because people in the US are so individualistic and atomized.

It's hard to find people where you really connect with them.

I feel like it's very easy to find differences with other people where people are just too different from one another to have enough in common to get along.

Like where if you go to other countries there's a monoculture.

or some other countries there's more of a monoculture then it's easier to find common ground with people where here it's just hard to find enough common ground with people to get along with them long enough and I think a lot of people run into this by the way I've I've definitely t had a lot of conversations with single friends who struggle with loneliness uh but I think even people some people in relationships I think the US is hard on relationships people tend to work a lot of hours here to maintain a high standard of living and they have to spend time away from their families to uh get things done, right, to pay the bills.

And so I think it's just a country where you you sacrifice social life for standard of living.

And I I had a conversation with a friend of mine about that yesterday.

One of the big appeals for me to move abroad when I retire is to have a good social life.

I think a lot of older people here are lonely and it it harms their their mental and physical health.

And so if you can move abroad and have a vibrant community and have people you get along with and have an easier going atmosphere where people aren't so angry about politics for example that I think that's a good thing.

Um these are these are I appreciate you mentioning that uh Eli because these are some of the in my opinion the more realistic concerns about life in the US.

it comes down to culture and I I don't think people talk enough about culture um when it comes to why they want to move away from the US because the US the culture is is consumerism right it's make money and buy stuff make money and buy stuff and people compete on how much they have and how much they can buy and what they plan to buy in the future and what they want to buy and I think that for people that aren't so expecting of that consumptionoriented lifestyle, then moving abroad makes a lot more sense.

Like, okay, you know what?

I' I've had the house.

I've had the car.

I've heard this from a lot of expats.

I've had the house.

I've had the car.

I've had the everything fancy or nice, and I don't want that anymore.

I want to go and chill out at a beach.

I want to relax, maybe um get a massage or go for a walk.

And a lot of these things you just don't have time to do here.

I mean, I'm squeezing this in when I have time, but I know I work a full 40 hours this week.

I also go to the gym.

I'm starting to go back into the gym, so that's a good thing for me.

And it's, you know, if I count the time I work, I commute, work, work out, eat, that's like 50, 55 hours a week, not including doing laundry, um, cleaning, shopping, like I've got to go shop for different things.

It's a a DIY kind of country.

So because of that on one hand you have a lot of independence.

Uh on the other hand you do feel lonely and I I think a lot of people here do feel lonely and isolated and they want to pursue a relationship.

They want to have friendship and if you had to move around for work like I have you your friendships kind of fall by the wayside.

I I living on the other side of the country from where I'm from and I simply just can't put the um I can't put the energy into relationships that I would normally be able to if um or I should say like the relationships back home.

I can't I can't put the energy into those relationships in the way I could if I were living back home.

So, I've had to start a new several times.

I do have some great friends here in California, but California is expensive.

So, everybody's working a lot.

They're spending a lot of time at work.

They're grinding it out, trying to earn a buck.

And so, as a state, it's just not as community oriented.

It's very individual.

It's like individualistic unless you're part of a certain group out here.

Like if you come from a certain community where you grew up around family, your whole family lives out here, it can be pretty lonely.

Like a lot of my friends that moved out here for work, a lot of friends who work in tech do, you know, have mentioned being lonely to me and have indicated that [snorts] they struggle with that.

Good morning, Serge.

Hey, loner from Sacktown.

Not much this week in ppouring rain and sack in the Bay Area.

Yeah, it's been it's we've been getting that winter weather here for sure and it's [snorts] it's been chilly.

I look forward to spring.

Hopefully spring is coming soon and we'll probably still get a lot of precipitation in the spring, but hopefully hopefully it'll be manageable.

Hopefully it'll be Yeah, hopefully it'll be manageable.

>> [clears throat] [snorts] >> I don't know why I feel kind of itchy.

And maybe it's just the dry uh dry weather.

Eli [snorts] says, "Correct.

If you're a regular worker, you're not important to corporations or governments, the important people, as if you consume $300 to $500 a day." Yeah, I would agree with that.

I I think that you need to spend Yeah, you need to spend about that much.

That works out to 9,000 to 15,000 per month.

Yeah, you need to if you want to live a comfortable life in the US, this is very controversial.

But especially if you don't have a a paid off nice home, you're you're talking like for a family a 300k a year lifestyle.

I think that's part of why so many people are lonely is the vast majority of people do not make 300K a year.

Uh, coincidentally, the happiest uh, guy I know or one of the happiest people I know, he and his wife combined probably make over that.

Uh, I I don't know for sure.

I haven't looked at his W TWS, but that those are the happiest people I've noticed is people like in a family where both people make a lot of money.

Then they live in a nice neighborhood and they have uh late model vehicles and they're able to afford to eat whatever they want.

They travel whenever they want.

Not whenever they want, but they travel fairly consistently.

And if you're not, if you're like a single guy and you're trying to work overtime or you're trying to work in a high stress field, then you often get this duality where it's like, hey, you know, if [clears throat] you're in a relationship as as a a guy, you need to make more money.

Okay, I'll work more, but you need to spend more time.

So, you're torn between I need to make more money and I need to spend more time at home.

So, really, a lot of it comes down to, do you have assets that produce income?

Do you have rental properties?

Do you have stocks that kick off dividend income or grow rapidly to enough to offset your your consumption?

And so, yeah, I think that's why a lot of people are lonely in the US is they cannot afford a vibrant social scene and and so uh life is kind of boring and dull and repetitive for a lot of people.

I can definitely say that's been the case for me since I've been back.

One of the re probably reasons I probably gain weight is just being like bored.

I I think highinccome workers are important.

I think if you're a medical doctor, if you are a nurse in an expensive high cost of living area like West Coast or New York City, I think that if you are a engineer like you're a software engineer at Google or Microsoft, I think if you are an NBA player for the Golden State Warriors, if you're a salesperson that sells several million uh dollars or more per year in in production, uh those those are the people that are important uh in this country as far as like how they're treated.

I think those are the people that are treated uh a higher level.

I mean I I remember when I worked in tech we were spoiled.

We had lunch catered multiple days per week.

We had a gym in our building we could use free gym and we had uh we sometimes they took out take us out to dinner.

They'd like I flew every quarter to a different conference.

We had a lot of nice benefits like we had I think they had pet insurance.

They had IVF treatment subsidized.

We had a wellness budget.

We could buy like sports equipment.

Um great health insurance.

Some of the best health insurance I've ever had.

You had a lot of uh nice things.

And and so when you're earning a lot of money, uh typically you're producing substantially more for that enter that business that employs you.

So if you're a doctor, well, let's say if you're a software engineer and you make 200k a year, you're probably producing like 1.5 million or more per year in value for that company.

They I was reading a thing about Netflix.

They had a guy change the system over from the star system to a thumbs up or thumbs down system and they estimated that that guy earned them millions of dollars because he shaved off three or four seconds off every single Netflix user.

So, uh yeah, if you're in the US and you're a really high income earner, you're probably going to get a lot lot of nice trappings to go along with that.

If you're a professor in a university, I I knew one professor, he would get interest free loans uh from the university workforce, they couldn't give him a bonus.

They had they were prevented from giving him like a big bonus check, but they could say, "Hey, you can go buy real estate.

We'll lend you the money.

We won't charge you any interest." That's a huge advantage.

Um he bought a lot of real estate and made a lot of money from it because he didn't have to worry about interest payments and Uh so so if you're I I think also if you're in a job like if if you're a nurse for example, you can work in in California, you're location mobile.

You don't stick around in in broke states where they don't have any money to pay nurses and you move to like a California or a Washington, you move to Colorado, uh you can make a lot of money plus overtime.

you can make earn a lot of money in overtime where there's a lot of jobs out there you cannot work overtime.

Um so you don't have the capacity of like hey I'll just stay late and I'll stick another grand in my pocket you know for tonight's work or whatever most people don't have that option.

Uh, so I would say too if you have a business, a successful business where you're servicing a lot of wealthy clients and they have the money to treat you because they appreciate the service you're providing.

I know that at at the last place I worked in in tech, they wanted to impress some customers and so they took them out to the Golden State Warriors uh courtside spent $11,000 on tickets.

So, uh, that that kind of luxurious experience is out of reach for the vast majority of Americans.

I've never been to an NBA game, much less been courts.

So, I I think if you're in a really high paid field, like America is great if you're the best.

If you want to be average, America's not or or even or worse below average.

America is hard.

But if you're really exceptional at what you do, you're really really driven, which not everybody is.

Uh I think too some people like my generation, I grew up pretty comfortable.

I know it's it's going to be one, you become complacent if you grow up comfortable, but two, uh you the economy as it changes, you realize, wow, it would not be realistic for me to ch achieve that same level of comfort uh no matter how hard I work.

So people switch up their dream.

They're like, "Okay, well, I'm never going to own the big house in the nice neighborhood.

I'm never going to have the white picket fence and 2.5 kids.

I'm never going to send them to private the kids that don't exist to private school.

I'm not going to be able to go skiing every other weekend or to the beach every other weekend.

So what's my new dream?

My new dream is to leave.

My new dream is to move to another country where I can eat out every meal.

I can have a housekeeper.

I can uh take a taxi whenever I want.

I I I don't have to struggle and watch media that kind of makes me feel inadequate.

I think that's what a lot of Americans struggle with is they see people at the top of their fields in very high paying positions.

They see people in their area, especially if you're in a city that are doing really well.

I noticed the people in this small town uh some of them seem much happier than some of the people that I encountered when I lived in in the coastal metros in California.

[snorts] Um but yeah, I think I think the workers that get paid a lot are important or at least treated like they're important and the workers who don't get paid a lot are not treated like they're important.

I've been surprised going from higher paying job to lower paying jobs just the difference in and vice versa.

the lower paying jobs, the higher paying jobs, the difference in treatment, the difference in respect, the uh difference in amenities, the difference in flexibility, the yeah, all these all these factors that I think people don't really discuss.

Um I think you just have to learn from from hard experience.

What's uh yeah, what are you guys doing today?

How how are your plans today?

I've [snorts] got a a lot to work on today.

The sun's trying to peek out, but it's it's still pretty cloudy.

I I've thought about going back to school.

Uh still thinking about going back to school.

I've got to do some outreach and try to figure out what that might look like.

Um, [snorts] yeah, guys, any um any last questions?

I I'm thinking about wrapping it up here in the next couple minutes just cuz I'd like to to get on some stuff uh today while I still have light out and yeah, whatever.

What are everybody's plans for the rest of today?

Oh, hey Stoic.

How's your startup going?

How's Cambodia?

nice.

I'm glad to hear that, man.

Are [snorts] you in Penon Pen or Sam Reap or Yeah, Cambodia?

Yeah, I think if you get outside the city or this like mainly Pumpen, the prices drop quite a bit.

I prefer it to Vietnam.

Uh just my personal opinion.

[snorts] Have you explored the city?

Like have you checked out some different areas?

I've heard it's developed a lot since I was there last.

I but I haven't been in gosh like about six years at this point, but I'd like to go on my next trip to Southeast Asia.

That's a good price.

That's a very reasonable price.

[snorts] What all are you uh enjoying in the city?

[snorts] Yeah, they're building a lot.

Uh they're building a whole lot there.

[snorts] >> [snorts] >> Okay, cool.

Yeah, I look forward to your content in Nome Pen.

It's uh it's an exciting city.

It's an interesting city.

There's a lot going on.

It's uh surprisingly easier to walk around than you'd think.

I found it to be fun to just like explore and uh yeah there it's it's changing a lot.

So I feel like it's a good place to go right now because you know in five or 10 years it's going to look a lot different and you have that snapshot in your mind of what it was like when you first went there.

I I look forward to my next trip because I'm sure even in the last six years it's changed a lot and uh that that'll be really exciting.

Yeah, that's what I've heard is is like Bangkok uh back in the day before it really increased a lot in popularity and developed a lot.

I found the people to be pretty friendly and uh you know just very easy to to get along with.

[snorts] What are you going to invest in over there?

>> [snorts] >> Yeah, let us know how it goes.

I I typically I don't recommend investing overseas uh for many reasons and that's not Cambodia specific, but if you choose to do that, let us know how it goes.

>> [snorts] >> Yeah, I've heard they've got a really convenient business visa.

If you start a you can start a business there and you can get a visa, a long-term visa much more easily than some of the surrounding countries.

Um, yeah, that's that's really a low price, low barrier to entry, easy to get started.

Yeah, that's pretty, you know, that's a lot higher cost.

That's a a lot more of an expectation.

And [snorts] yeah, I mean too, like Cambodia feels more low-key.

I think it's less densely populated.

So, if Thailand is too full-on, like Thailand can feel very busy, especially during high season.

I felt like Cambodia was a bit more low-key, a bit more relaxed, uh, by comparison.

I know several expats that have moved there and recent months or years that seem to be really, uh, enjoying it a lot.

There's that guy Jim who's very controversial.

He uh has moved to Cambodia or appears to have moved there or has spent some time there.

I know AJ, another guy who I interviewed on my channel.

He's moved to Cambodia.

It's kind of the next up and cominging spot I think alongside Vietnam because part of his cost of living, part of it is they're a bit less explored compared to Thailand and Philippines.

So yeah, I think I think they'll continue to grow and improve in the coming years as far as uh tra like just you know interest and culture and being tourism destinations.

[snorts] What's uh where are you headed next in Cambodia, Stoic?

[snorts] >> Yeah, I think that's a reason.

Like I think if as far as expenses go, if you're young, uh, which you are, you could do, you know, the the very modest budget, I think I I would probably want, uh, you know, more just to be comfortable.

But, you know, especially if you're trying to date, but um, yeah, rents are are still reasonable.

They're building a lot, too.

I think that helps to moderate rents is that they're building a lot in chem in pen pen.

And uh that's you know that's not a bad idea because the visas are are fairly straightforward for for Vietnam.

And yeah it's uh I don't know I do miss living in Asia at times.

Uh there are other times I don't just thinking about the challenges but uh yeah keep us posted.

Stoic.

Uh, guys, check out Stoic's channel.

That's uh he's got a startup he's working for and he's living in Southeast Asia.

He's uh pursuing his dreams and doing so in an interesting way.

Uh yeah, condo for 350.

That's a good deal for for those amenities.

I'm paying a [snorts] lot more than that here in California.

And it's yeah, it's something I I miss about Southeast Asia is the lower cost of living.

Of course, the earning potential is harder, but yeah, it's um it's certainly an interesting life over there.

Well, guys, I think I'm going to wind down.

I really appreciate everybody joining us.

Um I've got a lot to do this afternoon.

I hope everybody has a great uh rest of your day.

Give us a thumbs up if you enjoy the content.

Please subscribe to the channel down below if you're not already subscribed and comment.

What do you think?

Do you think less people will become expats in the coming years?

I think it's just a matter of demographics, recession, and the like negative media attention to some of these places.

Um, let me know what you think.

But, uh, thanks everybody.

Byebye.

[snorts]