hey YouTube Alex here and in this video today we're going to talk about why so many Americans are jealous of expats living overseas typically in Southeast Asia or Latin America some are in Europe some move around and I've
noticed that some of us get trolls and we get people who are really frustrated we get people who decry this lifestyle they want to talk about how we're all going to fail and they don't understand and they don't
understand from personal experiences in most cases maybe maybe they have some problem s in their life they feel just aren't going to work out for whatever reason I think this topic could be a multi-part series I think the
next one I'll do is why are some locals jealous of expats in today's video we are going to cover specifically why so many Americans people living in the United States are jealous of the people that are living these
Lifestyles and some of the roots of those attitudes I hope it's helpful this isn't a judgment I get it it's hard back home for many people the American dream the American dream is is not panning out for many
people they feel that it's unattainable and they feel stuck and they feel unhappy while I think for many of them the solution could be to leave to go to another country some can't leave and so I think this
does apply to some of them without further Ado I hope you enjoy it let's get into it hey YouTube Alex here in Buck Hong Philippines and in today's video I want to cover the topic why are so many
Americans jealous of expats this is a complex topic and the this conversation could go in a lot of different directions I feel that a multi-part series on jealousy would be helpful for a lot of people but in this
initial video we're just going to cover why a lot of people back home do engage in trolling which I think is rooted a lot in jealousy it's not something I take personally it's just part of being on YouTube
I do think it is important to understand this because if you decide to move overseas understand you're going to get a wide variety of reactions and that jealousy is probably going to be one of them the number one
reason is perceived adventure and freedom as an xat or a digital Nomad you will regularly get to have new experiences you'll be able to see places you've never seen before you'll be able to visit islands that many people
could only imagine you'll be able to go to a lot of the places that many people have always wanted to go to but simply don't have the time or the finances to be able to go see those places
instead of doing that which is what a lot of people would like to do they're stuck back home they're stuck in a 9 to-5 job they're stuck in the rat race they can't afford to take an extended vacation
they maybe get two weeks of work off per year if they're Americans maybe they get more than that if they're from Europe or Australia but there's really a finite amount of time that they have each year to go
explore and to enjoy their lives when they see a guy or a gal living in what they perceive to be some kind of Tropical Paradise then it's no wonder they feel some sense of resentment or jealousy because that
life just seems unattainable for them for whatever reason maybe it's Financial Obligations maybe it's familial obligations they can't imagine themselves living in a beautiful place like where we are right here in the Philippines for most Americans they simply
can't afford to take an extended vacation and if they can take a vacation typically it's going to be close to home maybe it's a place they've been hundreds of times it's not going to be a spectacular Paradise it's
going to look probably pretty close to what they're used to experiencing on a daily basis I've been fortunate to travel to many different beautiful places over the years some of the many times and even the nicest place will
lose its luster to some extent for many people once they've been there dozens of times and so when you see people experiencing so much Variety in their lives and you're not experiencing that variet you feel like you're in
Groundhog Day every day is the same it feels the same it looks the same you get up you get dressed you go to work you get off work you come home you do chores you go to bed rinse
repeat that just gets tedious after a while and so when people see guys or gals swimming in gorgeous turquoise Waters or hiking through a tropical jungle that couldn't be further away from the way that they're living it does
create pays of jealousy now to add to this you used to be that you'd only see those kind of lifestyles in National Geographic Discovery Channel Travel Channel now with YouTube and the vlogging space you can see people that
don't look that much different from you and yet are having these incredible Lifestyles and I think it's the start of a lot of jealousy I think that's why we see so many people you know railing against this lifestyle
and oh you're just exploitative and this and that and I'm not saying that those aren't issues but those are separate issues we focused on jealousy for this video finally there's a perception that these kinds of experiences have to
be so expensive that it's Out Of Reach for the ordinary person for me when I'm traveling abroad it's equally important that I have time to do these things as I have the money yeah to go to Hawaii or
South Beach Miami is very very expensive to travel within the Philippines is not as costly it's not free it's not necessarily cheap but the prices are more moderate at least here in the Philippines in 2024 prices are going
up but even while they're going up they're not as Extreme as some of these destinations in the western democracies when you've got to be at work on Monday can you fly off to B for the weekend most people
would say no if you have to get up and you have to take the kids to soccer practice after work are you going to be able are you going to be able to Jet off to the mountains to
do an afternoon hike probably not number two is perceived lifestyle differences I got into this one a bit in my first point the lifestyle differences are pretty extraordinary when you're in a cold climate and you're digging your driveway
out of snow you're putting on your heavy jacket you're putting on your hat you have to heat up your car to get it ready to go drive to work and you see somebody online and they wake up 2
hours after you had to wake up they put on some sandals go down to the beach for a stroll man that can create some pangs of jealousy you see them having healthy fresh fruit and you're stopping by the
McDonald's to get whatever mystery meat they're putting between two slices of bread that can cause some jealousy you're getting yelled at by your boss meanwhile you see them ordering a nice cup of coffee in a quaint Cafe I
think that can cause some jealousy when you see people able to just jet off for a weekend trip up to the mountains up to a neighboring country they're having the time of their lives and you're lucky to get
a meal at a restaurant once or twice a month I think that could cause some jealousy in terms of perceived lifestyle differences a big one could be that well here in the Philippines you see a lot of young
families you see people who are starting families at a young age something that many Young Americans simply can't afford to do these days and you you perceive oh wow well in that country there's actually opportunity for people to
start families for people to have children for people to get Family Support meanwhile I'm over here I live in a tiny apartment me and my spouse work and yet we still can't afford to have children I think that
could cause some jealousy the perception that this other country which is in some ways not as materially wealthy as your own country people are still able to meet those mile markers or Hallmarks of adulthood and yet in your
country you feel like a lot of the young people are in this state of Perpetual adolescence I could see why that could cause some sense of resentment or frustration on the part of young people who see expats going
abroad and wow they're having kids in their late 20s early 30s uh not to say that people aren't in the US or Australia but it's so much less common I I look at my own peer group and see
a lot of people would love to have children but it's just simply impractical based on the current state of the American economy it's not to state that nobody can have kids in the west but that it's just becoming
increasingly difficult to the point that it's less and less common every year we see that with the declining birth rates finally this seems to be especially important to American conservatives who feel left behind by Progressive attitudes they see
people in what is supposed to be a materially less wealthy country having children they don't understand why in supposedly the USA greatest country in the world people are unable to do the same in many cases not for lack
of trying not for lack of capability but simply because it doesn't make Financial sense and they don't feel supported by the popular culture either number three is the perception of personal growth for a lot of us in the
US we're working so much we don't have time to work on our health we don't have time to sort through different kinds of psychological issues we may be dealing with and yet we see these expats who come on
these videos and they talk about man I've really been able to work through my anxiety or my sadness or whatever issue they may be facing and we may feel a sense of jealousy I'm over here working 60 hours
a week and they're over there not working and so they have all this time to go to the gym every morning to go for walks in the evening maybe they find a counselor or therapist maybe they're able to
make friends who can talk things out with and the Americans that are back home think wow I don't have time for therapy I don't have time to go exercise I'm forced to eat food that's convenient because I'm just
so short on time and and so tired and so short on energy and I think it does contribute to this sense of jealousy where I'm doing everything right I'm working really hard I'm this and that and yet I'm
stalled out on these issues that I would be able to address if I had the free time and the energy but because I'm back back here in the US and I don't own my own time I have to
prioritize my finances over self-improvement or healing uh maybe some people that have a substance issue they could make the time to sort that out but they're in such a rat race and a grind that they feel like they
just have to accept their fate finally I've known many expats to use their new freedom to seek healing to find a sense of community and to recover from Old Wounds in ways that they'd never have the money or
time to handle back in their home countries so yeah I think that also contributes to the sense of jealousy that a lot of Americans insert Western Country resident here feels when they see these people living these Lifestyles Point
number four is the perceived lack of struggle and the escape from American issues I don't have time in this video to get into the plethora of problems in the United States right now but a lot of American people
are suffering a lot of people are struggling with the High Cost of Living they're struggling with the crime they're struggling with the declining quality of life they're having some serious issues with the direction that the country is going
in and so you know this stick inflation for most people they know it's not going to get better they know that rent is not going to come down they know that property taxes are not going to come down
they know food is not going to get any cheaper and they are really unhappy about it and so when when they see an expat living abroad living in some other country where costs aren't so high and xats have
an easier time owning their own time doing what they want when they want meanwhile a lot of Americans are stuck back home in jobs that they don't particularly like where maybe they don't get the respect they deserve and
so they're struggling and they see people who don't seem to be struggling who probably aren't that different from them I think it causes jealousy I think it naturally will cause some jealousy when you see people who have got
a beautiful girlfriend they're not struggling with loneliness they've got delicious food at a modest price they're not having to buy the cheapest available for every meal they have a nice home rather than living in a dangerous neighborhood or
a vehicle in fact many xats are living a comfortable lifestyle at a modest price point it really confuses people who they feel like well why am I working so hard to struggle and these other people are not working
and they're not struggling now discussing the local struggle is beyond the scope of this video not here to be dismissive I know that a lot of people and basically all countries are struggling in their own ways but I
can't sit here and go through every Edge case every oh but this or oh about this we're speaking of course in generalities I just don't have have the time to cover every little exception if you're living in a
neighborhood in the US that used to be safe maybe it used to be full of young people and now it's filled with vagrants I could see how you'd be jealous of the guy who lives in what appears to
be a safe Community where people have lived in that neighborhood for many generations where the property tax runs $3 a month so Grandma's not getting priced out it's really a world of difference a lot of people talk about
some of these countries as being reminiscent of the United States in the 1950s and of course I wasn't alive during that time I know most of you were probably either not around during that time or very very young
but for most Americans but for most would be xats they've seen quality of life decline in the United States in many different ways another example would be many expats can afford cleaning services if you spend your weekend cleaning
your house or every other weekend cleaning your house and you see some guy who's able to afford housekeeping and somebody to come through and sweep and mop and uh maybe even somebody to go grocery shopping to do some
of the weekly cooking and those services are far beyond your budget then yeah that could cause some jealousy where they're freeing up all this time to enjoy their lives and you're spending all of your time outside of work
just trying to stay on top of things not really feeling like you're getting ahead just feeling like you're Treading Water speak speaking of Treading Water this is going to launch into our fifth and final point I think we've
got a Bonus point for you as well but the fifth and final point is the perceived Financial benefits I know there's some overlap with some of these but you can't talk about living overseas without acknowledging the financial advantages
that many of us experience back home we're used to having the cheapest food we're used to having to shop once a week to get everything we need to be on a budget we rarely get the opportunity to go
out to a nice restaurant and here a lot of us may not cook at all like me personally I don't cook if I were to get into a relationship I would probably want my significant other to help out
with that because it's one thing for a single guy to be eating out every meal it's another thing for a guy in a relationship but that's beside the point when you're paying $2,000 a month for a studio in
a rough neighborhood and you see a guy paying $500 for a within walking distance of the beach that's going to cause some jealousy you look out the window and see the side of another building maybe you have loud
neighbors that throw parties every day maybe you have rude neighbors maybe you have vagrants in your neighborhood who are breaking into Vehicles maybe you got all kinds of different problems and you're paying a premium for these problems uh
because you didn't get on the property ladder or you couldn't get the property in the neighborhood that you wanted to live in and yet you see guys overseas who live in safe neighborhoods where kids can walk to school
every day where the weather is nice and sunny they're not having to pay somebody to shovel out their driveway for several months out of the year maybe they can't afford to pay somebody to shovel out their driveway and
now because they can't afford that they're going out on their Monday morning to do that where you see some guy living abroad he's he's sleeping in instead of having to quickly make his coffee and chug it and his
commute to go to job he doesn't like he goes to a nice coffee shop he sits down he relaxes he orders his cappuccino it's within budget for him to do so he can actually afford these services and you're
stuck back home doing everything for yourself uh even as you get older I mean it's one thing for a guy my age I'm 31 turning 32 soon to do some of these things but you see guys in their
50s and 60s who just want a break they put in decades of work and yet they're still unable to afford these luxuries and so then they see guys like Mike Mike's Philipine retirement or Paul Paul old dog new
tricks even worse they see a guy like Chad Chad Foster explores and these guys are able to afford all of these Comforts and not have to do every little thing for themselves and it's going to cause some jealousy
they feel like wow what's so special about these guys that they get to have these Creature Comforts they get to own their own time and I'm back home struggling on a treadmill feeling stressed out feeling burn out dealing
with people who are equally stressed out and frustrated you see the stress of traffic in the United States you see all these different problems that don't seem to be getting any better the final aspect of this point is
not only do you see guys living a comfortable life and you might be thinking oh they're just treading water over there oh all they do is just stay in place financially no a number of the guys that I've
spoken to have told me I have more savings than I've ever had in my life back home I was paycheck to paycheck yeah I paid into social security yeah I may have paid into a retirement plan but I
didn't have anything left over a number of the guys that I meet over here are actually able to accumulate savings they're actually able to build up a more substantial emergency fund it's not just a one- siiz fits-all Circumstance
the assumption is everybody over there is going to go broke in a day now and while that does happen I'm not here to dismiss that there's also plenty of people who get ahead financially over here that they actually
have not only a more comfortable lifestyle but they also feel that they're able to pad their savings and I do think that causes jealousy where where you're working all the time working 60 plus hours a week living paycheck
to paycheck you feel like well I'm doing all this work why am I not getting ahead and those guys on the other side of the ocean they don't work a traditional 9 to5 their Vlog looks like more of
a hobby than a job and yet they're able to pack away savings every month they live comfortably below their means without working and I'm working and trying to live below my means and I just can't do it my
insurance keeps going up my taxes keep going up my rent keeps going up I have a big car payment and I just feel like I'm floundering so I think it's not just that people appear to be doing better
financially in terms of living below their monthly income but also that they're able to ACR savings they're able to add to their Investments they're able to do better and better every year where a lot of Americans feel like
they're doing worse and worse every year the bonus Point here is isolation or loneliness if you're lonely you've been without a relationship for years and years and you see some guy who's found love again maybe he's been through
a divorce like you have but yet he's in a nice relationship maybe he's engaged or married and he's doing really well for himself in terms of relationships he's also got a great group of friends which has been easy
for me personally to make here and you're back in the US you haven't been in a relationship in a decade maybe two decades yeah I think there could be some jealousy there you see how beautiful his girlfriend is
how she looks at him with love and affection she may cook for him she may clean the home she may provide him with a lot of different wonderful things that you're not getting and you have no shot at
getting you know you're going to be single in the west you know that you're not meeting the type of ladies that you consider settling down with yeah I think that could cause some jealousy I mean it's natural for
a lot of guys who are single and lonely and two-thirds of men in the west are single yeah you see expat's having a great life a financially free life life rich in relationships and you're alone you see no
future where you're not going to be alone I think that could cause some jealousy so this has been Five Points as to why I think many Americans are jealous of expats living in countries like the Philippines or Thailand
if you agree with this idea give us a thumbs up it helps with the algorithm comment down below do you agree do you think this is all in my head do you think that there's nobody that's jealous of
xats living abroad maybe you could make the point that the working class is more jealous than the really wealthy Americans who seem to have it all uh and then finally if you want to see more content like this
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