hey YouTube Alex here this video is partially inspired by conversation with my buddy Ron who is a Filipino ameran who is planning to return here to the Philippines next year and I just wanted to share some of what
I gleaned from our conversation without further Ado let's go ahead and get into it why are some immigrants leaving America I made other videos distinguishing the difference between an immigrant and an expan I'm not going to get into
that in this video it's beyond the scope of this video let's go ahead and get into it the first reason is high cost of living coupled with major quality of life issues there are a number of major quality
of life issues in the United States we can talk about the weather we could talk about the at times aggressive and rude culture in my experience many immigrants come from a background where there's a certain kind of social
etiquette to be observed in the US they're often finding that these have gone out the window they're finding that people just don't really observe them and the pace is such that you're constantly sprinting you're constantly running from place
to place the pace keeps getting faster the pace keeps getting faster and that no matter what you do it's insufficient that it's not enough to try to be polite it's not enough to try to be helpful that people
really have this kind of uh mean Spirit especially in the major cities and a lot of us that come from immigrant backgrounds that's not traditional for us it's not traditional for us to be rude it's not traditional for
us to be overly aggressive it's not traditional for us to operate in such ways I know somebody will come in here and tell me about how their small town is awesome how everybody's nice that's great that's great that
you have that if I'm an immigrant and I'm looking to work my way up the career ladder I don't have the capacity to start a business for whatever reason maybe it's beyond the scope of my interest at the
time then I want to go to a bigger city because that's where there are more businesses there are colleges that kind of thing it's not practical for me to move to a small town where I may not have
any extended family where I may not know anybody where I may not be able to get a job very easily I've talked to friends from India they have taught me about how hiring various Services is much more affordable
and so if they've sold a business if they've had Career Success maybe they're stock options took off then they can go back home and live a much more comfortable life they could build a house they might be able
to hire a private Chef they might be able to hire a driver they could live a much more comfortable life than they could in the ass on the same amount of money they might be from a country with
much more consistent social norms where in such a way that they're accustomed to people being more respectful or considerate to each other people being generally more friendly people being more supportive in the group setting and just generally easier
to get along with in the US if you want to be treated well you typically have to have tons of money there are other countries where even a person with a moderate budget can still be treated pretty well
some people love to drive I'm not one of those people I think of it as a major quality of life issue to have to drive everywhere I like being able to go for a walk and the Immigrant may
be going back to a country that's more pedestrian friendly maybe to an area or a city where they can go out and walk to the local markets and pick up their groceries or whatever they need for the day
that's very uncommon in the US unless you're in a select few extraordinarily expensive cities you're not going to have the ability to just walk around there are plenty of immigrants who do come from places where there is street
level activation where you don't walk down the street and feel lonely and isolated like you do in much of the US there's a perception that every single immigrant to the US is a refugee and while that is the
case for many and it is very tragic that's not the case for all there are people that are coming from places that don't have the significant danger Factor rather they're coming because they've got a specialized skill set and
they want to contribute and be rewarded handsomely for it and then once they've collected their reward it's time to go back back home for some of them the next Point here is limited ties to the country so for
many of my immigrant friends they don't have family in the US they came for master's degree and to work in the corporate world they might be the only member of their family living in the United States they may
not have brother sister cousin Aunts Uncles Dad Mom grandparents in the US it may just be them for some of them they don't have these major Family Ties to the United States where oh okay well my siblings are
here so I'm I'm going to be able to hang out with them and even if they are they could be spread around the country I know a lot of people move for work these days and one brother or
sister might be living in New York the other in LA or Miami or Seattle these are massive distances it's expensive to fly across the country it's timec consuming and if you're in a demanding job you may not be
able to pull that off very easily I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine's mom about not always getting along in the southern us and she told me you don't know how bad that sounds to a
southerner like me at which point I realized yeah I'm a southerner and that I grew up in the southern us but I'm not culturally Southern and many of my friends in the South aren't culturally Southern either they moov
there from Michigan they moved there from New Hampshire they moved there from California they moved there from other parts of the country if not them their parent or grandparent was from some other part of the United States that's
an instance where okay I'm geographically yes I'm from the South but I don't have any ties to any part of the country in the same way that some other Americans might feel where it's like okay my parents are
from here my grandparents are from here my great grandparents are from here in my case my only European ancestor grew up in Idaho and so you know I guess I have some extended family in Idaho that's really it
the rest of my family they're recent immigrants so they don't have those deep roots that many other Americans have and so I often feel like these days I have at least as much in common with my immigrant friends
as I do with my American friends and of course this is getting into identity and and that's a tricky subject but I just don't feel those strong connections to us it's not really a stretch for me to move
halfway around the world in the same way that it might be for somebody that would be giving up a lot in terms of relationships history and tradition and all of those things the next point is that some immigrants
get homesick so some people do miss their home country I know that my grandmother talked about it when she came to us she missed Japan all the time she missed the culture the food the language the nature she
deeply missed Japan I didn't really get it until I went to Japan and then after spending a month in Japan about 5 years ago I realized oh yeah I could see why you miss this place it's clean everything
is on time there's very limited crime it's beautiful the nature is jawdropping the country is just hyperdeveloped it's a very efficient and convenient country to live in much more so than when she left she left after the second
world conflict and so it was a much different place back then than it is today even the Japan of back then is a Japan she missed living in to some degree I think a lot of immigrants feel this
way I've had numerous immigrant friends mention being homesick when we get into a more of a vulnerable conversation about how they're feeling and they miss the language they miss the people they miss not being perceived of as an
outsider even I being American I still get regard Ed as a foreigner in some places and a lot of people inevitably think about because the pace of life in the US is so fast when we do have some
time to ourselves we are remembering man I I miss going for a walk by this beach or I miss the hustle and bustle of my home City or I miss being around friends and family there's a lot of
things that immigrants Miss from back home I've talked to many different immigrants in the US about their home countries and it's inevitable that they give up something I even have friends who came to America as refugees that miss
their home country you'd think a refugee of all people it might be a totally negative perception of their home country but that's not always the case now each individual has a different experience some will feel better than others
but it's worth consideration it's worth pointing out some people do feel homesick they miss back home they miss the food they miss the weather they miss the culture they miss something about it and a lot of countries have
improved in the last few decades a lot of countries have come a long way they've developed they've rebuilt they've reconstructed they've sorted out their issues they've become better and better places to live and there's this misperception a lot
of Americans who have never traveled outside of the country before they think everything outside of the US is total Armageddon and is just terrible and that's not the case there are many places that have had issues throughout history
but Colombia is a great example had some major issues in the 9s I went more recently in 2021 had a great time love Columbia gorgeous country very warm and friendly people very hospitable it's not what it was so
it's actually come along way and so there are a lot of places where I think you'll see more and more people return home because these other countries are getting better they've sorted out different challenges that they've been struggling
with and the future looks bright for them the world is a dynamic and everchanging place and and I think a lot of immigrants do miss their home country to varying degrees and some will eventually return because they do
feel homesick let me know down in the comments by the way if you're an immigrant and thinking about going back to your home country I don't know how much of this is just my thoughts my experiences or if
maybe you share a similar sentiment the next point and this is especially true for the United States but it also applies to Canada or Australia the UK is that the immigrants made their money they worked in the high-tech
field they worked in medicine maybe they worked in the legal field or finance and they commanded a solid salary Maybe they started a business they sold the business or they hired out people to help them to operate the
business they've got consistent cash flow they own stakes and bigger companies maybe they're collecting a pension from the government or military that kind of thing and they're far better off financially than when they came to that country they've
really gotten ahead they've worked really hard they pursued the American dream and they rose up they Rose above a more modest background I know that the US is a place with a lot of interesting and unique opportunities for
a lot of people but for some people after they've achieved that they want to go back home or they want to go to some other country right they know that the US dollar has stronger purchasing power in other
countries maybe not their home country maybe they're not interested in going back to their home country but they've got somewhere else in mind and they know that after they've gotten that money well it's just a storage of credits
and debits of time that's what money is credits and debits of time so they've got all this stored up ability to purchase other people's time and there's some other places they want to go they might want to travel
Europe they might want to travel to other Western democracies they might want to go back home once you've got the money there's so much more flexibility in your life you can buy plane tickets you can pay for hotel
rooms you can try interesting foods you may have never been able to afford to try before you're not necessarily in your working years anymore where you need to get ahead you've actually gotten ahead then it may be time
for them to enjoy their life there's so many cool places in the world to go to especially if you've got some money you've made some money for yourself for your life you could go out and enjoy these places
places you only dreamed of as a young person before you got that money so yeah I mean for me I think that the best part of the United States is the ability to make money the ability to start
a business to work in a high-paying career field to invest and once you've done that I think for a lot of people their priority shift now that's not everybody there's plenty of people happily living wealthy in the United
States but but some people they see other places as being desirable for them they see other countries other cities other continents as drawing their attention and there's nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with spending your money how
you made in the way that you want to spend it yeah I mean I think as people get wealthier including immigrants their Horizons are broadened and expanded oh wow you know what I never knew that was an option
but money gives you options and so for those who have made it they've got the option do I want to go back home to my home country and engage in charity work do I want to help family back
home who's been struggling do I want to use my time to take care of a sick relative you know do I want to get involved in doing something else with my time that when I was working and I
was struggling I didn't have time for that but now that I've got the money I've got the time for it I have the choice that I didn't have when I didn't have money considering that the us is going
through some challenging circumstances many immigrants have started to look back home I have several friends in the US that are planning their move back home right now they're doing their research they're are planting seeds maybe their parents even
bought property 10 20 years ago anticipating such a move might occur and so they're not going back because they didn't make it in the US it's kind of the opposite actually a lot of them did really well in
the US and it's opened up a lot of doors of opportunity for them back home they might have all kinds of unique opportunities that didn't exist before they went to the US I've had the The Good Fortune to
meet a lot of successful people in my life and many of them have told me time is more valuable to them than money the time to spend how they want to spend it with loved ones with friends giving
back doing whatever it is that they want to do and if they're in their working years they just don't have that much time but they get to a point where they've set themselves up well uh they've got a
lot more flexibility they've got a lot more options the United States has consistently produced wealthy people for centuries at this point the unique combination of factors there makes it one of the best places in the world to build
wealth and so once you build that wealth you get options and you think about what you want to do with your future that wasn't possible without the economic engine in the United States the next point is that they
don't believe that the economic future of the US is as bright as it has been historically the US has suffered from record inflation in recent years combine that with the struggling of the tech industry with the heightened interest
rates and there's a lot of people that have been laid off myself included so there is concern about the economic future of the US is it going to be as prosperous in the future as it has been historically
I've talked to a number of immigrant friends and one of the there's a few things that come up consistently one the country's built there aren't these massive infrastructure projects that used to happen when the railroads were constructed when
the interstate system was constructed when airports were built there are some I'm not saying there aren't any but there's a lot more red tape than there was in the past you've got a lot more people that will object
or raise red flags about big construction projects than 50 hundred years ago another concern that's come up is people saying oh it's not like the' 70s it's not like the 80s the Delta between housing food transportation and your
income is slimmer especially if you don't work in medicine or highend Tech or say the legal field some kind of high value ad field then if you're just like a working person it's not as easy as it was
to get ahead it's not as easy to purchase a home in terms of the multiple of the median income right look at the housing cost versus the multiple of the median income that is not as favorable as it
was in the past so a lot of people are feeling like well it doesn't make any Financial sense for me to own a home and if I don't own a home do I really want to start a family
and if I don't want to start a family do I really have some strong tie here you see this with the declining birth rates I think that's another sign of people's concern for the economic future of the United
States a common refrain I hear do I really want to bring a kid into a place that may have another recession or economic crisis every 10 years I mean we had one the dotom bubble in 01 we had
the housing market bubble in '08 we had the pandemic in 2020 I suspect we'll have another one in 2030 I don't know what that is it's not a conspiracy-minded person but it seems like every 10 years now there's
some kind of major crisis that really impacts people's ability to get ahead and I think a lot of us are just kind of waiting for the other foot to drop in that way like oh okay who knows what
it'll be in 5 or 10 years I think the national debt is top of mind for a lot of people there are many economic concerns that are facing young people and for some of us we want to go
back either to our parents' home country or we want to go to the region that we're from we want to go and see I know I have some friends that are African-American they're doing testing and they're finding out
wow my ancestors are from this country or that country and I want to go see it maybe I even want to live there with the Advent of Technology many of our Horizons have been broadened and expanded and we're
finding out that there's so many cool places to live in the world that may have a brighter economic future I mean the economy here in the Philippines is awesome like it's growing rapidly you see businesses being built all
over the place you see new housing projects being built all over the place it reminds me of the United States in the 90s that's where the Philippines seems to be right now that's just my opinion and I love
to see it I love to see people getting ahead I love to see the optimism here it's really infectious it makes you excited for the future like it's going to be a really bright future here yeah I mean
you see like some really big-time investors coming here because they have that confidence too so not Financial advice but I think that the economic issues in the United States are really concerning to a lot of people young people
can't afford to buy houses can't afford to start families and it makes it less compelling to stick around in a place where you can't hit these Milestones that have been so common in the past many normal run-of-the-mill guys
knew okay well I may not ever be a tycoon but I can have a kid well that's off the table for a lot of people right now or at least that's the perception and so they're looking at other
places that are more favorable I think the Philippines is a very familyfriendly country in many different ways but it doesn't have to be the Philippines you got many cool options around the world so we'll go ahead and wrap
up here let me know what you think down in the comments below are you an immigrant are you coming from an immigrant background are you thinking about leaving the United States I'd love to hear your input it always
helps to generate interesting discussion next give us a thumbs up it really helps with the YouTube algorithm and finally subscribe to the channel down below if you want to see more content like this and we'll see you soon
