There is an old saying that goes something like "the most important information in life cannot be taught in school" and although I am butchering the actual statement I think that this is very true. I've learned much more about what I consider to be the truly important stuff in life just by getting out of my comfort zone and deciding to live somewhere that is completely different than the environment that I grew up in. You can learn a lot about life when the choices are to A) Do something or B) Starve.
Before moving overseas I will admit that even though I had some level of independence I still lived kind of under the protection of my parents, who were living the same State that I was. I rarely took advantage of this but also realized that if the shit truly hit the fan, that they were a guaranteed back-up plan just down the road... well, many hours down the road but they were still there.
Moving to the other side of planet and knowing no one other than my friend who first introduced me to the wonders of Thailand I had no bail out. I either had to sink or swim. I've learned a lot of thins since treading water over here and one of the major things that I learned is something that I hope I can manage to stick with when I move back to USA:
Save money today for a better life in the future
A great many of my friends over here are retired. They lived their lives overseas, made their money through a life of almost always working in the same career for 30 years, then retired in relative luxury and made that luxury even bigger by moving to a country that is dramatically cheaper than the one that they earned in.
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This is something that has changed a lot since I was a kid and I think that most people with decent home lives would say that their parents had a very different approach to earnings than people do in my generation. It seems as though no matter how much money my generation makes, we are always spending a little bit more than that. We have to have the latest phones, high fashion, senselessly expensive Nikes, and all the gadgets that we already have one of but for some reason we feel compelled to have more. We all that one person who has multiple computers, multiple tablets, and a $1000 phone all of which they use for the same purpose. Have we ever stepped back and said to ourselves that this money would be much better saved for later?
I fear for most people my age and even for myself if I can't get some discipline because I have read stories about how very few people my age (between 20 and 30) actually have any savings at all. I don't have very much but a lot of this is because of the fact that I chose to move to a place where I was going to make fuck all money.
When I speak to the retired folks here about how much their lives cost it isn't really that much money and certainly a lot less than it would be to retire in their home countries. This is why they chose to come here: They can live much more richly off the same amount of money. This doesn't change the fact that most of my same-age peers are on a fast track to not have any savings at all by the time they reach retirement age and if that isn't scaring people out there, it should. The systems we have in place like Social Security are already bankrupt and it honestly wouldn't surprise me if they didn't exist by the time I am old enough to collect on it.
I really believe that coming over to a popular retirement destination like Thailand can be very good for a person because you see right in front of you the importance of saving money for the future. All of these guys that I know that are 55 or older don't work anymore, and they are quite comfortable with the amount of money that they have allotted themselves for each month. They don't get to live like kings or anything but when I think about how far the $2000 a month or so that they have saved up would get them in most of the USA the answer is "not very far." In many places such as big cities you wouldn't even be able to survive off of that much.
I don't know how to invest or anything like that but I think a good place to start would probably be mutual funds or index funds. These sorts of investments have gained at least 10% per decade including during the Great Depression and the dot com crash that I think was in the 90's. They are a safe bet for future payouts. Also if you keep there there for a long time , which is kind of the idea, you won't be taxed on the gains beyond a certain age.
There are a lot of different options that someone could choose but mostly I am not trying to give financial advice, I am trying to say that seeing how the retired folks live over here has opened my eyes to how important it is to get out there and earn and even more so, to be responsible with how you use the money that you get. Maybe don't get a $1000 phone if you only make $4000 a month? Couldn't you get by with a $400 phone and put the other 6 into something that is going to make passive income for you?
It is a long time into the future for me but the earliest that you are allowed to get a retirement visa in Thailand and I would imagine other countries is around the age of 50. Most of my American compatriots, if they keep their current trajectory, likely wont ever be able to retire. I'd like to think that with a bit of discipline that I could manage it by the age of 50. It's a long time off for me and a lot of things can happen between now and then like marriage and a family, but honestly, I don't think that I should allow even that to interfere with planning for the future.
I can't stay in Asia any longer because job opportunities with remuneration the likes of which I would like to see just don't exist for people like me. I would rather put a picture of my favorite places in Thailand on my fridge as a reminder to myself that this is what I am working for... and hopefully this will encourage me to not spend like crazy and instead be responsible with my money.
The point of all this is that the people I know in the expat community that are the happiest here are the ones that planned their lives in a somewhat responsible manner financially speaking. This is probably true for anyone who is retired anywhere in the world as well. I'm going to go home with a new idea about what money means, and try to work towards not just what I want today, but what I want for the rest of my life instead.