The other day I was hanging out with some teacher friends when the topic of longevity came up. We have this person that works at our school that is a woman in her 40's and she has been living and teaching in Thailand for 20 years or so. This woman has the same position that we do and makes probably around a hundred dollars a month more than we do because of how long she has been there. However, just like the rest of us, this lady has zero savings and next to no assets.
To me this seems like a party that went on too long and now, because she waited too long she can't really do anything else.
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There is a lot of age discrimination in Thailand as well and for the most part the in-person teaching at anything other than the tippy top international schools, the teaching positions are given to people in their 20's or early 30's. It is very difficult for someone outside of the hyper qualified international school programs to get hired beyond their 40's. The only reason why this woman I am talking about has a job is likely because she has been very loyal to the school that I currently work at.
I feel bad for her because of the fact that she has basically wasted away her prime earning years and if she ever decides that she doesn't want to do this anymore she won't really have any options. She tolerates her job just like the rest of us. I wouldn't say that any of us experience a great deal of job satisfaction. For me, this was always going to be a job that I do for a couple of years and if it weren't for Covid, I would likely be back in the United States pursuing a "real job" that I will probably enjoy about as much as I do teaching, but with the added benefit of much better salary and some level of benefits.
I have said it many times before: In countries like Thailand, teaching English as a foreigner shouldn't be considered a career because it isn't one. Of all the teachers that I know, and we tend to hang out in the same circles, no one outside of the international school teachers really feel as though this is a rewarding job.
The websites that hire teachers from abroad do a lot of lying when they try to convince college graduates that this is a rewarding job. It has it's moments but for the most part it is an extremely stressful and loud job that will likely never result in any sort of savings.
When I see the girl I know that is 44 or 45 and think that she has NOTHING stashed away for a rainy day it makes me kind of sad. It is also a lesson for those of us in our 20's. If you love living in this or any other similar country, I think it would be much wiser to take a few photos and put them on your fridge back in your home country with the plan of saving and one day returning with enough money to live out the rest of your years here.
I know a few retired folks here in Chiang Mai and they did exactly that. This is a wonderful life for them because their pensions wouldn't have amounted to much back in the USA or Australia (or wherever else) but over here in a developing country they don't really have to ever worry about finances. If that isn't the dream I don't know what is.
In the meantime I am happy that I was able to see this early on enough and not commit to living here long-term because it really seems like a terrible idea and if my friend in her 40's ever decides she is going to leave it is going to be very humbling because she likely can't even afford a flight back to England. She will have to boomerang back to her parents' house in her late 40's or early 50's and that is just sad.
Teach for a couple of years and then get out and go do something real back home. You can always come back later, Thailand isn't going anywhere.
I realize that there are a few people in this group that are long-term teachers including our founder and please understand that I am not criticizing your life choices. However, I'm certain even you are aware that your success is an exception, not the rule. A vast majority of the long-term ESL teachers have a great deal of regret for having stuck around "too long."