Latest / bit of a Rambler / 035 Financial Desperation
Transcript
- 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,280 Hello, hello, my name is Kai and I am a bit of a rambler. 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,680 I like to travel, learn and tell stories. 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:14,260 Today I want to talk about the financial desperation I often hear about from people living 4 00:00:14,260 --> 00:00:15,500 in the states. 5 00:00:15,500 --> 00:00:22,680 I often suggest traveling long term to people because all your financial stressors will 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:29,360 be gone with much less work than you are putting in to a society that's not taking care 7 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:31,120 of you in the states. 8 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:37,680 Service workers are not adequately compensated in the United States for the required standard 9 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,120 of living. 10 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:45,840 If you need heating and air conditioning, if you need your internet bills paid, if you 11 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:51,360 need gas for your car car insurance, all of that plus your rent, you simply can't pay 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:56,880 for all of it unless you are working yourself to the bone on more than one service industry 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,040 job in the states. 14 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:00,040 That sucks. 15 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,120 I've heard it over and over again. 16 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,920 This episode is brought about just because it's one of the most common things I hear from 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,280 people living in the United States. 18 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,120 They cannot afford to live there, especially if they are sick. 19 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:15,720 If they're sick, it's over. 20 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:17,960 It doesn't matter how good your job is. 21 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:24,120 If you break your leg or you get an infection or God forbid you have a chronic illness that 22 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:28,260 requires monthly payments of tens of thousands of dollars. 23 00:01:28,260 --> 00:01:31,940 People get locked into this thing where they're just making the minimum payments that will 24 00:01:31,940 --> 00:01:34,300 never go away for the rest of their lives. 25 00:01:34,300 --> 00:01:38,500 Student debt, for instance, yeah, it's never going to go away. 26 00:01:38,500 --> 00:01:43,500 But I have helped people travel abroad and they have paid off their student debt and 27 00:01:43,500 --> 00:01:50,300 paid less for their chronic illness medications and paid less for everything. 28 00:01:50,300 --> 00:01:56,860 You can remove the financial stressors that are dictating your life by traveling long term. 29 00:01:56,860 --> 00:01:59,340 Very quickly and very simply. 30 00:01:59,340 --> 00:02:06,420 It might not seem easy or comfortable right at the start and maybe it's not your chosen 31 00:02:06,420 --> 00:02:08,220 line of work. 32 00:02:08,220 --> 00:02:15,060 But if you're specifically in a state of desperation or financial need where it is controlling your 33 00:02:15,060 --> 00:02:21,780 life and you see no way out, no way to buy yourself out of a terrible situation. 34 00:02:21,780 --> 00:02:25,500 I want to make it clear that this is not something I occasionally hear. 35 00:02:25,500 --> 00:02:31,860 I have heard this from so I can't describe how many hundreds of people in the states, 36 00:02:31,860 --> 00:02:37,300 not just online, people telling me in real life, usually after they ask me, "Oh, where are 37 00:02:37,300 --> 00:02:38,300 you from?" 38 00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:39,300 What you've been traveling? 39 00:02:39,300 --> 00:02:41,020 How do you do that? 40 00:02:41,020 --> 00:02:44,340 And then, man, I can't afford my mortgage. 41 00:02:44,340 --> 00:02:46,940 I can't afford to pay for my kid's school. 42 00:02:46,940 --> 00:02:47,940 I can't. 43 00:02:47,940 --> 00:02:52,060 My parents are going to kick me out, going to be on the streets in two weeks. 44 00:02:52,060 --> 00:02:56,420 Or I'm 40 and I live with my parents and I don't want to live with my parents or I want my 45 00:02:56,420 --> 00:02:57,980 own space. 46 00:02:57,980 --> 00:03:02,820 My student debt payments are literally never going to be paid off. 47 00:03:02,820 --> 00:03:06,740 And whenever I hear that, I think, "Okay, well, the easiest thing is you can live abroad 48 00:03:06,740 --> 00:03:13,620 for $500 a month and any country you live in in Asia is going to pay you more, too much 49 00:03:13,620 --> 00:03:17,540 more than that to live there and work 20 hours a week." 50 00:03:17,540 --> 00:03:22,580 So that you can start saving $1,000 a month right away. 51 00:03:22,580 --> 00:03:26,340 If you have a passport, you can start living that way tomorrow. 52 00:03:26,340 --> 00:03:29,740 If you don't have a passport, it'll take a couple weeks for them to mail you it in the 53 00:03:29,740 --> 00:03:31,980 mail after you apply. 54 00:03:31,980 --> 00:03:37,580 And then you can start saving money the day after you land in Thailand or Vietnam or China 55 00:03:37,580 --> 00:03:39,620 or Korea. 56 00:03:39,620 --> 00:03:47,420 It's a very safe, simple, quick way to reduce and abolish those financial stressors 57 00:03:47,420 --> 00:03:49,860 if that is your largest concern. 58 00:03:49,860 --> 00:03:54,260 This is not some imperative mandate that you must follow if you are listening to this 59 00:03:54,260 --> 00:03:55,660 podcast. 60 00:03:55,660 --> 00:04:01,620 This is a viable, effective, quick solution for anyone in dire financial straits. 61 00:04:01,620 --> 00:04:09,180 If you need money, and especially if you have two months to spare, you can get your passport, 62 00:04:09,180 --> 00:04:14,220 get to a Southeast Asian country and start teaching before that time limit is up. 63 00:04:14,220 --> 00:04:19,340 You can even get your Tefl certification within that same time period if you're really dedicated. 64 00:04:19,340 --> 00:04:24,220 Once you're in Southeast Asia teaching English for 20 hours a week, you'll be making a minimum 65 00:04:24,220 --> 00:04:33,380 of $1,000 if you're in one of the really poor poverty stricken countries like Cambodia. 66 00:04:33,380 --> 00:04:35,700 But you'll still be making over 1,000 USD a month. 67 00:04:35,700 --> 00:04:41,940 Then if you're in those poverty stricken countries, you'll be living for well under $500 a month. 68 00:04:41,940 --> 00:04:44,700 And you'll still be saving money no matter what. 69 00:04:44,700 --> 00:04:48,700 If you work in China or Japan or South Korea, then you'll be making double that. 70 00:04:48,700 --> 00:04:52,900 The standards will be a little higher, but China is almost as cheap as Cambodia. 71 00:04:52,900 --> 00:04:58,540 And you're making like 1,500 to 2,000 USD more starting per month. 72 00:04:58,540 --> 00:05:03,980 Again, if time is of the essence and you need money immediately to start paying down 73 00:05:03,980 --> 00:05:11,100 debt or emergency comes up, there are two things that spring to my mind immediately. 74 00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:13,180 Then you can teach online. 75 00:05:13,180 --> 00:05:14,500 That's easy. 76 00:05:14,500 --> 00:05:19,140 If you get the Tefl certification, that's like a two week online course. 77 00:05:19,140 --> 00:05:23,380 And after you have that certification, that's a lifetime accreditation that certifies 78 00:05:23,380 --> 00:05:27,660 you know how to teach English as a foreign language, T-E-F-L, Tefl. 79 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:30,140 And you can start teaching online that next week. 80 00:05:30,140 --> 00:05:36,100 So three weeks later, if it takes you two weeks to complete the course, you can start teaching 81 00:05:36,100 --> 00:05:39,380 online and making money right away. 82 00:05:39,380 --> 00:05:46,100 If you literally cannot leave home and cannot abandon somebody you're taking care of, for 83 00:05:46,100 --> 00:05:51,380 instance, that also cannot move, then that's the route you should probably go. 84 00:05:51,380 --> 00:05:55,940 It's a little more trouble because you have to navigate the online stuff, which is a problem 85 00:05:55,940 --> 00:05:57,420 for most people. 86 00:05:57,420 --> 00:05:59,540 After you get the accreditation, you will get jobs. 87 00:05:59,540 --> 00:06:01,740 But you know, those platforms rise and fall. 88 00:06:01,740 --> 00:06:04,340 They become more or less popular. 89 00:06:04,340 --> 00:06:07,980 There's all sorts of different routes you have to go to get a job. 90 00:06:07,980 --> 00:06:09,860 Is it a part time or a full time job? 91 00:06:09,860 --> 00:06:11,980 You have to figure a lot of stuff out. 92 00:06:11,980 --> 00:06:16,140 The problem with this option is that you're still living in the United States, which is nice 93 00:06:16,140 --> 00:06:19,620 because most things are comfortable and you can work from the comfort of the place you 94 00:06:19,620 --> 00:06:20,940 already have. 95 00:06:20,940 --> 00:06:25,220 But if your main problem is the financial stressors, then all of those financial stressors are 96 00:06:25,220 --> 00:06:29,220 still there with you while you're teaching online. 97 00:06:29,220 --> 00:06:35,940 So the second option, if you can move, if there's any way, it's so much cheaper and easier 98 00:06:35,940 --> 00:06:43,940 to just move to a new country and get some financial breathing room until you can put a plan 99 00:06:43,940 --> 00:06:45,260 together. 100 00:06:45,260 --> 00:06:47,620 So get your passport. 101 00:06:47,620 --> 00:06:50,780 You can type in your zip code on the US passport website. 102 00:06:50,780 --> 00:06:54,020 It'll tell you the closest location to you. 103 00:06:54,020 --> 00:06:55,020 Usually a post office. 104 00:06:55,020 --> 00:06:57,500 So you go to the post office, fill out a form. 105 00:06:57,500 --> 00:06:58,660 They take your picture. 106 00:06:58,660 --> 00:07:00,580 You pay them 165. 107 00:07:00,580 --> 00:07:03,140 They mail you your passport in a couple weeks. 108 00:07:03,140 --> 00:07:04,420 Now you have your passport. 109 00:07:04,420 --> 00:07:05,700 You need to take it. 110 00:07:05,700 --> 00:07:07,540 Let's check prices right now. 111 00:07:07,540 --> 00:07:12,700 So if you left anytime in the next week, you could spend $200 or less anywhere in South America 112 00:07:12,700 --> 00:07:24,980 and $214 to Japan and $300 to Southeast Asia, anywhere in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Thailand, 113 00:07:24,980 --> 00:07:27,540 Malaysia, all those places. 114 00:07:27,540 --> 00:07:29,980 So let's say $300 more. 115 00:07:29,980 --> 00:07:32,460 So add on that $300 plane ticket. 116 00:07:32,460 --> 00:07:34,700 $200 if you're comfortable going to South America. 117 00:07:34,700 --> 00:07:35,780 I haven't talked there. 118 00:07:35,780 --> 00:07:40,620 So I'm going to speak about teaching in Southeast Asia instead. 119 00:07:40,620 --> 00:07:42,020 So we'll add on $300. 120 00:07:42,020 --> 00:07:43,220 We fly to Thailand. 121 00:07:43,220 --> 00:07:44,220 You land in Thailand. 122 00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:48,900 You go to any school and they will hire you to teach English. 123 00:07:48,900 --> 00:07:52,260 If you land in Cambodia or Vietnam, it'll be the same thing. 124 00:07:52,260 --> 00:07:54,540 You go to a school or check the job listings. 125 00:07:54,540 --> 00:07:56,860 There will be dozens of job listings. 126 00:07:56,860 --> 00:07:57,940 Just go to a couple. 127 00:07:57,940 --> 00:07:59,340 See if they want to hire you. 128 00:07:59,340 --> 00:08:00,660 They'll help you get a work visa. 129 00:08:00,660 --> 00:08:02,140 You'll start working. 130 00:08:02,140 --> 00:08:06,300 Or if you only want to stay for three months, you can risk not getting a work visa because 131 00:08:06,300 --> 00:08:08,420 they'll definitely still hire you. 132 00:08:08,420 --> 00:08:14,580 But to save money and just to be legal, it's a lot easier to just get the work visa going. 133 00:08:14,580 --> 00:08:17,740 And then you'll be legally working in the country. 134 00:08:17,740 --> 00:08:19,860 You can get the work visa before you go. 135 00:08:19,860 --> 00:08:25,460 Like if you apply for job online, you only need a week or two to find a good school that 136 00:08:25,460 --> 00:08:32,100 will sponsor your work visa for you and help you apply for a work visa in whatever 137 00:08:32,100 --> 00:08:33,340 country you're going to. 138 00:08:33,340 --> 00:08:39,580 So if you have an extra two weeks after the six weeks, two months that we said originally, 139 00:08:39,580 --> 00:08:43,660 just apply for a bunch of online jobs that offer work visas and then you can go already 140 00:08:43,660 --> 00:08:46,860 having your work visa set up and secured. 141 00:08:46,860 --> 00:08:51,380 But even if you don't, once you're in the country, that's even easier for the schools 142 00:08:51,380 --> 00:08:54,980 to help you get your work visa once you're right next to them. 143 00:08:54,980 --> 00:08:59,180 So 165 for the US passport right now. 144 00:08:59,180 --> 00:09:03,660 The last eight years has 30 or 40 pages in it, you're fine. 145 00:09:03,660 --> 00:09:08,860 And then 300 for a plane ticket anywhere in Asia and Southeast Asia. 146 00:09:08,860 --> 00:09:11,900 You land, get a job, start teaching. 147 00:09:11,900 --> 00:09:18,460 Your cost of living in Southeast Asia and most of Asia is 500, including rent. 148 00:09:18,460 --> 00:09:22,180 It'll be like a thousand, including rent if you're living in Japan. 149 00:09:22,180 --> 00:09:26,820 But you know, if you're desperate, live in one of the cheaper countries first. 150 00:09:26,820 --> 00:09:32,380 And 500 dollars a month living on rent and food and entertainment and then save the rest 151 00:09:32,380 --> 00:09:34,420 of your money. 152 00:09:34,420 --> 00:09:37,900 Start paying down your bills that are waiting for you back in the States. 153 00:09:37,900 --> 00:09:42,260 Start paying down whatever debt you have or start saving for the next phase of your life 154 00:09:42,260 --> 00:09:43,860 after this. 155 00:09:43,860 --> 00:09:47,460 The first time you get your paycheck, you will have breathing room because you will have 156 00:09:47,460 --> 00:09:48,460 money left over. 157 00:09:48,460 --> 00:09:52,300 You'll have hundreds to thousands of dollars left over. 158 00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:56,980 If you're in China, for instance, you're making 2500 a month. 159 00:09:56,980 --> 00:10:02,140 So 500 for food and rent if you're living at all frugally and then you're saving 2000 that 160 00:10:02,140 --> 00:10:03,660 first month. 161 00:10:03,660 --> 00:10:09,180 Maybe you need that for a laptop so you can better effectively work or a new phone so you 162 00:10:09,180 --> 00:10:12,180 can better effectively work mobility with that. 163 00:10:12,180 --> 00:10:13,780 Mobily, that's not a word. 164 00:10:13,780 --> 00:10:17,020 So you can better work online. 165 00:10:17,020 --> 00:10:22,660 But even if you buy a new laptop, a new electric scooter, a new phone, all that stuff your first 166 00:10:22,660 --> 00:10:26,540 month, you're still going to have 1000 bucks left over, US and your savings and the next 167 00:10:26,540 --> 00:10:28,020 month you won't have to buy that stuff again. 168 00:10:28,020 --> 00:10:29,500 So you'll have more savings. 169 00:10:29,500 --> 00:10:34,180 Yeah, again, I want to stress this because people confuse this with how everybody should 170 00:10:34,180 --> 00:10:35,940 live and that's not what I'm saying. 171 00:10:35,940 --> 00:10:40,980 I'm saying that if you are desperate for money and you have a few hundred dollars to 172 00:10:40,980 --> 00:10:46,420 start or you'll have a few hundred dollars after you sell all your stuff, you can get 173 00:10:46,420 --> 00:10:51,860 your passport and a plane ticket and then get a job in Asia teaching English, which is not 174 00:10:51,860 --> 00:10:57,060 a demanding profession that requires a lot of technical skill. 175 00:10:57,060 --> 00:11:04,180 There is a requirement that you be a fluent native English speaker, but if you're a US citizen, 176 00:11:04,180 --> 00:11:05,500 then you have that down. 177 00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:07,580 You are just lucky enough to be a fluent speaker. 178 00:11:07,580 --> 00:11:12,500 You've put decades of practice into speaking English. 179 00:11:12,500 --> 00:11:17,420 So you're ready to comfortably speak on that medium and most of it is going to be with primary 180 00:11:17,420 --> 00:11:18,820 school children. 181 00:11:18,820 --> 00:11:21,820 So it'll be basic conversational things. 182 00:11:21,820 --> 00:11:22,900 Where is the ball? 183 00:11:22,900 --> 00:11:24,140 The ball is on the table. 184 00:11:24,140 --> 00:11:30,540 They repeat after you do an exercise 45 minutes is over and you just made 15 bucks or whatever. 185 00:11:30,540 --> 00:11:37,340 15 USD, which is enough for three plates of food, giant plates of food. 186 00:11:37,340 --> 00:11:42,460 15 USD is 10% of your rent taken care of in the country you're living in. 187 00:11:42,460 --> 00:11:49,140 From a single one hour session of teaching, including a 15 minute break from one class. 188 00:11:49,140 --> 00:11:54,340 So if you do four classes, that's 40% of your rent in one day, 40% of your monthly rent 189 00:11:54,340 --> 00:11:55,660 in one day. 190 00:11:55,660 --> 00:12:02,300 It's just so there's no financial stress if you're living with such a vastly lower overhead 191 00:12:02,300 --> 00:12:03,940 cost. 192 00:12:03,940 --> 00:12:09,100 That's why I recommend this to people who tell me they're in financial dire straits. 193 00:12:09,100 --> 00:12:15,380 This is a quick way to jumpstart your life and your savings especially so that you have 194 00:12:15,380 --> 00:12:20,060 the capital to pursue whatever you want to teaching is great because you're helping these 195 00:12:20,060 --> 00:12:21,060 students. 196 00:12:21,060 --> 00:12:26,100 You're getting paid well while doing it and you're spending very little money while doing 197 00:12:26,100 --> 00:12:27,100 it. 198 00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:29,420 So it's a very comfortable way to live. 199 00:12:29,420 --> 00:12:34,900 You can feel good about being fairly compensated for good work that you're doing. 200 00:12:34,900 --> 00:12:40,700 And during that time you're working 20 hours a week I said you have plenty of free time 201 00:12:40,700 --> 00:12:46,940 to look for another job or look for getting back into the states from a much more secure foundation 202 00:12:46,940 --> 00:12:51,300 than you are currently at if you're desperate and barely affording rent right now. 203 00:12:51,300 --> 00:12:55,740 You can spend every free time looking for a better rental situation or a better job in 204 00:12:55,740 --> 00:13:00,620 the states and you can just wait until you find that job saving money. 205 00:13:00,620 --> 00:13:04,780 And then once you're like, oh there's finally the whatever marketing position I've 206 00:13:04,780 --> 00:13:09,460 always wanted to be a creative graphic artist and advertising something whatever you want 207 00:13:09,460 --> 00:13:16,220 to do or apply for law school like whatever you are interested in you can save money abroad 208 00:13:16,220 --> 00:13:21,020 teaching English with a ton of free time and look for your perfect opportunity back in 209 00:13:21,020 --> 00:13:26,820 the states or back in any other country and then go back with like I said savings and 210 00:13:26,820 --> 00:13:33,820 a much firmer foundation of what you want to do specifically in a quick turnaround time. 211 00:13:33,820 --> 00:13:39,380 You aren't going to have to wait six months to start saving money. 212 00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:47,500 If you get your passport and fly out there for a few hundred dollars you will start saving 213 00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:49,340 money that month. 214 00:13:49,340 --> 00:13:53,620 The jobs for English teachers are everywhere throughout Asia. 215 00:13:53,620 --> 00:13:59,740 The lowest salary you could find as an English teacher would be a thousand dollars and that 216 00:13:59,740 --> 00:14:05,460 would be when your cost of living in total with housing utilities rent, wifi everything 217 00:14:05,460 --> 00:14:08,180 about a hundred fifty dollars a month. 218 00:14:08,180 --> 00:14:10,940 So you'd still be saving eight hundred bucks a month. 219 00:14:10,940 --> 00:14:17,940 The lowest salary you should get with a Tefl certification is twenty five hundred a month 220 00:14:17,940 --> 00:14:23,060 in China probably even without a Tefl certification at this point. 221 00:14:23,060 --> 00:14:28,980 This isn't some graduate program or hypothetical career path that will eventually lead you to 222 00:14:28,980 --> 00:14:30,740 opportunities. 223 00:14:30,740 --> 00:14:36,260 No English teaching jobs are waiting right now for native English speakers. 224 00:14:36,260 --> 00:14:40,900 You'll get paid a month after you start and some schools offer sign up bonuses that you 225 00:14:40,900 --> 00:14:43,700 can have when you start. 226 00:14:43,700 --> 00:14:50,060 So you can have money right away can do this in a matter of weeks and start saving money 227 00:14:50,060 --> 00:14:53,140 immediately start paying down your debts immediately. 228 00:14:53,140 --> 00:14:57,260 I recommend the Tefl certification go listen to the full Tefl video. 229 00:14:57,260 --> 00:15:03,540 It explains this but the summary is that it's a one time certification. 230 00:15:03,540 --> 00:15:09,300 Last the rest of your life teaches you how to teach English takes a couple of weeks tops 231 00:15:09,300 --> 00:15:16,900 to fulfill a PDF online certification course and then your wage increases dramatically 232 00:15:16,900 --> 00:15:22,380 in every country that you teach English and student debt is a huge one for people from 233 00:15:22,380 --> 00:15:27,580 the United States because they don't get paid fairly for their work. 234 00:15:27,580 --> 00:15:32,220 So you cannot pay off your student debt most of the time even if you got an arts degree, 235 00:15:32,220 --> 00:15:35,940 some non specialized degree that doesn't cost as much as business school or law school 236 00:15:35,940 --> 00:15:36,940 or whatever. 237 00:15:36,940 --> 00:15:41,620 It's still incredibly difficult to pay even a thirty thousand dollars off for most Americans 238 00:15:41,620 --> 00:15:51,940 because the jobs are not there for anybody who's not in a technical or specialized 239 00:15:51,940 --> 00:15:54,100 traditional field. 240 00:15:54,100 --> 00:16:01,620 You just aren't fairly compensated but there are plenty of teachers in China that I knew 241 00:16:01,620 --> 00:16:05,100 who paid off their student debt while working in China. 242 00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:09,700 I got that number thirty thousand because that's the person I knew the best who paid off 243 00:16:09,700 --> 00:16:11,420 her student loans. 244 00:16:11,420 --> 00:16:16,700 So she was under thirty five thousand dollars of debt. 245 00:16:16,700 --> 00:16:20,740 She didn't have family support her she was working in the service industry and she was 246 00:16:20,740 --> 00:16:25,900 just crushed by that because that is a lot of money if you're making, I don't know, eleven 247 00:16:25,900 --> 00:16:32,540 dollars an hour, whatever target pays you and I interviewed her hired her in my school 248 00:16:32,540 --> 00:16:37,340 and when she arrived there, we got her an apartment got her started teaching like three days 249 00:16:37,340 --> 00:16:39,580 after she got there. 250 00:16:39,580 --> 00:16:45,900 She did not have a Tefl certification yet but we paid everyone the same it just made 251 00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:49,180 it easier to hire people with certifications. 252 00:16:49,180 --> 00:16:56,580 So she was making twenty five hundred USD a month starting and she wanted to pay off her 253 00:16:56,580 --> 00:17:02,620 debt so she spent as little as she could for the couple of years she was with us and she 254 00:17:02,620 --> 00:17:08,620 paid off her debt after eighteen months month by months she gave a grand in a half or so 255 00:17:08,620 --> 00:17:13,700 and then it was gone and she otherwise would have had that until who knows the end of her 256 00:17:13,700 --> 00:17:14,700 life. 257 00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:17,740 I don't know maybe she would have become a manager but she would have had it easily for 258 00:17:17,740 --> 00:17:23,000 a decade or more she had no savings and she had had that debt already for five years and 259 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:28,320 it was just getting bigger like the interest was just raising it you know a thousand every 260 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:33,360 half a year or something even though she was paying the minimum payments to pay it down. 261 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:38,820 So she got a very basic job with us and she worked less than twenty hours a week but you 262 00:17:38,820 --> 00:17:42,220 get a salary usually working at the English school. 263 00:17:42,220 --> 00:17:47,120 So after the first year she worked for us that was mostly gone then after another six 264 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:52,480 months it was completely gone and she had like I said all the new new phones and new laptops 265 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:59,120 and her own scooter and you know just living just living comfortably and with no student 266 00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:02,720 debt anymore after a year and a half abroad. 267 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,920 When she first arrived the student debt was pretty much all she talked about and then 268 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:12,280 after she got her first paycheck she was like oh that's the first time that amount has 269 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,240 ever gone down. 270 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:18,080 And the second month stopped talking about it quite so much like she was still worried 271 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:22,920 about it but it was you could tell she was like okay so I can just keep paying this amount 272 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:27,640 and it will go down instead of up which hadn't happened to her for the last half decade 273 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,000 of trying to pay this thing off. 274 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:35,320 It's just cheaper to live abroad and while living abroad you have all the same amenities 275 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,360 and conveniences that you are used to. 276 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:43,600 They have 5G they have AC you have a kitchen at home to cook with you have electricity and 277 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:49,680 yeah you have everything they're supermarkets around there's good food at a much cheaper 278 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:54,880 price than you're used to around you know if you have a kid and their school is expensive 279 00:18:54,880 --> 00:19:00,200 when you're abroad there are international schools where you can send your kid and 280 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:07,480 it will be cheap well within your monthly salary to send them to a school where they'll 281 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:12,960 learn a new language and all of the basics math history all the normal stuff also. 282 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:19,080 So how about medical expenses if you need some sort of medication that's financially crippling 283 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:24,400 you in the United States I know people in every medical condition and I haven't met a single 284 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:30,320 one who has not been able to find a version of their medication that works for them abroad 285 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:35,200 and it's not like you have to guess the medication go to a doctor they can speak English or one 286 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:40,360 of their assistants can speak English you tell them what the problem is they'll do an examination 287 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:45,000 they'll recommend especially if you bring your medical papers and you show them the test results 288 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,320 and then show them the medication you need unless it's heavily restricted they'll just tell 289 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:53,920 you the name of the medication you need and you can go get that medication it's very 290 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:59,480 straightforward and simple to get medication and every kind that I've ever heard of I don't 291 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:05,960 know I've never run into a problem getting access to any kind of medication abroad by the way 292 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:11,080 that teacher who paid off her student and dad stayed with the school after she paid her student 293 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:18,000 because then she had all of a sudden 2000 extra dollars in a crazy cheap country where she 294 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:23,240 was already like going out with friends you know spending a hundred dollars USD a month 295 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,960 but then for the first couple months she was just like all right five hundred she was still 296 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,640 saving fifteen hundred but she was like I'm just spending five hundred extra and just 297 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:34,200 buying whatever I want I'm not cooking I'm just having fun for two months and had a great 298 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:40,560 time and then after she taught for a few years that was good for her and she went back to the 299 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:46,680 state's debt free actually not only debt free but with a ten thousand dollars or something 300 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:51,920 I assume in savings because she continued to live within her means she had a lot of fun 301 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:57,520 but you're making so much money and the cost of living is so low in China that she must 302 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:03,520 have saved at least ten thousand more even if she was partying every day until she left 303 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:08,480 I talked to her sporadically I don't know where she is now she was in South America for a while 304 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:15,720 so once you travel it's pretty difficult to give up that lifestyle not just medication 305 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,880 you know what I should mention this medical procedures are also much cheaper as well 306 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:26,040 so if you have dental problems specifically Thailand is your best friend they have the 307 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:30,760 same medical technology that the states has the same training because Thailand invested 308 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:36,640 so much into medical infrastructure and specifically dental infrastructure so you go there and you'll 309 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:41,520 pay twenty five percent of what you'd pay in the states or less and get the same treatment 310 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:48,000 by great dentists I get all of my dental work done there other medical procedures they 311 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:53,920 just have modern medical procedures including non invasive surgeries and all the stuff you hear 312 00:21:53,920 --> 00:22:00,720 about in the states you can do that in Southeast Asia particularly in Thailand with the same 313 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:06,080 technology and skilled doctors and I want to reiterate this is not like a couple things 314 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:14,520 or just dentistry they have joint replacement hip replacement they can remove fibroids non-invasively 315 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:21,160 like all modern medical procedures you've heard of stents in your heart they have those same 316 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:28,560 surgeries and skilled doctors ready to perform just at a much lower price what else is cheap 317 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:37,000 transport if you have to get around to your job the transport cost is irrelevant there's public 318 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:43,600 transport wherever you're going so you can get that or you can get a motor scooter or electric 319 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:49,520 scooter and get around that way or a bicycle and that's all going to be a ten ten dollars or 320 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:55,080 something ridiculous cheap like that I'm not going to dive into too many details but I want 321 00:22:55,080 --> 00:23:02,160 you to rest assured that if you are in a desperate spot and you need to get out of this situation 322 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:09,400 that is financially depriving you of your freedom to act or liberty to move around like 323 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:16,680 you just feel trapped and it's mostly due to financial stressors if you move abroad you 324 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:23,600 can erase those financial stressors as soon as you land and get a job teaching English right 325 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:29,920 away now if you have financial stressors in the u.s. but you have any kind of remote work 326 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:35,400 or online job and you're making over 500 a month stick with that if you like the work take 327 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:40,040 that job and go live in one of these cheap countries and even if you're only making 328 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:47,520 1500 a month which is like desperation wages in the United States that is living comfortably 329 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:54,960 plus savings wages in most of southe Asia so you can keep that exact same job save a thousand 330 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:59,400 a month and go live abroad and just take you can just take six months off and just think 331 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:04,720 like okay when I get back how can I work myself out of this situation if that's what you want 332 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:09,640 to do if you don't you can just keep traveling and saving money but either way traveling is 333 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:18,000 a very viable option for lowering your overhead cost saving money and removing financial 334 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,720 stressors from your life you don't have to make it your permanent lifestyle this can be 335 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:31,320 a tactical retreat from crushing debt that you can solve regroup and then jump back into 336 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:37,040 the life you want to live I'm sure I have not covered everybody's specific questions 337 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:44,240 and concerns so if you have any of those send them over to bit of a rambler at gmail.com all 338 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:52,640 one word b i t o f a r a m b l e r and gmail.com and I will answer you have a good rest of your 339 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:58,400 day I will see you in the next one and I hope everything is going well for you and on that 340 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:09,840 note let's look at English teaching jobs available not even looking for anything just just 341 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:21,040 see right here native English teacher right at the top of the list there's hundreds of them 342 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:33,480 you can do one on one or classroom level starts at 2700 per month and if you do one on one 343 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:40,920 here a guy wants to move to America to join his daughter and is linked for someone to teach 344 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:50,920 him four hours a week between 70 if you're a non native speaker to $100 USD per hour 345 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:59,120 to just casually talk with him in a cafe yeah so one hour two hours a day a couple times 346 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:09,200 a week you could talk to this guy for $100 per week 1600 so you could work four hours a week 347 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:20,400 and make $1,600 a month just talking normal English to a guy in a cafe this is a very real 348 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:28,360 job offer because this is more but very in the in the realm of what I made on as a one on one 349 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:36,800 tutor I was hanging out laundry one day someone asked me to tutor one on one their friends daughter 350 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:48,760 and I charged 600 you on per hour which was like $90 or something at the time and I would 351 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:57,040 teach from my apartment I had a PowerPoint and you know her mom was there it was proper 352 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:02,040 and everything my screen and we just went through a lesson at the end of the hour they 353 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:11,100 gave me the money and they left and $90 yeah it was $90 and my rent was only about $60 354 00:27:11,100 --> 00:27:17,120 so I was making about my annual rent every month from two one hour sessions one on one 355 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:23,960 sessions with this one student that's just to illustrate this these two job postings I just 356 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,400 read are very real and they're so common like I said there are hundreds of postings right 357 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:34,560 now just waiting for English teachers in China so if you need money this is a very viable 358 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:42,400 strategy just traveling alone you will start saving money but if you need money travel 359 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:48,440 go be an English teacher for a few months get rid of your debt or save money for what 360 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:52,560 you are planning whatever your next plan is and go from there. 361 00:27:52,560 --> 00:28:15,120 *Outro music*