An Australian man has revealed that the cost of living crisis has inspired him to make a new life goal: moving to Southeast Asia for good.
The 30-year-old claims the move is a no-brainer as it is a “tropical paradise” with “warm weather, vibrant nightlife, cheap rent, cheap food and friendly people” – a far cry from the “struggle to survive” in Australia.
He earns $80,000 a year, has $50,000 in his bank account and spends a whopping $665 a week on Uber Eats. However, he has no other assets, no partner or children and there is no talk of an inheritance for the time being.
“Has anyone else thought about giving up Australia and moving to Southeast Asia?” he asked on Reddit.
‘I mean, what am I going to do? Save for another year or two to put a 20 percent down payment on the cheapest, smallest one-bedroom apartment in a high-crime suburb, only to be stuck in a job I hate for 30 years and have to pay it off?
‘Does anyone else feel like giving up on Australia?’
Despite the negative reactions from hundreds of people to his ‘privileged’ life, several Australian families have moved for similar reasons and never looked back.
Tired of feeling ‘poor’ while living paycheck to paycheck in Australia, Tom Wedding packed up his life and moved to Asia.
Every two months he has to leave the country to reapply for the $60 visa – but he usually travels to places he has never been before. So far he has visited Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam and uses Bali and Thailand as ‘home bases’.
Tom also met his current girlfriend while living in Asia (pictured together)
The 24-year-old sold his belongings in early 2023 and worked remotely from his laptop while abroad.
Tom, who divides his time between Bali and Thailand, previously told FEMAIL he couldn’t afford to go out with friends in Australia, rarely ate out in restaurants and felt restricted by his finances.
He now invests and saves 60 percent of the $6,500 he earns each month while working in tropical paradises.
“I missed a lot in Australia and felt like it was taking over my life. Everything piles up so quickly when you go out,” he said.
‘Now I’m very spontaneous – if I want to go somewhere, I just book it. It’s also nice to work remotely because it gives me the freedom to do that.’
Another father of two also explained why he ‘ruined’ Australia by moving his family overseas due to the high cost of living.
Jimmy Mitchell, 36, and his wife Pauline, 35, have ditched the “stereotypical lifestyle” in Western Australia and have been travelling around South East Asia for the past 12 months with their sons Riley, seven, and Liam, eight.
Jimmy previously told FEMAIL that he worked endlessly hard to earn a decent amount of money, but that he felt like he was ‘never getting ahead’ and that he would sometimes come home crying.
The couple were renting a four-bedroom house in Mandurah, an hour’s drive south of Perth, at the time and were struggling to save money for a deposit on the house despite working long hours.
“The main reason we decided to travel full-time was to improve our quality of life and spend more time with family,” Jimmy said.
Moreover, in a good month they now save 50 percent of their income, instead of zero to five percent.
The duo have never regretted the jump and are not yet sure if or when they will return to Australia for good.
“In Australia we were making good money – this is something I couldn’t understand. We had good jobs but we always felt like we weren’t getting ahead,” Jimmy said.
“The more I worked and the harder I worked to earn money so we could buy things, the less time I had to spend with my family.”
The stress felt like such a heavy burden that Jimmy would sometimes come home from work crying, and it only got “worse and worse.”
“I came home and said to Pauline, ‘I can’t live like this any longer.’ And that was a combination of the fact that we were both working in the business, the kids were in school and we had hardly seen each other,” he said.
We’ve been back [in Australia] “We’ve been on the road for three weeks now, we should be here for two months, but we can leave even earlier now,” Jimmy said
Still, many Australians on Reddit indicated that packing and moving was no easy task.
‘It’s only cheap if you have western money to spend. I recommend moving to South East Asia and living there on a local wage – it will give you a new appreciation for the Australian standard of living,’ said one.
“My friends back home work 70+ hour weeks in hospitals and ‘high paying’ office jobs and make less than $2,000 a month. Getting home at 5pm and getting Saturdays off is a luxury, not the norm,” said one former SEA resident.
Another shared her experiences after living in Thailand for over a year.
“The grass is always greener on the other side,” said the traveler. “I just got back from 15 months in Thailand teaching English. The reality is not a tropical paradise at all.
‘I think the vast majority of farang there teach English. Other options are very limited. The job is not rewarding, the salary will barely cover your bills. You will always be seen as an outsider.
“The lifestyle is third world in so many ways. This is the stark reality. The real problem is that you can’t find satisfaction in what you have here. That dissatisfaction will follow you everywhere. Accept that and your problem is solved.”