An Australian man has revealed that the cost of living crisis has inspired him to set a new life goal: moving to Southeast Asia for good.
The 30-year-old said the move was a no-brainer as it is a “tropical paradise” with “warm weather, vibrant nightlife, cheap rent, cheap food and friendly people” – a stark difference from “struggling to survive” in Australia.
He earns $80,000 a year, has $50,000 in his bank account and spends $665 a week on Uber Eats, but he has no other assets, no partner or children, and will not receive any inheritance in the near future.
“Anyone else feel like giving up on Australia and moving to Southeast Asia?” he asked on Reddit.
‘What am I going to do? Spend another year or two saving up a 20 per cent deposit for the cheapest, smallest one-bedroom apartment in a high-crime suburb, just so I can be stuck in a job I hate for 30 years to pay it off?’
Anyone else feel like giving up on Australia?
Despite receiving criticism from hundreds of people about their “privileged” life, several other Australian families have moved for similar reasons and never looked back.
Tom Wedding was fed up with feeling “poor” while living paycheck to paycheck in Australia, so he 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 somewhere he hasn’t been before. So far he has visited Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam and then uses Bali and Thailand as his “home base.”
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 traveling abroad.
Tom, who splits his time between Bali and Thailand, previously told FEMAIL he couldn’t afford to go out for a night out with friends in Australia, rarely dined out in restaurants and felt limited 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 out on a lot in Australia and I felt like I was in control of my life. Everything piles up so quickly when you leave,” she said.
“I’m very spontaneous now – if I want to go somewhere, I just book it. It’s also nice to work remotely as it gives me the freedom to do so.”
Another father of two also explained why moving overseas with his family due to the cost of living has “ruined” Australia for him.
Jimmy Mitchell, 36, and his wife Pauline, 35, 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 was working non-stop to earn a decent amount of money but felt like he was “never making progress” and would sometimes come home crying.
At the time, the couple were renting a four-bedroom house in Mandurah, an hour south of Perth, and were struggling to save up for a house deposit despite working long hours.
“The main reason we decided to travel full-time was to improve our quality of life and spend more time together as a family,” Jimmy said.
They also now save up to 50 percent of their income in a good month, up from zero to five percent.
The couple haven’t looked back since taking the plunge and aren’t sure when (or if) they’ll return to Australia permanently.
“In Australia we were making good money, that’s something I couldn’t understand. We had good jobs but we always felt like we weren’t moving forward,” Jimmy said.
‘The harder I worked and the harder I worked to earn the money so we could have those things, the less time I had to spend with my family.’
The stress felt like such a burden that Jimmy would sometimes come home from work crying, and the situation only got “progressively” worse.
“I’d come home and say to Pauline, ‘I can’t live like this anymore.’ And that was because we were both working in the business, the kids were in school, and we’d barely seen each other,” he said.
“We’ve been back (to Australia) for three weeks, we’re supposed to be here for two months, but we might even leave earlier,” Jimmy said.
However, many Australians on Reddit revealed that simply packing up and moving was no easy feat.
“It’s only cheap if you have Western money to spend. I recommend you move to South East Asia and experience what it’s like to live there on a local salary – it will give you a new appreciation for the Australian standard of living,” said one.
“My friends back home work 70+ hours a week in hospitals and ‘high-paying’ office jobs and earn less than $2,000 a month. Coming home at 5pm and having Saturdays off is a luxury, not the norm,” said one former Southeast Asian native.
Another person shared their experience of spending over a year in Thailand.
“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” the traveler said. “I just returned from spending 15 months in Thailand teaching English. The reality is not a tropical paradise at all.
“I think the vast majority of farang living there teach English. Other options are very limited. The work is not rewarding and the salary barely covers the bills. You will always be considered an outsider.
“The lifestyle is third world in many ways. That’s the harsh reality. The real problem is that you can’t find satisfaction with what you have here. That dissatisfaction will follow you everywhere. Accept that and your problem is solved.”