I'm in my 50s, recently divorced, working in the USA in Info Tech.
My employer seems be having lay offs every 6 months for the past 10 years or so. I've lost track of the number of layoffs; each one leaves me numb and angry at the incompetence of the leadership of the company and of the country.
While I''ve managed to survive each lay off, everyone loses Russian Roulette if they keep playing.
Despite the fact that my ex- was a substance abuser, had an affair, was a bad parent,etc. under the laws of state where we lived (which are like the laws of most states), because I earned a wages while she was at home with the kids watching the maids clean the house, I have to give up a big chunk of each pay check to her until I'm well into my 60s. Suffice to say, her alimony is jaw dropping, and my lawyer strongly advised me to accept what the mediator proposed, because divorce court is a roll of the dice where I could end up paying most of my current salary to her for the rest of the my life. IOW, no retirement for Mr. xtravel, while Mrs-ex-xtravel enjoys herself.
So here I am, still paid well at my job, and seem to manage to scrape together enough for the alimony payment, and the mortgage payment on my little condo (she ended up mortgage free) with enough left over to save toward a periodic trip to Asia. It also helps that my job requires several trips to Asia.
Through these business trips, I've become enamored with south east Asia: the food, the physical and inner beauty of the girls, the pace of life, and the low costs.
Should I get laid off, at my age it is unlikely I'd be hired, certainly not at what I am paid. The good news is that once jobless or salary-reduced, I would have grounds to ask the divorce court to reduce my alimony.
I'm close to being eligible to withdraw penalty free from retirement savings accounts, and I'm thinking if anything, living in south east Asia would let me have a comfortable existence surrounded my pleasant company.
Speaking of which, my kind, sweet, and beautiful girl friend (who entered my life as a significant other after I told my wife I wanted a divorce) is from and lives in Myanmar.
While Myanmar needs perhaps 20 years for it to develop to the point an old man like me would feel comfortable living there should a medical emergency arise, I'm quite comfortable with the state of medicine in Thailand, the Philippines and from what I've read, other parts of south east Asia. As a citizen of an ASEAN countries she has opportunities to live in several ASEAN countries besides Myanmar (including Thailand; Myanmar people are to Thailand as Mexicans are to the USA, except they are legally present). Those opportunities should improve as the country continues its track record of being a stable democracy.
I'm not seriously considering moving my gf to the USA, though a visit would be fun. First I would have to marry her, and I'm not ready to re-marry yet. Second, there too many stories on HA, stickman, and other web sites where the sweet Asian wife becomes mean spirited after she gets that western passport. I don't think my gf would turn out that way, but then again every man who I read about who was burned didn't think that. Third, I don't see how, if I lost my job, I could take care of an ex-wife, a new wife, and myself in the USA.
Considering how much I enjoy Bangkok, I honestly thought I would end up with a Thai gf. I might end up with a migrant to Thailand instead.