TopSpruce wrote:I never recommend becoming an English teacher. Its a good idea to become a dentist, computer programmer, or Engineer... in a foreign country. They have universities over there that can train professionals.
Regarding income, past a certain point increases in wealth are not useful. Studies show that over salaries over 70,000 USD a year in America lead to no further increases in happiness. After a certain point, you don't need more cash.
With regards to women being interested in foreigners, the cutoff point is the middle income level.
When the GDP PPP per capita increases to about 20,000 people are no longer interested in foreigners as much. If Thailand's PPP doubles from the current 10,000 to 20,000 it will be much harder to meet quality girls.
Furthermore, income alone is not important. Look at Ukraine. While still poor, it is now considerably harder to meet an educated middle class girl there than it was 10 years ago or even 5 years ago (according to a friend who has lived there for a while).
As more foreigners arrive, their reputation is ruined by sex tourists and it becomes shameful for girls to meet with them. Furthermore, as a country expands economically, they become more proud and want to date within their culture. Most women prefer guys from within their own culture.
If you want your child to be intelligent..you should consider a healthy early 20s wife. Genetic defects increase markedly with age. Why do you think evolution programmed us to seek young women? I certainly don't want my child to be born with autism. The risk goes up considerably with age.
Moreover, intelligence is overrated. An IQ above 120 does not lead to greater career success except in specialized field such as theoretical physics. As you admit, creativity is a huge factor in career success.
Perhaps instead of wasting time achieving more income that will not impress girls you could learn their culture, language and develop your social skills further. While you may have good social skills, it is always possible to improve them further. Good social skills would go much further to meeting an intelligent and quality wife than money past a middle class level.
A medical career in the US is certainly not the best way to advance social skills.
Look at these two options:
Option 1:
Cute, intelligent middle class girl sees a guy with a dentistry practice in her own city. He speaks her language and cracks a joke that she understands. Having lived like a local for many years, he understands whats valued in her culture. He displays his worth to her in the right ways. Having little stress and enough time to eat right and exercise, the man looks young and athletic. The girl likes how he looks in the latest local fashion. They go out to dinner at a hip spot that locals in the know frequent. Even though its not super expensive, the place is new to her and she is impressed by his good taste. Having more free time than a USA doctor, the man learned salsa dancing. He isn't super agile, but with lots of practice he got pretty decent. He takes her out on the dance floor and they have fun. She's laughing at his jokes and enjoying the way he touches her. She feels comfortable and at home with him. She thinks about how her parents will accept him and decides he's worth introducing to them. They get married and have a family.
Option 2:
In 2023, a doctor from the USA arrives to a foreign land. He doesn't speak the language except for a few words. He meets a middle class, intelligent, and pretty girl. She pegs him as a sex tourist....just like all the others who've already been to her town. She's not a hoe so she doesn't want to be seen with him. Moreover, the guy looks out of shape since he is overworked and stressed. His dress is typical American and he looks out of place and akward in the city. The guy somehow manages to convince her to give him a shot. He takes her to a fancy restaurant thinking he'll impress her. The girl has already been there- her last BF was a local lawyer who took her there often. The man realizes he has more money than he can actually use in a useful way. The dinner is dull and the pair has difficulty communicating. The foreign doctor tries to crack a joke, but the girl doesn't understand the humor and feels insulted. The guy has below average social skills since he spent many hours a week working and studying. She's bored and asks the guy to dance, he fumbles badly having had little time to practice. She never introduces the guy to her parents...they would not understand him. The USA doctor can't seem to catch a break.
Here's the thing. I don't just want to be a doctor for women. In fact I'm not doing it at all for women, as if that was what I was going for, I'd be much better off going to banking or some other lucrative field. The thing is, I love medicine. A lot. And I love teaching the art of medicine to others even more. When I was in allied health, I would love teaching residents about things that they didn't learn in medical school. Seeing their eyes light up as they actually -understood- something like mechanical ventilation for the first time was... Just awesome, I can't really describe it. Medicine is my life's work, and even after I move, I'm hoping to get a job with a local college, medical school, embassy, or the CDC so I can still use my skills or teach them to others. In addition to day-to-day work, I intend to work with medical mission groups whenever I can.
And I just used Thailand as an example. I plan on heading to the Philippines, personally. There's no way in hell their income will hit $20,000 even in the next 30 years without a meteor made of solid gold hitting their government offices, simultaneously stamping out high level corruption and providing ample resources for their country. I was in love with a half filipina (hell, we were engaged) for three years, and spent a good deal of time with her family. I came to love the culture of the Philippines, learned a bit of Taglish, got used to the food and the general mentality of Filipinos. So I know a decent amount about the culture, like the people, and will be visiting pretty much yearly for the next 8 years. I'm even going to do a full two months of away rotations in Cebu and Manila to build ties with the physician community there after 3rd year (my school has relationships with medical schools in both areas). It's not like I'll just be some awkward guy who knows nothing of the local culture. Once I find the area I would like to stay in, I'm hoping to revisit every year and do clinic work until I'm done with residency so that I can establish myself in the community.
The money isn't for impressing women, it's for building a legacy. The difference between rich and poor people is that rich people create multigenerational caches of assets. I want to make sure that my children and their descendents are well taken care of. If I set aside enough money early on for them, compound interest on my investments will give them the resources to do whatever they choose. I want my children to have every opportunity I never had, with the resources to mingle with the upper class if they so choose. This is another reason I want them to be intelligent. In wealthy countries, intelligence, education, and parental wealth are three of the largest predictors of income, while education and parental wealth are the largest predictors of overall wealth. I will provide their starting wealth and pay for their education, but -and here is where no one has done any research- I believe that IQ will play a much larger role in success in a developing nation than in a developed one. I am not bringing my children back to America under any circumstances. I'll get them the passport, but that is it.
And obviously I'm going to look for a younger woman. But you're good so far as genetic defects are concerned up until about 32 years of age. If I snag a 24 year old, we could conceivably have as many as 8 children in that time, with a mere 0.26% chance of one of the eight having a chromosomal birth defect, as calculated by adding the chance of each individual child on each given birth year having a defect per the website below. And really, I don't think I'm down with having 8 kids, so the chances will be even lower than that.
http://php.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/i ... ternal_age
So there it is. I'll be older but hopefully be a respected member of the community who does development and volunteer work and actually has a job. I'll have a decent amount of the culture down. And I'll be in shape because, believe it or not, there's plenty of time for doctors to work out and eat right. It's all up to the individual, and I'm big on personal health. Many of the doctors I worked with in the past were some of the most in shape people you'd ever meet. And finally, I'm not looking to impress a girl through my income, but through my personality. The wealth is for my legacy.
Oh and the dentistry thing won't work in the Philippines, nor will being a lawyer, or doctor, or engineer. The Philippines Constitution prevents anyone that is not a natural born Filipino from working a job that requires licensure. The only real money making options for a foreigner are starting a business in one of the special development zones, working in finance, being a college professor (college is taught in English in the PI, so this is an easy transition for an educated foreigner), or making your money online. I'm not much for online entrepreneurship, I like physical businesses, and breaking into international finance isn't my cup of tea. College professor it is, unless I can land a U.S. government job with the CDC, DoS, or as an embassy medical officer.
Over the years I've developed a very old school "the kids are what it's all about" mentality toward relationships, so my situation is very different from many of yours. This is also why I refuse to marry an American woman- the environment is too toxic for children here, it will be nearly impossible for them to get ahead, and a good wife and mother is near impossible to find to begin with. It's not that I couldn't do it, it's just it isn't ideal. I'm not miserable at home, after all. I'm just happier abroad.
