Video: The Dark Truth About Expats Going Broke in the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam

[MatureDJ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w12CBu-kIQ4

[kangarunner]

Sounds like some f***ing DUMMIES. Sounds like your average Joe, beer drinking, f***ing DUMBASS.

UHHHH. I didn't have a plan. I'm stupid. Can you please help me?

HAHAHAHA

[Winston]

I have seen expats begging for money in the Philippines. Why can't they teach English or work in a call center? Mr S told me before that expats can work in call centers.

[Traveler]

"I was a digital nomad living in Southeast Asia, in places like the Philippines for two years and returned to the US broke. Now, I’m living in a weekly motel extended stay motel almost homeless because rent is so unaffordable. I had to repatriate then reenter the workforce at 50 and repay my credit card debt from living overseas."


He was not able to make enough money online while living in SE Asia. According to his website, his skills are marketing, graphic design, and YouTube video editing.
https://scottrasher.com/

[Voyager1]

If you are stranded in a particular country and are from a first world nation, you should be able to go to your country's consulate and obtain assistance. They will help you with finances in the form of a loan to get back home. They will not help you to live in that particular country.

In many countries if you are a native English speaker you should be able to 'wing it' as an English teacher.

For example Johnny Chen (Johnny FD) works or volunteers as an English teacher in Kyiv

[publicduende]

in the mid 2020's, with all the information available on forums, blogs, YT videos and the likes, it takes a particularly thick man to:

• start a relationship with a bar girl, usually a single mom coming from the most destitute of backgrounds, hardened to a million tricks and expedients to survive and extract money
• go all soft towards any Filipina, especially when the reality starts to slap their faces violently, that they are nothing more than walking ATM in exchange for occasional bedroom fun.

[Yohan]

Such stories are out everywhere on the internet, I can only advice men to listen to such experiences, but many men do not want to listen....
So what can I do?
You cannot help everybody. I don't care anymore.

I am now in Thailand again for one month, stories like that are just 'the normal way of daily life'.

Laws and police are not that bad here in Thailand for foreign men, but if you, the foreign man is giving away your money totally voluntarily to your Thai bargirl, how can local authorities help you?

Ended Up BANKRUPT After Losing EVERYTHING in Thailand !

15,473 views Aug 14, 2025 Thailand Stories
Retirement in Thailand Gone Wrong; an Englishman’s dream of living in Thailand turns into a shocking lesson in expat life, love, and money. Moving to Pattaya with a house in the UK, big savings, and plans for a perfect future, he thought living in Thailand full-time was the answer. From dating in Thailand and marrying a woman from Isaan, to buying land in Khon Kaen, building a house, and starting a business, it all looked like the ultimate retirement plan in Southeast Asia.

But behind the smiles, disaster was waiting. Property repairs in the UK drained his savings. His wife lost her job. Their Thailand business never made enough money. Personal loans, credit cards, and desperate attempts to protect his assets led to total financial collapse. The expat dream of living in Thailand turned into a nightmare; debt, divorce, and a one-way ticket back to England with nothing left.

[MrMan]

I have seen expats begging for money in the Philippines. Why can't they teach English or work in a call center? Mr S told me before that expats can work in call centers.

I encountered one expat in Jakarta who had been divorced and married a young Indonesian woman, or maybe he had a baby with her and then was married to her. He said he used to work for the CIA, then he got into oil trading, then he changed jobs and went to work for a new Japanese oil trading firm, but the company went belly up. He said his wife had asked him to buy a house in Pondok Indah when the bottom fell out of the market, but he said no. He regretted that later. He said he used to make, I think it was $20K a month. That was back around 2000 that he told me that.

He was semi-homeless, maybe even living with in-laws. He was basically begging off of other expats. He said he used to go through a lot of money, thousands for a watch. It sounds like he was making the big bucks but not saving or investing well. Maybe he had debt and just planned to keep making a lot of money.

I said why don't you teach English. At least you could feed your family. No.... he would be ashamed. What if he taught a client's son or daughter? He thought some big job might be on the horizon and he didn't want to mess it up. I was in the ELS field, which he deemed beneath himself at the time. I should have told him that begging was more degrading than teaching, and he'd burn his reputation quicker doing that than by teaching. He could also spin teaching as 'giving back to the community' there in Indonesia without letting on he was poor, but I didn't tell him that.

A saw him a few years later and he was with this little girl, divorced, and he made a joke about his ex-wife being like Satan.

I met another guy who was stepping on the backs of size 9 shoes, since it is hard to get proper clothes there, with about half an afro grown out, who talked kind of like a con artist, talking about putting together deals. His clothes underminded his credibility. He visited church. An African lady offered to buy him some clothes that fit. He said he was robbed of his cowboy boots and other things, that he'd been there in Indonesia long time doing some business. He had a business card from President Soeharto's nephew and was trying to leverage that into business deals. I introduced him to a friend of mine who was into construction and he was amazed that a guy like that from LA... there are lots of them there... could end up in Jakarta. I don't know what the man's real story was. I suspect he might not have been on a legal visa. But a friend of mind tried to bring him into a company to try to put deals together, since he was a smooth talker, but they butt heads.

I saw him a year or so later at a different church. Newcomers introduced themselves and said where they were from. He stood up and said some people thought God wasn't blessing people nowadays... but said something about his business.... which was really weird and out of place. I said 'hi' to him, and he didn't come back to church. I really wondered what he was doing on his visa and what his story was back home for him to be in Jakarta.

It makes me think of this movie I caught a few minutes of that my family was watching. Someone was running, I think from the CIA, and if they could get to Jakarta, they would be safe, and after a big ordeal, finally made it to Jakarta. I have heard that there are ex-CIA people who retire there because they can hire security and stuff like that.

Expats overseas are kind of vulnerable. You need to plan your finances and pivot if you get in trouble. Research some backup job if you find yourself unemployed. I did spend many months in Jakarta unemployed looking for work, maybe 8 months, living off of savings. A friend had an organization that kept giving me social visit visas as I left the country on visa runs. It is a cheap place to hole up, but opportunities that pay enough were rare. I had rented a house off of savings. I eventually got a corporate trainer job with an ESL focus for a big international company. The pay was about like English teacher pay, the hours were longer, but it was an experience.

[kangarunner]

I have seen expats begging for money in the Philippines. Why can't they teach English or work in a call center? Mr S told me before that expats can work in call centers.

I encountered one expat in Jakarta who had been divorced and married a young Indonesian woman, or maybe he had a baby with her and then was married to her. He said he used to work for the CIA, then he got into oil trading, then he changed jobs and went to work for a new Japanese oil trading firm, but the company went belly up. He said his wife had asked him to buy a house in Pondok Indah when the bottom fell out of the market, but he said no. He regretted that later. He said he used to make, I think it was $20K a month. That was back around 2000 that he told me that.

He was semi-homeless, maybe even living with in-laws. He was basically begging off of other expats. He said he used to go through a lot of money, thousands for a watch. It sounds like he was making the big bucks but not saving or investing well. Maybe he had debt and just planned to keep making a lot of money.

I said why don't you teach English. At least you could feed your family. No.... he would be ashamed. What if he taught a client's son or daughter? He thought some big job might be on the horizon and he didn't want to mess it up. I was in the ELS field, which he deemed beneath himself at the time. I should have told him that begging was more degrading than teaching, and he'd burn his reputation quicker doing that than by teaching. He could also spin teaching as 'giving back to the community' there in Indonesia without letting on he was poor, but I didn't tell him that.

A saw him a few years later and he was with this little girl, divorced, and he made a joke about his ex-wife being like Satan.

I met another guy who was stepping on the backs of size 9 shoes, since it is hard to get proper clothes there, with about half an afro grown out, who talked kind of like a con artist, talking about putting together deals. His clothes underminded his credibility. He visited church. An African lady offered to buy him some clothes that fit. He said he was robbed of his cowboy boots and other things, that he'd been there in Indonesia long time doing some business. He had a business card from President Soeharto's nephew and was trying to leverage that into business deals. I introduced him to a friend of mine who was into construction and he was amazed that a guy like that from LA... there are lots of them there... could end up in Jakarta. I don't know what the man's real story was. I suspect he might not have been on a legal visa. But a friend of mind tried to bring him into a company to try to put deals together, since he was a smooth talker, but they butt heads.

I saw him a year or so later at a different church. Newcomers introduced themselves and said where they were from. He stood up and said some people thought God wasn't blessing people nowadays... but said something about his business.... which was really weird and out of place. I said 'hi' to him, and he didn't come back to church. I really wondered what he was doing on his visa and what his story was back home for him to be in Jakarta.

It makes me think of this movie I caught a few minutes of that my family was watching. Someone was running, I think from the CIA, and if they could get to Jakarta, they would be safe, and after a big ordeal, finally made it to Jakarta. I have heard that there are ex-CIA people who retire there because they can hire security and stuff like that.

Expats overseas are kind of vulnerable. You need to plan your finances and pivot if you get in trouble. Research some backup job if you find yourself unemployed. I did spend many months in Jakarta unemployed looking for work, maybe 8 months, living off of savings. A friend had an organization that kept giving me social visit visas as I left the country on visa runs. It is a cheap place to hole up, but opportunities that pay enough were rare. I had rented a house off of savings. I eventually got a corporate trainer job with an ESL focus for a big international company. The pay was about like English teacher pay, the hours were longer, but it was an experience.

A few years ago in Saigon some older guy probably early 50s comes up to me and tells some phoney story about his key fob not working and can I give him 200,000 vnd ($8). I'm in the right mind now to tell any Westerner to f**k off if they ask me for money.

If you screw up while living abroad, it's YOUR FAULT.

Hee in VN you rarely see homeless people. It's rare. In America, a rich country, there's homeless everywhere.

[MrMan]

I have seen expats begging for money in the Philippines. Why can't they teach English or work in a call center? Mr S told me before that expats can work in call centers.

I encountered one expat in Jakarta who had been divorced and married a young Indonesian woman, or maybe he had a baby with her and then was married to her. He said he used to work for the CIA, then he got into oil trading, then he changed jobs and went to work for a new Japanese oil trading firm, but the company went belly up. He said his wife had asked him to buy a house in Pondok Indah when the bottom fell out of the market, but he said no. He regretted that later. He said he used to make, I think it was $20K a month. That was back around 2000 that he told me that.

He was semi-homeless, maybe even living with in-laws. He was basically begging off of other expats. He said he used to go through a lot of money, thousands for a watch. It sounds like he was making the big bucks but not saving or investing well. Maybe he had debt and just planned to keep making a lot of money.

I said why don't you teach English. At least you could feed your family. No.... he would be ashamed. What if he taught a client's son or daughter? He thought some big job might be on the horizon and he didn't want to mess it up. I was in the ELS field, which he deemed beneath himself at the time. I should have told him that begging was more degrading than teaching, and he'd burn his reputation quicker doing that than by teaching. He could also spin teaching as 'giving back to the community' there in Indonesia without letting on he was poor, but I didn't tell him that.

A saw him a few years later and he was with this little girl, divorced, and he made a joke about his ex-wife being like Satan.

I met another guy who was stepping on the backs of size 9 shoes, since it is hard to get proper clothes there, with about half an afro grown out, who talked kind of like a con artist, talking about putting together deals. His clothes underminded his credibility. He visited church. An African lady offered to buy him some clothes that fit. He said he was robbed of his cowboy boots and other things, that he'd been there in Indonesia long time doing some business. He had a business card from President Soeharto's nephew and was trying to leverage that into business deals. I introduced him to a friend of mine who was into construction and he was amazed that a guy like that from LA... there are lots of them there... could end up in Jakarta. I don't know what the man's real story was. I suspect he might not have been on a legal visa. But a friend of mind tried to bring him into a company to try to put deals together, since he was a smooth talker, but they butt heads.

I saw him a year or so later at a different church. Newcomers introduced themselves and said where they were from. He stood up and said some people thought God wasn't blessing people nowadays... but said something about his business.... which was really weird and out of place. I said 'hi' to him, and he didn't come back to church. I really wondered what he was doing on his visa and what his story was back home for him to be in Jakarta.

It makes me think of this movie I caught a few minutes of that my family was watching. Someone was running, I think from the CIA, and if they could get to Jakarta, they would be safe, and after a big ordeal, finally made it to Jakarta. I have heard that there are ex-CIA people who retire there because they can hire security and stuff like that.

Expats overseas are kind of vulnerable. You need to plan your finances and pivot if you get in trouble. Research some backup job if you find yourself unemployed. I did spend many months in Jakarta unemployed looking for work, maybe 8 months, living off of savings. A friend had an organization that kept giving me social visit visas as I left the country on visa runs. It is a cheap place to hole up, but opportunities that pay enough were rare. I had rented a house off of savings. I eventually got a corporate trainer job with an ESL focus for a big international company. The pay was about like English teacher pay, the hours were longer, but it was an experience.

A few years ago in Saigon some older guy probably early 50s comes up to me and tells some phoney story about his key fob not working and can I give him 200,000 vnd ($8). I'm in the right mind now to tell any Westerner to f**k off if they ask me for money.

If you screw up while living abroad, it's YOUR FAULT.

Hee in VN you rarely see homeless people. It's rare. In America, a rich country, there's homeless everywhere.

A video you showed of Vietnam looked rather developed, clean brick streets, well laid out, but that could have been a nice part of town. One thing I noticed with Indonesia is that they had a lot of low-end housing options, really cheap places, for the poor. There are still some homeless, I suppose, but there are those illegal tent type places on government land, hidden from the main road in Jakarta, but you can see them if you go up in a skyscraper. If the government decides to sell it or if there are squatters on land that will soon be developed, sometimes there is an 'accidental' fire that will break out. The police have also raided places where vendors have illegally taken over lanes of the street from time to time. I don't know if they do that in neighborhoods, though, where masses of squatters could attack them. Sometimes squatters build houses and actually sell them, and land ownership can get a bit fuzzy, with mineral concessions being put on traditionally owned tribal lands and that sort of thing in the rural areas.

[Traveler]

An American robs a jewelry store in Vietnam: