In April 2021, Paul Lee went on vacation to Thailand. Five months later, he decided to leave the United States behind and move to the Asian country permanently.
Lee, originally from Georgia, lived in New York City and earned about $1 million a year from his e-commerce business. Despite doing well enough to pay his parents’ retirement, the 28-year-old told CNBC Make It that he felt aimless, depressed and in need of a change.
“When I first arrived in Thailand, I just felt reborn. Everything was completely new to me and I felt like it was a fresh, new start,” Lee says. “The more I live here, the more I fall in love with the city.”
Lee moved to Bangkok, Thailand in 2021.
Marc Aziz Ressang for CNBC Make It
According to the documents seen, Lee has earned about $150,000 a year as a content creator and broker since moving to Bangkok.
Working in real estate helped Lee find a variety of housing options in Bangkok, including luxury apartments. The apartment he lives in now is a one-bedroom in the Thonglor district, which Lee calls “the Soho of Bangkok.”
It’s a 650-square-foot unit that costs 20,000 baht — about USD $544 — in monthly rent. Lee also pays $20 for Wi-Fi, $80 for electricity and $3 for water each month. The apartment came furnished, and Lee has access to amenities including a swimming pool and a gym.
Lee pays about $544 a month for his one-bedroom apartment in Bangkok.
Marc Aziz Ressang for CNBC Make It
In order to move, Lee had to pay a deposit of two months’ rent, which amounts to approximately $1,088.
Despite the lower cost of groceries in Bangkok, Lee eats out every meal and spends $500 a month on food. “I’m not going to lie, the food in New York City was really good too, but I think in Thailand it’s just a lot more homey, a lot more local, a lot spicier,” Lee says.
His other expenses include a $93 monthly gym membership, which is a bit of a splurge considering Lee has free access to a gym in his building. But the cost is worth it to Lee, because He can make use of the co-working space, the coffee and the many networking opportunities that the space offers.
Plus, the prices at his current gym are nothing compared to luxury New York gyms like Equinox, where memberships start at $240 a month.
Lee tells CNBC Make It that he chose to leave America because he found himself materialistic and living in an “environment that was very individualistic, very dog-like, very hyper-aggressive.”
Marc Aziz Ressang for CNBC Make It
Lee has only returned to the U.S. once since his big move to Thailand — for his sister’s wedding. He tells CNBC Make It that he chose to leave New York City because he felt too materialistic and living in an “environment that was just very individualistic, very dog-like, very hyper-aggressive.”
“Bangkok stood out to me because it seemed like a real metropolis. It seemed really nice. It seemed really affordable and it just had a really good culture and there were no big compromises for me,” Lee says.
Lee says he has built a new life in Thailand and won’t be returning to the US anytime soon.
“I had to be poor and then become rich, only to find that all that wealth I had accumulated didn’t give me what I wanted and didn’t give me the satisfaction I was looking for,” Lee said.
Since moving to Thailand, Lee’s parents have also moved to South Korea and visit him several times a year.
Paul Lee
His parents were initially shocked that he had moved so far away, but they eventually followed in his footsteps when they moved to South Korea. They visit him occasionally in Bangkok, and Lee travels to see them as well. He says it’s one of the best things about his new life in Thailand.
“At the end of the day, even though I don’t make nearly as much money as I did in New York City, I’m much… richer in terms of my happiness, in terms of my well-being, my peace,” he added. “These are things I could never achieve back home in the U.S.”
Thai Baht to USD conversions are made using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 Baht to 0.02 USD as of July 1, 2024. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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