In April 2021, Paul Lee took a vacation to Thailand. Five months later, he decided to leave the United States behind and make a permanent move to the Asian country.
Lee, originally from Georgia, had been living in New York City and earning about $1 million a year from his e-commerce business. Despite doing well enough to pay his parents’ pension, the 28-year-old tells CNBC Make It that he found himself aimless, depressed and in need of a change.
“When I first arrived in Thailand, I just felt rejuvenated. Everything was completely new to me and I felt like it was a new fresh start,” says Lee. “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
Since moving to Bangkok, Lee has earned about $150,000 a year as a content creator and real estate agent, according to the documents reviewed.
Working in real estate helped Lee find several living arrangements in Bangkok, including luxury apartments. The apartment he now lives in is a one-bedroom in the Thonglor neighborhood that Lee says is “Bangkok’s Soho”.
It’s a 650 square meter unit that costs 20,000 baht – about US$544 – for 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 pool and a gym.
Lee pays about $544 a month for his 1-bedroom apartment in Bangkok.
Marc Aziz Ressang for CNBC Make It
To move in, Lee had to pay a security deposit of two months’ rent, or about $1,088.
Despite lower food costs in Bangkok, Lee eats out for every meal and spends $500 a month on food. “I’m not going to lie, the food in New York City was pretty good too, but I think in Thailand it’s a lot more comfortable, a lot more local and a lot spicier,” says Lee.
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 for Lee, because he can take advantage of the co-working space, coffee and the many networking opportunities in the space.
Also the current price of his gym is nothing compared to luxury gyms in New York, like Equinox, where memberships can 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 just too individualistic, too fake and too hyper-aggressive.”
Marc Aziz Ressang for CNBC Make It
Lee has only been back to the US once since his big move to Thailand – for his sister’s wedding. He tells CNBC Make It that he chose to leave New York because he saw himself as being too materialistic and living in an “environment that was just too individualistic, too fake and too hyper-aggressive.”
“Bangkok caught my eye because it seemed very metropolitan. It seemed very fun. It seemed very affordable and just had a really good culture and there weren’t any big compromises for me,” says Lee.
Lee has made a new life for himself in Thailand, he says, and a return to the U.S. doesn’t seem likely.
“I had to go through this journey of being poor and becoming rich enough to realize that all this wealth I had accumulated didn’t really give me what I wanted and it didn’t give me the satisfaction I was looking for,” says Lee.
Since moving to Thailand, Lee’s parents have moved to South Korea and visit her several times throughout the year.
Paul Lee
His parents were initially shocked that he had moved so far, but ended up following in his footsteps when they moved to South Korea. They visit her in Bangkok from time to time, and Lee also travels to see them. He says it is one of the best benefits of his new life in Thailand.
“At the end of the day, even though I don’t make 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 United States.”
Conversions from Thai baht to USD were made using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 baht to 0.02 USD on July 1, 2024. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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