He lives in Thailand but ‘supercommutes’ to Singapore for work

Shao Chun Chen worked more than 40 hours a week in his business career in Singapore. Get a job of three hours a week that supports his and his family in Thailand.

The 39-Yare-OC grew up in Singapore and spent most of his life in the city state for Moel Deputy Teacher at the National University of Singapore.

He says he will deliver a weekly three-hour digital marketing class and the amount that Thailand has.

“I’m going to play the system,” Chen told CNBC it. “Working for three hours in Singapore can keep my full expenses in Thailand.”

It took a dismissal to make Chen that he was made financially independent at the beginning of 2024, giving him the flexibility to change his life.

In the course of almost decade working at Google, he lived under his resources and consistently established half of his salary for investments. So when he was fired by the technology company in February 2024, Chen realized that the seven digits I had built up over the years meant that he no longer had to trust a salary.

His portfolio was worth around $ 2 million at the time, according to documents assessed by CNBC. The use of the 4% rule as a guideline meant that this was safe with one year

In theory, that amount would probably be small enough to support his portfolio for at least 30 years. That is why Chen decided to jump into a different business role, to give Hymelf the opportunity to lead a different kind of life.

“I have worked for the past 14 years of my life, and because of the resignation I was forced to take a break,” Chen Awd CNBC makes it. “It was as if it was devastating, it was to let my ego clap, but it thinks [about] What I really wanted in life. “

Although Chen discovered that he lives from the interest, dividends and capital profits of his investments, he chose to treat them alone as a source of passive income, to withdraw money if he was needed to supplement his active income.

In the past year and a half, Chen created several new sources from Passive and Active Inome.

In addition to teaching as a deputy teacher for three hours to week in Singore, Chen also earns money by creating educational content on YouTube and his coaching company, this white man says that he can charge $ 500 per hour, depending on the customer.

He also decided to try geographical arbite. By maintaining its most important source of income education at a university in Singapore, where the currency is stronger, Chen does not have to work much on comfortable life with his wife in Thailand, where the costs of living is much lower.

“Find a way to improve your skills, or to reach a position where you can get a high per hourly rate,” said Chen. “If you combine high per hourly rate with low costs of living, you only have to work, vary a few hours to cover your costs.”

Cities and jobs that can pay a high hourly rate are expensive areas, but that is less a problem now that digitization on distance schemes has made possible, he added.

Although his task as a deputy teacher is sufficient to cover the costs of his and his wife, Chen’s other active in sources are discretionary expenditures. Iysys that he spends in total between four and eight Houge until week, including his education, coaching and YouTub videos.

Since he moved to Chiang Mai with his wife in November, says Chen, his lifestyle and quality of life ‘so better’.

“I am also aware that not everyone can do it, and the locals don’t make it as we are. [We are] Earning dollars, spending in Baht, “he says.” I no longer feel the need to … sit on that hamster wheel or always to be production. “

“[Here] I make breakfast for my wife and in my previous life I didn’t even have that privilege. [I was] Just hurry, “I added.

Together with not so much financial or time pressure on a daily basis, says Chen, I no longer feel the need to “pick” his life. “For the first time in my life I could just … enjoy what Thailand has to offer,” says Chen.

In Singapore, he says, he paid around $ 2,450 to months before his condominium with two room.

Now I have a life in a brand new apartment with one room that costs it $ 450 per months and it is much luxurious. “I have already paid too much bacase, I am [paying] On a monthly basis … If you sign for a year to lease, it is closer to $ 300, “says Chen.

“It’s a ridiculous apartment,” says Chen. “It has several pools. It has a water slide … a fully equipped gym, a Hage Co-Working Space [and] His own Pilates studio, “I added.

Regarding other costs of living in Thailand, says Chen, he spends between $ 300 and $ 500 a month on food and groceries for him and his wife, and about $ 200 a month for transport. He also spends around $ 250 every Friday for every return flight to Singapore.

“The strategy for everyone who arouses in a country like Thailand is to really embrace local culture, local options, the local way of life,” instead of trying to bring your own lifestyle to the place, says Chen.

“I met a few expats here, and they are really not happy because they were only attracted to Thailand because of the costs of living,” he says. “They came: ‘Oh, the croissant does not taste as good as at home. They don’t use real butter here, they use palm oil’ … and they have to find a Spee

Inserad, expats can save money by buying local products such as Thais food, Thai medicine and Thai beer, says Chen. “Everything in Thailand is cheap, but the moment you want to buy international options, such as wine from France … they are more costs,” I added.

Although the decision to leave the business world to live in Thailand has given him more time and flexibility to enjoy life and build his various streams of income, says Chen, there are disadvantages.

For example, I don’t have a long term, you have the structure and prediction offered eleven. And when it comes to supercommuting from Thailand to Singapore, traffic is rid of a large obstacle, just like the amount of energy it can take to travel like this, he says.

But in the end, he says, he is happy with his life in Thailand, although he is open to go back to Singapore when the right chance comes.

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