Balling On A Budget: How Much Money Do You Need To Be Making To Live A Good Life

There is a sweet spot to the amount of money you earn.

If you earn too little, you can just pay for your necessities and not really have any 'play money'.

Whereas when you are making a ton of money, it will usually come with A LOT of responsibilities which means you may not have enough FREE TIME to be able to fully enjoy all the money you are making. 

Earning between £3,000 - £10,000 a month is the sweet spot to have a very nice life where you have enough money to spend & save but at the same time you don't have a pile of responsibilities to deal with which stops you from being able to live and enjoy your life.

Usually, the more money you make, the more responsibilities you will have to compensate for your level of income.

Another thing to factor in is where you live. 

Some countries are cheaper to live in than other places. 

The average monthly income in London, UK is around £1,500

The average monthly income in USA is around £3,100

The average monthly income in Australia is around £4,000

The average monthly income in Philippine is around £350 

The average monthly income in Mexico is around £300

The average monthly income in Thailand is around £500

The average monthly income in Bulgaria is around £400

The average monthly income is Brazil is around £350

The average monthly income in Colombia is around £300

The average monthly income in Romania is around £600

The average monthly income in Indonesia (Bali) is around £250

The average monthly income around Africa is roughly £500 

The average monthly income in Croatia is around £800

Your Western income has a lot of power which can be leveraged in other parts of the world.

Meaning you could live like royalty for a fraction of what it would cost to do it in a major country and city.

Food, shelter, entertainment would be a fraction of the cost of what it would cost in the West.

When I went to South Africa in 2022, I had a personal budget of £1,000 for the week I was there... I STRUGGLED to even spend £100. 

Things were ridiculously cheap!

Meanwhile in London, £100 a day is leaving my account on a daily basis 🥲

The tricky part to this equation is figuring out ways you can continue making western money whilst living in another country. 

Your Options 

You could either start an online based business or you could get a job which allows remote work.

As far as I am currently aware, the best jobs that offer good salaries with remote work all seem to be involved in the technology industry. 

These are:

• Software Engineer
• Data Scientist
• Web Developer
• DevOps Engineer
• Cybersecurity
• Cybersecurity Analyst
• Machine Learning Engineer
• UX/UI Designer
• Cloud Architect
• Technical Writer
• Network Engineer
• Mobile Application Developer
• Database Administrator
• Anything I.T related
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineer

These careers tend to pay very handsomely too. In America, these positions can be bringing in $100K USD annually, in the UK it may be slightly less but it's still a good salary and it has the option for remote work so you can live somewhere else very nice whilst still earning a good income.

A computer science degree will ALWAYS be the most highly favoured when you want to work in the tech industry however it is not NEEDED. 

There are many tech companies which offer apprenticeships and some even offer 12-18 month bootcamps and when you're fully done, they can even get you a direct job placement.

Your first year salary in ANY industry won't be the best, your salary will start looking sexy after 3 years of experience and by then (if you are good at what you do) you will also have a stronger bargaining chip in order to demand a higher salary. 

I am not telling you to switch careers overnight, no. 

Those jobs are just examples to show you that it is possible and I'm sure if you take the time to look around there's probably a lot of other job positions that pay well and offer remote positions.

Maybe even your current career has remote positions available? (Check)

Yes, I'm aware most other countries offer jobs as English teachers but those jobs don't pay that great. It's usually a liveable wage based on whatever country you may be doing the job in. (So you won't be able to live like royalty)

However the main point of today's post is to let you know that you don't actually need to make 100k or more a year in order to live like royalty. 

If you don't care about living in the West, then you need to find a way to make your same income whilst living in another country. 

This is usually achieved by remote jobs or running an online business. 

In order to live like royalty in the West, you will need to be making around £20K a month or more. 

In order to live nice in most foreign countries, you can do it for around £3,000 a month. 

However if you want to live like ROYALTY, I'd suggest earning around £5,000 a month. This will allow you to:

Have your own chef

Have your own chauffeur 

Have your own maid 

A very - very  nice apartment/ house

And it will also allow you to save and invest as well.

£3K in less developed countries is good as it will give you a life of no financial worries a with a few luxuries here and there whilst being able to save and invest.

But again, £5k a month would allow you to have a full life of luxury whilst being able to save and invest. 

But maybe not everyone may want a life of luxury, some may just want a nice life with no financial worries or stresses.

Whilst living in a foreign and less economically developed country has a lot of perks, It's also important to understand that in SOME (NOT ALL) less economically developing countries will come with a tradeoff such as:

Limited job opportunities. 

There may be fewer job opportunities available in less economically developed countries, and those that are available may offer lower wages and fewer benefits.

This is why I don't recommend doing it unless you have a remote income with a 1st world country salary or if you have built a sustainable online business which has been running profitable for at least 2 years 

Healthcare.

The healthcare may not be as good as the countries which are more developed Poor infrastructure. 

Basic infrastructure such as roads, public transportation, and healthcare facilities may be inadequate or poorly maintained in less economically developed countries.

However most of them will have options for private health care which will still be good. 

Language Barrier.

If it is not your home country this can be an issue when wanting to stay in another country. 

Yes, most countries will have some people who speak english but these people are mainly going to be in tourist areas, once you leave those places, communication could be an issue.

Difficulty communicating with others can make it challenging to build relationships, make friends, and navigate daily tasks such as shopping, transportation, and healthcare.

If you want to move to a none english country, make the effort to understand some basic phrases and conversations in there language.

After all, you are the visitor in THEIR country so it's the least you could do.

Conclusion

Most people think you need to have a £100K year salary in order to live like a king.

However it's more than possible to live like a King and have your friends wondering 'HOW?' whilst making less money. 

Anything between £3k - £10K a month can afford you a really really nice lifestyle abroad. 

Let me know if you have any further questions.

- Till Next Time