Frugal Thai "boys"

[thrillbill]

I have often wondered how many of the go-go boys/ massage boys/ commercial boys/ escort boys in Thailand are successful (or smart enough or lucky enough) in saving some of that cash instead of just blowing it away.
Does anyone have an idea?

very few.

[TOQ]

It is sad to say but you can probably count them on one hand ..


john

[bao-bao]

Regardless of where... how many 20-somethings have you met in your life that had an investment account?

It seems to me that the whole "live for today" attitude is more of an age-related problem than a geographical one, and if not that then at least yet another unfortunate side effect of becoming Westernized.

The Thai I know who have grown up with very little and now work a traditional professional job have tended to be careful about money and savings when it came to helping their families and thinking of their future. It also has a good deal to do with how a person is raised.

Offer a college student here in the U.S. a credit card and many are hopelessly in debt by the end of the first term. Excess availability more often than not leads to reckless spending. Combine that with youthful optimism that the supply is endless and a fatalistic attitude and you're off and running... in any country.

Most of the club workers I've interviewed have pissed it away nearly as fast as it comes in, but I'd say about one out of five has made investments in family, home and/or future.

There's more than a grain of truth to "easy come, easy go."

I know several Ex Money Boys that have saved or stayed in long term relationships to the end and have gone home very rich by Thai standards. Tom went home to Issan with over 2,000,000 baht earned over about 5 years; he was handsome, honest, smart, a good business man that loan sharked to the other boys, and he really was attracted to old men and knew how to please them. Another Thai man, that will remain unnamed here, owns two hotels and a spa. He stayed by the side of his man for many years and when the partner passed on he inherited an American future and fortune of over $1,000,000 US, but chose to return to Thailand and has increased his fortune with sound business investments.

I don't think that blowing money and having absolutely no idea how to save or invest is limited to Thai money boys. Most people are destine to be poor...unfortunately IMHO living and spending in the moment while failing to plan and save for the future is part of most human DNA. Growing old and poor because of the inability to plan for the future is the fate of most of humanity.

In many ways, life in the West is much harsher than in Thailand. Almost all poor Thais have an extended family up-country somewhere who will take them in (in exchange for their labour). Moreover, in Thailand, less is needed by way of clothes or shelter. You can live and stay healthy on a few baht per day.

If money runs out in the West, things are a lot more difficult. Mere survival is expensive, and help is less forthcoming. So if you're from a poor background, you have to learn to budget to some extent - or join the army and have them do it for you.

[Brad the Impala]

If money runs out in the West, things are a lot more difficult. Mere survival is expensive, and help is less forthcoming. So if you're from a poor background, you have to learn to budget to some extent - or join the army and have them do it for you.

Do the words Social Security mean anything to you? Had you noticed that they don't mean anything to Thai people?

Regardless of where... how many 20-somethings have you met in your life that had an investment account?
Quite a few actually -even had one myself back in those distant days when I was in my 20s.

[GWMinUS]

HAHAHA
When I was 11 yo, I bought a raod crossing signal for my Lionel train.
Had to buy it on lay-away paying from my money earned cutting grass.
THOSE WHERE THE DAYS!!!
Now I cannot seem to send enough to my two "sons" in the Philippines.
Even when I say no, they ask again.
:pale:

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

In many ways, life in the West is much harsher than in Thailand. Almost all poor Thais have an extended family up-country somewhere who will take them in (in exchange for their labour). Moreover, in Thailand, less is needed by way of clothes or shelter. You can live and stay healthy on a few baht per day.

If money runs out in the West, things are a lot more difficult. Mere survival is expensive, and help is less forthcoming. So if you're from a poor background, you have to learn to budget to some extent - or join the army and have them do it for you.

you have got it just about right.

This silly western idea that young people must leave home asap is just a 20th (last)Century invention and has no social history in western civilisation.

It's something that largely grew out of the US advertising industry that perpetuated the myth that small family units had to be perpetually created in order to consume..houses, autos etc. It's now staggering to a halt of it's own accord because of the obvious problem it would create-the sub-prime mortgage scandal being a great example. This was given a major boost in the sexually repressive 50's and the liberated 60's.

Thais still have that traditional Asian family generational living arrangement-that shocks western countries when they see Asian immigrants move to their country and become wealthy in a shorter time as 3 or 4 generations live together, combining income and becoming a wealthy unit. Then they complain about how they all drive Mercedes !

Sadly lots of other Thai lads come from broken families but then that's true of many western youth on the game as well.

As to whether some become wealthy..look at the several blocks of apartments near Sunnee owned by a former go-go boy.

Or at me ..a former ho.. now a drunk.

If money runs out in the West, things are a lot more difficult. Mere survival is expensive, and help is less forthcoming. So if you're from a poor background, you have to learn to budget to some extent - or join the army and have them do it for you.

Do the words Social Security mean anything to you? Had you noticed that they don't mean anything to Thai people?

So you're point is that people on social security don't need to budget. Ho hum.

[Patexpat]

Just to say I met two Thai guys late 20's through business, who did work in shall we say some less salubrious professions here in Pattaya when younger. They did save their money, bought a car, rented it out and now have a thriving car hire business with nearly 30 vehicles .. so it may be rare, but it does happen and all credit to 'em!

This silly western idea that young people must leave home asap is just a 20th (last)Century invention and has no social history in western civilisation.

It's something that largely grew out of the US advertising industry that perpetuated the myth that small family units had to be perpetually created in order to consume..

Out to Lunch,

try going back a few more centuries (up to half a dozen) to the time when your "20th (last)Century invention" was the norm - for example when the sons in a wealthy household would, traditionally, run the estate, join the military, and join the church (in that order).

The main difference between the "traditional Asian family generational living arrangement-that shocks western countries", at least for Thais, and that in the West is that in the west it is the eldest son who inherits the estate/land, etc, while in Thailand it is the youngest child whose duty it is to remain at home, take care of the parents, then inherit the family home.

Quite how anyone can be so totally sure of themselves but so wide of the mark really amazes me.

And Patexpat, those two and one other who bought the bar he used to be mama-san in are the only ones I know of who have made it without any farang "help", although I do know of a couple more who have tried. Rare indeed ...

So if you're from a poor background, you have to learn to budget to some extent - or join the army and have them do it for you.

As a quarter of the homeless in both the USA and the UK are ex-servicemen, this would not seem to be the best solution.

DELETED

[Geezer]

"Quite how anyone can be so totally sure of themselves but so wide of the mark really amazes me. "

Practice.

So if you're from a poor background, you have to learn to budget to some extent - or join the army and have them do it for you.

As a quarter of the homeless in both the USA and the UK are ex-servicemen, this would not seem to be the best solution.

Thus illustrating the perils of not being able to budget in the West. QED

[Hmmm]

The main difference between the "traditional Asian family generational living arrangement-that shocks western countries" and that in the West is that in the west it is the eldest son who inherits the estate/land, etc, while in Thailand it is the youngest whose duty it is to remain at home, take care of the parents, then inherit the family home.

I think you'll find that in most western countries all children inherit equally unless otherwise stated in a will

It was typically the youngest daughter who effectively ' inherited' the family home in Thailand. She (and whoever she married) would then end up looking after her parents. However that is apparently changing, with unintended consequences. Now the family's assets are often divided equally between the children. So farm land that may have been barely viable as it was is now being divided up into even smaller plots, from which it is not possible for the offspring to eke out a living. Hence they have to leave the village to find work.

The main difference between the "traditional Asian family generational living arrangement-that shocks western countries" and that in the West is that in the west it is the eldest son who inherits the estate/land, etc, while in Thailand it is the youngest whose duty it is to remain at home, take care of the parents, then inherit the family home.

I think you'll find that in most western countries all children inherit equally unless otherwise stated in a will

It was typically the youngest daughter who effectively ' inherited' the family home in Thailand. She (and whoever she married) would then end up looking after her parents. However that is apparently changing, with unintended consequences. Now the family's assets are often divided equally between the children. So farm land that may have been barely viable as it was is now being divided up into even smaller plots, from which it is not possible for the offspring to eke out a living. Hence they have to leave the village to find work.

Via Rosa,

I was referring primarily to "traditional" family / inheritance differences between Thailand and the west; although you are quite correct if an individual dies intestate and without a spouse, most landowning and farming families in the UK still, as a very general rule, tend to leave farmland to the eldest son often with the requirement that he compensate any other children accordingly.

Hmmm,

agreed, but I think that it is not only "equality" in inheritance that has caused this problem but changes in demographics and life expectancy, health care, etc. The change from youngest daughter to youngest child (what I actually wrote) seems to have occurred in the last couple of generations as parents not only started to live longer but bred for longer, giving a greater spread in age between eldest and youngest children; at the same time far fewer children (at least in rural areas) are dying young, so there are more to share out the ever shrinking "family" land between, leading to the almost inevitable move of the population to urban areas.

if an individual dies intestate

Come on, don't you think one thread on castration is enough?

Come on, don't you think one thread on castration is enough?

It all depends on who is being "done"!