Today I’ll just get things started. The rest, I hope you’ll share in the comments. 🌞
After this recent trip to North America, the impression that stuck with me most is this: life overseas — especially in North America — is getting harder and harder.
The most obvious signs? Housing prices and the cost of living are brutal. Even white communities, who have generally never been known for watching their spending, are starting to think twice about every dollar.
On the other side of that, regular jobs are harder to come by. The professional requirements across the North American job market have shot up noticeably. A lot of work that used to be pick-up-and-go now has a raised bar — you need credentials, certifications, qualifications just to get in the door.
That said, as the spiritual home of traditional capitalism, those who have already built up their wealth are still living very comfortably. That hasn’t changed.
Take where I stayed this time — Vancouver’s West Side and Los Angeles’s Beverly Hills. Both Chinese and Western communities there have done exceptionally well through the great inflation of the past four years, walking away with considerable gains.
The bottom line: the class divide across North America has stretched even wider.
And for those readers whose conversational English isn’t strong, who don’t have a solid set of in-demand professional skills, and whose financial foundation isn’t deep enough —
I just want to say one thing: if you’re thinking about emigrating, please think carefully.
Today is hectic and, honestly, I’d rather hear from you than keep talking. So I’ll leave it there.
If you’re living overseas right now — whether in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, or Korea —
Come share a few words in the comments. Tell us what your life is actually like, and what these years abroad have taught you.
I want to hear it. And I know your fellow readers are curious too. 🤗🌞