My sister and her family are thinking to come over to Asia for a visit. When I was speaking to her about this trip she said, ‘you know once we get there things should be cheap and not cost us much.” For some reason many people seem to think that living and working in Asia, is the “cheap” life where everything is inexpensive, good quality and so this allows us to rank in the dough. But nothing can be further from the truth since the reality is that goods and services and housing are generally cheaper and of better quality in other parts of the world than in Asia. Someone once called Asia as “Fools Gold.” 

Asia is an expensive place to live. Hong Kong is ranked as the 5^th most expensive place in the world for expatriates to live. This puts them ahead of New York City which is ranked Number 8. Just below New York City is Beijing that is ranked Number 9 and Singapore that is ranked number 10.   This is way ahead of Los Angeles that is only ranked as the 23^rd most expensive place to live. Asian cities consistently rank on the top 10 as the most expensive cities to live and work in the world. This does not account for other things like the loss of the standard of living (which is generally better in places like America) or the cost of food. Yes you can eat on the street, get a meal for a few dollars, even find some great local restaurants at bargain prices, but the general cost of living is very high.

It may surprise many how expensive it can be to live and work in a Third World country like China or Vietnam. There are some advantages like being able to afford maid service but on the other hand things like educating your children can cost anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 USD per year, and many of my friends complain the education is not worth that amount. Real estate is generally very high and what you get for your money is must less than what you can get in other parts of the world. 

Almost all expatriates I know in Asia work very hard. It seems that to really live and work in Asia you need to be a bit of a self inflicted workaholic. Long hours are required as is a lot of travel and weekend work. Even holidays are never really holidays, there is always work to be done. The pool or posh gym you may have access to may hardly ever be used as there is just no time to go there. The daily commute on the roads can be grueling as most Asia cities have severely congested roads that can mean anywhere from one hour to several hours commuting each day. Add on top of that the price of food, gas and even automobiles—all of which are much higher than you would pay in a place like the United States or even Europe. 

So is living in Asia Fools Gold? Well it is certainly not the cheap place that many seem to think it is. Asia makes a place like the US state of Hawaii look like a bargain.