Many men dream of moving abroad and living a life of adventure and excitement. Unfortunately, these same men usually get hung up on one issue. Price.
They think that living overseas will cost just as much as living at home. Or they imagine that there will be all sorts of hidden costs and bills they aren’t prepared for. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, you could live a first-class lifestyle for a fraction of what you currently spend.
In the next few minutes, you’ll learn exactly how much living here costs and how you can easily make enough money to support yourself in Vietnam.
How Much Does It Cost To Live In Vietnam?
(Living In This Neighborhood Costs Me Less Than $500 A Month)
To show you just how cheap life in Vietnam can be, I decided to do something fun. When I went grocery shopping, I took pictures of all the food prices (and converted them to U.S. dollars), just to show you how far your money can go here.
(A Bottle Of Ice Tea Costs $0.30)
(A Big Package Of Bacon Is Only $1.69)
(A 24-Pack Of Beer Goes For $16.40)
As you can see, things are pretty cheap. You can easily eat on less than $10 a day, and a nice apartment (with maids and laundry service) costs under $500 a month.
If you’re careful with your money, you could easily live in Vietnam for as little as $800 per month. That’s roughly $25 a day. For food, a place to live, and entertainment. Talk about bargains!
What Amount Of Money Will You Need To Make?
(Lunch At A Restaurant: $2)
While it’s easy to make a blanket statement like: “It only costs $800 a month to live here,” your experiences may vary. Some guys might spend more, others might spend less.
No matter the case, I have some advice. To stay financially comfortable, make more than you spend and put your extra money in a savings account. This way you can create an “emergency fund” in case you have a situation where you’ll need extra cash (like getting married).
Your emergency fund should have enough in it to fully support you for 3 – 6 months. That way you’ll never have to worry about money problems. Ever.
Unless you’re collecting a pension or some sort of monthly royalties, building up a big savings account might seem tough. But it’s actually incredibly easy. So simple that you can do it in your spare time.
How To Make Money In Vietnam? Learn Copywriting!
(The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, An Excellent Guide)
Most people have never heard of copywriting. It’s a super lucrative career that’s never really been in the public eye the way law or medicine has. None the less, it’s
Essentially, copywriters are people who sell things through print. Basically they’re like salesmen, but they market products on blogs and websites instead of showroom floors. It’s a surprisingly easy job and it pays outrageously well.
There are always business owners looking to hire new copywriters, and you can take the skills you learn and apply them to making your own businesses (we’ll get to that in a minute).
Here are just a few of the simple copywriting jobs you could easily do to support yourself in Vietnam:
- Write articles on Fiverr: This is a website where freelancers sell various goods and services for as little as $5. While the low-price might sound off–putting, you can make a surprisingly good amount of money. When I first started copywriting I freelanced on Fiverr and, because of how easy writing assignments were, was able to make about $20 an hour.
- Create ads for small businesses: Huge ad agencies charge their clients with expensive monthly retainers (like $7,000 a month). Smaller businesses can’t afford this. Look on a site like Craigslist and try to find companies that occasionally need help with writing blog posts, emailing clients, or creating slogans. These people pay well (often between $50 – $125 for an hour’s worth of work) and are usually great to deal with.
- Build a blog: Most websites don’t pay a whole lot. According to studies, the average blog only makes about $3 per day. Not enough to live off, but it can still be good “passive income.” For example, I have a small niche website that sells pillows and bed sheets through Amazon. It took me a few hours to build this site, but I’m making over a hundred bucks a month off it. That’s like getting a few thousand dollars a year from one week’s worth of work.
(My Affiliate Earnings This Month)
If you want to learn more about what copywriters actually do (and how you can become one), I’d highly suggest ordering the following books:
- The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide To Writing Powerful Advertising And Marketing Copy
- Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How To Make $100,000 A Year Or More
- CA$HVERTISING: How To Use More Than 100 Secrets Of Ad-Agency Psychology To Make Big Money Selling Anything To Anyone
Those three books changed my life and taught me the skills I needed to move abroad and live the life I’d always dreamed of. They’re powerful books. And reading them will give you all the tools you need to support yourself and become completely self-sufficient.
Wrapping It Up
(Ho Chi Minh City At Night)
Vietnam is a country that’s cheap enough for you to easily support yourself. Additionally, you can live on a modest income without ever having to be frugal with your money.
$800 – $1,000 a month will cover all your regular costs while still leaving you with plenty of “fun money” for trips, dates, and partying.
Lastly, if you want to move abroad but aren’t sure how you can make enough money to do so, you really need to consider copywriting. It pays well (one full week of work can pay all your bills for at least a month) and will give you the freedom to live wherever you want to.
If you’re serious about building a business in Vietnam, or just want to make some extra money online, I’d highly suggest picking up those copywriting books I mentioned.
P.S. To save you from scrolling back up, the books I recommend are: The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, Secrets of a Freelance Writer, and CA$HVERTISING.
Gus says
Fellow writer, this was an excellent post, I really liked it.
Could you give me the web address to the sheet and pillow niche website you built? I am looking forward to writing a travel blog and would like to understand your business model. Thank you!
Kind regards, Gus
Rob says
Glad you liked the article, thanks!
I’ll probably do a post on niche sites in the future.
guy says
some nice tips, vietnam is definitely very cheap and solid value, feel like cambodia can be done a bit cheaper but life would be better in vietnam