Post: #1

Well, the title says it all.
I'd like to know the insight and advices from you guys, about what would be the best location for a man in his twenties to relocate and eventually live.

I'm 24, black, speaks french and english fluently with some knowledge of spanish. I'm working as a construction worker. I'm not thrilled by it, but it pays the bills. I'm very interested by South America or South East Asia, but Africa could be tempting too.

Post: #2

Damn, you're young.

I don't know where the best countries are for a man like you, so I'd suggest you travel to a few countries and see what you like. Try one country in Eastern Europe, one in Asia, one in Africa, and one in South America. That way you'll explore the major demographic types of women: White, Asian, Black, and Latina.

Also consider the cost of living in each country as well as infrastructure and employment opportunities. Better yet, start your own business and set it up in such a way you don't have to be tied down in one location.

Full disclosure: I'm working on this myself, and my goal is to cut the umbilical cord (USA) by this time next year.

Post: #3

Best country for what?

Define what you mean by "Living"

Not getting shot?
Banging hot women?
Starting an egg farm?

What are you looking for?

Post: #4

CleanState : Yeah, I'm planning on going to South America this summer. Probably Venezuela, I know some people there. To be honest, I'm not really interested in Eastern Europe. The women can be beautiful but I don't like the weather and the environment doesn't appeal to me.

Linux : I don't need to be a millionaire. As long as I can live comfortably enough and be able to do what I want.

Post: #5

What's wrong with Canada?

Post: #6

(06-15-2015 12:50 PM)Il Bersagliere Wrote:  What's wrong with Canada?

It is cold up there. However, I heard French-Canadian girls are pretty good looking and feminine.

Post: #7

You, like me are black. The options for a black man (especially Africans/African looking blacks) are considerably limited by comparison to that of a white person if your goals are to live well by the standard definition of most people here - steady pussy, weather, friendly locals, etc.

This thread here will suit you well (other brothers post there as well)

/thread-1964.html

Post: #8

Probably Australia actually, at that age. If I'd started my twenties again in that place, I'd just have worked like a dog in the most inhospitable places they have, not even bothered to chase girls and have a decent life, spent next to nothing, racked up near 300K, and then left. I'd then still have the other full half of my twenties ready to go, a bank sizable enough that I wouldn't have to think about money for quite a while, and then I'd probably buy a cafe near a beach somewhere in a paradise of my choosing. I don't know which country you're from, but tons of foreigners can and do go to Australia on working holiday visas, a lot of them just to use the country for its proper purpose - exploit the high price index.

Post: #9

(06-18-2015 10:18 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  spent next to nothing

As an Australian, I have to say, that part is pretty hard if you live there. Not a cheap place to live.

Post: #10

(06-19-2015 12:17 AM)UnW Wrote:  

(06-18-2015 10:18 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  spent next to nothing

As an Australian, I have to say, that part is pretty hard if you live there. Not a cheap place to live.

+1 to that. Our wages are high for a reason.

All the same, it is possible to live on a reasonable budget. You probably won't be owning your own home within your first five years, but a modest place in an all right location can be rented for an average cost with the right investigation and a bit of luck.

Dining, entertainment and transport are going to be your other chief expenses. The first can be largely avoided if you're not a martyr to overpriced foodie venues or our coffee culture and the latter if you live close enough to the city to mitigate public transport or a car by cycling (see above RE accommodation).

A few more points given your background:

- Race isn't anywhere as much of an issue vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Yes, you'd be naïve to think that it doesn't matter, or that you'll never encounter such sentiments (primarily in small country towns). On the whole though, I think we've done rather well in integrating a massive immigrant population base that have brought excellent work ethics with them. On the other hand, certain races tend to dominate professions more than others.
In your case, I can't say I've ever seen a black tradesman, though lots of Pacific Islanders are in that line of work. Given that you sound pretty Western, your colour should hardly matter.

- Speaking as someone who likes languages, your linguistic ability will be of negligible to even negative use here. Our society is that embarrassingly sheltered from the rest of the world that a second language isn't considered as a springboard to success. Australia is at the end of the day a vastly monolingual culture by world standards (despite what some local councils will have you think). You'll probably impress hipster chicks and a wider subset of girls that have a thing for European and Latino men, but that's it.

- I don't really know of any other country that rewards its tradies as much as Australia does. A resources boom, generous wages and skilled labour shortages have seen our blue collar workers living probably more comfortably than our white collar ones. It's not unheard of for qualified tradesmen to earn six figures here (although your earning potential stagnates at a certain point).

Pros:
- Solid qualifications, recognisable and employable throughout the country
- OK hours, ridiculously generous penalty penalty rates for overtime work
- Enough time after hours to have a life.
- The opportunity to start and own your own business pretty early on (~5 years in)
- Reasonably high status in society. You're probably more likely to get laid telling a girl you're a tradie than if you worked in finance. I shit you not.
- V generous tax breaks for work expenses including clothing and a ute (don't quote me on the latter).

Cons:
- Early hours. Expect to get up at 5am for work.
- Apprenticeships typically last 4 years during which you get paid bugger all and typically are treated like bollocks. If you're already qualified skip this.
- Lowbrow/bro culture. Probably reflective to a lesser degree of the general population, but if you were brought up a certain way, you may not integrate easily with your workmates. I worked with construction types one summer and practically did not gel with them. "Fuck" and "cunt" are pretty much used as filler words.
- It fucks up your body eventually. Although this is obviously a universal thing. I laugh at the 'bronzed, shredded' tradie trope so prevalent here.

Back to your original question, it really lines up with your idea of success and where it fits in with your life goals. Is your idea of success holding down a stable 9-5 gig, strapped down with a mortgage, 2 kids, a frumpy wife gone to seed and yearly holidays to the Whitsundays and Thailand? Is your idea of success getting wasted each weeknight on a party island in the Carribean or the Mediterranean? Is it travelling the world endlessly on a shoestring, perpetually broke? Is it about spending your twenties upskilling and building connections that will see you own location-independent and influential business concerns later on? Is it banging thin, hot women around the world, maybe in conjunction with any of the previous points?

It's really something that only you can answer.

Post: #11

Well I was thinking in terms of the way a lot of mining camps supply you with amenities and a residence (or subsidize it). The problem is that since there isn't much to do, the guys who go there waste their earnings on booze and flights out to less dull places. Very bad tactic - if you're going to do that don't bother.

I guess 'spend no more than the bare necessities' is what I meant.

Post: #12

Wow JWLZG - that's a lot of detail! And a lot of perceptive reflection about Australia and lifestyle nd work. And, I trust, data of interest to our OP.

Thanks for walking it through. You have clearly put a lot of thought into this yourself. If nothing else, CONGRATULATIONS for doing so!

Post: #13

No problems Orson!

Just to be sure, the pros and cons breakdown pertained specifically to the trades, with respect to the OP's background.

Assuming you're not a complete basket case and can actually hack blue collar work (not everyone can!), being a tradesman will see you live rather comfortably here, and if you're in the right line of work (mining, oil and gas), leave you with sizeable chunks of the year to chase tail in SEA.

I want to amend a previous point:

(06-19-2015 06:23 AM)JWLZG Wrote:  - Speaking as someone who likes languages, your linguistic ability will be of negligible to even negative use here. Our society is that embarrassingly sheltered from the rest of the world that a second language isn't considered as a springboard to success. Australia is at the end of the day a vastly monolingual culture by world standards (despite what some local councils will have you think). You'll probably impress hipster chicks and a wider subset of girls that have a thing for European and Latino men, but that's it.

Proficiency in Mandarin, Cantonese or Indonesian will get you places professionally, and it'll only continue to increase. In a professional setting, European languages however are as useful as Ancient Greek or Latin for the most part. It's a shameful status quo.

Post: #14

Souverain, what's your education and career aspirations (if any)?

Post: #15

(06-18-2015 10:18 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  Probably Australia actually, at that age. If I'd started my twenties again in that place, I'd just have worked like a dog in the most inhospitable places they have, not even bothered to chase girls and have a decent life, spent next to nothing, racked up near 300K, and then left. I'd then still have the other full half of my twenties ready to go, a bank sizable enough that I wouldn't have to think about money for quite a while, and then I'd probably buy a cafe near a beach somewhere in a paradise of my choosing. I don't know which country you're from, but tons of foreigners can and do go to Australia on working holiday visas, a lot of them just to use the country for its proper purpose - exploit the high price index.

I think one of the bigger issues that you and others are overlooking is the whole work visa situation. Similarly to Canada, you can't just show up in Australia and work for 5 years in resources and make off with a few hundred k.

Working holiday visas restrict you to 6 months work. Can be renewed once if you meet a few conditions. But hardly enough to make a sizable dent starting with no skills or experience. Not to mention the whole Aussie resources industry has taken a bit of a hit, and as a foreigner it already one strike against you(experience is foreign, will you stay, etc?). You'll need a few Aussie specific certs to get started, work gear, a place to stay while you do this. All $. You can do well compared to bartending, but not FU money.

The oil sands threads probably bear a lot of similarities to Australia. A big one is that people from away see 6-figure salaries and think its easy and the roads are paved with gold.

Saying you'd spend nothing is easy, until you've been in a shithole for months on end with nothing to do. Money becomes almost meaningless at the prospect of a few good times.

To give you good advice we really need to know where you're coming from, as well as if you have any sort of specialized skills.

Post: #16

(06-22-2015 08:32 AM)Seadog Wrote:  

(06-18-2015 10:18 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  ...

I think one of the bigger issues that you and others are overlooking is the whole work visa situation. Similarly to Canada, you can't just show up in Australia and work for 5 years in resources and make off with a few hundred k.

Working holiday visas restrict you to 6 months work. Can be renewed once if you meet a few conditions. But hardly enough to make a sizable dent starting with no skills or experience. Not to mention the whole Aussie resources industry has taken a bit of a hit, and as a foreigner it already one strike against you(experience is foreign, will you stay, etc?). You'll need a few Aussie specific certs to get started, work gear, a place to stay while you do this. All $. You can do well compared to bartending, but not FU money.

The oil sands threads probably bear a lot of similarities to Australia. A big one is that people from away see 6-figure salaries and think its easy and the roads are paved with gold.

Saying you'd spend nothing is easy, until you've been in a shithole for months on end with nothing to do. Money becomes almost meaningless at the prospect of a few good times.

All valid points. As usual supply and demand is the primary factor in getting work, far more important than qualifications and visas. If the mining boom was still going, you'd find much more sponsorships going through and company assistance with certifications etc. I've just googled the state of the Australian economy (it's not something I keep up to date on), and yeah, probably don't be trying this at the moment: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/austra...fc-2015-6.