‘On vacation every single day': I left the U.S. to live in Vietnam and only need to work 15 hours a week

When Kavi Vu was 3 year old, her family fled to the United States, following a decades-long war in their home country, Vietnam. After 30 years, she has returned to her motherland to "slow down" and experience her native country.

Vu moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, last year, where she currently works remotely as a freelance creative consultant and videographer, bringing in about $11,000 a month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. She just needs to work about 8 to 15 hours a week.

"I was able to significantly lessen my workload — way less than if I were living in the States," she said. "I am very privileged in that, in Vietnam, I get to say how many hours a week I work, which I know is insane. Coming from the States ... I worked like 10 hours a day."

"I primarily came here to work less and observe more," Vu said. "I feel like the U.S. is a lot of doing, and here, it's a lot of being, being present [and] just like existing, and that's really nice, because sometimes you just need that space to untangle a lot of knots in your head."

Not the American dream

Vu and her family fled Vietnam for the United States in the 1990s to escape the fallout of the Vietnam War, which is also known as the "American War" in Vietnam.

"My sisters actually were boat people (refugees who fled Vietnam by boat), so they were in refugee camps in the Philippines. [They] came to the States and were able to sponsor my parents and me over from Vietnam," she said.

Vu's family landed in Florida, where they spent 10 years before moving to Georgia where they lived on a small chicken farm. Growing up as a minority in the U.S., she never felt a sense of belonging, she told CNBC Make It.

"We were living the refugee experience," she said. "I mean, we were the only Asians living there, so it was really — I guess — jarring," she said. "You're always feeling like a foreigner."

Her feelings of being an outsider grew as she became more involved in politics in 2016. For about six years, Vu worked as a freelance videographer on projects that aimed at engaging minority voters in the Southern states, but she began to burn out.

Vu said she was exhausted from juggling "a million different things at once" and feeling like her brain is "constantly churning." "The American dream just started feeling like it was dwindling ... and I just felt like I needed a break from America."

In August 2023, she took the leap of faith and left the U.S. for Vietnam.

'I'm on vacation every single day'

Now, Vu lives in a luxury 1-bedroom apartment, for $950 a month. Her apartment is located in the Bình Thạnh district, a central location in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vu's apartment complex offers several amenities including community pools, a gym, a restaurant, a bar and a spa.

"I feel so privileged, like it literally feels like I'm on vacation every single day," she said. "When I talk to people every day, I definitely have ... a fancier, nicer lifestyle, and when I actually talk about how much I pay for rent, among different groups, I definitely pay like some of the highest rents."

In total, Vu spends about $1,500 a month on her living expenses, including food, transportation and rent, according to documents reviewed.

For transportation, she uses ride-hailing app Grab to get around the city which usually costs 50 cents to $4 per ride. She usually opts to eat at local food stalls and restaurants, which cost an average of $2 to $5 per meal.

"My money goes really far here," she said. "Budgeting was easy, especially if I'm going to make American dollars in Vietnam ... It's like the best life hack."

Life in Vietnam

Besides freelancing as a creative consultant, Vu is also a content creator and enjoys documenting her life in Vietnam. Nowadays, she also has more time to work on her passion for poetry.

"Everything was moving at like, two times speed in the States, and I never knew it, because ... I was constantly in it," she said.

While living in the U.S., Vu was always preoccupied with paying her bills and realizing the "American dream," so she was constantly in a hurry and felt like she had to continually optimize her time, she said.

After moving to Vietnam, "life feels slow," said Vu. "Even though Saigon is very hustle bustle, folks are just sitting [in coffee shops] for hours at a time and I don't remember the last time I did that in the States for even minutes at a time," she said.

"It feels just so luxurious to be able to just sit there and ponder life and write it down. I just never felt like I truly had the time or like an empty enough mind to actually do it," she said.

Not only has Vu's move back to Vietnam given her a sense of freedom to slow down, but it's also given her the mental capacity and air space to unpack and make sense of her family's history and her own heritage.

"One of the biggest things that I'm untangling over here is just like feeling a lot closer to my family, even though I'm farther away," she said. "I'm just understanding my parents a lot more [by] seeing how they lived over here," she said.

Want to master your money this fall? Sign up for CNBC's new online course. We'll teach you practical strategies to hack your budget, reduce your debt, and grow your wealth. Start today to feel more confident and successful. Use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off, now extended through September 30, 2024, for the back-to-school season.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.