From 40 to 3 hours per week: How a 39-year-old man turned Google layoff into an earning opportunity of nearly Rs 4 lakh every month

Shao Chun Chen once clocked over 40 hours a week in his corporate job in Singapore. Today, his lifestyle looks drastically different—he works just three hours a week, enough to support both himself and his wife in Thailand.

The 39-year-old, who spent most of his life in Singapore, relocated to Chiang Mai with his wife in November 2024. Now, he "supercommutes" more than 1,200 miles once a week to Singapore, where he works as an adjunct lecturer at the National University of Singapore, according to CNBC Make IT.

He teaches a three-hour digital marketing course that earns him between 2,000 and 4,000 Singapore dollars (approximately $1,540 to $3,070 USD) each month. That income comfortably covers his weekly travel and the couple’s living costs in Thailand.


How layoff changed Chen's life
A layoff in early 2024 became a turning point for Shao Chun Chen, leading him to realize he had already achieved financial independence—and the freedom to reshape his life.

During nearly a decade at Google, Chen lived frugally and regularly invested up to half of his income. So when the tech giant unexpectedly let him go in February 2024, he discovered that the seven-figure investment portfolio he had quietly built gave him the option to step away from full-time work.

At the time of his layoff, Chen’s portfolio was valued at around $2 million, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. By applying the 4% rule, he calculated that he could withdraw roughly $80,000 annually—adjusted for inflation—without running out of money, freeing him from the need for a regular paycheck.

“I’ve been working for the last 14 years of my life, and because of the layoff, I was forced to take a break,” Chen told CNBC Make It. “It was very devastating, it was a huge blow to my ego, my identity, but it turns out, with time ... it sort of mandated me to think [about] what I really wanted in life.”

Chen turns to YouTube:
In addition to his three-hour-a-week role as an adjunct lecturer in Singapore, Shao Chun Chen also earns income through his YouTube channel, where he shares educational content, and his coaching business, where he charges up to $500 an hour depending on the client.

Chen has also embraced geographical arbitrage. By maintaining his primary income source in Singapore—where the currency is stronger—while living in Thailand, where the cost of living is significantly lower, he’s able to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle with minimal work.

In Singapore, he says, he was paying about about $2,450 a month for his two-bedroom condominium.

Now, he lives in a brand new one-bedroom condo which costs him $450 a month — and it’s much more luxurious. “I’m already overpaying because I’m [paying] on a monthly basis ... If you sign a yearly lease, then it will be closer to $300,” Chen says.