Fil-Am considering retiring in Philippines after 50 yrs in US

@Kidrome48

Welcome to the Forum Belen. My hunch is that 9 out of 10 readers of your introduction will advise you to 'stay put' for a plethora of reasons. Some of those such as climate you are aware of.

At the moment the Philippines as a country is in reverse gear. Expats and visitors like myself would say thats its been like this for many years using other A.S.E.A.N countries as comparables.

Coincidentally I shall be flying out to the Philippines in early November and staying in Iloilo for a week. My first visit to this city which is probably in the top 3 places to live in the country using a broad 'quality of life' measure. I'm attracted to the walking and cycling opportunities . The term pavement in most cities (sidewalk to our American friends) is anathema to Filipinos in general.

Ironically a long term senior member of this Forum whose wife sadly passed away recently and has been resident in Manila for 10 years is moving the other way back to the states for reasons that I am sure he will espouse on this feed. I hope he will continue to post his laconic contributions when he is back stateside.

Lotus Eater said . . . Ironically a long term senior member of this Forum whose wife sadly passed away recently and has been resident in Manila for 10 years is moving the other way back to the states for reasons that I am sure he will espouse on this feed. I hope he will continue to post his laconic contributions when he is back stateside.

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I guess I'll contribute my P2 worth.

My wife and I were living in Las Vegas which has an extremely large Filipino society. Incidentally my wife had a friend named Belen.

She also had a distant cousin living in Las Vegas, the cousin also had a partner. They both worked in the Casino industry and retired with good pensions, plus their house was worth several times more than the original purchase price. Needless to say they were very well off when they moved backed to the Philippines.

I had a Filipino cardiologist (Ernesto Chua), he was about 75 years old, then he retired and moved back to the Philippines. (BGC)

When we moved to the Philippines one my wife's girlfriend made the trip with us. She lives near Roxas City. She has a beautiful house and two maids.

My wife was Americanized living the good life in America (Las Vegas) My wife, her cousins, her friend and my cardiologist  moved back because it was their birthplace & family.

Humans can adjust to their environment "Maybe your good American life may be able to adjust" to the Philippines. You will be leaving many good things behind which will only be a memory.

Many species internal clock implicitly directs them to their birthplace to die.

To the OP. The main reason I chose to retire/live here was for my partner, single no way, it would have been southern Europe for me, already retired in a country I spent 50 years in? OMO but best to stay put with a system you well know. Golly I'm only 67 and living here since 59 and these days I'm feeling it. At 77 if I live that long I'm glad we have a wheelchair ramp built for an aging soul.

If you want cool perhaps look at Baguio or higher up the range but quality hospitals? Most cities are a nightmare when it comes to traffic, perhaps BGC or Makati and run the A/C 24/7, close to St Lukes and other quality hospitals. Single? Stay with what you know. I'm sure we all wish you luck with your choice.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

@Enzyte Bob

Just to add a rider to Bobs post. To the OP you say one of your main reasons for relocating back to the Philippines is a lack of close friends near to where you reside in Oregon. Yes there is a very large Filipino expat community in Las Vegas. "If the mountain won't come to Mohammed" is your current situation but the mountain in Las Vegas is a lot closer than the Philippines.

I'm sure you could join Filipino expat groups there without the attendant loss of lifestyle and initial stress (not to mention the debilitating long flight) that a move half way across the world would entail.

Depending on your budget this would be an option. Condo prices in Las Vegas have recently declined since the property bubble burst in 2024.

Vegas not a good choice for people looking to avoid hot weather.  If I were a citizen of the Philippines I would move to Baguio.

Just to add a rider to Bobs post. To the OP you say one of your main reasons for relocating back to the Philippines is a lack of close friends near to where you reside in Oregon. Yes there is a very large Filipino expat community in Las Vegas. "If the mountain won't come to Mohammed" is your current situation but the mountain in Las Vegas is a lot closer than the Philippines. I'm sure you could join Filipino expat groups there without the attendant loss of lifestyle and initial stress (not to mention the debilitating long flight) that a move half way across the world would entail. Depending on your budget this would be an option. Condo prices in Las Vegas have recently declined since the property bubble burst in 2024.

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The metro population of Filipinos in Las Vegas is 200K, surpassing every city's total populations in Oregon except Portland.

My wife joined a Filipino dance group, her church was all Filipinos, hospitals have many Filipino Nurses.

We shopped at a very large Filipino Supermarket, "Seafood City" They have balut.

There are two Seafood Cities.My wife has had her Filipina friends over playing playing Mahjong or Filipino Poker all night long.

How about some Red Horse or San Miguel Beer, Jollibee's or Balikbayan Box Shippers, it's all there.

At Seafood City I purchased a Barong Tagalog dress shirt for my wedding at one of the shops inside Seafood City.

The Philippine Consulate of Los Angeles comes to Las Vegas twice a year to handle Filipino problems.

One Las Vegas Casino buffet has Lechon, Liempo on Tuesday night. The go through a dozen pigs."

I do not work for the Chamber of Commerce". -

- @Enzyte Bob

Vegas not a good choice for people looking to avoid hot weather. If I were a citizen of the Philippines I would move to Baguio. - @mugtech

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Yes the weather gets very hot. Average rainfall Per year 4.2 inches so humidity is low, average days of sunshine 310.

It's not the temperature that gets you, it's the humidity.

110F is hot, no matter the humidity.

mugtech said . . . .110F is hot, no matter the humidity

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Having lived in both 13 years in Las Vegas and 8 years in Manila I'll take 13 years of no sweating.

Vegas is only hot for two months, while Manila's humidity drops to 71% in March the dry season and then peaks to 85%.

mugtech said . . . .110F is hot, no matter the humidity
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Having lived in both 13 years in Las Vegas and 8 years in Manila I'll take 13 years of no sweating.
Vegas is only hot for two months, while Manila's humidity drops to 71% in March the dry season and then peaks to 85%.

Average yearly temperature for Las Vegas 83 degrees.

Average yearly temperature for Manila 82.5 degrees.

Average yearly humidity for Las Vegas 30%

Average yearly humidity for Manila 76%

I doubt I could live here full time without A/C, as Bob states it's not so much the temperature but the humidity, Here we average 30 to 35C similar to Queensland Australia and the dryer heat is far easier to deal with. Something the OP needs to consider.

Cheers, Steve.

Belen said . . . .I am a 77 year-old Filipino native, female, American citizen, single, who is considering moving back to the Philippines for retirement, specifically Iloilo City.versus Tagaytay. I was born, raised and educated in city until fourth year college when I transferred to UP Diliman. After finishing medical education in the Philippines, I moved to the United States to do residency training and work as a physician and have been retired since 2012. I am considering moving back because I find life in the US. Pretty lonesome ias a single person and think it might be different in the Philippines where I have family and friends and the lifestyle is different. I have a very close cousin and her family who have a home in.Tagaytay and I grew up in Iloilo where I know the dialect and still have a couple of cousins and high school friends.
I currently live in a small town in western Oregon, where I have a home I really like and friends in church and in the Filipino community here but no really close buddies and no family. I have two closer friends who live in other states. My concerns are that I do not know what the medical facilities are like since I do have some medical issues, how difficult it is to make new friends at this age in the Philippines, what the infrastructure is like, especially regarding brownouts and the Internet and how I will adapt to the climate because I do not like hot and humid and I know what it is like there. So I am planning a scouting trip to both Tagaytay and Iloilo in Jan-Feb 2027 for 4-5 weeks assuming my body can still handle the travel. I have not been back since 2023 and in the meantime have had back and joint issues progress more severely.

I would like to get in touch with other Balikbayans who have returned to the Philippines and stayed there happily, others who are considering a similar move, and still others who have considered it seriously but decided to stay put in the US. It would be also good to hear from Filipinos already living there who are knowledgeable about the medical care available in Iloilo City and the rental housing situation. And numerous other topics a big move like this would entail.

thanks very much for your input.

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Belen . . . . We have similar problems but in opposite ways. Reading your age and when you retired you must have taken early ss & maybe you have some other source of retirement income you've also been drawing on for some time.

So with me not going through the fuzzy math you've live in the states approximately 45+ years.

At your age of 77 being lonesome also carries other baggage, people getting older doesn't have the mental & physical attributes they enjoyed in the past. Slower thinking comes to mind, physical tasks becomes more difficult (for me) if not impossible.

Old friendships of the past, now become a old burden to those friends. The hour glass for you & me is running out of sand and we are try to make plans for what little future we have.  But you said you have a home you really like, friends in the church and in the Filipino community. Selling your home and leaving your cherished possessions behind is something to think about. Also you said you have two close friends who lived in another state, maybe you could live with them?

In the states you have Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan and you have medical issues. In the Philippines you are not covered and buying medical insurance at your age is too expensive and the limited coverage would be useless. You are seven older than my wife who has passed. Since we moved to the Philippines her four hospitalizations ran about $40K USD.

As you being in the medical field in the states you know a hospital can not turn you down. Not so in the Philippines, so many die because they cannot afford prepaid treatment.

With all the years you've been in the states and the degree of your success, you've been Americanized. Some interpret the Philippines as a third world country, compared to other S.E. Asian Countries, it has a long ways to becoming a third world country in comparison to what you've adjusted to the states.

Just because you were born and educationin the Philippines doesn't make you a Filipino again, you are am American citizen now, with American habits and tastes.

Now if on the other hand you have a close cousin & family, if they would take you in, that would be a game changer. Somebody to assist you by picking up an pills you dropped on the floor or picking up & cleaning something you knocked over.

Simple things that can be done in the states in an hour, takes a day or longer here.