New Here. Moving to Philippines soon

manwonder wrote:

W9XR wrote:

I wish I was back in the states, but I have too much responsibilities here to flee. Even though if I never moved to the Philippines and made the adjustments in the states with reduced income I would be happier.

Most mistakes people make, whatever it is, it seemed to be a good idea at the time. But don't worry bigger mistakes are looming down them road.

Nice post W9XR....I too had NEVER planned moving here permenantly at least NOT for another 5-8years!....That's till I was made redundant by my 'X' Singapore Employer when I was 55!
I was "Pissed Off" and tried in vain getting a similar salary paying job (for 4mths) to no avail...and was burning through my savings just staying there!
Lucky for me I had applied for my 'SRRV' visa in 2013 (6 yrs prior) & had already built my simple but huge retirement landed home.
I hate staying in a place/country (so called 1st world) that does NOT agree on paying its citizens a Living Wage so I said Fxxk Ix!
I'm here now for more than a year and NOT loving it!

Some of us did plan and plan well, others made impulsive choices and regret. Live here they do but grumble and whinge constantly. Negativity on an expat site? While it offers up different/alternative perspectives is not always what those that live here experience nor those that wish to come here want to hear or are blind to the ramifications of a whimsical choice. Time tells all, those of us that chose this country for the right reasons will prosper and enjoy.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl wrote:

manwonder wrote:

W9XR wrote:

I wish I was back in the states, but I have too much responsibilities here to flee. Even though if I never moved to the Philippines and made the adjustments in the states with reduced income I would be happier.

Most mistakes people make, whatever it is, it seemed to be a good idea at the time. But don't worry bigger mistakes are looming down them road.

Nice post W9XR....I too had NEVER planned moving here permenantly at least NOT for another 5-8years!....That's till I was made redundant by my 'X' Singapore Employer when I was 55!
I was "Pissed Off" and tried in vain getting a similar salary paying job (for 4mths) to no avail...and was burning through my savings just staying there!
Lucky for me I had applied for my 'SRRV' visa in 2013 (6 yrs prior) & had already built my simple but huge retirement landed home.
I hate staying in a place/country (so called 1st world) that does NOT agree on paying its citizens a Living Wage so I said Fxxk Ix!
I'm here now for more than a year and NOT loving it!

Some of us did plan and plan well, others made impulsive choices and regret. Live here they do but grumble and whinge constantly. Negativity on an expat site? While it offers up different/alternative perspectives is not always what those that live here experience nor those that wish to come here want to hear or are blind to the ramifications of a whimsical choice. Time tells all, those of us that chose this country for the right reasons will prosper and enjoy.

Cheers, Steve.

Wonderful Sure!...It does stretch your savings/pension in living here & the Age gap is also never a barrier!...Even without a Porsche or Maserati in your garage!

Made what? Depends on the individuals aspirations and the perspectives of those that choose to live here. Mundane B/S is for those that have little to do and there is plenty of that in our current situation (guilty also) and then some. Many sites offer negative and self fulfilled propaganda from some members, definitely not why I came here to this site to hear and a Maserati was the last thing I considered. Lamborghini was a better choice,,,,,, doh, dreaming.

Cheers, Steve.

W9XR wrote:

Pre Moving: Beforehand Important thing I forgot to mention for those living in the states.

I was using "OOMA TELO" (Voice Over Internet Protocol) (VOIP). You can buy the unit for approximately $100 and they will provide you two stateside phone numbers, if you want two. (same price 1 or 2). If one of your existing numbers is a landline, you can transfer it to your OOMA TELO for $35. Each month you will have to pay your federal & state tax for the service, this is done by OOMA with your charge card on file.

Take the OOMA TELO with you to the Philippines or any other country, plug it into your router and you're "Good to go", you now have stateside phone service. Also you plug your existing cordless phone into the Telo.

Believe me, over a period of time you will have to make phone calls to the states. For me: my charge card banks, social security office, IRS office and friends. It really helps when you are on hold for a long time.

Now just before you move, change your contact phone number online with your banks and charge card company's. Because it will save you a big headache when their "Bot"s see your number on their caller ID system if and when you have to call them.

Now with Telo you can get extra service which I do. Caller ID, caller log, number blocking, answering machine. If you are getting annoying phone calls, you can block the number with various messages, the one I use "Is the number you have called is no longer in service". For other calls, I set up Telo to go straight to answering machine (night mode). Because people in the states don't know the phone is ringing in the Philippines and when it's business hours in the States, it's the middle of the night here. Who wants to answer their phone at 4 am when somebody is trying to sell you something?

One funny thing, when I call Citibank in the states, it's answered in Pasay.

One disadvantage is that Telo does not get "text messages" because of the VOIP.

Jackdn wrote:

You can save like 60k driving a truck in usa wow thats awesome .... what hourly rate truck driver on ...im a bricky on 43 bucks a hour mist weeks we do 50 hours while im away shit i be hard to save that doe roe me mate ... anyway 60k us im 52 that would last me in mondragon till im 60 easy plus ...got me hr in the wrong country 60k driving unreal

It's true. The money is there, and were talking US dollars, not the busted down Aussie dollar.

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Walmart/sala … uck-Driver

As I am planning to retire in the Philippines in a few short years, it is great to hear the different perspectives from contributors. Hearing only the positive side of things can be misleading from my perspective. However, not being happy just because it is different from your 'home' country is a little different story.

Jackson4 wrote:

However, not being happy just because it is different from your 'home' country is a little different story.

Many are happy the Philippines is different from their home country.  Being from Cleveland you can appreciate that rivers never catch fire in the Philippines.

Yup. That was the Cuyahoga River. You have to thank the city of Cleveland for that. That was the reason EPA was created. Go Cavs!
Pollution in Cleveland is not what it used to be. East Cleveland crime is the real problem.
Pasig River will never catch fire too. 😂
I am wondering if the Philippine government need some kind of motivation to enforce environmental laws.
Don't get me wrong, retiring in PI is still on the table. It had changed from the Cebu Island area. I am hoping it will be safe to travel to the Philippines so I can go to Laoag City in August.

Jackson4 wrote:

Don't get me wrong, retiring in PI is still on the table. It had changed from the Cebu Island area. I am hoping it will be safe to travel to the Philippines so I can go to Laoag City in August.

It is about 9 hours by bus from Pasig to Laoag in good weather, August is the height of the rainy season up north.  You can fly from NAIA to Laoag, lot cheaper and more educational to take the Partus Bus ride, go right past Vigan in Ilocos Sur.  Right now there is no public transportation and no local flights, hoping they will loosen up by August.

Excellent insights, guys. Thanks much for sharing. Given our lifestyle (no kids), my wife and I always assumed we'd be retiring in PI and started planning for it a few years ago (it took more than 2 years to get the 13a visa). Everything else was going smoothly except for the travel ban. My company laid me off 6 weeks before I planned to retire, providing a nice big severance package that I wasn't expecting. I was working on selling most of our stuff, but my landlord offered to buy all of our furniture. My car lease was up this week but they let me extend it for a month or more. My wife couldn't make it back (she's been overseeing construction of our home), so I took care of packing and shipping her clothes and shoes (16 jumbo BB boxes!). So now I'm just going to sit and wait for the travel ban to be lifted and then I'll be joining you all. Cheers -- Rich