Jake Posted September 20, 2011 Posted September 20, 2011 Hey guys, I'm inviting our fellow members who became permanent resident and explain the basics to us. We all know, at some point in time and money, it will eventual come to the point when a decision must be made. Nolounging around the exotic tourist spots anymore.....time to find a place to live. What were some of the deciding factors? Was it a financial shock to live on the local economy, now that your Visa card has ran dry of tourist dollars? How far did you explore other areas from your initial place if that did not work out. Did you seek out advice or assistance from resident expats there? Out of thefollowing factors, what is considered the most important to you: convenience, security or medical? Any other factors to consider? Respectfully - Jake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted September 20, 2011 Posted September 20, 2011 (edited) Well Jake, for me it was a pretty simple decision! Here’s how it went, when I was only 20 yrs old, in the military, U.S. Air Force that is and stationed at Clark AB back in 1968! I enjoyed it so much chasing the women and having a good time, I swore to myself that I will be back ASAP and retire in the Philippines come hell or high water! 43 yrs later and at age 50 with a mediocre pension of $1,400, we took a leap of faith and left the U.S. and everything behind! We landed on the tarmac of the Manila airport to begin our retirement in our home town of Olongapo City! Now we live in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, we own our own home, no bills, we didn't have any children of our own, but that's Ok because my wife has plenty of nieces and nephews, no extended family living with us, am now collecting all of my other U.S. Government pensions and we’re still enjoying our retirement to this day! Life is grand when a plan comes together in the end! “Life is what we all make it to be”! Edited September 20, 2011 by Art2ro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted September 20, 2011 Posted September 20, 2011 Jake, I don't understand your post. Sounds like you are sitting on a fence and can go either way and are looking for some one to give you a push. Everything is money. Period. No (not enough) money? Then heath care is money, quality of food is money and living quarters is money. Money money money. Once you have the money issues understood, then you make a decision on where to live and any family issues. Lee did the smart thing and lives AWAY from the wife's family. However, some may want to be near the family. Health care is not really an issue IF you are in good health. You can fly, in 1 day to Cebu or Manila for any health care issues that are not an emergency. So I would pick a place, and buy / build something to your likeing and budget and then live your life! Just remember you are making a decision you will have to live with for a while...... Now...... since other people read this, here is an alternative plan...... If you had no money issues..... there is a place in Manila called Makati. In Makati is a street called P. Burgos. On that street is a condo / hotel called Oxford Suites. Check in there. You can live there the remainder of your life. EVERYTHING you need is within 30 meters to 300 meters of the front door...... Women, good restaurants, women, fast food places, women, drinking bars, women, girly bars, women, banks, women, taxis, women, laundry services, women, internet cafes, women, 7-11 store, women, and malls and hospitals are very close too. Oh yes, there are also a lot of women there, you know, just in case you need a couple...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted September 20, 2011 Posted September 20, 2011 After posting my comments to Jake’s question and gave it more thought as to what lead me to decide in moving and retiring to the Philippines! The major factor was, friends and family ties which I really didn’t have much of, because during my entire teenage and adult life I was basically a loner and the so called “black sheep” in our family which only consisted of myself and my older brother, we didn‘t have a lot of aunts or uncles around at that time growing up, because most of them were still in the Philippines and ever since our teenage years, we moved around from place to place almost every year during our high school years which made it difficult to meet and make new friends. So, in other words, friends or family ties was never a factor with me when it came to deciding on moving to the Philippines, because there wasn’t anything really holding me back from leaving the U.S. which made our transition easy in living in the Philippines permanently! I know Jake is a family man and still has teenage kids and a lot of friends and other family ties through his brothers and sister, aunts & uncles and especially with his parents and in-laws! So I understand Jake’s situation and that’s why he probably posted the question to get some feedback from other members retired in the Philippines for the long haul. Jake isn’t just sitting on the fence waiting to be pushed, he's just taking care of business and family matters the best way he knows how and the Philippines can wait for a while! I'm sure there are others out there in the same boat and not yet ready to make that transition in retiring in the Philippines permanently! There are even those that have been living in the Philippines for years and have decided to return to the U.S. for reasons of their own, but most likely it's due to medical and financial concerns which is now affordable in some states during this global recession we are all in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrepid Posted September 21, 2011 Posted September 21, 2011 Jake,Although you asked your question to those members who moved permanently to the Philippines, I want to chime in with some thoughts. We are still about four years away from relocating to the Philippines. We have been planning this for several years now and and I will be 55 years old when we make the move. I would love to do it now but these next four years I will be saving much more money than I have ever been able to do. Although we could make it now on what we have, life will be so much easier if we wait the next four years. With the money out of the way as Bruce noted above, I will be ready for the big move. I also have much family here in the US but with all the communication technology today, interned, magic jack and digital cameras and video, we can easily keep in touch. So, keeping close in touch is out of the way. Now for my biggest observation of people waiting to move. If they wait too long for everything to be just right, they become older and comfortable with where they currently are and never make the move. Or when and if they finally do, they are too old to adjust and really be comfortable in their new location and are never really happily adjusted. I have seen this many times over the years with my own family members and friends when they plan to move even just close or across country to retire. Be it a retirement community or to the easy warm life of a retirement ohm in Florida. They plan and plan, or maybe just talk and talk about it, come up with reasons to wait and then wait too long, and just never take the steps of action. Then,….they are too old to make the move and decide to just stay in their comfortable home they have known for so many years. And the dream dies. It is up to each of us to make the decisions. Think about all the options, good and bad, and then make the decision that will make you happy. Just plan so if you have to, you can reverse direction. Just don't dwell on things until you waited too long!danny 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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