Travis Posted October 26, 2011 Posted October 26, 2011 in the city you can live on $1500 but not live large on $1500 from my own experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted October 29, 2011 Posted October 29, 2011 Hi. If our Social security is still there when I turn 62-65 . I'm looking real pretty..For me that is. Should be a little over $2500 a month.I only wrote this because I was taken aback by a statement..."not living...only exisisting" :no: :tiphat: :thumbsup: :mocking: :cheersty: good luck Redhorse Yes that is true, because there are quite a few expats living off their $800 to $1,000 U.S. SSD pensions here in the Philippines and are "existing" just in order to survive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piglett Posted October 29, 2011 Posted October 29, 2011 (edited) Hi. If our Social security is still there when I turn 62-65 . I'm looking real pretty..For me that is. Should be a little over $2500 a month.I only wrote this because I was taken aback by a statement..."not living...only exisisting" :no: :tiphat: :thumbsup: :mocking: :cheersty: good luck Redhorse i really think it's about how you view the world & how you are used to living in your home country.here in the US i live in a town of 5500 people, drive a corolla with 215k miles on itsave up & pay cash for everything including my PI trips.so for me i live rather low on the "hog" it works for me however if a guy from the US, UK, or wherever is used to really nice $hithe will also want really nice $hit in the philippines too.he likes to live high on the hog & even if he has to go to the bank & borrow money for the new house or new car he wants he willi'll take a used paid for car & an old house with a really small payment, but i'm not like all of the members here, your not either. we are all different. so if you are happy with a small but clean place not rite in the middle of the city & if you don't wish to bar hop every other night you can probably live good on $1500/$2500 US a month, i know i could. good luckpiglett Edited October 29, 2011 by piglett 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonjack2847 Posted October 30, 2011 Posted October 30, 2011 Hi. If our Social security is still there when I turn 62-65 . I'm looking real pretty..For me that is. Should be a little over $2500 a month.I only wrote this because I was taken aback by a statement..."not living...only exisisting" :no: :tiphat: :cheersty: :cheersty: :cheersty: good luck Redhorsei really think it's about how you view the world & how you are used to living in your home country.here in the US i live in a town of 5500 people, drive a corolla with 215k miles on itsave up & pay cash for everything including my PI trips.so for me i live rather low on the "hog" it works for me however if a guy from the US, UK, or wherever is used to really nice $hithe will also want really nice $hit in the philippines too.he likes to live high on the hog & even if he has to go to the bank & borrow money for the new house or new car he wants he willi'll take a used paid for car & an old house with a really small payment, but i'm not like all of the members here, your not either. we are all different. so if you are happy with a small but clean place not rite in the middle of the city & if you don't wish to bar hop every other night you can probably live good on $1500/$2500 US a month, i know i could. good luckpiglettSpot on I live on less than $800 but I do not expect the streets to be paved with gold plus life is what you make it.Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp52 Posted October 30, 2011 Posted October 30, 2011 I rent a 3 bedroom house with 2 air conditioners. 15,000 pesos.My grocery bill is 17,000 pesos. I eat very good and lots of family always drop around at supper time.My electric bill is around 8,000 pesos. I have the air conditioner on when ever I am in the house.Internet is 1,000 pesos and tv is 750 pesos (22 channels).Taxi a month is around 4,500 pesosMaid is 2,000 pesos and cell phone load 500 pesosMisc and savings 20,000 pesos.Total 69,000 ( around 1600 us )I have a line of credit and visa for emergencies. I am use to a fairly good life in Canada. With this budget I feel I live almost at good as in Canada. When you add it all up I think you save about 20 % from the costs back in the west for the equivalent of life in the Philippines. The more you have the more you spend, but beyond my budget I will be just buying more toys or fancier cars or houses. One thing I have gotten out of living here in the Philippines is that I don,t really need all the fancy stuff to enjoy my life. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hounddriver Posted October 30, 2011 Posted October 30, 2011 Ever notice that some members suggest that $1,500 is a livable budget and then you read another thread where those same members say 4 Million pesos for a condo is a good deal? Or the ones that suggest 30,000 pesos is fair monthly rent for an apartment? You gotta give your head a shake if you plan to live here on a small budget. Of course it can be done but realize you are going to be living like a local and depending on the cheap rents to maintain that budget. And yes, 4 Million is a typical price for a western style home, be it a condo or a free standing house. Many sell for more, some sell for less, but the typical western male I know live in a house or condo that's worth about 4 mill. I cannot buy that on $1,500 a month. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted October 30, 2011 Posted October 30, 2011 Ever notice that some members suggest that $1,500 is a livable budget and then you read another thread where those same members say 4 Million pesos for a condo is a good deal? Or the ones that suggest 30,000 pesos is fair monthly rent for an apartment? You gotta give your head a shake if you plan to live here on a small budget. Of course it can be done but realize you are going to be living like a local and depending on the cheap rents to maintain that budget. And yes, 4 Million is a typical price for a western style home, be it a condo or a free standing house. Many sell for more, some sell for less, but the typical western male I know live in a house or condo that's worth about 4 mill. I cannot buy that on $1,500 a month.Well my point in my post up above was that we already own a condo, so we could live on the $1500 and still enjoy our lives because we do not have payments to make on it, so you are 100% correct, it it lifestyle, so if we were paying rent of p25,000 to p30,000 for the same type of place, then we would surely not be able to live our lifestyle on $1500 a month, so it would be either or. As for 4 million being a good deal on a condo or a home in the Cebu City area, I do not think most fairly new nice homes could be bought for 4 million pesos in the heart of the Cebu city, but that price would buy a lot of nice homes outside the city, so that is why I feel 4 million pesos is a good deal for that friends condo unit I posted in the Housing and Land section HERE, but it is only a good deal for those who have the saved up money, and IMO not a good deal when it is compared to what can be bought in the depressed market in the US, yet it is a good deal for what condos are selling for in Cebu City. Some people have money saved up and others do not. I happened to be in a good position years ago and bought ours at a much lower price by borrowing from my retirement plan and buying our condo units, I also bought a third 30 sq meter unit on time payments from the builder because we were going to move full time to Cebu and we would have needed more storage space for all our junk and could not afford to buy a larger unit, so of course I would not have been able to live on $1500 if I was still making payments on our condo unit as well as trying to live a good life. So for those people who wish to live on $1500, you must take all things into account and realize that $1500 is surely not enough if you are going to try to live a western lifestyle and pay a mortgage or high rent for an expensive place in the city. Sorry if that was not clear in my original post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support Old55 Posted October 30, 2011 Forum Support Posted October 30, 2011 Dave you make a very good point. :cheersty: To buy a place from savings and have the majority of your monthly income to live on would be sweet. However as we know the downside is Foreigners can only own a condo or lease land build a house or have a place in a Filipina wife's name.In Cebu City ten years ago 100K USD would buy a nice home. No more. !00K for a modest condo would be a great choice.There is no one size fits all we each have our own idea of what meets our needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted October 30, 2011 Posted October 30, 2011 As I see it, the lifestyle that one can live really depends on one’s situation and financial circumstances which varies from one person to the next and depending on their age! That’s why there’s different numbers being mentioned from one person to the next on what one is living on! Different strokes for different folks as I always say! And so, the saga goes on on how much one can live on, but I just enjoy reading the many different lifestyle stories one is living in the Philippines vs. the U.S. or other countries! Maybe one of these days, we'll all find a better and cheaper place or country to move to that doesn't have alot of negative points! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 30, 2011 Posted October 30, 2011 I rent a 3 bedroom house with 2 air conditioners. 15,000 pesos. My grocery bill is 17,000 pesos. I eat very good and lots of family always drop around at supper time. My electric bill is around 8,000 pesos. I have the air conditioner on when ever I am in the house. Internet is 1,000 pesos and tv is 750 pesos (22 channels). Taxi a month is around 4,500 pesos Maid is 2,000 pesos and cell phone load 500 pesos Misc and savings 20,000 pesos. Total 69,000 ( around 1600 us ) I have a line of credit and visa for emergencies. I am use to a fairly good life in Canada. With this budget I feel I live almost at good as in Canada. When you add it all up I think you save about 20 % from the costs back in the west for the equivalent of life in the Philippines. The more you have the more you spend, but beyond my budget I will be just buying more toys or fancier cars or houses. One thing I have gotten out of living here in the Philippines is that I don,t really need all the fancy stuff to enjoy my life.Thank you SJP52 for the breakdown of your monthly budget. I have always lived in Luzon and neverhave been down to Visayan island group. It would seem like CDO is a reasonable place to retire andwill make definite plans to visit there someday. As I have stated in my previous posts, it really doesn't matter whether you're in the low or high state ofliving in the Philippines. One thing for sure is that I have a better chance of maintaining a substantialsavings account. As long as the monthly income keeps coming from a retirement account, I will livecomfortably, enjoying the sports and hobbies that I have neglected for many years. Speaking of which, this is what I try to do on a daily basis to keep my type II diabetes in check: Respectfully -- Jake 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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