The Cost Of The Philippine Dream

[tomaw]

I was just watching a video on Yahoo Finance where it was shown that the yearly cost of the American Dream has now risen to a point requiring an annual salary of just over $130,000 USD. I imagine the home country for most of our members would be similar in cost.

I was wondering if members would be interested in sharing some information... What did it cost you a year in your home country to live your life as compared to the Philippines. Total to total. And, if there is a big disparity in costs, could you state what the big changes were to account for this. Once the responses slow down, I want to chart the figures and put them on the site for every body to see. It will be totally anonymous at that point as I will only be using numbers. And I will update the figures every year or so from any new numbers that come in.

I am hoping that this might help show why some people can live on P1000 or less while others say P2000 or more. If you want to maintain anonymity, PM it to me and I will just add it to the list. Remember - I have my medical pension from the military for no short term memory so, after I delete your PM, how long do you think I"ll remember what you wrote?

So... Former yearly cost of living in your home country

vs

Present yearly cost of living in the Philippines!

Anybody? :rolleyes: :mocking:

Whoever wrote that is out of their mind and probably has never been to the Philippines. My wife and I live on a fraction of that in Orange County California! :-) Oops! My mistake. S130,000 a year for the AMERICAN DREAM not The Philippines. I know very few people that make that much and as I said, my wife and I live in Orange County California on way less than that. Edited September 24, 2014 by tomaw

[JJReyes]

A simple formula to calculate your cost of living during retirement is 80% of working salary. That's when you remain in the same community. If you relocate to a lower cost of living state, it is 65%. Philippines would be 50% or lower.  Assuming $60,000 a year, budget $30,000 a year for a Philippine retirement to maintain, more or less, the same lifestyle.

[pokermike]

I have been studying the precentages of income needed after retirement to be bogus! So a person making $240,000 a year will need $192,000 a year to live the same life style or $120,000 in the Philippines to be a bad examples. So formulas are a waste of time. what you really need to do is figure out your exact annual expenses. This is what you need to make , allow a cushion for the unknown.

You should spend less in the Philippines. I am not computer savey but one of co workers who knows i am getting ready to retire had me get a phone app called easy spend , now after two years i know eactly what i need to live on. I track every single item , everything. Currently i spend $3,800 a month , i have been to the Philippines many times and when i retire there i plan to spend the same amount or  probably more but will live even better than i do now. Travel all the time and enjoy the rest of my life with my beautiful young wife. This phone app has helped me learn to truly budget,  i do live the American dream, great job big money , nice home in Scottsdale Arizona but not happy here. Figure out what you spend forget about the formulas!  Later pokermike                sorry to disagree JJ

[Jack Peterson]

As we read the answers to topics about living here, I think we all loose track of the Actuality of it all.

 

In reality, we can only spend what we have got ( What comes in each Month.) All our dreams, can only be based on what we have.

I have friends all over that will give you their outlays and they are all a different story. For me, We built the house out of savings and my severance from the Company.

We have no rent or mortgage to contend with. What we have coming in each month is. Ours ( less of course Electric, Water and the usual Running costs) so we are lucky I guess [if you can call us Lucky, We worked hard for what we get now]

Each of us will and can tell our Story but it will never be, a one size fits all. We have said this over many 000's of posts on many topic Headings. It really does depend on what any one, actually wants and How Much they have as Liquid Capitol. Once you have got the Accommodation under your belt, Rented or Bought, you can then look at your monthly Disposable cash and say Hey! we can Do this or as many have found, just like at Home before, OH! OH! we are overspending. This is when your Dream becomes a Nightmare.

 

It is not always easy to Do but we should be looking at, is making the Dream Fit the money, not hoping the money will fit the Dream.

 

it all boils down to what I and many more have said and I guess will always say. Do a lot of Homework use the answers from  these topics and ask those that have done it and are happy, Of course not all Stories end in the Perfect Dream, those stories should be listened too as well.

Not taken too much to heart but a  definite learning curve.

 

Grannies Cliches are sometimes Good." Sauce for the Goose is not always, Sauce for the Gander"

 

We all hope that our Perfect Dream will not be just a Pipe Dream.

 

 I am not sure any of us, can put a figure on What a true Perfect Dream will cost because we all want different things and all get different monthly Incomes. 

 

For me it was always about  "living within your means" and  I think, this is where anyone should start.  Can I afford it.  NO? move on to a lesser Costing Dream. Research is the Answer.

 

Here Endeth the lesson  :rolleyes:

 

 

JP :tiphat:

[brock]

I have just spent 7 months in Europe with Nesa, I found Prague to be cheaper than the Philippines, And Poland much much  cheaper to live,The house rental cost cheaper too, Nesa said everything was much better than at home in the Philippines,She especially liked the food saying the vegetables had more flavour, She loved the local beef from the butchers with no flies hovering around the meat, Saying how more hygienic everything was,,,, I also find a great many things are cheaper and of better quality in England.The Philippines is getting an expensive place to live..

[Hey Steve]

Although, I don't yet have a cost comparison prepared yet, Bob, as I am still in the US, our thinking before we move is to create a pessimistic view of how the economics will play out long term in the Philippines and prepare for that. In other words looking at the "assumed" sharp rise of the cost of living in the Philippines and average it out over about 15 years and also assume the peso equivalent will work against us over time. With our assumptions being pessimistic that this will be a reality, we are better prepared long term.

So, to have a fixed number in your head when you make a move, say $1,400/mo (example) and the intent is to stay long term-better to prepare to budget $1,800/mo (example) as a long term budget for an equivalent preferred lifestyle-just mine and my wife's thinking anyway.

[jon1]

It seems to me that the Inflation is averaging about 5% per year. You will see it start in December when the OFWs return. The prices of high demand/high cost items skyrocket. A good example; Tiger Prawns go from 600p/kilo to 800 or 1000p/kilo and then drop to 650p/kilo in late January/February after they have left.  Now granted, we don't have Tiger Prawns often, but I have seen similar price hikes on Lechon Baboy and other delicacies. It is a good idea to expect the costs to continue to go up. This is part of the reason that I bought a rental unit as local income. The rent will be paid in pesos (no issues with exchange rates) and annual increases tend to average around 3%. Between those 2 factors, I expect to stave off of some of the future costs and offset how much actual USD that I am having to bring into country.

[JJReyes]

sorry to disagree JJ

 

The calculations regarding lower cost of living after retirement are based on certain assumptions that eliminates certain expenditures. The children are grown and no longer living at home. You don't need 3 or 4 bedrooms. Either downsize or rent out the extra rooms. Each person makes adjustments according to their personal circumstances. My wife and I changed our lifestyle in retirement. We are full time nomads, meaning no fix home and constantly traveling. It turns out to be cheaper than our original calculation. Our monthly fuel cost for the RV is between $750 to $1,000 (Mercedes Benz 3.5 liter turbo diesel engine averaging 18 miles to a gallon). That's for 3,500 to 4,500 miles a month. We can lower that amount dramatically by remaining at one location for a longer period rather than moving every few days. At the present time, cruising at 55 mph to 80 mph on the Interstate system is lots of fun. That's within the speed limits with Utah offering 80 mph. 

 

Philippines is a back-up in the event either one of us would need caregivers. That's not affordable in the United States. The cost for an assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care facility ranges from $4,000 to $12,000 a month and the average is $6,900. This is custodial care and Medicare will not reimburse. Similar facilities in the Philippines are averaging between $1,500 to $3,500. 

 

By the way, Scottsdale is a great place with excellent restaurants. The same with Paradise Valley where we have friends. I like Arizona, but only during the winter months. The summers are too hot. The homes in Paradise Valley we visited and stayed required 24/7 air conditioners including the garages. Our friends also own homes in Hawaii so as to avoid the summer heat. We were thinking of spending this coming winter months in Arizona, but other nomads inform us prices have skyrocketed during the past few years. The alternative location is Corpus Christie, Texas.

Edited September 26, 2014 by JJReyes

[davewe]

Jack P's answer is the best for me. People always ask how much does it cost or can I live on x amount? The question should be: I have x amount - now what kind of life can I afford? Based on that it is much easier to determine where to live (Manila/Cebu or a cheaper city/province) what amenities can be had, how much travel and entertainment, etc.

 

Ultimately this is what we do in life anyway. Our job pays us just so much and we adjust our expenditures to how much we are paid. Very few of us get to say, "I need 20k more to meet my desires, so the job should provide that."

[JJReyes]

Jack P's answer is the best for me. People always ask how much does it cost or can I live on x amount? The question should be: I have x amount - now what kind of life can I afford? Based on that it is much easier to determine where to live (Manila/Cebu or a cheaper city/province) what amenities can be had, how much travel and entertainment, etc.

 

Absolutely correct! The determining factor is total retirement income after taxes less a certain amount set aside for inflation and emergencies. You then calculate if the remainder is sufficient based on your lifestyle. If not, it's time to stop dreaming. Work a few additional years.