Philippines - Cheap Retirement Place

We have lots of relatives and friends residing in the US and Europe. Whenever retirement is mentioned, most of them would say that they want to retire in the Philippines. But from the last count, there is only 1 such relative who fulfilled what he said. He is the uncle of my husband, an American citizen since 1973. He bought a house in the resort town of Tagaytay (it is actually a city) where the climate is cool. He has been residing there for more than 3 years now. And the others? They are still abroad and maybe would still there for good.

Our country is a cheap place. You can hire a housemaid or gardener for less than $100 a month, a driver for $200 a month. In fact, we have 2 housemaids who are our housekeepers and caretakers of our dogs. When my parents-in-law came back for a long vacation here after staying for 10 years in the US, my mother-in-law was complaining of the hot weather, the pollution especially the dust and the noise of the vehicles passing by. Add to that the lurking dangers of criminals then you have no reason to stay. After a year, both my husband's parents went back to the US in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

 

I had that in Hungary, labor was cheap. I had a live in housekeeper and a chauffeur and Gardner. My housekeeper was also the cook and did laundry. She did everything that I would have had to do except have sex with my husband but by that point his health didn't allow it so I didn't even have to worry. Plus I didn't pick a sexy 20 year old.

Yep, life was great! This was from 1997 - 2003 so I don't know if it still is that cheap. Other things weren't that cheap, like food or real estate but still cheaper than the US.

I think I paid my live in housekeeper about $200 a month but I was generous with her, always taking her out to eat and buying her things and even gave her enough money so she could buy herself a studio apt in Romania.

I had Money to burn then and I did.

The Philippenes doesn't appeal to me as a place to move. It's too far for one thing, about a 15 hr flight and I wouldn't get to see my family very often.

Also a different culture and the type of climate that I don't think Id like. I'd go to Hungary if I was to choose someplace else to live. Most european countries are similar to the US in culture. Not exactly but moreso than Asian countries. I also know the language and still have distant relatives and some friends there. The distance is still kind of far from family but nots as far as the Philippenes.

 

We have plenty of criminals and pollution here, as well, although perhaps not quite as much as there. I watch a lot of shows on HGTV (a home and garden geared network), and some are on the subject of buying or renting property internationally. I haven't seen them cover the Philippines yet, but I'm sure they'll get around to it. It seems many, especially from Canada are still retiring to Mexico, as well as to the Caribbean. Puerto Rico, Belize and Coast Rica seem to be pretty popular, and with the changes between the United States and Cuba, I wouldn't be surprised to see that becoming a hot spot in the future.

There are definitely parts of the Philippines that look attractive, but I'm very security minded, and as I've mentioned on a few sites, I've seen several of the Locked Up Abroad shows about muslim terrorists taking hostages in the Philippines. It doesn't seem that the government does much to stop the attack from happening ahead of time, by reining in the militants, and when they do respond, they don't seem to take the victims lives into account when they arrive on the scene and shoot willy nilly.

I'll probably stick with the United States, or perhaps Canada or Ireland, but it would definitely be nice to live somewhere with a lower cost of living, where my meager budget would afford me a better lifestyle.

 

Canada is not particularly cheap as far as cost of living goes, but it is, for the most part, a safe place to live. Not all of it fits the great white north reputation either. Where I live, on the southern tip of the left coast, we have had one inch of snow in over seven hundred days. We play golf all year round.

 

@Corie Henson I would move to the Philippines in a heartbeat, Corie, were it not for the fact that my personal "toys" weigh in excess of 25,000 lbs., and that excludes vehicles.......moved them 5 years ago 1600 miles from Missouri to Western Arizona, where I think they will remain well beyond the time I will not!

Would you care to see them? Frank

 

@Frank Sanoica, I am intrigued by that more than 25,000 baggage of yours. I have a feeling that your toys are growing in number as days pass. You would be needing a freighter for that, huh. But seriously, I'm sure you would have a hard time in adjusting to our country unless you have been here for some time already. As I had mentioned in the opening post, the pollution and the weather would turn you off not to include the kind of people you will meet.

 

@Corie Henson Our neighbor married a filippino girl, and travelled there quite a few times. He is Caucasian, born and raised in Massachusetts, said he liked it in the Philippines.

 

Can a hangar accommodate your toys Frank? We're just beside the Pacific on the east and the South China Seas on the west. Which one do you like? hahahaha! Just joking!

 

Those would be two of my major considerations, cost of living and safety. Access to a coast would be a close third. There's no point living someone I don't like. If I moved to Canada, it would most likely be east or west coast, probably not in the middle, although for some reason Thunder Bay sounds appealing, although I've never been there.