Life is a Beach after retirement

[Paris]

Hi All,

Anyone considering living in the Philippines? I was offered a beach property in an island of Panglao, Bohol. It is approximately 50 feet to the beach with a total area of 1,080 sqr.meter. I can lease it for up to 50 years or buy it. There are few resorts in the surrounding area mostly owned by europeans and americans. If I retire there, I would need an annual income of at least $2,500 in order to live like a queen.[mod edit]

I am currently residing in the U.S. but have no 401k, social security, or pension plan that i look forward to but I do have a stocks as my retirement - I was a day trader as my primary job. My monthly expenses are my home mortgage $660 per month and my 5 cats wellbeing $400 per month. Certainly, i'm not looking forward to buying them a car nor send them to college - they're genius enough. Further, I've traveled in asia and do volunteer to save homeless animals and wish to continue for the rest of my life.

[Semiretired2008]

I am not trying to disallusion you, but you would need a lot more than $2500 a year to retire in the Philippines. A minimal existence - no AC, no satellite TV, no Internet (except at the local internet cafe's), no traveling in country, etc. would be your life style if you tried to live there even on $6000 a year. You also have to budget for your annual required departures (if you are Balkbayan priviledged - more often if you are not) so you have airfare and travel costs associated with that to also contend with. If you believe that you can live on Filipino (poverty level) standards then maybe you could survive, but I hope you like counting cars as they pass down the road because that will be the high light of your day...

I have spent years in the Philippines - look at my Avatar - that is where the pic is from and plan on spending my winters there and my budget just for the winters is more that you are quoting for a year...

[Semiretired2008]

There are a lot of Retiring in the Philippine Forums you could join and read up on before you attempt to spend to much time on this plan. Are you married to a Filipina? Have you ever traveled there?

Foreigners are considered rich no matter what - even the poor ones...

[jerryo]

I'm also (semi-) retired and have been living in the Philippines for about a year and I also think it would be (nearly) impossible to live here decently on $2500/year -- that's just about the median per capita income for the Philippines and this is a POOR country. Call center workers in the Philippines (generally young adults living in dorms) make around $5-10,000/year and housekeepers in Manila get around $2-4,000 PLUS room and board.

It should be possible to live fairly well in the provinces for $10,000/year or so, but the infrastructure in the provinces can be pretty limited (bad roads, intermittent electricity, no restaurants, limited medical care, poor transport (by "tricycle" and "jeepney"), lots of hurricanes and floods, and a fair amount of violent crime. I'd certainly try it out first!

It's also my understanding that while foreigners can own condos here, it's illegal for foreigners to own property or buy houses -- so I'd be careful of any deals....)

Otherwise, the Philippines is a wonderful country with friendly (and often English speaking) locals where one can find a reasonably priced tropical paradise!

Good luck!!!