Your 20 grand will be gone in no time at all once you get hooked up with those swarming women you talk about. They love shoes.
Posted on 09/10/2005 7:19:58 AM PDT by daviddennis
I'd like to know what freepers think of the idea of moving to the Phillippines (or a similar country) to take a break from the rat race and use the low cost of living to be able to work on my own projects.
This is not retirement, in other words, but it's not precisely holding a job. I want to do something with my life that I create and am in charge of instead of working for others. My best guess is that this would be a web-based business that could be run from anywhere in the world.
If I moved to the Phillippines with about $20,000-odd in my pocket, the income from a business venture that's just concluding, all my research shows that I could live comfortably for about a year, not have to work, and really focus on what I want to do. I might even be able to lease a waterfront home, which would cost thousands of dolars a month in a warm weather area of the US such as Miami or Malibu.
Furthermore, if I had an online community of some sort, I might be able to finance my lifestyle through web advertising, which would be very difficult in the US with its much higher cost of living.
Another advantage of living in the Phillippines is that by all accounts, a 43 year old somewhat overweight guy such as myself would be flooded with women, while in the US I'd be lucky to get an attractive women to even glance at me.
Freepers strike me as an adventureous bunch who love their country but might consider alternatives, too. I'd like to know if any freepers have tried something similar, and if so what the results have been.
Many thanks!
A smaller start might be to go to the gym and get a personal trainer.
At least until your $20,000 is gone.
I would try somewhere closer. Possibly Carribean, Puerto Rico or Belize. I would do lots of research on lifestyle conditions, politics and any anti-American attitudes you may have to put up with. Learning the language would be a big plus wherever you go. Start learning it beforehand to give you a jump. Make sure you have an internet connection.
Don't know if they still have a stronghold, but Islamists had a big presence in the Phillipines a few years ago. Maybe you should ask the Burnhams. (I think that was the name of the missionary family who were held for months, and the husband finally killed brutally.)
Be careful of the Abu whatever. Islamic terrorists who kidnapped and beheaded a man from California.
And killed the husband of Gracie Martin, I think that is her name...
you have freepmail
Going to the gym really helps straighten out the thinking process and releives TONS of stress, besides getting you in better physical condition.
The Philippines is interesting and cheap, IF YOU HAVE DOLLARS for income. $20K/year lives pretty good there, but then again you are in a country with little infrastructure and lots political upheaval. And, unless you are of Asian ethnicity, (in other words you are white or black) you stand out like a sore thumb and are an easy target either for thieves or other bad guys (islamo-terrorist types).
I would opt for the gym/personal trainer if I were you.
Another suggestion: meet a nice Filipina and bring the Philippines to you!
They say that the USA is the BEST country to live in for a good reason.
My plan is to return periodically to the US to recharge financially. I run a seasonal business with a partner and would return during that season. In the long run, I hope the Internet-based business I start will pay dividends that will allow me to stay. However, building any business takes time and that's why I have a strategy to recharge year by year.
Exercise and diet changes don't seem to work well for me. I absolutely loathe exercise with a passion, so to become truly attractive would take literally years of misery and struggle, and even then I would probably become a sour, surly, nasty man as a reflection of that. I know you all mean well, but unfortunately I really don't think that's my path :-(. Far better to find someone who's attracted to me as I am.
The women are interested in older men because older men are respected in Phillipine culture, and because Filipino men apparently have a bad reputation. Going to a place where the market is better for someone like me seems like pure common sense. Why struggle with a highly unfavorable market when you can go elsewhere and find plentiful women? I know there are good women everywhere, but I think they would be much easier to find in a place where people like me are in demand instead of flooding the market.
Also, the other point is that I could live well on $20k a year, and if that's what I have, I can either get a job and stay on the treadmill, or move to another country. I think it's about time I tried stepping off the treadmill and see where it brings me.
The terrorist group seems to move almost exclusively in the South Phillippines, which I had already understood. I'm likely to go to Cebu or nearby islands, which do not appear to be affected. Nonetheless, I will be very careful and keep a low profile there.
Internet is definitely a problem in the rural areas and might keep me near a city. Might not be a bad idea considering the terrorists, either.
I think the Carribean has a higher cost of living but I will look into Belize.
Many thanks for the replies; keep 'em coming!
D
I've heard Belize is breathtakingly beautiful. Does get the occasional hurricane, though. If I were to become an expat, I'd probably go to the Dominican Republic, in part because I've been there a couple of times on short term missions with our church.
Answer these and I will put you in contact (by email) with a couple of Americans who each have 3-7 years living in the Philippines.
The Phillipines, although the people are friendly, and for the most part Christian, and speak some English, is a dirt poor country. The food is good; they eat lots of rice,pork and fish. Dont expect US levels of customer service, prices, movies, music, radio or TV. Peso say so, (bribes) for most part, are what you need to get any paperwork done. If you act like you have money, you will be a target for fraud, pickpocketing, kidnapping and any number of scams, including transvestites wanting to get married.
Mindanao is off-limits due to Islamokazi's.
You say you wish to have a beach house; consider the flooding, tsunamis, typoons and make sure you pick the side of an island that is on the lee side away from where storms hit.
Luzon and some of the other islands have pine forests in the mountains, that's where I would stay.
There are lots of retired and US GI's that can live on their retirement there, as well as Aussie retirees.
The Islands are mostly rural or urban areas, with little of what we in the states would call suburbs.
For businesses - bars, tourist traps, cyber cafe's, Sari-Sari stores (mom+pop corner stores) are the easiest ways to start a business there. An export company would be the best moneymaker long term, there are lots of locally manufactured and crafted products.
If you like dairy products = milk, cheese, butter, ice cream - they are available but expensive; most of the poor do not have refrigeration.
The beer/soda is pretty good, it all comes from one company, and is inexpensive
Appliances are expensive there, as well as electronics and computers and telecom services.
AC Power is bad, with lots of brownouts.
Clothing is cheaper here in the dollar stores.
If you hook up/get married you will be expected to help out with the family, and Phillipinos are like hillbillies with a flat family tree, large families and relatives worldwide.
The banks are not as stable as here in the US; but they pay a much higher rate of interest on savings.
Have been married for 12 Years to a girl I met in the Phillipines while stationed there in the USAF. I got a fiance visa and brought her here to get married. She goes home when there is enough extra cash to send her back - every couple of years.
The Phillipines is like anywhere else, there are good and bad folks as well.
I would not trade the experience for anything.
My advice would be to take some time off and find an area you would like to stay before you go permanently. Then come back and ship your personal effects by "Balikbayan" Boxes - $100-200 for a cubic meter of goods by boat. The shipment by boat takes about 2-3 months.
Bring good rain gear.
If you want to do it, do it. Free life altering advice from strangers is worth just what you paid for it, NADA, NIEN, ZIP.
Your 20 grand will be gone in no time at all once you get hooked up with those swarming women you talk about. They love shoes.
You're not thinking clearly...
What am I missing?
Go to a place:
Can you give me compelling reasons to stay?
D
$20K and woman... There is a word for that....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.