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.
Okay, that gave me a laugh :-). Thanks!
D
It's super cheap, too, and you can certainly do the beach house thing.
Not really.
American women want the same thing.
The only difference is that since it costs a lot more to live in America, they need a lot more.
And you know what? I don't blame them, either way.
D
All the way to P.I. to get laid?...take the earlier posters advice....
Why? Has a blindness epidemic overcome the Phillipines?
I cited two reasons for moving, and it's interesting people have ignored the fact that I can live there for next to nothing and therefore advance my entrepeneurial projects, for which I have no time as long as I need to work full-time just to keep myself above water.
I thought this aspect of it would intrigue a few people. Instead of making excuses for myself as a creator, I'm saying that I will live outside of the US and make whatever sacrifices are necessary to create a real Internet-based business. This can be done in the US, but the much cheaper cost of living in the Phillippines makes it much more possible for someone like me on a shoestring.
If you can stretch the shoestring further ... maybe that's more than a little cool.
D
Lot of free time to post here....
If one of the locals offers you something to eat called "balut," run as fast and as far as possible.
You are a grown man and a smart guy so I vote for giving the Phillipines the try. It will definitely be a enriching learning experience and your logic is impeccable. What the heck!
You'd do just as well moving to Perth Australia. You'd have a one year work visa, and much cheaper living expenses. Plus, English, constant power and internet connectivity.
My pc hardware supplier runs a IT shop, and has ~130 programmers working in Thailand for dirt cheap wages. She is ethnic Chinese, and employs ethnic chinese at her thailand shop. She wins her contracts here in the US, and does 2 or 3 months working vacations to Thailand to finish the work. She spent at least 8 months in Thailand in 2004, making her pc hardware business suffer, BUT she's making better money doing the coding projects. Even then, they are the best paid locals in the small city/large town the shop is located. Worse yet, they keep getting smart, and demanding 100% pay increases, because they are learning english, and using IT marketplaces to find their real value.
If your resume is real, you'd do just as well starting an IT shop here, and outsourcing the coding to freelancers just located in one area of the phillipines, then when you travel there, it's for business, and is tax deductible, plus you'll have a source of income. You'll also be part of the community you'll be living in.
/Get a personal trainer. It's cheaper.
Disjointed response. The lady I know started with just 4 or 5 programmers in Thailand in 1999. She's built the business up, a lot of hard work, some setbacks, and a few great successes, and is planning on permanently moving there within a few years, when she loses the last of her hardware/networking contracts in NYC metro area.
Interesting Concept, but, (isn't there always a but?) the guys I know who have married Philipinas the most sucessful brought her back here. This is one of the reasons they are interested in Americans. Everyone wants to come to the land of the big PX, and can you blame them because here is where it's have wound at.Some that tried to take advantage of the low COL have wound up supporting half the Phillipines, some one mentioned the LARGE families. I have lived in several countries, Germany, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia but never in the Phillipines. Every where I have been Americans are tolerated for the dollars they bring and 20K wont draw many flies. Best wishes on whatever you decide to do.
barbra ann
Reading your replies in this thread, it sounds like you've given this a lot of though and have already made the choice to jump into the deep end. Your idea sounds exciting and worth looking into even more if you are serious. If I were in your shoes, I'd first spend a few weeks in the Phillipines or whatever destination you are seeking prior to committing to a move. Good luck and have fun!
I love the people dearly.
Haven't been there. Knew many in Taipei.
As I understand it--and I have an ambassador friend there now--there's tons of corruption and other inequities in the society that's very hard to overcome.
Tons of poverty. Most of the wealth is held in a few extended families as I understand it.
And, . . . with tinfoil hat on--there's the likelihood at some point of some pretty devastating quakes.
Then there's the likelihood of China taking it over once the next great war starts.
Other than all that--I'd think it should be a great place to do what you want for a year or so. You might also consider Thailand--which I dearly love.
But the Christianity in the Philippines might be more supportive of what you are about in some sense. Hard to say.
Personally, IF God is saying go and do something, I'd go and do it. If He's not--this next 1-6 months may be a very hazardous time to make it through. I think we all need to be wherever God calls us to be.
People usually regret the things they don't do more than the things they did. You'll never know unless you do it. If it doesn't work out, it sounds like you could easily come back to the US and re-integrate into your seasonal work arrangement. At the very least, it will be an interesting experience. What do you have to lose?
Check out sites like EscapeArtist.com or InternationalLiving.com and various usenet groups. Do your homework. Take a vacation there first. I expect living there will be much different than you expect - harder, more lonely, but also rewarding. What you described is a fantasy. You need to turn it into a plan.
Stay away from Mindinao and if you see meet a guy named Janjalani run like hell.
I think it's a great deal more realistic than most fantasies, but I will admit that a lot of gaps have to be filled in.
What I'm actually planning to do is start with a vacation-like lifestyle, go everywhere and get a flavor for what the country is like, and then if all systems are go, find a more permanent location. So essentially I'm planning on vacationing there and then living there, although the gap would be zero days and there would be a transition period where my trip became less and less like a vacation and more and more like real life.
I have really tried hard to research a lot of stuff, but it looks like a plan cannot be formulated without actually going there, because most web resources look like they're pretty high-end.
Do you have any additional ideas for filling in the education gap? I've seen escapeartist, which seems a little vague, but will take a look at InternationalLiving too.
Many thanks.
D
Obviously, there is practical research to be done, but there is also mental preparation. I would read accounts written by other expats and see what they struggled with. Doesn't even have to be expats in the Phillipines. How did they integrate? What did they miss the most?
You will likely have a lot of challenges with things we take for granted here. I remember backpacking in Europe with my brother years ago. He viewed every obstacle as a hassle, rather than a challenge. He was miserable. I had traveled before and knew what to expect, and I tried to view everything as an adventure, or as a puzzle to be solved. The point is that your mindset is important.
You could go to amazon.com and search on Phillipines. There are a number of interesting titles, including the Culture Shock series that gives you the inside scoop on the people, and even one by an overweight guy in his mid-forties that moves to the Phillipines and marries an 18 year old.
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