Revised Cost

[stevewool]

No doubt the celebs are the beautiful people here, beauty goes a long way, but behind that there's a lot of make up. a lot of enhancements, that you could notice if close up. Liz Hurley was pretty horrible without make up and showed her age quite prematurely, as a comparison.

 

 

Yes indeed very pretty from a distance , but close up not so,

Thats one thing about Ems she is beautiful without make up and the beauty comes from the inside too, but i bet most of us could say that about our partners

[chris49]

That's natural beauty and will hold up over time.

Gina is not so beautiful, but as a farm girl doing hard labor, she's in great shape, that's the attraction with her. Even after 2 kids, her shape has not altered much, still wears the same jeans size.

Going off topic here.

I like your plan Steve. But from experience I would say, do your travelling now. When your income drops it will not be so easy to buy 2 tickets and stay in hotels as you do now. That's been the big difference for me, it's totally out of the question now. I would have to plan to see my kids, maybe 1-2 years ahead. And stay with them as part of the deal.

[davewe]

Whenever these discussions come up, which is often, the question seems to be to compare costs in the West to PI. That's legitimate of course, but IMO misses the point. The issue really is - what sort of retirement lifestyle do we want?

 

Do you want a lifestyle the same as your current Western style, and hope that will be somewhat cheaper in PI? Do you want a simplified life, eliminating some of the big expenses you feel forced to take on in the West. Do you want a life of drinking and girls, girls, girls - that's not gonna save you anything. Do you want a lifestyle of luxury and daily golf?

 

IMO, don't wait till you retire or get to PI. Make a current and detailed budget now (not just the bills - everything) and start to determine what you can cut or modify. For me the criteria was - will I be doing/spending this in retirement? If the answer was no, I dumped it. Started off with the premium cable channels and eventually dumped the whole thing. Fancy hair cuts - dumped it - the hair was going anyway. My shrink at $135/hour - dumped. I dumped the Bimmer and replaced it with a Ford. I know us well enough to know I will have to have a vehicle in PI but it won't be a fancy one.

 

If you do this, you will be living almost the lifestyle you will live in retirement and the adjustment will be a bit less dramatic. And also when you compare costs between the West and PI, you will be comparing apples to apples.

 

This experiment also requires honesty. Don't budget for 1 six-pack a week when you in fact go through 5. Don't budget for 1 vacation every 3 years, when in fact your wife demands an annual vacation. Don't assume you will never get sick! Look at what you actually spend, not what you wished you spent.

 

Just my opinion...

Edited August 4, 2015 by davewe

[Jake]

Whenever these discussions come up, which is often, the question seems to be to compare costs in the West to PI. That's legitimate of course, but IMO misses the point. The issue really is - what sort of retirement lifestyle do we want?

 

Do you want a lifestyle the same as your current Western style, and hope that will be somewhat cheaper in PI? Do you want a simplified life, eliminating some of the big expenses you feel forced to take on in the West. Do you want a life of drinking and girls, girls, girls - that's not gonna save you anything. Do you want a lifestyle of luxury and daily golf?

 

IMO, don't wait till you retire or get to PI. Make a current and detailed budget now (not just the bills - everything) and start to determine what you can cut or modify. For me the criteria was - will I be doing/spending this in retirement? If the answer was no, I dumped it. Started off with the premium cable channels and eventually dumped the whole thing. Fancy hair cuts - dumped it - the hair was going anyway. My shrink at $135/hour - dumped. I dumped the Bimmer and replaced it with a Ford. I know us well enough to know I will have to have a vehicle in PI but it won't be a fancy one.

 

If you do this, you will be living almost the lifestyle you will live in retirement and the adjustment will be a bit less dramatic. And also when you compare costs between the West and PI, you will be comparing apples to apples.

 

This experiment also requires honesty. Don't budget for 1 six-pack a week when you in fact go through 5. Don't budget for 1 vacation every 3 years, when in fact your wife demands an annual vacation. Don't assume you will never get sick! Look at what you actually spend, not what you wished you spent.

 

Just my opinion...

Triple LIKE times two Dave!

[stevewool]

This experiment also requires honesty. Don't budget for 1 six-pack a week when you in fact go through 5. Don't budget for 1 vacation every 3 years, when in fact your wife demands an annual vacation. Don't assume you will never get sick! Look at what you actually spend, not what you wished you spent.

 

 

 

Great advice

[stevewool]

This experiment also requires honesty. Don't budget for 1 six-pack a week when you in fact go through 5. Don't budget for 1 vacation every 3 years, when in fact your wife demands an annual vacation. Don't assume you will never get sick! Look at what you actually spend, not what you wished you spent.

 

When my ex left me and before the Divorce, my life seemed done for, the mortgage and bills how the hell could i pay by myself,

I made a appointment with the bank manager and he broke everything down just like you have said,

I was amazed that i could live and pay the bills all by myself, with his help i did manage to move on and indeed pay more then i could ever i thought,

I often wonder if the ex was putting cash aside ready for her split , hay ho, life does get better

[davewe]

 

This experiment also requires honesty. Don't budget for 1 six-pack a week when you in fact go through 5. Don't budget for 1 vacation every 3 years, when in fact your wife demands an annual vacation. Don't assume you will never get sick! Look at what you actually spend, not what you wished you spent.

 

When my ex left me and before the Divorce, my life seemed done for, the mortgage and bills how the hell could i pay by myself,

I made a appointment with the bank manager and he broke everything down just like you have said,

I was amazed that i could live and pay the bills all by myself, with his help i did manage to move on and indeed pay more then i could ever i thought,

I often wonder if the ex was putting cash aside ready for her split , hay ho, life does get better

 

I had a similar experience. When I got divorced and went down to one income, I assumed me and the kids would be in deep crap. On the contrary I was amazed that the bills got paid and within a year there were  some extras. I analyzed my spending and figured out why. My ex and I did what the US government does. Instead of making the tough decision about what to spend (she might one one thing and I another) we'd do/buy both and that gets spendy. When i was on my own I only had to worry about the bills and what I wanted. Pretty soon the bank balance improved.

 

Now with my Filipina wife, I have what I always wanted before. We mutually agree and only spend what we agree to spend. Amazing how much you save when you don't have to buy crap you really don't need, just to try to make someone happy.

Edited August 4, 2015 by davewe

[stevewool]

Just talking to the wife about the cost we pay here in England and could she compare to what we may be paying over in the Phils,

I was shocked at first , ok we did not include a car and running cost but just the day to day running of the house,

We pay most of our bills here monthly so we worked out over the same period for the Phils too,

With what i thought we could live on over there, we are on course , infact its better then i had thought too,

We still have a few more years here and the wife is happy with that , as she says she is not just ready to get back to the Phils just yet,

It will not be long before we make the more as the time just goes by so quick it seems ,