How Much to Retire In PI

[Dr. Shiva]

With 75k US$ per annum you can even have a good life in Switzerland as long you are/stay single.

What I'm wondering if US$ 1900 per month for 2 persons will be enough to have a decent life on the philippine if renting a house? Manila is not counted. I prefer to stay in a smaller to medium sized city. The biggest city I can accept is Davao City. Sad is that there seems no posibility to get an additional income outside of Manila for an expat.

[Old55]

Many Expat members here live happily on less than $2,000 USD monthly.

No one can accurately answer because we each have different lifestyles and expectations. In general terms 100,000 peso a month would work.

Finding employment in Philippines as a non citizen is not likely.

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, Dr. Shiva said:

What I'm wondering if US$ 1900 per month for 2 persons will be enough to have a decent life on the philippine if renting a house

Depends on the second person (wife?).  Usually the one who has to budget the 1,900 a month can do so quite easily but the one who thinks she can spend without worrying about the budget tends to push you over the limit each and every month.

[AlwaysRt]

1 hour ago, Dr. Shiva said:

With 75k US$ per annum you can even have a good life in Switzerland as long you are/stay single.

What I'm wondering if US$ 1900 per month for 2 persons will be enough to have a decent life on the philippine if renting a house? Manila is not counted. I prefer to stay in a smaller to medium sized city. The biggest city I can accept is Davao City. Sad is that there seems no posibility to get an additional income outside of Manila for an expat.

Living in Dumaguete/Bacong/and now Valencia, I spent about $20,000 this year. This includes moving from Hong Kong to the Philippines in January, a trip back to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year, buying a motorcycle, Philippine Visa extensions, paying for a wedding, hotel/AirBnB/apartment/house rent, paying living expenses as a couple instead of single since March, buying home goods like TV, fans, 2 couches, mattress, refrigerator, water cooler, Christmas Tree, and a vacation trip back to Hong Kong including Disney. So an average of $1,650/mo, take out the big stuff, wedding, motorcycle and home stuff, the average drops to about $1,250/mo but still includes local travel, birthdays, food, rent, entertainment...

6 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Depends on the second person (wife?).  Usually the one who has to budget the 1,900 a month can do so quite easily but the one who thinks she can spend without worrying about the budget tends to push you over the limit each and every month.

This is why our stated Budget is p50,000/month, when the budget gets blown we are still within the real budget.

[Reboot]

It's remarkably cheap over there. I couldn't believe how far my money went. I was actually renting a nice place in Metro Manila. Eating and drinking anything I wanted. Traveling via taxi all over town. And, by the way, that's for two people, not just me. So having a nice time....and still my expenses came in lower than if I had stayed at home in US and done what I normally do.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Reboot

[Eddie1]

43 minutes ago, AlwaysRt said:

Living in Dumaguete/Bacong/and now Valencia, I spent about $20,000 this year. This includes moving from Hong Kong to the Philippines in January, a trip back to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year, buying a motorcycle, Philippine Visa extensions, paying for a wedding, hotel/AirBnB/apartment/house rent, paying living expenses as a couple instead of single since March, buying home goods like TV, fans, 2 couches, mattress, refrigerator, water cooler, Christmas Tree, and a vacation trip back to Hong Kong including Disney. So an average of $1,650/mo, take out the big stuff, wedding, motorcycle and home stuff, the average drops to about $1,250/mo but still includes local travel, birthdays, food, rent, entertainment...

This is why our stated Budget is p50,000/month, when the budget gets blown we are still within the real budget.

Steve, A great post. Very specific information. My plan is to work on a budget of about £1,000 UK per month, which equates to about 60,000 Peso (ish). This will initially include about 10,000 Peso on rent for a studio (Hermagina again, Lol) until I find a suitable house in Bacong or Valencia.  This sum will not include my health insurance, I will allocate that separately. I was looking at some of the sums of money some members have quoted and was starting to get a bit nervous about whether I was kidding myself if I could get by on 60,000 Peso. Your post is very reassuring my friend.

As Jake would say...'Triple like', Lol.

 

 

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

3 minutes ago, Eddie1 said:

whether I was kidding myself if I could get by on 60,000 Peso.

I hope you noticed the very important last sentence of Steve's post

1 hour ago, AlwaysRt said:

This is why our stated Budget is p50,000/month, when the budget gets blown we are still within the real budget.

Reading  between the lines tells me his REAL budget is almost double that figure.  I do similar math.  Must do it to keep wife in line.

[Eddie1]

1 minute ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I hope you noticed the very important last sentence of Steve's post

Reading  between the lines tells me his REAL budget is almost double that figure.  I do similar math.  Must do it to keep wife in line.

Yep, I got that one Dave. A similar situ for myself actually, my intention is if possible to commit to 2 years on that budget before loosening the reins on other funds. Like yourself, a budget for 'Y' to know about and a budget for Noime to know about, Lol.

Hope you and 'Y' are keeping well my friend.    

[AlwaysRt]

3 hours ago, Eddie1 said:

Steve, A great post. Very specific information. My plan is to work on a budget of about £1,000 UK per month, which equates to about 60,000 Peso (ish). This will initially include about 10,000 Peso on rent for a studio (Hermagina again, Lol) until I find a suitable house in Bacong or Valencia.  This sum will not include my health insurance, I will allocate that separately. I was looking at some of the sums of money some members have quoted and was starting to get a bit nervous about whether I was kidding myself if I could get by on 60,000 Peso. Your post is very reassuring my friend.

As Jake would say...'Triple like', Lol.

 

 

 

Do you have any idea when you are coming back yet? It has been a while.

[Eddie1]

1 minute ago, AlwaysRt said:

Do you have any idea when you are coming back yet? It has been a while.

It should be about June I hope, when I came back from Dumaguete in March I was limping badly, serious pain in my Right knee, by July it was so bad I had a total knee replacement and actually just returned to work yesterday, 5 months to recover. However, the Left knee has gone the same way now, serious pain, I will go back under the knife again at the end of January for another total knee replacement, hahahha, lucky me huh? NOT!

So, allowing 4 months to heal, I will then hand in my notice at work after 29 years with the same company and walk away, kinda scary but exciting also, its weird starting out again late in life, but many others on here have done it so its gotta be worth the risk...... hasn't it??  Gulp.  

And then we can share a few San Migs with the others outside Coco's or Why Not, hahahah, cant wait!