F.I.R.E (financial independence retire early)

[boyee]

HI Tim, thanks for the reply and help.  My mom is a Texan.  I happen to live in the most expensive city in the Country.  My coworker was looking for a starter house and every weekend was out bid by at least 20 people.  Nothing stays on the market past the first open house weekend.  He finally found a fixer upper for just over one million.  Yes wages are higher here but what a rat race.  Hence our reason for frugal living.  I love my country but consumerism and lifestyle inflation makes me want to vomit.  Get me outta here!  Anyway I have no idea how far 2k to 3k a month can go in pi.  

[BrettGC]

10 minutes ago, boyee said:

HI Tim, thanks for the reply and help.  My mom is a Texan.  I happen to live in the most expensive city in the Country.  My coworker was looking for a starter house and every weekend was out bid by at least 20 people.  Nothing stays on the market past the first open house weekend.  He finally found a fixer upper for just over one million.  Yes wages are higher here but what a rat race.  Hence our reason for frugal living.  I love my country but consumerism and lifestyle inflation makes me want to vomit.  Get me outta here!  Anyway I have no idea how far 2k to 3k a month can go in pi.  

It's not 100% but it will give you good "ball park" figures. It's accuracy is entirely up to us so feel free to input some data yourself too  

Just add the city you're in and then add a city you're considering.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=Philippines&city1=San+Francisco%2C+CA&city2=Dumaguete

[boyee]

Wow, those numbers for SF are pretty accurate.  The comparison city Dumaguete.  Is that a typical city in terms of costs?

[BrettGC]

11 minutes ago, boyee said:

Wow, those numbers for SF are pretty accurate.  The comparison city Dumaguete.  Is that a typical city in terms of costs?

Yep, outside of the big 3:  Manila, Cebu and to a lesser extent Davao.  

The further away you get from these places the more costs tend to go down but on the flipside so do services.

Simple rule of thumb I follow in PI:  The higher the population, the higher the upper end income and therefore higher costs.  Just a general rule of thumb, not hard and fast. 

[Jack Peterson]

 Boots on the Ground is by far the best way, 

[BrettGC]

1 minute ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Boots on the Ground is by far the best way, 

Around the 9th of the month perhaps...

[OnMyWay]

10 minutes ago, BrettGC said:

Yep, outside of the big 3:  Manila, Cebu and to a lesser extent Davao.  

The further away you get from these places the more costs tend to go down but on the flipside so do services.

Simple rule of thumb I follow in PI:  The higher the population, the higher the upper end income and therefore higher costs.  Just a general rule of thumb, not hard and fast. 

I have used those types of tools before and they are a handy starting point, but some items can be way off.  I'm not sure if it was this one or another, but I believe they collect the data from users and sometimes the data can be quite old or incorrect.  Even though it says updated Nov., 17, that does not mean every item is updated.  Maybe only 1.

Those Dumaguete prices for food sound way to good to me but perhaps some Duma residents can comment.  If you can find a good head of lettuce for p20, please send me some and I will pay the shipping!

Sometime it is "apples and oranges" comparison too.  Comparing the local beef here to U.S. beef is an example.  If you buy U.S. frozen beef here, it will be much higher than the U.S., and not widely available.

 

[Jack Peterson]

2 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

  If you can find a good head of lettuce for p20,

 Would be nice to Find a Head of lettuce just at this time

[OnMyWay]

6 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Would be nice to Find a Head of lettuce just at this time

Yes, the only time we get a good one is in Baguio.  Here is Subic, they are usually terrible and can cost up to p500!  So, I don't eat lettuce except at a good resto.

[BrettGC]

41 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

I have used those types of tools before and they are a handy starting point, but some items can be way off.  I'm not sure if it was this one or another, but I believe they collect the data from users and sometimes the data can be quite old or incorrect.  Even though it says updated Nov., 17, that does not mean every item is updated.  Maybe only 1.

Those Dumaguete prices for food sound way to good to me but perhaps some Duma residents can comment.  If you can find a good head of lettuce for p20, please send me some and I will pay the shipping!

Sometime it is "apples and oranges" comparison too.  Comparing the local beef here to U.S. beef is an example.  If you buy U.S. frozen beef here, it will be much higher than the U.S., and not widely available.

 

That's why I said "ball park" and they're only as accurate as the data we input.