Earning a Living in the Philippines

[Papa Carl]

Hi everyone,

I have not been on this forum for some time and by chance was browsing through today and suddenly realized I have not updated things for some time. For those of you who remember I am one of those expats that needs to work while living here. About 5 years ago I was teaching in a local English language school here in Angeles and then moved to teaching from home online through a platform called Verbling. I am still teaching on this platform and currently teach about 35 sessions per week, which earns me about 450 to 500 USD per week. This is enough for me and I earn enough to pay my rent on a two bedroom house with garden and covered driveway for both cars. We have a smallish garden where Siobhan (9 year old girl) and Saimus (15 month old boy) can play, along with the dog and cats. My rent is 4,000 pesos a month, electric is about 2,500 pesos a month, (with one A/C in our bedroom). I have garden LCD lights that surround the house and come on when it gets dark. I have a covered back area attached to the house with a wet kitchen, and a large work and storage area. There is an 8 foot brick wall around the house with gated entrance for the car. Internet is 1,500 pesos a month, water is from our own well. Food costs are about 4,500 pesos per week, and my daughter goes to a private English teaching school. Her tuition is about 40K pesos per year and the transport about 4K pesos per month for 10 months, school uniform, books etc are another 20K per year. Life is good, we live about 3 miles outside of the city of Angeles towards Porac, so have easy access to everything if required. Generally life is good, unable to save much, but can work more each week if I want to save money for anything. Hope this helps for those of you in the same position, wondering if you can live here on what you earn. I have no other income, however at 64 years of age will hopefully also receive pensions from Canada and the UK towards the end of next year.

[Dave Hounddriver]

Good to hear from you Carl.  Long time no see.  Glad to hear things are going well.  The Canada pensions you mentioned have residency requirements now (one of the reasons I moved back).  It may help you to move back here before you turn 65 then apply for the OAS and GIS and then "vacation" in the Philippines for half the year.  Its a pain in the neck but it works.

[Old55]

Thanks for the update Carl. Pleased life is doing you well, we've missed you.

[bob1965]

14 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Good to hear from you Carl.  Long time no see.  Glad to hear things are going well.  The Canada pensions you mentioned have residency requirements now (one of the reasons I moved back).  It may help you to move back here before you turn 65 then apply for the OAS and GIS and then "vacation" in the Philippines for half the year.  Its a pain in the neck but it works.

Are you sure cpp has residency requirements? Oas does, but I’m under the impression you pay into cpp so they have to pay it back. 

[Arizona Kid]

17 hours ago, Papa Carl said:

Hi everyone,

I have not been on this forum for some time and by chance was browsing through today and suddenly realized I have not updated things for some time. For those of you who remember I am one of those expats that needs to work while living here. About 5 years ago I was teaching in a local English language school here in Angeles and then moved to teaching from home online through a platform called Verbling. I am still teaching on this platform and currently teach about 35 sessions per week, which earns me about 450 to 500 USD per week. This is enough for me and I earn enough to pay my rent on a two bedroom house with garden and covered driveway for both cars. We have a smallish garden where Siobhan (9 year old girl) and Saimus (15 month old boy) can play, along with the dog and cats. My rent is 4,000 pesos a month, electric is about 2,500 pesos a month, (with one A/C in our bedroom). I have garden LCD lights that surround the house and come on when it gets dark. I have a covered back area attached to the house with a wet kitchen, and a large work and storage area. There is an 8 foot brick wall around the house with gated entrance for the car. Internet is 1,500 pesos a month, water is from our own well. Food costs are about 4,500 pesos per week, and my daughter goes to a private English teaching school. Her tuition is about 40K pesos per year and the transport about 4K pesos per month for 10 months, school uniform, books etc are another 20K per year. Life is good, we live about 3 miles outside of the city of Angeles towards Porac, so have easy access to everything if required. Generally life is good, unable to save much, but can work more each week if I want to save money for anything. Hope this helps for those of you in the same position, wondering if you can live here on what you earn. I have no other income, however at 64 years of age will hopefully also receive pensions from Canada and the UK towards the end of next year.

When the pensions kick in at the end of the year. Can I and my family move in with you? I'll pay for the beer.

[hk blues]

5 minutes ago, Arizona Kid said:

When the pensions kick in at the end of the year. Can I and my family move in with you? I'll pay for the beer.

it's a trick question - don't fall for it! 

[Arizona Kid]

19 minutes ago, hk blues said:

it's a trick question - don't fall for it! 

You outed me.

[Papa Carl]

17 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Good to hear from you Carl.  Long time no see.  Glad to hear things are going well.  The Canada pensions you mentioned have residency requirements now (one of the reasons I moved back).  It may help you to move back here before you turn 65 then apply for the OAS and GIS and then "vacation" in the Philippines for half the year.  Its a pain in the neck but it works.

I was afraid of that, but I think have decided to just take less and stay here, the costs of having a place in both countries and flying back and forth, and the school years have different start and end times in the Philippines than they do in Canada, so working out coming and going would be a nightmare. Canada, the UK and the Philippines of agreements between them to combine SSS payments (CIP, OAS) I worked 9 years in Canada, 15 years in the UK and 10 years here in the Philippines.

[Papa Carl]

3 hours ago, bob1965 said:

Are you sure cpp has residency requirements? Oas does, but I’m under the impression you pay into cpp so they have to pay it back. 

So far I am told I can apply for CPP but not OAS unless I live in Canada for 2 years before applying and must reside in Canada for more than 6 months of the year. However who really knows for sure. I know I do not know for sure yet.

[Papa Carl]

15 hours ago, Old55 said:

Thanks for the update Carl. Pleased life is doing you well, we've missed you.

Thanks, I will make the effort to try and keep in touch here.