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Budgeting for Retirement
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How much do you need to retire in the Philippines?
applestackman
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How much do you need to retire in the Philippines?
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How much you need to retire here depends on several factors Where you want to live? Are you looking in the city or in a province? or even halfway between the two?What type of accommodation are you expecting? A big 4 bed house on the beach? A small apartment or condo? Or traditional house?Are you expecting to bring your western life with you? Because if you are it’s going to cost money for western food and nice white goods etc…Getting around…. Are you looking to take local transport? Buy a scooter? Or even buy a car?How many people are you supporting? Are you single? Do you have a gf? Planing on children? etc….Are you going to live here or be a tourist and be out doing tours and sightseeing all the time?What are you health circumstances? Do you have insurance? If not.. then again it’s going to cost you as medicine is expensive and so are visits to the doctorsAre you going to be eating out every night and enjoying the many restaurants here or cooking at home?That’s a very difficult question to answer without knowing more about your needs and lifestyle.. And what your expecting from being here Living the simple life you can live here very cheap and for less than $1000 a month, there are plenty of expats here doing just that… Myself included in that….. But like i said it’s a tough question to answer without knowing you first, otherwise every answer you get either from me, locals here or other expats is going to be totally different as everyone lives their life different to each other with their owns wants and needs The prices for rent vary across the whole country, depending on how touristy the place is, the kind of jobs that are local and the size of the accommodation For example my shopping bill per week when living in Makati was 2 times more than living in Cebu, and that’s buying the same foods and other groceries from the same food store brand *Updated* I would check 2 things out Would be olx.com for houses and apartments for rent, this will give you an idea of areas you can live and how much you can expect to pay for the rentI would check out Loading…. as a good estimated source of what things cost in The Philippines and specific islands hereOn average The Philippines is 52% cheaper to live than the USA For a 2 bedroom townhouse in Cebu your going to be paying around 10,000PHP per month and a 4 bedroom house close to the beach will cost you around 25,000 – 30,000PHP per month Your food bill, for 2 persons should be around 10,000 per month (groceries) Internet will depend on the service you chose, but lets look at skycable right now, that’s going to cost around 1500PHP per month Water, Electricity etc…. are not really anything to worry about as it’s really really cheap unless your having your air con running 24/7… but you won’t after a few weeks when you have got used to the heat here Getting around using tricycle or jeepney is just a few $$, it’s not going to cost you a fortune to get around, on the other hand using taxis will cost you 4–5 times more What i would say is,, rent an apartment or condo using Airbnb for a while, use your time to take a look around the area your thinking of living,, do whatever you would do if your living here, like your grocery shopping, go out for dinner, see some sights and then you will get an idea of whether you like it here, how much things cost… Your costs will reduce once you find somewhere more permanent other than the Airbnb rental, so straight away your going to cut your accommodation costs by 1/3 by doing that I would also check out some youtube videos of expats living here, watch them all and you will see how each person has a different view and of course different budgets If you would like to know any specifics or have other questions, your welcome to reply to this thread and hopefully i can help you
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The real answer is what sort of life you want to have and where. If you are Muslim, based on the name of the person that A2A me, then I suggest somewhere in Mindanao. I say that not because you wouldn’t be welcome anywhere, but because there are more Muslims and more Halal foods available in Mindanao at better prices. As I live in Davao City, and have a farm out in the provinces with my wife I will speak only to these areas. To make a good start in Davao or anywhere else you are going to need a permanent fixed income of 40,000 PHP ($825 at current exchange rates) minimum monthly. That is more than double the average local household income, but the average household doesn’t live as well as you will probably want to. The further you move away from Davao the more expensive it becomes to live as a foreigner at the same comfort level. You aren’t going to be able to get a job, but if you can bring $20,000 to $40,000 and leave it in BNP for a year permanent residency is obtainable for most people and will cut down on the fees you need pay for visas etc. If you don’t have that sort of money expect to pay between $350 and $500 a year in fees to the immigration office and every three years leave the country for a single calendar day. Leaving isn’t a big deal, or wasn’t before COVID. The last time I had to make a visa run as it is called I flew round trip to Kota Kinabalu (round trip plus throwaway ticket was $165). I spent a nice three days there which was longer than I needed to stay since I could have come home right after midnight. I spent $750 having a good time in Kota Kinablu. So what can you get for P40,000 in Davao Save P3000 a month for government fees every monthRent in a fairly nice unfurnished house in an outlying barangay P5000 to P10,000 a month.Rent in a fairly nice furnished house, apartment, condo: P25,000 to P50000 depending on how nice and where. Not really in the budget for a P40k person.Make sure you pay the actual electric and water and you see the bill. P250 for house water P1500 if you just run fans P5000 if you run aircon a lot.Fiber Internet P2000, Cable with HBO P1000,Taxi to nearby mall for grocery and shopping P200 or less from most placesTaxi from most places to downtown where immigration is P300 or lessTricycle: P20 to P50; Jeepney: P8 to P25Your food will depend on you. My wife and I spend about $350 a month which is several trips to the night market for BBQ a week and at least 1 trip to a nice restaurant and snacks while out shopping. I mostly eat like a local so we keep our at home food costs down. My biggest single expense which my wife thinks of as a luxury is ground coffee rather than instant. I think $4.25 a pound for locally roasted coffee from beans grown in the Philippines available at the grocery store is a bargain.If you are unsure where you want to live in the city, come with $5000 you can use to put yourself up in a hotel/airbnb or furnished apartment for a month or so and still have cash left over to furnish a house if you go the unfurnished route. Condos in Davao depreciate in value almost always so I suggest not buying them, also condo fees are often almost as much or more than rent.