Hey Scott. You are completely right about How it depends on "where" you live at in the PH. I've touched base with you in comments over the past few years of your channel. You and I are a lot similar in which I am 57. We sold everything to come to the PH. (from South Carolina). Been here 11 months. But no matter how much you plan, you will still say you did not plan enough. Please read to the very end to read how we re-figure out our budget for the better to make obstacle and hurdles turn in to stepping stones instead. Hope you don't get offended, but I did the same exact thing you are doing in calculating the monthly bills and I "still" was wrong. You wont believe me right now because you are watching these other youtubers and they are giving you unrealistic prices. I promise you. We've been here 11 months in Bacolod City. We live a frugal lifestyle here, and I manage the budget pretty well. There are 3 of us (me, my Filipina wife, and 9 year old daughter) Things you don't realize is that in addition to the regular expenses, there always these "little" expenses that will nickel and dime you. On the groceries. Remember there will "always be family and friends popping over to eat with you. For the 3 of us, it starts out about $360 US/month, but then I have to go out and pay even more to get coffee grounds at the stand to make my own coffee in the mornings, hygiene products, fresh fruits, the sari sari store extras, etc. (I can't even really give you a figure on the extra. And as I said my wife's family will pop over and stay and the extra adds up. Just like you, I trust my wife to be frugal on how she buys groceries. On the groceries. No matter what. Whatever you buy, if you try to buy cheaper groceries such as meats, the quality is cheaper. So to get better quality, more costs. Also...you will definitely get sick at some point eating Filipino foods. It's just inevitable. On the electric bill. I tried to be frugal on electricity costs. (Depending on your climate) It is HOT! almost always in Bacolod City. No matter if it is cooler in the mornings or evenings these houses hold in the heat, so unless you want to sit inside the house wallowing in your sweat, you will need to run the A/C a lot more than you think. We only use the upstairs A/C at night and I turn it on for about 1-2 hours in the afternoon if I take a nap or shower. So our bill was 10,000 pesos (or at 50 peso to US calculation ($180-200 US)) You "say" you want to be pretty comfortable. Our American neighbors at the end of our street say their LOWEST electric bill was 13,000peso ($260US or less) and they run their AC a lot. We do exactly what you do on turning on the A/C's at night. So bill is currently10,000peso ($200US) with being frugal. On the electricity, I found out the cost per KW is even higher in other provinces and cities than ours. On the housing. I know you have your own house. We decided to rent until we know for sure where we want to live. Rent is so much more expensive in Bacolod City and part of that is greed and more to that story another time. But you get what you pay for. You may find something cheaper in rent, but as soon as someone sees an American move in, if your house is not secure, someone will break in and rob you while you are gone. So far we have been okay and we live in a gated subdivision with 24hour security but there have still been houses that have been robbed here in our subdivision even with security guards. We had a hard time finding a house because we had no transportation yet and we needed to be near the International school we enrolled our daughter in, so we had to pay a higher price to be in a safer subdivision and nearer to our daughter's school. As I said, I know you have your house. I will admit that "IF" you can find a decent house in the province it will be much cheaper. but nothing less than $200US. In the bigger city like Bacolod $400+ and that is just a midgrade rental. If you go CHEAPER, you will have to deal with Mold, roaches, and no constant running water, and no security. I'm so glad we did not buy a house first when we got to Bacolod. They are very poorly built. Always some kind of repairs being needed (and that is on newer built houses) On transportation. You are right about parking is so hard. If you are a man. Get a motorcycle. Trust me. On the car. If you buy new, it will depreciate. If you go used. stay away from Facebook market place. So many scammers there. But also with legit used car dealers, they will still scam you too. If you don't get a car. Then it is motortrikes and jeepney's and taxis You are correct on the water $16 US for us in Bacolod. But we are moving to a place where they said max water bill will be 350peso ($7 US) On the schooling for your child coming from the U.S. You CANNOT put an American child in a PUBLIC school. Not good here. They will say it is the language barrier. Definitely private school. My 9 year old daughter was top in her class. HOWEVER...you will be contacted by the teacher and they say she will need tutoring. (All the teachers tutor to make extra side money since salaries are so low). So tutoring cost us $50 US/Month, but they did do a good job. And yes school cost for us was $1000 US for the year plus books and uniforms. It is more in other places. This was a Christian school, most other private schools are Catholic. Eating out is way more expensive here. Even eating pizza. I can't give you our total amount because we don't eat out that much because of the costs But it is really more expensive. ___________________________________________________________________________ Now you need to take in to account the extra costs that come out of no where. Unexpected hospital visit. My daughter just got a UTI infection. Had to stay in the hospital for 4 days ($850). So consider healthcare or put money back for emergencies. I never had to go to the doctor when I was in the U.S. But I had to make a few visits to 3 different doctors since I came here. Cost was cheap. But doctors are not that good here. Thankfully it was nothing major. (My ankle veins burst because of all the walking I did and dehydration, ended up finding a dermatologist who figured out the problem) Then there is the extra fees here and there. I know you get your international driver's license every year. But you will eventually have to go through the DMV driver's license experience here. If you have a car or motorcycle, you have fees to pay. There are even entrance fees for so many other things to do here. And then the WORST part. No matter what. Filipinos will see you as a Rich American. The beggars are here and you feel so bad for them and try to help out. The scammers will come too. They will even see Cecille (sp) as a Rich American because her last name is not Filipino and they will see her with you. It's not IF you get scammed or run in to serious problems but WHEN it will happen. Right now we are being scammed because of a car wreck my wife had that was the other person's fault. But sine they got hurt and because of police corruption, they are suing us. Thankfully we have insurance. But now my wife is being harassed and intimidated by the people and police won't do anything about it. They are helping them. And it is because we are Americans here. I've already had to dip into my savings and dish out $1000 for the man's hospital bill and it was not our fault. Now they want more. _____________________________________________________________________ The good news is that we are getting out of Bacolod City and moving to a hopefully "better area. We won't have malls nearby but we should have less crowds and more peace and tranquility. All this is not coming from me, Scott. Just like y'all, my wife lived with me for 10 years in South Carolina. Even my Filipina wife has said the Philippines is not like it used to be and more expensive, more crowded, and more scammers than before. I hope this info helps someone else out. Probably my last posting unless you really need some info on how it really is after 11 months of living here. Or questions We can't go back home because we sold everything in the U.S. So we are trying a different Philippine city/province. We move next month. If it does not work out, then Thailand will be our next permanent destination. I could go on and on. This is just my subscription channel. I even tried to do a Philippine travel log where we had planned to help out the Filipinos here in the Philippines while enjoying our retirement. It's Journey2Philippines. I did 2 videos before we left the U.S. and I just never could come up with anything positive about living here and did not want to lie to people like other you-tubers are doing. ______________________________________________________________________________ I know this all sounds negative. But it's really just a reality check. We are a Christian family. I still try to keep a positive attitude and I think there is a lot of beauty to be seen here in the Philippines and you can also use it as a base point to travel to other SE Asian countries very cheaply. People here joke that I am a "nice guy" and even say "too nice". In the area I live in Bacolod City, everyone knows me because they call me the smiling waving American. As I said, I still try to stay positive and some days here have actually been very good days. But it's not IF you run in to some kind of unforeseen trouble, but WHEN. Hope you don't delete this. It is meant for you and other's thinking that moving/retiring to the Philippines will be all roses and rainbows. I still want people to come here to retire, but I want them to know how it really is. America is getting really more expensive too. So that is why we could not afford to go back and start over. As I said, I could go on and on with experience here, but I will stop here and hope no one is offended. Thanks.
Thanks for all your insight and experience. It is much appreciated! Good luck and best wishes to you and your family. We do enjoy our time and have been going back and forth since 2016 so we are pretty familiar with the challenges in the Philippines. Mostly what I wanted to convey were just the very basic costs too expect. Thanks again for your comment.
My wife wants us to move to Philippines when I retire next year. She already has secured property in a gated subdivision in her hometown (Silay City). While I sort of agree with her about moving to PH, I'm not at all sure I want to leave Texas. Health insurance, for instance, won't pay for pre-existing conditions (previous stage 4 colon cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc) .. so I either keep my Medicare and fly to Guam or Hawaii if something major pops up or I'll be paying out of my pocket. Family/friends will see us as an ATM and they won't understand once I retire I'm depending on Social Security to live. Sure, I'll get a chunk of change when I sell my house and contents to move, but that's it. Nothing else but Social Security. Plus moving our 3 small dogs there will be a nightmare. I wish I could bring my Honda Goldwing with me, but it's just too big for Philippines. I'll end up with a scooter. Making lifestyle adjustments like this and more is why I'm wondering if staying in the US might be the better option. Ah, the joys of being married to a Filipina.
@@michaelmaness5493 Hey Michael, I read your comment and I hope you read my lengthy comment I have posted.. I may have sounded negative, but I am learning in turning negative situations into something positive. If you do pursue coming to the PH, I will be happy to give you advice. At the moment, we are not far from Silay (
I would say come here for at least 1 year and see if you really like it here. At least 1 year not 2 or 3 months. Lots of houses to rent here no problem. Then decide
Retired at 52 and living in the Philippines for 2 yrs now. We love the simple province life eating fresh vegetables and shop at the local market. What we did was sold our house in Bay Area and we bought a 2 bedroom house paid it off. It’s not a lot but we have a passive income to sustain our monthly expenses and when time to go back for healthcare we have our place to stay. Good luck on your retirement.
Good info here, we are the same, preparing for the big move in October. Lot of what you shared is what we have been doing as well. Looking forward to more videos and good luck on the move.
Hello Scott Cecile & Liam! Very necessary to budget and make financial plans since retirement puts most people on a fixed income. Having a safety net is a must! I think that I know you and Cecile pretty well from watching your videos all these years, confident the family will have a secure future. Thank you for sharing future retirement plans. Good fortune, health and happiness to everyone!
Scott, you have a good basic budget. I would add that as with any Budget it need to be flexible enough is a must to meet known and unknown challenges. Another key factor is "Do you have a Safety Net". This needs to be a continuous effort to have a Pot of Money that is readily accessible. It's not if but when it happens" one needs to be prepared to meet and overcome a Catastrophic event. Being fully retired for 6 years now I was happy that I factored in a 20% goal plus to meet expected and unexpected rise in cost of goods and services and strengthen my Storehouse. When one truly fully retires, the irrefutable truth is that at that stage of life opportunities are not easy to come by to be able to refill the coffers. So Scott you are right on point with this Video. No one has a Crystal Ball to make spot on predictions of the future, but you can prepare by being informed of all events that will and potentially could impact your lifestyle and prepare for all reasonable responses.
1500 to 2000 U.S dollar a month budget to others foriegners living in the city.That amount when you lived in the province it's more and more and saved more when finacial literacy applied.
Great video my friend's great advice I love this one my mode of transportation is using the public transportation am not planning on driving here I do enjoy S&R here in Cagayan de Oro the price for membership shopping is pretty good thanks again for sharing this one is a very big help to your subscribers have an awesome day Sa Dios
nice summary of expenses to consider. everyone should make sure they get good medical insurance and include in their budget as well as a few thousand dollars in an emergency fund.
I appreciate your video and details. I just wish I could find the same detail and info from a perspective of a single guy, US citizen moving just to live better on what I have. Live quietly in the fine climate and near the beautiful beaches. I don't drink, don't party and not looking for a wife or girlfriend. I have trouble finding that perspective. Obviously most are looking for love and ending up supporting more than just themselves.
@@Marker44 enjoy your stay and don't be rush on dating or looking for partner don't get so overwhelm from watching to other expat vloggers because not everyone has the same feeling in deciding moving to the Philippines I think its better to have access both ways in your country and the Philippines because you never know what gonna happen. Living in both country have pros and cons.
Hello enjoyed the budget video as I am tweeking our budget here in Mariveles. However you didn’t mention a tv cable bill. Do you have cable or satelite? Currently not happy with converge looking at cignal satelitte. Do you have any experience or ideas about this? Thanks and hopefully we can meet up sometime.
I'm usually at our house while my wife is with her family helping to take care of her father. We only have an aircon in our bedroom and I only use it at night when I'm sleeping. Sometimes I have friends visit me when I'm not doing anything at home and I let my wife know when I'm having friends visit and if I'm going any where. With me being by myself my costs aren't very much and I don't usually eat much. I'll go out to eat with friends but that's only a few times a month. When my wife is at the house they usually stop along the way to get something or depending when they get there we might go out to eat depending on how long they plan to stay. The thing that I enjoy is that I always lose weight when I'm in the Philippines because I'm not eating junk like I do here in the States. Another good thing is that we don't have to pay any rent because we own the house. I think that the heat in April last year just killed any appetite that I had but I did drink plenty of water. We're planning to go back in December and spend Christmas there this year.
Wow, if I was 20 years younger move right now. Cost of living out of control here in USA. Thanks for information. Best of luck an will continue watching ur videos. God Bless you an family.
Agree with all your comments but health. Those with "savings" do not consider relapse or ongoing issues. You will more than likely wipeout your savings in one major event (heart, serious accident, etc). How long do you think you would take to buildup those savings again???????? I bet a lot longer than you may have if it is an ongoing problem, which WILL HAPPEN as you get older.
Right on Scott I'm still in Angeles city it's not perfect but what is ? the USA getting harder to live IN , confidence in the dollar? Digital currency? Not good any way I see it . Not a pessimistic person but a realist. $5000 minimun income is real good in the Philippines.
Hey Scott Home Depot has the blink camera on sale for Father’s Day 2 pack 99 dollars or 5 pack for 199 I didn’t know if you bought some more yet. I got the 5 pack never tried them.
I got a 4bdrm 2bath beach house in samar 166 month but i also live 6 months in seattle, i am scared to make the move fully its been 10 yrs going back but its hard
Totally agree and we did that 2 yrs ago. We have property management take care of the property and after 2 yrs here in the Philippines I wanted to go back because always missing my son and he’s getting married next year.
Marker 44 the one big thing i defiantly disagree with you completely is not buy anything like land or even condos before moving to the philippines this is the fastest and best way some one will get ripe off most of the time. wait until you are there in the philippines even if you do nto get rip off by the time you are in the philippines you may find out that your next door neighbor playing loud music every night when you are trying to sleep at night all night long and they may not stop until morning the next day. or they may have roosters the crow all the time with dogs barking all the time. things like this you will never know about until you are there in the philippines maby they jsut open a car garage there are no real restrictions on what you can or can not build on your land like there are in western countrys. so ya wait until you are in the philippines to buy property. even if the property is everything you thougth it would be after a time living there you may find a nother property thats even better or more to your liking that you had wish you bought other then the one you did bought before moving there. so ya there is lot more reasons why you should wiat until you are there in the philippines then to buy it before you get there. if you like what you should do is to find a place in a area you like to live in for rent for one month so this will gie you time to find a place you truly want to live then to have regrets on what you did buy. i think i had made my point by now why he is wrong that you should not buy before moving to philippines. sorry for the long read.
Glad you commented this. I said the same thing. At this moment I have 3 extended family members who just popped over to stay the night and eating lunch now. I don't mind though. It's the way of life here.
@Marker44 I was on a live and expats were telling me $3k is too little for me and my girlfriend in cebu Saying I won't be able to eat out, western foods and do anything for fun like traveling in the Philippines.
@@ntech1507 Not true, for instance; look into the cost to fly from Manila to Siargao, 2700 pesos. Then get a room for $30-$50 for the weekend. Visit a new Island every couple of months. 2k will be plenty if you guys don't go crazy each night.
Last time I was there was in Feb-March for 3 weeks. For 2 of us staying in a high rise condo for the first few days in makati and then traveling from Manila to Cebu and then driving all over Cebu staying in airbnb’s and Filipino resorts I spent a total of $1500 for the entire vacation(excluding airfare and driving a borrowed car). That’s food, lodging, fuel and entertainment. I could have spent a lot more if I wanted a fancy western style vacation but I did anything that I wanted to do and had an amazing adventure. So to live there for $2k a month I think is extremely doable.
I love the Philippines!! I only came one time and that was this past February. I recorded almost all of my trip and now I am releasing them through my RU-vid channel. Maybe you can take a look and give me some advice if you want. Thanks
Hi Danny. Really enjoyed your tour of Intramuros. I can see that you had a great time in Manila. I am also very interested in the history of the Philippines. Advice? Keep doing what you're doing, make videos in your own way, and just keep going as long as you're enjoying it. Best of luck!
@@Marker44 yeah, but did you subscribe? Kinda like when you are at the top of the hill in the wintertime and you need a push to get started. I just need a little push.
how much money you need to live on it all depands on the life style you want to live in the philippines some people that movied and is living in the philippins with less then $1,000.00 usd a month and that justt fine for them but maby not so much for your life style. just becouse you may have a higher life style never say no one can live in the philippines from $500usd to $1200 usd for i can prove you wrong every time. like i have said it all comes down to the life style you want to live is how much money you need to live in the philippines and what you will be doing there too. some people fo there and go out to bars every day and spends lot of money there at the bars and bars girls thats there life style they want to live for me i hardly drink my self so i would not be speeding that much money on every day this would be just one of meany reason why i could live on lot less money every month. but for you may need lot more money for your lie style and i am not saying ones life style is better then some one else life style there jsut different life style is all no ones life style is right or wrong.
Sounds like you agree with what I said in the video. I have never said you can't live in the Philippines with an income of $500-$1200 per month. Many people in the Philippines are doing just that.
I pay about ₱33k property tax for my 2 BR house in the town of Abucay. About 6 km from Scott's Balanga City residence. I was informed and bracing for upcoming assessment and possible tax increase next year.
Your line item costs are fairly accurate. However you won’t know what your average monthly spend is for at least 6-12months. Having a fixed income and living a comfortable life are 2 different things. Someone on a fixed income has to make some sacrifices to make that that work until their next payday. Living a comfortable life is how much you need to spend each month for that to happen. You probably won’t know what living a comfortable life means to you here and what it will will cost you and your family until you work out what that feels like living in Phil’s full time. A small example: are you prepared to not eat beef,compromise and eat local beef, or buy expensive imported beef because it’s better quality and you enjoy a good steak. Another tip mate, the sooner you start thinking in peso instead of dollars , you will get a real feel for how much your costs are. Sooner or later, dollars will just mean how much you need to remit each month, to meet your peso living expenses for that comfortable life.
