The reasons I left the US 6+ years ago: Failing Political system. Failing Justice system . Failing Education system. Cost of living. Entitled people. The tax system. The corruption. The hypocrisy. The bad weather. Juvenile delinquents. Angry people. The women. Real estate and insurance agents. It isn't all puppy dog tails and rainbows here but it is better. Far, far better. The sad part is that it didn't have to be this way. A country that had such potential that has gone down the wrong road.
I don’t live in America. I’m not American. I live in a western democracy who has been and will continue to be a long time staunch ally in the Asia Pacific region and trading partner. We are freinds we are educated and usually see the world on simmilar terms. Everything you have said about your once loved country is absolutel fact from what I can see at a distance. We often watch international and independent news ( Not Fox ) . When we see US news I say to whoever I’m with. “ Look at that . Our long time ally falling apart at the seams going backwards headed nowhere and it will get worse. Exploiting smashing and crushing their own people into early graves day after day. “ America is looking more like the countries they have invaded as every year goes by. The next generation of Americans may not even see the democracy that their post war grandparents enjoyed and prospered in . There is no light on the horizon.
Perspective is interesting from someone not embedded in the same media streams (silos). Not much to disagree with in any of the previous 3 comments though I have a hunch we might differ a fair amount on degree, details and source causes. One thing that’s easy to miss are some of the deep currents we are embedded in, churning things up, globally. What’s puzzling about this conversation is it often seems to downplay or ignore the context we’ve transplanted to, as if we live here but remain strangely disassociated from it. I love the Philippines, even the imperfections of it that sometimes drive my developed world sensibilities a bit batty - the 3rd world aspects both charm and frustrate me. I’m already mourning the beauty in the 3rd world chaos, and know that me transplanting myself in the middle of it only speeds it’s process. The McDonalds cashier who has been doing her job for years and never gets an order straight. Welcome to the Philippines! Take the above list of complaints and correlate each category with the Philippines. As disappointed as I am in where the US is right now, I could write a dissertation on the counterpart imperfections of the Philippines but why dwell on it? For example, just a few weeks ago a professional Filipina warned me that politics is best not spoken about if I valued my life in the Philippines, and the emphasis was more on my life than a forced trip out. Another. I plan to purchase property in the Philippines but if the horror stories of expats and real estate aren’t enough to give pause to your average American, I don’t know what would. Entitlement? The wealth and income gap in the Philippines is an entitlement story if I’ve ever seen one. Democracy? I’m a huge fan but also see the imperfections, especially in the two party version we consider sacred in the US, and the need for a serious re-evaluation and overhaul. It’s going to get challenged everywhere before the next version of it gets hashed out. The Philippines has some stuff to work on the democracy front. Where my professional friend made her recommendation that I not go there… There’s ugliness everywhere if you want to look and dwell on it. The Philippines and the US has both.
@@jamesohara325 sure there's corruption here, sure there's crime here and a lot more poverty. But society hasn't gone down the drain like western countries. You aren't going to get thrown in jail for opening your church, disagreeing with the depraved homo/trans ideology or being taxed to death. I listen to my wife's son's online class today. The teacher was leading them into proper conduct and attitude. To respect their country, respect their flag, respect their culture and most importantly love God. If a teacher taught that in the US, they'd be fired. My modest home here has all of the conveniences I had in the US. More actually because I was a long haul trucker living on the truck and shot at once. (treated like crap in the US). I'm not stressed, frustrated, I have enough funds to enjoy life and to share my blessings with my wife and her family. In America, it was all about me. It is unliveable there with the sky rocketing inflation and overwhelming taxation. Don't even get me started about the difference between western women and Filipinas. NO CONTEST.
For myself the plan to the Philippines started 20 years ago. My first marriage in the US wasn't what I hoped for. I choose in 2003 to seek a filipina. So I did, the first one didn't work out. But no loss. It lead to my current wife of 16 years. Ever since my 1st trip here in 2003 I knew this was where I wanted to retire. So for me been a long planned goal. Now the way the US has gone, it certainly was a good plan and move. No regrets at all coming here. I have many new and good friends here. The transition was made easier by your videos Steve.
Since it's 99 % men that move to Philippines, it's not about economics or politics or pollution. It's about loneliness. The fact that a man can have the woman he's always wanted. Friendly neighbors and happiness from the people around him. Most of us baby boomers grew up with this, and watched it disappear as we get older.
I spent 6 years in the military and 30 years in law enforcement, retirement can’t come soon enough. Time to get the hell out of this circus! Lol 3 more months can’t come soon enough. Thanks Steve for the continued information
I was stationed at NAVSTA Subic Bay RP for a few years in the 80's. Lived out in town (Olongapo City). Yeah, I spent too much time on Magsaysay but I interacted with Filipinos on a personal level as well and loved the culture and lifestyle. 30 years later, thinking about retirement, I subscribed and watched Henry, Ned, Pops65Z, etc and took a visit in 2017 to see if the Phils could be a consideration. As soon as I stepped off the plane I felt 21 again. Built a small host of friends. 6 years seemed like a long time but it flew by, and now it's my turn July 2023. Looking forward to it!
Too bad the squeakiest wheels in our society don't possess the emotional maturity required to accept our differences in opinion. Agree to disagree without fear of reprisal. Not anymore, anyway 😕
my reasons for wanting out of my world in the US are many. Let’s start, with the way I feel about this country as a Veteran, and not seeing the Country I grew up in and fought for. The political culture has become so demoralizing, that I can not imagine it getting any better, and I don’t want to die living the way I have to live in this world. To have to see how people are completely blind to the truth, and can’t see how the parenting has gone away for many kids, because of the lack of education and parents both having to work multiple jobs and hours, that they don’t have time for your family, or you are out on the street. To being.a Senior, and being forgotten, and not even noticed in life. To the Feminist who have ruined having a relationship with a woman, because they value looks, and how big your wallet is, from the car you have, to the home you have, etc. And women believing they are a 10, when they are actually a 5-6. I can at least feel better about life, in the Philippines, as I can live more affordable, even though I won’t have all the western comforts of home, or the convenience of many things I have here. I am tired of the winter weather in the northeast where I live, and the cost of living has me where it would be difficult to move to another state with the high costs of living in the US. I don’t drink alcohol, except on special occasions, and may have one or two drinks the most. There are many things I will have to overcome and adapt too, but nothing that I see that I can. Maybe it isn’t the best thing in the world, but it seems to be in many ways, an upgrade to what I am looking to spend the rest of my life.
You are absolutely right. As a veteran who served honorably the usa has become a country that i don't recognize or want to live in anymore. I love America and bleed red white and blue but what it has become is not for me anymore and the woman thing is like night and day when you compare Filipinas
Our corporate owners in America have us hating each other through politics. I can honestly say my desire to leave the US is primarily the cost of living and desire to experience other cultures. I plan on doing some traveling, some non-profit work/help for charities abroad, and just enjoy not answering to an employer.
Hey Steve, did you hear about the 6 year old first grader that shot his teacher in Virginia? It was NOT an accident...ONLY in America! I've been travelling to the Philippines every year since 1982 over 40 years now since stationed in SUBIC BAY NAVAL BASE...I've always loved the Filipino hospitality & warm friendly smiles & i enjoy exploring the beauty of the white sand beaches, island hopping CEBU BORACAY BOHOL PALAWAN LEYTE ILOILO ...I am in the process of getting my SRRV VISA & wll make the move to CEBU for retirement this year with my 40 year Government pension & social security..
My filipina wife and I left the US on Thanksgiving day in 2020 when travelling was highly discouraged.I remember LAX was like a ghost town. I was newly retired in January of 2020 while my wife kept working for a while. I kind of saw the writing on the wall. The US is headed in a very bad direction and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I knew if we didn't leave then it would be a long time before we could make the move so we made the leap. There was a lot of drama involved with getting all the proper documents and 9A visa etc but we made it happen just in time. Anyways I live in the province with my wife and her extended family so I have a built in support system which certainly made the move easier. It's much cheaper here which was a big factor in us moving also. We're about 30 minutes from the city which is good also. It's been 2 years now and just recently got my permanent 13A visa and I have no regrets. One thing that makes me smile is when I drop my wife off in town while she goes shopping to get fresh fruits and vegetables etc I go to the town plaza/park to wait for her. There's always lots of activity with little kids riding their bikes or playing, jr high and hs kids playing basketball groups of kids dancing doing tik toks, and adults just hanging out talking. I get out and walk a few laps around the perimeter and get a chance to talk with some of them. Anyways i like watching your blogs and wish i had seen them before we left. I could have done a few things differently. But we did ok. I appreciate your efforts.
Im from the uk 🇬🇧. I will be moving to the Philippines 🇵🇭 soon . The main reason for me is because my close family has passed away and im just left with my sister and nephew who are very independent. I will be moving to bacalod with my girlfriend. I definitely agree about the treatment of employees in the workplace , it has got much worse in the last few years in a lot of places .
I hate long, drawn out posts on CZcams. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make one. I don't blame you a bit if you don't want to read the whole thing but you asked for our thoughts so here are mine. I think a better way to approach this topic is to ask people if they're really sure they're leaving home for the right reasons. I haven't lived in the Philippines yet but I have lived in nine countries, love to travel and have known many, many expats. I break it down into three categories; emotional, financial and adventurous. For the emotional side, it makes sense to me to want to live in another country if it's out of love for that other country. Perhaps it's the love of a different environment or a different culture. It could be that someone you love is in this other country or it could be simply the people or the scenery. But if your emotional reason is just that you don't like the politics at home or that you have problems with your family, I think you could be making a mistake. I often tell people that for my entire life, the end of the world has always been right around the corner. What I mean by that is that no one has ever been happy with politics but I have known very, very few people whose individual, everyday life has actually been affected by any of it. If you want to ignore politics you can do it just as easily from your own living room at home as you can on the other side of the planet. Those politics still exist and it's your choice how much you want it let it bother you. The same goes for family. I'm estranged from a few people in my family........... ok, most people in my family but moving to another country isn't going to change that. I simply moved to Texas. I don't have to pick up the phone if I don't want to and I don't have to keep in contact with them if I don't want to. If I don't like someone, I simply look them in the eye and tell them. End of story. Toxic family is no different than toxic friends and you handle them the same way. Just like politics, moving to the other side of the world isn't going to change a damn thing. Financial incentives are a pretty good reason to move to another country as long as you're living the way you want to live and have a plan and a secure future. Who doesn't want their dollar to go further? After working for half of your life, I think most people deserve to enjoy their retirement but I do hear some expat stories that just don't make sense to me. Some people hit unfortunate times. Some people have made financial mistakes. But whatever the case, you still have to think about your financial situation for the rest of your life. If you're making $500 a month in Social Security I'm not sure that moving to a cheaper country is your best bet. One always has to consider that economies can change all over the world, not just at home. What are you going to do if the country you moved to hits massive inflation or the currency of your home country plummets due to some unforeseen disaster? I'm not saying that moving to that cheaper country is a totally bad idea because everyone has his own story but I think in a lot of cases, these guys would be better off staying at home, working a little longer and setting themselves up with a more realistic income. But again, everyone has his story. The Adventurous category is where I seem to find myself the most when I travel. I encourage people to spend extended periods of time in other countries and among the people of other cultures. Get out and see as much as you can of what this world has to offer but don't waste your best years doing it. These days I come across a lot of young Travelers who are having a great time and trying to enjoy life as much as they can while they're young enough to do it but have absolutely no plan for the future. I met a 47-year-old in Mexico a couple years ago and he hadn't been home in 15 years. I never really did understand what he did for a living and maybe he didn't want me to know. What I did understand though, was that he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen to him when he hit 65 and broke a hip. He was so busy having fun that he hadn't built anything into Social Security, had no Investments and no pension. Not a great plan for life. I'm not saying that anyone has to wait until they're old and gray before they travel but the future is coming faster than you think and the future is a cold hard bitch who doesn't care about your feelings at all. Have a realistic plan that covers contingencies. I'll close this with three thoughts, for whatever my thoughts are worth. First, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's easy to get bitter about the things that are happening in your home country but never forget that the only reason your ex-pat lives are as good as they are is because you were born in a country that made that possible for you. I've never seen a Somalian or a Yemenese retire in luxury in a foreign country. Second, don't try to run away from yourself. Your problems and your shortcomings are the closest travel companions you will ever have. They might not join you on that flight to a foreign country but trust me, they're following close and will catch up with you at the worst possible time. Third, life in any country requires balance. You can't completely avoid risk or unfortunate circumstances but make sure you're covering all your bases and making the right choices for the future the present and the unforeseen. Good luck. I'll see you on the road.
Hi Steve. I'm Swedish but lived in Oslo in Norway last 20 years. When I started working in my hospital in Oslo over 12 years ago I really liked it there then. After a new administration and their policy's in 2017 everything changed for the worse. Before I new almost all nurses but after 2017 so many left and new young ones started working there instead but they will leave after a while when they get some work experience. Last year I had enough and quit my work last of May and have been in Philippines almost 7 months now. I live now in Taguig city in Manila and live in only Philippino community and love it, no tourists here. I'm 58 now and can get pension when I'm 62 so I have to wait s few years. I manage fine anyway waiting until 62. I'm not surprised to hear from Americans that they are really not satisfied with their workplace either.
I'm an expat in Colombia. I had previously spent my entire life in Wisconsin. I had always hated winter with a passion. Prefer green and growing year around. Second was the cost of living. I'm obviously much further off living here. I could list a number of other reasons but those are the most important to me.
Why would you live in a place where you hated the winter? That makes no sense to me. There are many places you could have moved to with milder winters than Wisconsin.
I partly agree with your viewpoints about the US. There are many problems here, but still there are many things that are good also, no country is perfect. Why people move around is based on what they are looking for, love, cost of living, the weather, or just to do something different. The people who can afford to make the move are the fortunate ones. There are many who can't.
I’m in my early twenties and have been planning to emigrate since 2020. Before I holiday’d through Europe for a couple weeks I never thought about how there is a life outside of the US. Silly I know, but I grew up treating every other country and continent as it was some fantasyland. Or like the moon. It’s there it exists, I know it. But getting there is a pipe dream. The world was here. My world was the US. After a heartbreak I dived into my work picking up ungodly amounts of OT. Suddenly that land far away was not as inaccessible as I had believed. After traveling as a tourist it really hit me. Other cultures, languages, societies, ways of life. I used to think I was destined to stay in the US and was doomed to live in their society and way of life. I never considered that the rest of the planet doesn’t follow. The rest of the world leads. My reasons for leaving are as follows: -crippling Health Care (both for visits, ambulance, and medicine) -crippling Public Safety -overrated Work Culture. -Political Harassment to the very basic alliances (just saying you’re for one party or another invokes rage and anger) -Loss of Freedoms such as health and speech (TikTok bill and overturning of Roe v Wade) -Finance bias towards 1% and government obliviousness towards the people -Little to no agreement on Climate Care and the investment in ecological of the planet to ensure future generations will not suffer -Crippling Political stability -Mass Shootings becoming so common place that the news barely covers them -Lobbyists that prevent any meaningful legislation that could prevent the previous issue -Astronomical inflation on housing, university, and at this rate, everything else. No country is perfect and I’m certain there is no place on earth that will solve each and every one of these. The biggest problem to me however is that, while these issues (and more) are rampant in the US, I feel as if we are just at the beginning of a very dark and long path. I see no hope in it getting any better here
I also worked with people that were very difficult , politically speaking. My family believed differently than I and made my life difficult. I yearned to leave the USA , for the country left me…..I didn’t leave the country. I’ve lived in the Philippines for 2 years now. Also, my daughter and I have had problems.Im very happy here in Gensan city.
Hi Steve. Why did I move to the Philippines. First of all it was relatively easy for me to become a Philippine resident with my Filipina wife than it was to get her to the USA. We just wanted to be together for the rest of our lives. The second reason was that it's significantly lesss expensive for us to live in the Philippines, and my pension, SS, and 403B savings go much further here. Sure, I could think of other reasons, but none would be sufficient for me to leave the USA. I love my country, but I love my wife more and I am less stressed financially here in Davao..
I’m hoping to move to Dumaguete as my girlfriend lives there. My siblings disowned me because our father left me and only me his Estate as I’m the only one who cared for him in his final years. My siblings hated our father but I guess they didn’t hate his money because they hired a lawyer to get their hands on the money and the house. Well the only way for them to win is to prove their was fraud on my part so they mostly my sister made up a pack of lies and the Judge saw through these lies and I had the truth on my side. So I’m moving to the Philippines to live out my life in peace.
I left California for the Philippines because i'm retired and can't afford the rent in california i was stationed in olongapo subic bay in the 1970s USN in the philippines and fell in love with the people and culture way back then and finally live here now been here a few years now and learned how to adapt my life style here just like Steve.. there a happy loving people here and i have no stress and the price is right
The lower cost of living is a huge plus. But people must remember the Philippines is not the US. You will make sacrifices...some small and some big. If you're not willing to adjust and ride the initial challenges then don't move here.
I left for all of the same reasons that are mentioned here. I was fortunate to spend a year in Texas before moving here in September '22. Got to restore a lot of family relationships. The main reason is the political, society, taxes, cost of living/housing, unaffordable healthcare, loss of freedoms ect. This is my fifth trip since 2014. I knew back then that I would end up here. Like you, I was a news/political junkie. I'm stepping back now because all it does with me is cause anger and negativity. I came here to get away from that... Here I don't feel like the carpet is going to eventually get yanked out from under me like I do in the US.
I divorced after 20 years. Met met my 2nd wife(lived together) for 23 years then she lost battle with cancer. After a couple of years I friended a Filipina on Facebook. I worked security in hospital where hundreds of Filipinos were employed. After over 3 years of communications, I came over to meet in person. She is my forever wife. I came from Ca. Enough said about that.
After looking after my wife for 16 years sadly she died could not face another relationship in England again but always been attracted to Asian woman my partner is47 I’m 66 I love her very much took her to visit my kids at Xmas they loved her so after much anxiety this is my home now
Adventure, new experiences and challenges to reinvigorate, low cost of living, higher batting average with women, more traditional women. Happy people!
You covered the basics very well the wants related to experiencing different adventures would be high on the list vs. feeling stifled or restricted in the US as a result of economics and the hindrance associated with that part of retirement for many.
I married a Filipina back in 2010. She came and worked with me on my organic farm in Montana, USA. We retired to the Philippines in 2021 to our dream home on the mountainside overlooking the ocean. My wife's family are wonderful people and accepted me more than my own family. I would have stayed in the Philippines forever if I could have. But I had chronic problems with heart disease and parasites. I spent some time in the hospital and I was kicked around from doctor to doctor and clinic to clinic and none of them would resolve to work with me on my health problems. I lost over 50 lbs and was sick all the time. My cardiac care was good enough. I had a well-trained young Filipina woman of Chinese ancestry that worked with me and she could service and adjust my brand of pacemaker. But the infectious disease doctors were overworked with Covid patients and didn't seem to be able to figure out how to handle the combination of parasites I had. Most parasite infections are handled with a short course of medication from 1 to 7 days. But mine was more complicated that and seemed to be resistant to medication. The first year I was in the Phlippines we spent about $20,000 USD for living expenses....and we lived will and did a lot of traveling and fun stuff. But my medical bills were greater than my living expenses and I wasn't getting well completely. When the air travel opened up after Covid I was well enough to travel and I came home to the USA to get medical care.
Fortunately, I was the boss and answered to few people. The downside…my Fortune 500 company was going super woke. Spent close to 20 years living and working overseas. Time to retire and find my peace overseas. I’ve achieved financial independence so life will be good.
I really didn't have a plan to move here, but a fellow I knew convinced me I'd probably be better off. That was 11 years ago, in 2011, and I have been back to the US once since then for a little over a year. In that year I found the US had not changed but was getting worse. I am a service-connected disability veteran, Vietnam Era - I served in Europe, which was fortunate when I saw what was happening to those fellows and ladies in Vietnam. That helps with some of my medical. I guess I should mention that I was here in 1976, when martial (or, according to MTG Marshall) law was in effect. Marcos was President and things seemed to be ok for the most part. I found Filipinos at that time to be extremely friendly, even the security guards, who would open doors and greet people, and the military men (there were many around Manila at that time) were also friendly. That was probably one of the reasons I came back, too. Filipinos are very friendly and hospitable people; unlike what I encountered during my year return to the US. I am a 13(a) Visa holder (means I am married to a Filipina). At the time I came here in 2011, I didn't know about the SRRV, and it was never told to me that such existed. I learned about SRRV after I had been married for 3 years. Another reason I came here was the situation in the US, after losing more than $50,000 when the stock market crashed in 2003 and then again in 2008. I had invested in the 401(k) plans where I was working. The manager suggested certain investments which he said were safe. There is nothing in the stock market which is safe! I learned that the hard way. I was surprised when I did start collecting SS in 2010 - it was over $2,000. But I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area and knew that wouldn't take me very far. I didn't live near family members and didn't feel comfortable being around them due to their politics in conflict with mine, and their religions in conflict with mine. So, I thought it would not do me any good to try to live around them - in Arizona. I didn't want to live in that RV or little house either, so I chose the Philippines, as I mentioned being encouraged by a Filipino to come here. I think that covers it well. I can go on and on. If I have bored anyone, my apologies.
I left the USA because there is no such a thing as a woman there anymore. The women in the Philippines are like women where back in the 60s in the US. Not a list of preferred pronouns. I love my retirement here with a beautiful, loving, caring, respectful woman. I live the expression " remember the good old days "
Bob from Ayer. I couldn’t agree more. I’ll be on the 22nd.An hour south east of Manila It will really good to have a new and better life with my Filipina
In the Philippines, the bahala na attitude is what I find frustrating. They inheritied 'Viva yo!" from the Spaniards. There is no representation for residents as well.
Hey Steve. I'm still in the US but I follow several of the expat vloggers from the Philippines. I'm retired and married now to a Filipina for 33 yrs. I lived in the Philippines for 2 yrs in late 80s to 90. For me, the issues involved with considering a move to the Philippines are: making sure my wife is taken care of if I'm not around; family issues (negative in US, positive in Philippines); excitement in life navigating Philippines. Enjoy your videos...always thought provoking. Take care.
Why am I going to move to the Philippines 1. The people are friendly, not in a super rush. 2. The sky is so blue, the landscape is very green, and it is not scorching hot (Like Arizona) 3. I truly like the native food 4. Two added bonuses, I can afford to live there, and I like to snorkel
Personally, I have a number of friends and acquaintances I made while living between Japan and Kores, with several trips to the Philippines, for work. I do plan on setting up a small homestead here in the US, but also to turn that over to my younger brother to live at and manage. I just wanted an affordable place to base out of, and I enjoyed my times in the Philippines. It's actually improved pretty well since those days. So, now it's just finish getting things squared away here in the US, set up a small homestead to fall back to, if things don't work out, and let my young brother take over while I'm Philippines bound later this year. Just need to take that first year or so to find that one place I want to base out of, and enjoy my retirement travels.
Wife and i are actually stalling in the US right now. Because of some of the reasons you mentioned about government instability and arguments. And yes, We bought an RV in 2022. RV Life is fun and mobile. But wife and i are anxious to return to PI. But most important in this conversation is we hope you and your daughter work out your difficulties. It would be great to see a VLOG of you and daughter together.
im considering retiring in PI not to escape political or family tensions but because of all the other benifits you talk about here Steve: low cost of living, weather, feminine, kind women, natural beauty and beaches. In my private sector job in IN treatment is good, politics mostly conservative. Only an MA lib coworker has tried to bring up PC contention but it did not affect us. Nationally it is disturbing tho. but not my main reason to leave. single, kids grown, 62.
I am moving from Tampa to PH in March and like many others I am leaving for a variety of reasons. I have a great relationship with my family but I started looking at the state of this country a couple years ago as well as the cost of living and I finally made a decision to begin looking at my options. I see no future for the US any longer due to the politics, the moral decay , the stress and the overall destruction of the American family. I do realize that no country is going to offer everything that we desire but I cant deal with the corruption any longer. I finally decided to make PH for home , and it has been such a blessing to have Steve and many other vloggers to give me so much insight into the upcoming transition .
Steve what a great video -- I live in NJ now and these liberal states have gone to hell and this will not change. that is why I want to come to the Philippines .
I left because I couldn't afford to live in USA inflation is very high only living in a fix income I almost be homeless prior moving to Philippines now I am stress free I am more happy now no worries about anything
For me survival is the main reason, I'm 56 now and leaving has been my plan for last 5 years or so. I just like to live decently someplace where what little I have goes a longer way. I see staying put here in the USA on my retire budget I will struggle greatly as well as staying put in the same town and dying here is something I like to change, I like to see something new and experience different things. Everything else not interested in don't care about politics, my needs are simple, my work is okay but do feel under appreciated and gone as far as I can with it. As I get older I seem to care less on what other people think. I like to surround myself with people who are happier and respectful something I find very little of here.
Why am I kicking around the idea of retiring to the Phils..... The political situation The change in the culture The economy Estrangement from the community The crime rate
#1 Just to see happy people and smiles. The rat race never stops. The cost of living. Having someone to be happy with and grow old together. To Feel the Heartbeat of the Philippines and relax. The gov. here just needs a big facelift.
When my first wonderful bride passed away at a young age, I expended a Herculean effort to settle the estate. After a time alone, I began to ask myself, do you want to continue shoveling deep snow on the path out to the plow truck, warm up the engine to plow the driveway, and only then run errands. I looked at the effort (I enjoyed forestry management) to selectively cut enough junk trees to heat my home through a cold New England winter. My grown children did not want any part of what their Mom and I had created, preferring our city home to life on the farm. For the privilege to continue to live a life we had loved, I faced high property taxes relative to the value of the hobby farm. To add the proverbial insult to injury, I watched my beloved small town get invaded by escapees who wanted country life but wanted everything they ran away from at government expense. It was not long before that "give me stuff" crowd was voting as a group at town meetings each year to run up the budget Did I really want to face the prospect of turning into a senior citizen, alone in the New England woods with exponentially increasing tax rates? I made a decision to test drive the Philippines for possible early retirement. I touched down on 1 December 2012 and never looked back. Sure, there have been a few pitfalls along the way. After all, is said and done, I only left the Philippines for some short vacation/visa runs until my marriage to one of the very best and smartest girls in the Philippines. With a 13A visa, I can stay as long as I wish, traveling only when we choose to do so. We have built a wonderful family together with the three great kids she brought to our marriage and one new addition who is now a little over three years old. Beautiful Bride is an academic writer with over two decades of experience and counting. Based on some of the work in her portfolio, we tested a few business plans with small amounts of capital and she has built income streams that are solid and that surpass more than anything you could expect from US Social IN-Security, or working regular jobs such as hourly employees. I believe the American dream is still alive but many first-time entrepreneurs are finding it more and more difficult to gain access to capital. Barriers to small businesses are increasing in the US, in my opinion. Make no mistake, The Philippines is not a tax haven for the rich. Actually, income taxes here are high when you earn significant money. The tradeoff is how much less BS (Rember that I owned a farm, I really do know what BS smells like!) and barriers you face starting a business here in the Philippines. Smaller capital requirements, and generally less government regulation if you run a clean operation. If you only desire a small extra pocket money business, in the Philippines, you could start that with the equivalent of one (or less) Social IN-Security check. Live within your means for a few years, compound your profits back into the business and you can grow that micro-business for additional income in your later years. Others before me have commented on their reasons to bug out. Many of those comments others have offered, I am in agreement with.
Hey Steve, I’m a recent arrival from the US. I am still exploring as where I want to live. But I left the US for many reasons. #1 I couldn’t afford to live the live I was used to. Prices are skyrocketing and I see no end in sight despite whatever the government says as pay attention to macroeconomics. #2 the political system has certainly turned. Khrushchev was right….” You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright; but, we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find you already have Communism.” Year and years ago after the collapse of the USSR I listened to a live interview with an ex-KGB agent who’s job it was to plant communists in the American teachers unions, low and behold, their plan worked. To bad the American people and government don’t learn for recent history as to happens to all communistic societies… the peoples freedom wane and the standard of living suffers. Anyway many of my realities are now truly socialist ( although they are happy to take YOUR money to do, whatever, not theirs, and they are wealthy.. Many of my friends have become anti-right or anti conservative, so I feel I have very little in common with them any more. I am TRYING to divorce my mind set from happenings in America because America is spinning into the drain as a soon to be another failed empire on the world stage. And the sad part is, it doesn’t have to be….. Between politics and economics it’s all looking pretty bad….#3 The places I used to go in Colorado ( of all places ) have become unsafe, so my personal safety feels at risk. #4 the legal system is broken and the police are afraid to do their jobs to serve and protect without repercussions…….. Anyway next few weeks I am going from Panay to Cebu to buy a new scooter…..screw the west…
Older men and women are invisible in the USA and there is much lonliness. The low rent helps, but you can live on 2k a month in the USA but it may not be where you want to live. I am not leaving the USA, the USA left me,
Workplace harassment was a daily affair at the university environment where I worked. I worked for a public radio station owned by a university in the southern United States. Good pay and benefits but the supervisors were a nightmare. I worked there 12 years and gained state retirement plus a small annuity in addition to my Social Security. I am drawing more than 2800 dollars a month and now live in Thailand. Unfortunately, Thailand only wants the very wealthiest expats, who will never come here. The xenophobia here is off the map. The Philippines does not seem to hate Americans or British. Plus the standard of spoken English is quite high.
Excellent discussion! Politics, romance and finances just about cover it, and all apply to me. Great advice, especially about trading one set of problems for another! Love the US, but love my wife's family and a lower cost of living, too. As for politics, whether you're "woke" or MAGA, you can no longer voice your opinion in the US like we used to be able to do so without repercussions, and a return to decency isn't on the horizon. My retirement cannot come soon enough, lol. I hope also to always remember that I'll be a guest in the Philippines and show the appropriate respect despite whatever issues brought me there. Just leave that behind and enjoy the remainder of my days. Life is short.
It is a shame when you see the direction that the US is going. The country is going down morally, socially ,and economically. I believe that the nation is being shaken by God .
I met my Filipina companion through professional connections 8 years ago, it developed from professional into something else as we got to know each other. We have a nice swath of common interests, we like each other, have an interesting personal and cultural chemistry as many from the US have with Filipinos. Never put much thought into and expat retirement until I came to the Philippines and fell in love with my companion, the people, the country itself, and learned to appreciate the many things you have highlighted in your discussions. Your info is truly helpful in preparing myself / other people for an expat experience here, thank you! I will be retiring in the Philippines, married to my Filipina companion by the end of 2023, and living in the same general area as you (south of Manila) sometime 2024. Thus, my companion is the primary reason (now her family as well), the people and country, the adventure of it all, the challenge of learning a new language and culture appeals to me. One thing I can relate to but have been wary about, thus continue do a lot of personal inventory on, is the temptation to believe that moving away from the US is going to be a net offload all the things that bug me about life… that have frustrated me about life in the US: family tension, economic and cultural trends. As Steve mentioned, there are definite trade-offs that are easy to overlook until you’ve been in the Philippines for awhile. Leaving the US because you don’t like the politics I think is a mistake, as things do tend to go in cycles, do they not? It can look pretty ugly in the US right now but many of the trends of ugliness related to cultural and economic change are reverberating through the global sphere, and aren’t things we can do much about. Philippines doesn’t exist in a vacuum and politics in the Philippines can be as much or more disturbing if you allow yourself to get caught up in it (not recommended for an expat). Philippines in 5 to 10 years could be quite different. Personally, and I’ve said this before, I think the US cable channels have cultivated a lot (not all) of the intense frustration folks are irked with right now. Much simpler, perhaps even cheaper, to wean oneself from the outrage (toxicity) the ratings slaved media companies are churning out than to move to Philippines to get away from it. Not a good reason to move here, my opinion. Psssst. Running from issues just isn’t a good way of exorcising demons dogging a person’s rear, so my therapist continues to remind me. I think a more healthy way to frame this question Steve is: what inspires you to come to the Philippines? Your vlog approach is constructively positive, which I appreciate very much. The answers likely to be elicited from the headline question are likely to be interesting to a degree, to understand other expats, great stuff for a therapist to work with, to help get to the heart of what’s truly tormenting folks; I’m not sure the question points the focus to the many positive healthy reasons people are drawn to the Philippines, things one needs to focus on to make a good life here. The other stuff can be put to a healthy rest, with a little professional help, if it’s truly a big issue. Better to get that out of the way before you get to the Philippines so one can focus on creating a healthy happy existence here.
… one follow-up. Yes, a gold rush of new vloggers residing in the Philippines vying for a piece of the attention pie. The kiss of death is when everyone and their brother-in-law heads for the hills to set up shop. Have an eye for demand and industry trajectory, got something people want to see, real content? The CZcams algorithm and income evolves weekly, monthly. How many folks peddling content already covered a zillion times over? Geeez! Not flashy but Steve hit a solid vein of worthy content, relatively early, there are a few others, some are just good entertainment, but done well. There’s a lot of stuff I wouldn’t personally give a 10 second look at, let alone hold my attention to, over and over again. One genre of vlog that rubs me the wrong way are those who’s market is men on the prowl for hot Filipina babes. If that’s your thing, good luck guys! Go down that route travel at your own risk, always keep an eye on your wallet, don’t complain about the quality of Filipina you find. Karma has a blast… The demand is there, yes, integrated into a business model, a little more subtlety, grace, dimension and, most of all, respect for Filipinas, Filipinos, Philippine culture integrated into the mix is not a bad launch point for success and longevity.
A fresh start after Divorce which created Financial issues, Cancer and I was unable to work. I couldn’t live like I wanted to in the US on $3k a month. I had met a Filipina online who turned out to be a scammer immediately after arrival. Honestly I wasn’t surprised. This has been a great move for me personally. Three years in and I’m married to a wonderful, beautiful Filipina. I’m now very happy.
It’s all about reliving your past as a younger man that makes living in the Philippines a target for retirement. I would think that most men had failed marriages and a low retirement income that drove them to the Philippines. It wasn’t the pollution, traffic, corruption that forced their decision to live abroad. We all live where we can afford to live, that’s my opinion. In America we all hate the political environment right now, but don’t use it as an excuse to leave your home country unless you have not planned properly for your retirement. Why have so many Filipino’s made it their desire to live abroad if their homeland was so perfect?
Expat on Mindinao.... Savings goes further. My company is great and let's me work from here. So I am making American dollars living in the Phillipines. The political environment was not something I wanted to expose my wife to. To much racism. My job as a good husband is to provide and protect my family. I can do it better here in the 🇵🇭. I lived in a tiny house to get away from the stupidity.
I had a mostly great 30 engineering career. My last year was not so good and I chose to retire but in general I have no career complaints. I was married, the house was paid off, I have a generous pension and I had plenty to do for the first 5 retirement years. I came to Thailand to visit a friend and everything changed. I loved it here and kept coming back. I came to view my life in the US as being in a bubble and a rut. I realized that there are better more interesting places to be in the world. And of course there was a girl . . . she was the tipping point. I got divorced, moved to Thailand in 2017, and married my Thai wife in 2019. We just completed a house in the countryside after 6 years in Bangkok. I left the US because I wanted a change at this time in my life. I wasn't looking for change but I found it serendipitously. It wasn't because of a bad workplace, bad marriage, politics (though Trump had just been elected). It wasn't because Thailand has a lower cost of living. I just like it here better than there.
Want a place where people smile and are happy with living even if poor. A place where it never gets cold. A place where someone might be genuinely happy to see me. A place where the little I have left will go further. Many reasons my friend. Politics be damned.
there are so many reasons i cant list them All why i am leaving the states,i need to leave all the stress behind and hope to meet a traditional women .i seem to be invisible here so i want try my luck in the Philippines
I left the USA to the Philippines because of cost of living in the USA has skyrocketed. To rent a room from a house owner now in America it's about $600. If you decide to rent one bedroom apartment the least amount is $1600. I saw myself working 16 hours every day. If I don't do overtime I found it difficult to meet up with my bills. I was lonely in America no girlfriend. But now in the Philippines I have a young wife and I built a house in Bohol, Panglao very cheap
I'm in southeast Wisconsin, and a nice 1br is 800. You can still find a 1br for 650, but It will be 50+ years old, rundown looking, and not an area I would want to park a newer car in.
I work for a UK company overseas. The new guys are being paid a lot more than the established guys who have been here a long time which isn't right. I had a month in the Philippines on vacation recently and realised how much my modest pension would last every month. I've met a beautiful Filipino girl and I'm out of here soon. Another couple of months to build a parachute fund and I'm off.
I left number 1 reason to be with my filipina ldr 10+ years. Number 2 was i retired from federal government service because I had enough of the people who were hired as supervisor or chiefs based on gender and ethnicity. Number 3 being on fixed income and inflation was just barely getting by. Number 4 was the politics and the direction of the usa. As a veteran who served the country I couldn't stand the way news was reported and how people were treated. Its hard to put them in order but it was a combination of all of them. Mostly I wanted to be with my girlfriend. So far so good.
Reason #1 living on 2,500 a month is more enjoyable in the Philippines. Reason #2 after age 60 I felt like I was invisible to women under 60. Life is good in the Philippines
I tried the PH, and romance was one motivation. Cost isn't much of a problem for me and that budget seems quite reasonable. But, I got tired of being viewed as nothing more than a walking ATM. Looks both ways (actual romantic love) was important to me. Buying intimacy was a turn off. I couldn't find a compromise I could accept. I am okay with pay for service (obviously all it is) but I could only find bars or brides (nothing in between). Every lady I met was after financial commitment.
There are multiple reasons but, the main reason is financial! Almost everyone moving from the US can not afford to live a decent retirement life in the states these days. It is a tough call to move 8000-10,000 miles from your family and friends. A tough call for many! And, there are many differences in culture and living essentially under the control of a dictatorial government!
I'm leaving because of the cost of living and the politics. I just don't like where the country is going politically. This is not the America I used to know and love 🤔
America has divided. Cost of living. Work was abusive. I didn’t buy into the buy all new stuff all the time. I’ve seen and lived in America long enough. Want to see and experience new things…. While I live a peaceful quiet life.
Steve, I think the main reason I look toward the Philippines as a retirement destination; is to put it simply I want to find a place that has a slow pace without all the stress we encounter in the US. I'm old, I'm tired and I just want people to let me live my own life my way.
Many from US are running from something, maybe loneliness, or the law or child support. I have noticed others who go to Philippines their family or kids don't really care for them or visit them, so they pack it up and give Philippines a shot.
I moved here because I because I could not afford to retire in the US. By the way, there are those who still believe in slavery in South Carolina. I know, I worked for them!
I like that you have the sixties type of freedom in the Philippines, not a million stupid laws to protect me. Example like riding in the back of a pickup truck
Same in Canada. I am widowed. I met a younger Filipina and my adult children estranged me for this. My money is great. I am alone with health issues easily fixed with a good woman by my side. I will be happy and once again healthy in the Phil.
1 February will be 16 years ago that my feet hit the ground here in the Philippines at 51. I'm retired military and I had absolutely no problem with or living in the USA. I moved here, and it didn't have to be here, for only one reason. To stop working, which I couldn't afford to do in the USA, mission accomplished.
I don't want to leave the West because these are the countries where my transgender Filipina girlfriend and I can legally marry. Her college forces her to cut her hair just because she was assigned male at birth, which makes me question the quality of a Filipino education given that here students might come from cultures where men grow long hair. Before the Spanish took control of the Philippines women like her could have high status in society, often as priestess and healers, and could marry men. There is still a good place in Filipino culture for trans women, but after centuries of bloodshed at Spanish rule the culture has changed and she is not as free as she could be in America. Here in America we have been working hard to create a safe inclusive environment where anyone can live and work, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, so forth. You don't have to run away, it's just that we are changing. I can welcome any who respect and accept my girlfriend and I. I think it's a particular subculture in America that isn't used to sharing the country with other cultures, spending time out of the house, meeting up with the culture that forces my girlfriend to cut her hair.
Excellent vlog Steve, as a veteran of two conflicts, nobody is going to force me to leave the country I defended, others in my community are like minded. Three months here and three months in the Philippines twice a year work for me, I like the American west in summer and the holidays with adult kids and grand daughter. But if a person felt targeted, I would not blame them if they found a good country to deposit money, sell their house without a sign, garage sale everything and give away the rest, sell your car and get a rental, leave at midnight unannounced for a one way ticket to start over in a country you had researched thoroughly.
I think most retired think about something more in life than being around the same stress and life they've had all their lives. Living every day doing the same thing over and over is so lame. I commend the ones who had the courage to pick up and leave for an adventure to seek a different way of life. Doesn't matter why because we all have our reasons, some more than others. Whatever makes you happy for the time you have left on this world, that's what you should do. This life isn't anyone's except yours, so don't ever feel guilty. Enjoy your days, happy, and keep smiling
They say Veterans should have at least a Medicare Advantage plan if they are happy with their VA care here in the states. Those with VA can literally keep only VA and not pay into Medicare premiums. Rely totally on the VA for all medical needs though this is not recommended. Hence a Medicare Advantage plan at 65 to accompany VA healthcare. So you're in a good situation. You can always at least have VA for life should you decide to come back stateside unlike others that must decide whether to return to sign up for social security to avoid late penalties especially when premiums in Philippines begin to increase as you age. When you have VA, you can afford to stay pass 65 and not be in the states to sign up for medicare. But be aware that should you return to the states at over 65 and you've gone 3,4,5 years over the Medicare open enrollment period, you will be tagged 10% more for each year you didn't sign up. Having VA option gives you that option to chose to stay in Philippines and know you're covered when you get back to the states without paying premiums, in patient out patient copays, no enrollment fees no crazy enrollment sign up periods, minimul drug copays and capped. So I say get cozy with VA learn to navigate it well.
If you're not leaving for yourself and to have a better life, then don't bother . America and the lifestyle is like an addiction as we are used to the convenience of having whatever we want right now . Making your recon missions and actually seeing if you can adapt is extremely essential as relocating is something to not take lightly. For most expats, the main reason should be financial and then for the weather and such . A woman or for anyone else should be last on the list, and being able to relocate until you find a suitable place for you is essential. We all have different levels of needs and wants, which can be found if you take the time and enjoy the process. Does being with a native make things easier? It depends on the native and their mentality. Finding someone who is willing to relocate from their family or province is not easy, and most will tell you what you want to hear. Most will try to stear you back to where they are comfortable, but always remember that this is your retirement and your needs come first . If you're not happy, you will not stay .
You speak of the school system in USA, I have one for you. In our school area, not to many states from were you were. You tell your child NO you are reported to Cps. Guaranteed a visit from them. It might be just me, but their might be a issue. Just my opinion. Great video!
I tried the PH and didn't like it. It seems most move location or job in the hopes of a better life. Look at the maraming Pinay looking to go abroad (to almost anywhere other than the PH). I'm still searching for something better, just not finding it. I avoid religion, family and all other traditional gender roles. I found even more of that in the PH.
People who leave their home country don’t to it because the are happy. The question is why are they not happy. Most blame their unhappiness on other because they don’t take responsibility for their own happiness. The United States has be constantly changing since it inception. The Philippines has also changed. I know Filipinos who were raised in the Philippines state that times were better under Marcos. I personally think most people have a great or at lease a good life who are from the US. I think the ones who decide to live in other countries are in the minority. I also think a majority of them were not that successful in their careers. Finding a place that’s less expensive is one way to improve their abilities to afford things. Sort of like living at the holiday inn or motel six. It’s a choice. Both provide beds for the night. We pick what we can afford.
Totally agree. Been in PH many times due to a poor decision in my past. In retrospect, I would not trust a long term relationship there as it's money based, especially visa petitions. For those with acceptable lifestyles in the West, only the romance is missing usually due to age or low attractiveness. But, all I found in the PH was fake romance that was so obvious it turned me off. I don't mind paying for services as I'm not a hot stud. But, the sugar relationships don't seem to work as noted by several blogs (went back in the USA).
2 reasons I'm leaving. ONE: I want to live my BEST life in retirement, low cost of living, tropical environment, English speaking, easy resident Visa is attractive to me. TWO: I don't want to do it alone. It's easy for me to date in the USA but the quality of women and their priorities don't match mine.
The average Joe continues to be silenced in the workplace and in the US as a whole and if you say anything you're made to be the unreasonable person. Many corporations are more interested in public perception to gain support than rewarding or promoting the people that have furthered their education, show loyalty, and are actually good at their job. Today's world is more about diversity and perception, streamlining workplace functions and practices, and utilizing a one size fits all software program. As you age your value in terms of input is diminished making you feel replaceable at any given moment. You can feel the lack of substance in the workplace, the results of forced social compliance outside of risk adversity further reducing or removing individual thought to the point of many adopting the "quiet quitting" mantra. Many of these same issues creep into your life outside of the workplace so planning an affordable retirement and getting out of the rat race goes beyond your working years.
I left because. I don't want to continue working two jobs, stress, and peace, I met a sweet and beautiful woman also I can live comfortably in the Philippines. I am tired of politics also I am starting over at sixty-two in Iloilo.
I work in Federal Law Enforcement. At 50 years old I'll be able to retire on $4,000 a month. If I retire in California where I currently live I would barely have enough to cover rent and food. I could keep working, but why? I hate that every year the law shifts toward helping the criminals, who in turn go commit even more of the same crimes. I'm done, as soon as I'm able I'm going to move to Cebu probably. I just want to enjoy the last years of my life since I'll probably die young like everyone in LE.
My plan is to live both in the US and Philippines. That way I get the best of both worlds. My retirement income will be much higher than most delays so this plan is what works best for me. I don't recommend it for everyone.
I live in the People's Republic of Kalifornia, Head Custodian at a K-8 School... I have observed WITH Promotions & COLAs a Steady Slip in my Standard of Living in the last five years. At age 60, except for a few 2nd Cousins I'm alone in the area. My Son is 8 hours away, my Brothers and there families are 11 hours away. I was the one to stay behind and take care of my Elderly Parents. They are gone now, all that is holding me here is Maxing my Pension & Social Security until I don't want to work anymore. TODAY, my Pension is worth $34k... at 62 with Social Security it's $58k.. at 65 it's $72k. My Retirement Plan A was to move to SE Washington or NW Nevada to be near family & Essential Services. Plan B, the Midwest to save a little money & still have the Services I want... Expat to Asia [Philippines preferred] was my Plan C... Now promoted to Plan A. CASH Healthcare Expenses in the Philippines are significantly LESS than my Premiums, Deductibles & Copays would have been with Medicare/Medigap/Prescription/Vision/Dental Insurance coverage in the US... Cost of Living is 72% less in the Philippines than California. I can put up with a lot of inconvenience to save 72%
Had to laugh when you talked about the nomads (van dwellers) I spent a few years living in the back of a box truck.. Even that is difficult in some ways.. in more and more places, it is illegal to sleep in a vehicle.. even if it is an RV.. not many areas left in the US today where you really can be free to live without interference.. that, and the divisions being propagated by the politics on both sides are my primary reasons for wanting to get the hell out of the US.. will be hitting Cebu for the first time end of this month, so we shall see if I would feel more comfortable there.
Also been there done that but the question at that time was why did I seek employment abroad at that time years ago? And the answer for me was tired of the commercialization such as Walmarts and stupid malls and just stupid conus crud, and being in a rut, tired of being another brick in the wall. I also think a lot had to do with personal economics. I didn't make sheeyat.
US is collapsing - I can clearly see that even without living there. It is at the stage beyond saving. Its going to follow same path as Lebanon. Asian alliances will become more dominant in a world in upcoming years. I would say that EU will follow US, I can already see that. We live in a time of a massive shift.
I didn't leave America, America left me.
agree, going to be a snow bird soon
Same with the insert church
I disagree big time for some of us
Wow I feel the same way
💯
The reasons I left the US 6+ years ago:
Failing Political system.
Failing Justice system .
Failing Education system.
Cost of living.
Entitled people.
The tax system.
The corruption.
The hypocrisy.
The bad weather.
Juvenile delinquents.
Angry people.
The women.
Real estate and insurance agents.
It isn't all puppy dog tails and rainbows here but it is better. Far, far better.
The sad part is that it didn't have to be this way. A country that had such potential that has gone down the wrong road.
None of these things happen in the Philippines?
I don’t live in America. I’m not American. I live in a western democracy who has been and will continue to be a long time staunch ally in the Asia Pacific region and trading partner. We are freinds we are educated and usually see the world on simmilar terms. Everything you have said about your once loved country is absolutel fact from what I can see at a distance. We often watch international and independent news ( Not Fox ) . When we see US news I say to whoever I’m with. “ Look at that . Our long time ally falling apart at the seams going backwards headed nowhere and it will get worse. Exploiting smashing and crushing their own people into early graves day after day. “ America is looking more like the countries they have invaded as every year goes by. The next generation of Americans may not even see the democracy that their post war grandparents enjoyed and prospered in . There is no light on the horizon.
Perspective is interesting from someone not embedded in the same media streams (silos). Not much to disagree with in any of the previous 3 comments though I have a hunch we might differ a fair amount on degree, details and source causes. One thing that’s easy to miss are some of the deep currents we are embedded in, churning things up, globally. What’s puzzling about this conversation is it often seems to downplay or ignore the context we’ve transplanted to, as if we live here but remain strangely disassociated from it. I love the Philippines, even the imperfections of it that sometimes drive my developed world sensibilities a bit batty - the 3rd world aspects both charm and frustrate me. I’m already mourning the beauty in the 3rd world chaos, and know that me transplanting myself in the middle of it only speeds it’s process. The McDonalds cashier who has been doing her job for years and never gets an order straight. Welcome to the Philippines! Take the above list of complaints and correlate each category with the Philippines. As disappointed as I am in where the US is right now, I could write a dissertation on the counterpart imperfections of the Philippines but why dwell on it? For example, just a few weeks ago a professional Filipina warned me that politics is best not spoken about if I valued my life in the Philippines, and the emphasis was more on my life than a forced trip out. Another. I plan to purchase property in the Philippines but if the horror stories of expats and real estate aren’t enough to give pause to your average American, I don’t know what would. Entitlement? The wealth and income gap in the Philippines is an entitlement story if I’ve ever seen one. Democracy? I’m a huge fan but also see the imperfections, especially in the two party version we consider sacred in the US, and the need for a serious re-evaluation and overhaul. It’s going to get challenged everywhere before the next version of it gets hashed out. The Philippines has some stuff to work on the democracy front. Where my professional friend made her recommendation that I not go there… There’s ugliness everywhere if you want to look and dwell on it. The Philippines and the US has both.
@@jamesohara325 Not to the extent that it happens back there.
I said that it isn't perfect here. It is just far, far better living here than there.
@@jamesohara325 sure there's corruption here, sure there's crime here and a lot more poverty. But society hasn't gone down the drain like western countries. You aren't going to get thrown in jail for opening your church, disagreeing with the depraved homo/trans ideology or being taxed to death. I listen to my wife's son's online class today. The teacher was leading them into proper conduct and attitude. To respect their country, respect their flag, respect their culture and most importantly love God. If a teacher taught that in the US, they'd be fired. My modest home here has all of the conveniences I had in the US. More actually because I was a long haul trucker living on the truck and shot at once. (treated like crap in the US).
I'm not stressed, frustrated, I have enough funds to enjoy life and to share my blessings with my wife and her family. In America, it was all about me. It is unliveable there with the sky rocketing inflation and overwhelming taxation. Don't even get me started about the difference between western women and Filipinas.
NO CONTEST.
For myself the plan to the Philippines started 20 years ago. My first marriage in the US wasn't what I hoped for. I choose in 2003 to seek a filipina. So I did, the first one didn't work out. But no loss. It lead to my current wife of 16 years. Ever since my 1st trip here in 2003 I knew this was where I wanted to retire. So for me been a long planned goal. Now the way the US has gone, it certainly was a good plan and move. No regrets at all coming here. I have many new and good friends here. The transition was made easier by your videos Steve.
Since it's 99 % men that move to Philippines, it's not about economics or politics or pollution.
It's about loneliness. The fact that a man can have the woman he's always wanted.
Friendly neighbors and happiness from the people around him. Most of us baby boomers grew up with this, and watched it disappear as we get older.
Loneliness can be cured through technology and online apps.
So spot on Steve!!! Wow! Work environments are terrible!!! And my husband is so sweet 🧁 he doesn't deserve it!
Sorry to hear that
I spent 6 years in the military and 30 years in law enforcement, retirement can’t come soon enough. Time to get the hell out of this circus! Lol 3 more months can’t come soon enough. Thanks Steve for the continued information
I was stationed at NAVSTA Subic Bay RP for a few years in the 80's. Lived out in town (Olongapo City). Yeah, I spent too much time on Magsaysay but I interacted with Filipinos on a personal level as well and loved the culture and lifestyle.
30 years later, thinking about retirement, I subscribed and watched Henry, Ned, Pops65Z, etc and took a visit in 2017 to see if the Phils could be a consideration. As soon as I stepped off the plane I felt 21 again. Built a small host of friends. 6 years seemed like a long time but it flew by, and now it's my turn July 2023. Looking forward to it!
I live in Wisconsin. My wife and I do not discuss politics at work or with our neighbors.
Life is great in America!!
Amazing! If only more people adhered to this policy!
Too bad the squeakiest wheels in our society don't possess the emotional maturity required to accept our differences in opinion. Agree to disagree without fear of reprisal. Not anymore, anyway 😕
my reasons for wanting out of my world in the US are many. Let’s start, with the way I feel about this country as a Veteran, and not seeing the Country I grew up in and fought for. The political culture has become so demoralizing, that I can not imagine it getting any better, and I don’t want to die living the way I have to live in this world. To have to see how people are completely blind to the truth, and can’t see how the parenting has gone away for many kids, because of the lack of education and parents both having to work multiple jobs and hours, that they don’t have time for your family, or you are out on the street. To being.a Senior, and being forgotten, and not even noticed in life. To the Feminist who have ruined having a relationship with a woman, because they value looks, and how big your wallet is, from the car you have, to the home you have, etc. And women believing they are a 10, when they are actually a 5-6. I can at least feel better about life, in the Philippines, as I can live more affordable, even though I won’t have all the western comforts of home, or the convenience of many things I have here. I am tired of the winter weather in the northeast where I live, and the cost of living has me where it would be difficult to move to another state with the high costs of living in the US. I don’t drink alcohol, except on special occasions, and may have one or two drinks the most. There are many things I will have to overcome and adapt too, but nothing that I see that I can. Maybe it isn’t the best thing in the world, but it seems to be in many ways, an upgrade to what I am looking to spend the rest of my life.
You are absolutely right. As a veteran who served honorably the usa has become a country that i don't recognize or want to live in anymore. I love America and bleed red white and blue but what it has become is not for me anymore and the woman thing is like night and day when you compare Filipinas
Hope things are a lot better for you now sir. Hope you are surrounded by family and a few good friends
Our corporate owners in America have us hating each other through politics. I can honestly say my desire to leave the US is primarily the cost of living and desire to experience other cultures. I plan on doing some traveling, some non-profit work/help for charities abroad, and just enjoy not answering to an employer.
I think we all need to experience at least a few different cultures, not one is perfect but learning from it and experiencing it is priceless
Hey Steve, did you hear about the 6 year old first grader that shot his teacher in Virginia? It was NOT an accident...ONLY in America! I've been travelling to the Philippines every year since 1982 over 40 years now since stationed in SUBIC BAY NAVAL BASE...I've always loved the Filipino hospitality & warm friendly smiles & i enjoy exploring the beauty of the white sand beaches, island hopping CEBU BORACAY BOHOL PALAWAN LEYTE ILOILO ...I am in the process of getting my SRRV VISA & wll make the move to CEBU for retirement this year with my 40 year Government pension & social security..
My filipina wife and I left the US on Thanksgiving day in 2020 when travelling was highly discouraged.I remember LAX was like a ghost town. I was newly retired in January of 2020 while my wife kept working for a while. I kind of saw the writing on the wall. The US is headed in a very bad direction and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I knew if we didn't leave then it would be a long time before we could make the move so we made the leap. There was a lot of drama involved with getting all the proper documents and 9A visa etc but we made it happen just in time. Anyways I live in the province with my wife and her extended family so I have a built in support system which certainly made the move easier. It's much cheaper here which was a big factor in us moving also. We're about 30 minutes from the city which is good also. It's been 2 years now and just recently got my permanent 13A visa and I have no regrets. One thing that makes me smile is when I drop my wife off in town while she goes shopping to get fresh fruits and vegetables etc I go to the town plaza/park to wait for her. There's always lots of activity with little kids riding their bikes or playing, jr high and hs kids playing basketball groups of kids dancing doing tik toks, and adults just hanging out talking. I get out and walk a few laps around the perimeter and get a chance to talk with some of them. Anyways i like watching your blogs and wish i had seen them before we left. I could have done a few things differently. But we did ok. I appreciate your efforts.
Great video. I just bought my 1 way plane ticket out of the U.S. On November 28th, I out of here for good✌️.
Im from the uk 🇬🇧. I will be moving to the Philippines 🇵🇭 soon . The main reason for me is because my close family has passed away and im just left with my sister and nephew who are very independent. I will be moving to bacalod with my girlfriend. I definitely agree about the treatment of employees in the workplace , it has got much worse in the last few years in a lot of places .
I hate long, drawn out posts on CZcams. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make one. I don't blame you a bit if you don't want to read the whole thing but you asked for our thoughts so here are mine.
I think a better way to approach this topic is to ask people if they're really sure they're leaving home for the right reasons. I haven't lived in the Philippines yet but I have lived in nine countries, love to travel and have known many, many expats. I break it down into three categories; emotional, financial and adventurous.
For the emotional side, it makes sense to me to want to live in another country if it's out of love for that other country. Perhaps it's the love of a different environment or a different culture. It could be that someone you love is in this other country or it could be simply the people or the scenery. But if your emotional reason is just that you don't like the politics at home or that you have problems with your family, I think you could be making a mistake. I often tell people that for my entire life, the end of the world has always been right around the corner. What I mean by that is that no one has ever been happy with politics but I have known very, very few people whose individual, everyday life has actually been affected by any of it. If you want to ignore politics you can do it just as easily from your own living room at home as you can on the other side of the planet. Those politics still exist and it's your choice how much you want it let it bother you. The same goes for family. I'm estranged from a few people in my family........... ok, most people in my family but moving to another country isn't going to change that. I simply moved to Texas. I don't have to pick up the phone if I don't want to and I don't have to keep in contact with them if I don't want to. If I don't like someone, I simply look them in the eye and tell them. End of story. Toxic family is no different than toxic friends and you handle them the same way. Just like politics, moving to the other side of the world isn't going to change a damn thing.
Financial incentives are a pretty good reason to move to another country as long as you're living the way you want to live and have a plan and a secure future. Who doesn't want their dollar to go further? After working for half of your life, I think most people deserve to enjoy their retirement but I do hear some expat stories that just don't make sense to me. Some people hit unfortunate times. Some people have made financial mistakes. But whatever the case, you still have to think about your financial situation for the rest of your life. If you're making $500 a month in Social Security I'm not sure that moving to a cheaper country is your best bet. One always has to consider that economies can change all over the world, not just at home. What are you going to do if the country you moved to hits massive inflation or the currency of your home country plummets due to some unforeseen disaster? I'm not saying that moving to that cheaper country is a totally bad idea because everyone has his own story but I think in a lot of cases, these guys would be better off staying at home, working a little longer and setting themselves up with a more realistic income. But again, everyone has his story.
The Adventurous category is where I seem to find myself the most when I travel. I encourage people to spend extended periods of time in other countries and among the people of other cultures. Get out and see as much as you can of what this world has to offer but don't waste your best years doing it. These days I come across a lot of young Travelers who are having a great time and trying to enjoy life as much as they can while they're young enough to do it but have absolutely no plan for the future. I met a 47-year-old in Mexico a couple years ago and he hadn't been home in 15 years. I never really did understand what he did for a living and maybe he didn't want me to know. What I did understand though, was that he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen to him when he hit 65 and broke a hip. He was so busy having fun that he hadn't built anything into Social Security, had no Investments and no pension. Not a great plan for life. I'm not saying that anyone has to wait until they're old and gray before they travel but the future is coming faster than you think and the future is a cold hard bitch who doesn't care about your feelings at all. Have a realistic plan that covers contingencies.
I'll close this with three thoughts, for whatever my thoughts are worth. First, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's easy to get bitter about the things that are happening in your home country but never forget that the only reason your ex-pat lives are as good as they are is because you were born in a country that made that possible for you. I've never seen a Somalian or a Yemenese retire in luxury in a foreign country. Second, don't try to run away from yourself. Your problems and your shortcomings are the closest travel companions you will ever have. They might not join you on that flight to a foreign country but trust me, they're following close and will catch up with you at the worst possible time. Third, life in any country requires balance. You can't completely avoid risk or unfortunate circumstances but make sure you're covering all your bases and making the right choices for the future the present and the unforeseen. Good luck. I'll see you on the road.
For me the US is a hate culture now. I moved here just recently to be in a more affordable, friendlier, happier, and family oriented culture.
Hi Steve. I'm Swedish but lived in Oslo in Norway last 20 years. When I started working in my hospital in Oslo over 12 years ago I really liked it there then. After a new administration and their policy's in 2017 everything changed for the worse. Before I new almost all nurses but after 2017 so many left and new young ones started working there instead but they will leave after a while when they get some work experience. Last year I had enough and quit my work last of May and have been in Philippines almost 7 months now. I live now in Taguig city in Manila and live in only Philippino community and love it, no tourists here. I'm 58 now and can get pension when I'm 62 so I have to wait s few years. I manage fine anyway waiting until 62. I'm not surprised to hear from Americans that they are really not satisfied with their workplace either.
I'm an expat in Colombia. I had previously spent my entire life in Wisconsin. I had always hated winter with a passion. Prefer green and growing year around. Second was the cost of living. I'm obviously much further off living here. I could list a number of other reasons but those are the most important to me.
Why would you live in a place where you hated the winter? That makes no sense to me. There are many places you could have moved to with milder winters than Wisconsin.
I'm interested in retiring to Colombia. I've read online that pensions are taxed at 35%. In your experience is this correct?
I partly agree with your viewpoints about the US. There are many problems here, but still there are many things that are good also, no country is perfect. Why people move around is based on what they are looking for, love, cost of living, the weather, or just to do something different. The people who can afford to make the move are the fortunate ones. There are many who can't.
Exactly.
I’m in my early twenties and have been planning to emigrate since 2020. Before I holiday’d through Europe for a couple weeks I never thought about how there is a life outside of the US. Silly I know, but I grew up treating every other country and continent as it was some fantasyland. Or like the moon. It’s there it exists, I know it. But getting there is a pipe dream. The world was here. My world was the US. After a heartbreak I dived into my work picking up ungodly amounts of OT. Suddenly that land far away was not as inaccessible as I had believed. After traveling as a tourist it really hit me. Other cultures, languages, societies, ways of life. I used to think I was destined to stay in the US and was doomed to live in their society and way of life. I never considered that the rest of the planet doesn’t follow. The rest of the world leads.
My reasons for leaving are as follows:
-crippling Health Care (both for visits, ambulance, and medicine)
-crippling Public Safety
-overrated Work Culture.
-Political Harassment to the very basic alliances (just saying you’re for one party or another invokes rage and anger)
-Loss of Freedoms such as health and speech (TikTok bill and overturning of Roe v Wade)
-Finance bias towards 1% and government obliviousness towards the people
-Little to no agreement on Climate Care and the investment in ecological of the planet to ensure future generations will not suffer
-Crippling Political stability
-Mass Shootings becoming so common place that the news barely covers them
-Lobbyists that prevent any meaningful legislation that could prevent the previous issue
-Astronomical inflation on housing, university, and at this rate, everything else.
No country is perfect and I’m certain there is no place on earth that will solve each and every one of these. The biggest problem to me however is that, while these issues (and more) are rampant in the US, I feel as if we are just at the beginning of a very dark and long path. I see no hope in it getting any better here
I also worked with people that were very difficult , politically speaking. My family believed differently than I and made my life difficult. I yearned to leave the USA , for the country left me…..I didn’t leave the country. I’ve lived in the Philippines for 2 years now. Also, my daughter and I have had problems.Im very happy here in Gensan city.
Hi Steve. Why did I move to the Philippines. First of all it was relatively easy for me to become a Philippine resident with my Filipina wife than it was to get her to the USA. We just wanted to be together for the rest of our lives. The second reason was that it's significantly lesss expensive for us to live in the Philippines, and my pension, SS, and 403B savings go much further here. Sure, I could think of other reasons, but none would be sufficient for me to leave the USA. I love my country, but I love my wife more and I am less stressed financially here in Davao..
I’m hoping to move to Dumaguete as my girlfriend lives there. My siblings disowned me because our father left me and only me his Estate as I’m the only one who cared for him in his final years. My siblings hated our father but I guess they didn’t hate his money because they hired a lawyer to get their hands on the money and the house. Well the only way for them to win is to prove their was fraud on my part so they mostly my sister made up a pack of lies and the Judge saw through these lies and I had the truth on my side. So I’m moving to the Philippines to live out my life in peace.
I left California for the Philippines because i'm retired and can't afford the rent in california i was stationed in olongapo subic bay in the 1970s USN in the philippines and fell in love with the people and culture way back then and finally live here now been here a few years now and learned how to adapt my life style here just like Steve.. there a happy loving people here and i have no stress and the price is right
The lower cost of living is a huge plus. But people must remember the Philippines is not the US. You will make sacrifices...some small and some big. If you're not willing to adjust and ride the initial challenges then don't move here.
I left for all of the same reasons that are mentioned here. I was fortunate to spend a year in Texas before moving here in September '22. Got to restore a lot of family relationships. The main reason is the political, society, taxes, cost of living/housing, unaffordable healthcare, loss of freedoms ect. This is my fifth trip since 2014. I knew back then that I would end up here.
Like you, I was a news/political junkie. I'm stepping back now because all it does with me is cause anger and negativity. I came here to get away from that... Here I don't feel like the carpet is going to eventually get yanked out from under me like I do in the US.
I divorced after 20 years. Met met my 2nd wife(lived together) for 23 years then she lost battle with cancer. After a couple of years I friended a Filipina on Facebook. I worked security in hospital where hundreds of Filipinos were employed. After over 3 years of communications, I came over to meet in person. She is my forever wife. I came from Ca. Enough said about that.
I plan to leave soon. My wife is filipina. I'm looking forward to lower costs, less politics and more family togetherness.
After looking after my wife for 16 years sadly she died could not face another relationship in England again but always been attracted to Asian woman my partner is47 I’m 66 I love her very much took her to visit my kids at Xmas they loved her so after much anxiety this is my home now
Adventure, new experiences and challenges to reinvigorate, low cost of living, higher batting average with women, more traditional women. Happy people!
You covered the basics very well the wants related to experiencing different adventures would be high on the list vs. feeling stifled or restricted in the US as a result of economics and the hindrance associated with that part of retirement for many.
Well said!
I married a Filipina back in 2010. She came and worked with me on my organic farm in Montana, USA. We retired to the Philippines in 2021 to our dream home on the mountainside overlooking the ocean. My wife's family are wonderful people and accepted me more than my own family. I would have stayed in the Philippines forever if I could have. But I had chronic problems with heart disease and parasites. I spent some time in the hospital and I was kicked around from doctor to doctor and clinic to clinic and none of them would resolve to work with me on my health problems. I lost over 50 lbs and was sick all the time. My cardiac care was good enough. I had a well-trained young Filipina woman of Chinese ancestry that worked with me and she could service and adjust my brand of pacemaker. But the infectious disease doctors were overworked with Covid patients and didn't seem to be able to figure out how to handle the combination of parasites I had. Most parasite infections are handled with a short course of medication from 1 to 7 days. But mine was more complicated that and seemed to be resistant to medication. The first year I was in the Phlippines we spent about $20,000 USD for living expenses....and we lived will and did a lot of traveling and fun stuff. But my medical bills were greater than my living expenses and I wasn't getting well completely. When the air travel opened up after Covid I was well enough to travel and I came home to the USA to get medical care.
Fortunately, I was the boss and answered to few people. The downside…my Fortune 500 company was going super woke. Spent close to 20 years living and working overseas. Time to retire and find my peace overseas. I’ve achieved financial independence so life will be good.
I really didn't have a plan to move here, but a fellow I knew convinced me I'd probably be better off. That was 11 years ago, in 2011, and I have been back to the US once since then for a little over a year. In that year I found the US had not changed but was getting worse. I am a service-connected disability veteran, Vietnam Era - I served in Europe, which was fortunate when I saw what was happening to those fellows and ladies in Vietnam. That helps with some of my medical. I guess I should mention that I was here in 1976, when martial (or, according to MTG Marshall) law was in effect. Marcos was President and things seemed to be ok for the most part. I found Filipinos at that time to be extremely friendly, even the security guards, who would open doors and greet people, and the military men (there were many around Manila at that time) were also friendly. That was probably one of the reasons I came back, too. Filipinos are very friendly and hospitable people; unlike what I encountered during my year return to the US. I am a 13(a) Visa holder (means I am married to a Filipina). At the time I came here in 2011, I didn't know about the SRRV, and it was never told to me that such existed. I learned about SRRV after I had been married for 3 years.
Another reason I came here was the situation in the US, after losing more than $50,000 when the stock market crashed in 2003 and then again in 2008. I had invested in the 401(k) plans where I was working. The manager suggested certain investments which he said were safe. There is nothing in the stock market which is safe! I learned that the hard way. I was surprised when I did start collecting SS in 2010 - it was over $2,000. But I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area and knew that wouldn't take me very far. I didn't live near family members and didn't feel comfortable being around them due to their politics in conflict with mine, and their religions in conflict with mine. So, I thought it would not do me any good to try to live around them - in Arizona. I didn't want to live in that RV or little house either, so I chose the Philippines, as I mentioned being encouraged by a Filipino to come here.
I think that covers it well. I can go on and on. If I have bored anyone, my apologies.
I left the USA because there is no such a thing as a woman there anymore. The women in the Philippines are like women where back in the 60s in the US. Not a list of preferred pronouns. I love my retirement here with a beautiful, loving, caring, respectful woman. I live the expression " remember the good old days "
Bob from Ayer. I couldn’t agree more. I’ll be on the 22nd.An hour south east of Manila It will really good to have a new and better life with my Filipina
In the Philippines, the bahala na attitude is what I find frustrating. They inheritied 'Viva yo!" from the Spaniards. There is no representation for residents as well.
Hey Steve. I'm still in the US but I follow several of the expat vloggers from the Philippines. I'm retired and married now to a Filipina for 33 yrs. I lived in the Philippines for 2 yrs in late 80s to 90. For me, the issues involved with considering a move to the Philippines are: making sure my wife is taken care of if I'm not around; family issues (negative in US, positive in Philippines); excitement in life navigating Philippines. Enjoy your videos...always thought provoking. Take care.
Thanks for sharing
Why am I going to move to the Philippines
1. The people are friendly, not in a super rush.
2. The sky is so blue, the landscape is very green, and it is not scorching hot (Like Arizona)
3. I truly like the native food
4. Two added bonuses, I can afford to live there, and I like to snorkel
Personally, I have a number of friends and acquaintances I made while living between Japan and Kores, with several trips to the Philippines, for work. I do plan on setting up a small homestead here in the US, but also to turn that over to my younger brother to live at and manage. I just wanted an affordable place to base out of, and I enjoyed my times in the Philippines. It's actually improved pretty well since those days. So, now it's just finish getting things squared away here in the US, set up a small homestead to fall back to, if things don't work out, and let my young brother take over while I'm Philippines bound later this year. Just need to take that first year or so to find that one place I want to base out of, and enjoy my retirement travels.
Wife and i are actually stalling in the US right now. Because of some of the reasons you mentioned about government instability and arguments. And yes, We bought an RV in 2022. RV Life is fun and mobile. But wife and i are anxious to return to PI. But most important in this conversation is we hope you and your daughter work out your difficulties. It would be great to see a VLOG of you and daughter together.
Maybe someday
im considering retiring in PI not to escape political or family tensions but because of all the other benifits you talk about here Steve: low cost of living, weather, feminine, kind women, natural beauty and beaches. In my private sector job in IN treatment is good, politics mostly conservative. Only an MA lib coworker has tried to bring up PC contention but it did not affect us. Nationally it is disturbing tho. but not my main reason to leave. single, kids grown, 62.
I am moving from Tampa to PH in March and like many others I am leaving for a variety of reasons. I have a great relationship with my family but I started looking at the state of this country a couple years ago as well as the cost of living and I finally made a decision to begin looking at my options. I see no future for the US any longer due to the politics, the moral decay , the stress and the overall destruction of the American family. I do realize that no country is going to offer everything that we desire but I cant deal with the corruption any longer. I finally decided to make PH for home , and it has been such a blessing to have Steve and many other vloggers to give me so much insight into the upcoming transition .
Steve what a great video -- I live in NJ now and these liberal states have gone to hell and this will not change. that is why I want to come to the Philippines .
I left because I couldn't afford to live in USA inflation is very high only living in a fix income I almost be homeless prior moving to Philippines now I am stress free I am more happy now no worries about anything
For me survival is the main reason, I'm 56 now and leaving has been my plan for last 5 years or so. I just like to live decently someplace where what little I have goes a longer way. I see staying put here in the USA on my retire budget I will struggle greatly as well as staying put in the same town and dying here is something I like to change, I like to see something new and experience different things. Everything else not interested in don't care about politics, my needs are simple, my work is okay but do feel under appreciated and gone as far as I can with it. As I get older I seem to care less on what other people think. I like to surround myself with people who are happier and respectful something I find very little of here.
Why am I kicking around the idea of retiring to the Phils.....
The political situation
The change in the culture
The economy
Estrangement from the community
The crime rate
#1 Just to see happy people and smiles. The rat race never stops. The cost of living. Having someone to be happy with and grow old together. To Feel the Heartbeat of the Philippines and relax. The gov. here just needs a big facelift.
I like Philippines because more cheaper for school in college for kids too
That was my wife commenting, listening together in the car. Hope to be in CDO within 18 months.
When my first wonderful bride passed away at a young age, I expended a Herculean effort to settle the estate. After a time alone, I began to ask myself, do you want to continue shoveling deep snow on the path out to the plow truck, warm up the engine to plow the driveway, and only then run errands. I looked at the effort (I enjoyed forestry management) to selectively cut enough junk trees to heat my home through a cold New England winter. My grown children did not want any part of what their Mom and I had created, preferring our city home to life on the farm. For the privilege to continue to live a life we had loved, I faced high property taxes relative to the value of the hobby farm. To add the proverbial insult to injury, I watched my beloved small town get invaded by escapees who wanted country life but wanted everything they ran away from at government expense. It was not long before that "give me stuff" crowd was voting as a group at town meetings each year to run up the budget Did I really want to face the prospect of turning into a senior citizen, alone in the New England woods with exponentially increasing tax rates?
I made a decision to test drive the Philippines for possible early retirement. I touched down on 1 December 2012 and never looked back. Sure, there have been a few pitfalls along the way. After all, is said and done, I only left the Philippines for some short vacation/visa runs until my marriage to one of the very best and smartest girls in the Philippines. With a 13A visa, I can stay as long as I wish, traveling only when we choose to do so. We have built a wonderful family together with the three great kids she brought to our marriage and one new addition who is now a little over three years old. Beautiful Bride is an academic writer with over two decades of experience and counting. Based on some of the work in her portfolio, we tested a few business plans with small amounts of capital and she has built income streams that are solid and that surpass more than anything you could expect from US Social IN-Security, or working regular jobs such as hourly employees. I believe the American dream is still alive but many first-time entrepreneurs are finding it more and more difficult to gain access to capital. Barriers to small businesses are increasing in the US, in my opinion.
Make no mistake, The Philippines is not a tax haven for the rich. Actually, income taxes here are high when you earn significant money. The tradeoff is how much less BS (Rember that I owned a farm, I really do know what BS smells like!) and barriers you face starting a business here in the Philippines. Smaller capital requirements, and generally less government regulation if you run a clean operation. If you only desire a small extra pocket money business, in the Philippines, you could start that with the equivalent of one (or less) Social IN-Security check. Live within your means for a few years, compound your profits back into the business and you can grow that micro-business for additional income in your later years. Others before me have commented on their reasons to bug out. Many of those comments others have offered, I am in agreement with.
Hey Steve, I’m a recent arrival from the US. I am still exploring as where I want to live. But I left the US for many reasons. #1 I couldn’t afford to live the live I was used to. Prices are skyrocketing and I see no end in sight despite whatever the government says as pay attention to macroeconomics. #2 the political system has certainly turned. Khrushchev was right….” You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright; but, we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find you already have Communism.” Year and years ago after the collapse of the USSR I listened to a live interview with an ex-KGB agent who’s job it was to plant communists in the American teachers unions, low and behold, their plan worked. To bad the American people and government don’t learn for recent history as to happens to all communistic societies… the peoples freedom wane and the standard of living suffers. Anyway many of my realities are now truly socialist ( although they are happy to take YOUR money to do, whatever, not theirs, and they are wealthy.. Many of my friends have become anti-right or anti conservative, so I feel I have very little in common with them any more. I am TRYING to divorce my mind set from happenings in America because America is spinning into the drain as a soon to be another failed empire on the world stage. And the sad part is, it doesn’t have to be….. Between politics and economics it’s all looking pretty bad….#3 The places I used to go in Colorado ( of all places ) have become unsafe, so my personal safety feels at risk. #4 the legal system is broken and the police are afraid to do their jobs to serve and protect without repercussions…….. Anyway next few weeks I am going from Panay to Cebu to buy a new scooter…..screw the west…
People need to stop whining about politic stuff. It's a broke person's mindset.
Older men and women are invisible in the USA and there is much lonliness. The low rent helps, but you can live on 2k a month in the USA but it may not be where you want to live. I am not leaving the USA, the USA left me,
Workplace harassment was a daily affair at the university environment where I worked. I worked for a public radio station owned by a university in the southern United States. Good pay and benefits but the supervisors were a nightmare. I worked there 12 years and gained state retirement plus a small annuity in addition to my Social Security. I am drawing more than 2800 dollars a month and now live in Thailand. Unfortunately, Thailand only wants the very wealthiest expats, who will never come here. The xenophobia here is off the map. The Philippines does not seem to hate Americans or British. Plus the standard of spoken English is quite high.
Excellent discussion! Politics, romance and finances just about cover it, and all apply to me. Great advice, especially about trading one set of problems for another! Love the US, but love my wife's family and a lower cost of living, too. As for politics, whether you're "woke" or MAGA, you can no longer voice your opinion in the US like we used to be able to do so without repercussions, and a return to decency isn't on the horizon. My retirement cannot come soon enough, lol. I hope also to always remember that I'll be a guest in the Philippines and show the appropriate respect despite whatever issues brought me there. Just leave that behind and enjoy the remainder of my days. Life is short.
It is a shame when you see the direction that the US is going. The country is going down morally, socially ,and economically. I believe that the nation is being shaken by God .
I met my Filipina companion through professional connections 8 years ago, it developed from professional into something else as we got to know each other. We have a nice swath of common interests, we like each other, have an interesting personal and cultural chemistry as many from the US have with Filipinos. Never put much thought into and expat retirement until I came to the Philippines and fell in love with my companion, the people, the country itself, and learned to appreciate the many things you have highlighted in your discussions. Your info is truly helpful in preparing myself / other people for an expat experience here, thank you! I will be retiring in the Philippines, married to my Filipina companion by the end of 2023, and living in the same general area as you (south of Manila) sometime 2024. Thus, my companion is the primary reason (now her family as well), the people and country, the adventure of it all, the challenge of learning a new language and culture appeals to me. One thing I can relate to but have been wary about, thus continue do a lot of personal inventory on, is the temptation to believe that moving away from the US is going to be a net offload all the things that bug me about life… that have frustrated me about life in the US: family tension, economic and cultural trends. As Steve mentioned, there are definite trade-offs that are easy to overlook until you’ve been in the Philippines for awhile. Leaving the US because you don’t like the politics I think is a mistake, as things do tend to go in cycles, do they not? It can look pretty ugly in the US right now but many of the trends of ugliness related to cultural and economic change are reverberating through the global sphere, and aren’t things we can do much about. Philippines doesn’t exist in a vacuum and politics in the Philippines can be as much or more disturbing if you allow yourself to get caught up in it (not recommended for an expat). Philippines in 5 to 10 years could be quite different. Personally, and I’ve said this before, I think the US cable channels have cultivated a lot (not all) of the intense frustration folks are irked with right now. Much simpler, perhaps even cheaper, to wean oneself from the outrage (toxicity) the ratings slaved media companies are churning out than to move to Philippines to get away from it. Not a good reason to move here, my opinion. Psssst. Running from issues just isn’t a good way of exorcising demons dogging a person’s rear, so my therapist continues to remind me. I think a more healthy way to frame this question Steve is: what inspires you to come to the Philippines? Your vlog approach is constructively positive, which I appreciate very much. The answers likely to be elicited from the headline question are likely to be interesting to a degree, to understand other expats, great stuff for a therapist to work with, to help get to the heart of what’s truly tormenting folks; I’m not sure the question points the focus to the many positive healthy reasons people are drawn to the Philippines, things one needs to focus on to make a good life here. The other stuff can be put to a healthy rest, with a little professional help, if it’s truly a big issue. Better to get that out of the way before you get to the Philippines so one can focus on creating a healthy happy existence here.
… one follow-up. Yes, a gold rush of new vloggers residing in the Philippines vying for a piece of the attention pie. The kiss of death is when everyone and their brother-in-law heads for the hills to set up shop. Have an eye for demand and industry trajectory, got something people want to see, real content? The CZcams algorithm and income evolves weekly, monthly. How many folks peddling content already covered a zillion times over? Geeez! Not flashy but Steve hit a solid vein of worthy content, relatively early, there are a few others, some are just good entertainment, but done well. There’s a lot of stuff I wouldn’t personally give a 10 second look at, let alone hold my attention to, over and over again. One genre of vlog that rubs me the wrong way are those who’s market is men on the prowl for hot Filipina babes. If that’s your thing, good luck guys! Go down that route travel at your own risk, always keep an eye on your wallet, don’t complain about the quality of Filipina you find. Karma has a blast… The demand is there, yes, integrated into a business model, a little more subtlety, grace, dimension and, most of all, respect for Filipinas, Filipinos, Philippine culture integrated into the mix is not a bad launch point for success and longevity.
A fresh start after Divorce which created Financial issues, Cancer and I was unable to work. I couldn’t live like I wanted to in the US on $3k a month. I had met a Filipina online who turned out to be a scammer immediately after arrival. Honestly I wasn’t surprised. This has been a great move for me personally. Three years in and I’m married to a wonderful, beautiful Filipina. I’m now very happy.
Same often i Norway to..
Beautiful young women
Great beaches
Inexpensive housing
Friendly people
Great geography
Diverse culture and geography
English speaking
Well said
It’s all about reliving your past as a younger man that makes living in the Philippines a target for retirement. I would think that most men had failed marriages and a low retirement income that drove them to the Philippines. It wasn’t the pollution, traffic, corruption that forced their decision to live abroad. We all live where we can afford to live, that’s my opinion. In America we all hate the political environment right now, but don’t use it as an excuse to leave your home country unless you have not planned properly for your retirement. Why have so many Filipino’s made it their desire to live abroad if their homeland was so perfect?
Expat on Mindinao.... Savings goes further. My company is great and let's me work from here. So I am making American dollars living in the Phillipines. The political environment was not something I wanted to expose my wife to. To much racism. My job as a good husband is to provide and protect my family. I can do it better here in the 🇵🇭. I lived in a tiny house to get away from the stupidity.
I had a mostly great 30 engineering career. My last year was not so good and I chose to retire but in general I have no career complaints. I was married, the house was paid off, I have a generous pension and I had plenty to do for the first 5 retirement years. I came to Thailand to visit a friend and everything changed. I loved it here and kept coming back. I came to view my life in the US as being in a bubble and a rut. I realized that there are better more interesting places to be in the world. And of course there was a girl . . . she was the tipping point. I got divorced, moved to Thailand in 2017, and married my Thai wife in 2019. We just completed a house in the countryside after 6 years in Bangkok. I left the US because I wanted a change at this time in my life. I wasn't looking for change but I found it serendipitously. It wasn't because of a bad workplace, bad marriage, politics (though Trump had just been elected). It wasn't because Thailand has a lower cost of living. I just like it here better than there.
Want a place where people smile and are happy with living even if poor.
A place where it never gets cold.
A place where someone might be genuinely happy to see me.
A place where the little I have left will go further.
Many reasons my friend. Politics be damned.
there are so many reasons i cant list them All why i am leaving the states,i need to leave all the stress behind and hope to meet a traditional women .i seem to be invisible here so i want try my luck in the Philippines
I left the USA to the Philippines because of cost of living in the USA has skyrocketed. To rent a room from a house owner now in America it's about $600. If you decide to rent one bedroom apartment the least amount is $1600. I saw myself working 16 hours every day. If I don't do overtime I found it difficult to meet up with my bills. I was lonely in America no girlfriend. But now in the Philippines I have a young wife and I built a house in Bohol, Panglao very cheap
I'm in southeast Wisconsin, and a nice 1br is 800. You can still find a 1br for 650, but It will be 50+ years old, rundown looking, and not an area I would want to park a newer car in.
I work for a UK company overseas. The new guys are being paid a lot more than the established guys who have been here a long time which isn't right.
I had a month in the Philippines on vacation recently and realised how much my modest pension would last every month. I've met a beautiful Filipino girl and I'm out of here soon. Another couple of months to build a parachute fund and I'm off.
I left number 1 reason to be with my filipina ldr 10+ years. Number 2 was i retired from federal government service because I had enough of the people who were hired as supervisor or chiefs based on gender and ethnicity. Number 3 being on fixed income and inflation was just barely getting by. Number 4 was the politics and the direction of the usa. As a veteran who served the country I couldn't stand the way news was reported and how people were treated. Its hard to put them in order but it was a combination of all of them. Mostly I wanted to be with my girlfriend. So far so good.
Hi Steve ... For me it is every thing you mentioned and the cold weather of North Dakota where I am from. God Bless . Wes. & Neri Cebu
Thanks for sharing
Reason #1 living on 2,500 a month is more enjoyable in the Philippines. Reason #2 after age 60 I felt like I was invisible to women under 60. Life is good in the Philippines
I tried the PH, and romance was one motivation. Cost isn't much of a problem for me and that budget seems quite reasonable. But, I got tired of being viewed as nothing more than a walking ATM. Looks both ways (actual romantic love) was important to me. Buying intimacy was a turn off. I couldn't find a compromise I could accept. I am okay with pay for service (obviously all it is) but I could only find bars or brides (nothing in between). Every lady I met was after financial commitment.
60 year old women can also feel invisible. Just the beauty of getting older.
There are multiple reasons but, the main reason is financial! Almost everyone moving from the US can not afford to live a decent retirement life in the states these days. It is a tough call to move 8000-10,000 miles from your family and friends. A tough call for many! And, there are many differences in culture and living essentially under the control of a dictatorial government!
I'm leaving because of the cost of living and the politics. I just don't like where the country is going politically. This is not the America I used to know and love 🤔
America has divided. Cost of living. Work was abusive. I didn’t buy into the buy all new stuff all the time.
I’ve seen and lived in America long enough. Want to see and experience new things…. While I live a peaceful quiet life.
Steve, I think the main reason I look toward the Philippines as a retirement destination; is to put it simply I want to find a place that has a slow pace without all the stress we encounter in the US. I'm old, I'm tired and I just want people to let me live my own life my way.
Hope everything turn out good sir
You can live however you wish even in US. Plenty of slow pace rural areas. Don't let age get the best of you.
Many from US are running from something, maybe loneliness, or the law or child support. I have noticed others who go to Philippines their family or kids don't really care for them or visit them, so they pack it up and give Philippines a shot.
Many in the UK do exactly the same thing.
Just use technology to cure loneliness. Many apps to meet people.
I moved here because I because I could not afford to retire in the US. By the way, there are those who still believe in slavery in South Carolina. I know, I worked for them!
I like that you have the sixties type of freedom in the Philippines, not a million stupid laws to protect me. Example like riding in the back of a pickup truck
Same in Canada. I am widowed. I met a younger Filipina and my adult children estranged me for this. My money is great. I am alone with health issues easily fixed with a good woman by my side. I will be happy and once again healthy in the Phil.
1 February will be 16 years ago that my feet hit the ground here in the Philippines at 51. I'm retired military and I had absolutely no problem with or living in the USA. I moved here, and it didn't have to be here, for only one reason. To stop working, which I couldn't afford to do in the USA, mission accomplished.
I don't want to leave the West because these are the countries where my transgender Filipina girlfriend and I can legally marry. Her college forces her to cut her hair just because she was assigned male at birth, which makes me question the quality of a Filipino education given that here students might come from cultures where men grow long hair. Before the Spanish took control of the Philippines women like her could have high status in society, often as priestess and healers, and could marry men. There is still a good place in Filipino culture for trans women, but after centuries of bloodshed at Spanish rule the culture has changed and she is not as free as she could be in America. Here in America we have been working hard to create a safe inclusive environment where anyone can live and work, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, so forth. You don't have to run away, it's just that we are changing. I can welcome any who respect and accept my girlfriend and I. I think it's a particular subculture in America that isn't used to sharing the country with other cultures, spending time out of the house, meeting up with the culture that forces my girlfriend to cut her hair.
Also interested would be to know the main reasons why expats leave Philippines goung back home
No money , think they can live good on $2000.
The grass is not always greener on the other side.
Travel and a change of pace. Affordability. possibility of meeting somebody attractive and a good companion. So far so good.
Great insight bud
Much appreciated
Excellent vlog Steve, as a veteran of two conflicts, nobody is going to force me to leave the country I defended, others in my community are like minded. Three months here and three months in the Philippines twice a year work for me, I like the American west in summer and the holidays with adult kids and grand daughter. But if a person felt targeted, I would not blame them if they found a good country to deposit money, sell their house without a sign, garage sale everything and give away the rest, sell your car and get a rental, leave at midnight unannounced for a one way ticket to start over in a country you had researched thoroughly.
I think most retired think about something more in life than being around the same stress and life they've had all their lives. Living every day doing the same thing over and over is so lame. I commend the ones who had the courage to pick up and leave for an adventure to seek a different way of life. Doesn't matter why because we all have our reasons, some more than others. Whatever makes you happy for the time you have left on this world, that's what you should do. This life isn't anyone's except yours, so don't ever feel guilty. Enjoy your days, happy, and keep smiling
They say Veterans should have at least a Medicare Advantage plan if they are happy with their VA care here in the states. Those with VA can literally keep only VA and not pay into Medicare premiums. Rely totally on the VA for all medical needs though this is not recommended. Hence a Medicare Advantage plan at 65 to accompany VA healthcare.
So you're in a good situation. You can always at least have VA for life should you decide to come back stateside unlike others that must decide whether to return to sign up for social security to avoid late penalties especially when premiums in Philippines begin to increase as you age. When you have VA, you can afford to stay pass 65 and not be in the states to sign up for medicare. But be aware that should you return to the states at over 65 and you've gone 3,4,5 years over the Medicare open enrollment period, you will be tagged 10% more for each year you didn't sign up. Having VA option gives you that option to chose to stay in Philippines and know you're covered when you get back to the states without paying premiums, in patient out patient copays, no enrollment fees no crazy enrollment sign up periods, minimul drug copays and capped. So I say get cozy with VA learn to navigate it well.
Two reasons for me: 1- Hi cost of living in the USA. 2- American women's comically ridiculous expectations for their partners.
If you're not leaving for yourself and to have a better life, then don't bother . America and the lifestyle is like an addiction as we are used to the convenience of having whatever we want right now . Making your recon missions and actually seeing if you can adapt is extremely essential as relocating is something to not take lightly. For most expats, the main reason should be financial and then for the weather and such . A woman or for anyone else should be last on the list, and being able to relocate until you find a suitable place for you is essential. We all have different levels of needs and wants, which can be found if you take the time and enjoy the process. Does being with a native make things easier? It depends on the native and their mentality. Finding someone who is willing to relocate from their family or province is not easy, and most will tell you what you want to hear. Most will try to stear you back to where they are comfortable, but always remember that this is your retirement and your needs come first . If you're not happy, you will not stay .
You speak of the school system in USA, I have one for you. In our school area, not to many states from were you were. You tell your child NO you are reported to Cps. Guaranteed a visit from them. It might be just me, but their might be a issue. Just my opinion. Great video!
The less you know the further you go
I tried the PH and didn't like it. It seems most move location or job in the hopes of a better life. Look at the maraming Pinay looking to go abroad (to almost anywhere other than the PH). I'm still searching for something better, just not finding it. I avoid religion, family and all other traditional gender roles. I found even more of that in the PH.
People who leave their home country don’t to it because the are happy. The question is why are they not happy. Most blame their unhappiness on other because they don’t take responsibility for their own happiness. The United States has be constantly changing since it inception. The Philippines has also changed. I know Filipinos who were raised in the Philippines state that times were better under Marcos. I personally think most people have a great or at lease a good life who are from the US. I think the ones who decide to live in other countries are in the minority. I also think a majority of them were not that successful in their careers. Finding a place that’s less expensive is one way to improve their abilities to afford things. Sort of like living at the holiday inn or motel six. It’s a choice. Both provide beds for the night. We pick what we can afford.
just tired of cold weather i just want to wear tshirt a short and flip flops everyday all year round
Totally agree. Been in PH many times due to a poor decision in my past. In retrospect, I would not trust a long term relationship there as it's money based, especially visa petitions. For those with acceptable lifestyles in the West, only the romance is missing usually due to age or low attractiveness. But, all I found in the PH was fake romance that was so obvious it turned me off. I don't mind paying for services as I'm not a hot stud. But, the sugar relationships don't seem to work as noted by several blogs (went back in the USA).
Good video
2 reasons I'm leaving. ONE: I want to live my BEST life in retirement, low cost of living, tropical environment, English speaking, easy resident Visa is attractive to me. TWO: I don't want to do it alone. It's easy for me to date in the USA but the quality of women and their priorities don't match mine.
The average Joe continues to be silenced in the workplace and in the US as a whole and if you say anything you're made to be the unreasonable person. Many corporations are more interested in public perception to gain support than rewarding or promoting the people that have furthered their education, show loyalty, and are actually good at their job. Today's world is more about diversity and perception, streamlining workplace functions and practices, and utilizing a one size fits all software program. As you age your value in terms of input is diminished making you feel replaceable at any given moment. You can feel the lack of substance in the workplace, the results of forced social compliance outside of risk adversity further reducing or removing individual thought to the point of many adopting the "quiet quitting" mantra. Many of these same issues creep into your life outside of the workplace so planning an affordable retirement and getting out of the rat race goes beyond your working years.
I left because. I don't want to continue working two jobs, stress, and peace, I met a sweet and beautiful woman also I can live comfortably in the Philippines. I am tired of politics also I am starting over at sixty-two in Iloilo.
I work in Federal Law Enforcement. At 50 years old I'll be able to retire on $4,000 a month. If I retire in California where I currently live I would barely have enough to cover rent and food. I could keep working, but why? I hate that every year the law shifts toward helping the criminals, who in turn go commit even more of the same crimes. I'm done, as soon as I'm able I'm going to move to Cebu probably. I just want to enjoy the last years of my life since I'll probably die young like everyone in LE.
My plan is to live both in the US and Philippines. That way I get the best of both worlds. My retirement income will be much higher than most delays so this plan is what works best for me. I don't recommend it for everyone.
I live in the People's Republic of Kalifornia, Head Custodian at a K-8 School... I have observed WITH Promotions & COLAs a Steady Slip in my Standard of Living in the last five years. At age 60, except for a few 2nd Cousins I'm alone in the area. My Son is 8 hours away, my Brothers and there families are 11 hours away. I was the one to stay behind and take care of my Elderly Parents. They are gone now, all that is holding me here is Maxing my Pension & Social Security until I don't want to work anymore. TODAY, my Pension is worth $34k... at 62 with Social Security it's $58k.. at 65 it's $72k. My Retirement Plan A was to move to SE Washington or NW Nevada to be near family & Essential Services. Plan B, the Midwest to save a little money & still have the Services I want... Expat to Asia [Philippines preferred] was my Plan C... Now promoted to Plan A. CASH Healthcare Expenses in the Philippines are significantly LESS than my Premiums, Deductibles & Copays would have been with Medicare/Medigap/Prescription/Vision/Dental Insurance coverage in the US... Cost of Living is 72% less in the Philippines than California. I can put up with a lot of inconvenience to save 72%
Had to laugh when you talked about the nomads (van dwellers) I spent a few years living in the back of a box truck.. Even that is difficult in some ways.. in more and more places, it is illegal to sleep in a vehicle.. even if it is an RV.. not many areas left in the US today where you really can be free to live without interference.. that, and the divisions being propagated by the politics on both sides are my primary reasons for wanting to get the hell out of the US.. will be hitting Cebu for the first time end of this month, so we shall see if I would feel more comfortable there.
Also been there done that but the question at that time was why did I seek employment abroad at that time years ago? And the answer for me was tired of the commercialization such as Walmarts and stupid malls and just stupid conus crud, and being in a rut, tired of being another brick in the wall. I also think a lot had to do with personal economics. I didn't make sheeyat.
US is collapsing - I can clearly see that even without living there. It is at the stage beyond saving. Its going to follow same path as Lebanon. Asian alliances will become more dominant in a world in upcoming years. I would say that EU will follow US, I can already see that. We live in a time of a massive shift.