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How Much Does it Cost
to Retire in the Philippines?
It's understandable when contemplating
retirement, that you'd be concerned about the
cost of living. There are few other subjects
that command more anxiety when you plan to
retire. Processing accurate lists of someone's
experiences in various areas would seem a
logical assist. I think most of us who've
retired have been down that road before
retirement and it is indeed important.
I've been "retired" since July of 1995 and have
learned a thing or two about those concerns. I
had 34 years into the Boeing Company and was
planning for retirement for the last 25 of those
years. With the uncertainty of the economy over
those years I was afraid that I might have to
remain working until 65, though I always dreamed
of an early retirement. From about 1992 and on,
going was getting hard for the company.
Commercial carriers were having a slump and the
Clinton administration had pulled the rug from
under many defense contractors. We were going through
another cutback. I had reached that magic number
of 30 where there was an unwritten rule in the
company that those of us who reached that number
had earned tenure. Younger employees were being
whacked at a steady rate while those of us with
30+
years were being left alone. There were rumors
from corporate that they were considering a
golden parachute for older employees, but we'd
been hearing that from the time of my first day
with the company.
Then one morning I got a call from an associate
on the east coast that there was a golden
parachute coming, the first ever being offered
by the company. There was an attempt that day to
make the announcement simultaneously to all
Boeing locations around the world, but the news
was announced on the east coast first. By the
time it reached us on the west coast I'd already
made up my mind. We were given 6 months to think
about it. Most of us who were eligible were allowed to file the initial papers
with HR knowing that we could withdraw them up
to the last day, which was going to be July 1st,
1995. I was joined by 9,999 other employees and
we walked out on that day. I never looked back!
From the moment of the first announcement I
began to really worry about having enough! I
took the retirement classes that my credit union
and the company offered, but they couldn't tell
me how much was going to be enough. The only
figure they would wave about was that it was
going to cost us from 60% to 80% of what we were
living on that day. Even with their generous
offer, I would only barely reach those numbers
with my pension which was going to be okay
because I had also been participating in IRA's
and a company savings/retirement savings plan. A
bonus was coming in 4 years when I reached 62;
SS could start.
The point of all this demonstrates my concern
about having enough income in retirement. The
day did come and in retrospect the pre-planning
did well. The first week I was getting up at
5:30 AM, but didn't have anywhere to go. The
second week I began filling in the time with
projects I'd not been able to finish while
working. The third week I was taking on new
projects and by the end of the first month the
thought occurred to me that if they called me
back to work that I didn't have time. I
continued to worry about finances for another
month or two and realized a simple truth. My
standard of living hadn't changed much, but I was learning to live
within the budget available to me just as I had
been doing for every working day of my life.
Also, the pre-planning years earlier were paying
off.
So it is with every other retired person I know.
It seems so simple and logical now. Getting back
to the question of cost of living in the RP, I
don't think location has as much to do with it
as you might think. Large population centers
tend to be more expensive than the provinces,
some a little more than others. How you choose
to live has more to do with it than anything
else. If you want to live in expensive gated
communities with all the western amenities
you'll have no trouble spending whatever income
is available to you. If you chose a simple rural
life, very little is needed to survive. 80% of
the Filipino population lives on less than
P5,000-P10,000 per month. Bottom line, only you
can decide. Come on over for a while. Learn
about living here and find what makes your life
comfortable. Keep a back out plan in your hip
pocket, but give it a try by all means.
Ron October 14, 2006
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