Why Retire in the Philippines?

The Philippines is a wonderful place to retire for many reasons. First is the Filipinos themselves, different from ones you may know in the your country who have adopted western culture and western values at least superficially. The true Filipino is a joy to be around, once you understand a little about the culture and values of these island, tribal people, and their extended family system. See the link to Philippine Culture on the left for a pretty full explanation of the Filipino Culture and the click on the Resource link and download a free book, "The Filipino Mind," a brilliant free book by Leonardo Mercado a Filipino cultural anthropologist, or maybe better said a bi-cultural Filipino anthropologist.

Also the link to the left, Living in the Philippines Books Stores, will show you a book you can buy from Amazon called Culture Shock, Philippines, almost indispensable. The Insight Guide to the Philippines is there too. It is a winner! Join the List, do your homework, ask questions and I believe you are going to come take a look. And when you go back, if you do, you will want to return and maybe even live or retire here, or maybe just travel. You might be bold enough to start a business. Or you can forget the list, forget the reading and just come over like I did, roll with the punches and have a wonderful time! When I did it there was no list of expats to advise, no Internet, few books and bad information from Filipinos in the States who were very unhappy here and rather than encourage me to visit the Philippines, told me, "Don't go der! Some Filipinos don't make the best ambassadors for their country they could, since the have bought into the way of the host country they have adopted. But most still long to be here in their hearts, from what I see. And the ones who return are happy to be here. Most just go for the money. Smart ones get it and come back, in my opinion.

Of course there are the more tangible things. You can have inexpensive, loyal, honest maids, helpers and nurses for only small wages, and they live in. You will have to search for a good one, but they are available.The people here respect older people and they are honored and appreciated for their knowledge.

Retiring in the Philippines is the light of my life, and I have had a good one. I don't need the nurses yet, but I certainly find the maids, helpers and cooks a great asset. I don't have to go and pay my bills, do any chores, not even go to the bank, because I have honest people to help me.

There are so many things to do doing your retirement here, (See the links, you can access from Things to Do, on the left) from golf to just sitting in the modern shopping malls and parks, watching the lovely people go by with their delightful smiles, warm and from the inside. And they will make eye contact with you, stop and talk, if they speak pretty good English and even if they don't, many times.

Retire Early While You Are Still Alive!

For many reasons, more and more people are retiring at an early age, some because they find out, they can, in other countries, in comparative luxury. The growing trend for the retirement is also based on the fact that people are enticed to retire early than continue working and wait until they reach their retirement age of 65.

In fact, most of the surveys conducted in the United States asserted that 60 to 65% of the respondents would dearly love to retire early. But they just don't know how to swing it. They evidently do not know about the Philippines where it "can be,": and in class. There are many benefits that people can derive when they retire early despite some of the negative financial consequences some experience like I did.

Here is a list of some of the reasons why retiring early can be a pretty risky activity, certainly in a costly country.. If you retire in a low cost country, were your language is spoken, English for most reading this, the list below is not so daunting.

1. Social Security Changes:

When people will retire at an early age, there is a great possibility that they cannot immediately obtain their Social Security benefits. This is because according to the rules and regulations of Social Security, anyone who is born after 1938 will have to wait longer than their retirement age of 65 before they can get their benefits.

Hence, early retirement may only contribute to a negative upshot if the older people’s finances where not managed properly and the only thing they expect to help them are the Social Security benefits they can get. Social Security is just not enough for the States. In the Philippines it "can be" pwede .

2. If people who took early retirement get sick, they cannot acquire some Medicare benefits.

This is because the age when people can get their Medicare benefits is when they already turn 65. Hence, if they are hospitalized and they have already filed for their early retirement, they have to obtain the necessary amount of money in order to cover the expenses in the hospital without Medicare. If you are in the Philippines where a visit to a specialist is $3.00, unless you have a serious illness you may be able to get by very well. Everyone can be financially injured by serious medical bills, but more likely in a developed country than here.

3. Penalty charges apply to those who retired early and had withdrawn their IRAs early.

For people who would like to retire at an early age and wish to obtain their IRAs, they have to face a hefty 10% penalty charge.

Moreover, experts contend that the nest egg of people who wish to retire early is only 80% of what they should be getting when they retire at the age of 65.

The bottom line is that early retirement is, indeed, a personal choice and preference of an individual but one must consider the factors that may affect their life in the end. Some like me feel early retirement in the Philippines is a really good deal, a new and better life too. But I had visited several times, been an international traveler and found the spot I wanted. Others should come over first and check it out.. No country for everyone. You need to be a little flexible and culturally adaptable to change culture, have tolerance, rejoice in the differences not fight them.

What are You Waiting for? Do it Now, Tomorrow never comes. Alan Watts, The Book.

For unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax. There is no point whatever in making plans for a future which you will never be able to enjoy. When your plans mature, you will still be living for some other future beyond. You will never, never be able to sit back with full contentment and say, "Now, I've arrived!" Your entire education has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now.

In other words, you have been hypnotized or conditioned by an educational processing-system arranged in grades or steps, supposedly leading to some ultimate Success. First nursery school or kindergarten, then the grades or forms of elementary school, preparing you for the great moment of secondary school! But then more steps, up and up to the coveted goal of the university. Here, if you are clever, you can stay on indefinitely by getting into graduate school and becoming a permanent student. Otherwise, you are headed step by step for the great Outside World of family-raising, business, and profession. Yet graduation day is a very temporary fulfillment, for with your first sales-promotion meeting you are back in the same old system, being urged to make that quota (and if you do, they'll give you a higher quota) and so progress up the ladder to sales manager, vice-president, and, at last, president of your own show (about forty to forty-five years old). In the meantime, the insurance and investment people have been interesting you in plans for Retirement-that really ultimate goal of being able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of all your labors. But when that day comes, your anxieties and exertions will have left you with a weak heart, false teeth, prostate trouble, sexual impotence, fuzzy eyesight, and a vile digestion.

All this might have been wonderful if, at every stage, you had been able to play it as a game, finding your work as fascinating as poker, chess, or fishing. But for most of us the day is divided into work-time and playtime, the work consisting largely of tasks which others pay us to do because they are abysmally uninteresting.

We therefore work, not for the work's sake, but for money-and money is supposed to get us what we really want in our hours of leisure and play. In the United States even poor people have lots of money compared with the wretched and skinny millions of India, Africa, and China, while our middle and upper classes (or should we say "income groups"?) are as prosperous as princes. Yet, by and large, they have but slight taste for pleasure. Money alone cannot buy pleasure, though it can help. For enjoyment is an art and a skill for which we have little talent or energy.

What Money Cannot Buy

Money can buy a bed, but it cannot buy sleep.

Money can buy books but it cannot by brains.

Money can buy food but not appetite.

Money can buy finery, but not beauty.

Money can buy a house but not a home.

Money can buy medicine, but not health.

Money can buy luxuries, but not culture.

Money can buy amusement, but not happiness.

Money can buy companions but not friends.

Money can buy flattery, but not respect.

If you buy the above can you buy what you have may be enough.Maybe you have a 10 bedroom house now. How many beds do you sleep in? How many cars do you have, and do you have time to drive them all.Or are you too busy making more' money for the future that never comes.