Cost of living, don't be fooled

[Hestecrefter]

Not before a trial by your peers.

Can't I just plead guilty and accept my sentence?

If not, can you say who will be the trial judge and outline the jury selection process?  Will I be granted some peremptory challenges?  Where will be the trial venue?  Lots to consider.

[Lee2]

Can't I just plead guilty and accept my sentence?

If not, can you say who will be the trial judge and outline the jury selection process?  Will I be granted some peremptory challenges?  Where will be the trial venue?  Lots to consider.

Your sentence is to adopt me. hehehehe 

[Hestecrefter]

Your sentence is to adopt me. hehehehe 

Well son, welcome to the family!

[Lee2]

Well son, welcome to the family!

Lol, surely a fate worse than a flogging... 

Your post was fine, it just shows how different we all are and how differently each of us wishes to live, basically sort of what I have been writing for years.

My warnings to people new to the Philippines are just that, I have personally seen guys who are stuck here or who had gotten stuck here in the past and it always hurts me to have to see or to have seen them suffering first hand. I am happy with the decisions my wife and I have made and how we live our life, I always hope everyone else can also be happy with how they live their lives.

[lost_in_samoa]

Can't I just plead guilty and accept my sentence?

No.  If you weigh as much as a duck we have to burn you.  Somebody get the large set of scales.

[Hestecrefter]

No.  If you weigh as much as a duck we have to burn you.  Somebody get the large set of scales.

I fear not.  I am just a hummingbird!

[clarkee]

Just want to check I'm reading that right....$7,000 per month in the 1990's in a house that you owned, so no rent.  No idea what the $ exchange rate was back then, but that seems a helluva lot. At todays rate that is more than P365,000 per month, I seriously doubt there are many here with that sort of monthly budget, not me for sure.  We live very well on P80k per month in Davao city.

I was thinking the same thing!  With that kind of money my little butt would of stayed in the Southern US where I am now and I would live like a king. Wonder what kind of job he had?

[User444]

Given the nature of her trade, we tended to live a bit of a different lifestyle.  We usually had 2 or 3 maids living in and a driver and his wife living in.  In fact, looking back, I am probably being conservative in saying our burn rate was about $7,000 a month. 

Wow! Spending $7,000 USD per month in the PH is king-like. I never even earned that much per month in the States. You went from Canada to Los Angeles, to the Philippines, and back to Canada. You said your wife was a singer/entertainer? What did you do? 

[Hestecrefter]

Wow! Spending $7,000 USD per month in the PH is king-like. I never even earned that much per month in the States. You went from Canada to Los Angeles, to the Philippines, and back to Canada. You said your wife was a singer/entertainer? What did you do?

Perhaps best not to re-open the debate about what constitutes king-like, but I'll grant that even in Metro Manila, it's quite comfortable.

As for how I have earned my living, I have always worked as an attorney. I still do.  Happily, with the advent of the internet, I figured out how to be an online attorney.  It does not pay as well as working in a downtown office in a big city, but I don't miss that at all.  It pays reasonably well, my time is entirely flexible, I can work from anywhere in the world, and my overhead amounts to no more than the cost of a computer and internet access, which I would pay for anyway.  I no longer put in as many hours a week working.  But I keep up some work as a form of brain exercise.  It may have no effect, and I cannot cite any medical authority for this, but my own belief is that being required on a regular basis to really have to focus one's thoughts on a matter will help stave off things like Alzheimer's disease.  So, unlike most today, who start in their 20s to to look for ways to "retire" as soon as possible, I am quite content to never retire, not because I need the income, but because I like what I do and I believe it has benefits beyond a paycheck.

[Hestecrefter]

Time for a long overdue corrigendum:

Hestercrefter I never said I spend php 48K on food.  We do spend a lot more than most Filipinos due since I like good food.  t

Sorry Chuck.  Quite right.  I misspoke.  I meant to refer to kuya Art:

The only huge monthly expense is our grocery bill of P48,000. My wife buys alot of imported stuff that your average budget minded Filipino would steer away from.

[lost_in_samoa]

I keep up some work as a form of brain exercise.  It may have no effect, and I cannot cite any medical authority for this, but my own belief is that being required on a regular basis to really have to focus one's thoughts on a matter will help stave off things like Alzheimer's disease.  So, unlike most today, who start in their 20s to to look for ways to "retire" as soon as possible, I am quite content to never retire, not because I need the income, but because I like what I do and I believe it has benefits beyond a paycheck.

You put that very well.  Thank you.

[User444]

Happily, with the advent of the internet, I figured out how to be an online attorney. It may have no effect, and I cannot cite any medical authority for this, but my own belief is that being required on a regular basis to really have to focus one's thoughts on a matter will help stave off things like Alzheimer's disease.  So, unlike most today, who start in their 20s to to look for ways to "retire" as soon as possible, I am quite content to never retire, not because I need the income, but because I like what I do and I believe it has benefits beyond a paycheck.

Agreed. Have to keep the brain active. Online work is the way to go. Thank you for the information.

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

Time for a long overdue corrigendum:

Sorry Chuck.  Quite right.  I misspoke.  I meant to refer to kuya Art:

Just an update, our present monthly grocery budget is now P60,000, since my wife's entire family of 5 are temporarily living with us in our small home. We live in a very expensive area in a modern province suburb of Laguna, where price of everything are ridiculous.