How rich we really are

[Lee2]

I wonder if some people realize just how rich they actually are, based on their pensions or SS alone. If a person was to try to match a pension or social security by buying an annuity at today's money, then they might be surprised to see how much money it would take to equal their pension or ss.

Depending on a persons age and the age of their spouse (if included), check it out. https://www.immediateannuities.com/
Just as an example, my wife being much younger than me, a joint annuity would have to be US 500k to equal under US $2000 a month and 250k would bring in around $1000 a month, so some of you are actually millionaires in pesos and sometimes many times over for some, just with your pensions and or social security... See how lucky many of us are and how we need to count our blessings, I know I am thankful all the time for what I get and have...How about you?

[jjcabgou]

I wonder if some people realize just how rich they actually are, based on their pensions or SS alone. If a person was to try to match a pension or social security by buying an annuity at today's money, then they might be surprised to see how much money it would take to equal their pension or ss.

Depending on a persons age and the age of their spouse (if included), check it out. https://www.immediateannuities.com/
Just as an example, my wife being much younger than me, a joint annuity would have to be US 500k to equal under US $2000 a month and 250k would bring in around $1000 a month, so some of you are actually millionaires in pesos and sometimes many times over for some, just with your pensions and or social security... See how lucky many of us are and how we need to count our blessings, I know I am thankful all the time for what I get and have...How about you?

Compared to the "average" Filipino family I would say most foreigners here are above average, but I would not come close to saying we are millionaires even after converting to the PESO.  Most foreigners that come here are not wealthy and are able to get more for less here.  I am probably the poorest person in my sub division, but compared to the people I buy our Gulay from, I am probably viewed as wealthy.  Its all relative, but we are NOT millionaires  hhahahaha not even close.  There are MANY MANY MANY MANY Filipinos with LOTS of money.  J

[bigrod]

FYI:  https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/3o2jae/289_philippiness_average_monthly_income/

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

FYI:  https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/3o2jae/289_philippiness_average_monthly_income/

Only (1) Singapore and (2) Brunei does not equate to being a millionaire in their country, except for in the countries listed as 3 to 10 including the Philippines if one has a monthly income of $1,800 or more, but sad to say, with a monthly income of $289 to $397 represents those only living like a local just to survive. 
So yes, as a foreigner with a monthly income of $1,800 U.S. a month makes one a millionaire under Philippine standards, but those with less than $1,800 a month can make do just fine depending on their location, spending habits and lifestyle.   

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

Compared to the "average" Filipino family I would say most foreigners here are above average, but I would not come close to saying we are millionaires even after converting to the PESO.  Most foreigners that come here are not wealthy and are able to get more for less here.  I am probably the poorest person in my sub division, but compared to the people I buy our Gulay from, I am probably viewed as wealthy.  Its all relative, but we are NOT millionaires  hhahahaha not even close.  There are MANY MANY MANY MANY Filipinos with LOTS of money.  J

JJ,
Don't feel bad. Where we live, we are the one of a few pooreigner millionaires in our subdivision. 

[jjcabgou]

Only (1) Singapore and (2) Brunei does not equate to being a millionaire in their country, except for in the countries listed as 3 to 10 including the Philippines if one has a monthly income of $1,800 or more, but sad to say, with a monthly income of $289 to $397 represents those only living like a local just to survive. 
So yes, as a foreigner with a monthly income of $1,800 U.S. a month makes one a millionaire under Philippine standards, but those with less than $1,800 a month can make do just fine depending on their location, spending habits and lifestyle.

I still disagree to a point especially when tossing the word "millionaire" around.  What skews the numbers is the disparity between those with money and those with less than the average salaries.  The middle class in the Philippines is virtually non-existent.  You have poor, and you have the fricken dirt poor and then you have the wealthy.  I bet my retirement for the rest of my life that most foreigners have much less money than the "Wealthy" Filipinos. 

[bigrod]

I agree because you make a million piso a year does not really make you a millionaire, because that is disposable income and normally you would not have a million at the end of a year.  Now if you own a multi million piso house/car/boat etc, yes I would consider you a piso millionaire.  I make a little more than the current President of the Philippines per month since his salary is 120K a month, but the next President will be 400K a month.

Chuck

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

I agree because you make a million piso a year does not really make you a millionaire, because that is disposable income and normally you would not have a million at the end of a year.  Now if you own a multi million piso house/car/boat etc, yes I would consider you a piso millionaire.  I make a little more than the current President of the Philippines per month since his salary is 120K a month, but the next President will be 400K a month.

Chuck

I don't make P400,000 a month and we may not own a mansion with a few multi-million peso luxury vehicles parked in our garage (that's one of our rich Filipino neighbor just down the street from us), but we do have over P1,000,000 left at the end of the year after expenses. Yes, we consider ourselves rich and sort of frugal.
This article was for 2010, but I'm sure it hasn't increased that much to date.

http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/socioeconomic-class-philippines-rich/
National Statical Coordination Board (NSCB).
Based on NSCB computations using the Family Income and Expenditure Surveys (FIES) and the Labor Force Survey (LFS), a family in the Philippines must earn at least PhP 2,393,126 a year or PhP 199,927 a month to be counted as part of the high-income class in 2010.
Simply stated, your family should be earning P200,000 a month or P2.4 million a year to be considered “rich” in the Philippines.

The Rich, the Poor and the Middle Class
Rich people are indeed a rarity, with rich families numbering only 20,000 or 0.1% of the total 17.4 million families in the country.
The middle class, on the other hand, earns an average of P36,934 per month.
The low income class earns an average of P9,061 per month.

[Lee2]

My point of this topic is that a person would need over $500,000 to put into an annuity to get US $2000 a month, thus whatever you are getting, be it in SS, or pension, or in both, then you may be a millionaire in pesos, not because you actually have that much money but because your pension is the same as if you did put that much into an annuity...

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

My point of this topic is that a person would need over $500,000 to put into an annuity to get US $2000 a month, thus whatever you are getting, be it in SS, or pension, or in both, then you may be a millionaire in pesos, not because you actually have that much money but because your pension is the same as if you did put that much into an annuity...

How many retired members on here or on other forums have over $500,000 to put into an annuity retirement account? I have never seen or held that much money at any point in time or ever during my entire young and adult working career, unless I robbed a bank and got away with it. That's why your topic ran astray. 

[Lee2]

How many retired members on here or on other forums have over $500,000 to put into an annuity retirement account? I have never seen or held that much money at any point in time or ever during my entire young and adult working career, unless I robbed a bank and got away with it. That's why your topic ran astray. 

You are not following what I wrote, if you get US $2000 a month, then that would be the same as if you put around $500,000 into an annuity if your wife is younger, you do not have to have that much money to be worth that much money. Some people have to buy themselves a pension, while others have gotten pensions from their jobs.

[itsgalf]

I'm actually always surprised how many Filipinos I always see that are in Starbucks or other places spending money on some pretty overpriced desserts. Or if I'm in the mall and see just how many people seem to be buying all of the merchandise that is either the same price as in the US or more. I wonder where all of this spending cash comes from.

[jjcabgou]

I'm actually always surprised how many Filipinos I always see that are in Starbucks or other places spending money on some pretty overpriced desserts. Or if I'm in the mall and see just how many people seem to be buying all of the merchandise that is either the same price as in the US or more. I wonder where all of this spending cash comes from.

Agreed, thats why find it mildly amusing and grossly inaccurate when I hear comments such as, "filipinos drink emperador because they cant afford san mig", or things of that nature.  Go to a mall in Greenbelt, the Fort, MOA, Cebu City, Davao.... not just a mall, go to any half way decent restaurant, or stand on the street and watch all the cars go by, MANY NICE NICE CARS etc.   You will see that a vast majority in all these places are filipinos.   Again there are only two classes, the wealthy and the poor and poorer, and there are a lot of wealthy filipino's.  The foreigners here are probably what should represent the middle class.  I dont meet many "rich" foreigners, quite the contrary, most of the foreigners I have met probably fall into the first tier of poor category.

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

I wonder if some people realize just how rich they actually are, based on their pensions or SS alone. If a person was to try to match a pension or social security by buying an annuity at today's money, then they might be surprised to see how much money it would take to equal their pension or ss.

Depending on a persons age and the age of their spouse (if included), check it out. https://www.immediateannuities.com/
Just as an example, my wife being much younger than me, a joint annuity would have to be US 500k to equal under US $2000 a month and 250k would bring in around $1000 a month, so some of you are actually millionaires in pesos and sometimes many times over for some, just with your pensions and or social security... See how lucky many of us are and how we need to count our blessings, I know I am thankful all the time for what I get and have...How about you?

A $2,000 a month pay out from a $500,000 annuity retirement fund doesn't sound real. Looks like there was some skimming off the top or bottom going on. I'm not a bean counter, but that is what it looks like to me.
I derived my monthly annuity pensions from working for the U.S. government for 30 yrs and I or my employer did not put $500,000 into my retirement plan, but just 9% of my AGI and if they did put in $500,000 in my retirement plan, it sure would be more than what I'm receiving to date.
I read the charts from the link and it doesn't appeal to me. Anyway, I never had the extra money to put in towards an annuity retirement plan for my wife, since she already has a Survivor's Benefit Plan (SBP) from my employment with the U.S. government upon my demise.
Even if I were to save $500 to $1,000 a month with interest for 30 yrs it still wouldn't even come close to $500,000.00 and or $2,000 a month. JMHO since I'm not a bean counter.
Any bean counters on here in the know of annuity retirement funds?

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

As I already mentioned in my previous posts, when we arrived here in 1998, my monthly U.S. government pension was only $1,700 a month, not enough to retire on and still live in N. California.
Luckily back in those days the dollar to peso exchange rate was around P50 to the dollar, meaning that my meager $1,700 a monthly pension came to P1,020,000 a year and the cost of living was pretty low at the time.
So yes, we were fortunate back in those days when the cost of living was still affordable, but now it has tripled somewhat and again I was fortunate that my U.S. government pensions also kept up with the increases with the Philippine local economy! Life is still good, for now!