Up sticks and just go

[stevewool]

Can you just do that if you think you are ready to leave England and go to another place to try to live?
What would be the things that may stop you?
If you have enough cash to see you through your last years what else can go wrong, dont mention your health because there is little you can do to avoid health issues other then try to live healthily,
So what is the true cost of just saying sod it, forget rent or food and other utility bills, what about visas or other fees that you have to pay?
Is it right if you are married to a native you only have to pay per year, and after so many years does it go away, what other hidden charges are there too?
So our long term friends and others who have tried , what could be the true unseen cost that i may not be thinking of?

[Michael Parnham]

I did it with just my pension, went to immigration paid a couple of thousand peso's every two months and every third or fourth visit I paid seven thousand, as I've said before one can live very comfortably on about £800 per month and you can save half of that if you're good at budgeting. Your first year won't need a visa being married to a filipina

[jonnijon]

I retired 8th June 2012 and I was in the Philippines on the 13th.

[Terpe]

Can you just do that if you think you are ready to leave England and go to another place to try to live?
What would be the things that may stop you?

Steve, the simple answer is yes.

But.....there are, as always, things to understand and consider.
I'll try to help a little.

As you know Steve you don't need a visa to enter the Philippines. Everyone gets a 30 day visa free period which is easily extendable at the going rate. Such tourist visa's can be extended by way of a visa waiver first, granting an additional stay of 29 days then after that applications for 1 month, 2 month & 6 months extensions. This can continue for up to combined total of 36 months

Since you are married to a Philippine Citizen you'll get a 1 year visa free period stamp in your passport under a privilege of the The Balikbayan Program.
The major advantage being you get is that it doesn't cost you anything for that initial one year stay.
But, that 1 year Balikbayan Visa-free period cannot be extended. It expires after one year.
At that time you basically have three options:-

1. Leave the Country for 24 hours min then return together the next day and get another 1 year Balikbayan visa-free and continue the cycle.

2. Convert it to a regular tourist visa at BI office and follow the renewal intervals as explained above under tourist visa.
As mentioned before this route is limited to a 36 month cycle.

3. Convert to a section 13(a) permanent residency in the Philippines. You eligible for this visa on the basis of your marriage to a Philippine citizen.

Finally, you might find it interesting to consider the Retirement Visa under the "Special Resident Retiree's Visa" (SRRV)
Yes, it's more expensive than the other routes mentioned, but it does have a number of additional benefits.
Anyway, as I recall there's a special category for former Filipinos which costs a lot less than the standard. It's called SRRV Courtesy and is around USD1500
Well worth looking at for someone like yourself.

More later Steve. Got to go out just now.

[Terpe]

Whoops, reposted as looks like my internet had a problem.

Some more on section 13(a) permanent residency.

You have a choice on whether to apply in the UK or whether to apply when you're in the Philippines.
Personally I believe the section 13(a) has some benefits (apart from the ability to leave the country an re-enter without an exit-ticket)

For a number of reasons I wasn't able to secure my 13(a) before departing for the Philippines.
So I entered under BB privilege and made my application for conversion to 13(a) whilst living here.
Means I needed to secure all the mandatory legalised documents for my application before leaving the UK
Take a look at the Philippines BI website for details on how to apply.

Alternatively you can apply for 13(a) at the Philippine Embassy London. Take a look at their website for requirements.

[Terpe]

Here's the website for the SRRV:-

http://www.pra.gov.ph/main/srrv_program?page=1

[Terpe]

....If you have enough cash to see you through your last years what else can go wrong, dont mention your health because there is little you can do to avoid health issues other then try to live healthily

Don’t believe everything you hear about very cheap Philippines Retirement.
Personally I could not live like a king on USD700 per month which is something banded about the internet.

The first thing I'd say is be extremely cautious about moving to the Philippines with only cash savings to see you through until any pensions become payable.
Money can easily slip through your fingers, even on normal daily living let alone touring around in 'holiday fashion'

I'd say wait until you have pension income.

If you want to enjoy your retirement with only a pension income and a good nestegg, and do all those things you want, the I say you'll easily need a minimum disposable income of around P30k-P50k. Means not including housing and utility costs.
Others may disagree, it does depend on the life you want. I want more than just existing in ex-pat bubble. I want to travel around, at least my surrounding areas. Living for me means eating out once in a while, shopping for clothes and some those bits and bobs that make life good. Living in a nice safe environment, in a place that has proper walls, a roof and garden. Having some kind of reasonable internet access and cable TV.
Arriving in the Philippines without adequate funding will very soon turn your dream into a nightmare.

Don't ask what is adequate. Define/list those things that you want out of your life here and everyone will help put a cost to each. Add it all up. You'll see what I mean.

Living off your nestegg just isn't viable. Well unless it runs to Pmillions
Living off savings for 5 years with a grand total monthly spend of say P80k will end up at P4.8M
That's a big chunk of over £68k gone forever.

Sorry if I misunderstood anything.
Just sharing something

[Terpe]

...So our long term friends and others who have tried , what could be the true unseen cost that i may not be thinking of?

There's always unforseen costs here. Just as anywhere

[SimonH]

Living off your nestegg just isn't viable. Well unless it runs to Pmillions
Living off savings for 5 years with a grand total monthly spend of say P80k will end up at P4.8M
That's a big chunk of over £68k gone forever.

Surely it's the same here though Steve

The only difference is that you work to earn, and then use this as your living expenses. So the solution is to make your nest egg earn instead of you, one example maybe to rent your UK property out instead of selling up and use that income as your 'wages' or if you do sell then invest that money so it gives your a monthly return.

[stevewool]

Thanks Peter for such valuable information, lots of reading to do,
I am not ready just yet so these plans are a long time in making,
Simon you are right , we are renting out our house here when we do make the move that plus two little pensions should bring in more then enough for what i am needing, this is before the state pension comes in, plus what i am doing now is saving for the just in case, but how much do you want for the just in case,
Surely that amount is for emergencies , some say £5000, some say £10,000 , but what if you have £100,000 now having that amount just sitting there waiting for the just in case is a little silly,
So my way of thinking if we want that expensive thing , a trip here into the hundreds, thousands , well we have that, plus the money we dont use from month to month too, lots of planning still to do before we make that trip,
Great if this all happens, but as they say stranger things can happen at sea they say

[Iani]

MAYBE as Simon said, an option is renting out your UK property. That has got me thinking - not because I'm planning on doing this, but finances and costing has always interested me.
With the economy as it stands, forecasts (aka guesses) and changes to the rules as announced in the budget, perhaps this is most viable if you no longer have a mortgage - well I'd personally only say it's viable without a mortgage.

So, let's say you have a house in my area, and it's a starter home in a decent enough area - be worth circa 100 to 130k (Don't laugh, this is a good place with much culture, easy transport links and near one of the biggest financial centres outside of London).

So here's your options:

Sell up and use the "nest egg". £130,000 - how far will that get you to last "forever" - your retirement years? You're best at working that out.

Sell up, put that in a UK bank and "earn" from interest. Well frankly you'll be lucky there getting a decent interest rate, but if you can somehow build up over a few years in ISA's (You can't of course put that amount in at one go in a year) then it's going to be a bit less than 3k a year.

Rent it out - now we are in the realms of hope to goodness your tenants aren't idiots and wreck the place, don't pay up or it isn't empty for too long between lettings, but if all goes well, you could for the type of house I'm thinking of, in this local area you'd get £450 to £500 a month, maybe a bit more if your house is worth that bit more.
Obviously in the south where houses are more expensive, yes you'd get more by selling, but you will also achieve higher rents, so the ratios of earnings are going to be similar
But by using my example, let's say then £5400 a year, but less letting fees, maintenance, checks etc.
Fall lucky and get about 5k a year. Obviously not enough to live on, but combine this with company pension, other income - and it could just turn an uncertainty into a portfolio you could manage on.

[stevewool]

MAYBE as Simon said, an option is renting out your UK property. That has got me thinking - not because I'm planning on doing this, but finances and costing has always interested me.
With the economy as it stands, forecasts (aka guesses) and changes to the rules as announced in the budget, perhaps this is most viable if you no longer have a mortgage - well I'd personally only say it's viable without a mortgage.

So, let's say you have a house in my area, and it's a starter home in a decent enough area - be worth circa 100 to 130k (Don't laugh, this is a good place with much culture, easy transport links and near one of the biggest financial centres outside of London).

So here's your options:

Sell up and use the "nest egg". £130,000 - how far will that get you to last "forever" - your retirement years? You're best at working that out.

Sell up, put that in a UK bank and "earn" from interest. Well frankly you'll be lucky there getting a decent interest rate, but if you can somehow build up over a few years in ISA's (You can't of course put that amount in at one go in a year) then it's going to be a bit less than 3k a year.

Rent it out - now we are in the realms of hope to goodness your tenants aren't idiots and wreck the place, don't pay up or it isn't empty for too long between lettings, but if all goes well, you could for the type of house I'm thinking of, in this local area you'd get £450 to £500 a month, maybe a bit more if your house is worth that bit more.
Obviously in the south where houses are more expensive, yes you'd get more by selling, but you will also achieve higher rents, so the ratios of earnings are going to be similar
But by using my example, let's say then £5400 a year, but less letting fees, maintenance, checks etc.
Fall lucky and get about 5k a year. Obviously not enough to live on, but combine this with company pension, other income - and it could just turn an uncertainty into a portfolio you could manage on.

SNAP , also remember if you have no mortgage or rent to pay where you may end up all the money you have or most of it will be spent wisely on yourself,
So far so good, plans are still on course but again like anything in life things could change

[stevewool]

But by using my example, let's say then £5400 a year, but less letting fees, maintenance, checks etc.
Fall lucky and get about 5k a year. Obviously not enough to live on, but combine this with company pension, other income - and it could just turn an uncertainty into a portfolio you could manage on.

In the plans i have thought about so far i will be renting out the house here for less then that i am looking at clearing £400 a month straight into my bank account so £4800 a year , its being rented to my daughter for a agreed price and term , then after that time its hers, no intrest to pay , so she is happy and i am happy too, the only problem i can see is she does not pay, but its all in my name so it can always be sold,