as I said, I do not wish to eat local foods, thanks for telling me that there is nothing wrong with it, of that I do not doubt, however, as I re state my position, I dont want them.
Thanks for the information.
as I said, I do not wish to eat local foods, thanks for telling me that there is nothing wrong with it, of that I do not doubt, however, as I re state my position, I dont want them.
Thanks for the information.
Pete_Forum Moderator
Philippines marriage, Courtships, UK Entry Clearance
Could you imagine eating fried dried fish in vinegar every dayThey don't even feed the prisoners in Burma that......even they think it's cruel
Keith - Administrator
I have found that you will get to really like some local food (Lechon Manok, Bulalo, Tinola, mangoes, young coconut,non stinky fish etc) but will always buy/import some food stuffs, so the local produce lower costs help cancel out our expensive imports. Also once you are in the ex pat community you find that one guy will group/bulk order meat form Aus, one guy will do the same with wines, one with cheeses etc so you just place your order with him and get what you need. The Puerto Princessa ex pat community is mainly German, Dutch, Swiss, Italian and several Brits so just about any European food stuffs can be got by someone through an importer in Manila. I agree with Pete that you will neary always crave/want certain foods and you will pay to get them.
Saying that I have lived in Hong Kong for several years and am returning to Birmingham next week and already know I will miss certain chinese dishes not easily found in the UK.
Live your life for a reason and don't worry be happy
if you don't know where you are going then any road will do!!
Thats why it is so difficult in pinning down an exact or even approximate cost for any one person to live here(or anywhere abroad)..Originally Posted by ginapeterb
Truth is..The only way to find out is to do a 6 month dummy run.
I think no matter where people choose to live,it makes sense to try and fit in as much as possible regards culture,language and food etc.
This is one of the biggest complaints I hear from Brits in the UK regarding British immigrants..(and with much justification IMO)
Cheers,
Fred.
Some folks live here in the style to which they have been acustomed to at home. Living in protected enclaves with maids, drivers, eating food that is like what they are used to eating back home, they gather only with other like kind expats and never experience the Philippine culture.It is their loss.
Others come, live among the local people, learn the enjoy the best of Filipino life, food and culture, these folks are enriched because of it.
The former smacks of the old colonial mentality, expressing a disdain for, or looking down upon what is different or alien to them. We call them Peso millionaires.
Well said RHB!!
Those thinking of moving here and adopting your attitude will vastly increase their chances of living here successfully.
When I was flee high to a grasshopper (in olden times) we had a strange new foreign looking shop open in our town.
It was something called a Chinese resteraunt.
The rumours started flying about this disgusting place killing cats and dogs around the back and disguising this rubbish with strange looking sauces to fool us.
A large gang of kids would chant "Chinks go home" and smash their windows.
This went on for a couple of months but us kids soon got bored and moved on.
6 months later we would all be sitting outside the Chinkies stuffing ourselves with egg fried rice and sweet and sour pork !!
My point being..Try it..You might even like it!
.
I only eat mainly Chinese, 90% of the time.
Keith - Administrator
A bit better than salted fishCould you imagine eating fried dried fish in vinegar every day
I asked a similar question/poll on one of the yahoo groups, the q. was how much would a 50 y.o need to invest @6% p.a if he had £25000 capital and had his own house in the phils to have a reasonable lifestyle, the main answer was about £100,000, but I think it is possible to have less, I can live without a/c many can't, I like local dishes, when I lived in Mabolo, Cebu for 6 months I ate my breakfast in a little shackalong the road, one day a local was sitting next to me and asked why I was eating there and not in the malls like all the other foreigners, I replied " well if the food hadn't killed him yet, it's likely it won't kill me and the lady who owns the carendaria needs my money more than the restuarants in the mall" he came back with the reply " you are a very humble man" I was just budgeting! the lady appreciated my 35peso everyday and the locals got really friendly, but I do believe in the old saying "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" this case Phils n Filipino's
I believe that most of us who are in the Phils for a while do engage in the local culture, food, local customs/festivals etc and thoroughly enjoy doing so BUT you will miss somethings from home or Europe in general and if you can access them at a reasonable cost then why not. I for one have several local friends admittedly most are more well to do locals but they still insist that when we eat at their place we will eat Palaweno cuisine and there are few things I have not enjoyed. Going back to the cost of living in the original post I think it is fair to say that it will be what you chose it to be as will the whole living in the Phils experience.
Live your life for a reason and don't worry be happy
if you don't know where you are going then any road will do!!
What a great post - in my opinion!
Al.
Thanks Alan, considering moving to Dumaguete myself, do you know Dave Golding there originally from Reading?
Whats british and phill food?
Eating chicken or pork, rice and gravy is that phill or british?
Eaten it in both countries.
Some phill foods i would rather not eat some, i get along with and others i think are brillant.
In the UK many people from abroad never eat "british" food but many who have been here a while and were fairly young when first here, mainly seem to eat a more british (ie foods and ingredients from all over the world) food whatever you call that.
If i moved to Phill it would only be for the Wife, hoping to move with my Company either to Hong kong or Phill. How much you would need depends on how long you plan to live there.
As the world turns upside down a British state pension may not go very far in Asia in 20 or 30 years time.
By then I would be well past caring...
We just move to another 3rd world country.......like Belgium....
Keith - Administrator
It depends on what standard of living you can tolerate with. May it be in the province and staying in a big house with farm where veggies and fruits can be harvested in your own backyard or a farm or in Manila and staying in small municipality and can learn to eat the local food or in Manila and staying in exclusive subdivisions. In posh villages you have to pay for guard fees, water bill is quite high because you have a landscape garden, pay an association dues, can maintain at least 2 househelpers and a driver, etc.
" The people who mean something to your life are not rated "the best" don't have the most money, haven't won the greatest prizes....
They are the ones who care about you, take care of you, those who, no matter what, stay close by... "
Well, a variety of answers there, mostly saying depending on required quality of life.
Personally I would expect a more varied diet than my in-laws would eat. Rice 3 times a day, every day! No, thanks! I'd have to ship in some more international food, not necessarily fish and chips and steak and kidney pie.
By my reckoning, £100,000 in the bank would give you nearer P29,000 assuming you left it in a UK bank, and if the exchange rate or interest rate dropped then you'd have nothing to fall back on.
Perhaps P40,000 (£500) a month would be confortable. I'd certainly have that from my state pension but that's 20 years away. Ironically by that age I'd have money flooding in but might be too old to enjoy it.
If I had my pension, income from money in the bank from selling my house, eventually I'd inherit my parents house which I might rent out, that would be about P148,000 a month! Wow I could live like a king.
However, If I was to retire early I think I would have to settle on the P29,000 a month and supplement it by turning our Phils house into a pension house/ resort. We could probably make another P40,000 a month minimum especially if we have a pool. Just a thought.
Actually you could do much better than that at todays interest rate and exchange rates..100K @ 6.75% would produce P45,000 a month tax free.
If you could make even 20k from your resort thats 65k PHP per month..
Not too shabby!
There are some pretty good ways to increase that amount by investing a small proportion of your 100K (lets say 10K) in a rural bank deposit which would produce 20%.
These are 5 year time deposits interest paid monthly.
(no more than 250,000 in any one acc as this is the max coverage for governments PDIC insurance)
However that aside..P65,000 in the province should = a pretty reasonable standard of living for most.
Last night i was watching some of the house buying and building shows revisted which i think were repeated from a while back pre recession. Many were making assumptions like if prices rise, if rates say low, if exchange rate this. Very risky surely you would need income based in phill or asia. As inflation, exchange rates will not favour a brit at present or in the future.what if they bring in a new taxation system first people to cop it surely the joes.
If he sells now he can bank the cash and start earning interest from day one.
If he holds onto the house and the prices drop he could be stuck with it and perhaps face negative equity..
If the house values keep going up then his cash will lose value and he`ll have trouble getting back on the housing ladder..
What if he loses his job?
Always lots of what ifs..
Thats life.
???what if they bring in a new taxation system
If you had £100,000 you'd put it in a Swiss account, not the UK where it is ripped off & taxed.
What's with the maids & driver? I'd be moving for the better climate, not to turn into some posh git that is the envy of the locals, I wouldn't call that 'blending in'.
Keith - Administrator
Admin.. If you are a resident abroad (outside EU) then UK tax doesnt come into it.
Yeah........... I can just imagine a 6 foot + scouser trying to "blend in" in the Philippines......If you had £100,000 you'd put it in a Swiss account, not the UK where it is ripped off & taxed.
What's with the maids & driver? I'd be moving for the better climate, not to turn into some posh git that is the envy of the locals, I wouldn't call that 'blending in'.
here we have if you can live like a poor filipino, you can live on £75 a month and that is with your asawa and 3 kids
The National Statistical Coordination Board said the latest nationwide family income survey showed that a total of 4.7 million families — or 27.6 million Filipinos — were considered poor in 2006, up 16 percent from four million in 2003.
It said incidence of poor families rose to 26.9 percent in 2006 from 24.4 percent in 2003, but remained below the 27.5 percent figure for 2000, the year before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was swept to power.
The agency estimates the poverty threshold — the monthly income that a family of five requires to meet basic needs — rose to 6,274 pesos ($154) in 2006, from 5,129 pesos ($126) in 2003 and 4,774 pesos ($117) in 2000.
You get taxed on the interest until you can prove you are no longer resident in the UK, and can only do that after 6 months at the earliest. And you try and prove thatAdmin.. If you are a resident abroad (outside EU) then UK tax doesnt come into it.
Keith - Administrator
Why would I take a 6'+ scouser with me?Yeah........... I can just imagine a 6 foot + scouser trying to "blend in" in the Philippines......
Keith - Administrator
When are you non-resident for UK tax?
You'll be treated as non-resident from the day after you leave the UK if you can show:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/LeavingOrComingIntoTheUK/DG_10026234
- you left the UK to go abroad permanently or your absence and full-time work abroad lasts at least the whole tax year
- your visits to the UK are less than 183 days in a tax year and average less than 91 days a tax year over a maximum of four consecutive years.
...and I go back to the 'How do you prove you left permanently?'. The majority of folk have to wait for the 2nd rule to kick in.....but I go back to a previous point....Why the hell woud you want it in a UK bank anyway?
Keith - Administrator
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