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You're Reading This and Yet You Think You Aren't Lucky?

February 16, 2010 By Philly 6 Comments

So many people visit or write looking for that elusive “job for a foreigner” in the Philippines, or some other elusive ‘key’ that will unlock the door that is holding them back from moving to the Philippines, or getting out of debt and being able to ‘live large’ in the Philippines, or finding that all important Filipina sweetheart who is going to solve all the sad problems of man-woman relationships in their background, or … well you name it, they are a-looking.

Many times people leave no doubt that they think I am lucky because I m earning money without a job, because I already found my one-and-only Filipina, because both my wife and I can come and go from the Philippines or the US or most any other country we want to … and yes, I suppose they would be right if they call me lucky.

But I wasn’t born that way.  Nor, did I just happen across a streak of good fortune that’s going to be slipped out from under me in a heart beat.  And I don’t worry about black cats or walking under ladders or stepping on cracks the way so many do.

I wasn’t born lucky.  I believe in God and I believe God has blessed me, but in my personal theology, I don’t thing God worries much about my income or my visa status.  I think He pretty well leaves the ordinary working  side of my life up to me.  And I, in turn, spend quite a bit of my time making myself lucky.

Making myself lucky?  “Oh no”, I hear some of you saying,”That can’t happen Dave, you are just deluding yourself.”   Well, maybe so, life itself is sometimes just one big delusion, but I just came across this impressive article that pretty well proves, scientifically, what I already know to be true, personally.

Tune in to Lisa Hoover’s great article on Changing Your Own Luck by Changing Your Perspective

Think you have no control over how lucky you are in life? Psychologist Richard Wiseman says think again. Turns out you can learn to be a luckier person just by changing how you look at the world around you.

Wiseman studied the lives of 400 people over the course of 10 years and watched for any lucky breaks or chance encounters—both good and bad—they had along the way. He discovered that some people are prone to worse luck than others, but it may be possible to create your own good fortune by tweaking your perspective on things.

In interviews with the study’s volunteers, he realized that unlucky people are typically more anxious and tend to more hyperfocused on the specifics of a situation. Lucky people, on the other hand, are more laid-back and open to whatever opportunities present themselves.

My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good….

You can read the rest of the article, and I recommend you do, but everything that needs to be said has been said in the two places I have rendered in bold, above.

In my own experience with living in the Philippines, and in the experience of many of the folks I know who have also made the move, I find that the ‘lucky’ ones, including me, are the ones who made the best choices they could with the information available to them, and then went ahead and did it.

pkrWinner
Creative Commons License photo credit: JohnSeb

For example … people like to know about costs in the Philippines, and I publish a lot of information on that subject.  But I often don’t publish a lot of information I have because people will hound me about how ‘current’ the info is, or even critique my information and that provided by others on third-party sites, complaining about prices that aren’t “current enough” to suit them, exactly as if they were paying for the data and complaining about poor quality work that had bene delivered to them.

I got news for you.  If my electric bill information in July isn’t current enough for you in december of the same year, then you aren’t suited for living in the Philippines.  You’d be much better off as an IRS auditor in the USA trying to niggle an extra nickel out of taxpayers who might have checked the wrong box.

I live in the Philippines in a large sense because the life here is more varied and less certain (another word for this is BORING) as life in the US.  If you base your life on ‘certainties’ and “due diligence”, then the Philippines is certainly not the place for you … I predict you won’t be very “lucky”.

Most of you know I make money operating some web sites.  Many of them are involved with selling something.  In order to decide on a web site that you might want to establish that sells something, one of the first things you need to do is find out if people are buying.

I looked today on eBay for top items that people are buying, as I wanted to show a friend a way she could find potentially profitable “niches”.  Among the top ten items … on eBay, mind you, a discount auction site … were two different versions of auto insurance, health insurance and something about an extended life insurance plan.  Four out of the top ten things Americans were interested in buying were insurance for Christ’s sake.  Blew my mind.

You want good luck, folks?  Start thinking about the good things and making your own good luck instead of  obsessing about how “other people” are “so lucky” while you spend your days buying and paying for products that lucky people don’t even need.

Try Professor Wiseman’s (and Dave’s) method for a few months and see if you own luck doesn’t seem to magically change.  A famous saying about the future I’ve heard from several sources is, “The best way to live happily ever after is just to build your life that way and live it.”

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What About Phones and Mail

January 4, 2010 By Philly 6 Comments

A lot of questions I get about moving to the Philippines come from folks in the USA who want to know how they can deal with getting mail and phone service there.  In particular they are worried about how they can stay in relatively instant touch electronically, and very cheaply in a matter of a few days with US mail. (most of these questions and answers also apply to prospective Philippine residents from any country, if you filter out a few of the US-specific rules).

Well, I have some answers.  Most of them are even good ;-)   Let me attack the mail situation in a little detail first.

— You Are Getting Too Much Mail: Here’s the first thought you should consider.  Especially in the US we have become mail junkies, addicted since childhood to one of the absolutely best mail services in the world.  So while it is impossible to get the kind of service at the price you pay in the US, step one should be to look carefully at what comes to your mail box today and the what and why of your outbound mail.  I did this some time before I moved to the Philippines, and by the time my wife and I were ready to move, we found we were getting little or any First Class mail that we wanted or needed.

—– Bills: Ask yourself or the person billing you why you are getting paper bills in this day and age, anyway?  Ninety plus percent of the folks who send you paper bills today can be paid electronically, so move them online now and save yourself time, money and hassle even if you later decide not to make a move.  If your US bank doesn’t have a free, online bill paying system as part of their web services, then open an account at a bank that does.  Not only is this convenient, it is far more secure than sending checks through the mail.  My own bank’s system, in common with many other bill payer services, allows me to not only pay bills electronically, but, on my command, will write a check and send it to anyone, business or personal, in the US of A.  And consider carefully what bills you will still be getting through US mail when you are in the Philippines … a whole ot of bills will just disappear … part of the lure of moving here in my book.

—– Legal Letters and Such: I wouldn’t recommend moving if you were in the middle of an active court case, selling a business or something of that nature.  I would get that process wrapped up before I moved.  But suppose something unforeseen comes up while you are in the Philippines … a rich uncle dies and leaves you a million bucks, let’s say.  (of course if that happened to me, I’d fly back the next day, First Class, but let’s imagine you just can’t bear to go home even for that incentive ;-) ).

Not to worry, in my personal experience, lawyers and many other professionals are addicted to fax machines anyway … you can rely on a fax machine in your home here in the Philippines, or even easier and cheaper, just use an online email to fax service.  Many provide you with a discrete US phone number, anyone can fax to that number with a standard fax machine and presto, it’s in your email box.  You can also opt to use the fax in the outbound direction to a fax machine anywhere in the world for a cheap, per page charge.

—– Personal Letters: This comes under the heading of, ‘it depends’, but if one of the things that always brightens your day are notes from your grandmother or some other favorite relative, consider doing them the favor of getting them active on-line before you make the move.  I can’t help relating a true story here … my mother-in-law comes from a big family.  Her eldest brother lives mostly in the US now and a whole big branch of the family tree that lives near him have been out of touch for some years … occasional phone calls at the most.

One day my wife received a surprise email from a long-lost cousin, the daughter of that eldest brother.  It went something like, “Oh I am so glad to find you online.  I had no idea how to get in touch until “daddy” called me over to the computer and showed me your website that he just found.”

Internet makes Brain Better

“Daddy” is my wife’s 94 year-old uncle who found her site because he was trying something he had learned on-line, he typed his own name into Google and looked at all the web sites that made mention of him.  In fact, according to this article on improving the brain activity of the elderly, getting grandma on-line might be doing them a huge health favor, never mind the mail versus email convenience.

— But there is mail I just can’t eliminate: This can be true.  For those cases there are many commercial mail services that will legally receive your mail in the US … offering you a street address back in the US in case you don’t ave property or relatives you want to burden remaining there .. and forward your mail to you in the Philippines.  The better services will open your mail for you, scan the mail and email you the scan so that you can decide if you want to invest in the additional cost of getting the mail sent on to you here in the Philippines.  Bob recently wrote about one of these email forwarding companies he has used for years, there are many other’s as well.  Just as my wife’s Tito Casto found out, Google is your friend on these issues.

Special note for US military retirees:  You are authorized US Military mail privileges, provided via the State Department and volunteers of the several RAO (Retired Activity Offices) throughout the Philippines.  This gives you a limited (first class letters and magazines only) for the same fee as US domestic mail.  You can read more about RAO’s and US mail in the Philippines here.)

Ok, that pretty much beats the mail subject to death for a little while, what about phone calls?  Don’t worry, this won’t be nearly as complicated, there are some great solutions out there, mainly (yet again) due to the wonders of the Internet.

— POTS:  This is “industry insider” talk for the Plain Old Telephone System that is probably on your desk as you read this.  It’s relatively easy and cheap to get so-called “land-line” phone service from local telephone companies here in the Philippines, just about the same way you would get it in the US.  In nearly four years here, I find no need for a “land line” and perhaps never will, but it is available in populated areas, and people would then call you as simply as dialing 011 63 from their regular US phones.  I’ve seen rates as low as 11 cents a minute to the Philippines.

— VOIP: (Voice Over Internet Protocol)  This is a catch phrase that refers to the technical process of converting the analog sound of ‘people talk’ to a string of digital bits, (packets) strung together and controlled by the same protocol which managed and decoded the bits that made this message into analog light ways that your eyes are reading.  Many VOIP options are available, here’s what I think are the “top three” choices.

—— Vonage: A successful commercial phone company in the US, Vonage offers monthly phone subscriptions very much like the conventual phone carriers in the US.  The unique part of Vonage is, you get a small box, or router, that you plug into a high-speed internet connection, and then plug any standard telephone into.  Voice from the phone is converted to digital signals in the router, sent to any other phone, and the person receiving the call hears the same thing as if you called from a regular phone.  Internet service is need, but no computer is.  Vonage works the closest to “old-fashioned” phones as a new technology can … even grandma can use it ;-)

Two minor drawbacks to Vonage is, the company doesn’t sell their routers overseas, so you need to get one before you move to the Philippines, and the service is more expensive than some of its competitors … but both these issues are minor.

—– Skype: This Luxembourg-based company is now the largest commercial long-distance carrier in the world, bar none.  At any given moment as many as 12,000,000 folks are on-line with Skype.  Three Skype services can make your stay in the Philippines easier … I use all three:

——- Skype to Skype: Using nothing more than your computer with headset and cam, you can talk and even video conference with any other Skype computer anywhere in the world, 100% free.  It’s good stuff.

——- Skype Out: You can pay Skype some money in advance and use your computer to call any telephone number in the world.  The call will appear to the other person as if it were just any other call to their phone, and you will pay a minute by minute rate, deducted from the Skype balance you established.  Rates are typically much cheaper than standard commercial rates, but vary from destination country to destination country.

——- Skype In: This is a companion service to Skype Out.  For about $60 USD per year you can a telephone number in any one of Skype’s current 21 countries.  If you opt for a US number it will be just like any other phone number in an area code of your choosing.  Anyone with a phone, anywhere in the world, calls that number and it rings on your computer.  Neat stuff.  And. of course like having a conventional land line phone, you pay nothing for the call.

— Google Voice: The last example I’ll wind this up with is Google Voice.  Yes, Google is showing up here in the vice telephony world just as they seem to be everywhere else.  They bought up a really neat service known as GrandCentral, which ‘answers’ any phone number you may have, at work, at home, cell phone, etc. and rings it on one central number you designate.  Now, as google rolls the service out, that “one central number” can be anywhere in the world that there is Internet.  This could prove exceptionally helpful to anyone who might be living in the Philippines and needing to conduct business back in the USA … a subject for a soon-to-come future article.

Meanwhile. happy communicating, and if you need any other help, call me … 1-719-966-4295.

Welcome Google Voice!
We are happy to announce the launch of Google Voice, the next version of GrandCentral. We’ve kept all the things people like about GrandCentral and added new features like transcripts, SMS, international calling, and conference calling. If you haven’t yet upgraded from GrandCentral to Google Voice, log in to GrandCentral and click the upgrade instructions at the top of your inbox to get started.

For more information about Google Voice, click here.
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Smells Like America

December 30, 2009 By Philly 4 Comments

Some readers may have noticed there is a rather lively (lively for this blog, anyway) discussion going on in the comments for this article:

http://philfaqs.com/get-there/travel-reports/philippine-resources-manila-forwarders/#comment-27306

It really just occurred to me that there are readers here who may not even be aware of what a “balikbayan” box is, and others who may not realize just what a big part of the “Living in the Philippines” they are.

Balikbayan is a Filipino word that translates to “back to the home country”.  There is no such thing as a “balikabayan” type box service in many countries of the world, but years ago, some entrepreneurial Filipinos came up with the idea of providing a large, rugged cardboard carton, allowing people with relatives and friends in the Philippines to fill the box with items folks back in the Philippines might want, and providing a service where the boxes get collected at a large seaport in the US, where they get packed into one of those large, steel ocean freight containers you see on the road.  The container then gets shipped to a central point in the Philippines, where it is unpacked and the individual boxes get delivered to the intended recipient, all around the country.

Since there is essentially no weight charge for shipping a container, they normally go for a standard, per container rate, you can stuff a lot of these individual boxes into a single container and pass the savings on to the clients.

Many balikbayan boxes couldn’t even be sent by air freight or postal parcel post rates … too heavy …and if they were light enough, the costs would be hundreds to thousands per box … so the service is a real savings in cost, traded off for time.  In round numbers it takes a month to get a box from US to a Philippines address, and in holiday times it usually takes much more.

The Philippine Customs Service allows the boxes to flow freely in most cases, depending upon the shipping company to enforce some pretty definitive regulations … these are supposed to be for personal use, so filling one with LED TV’s to re-sell in the Philippines, packing them with liquor or porn or guns or other contraband will get you and the shipper in big trouble, quickly.  In reality, anything that isn’t listed as prohibited (see box packing and prohibited items guidelines here) just sail through customs and gets delivered with no problem.

Like everything else in this world, though, problems do occur and while you never seem to hear about all the successful boxes that do get delivered, day in and day out, you sure do hear about the small percentage that have a problem.

here’s how I have successfully shipped many a box.  The same procedures are all pretty much recommended ny all the shipping companies in the business.

First of all, use a strong box. The boxes you can buy at retail outlets like U-Haul are, to but it as charitably as I can, crap.  They can’t stand up to the rigors of light-duty US domestic moves.  Likewise boxes you can get from a supermarket or retail store as well.  Most box shipping companies have agents around the country, or will ship you out empty boxes (yes, this may cost something, but if the object is to get your stuff there in one piece, using a lightweight, easily collapsible box is really false economy.

Railway Tracks and Containers
Creative Commons License photo credit: daryl_mitchell

Second, tape the bottom of the box securely, then put a larger plastic trash bag inside as an inner liner.  The shipper can not control the weather or where the container with the boxes gets placed on the ship.  Pack the box than as full as practicable with your items.  Write down every single item that goes in … watch the limits on quantities and such mentioned earlier.  I have never yet heard of an unresolved issue about missing items where there was a true list of what was in the box.  In today’s digital world it is easy enough to photograph items as they go in as well … but without a true paper list, no insurance company is going to just pay you for what you say was in the box.

Seal up the bag, put a copy of the list inside the box (the original should go to the shipper, and address the box clearly (all four sides is best) with something indelible … don’t use some cheap pen lying around, spend big and use a genuine “Sharpie” brand marker is what I recommend.

Most reputable shippers will seal the box with security labels in your presence.  In addition to the paperwork you’ll receive, take picture of the box as it looks when it leaves your hands.  again, cheap insurance.

Speaking of insurance, reputable companies provide insurance up to a certain value, and the opportunity to buy more.   If you think the contents are worth a lot more to you than the included insurance amount, then for goodness sake, declare so and pay the additional charge … and don’t put anything ‘pricelss’ in there in the first place, these are cardboard boxes not bank safety deposit vaults.

Double check, just before you et the box go, that the name and address of the recipient is correct.  In particular make sure the same person is still living at the same address … people do move, or go away to the provinces to take care of a sick grandmother or some such … and as you have read from me before, the Philippines is the country of “after the fact” … “Oh, I forgot to tell you, we moved to a bigger house last month.”

Text the recipient with the tracking number, the date and place shipped and the expected delivery date and make sure someone plans to be there two months down the road.  Boxes can’t be delivered if the delivery contractor can’t find the person … and believe me, tis happens more often than you might think here in the Philippines.

Lastly, sit back and anticipate the enjoyment you will get when you hear how happy everyone is when the box arrives.  The house will be filled with happy excitement, and virtually guaranteed, when the box is opened, st least one person is going to shout out, “Amoy ng Amerika” … “The Smell of America”.  And if you don’t think the USA has a unique, readily identifiable odor?  You ain’t never opened a balikbayan box ;-)   You can’t buy happiness and excitement like that for mere money.

Oh one other thing that I never did before, but would recommend.  Scan the list, or fax it to an online fax service, and email the image to some one at the receiving end.  My funniest “box experience” so far happened last year when my in-laws received a box sent from Florida.  The box came in great shape, no signs of tampering, but right away as stuff was coming out and being passed around there where howls of dismay.  Some bags of candy, opened and many of the candies gone.  Some packs of soup mix (IIRC), opened and not all the packs there, some boxes of Crystal Light beverage mix (a really, really sought after ‘box stuffer’, BTW) opened and many packs missing.

The happy occasion was now marred by complaints of who the “low life’s” who had stolen the items could be, how did they get in the box with without breaking the seals, why did they steal just the items they did when the were things of more value, and so on.  I tell you, that box company’s “stock” in my in-laws house was at a pretty low ebb, to say the least.

Then someone decided to call the sister who had shipped the box from Florida and give her the bad news about how unlucky her choice of shipping companies had been.  Want to guess what happened?

Yep, you probably guessed.  The items to go in the box had sat around for a couple weeks waiting for someone to finish packing the box, and the missing items were ‘borrowed’ back at the shipping end, before anything even got packed.  Mystery solved … but remember the consternation it caused, I sure will … if you ship something that isn’t a full pack, say so,or everyone from the innocent delivery boy to the captain of the container ship will get cussed at for weeks, and the people running the box company … whoa, you don’t want to be the one answering their phone when someone gets her own economy size Crystal Light pack delivered with packets missing … box shipping can be a risky business ;-)

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Live by what the rule book doesn't say instead of what it does say.

October 7, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

OK, if you’re reading this and you are under the age of 14, go away.  We’re both breaking some kind of federal law about making this site ‘child safe” or some other kind of federal anti this or anti that act, and I am not about to start complying, so run home and tell your mamma the mean old man said you had to leave.

If you’re 14 or older, here’s a few words you need to know … unpleasant or not … and I won’t be exercising any “delicadeza”. so the talk here will be “bold”.  (God, I could write three blog posts on the word ‘bold’, especially the many totally inaccurate ways it is used in Philippine conversation, but we’ll save the four-letter worlds like b-o-l-d for another day, many of my readers aren’t up to handling real four-letter words just yet.)

OK ready for today’s bad word?  Permissive.

OMG, what he just said!

A dictionary definition or two? 

  • granting or inclined or able to grant permission; not strict in discipline; "direct primary legislation is largely permissive rather than prescriptive” (my emphasis)

Which of course leads us to:

  • permissiveness – a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior
  • permissiveness – The relative likelihood of something or someone to grant permission or allow something to happen

Am I even allowed to write that stuff on the ‘Net?

Well I assert I am, but some of you possibly think not.  Just like the word “gay” which used to me something happy, rather than today’s unavoidable descent into contention over sexual preferences, or the perfectly useful and once non-contentious words ‘conservative”, “liberal” (believe it or not, I am old enough to remember when those words could be said without and accompanying spit), our subject word, “permissive” seems to have evolved from something that is at worst, neutral, in to some sort of curse word in today’s society.

I am at a loss to figure out why, but it’s one of those things about becoming a “mature American” that I dislike.  The complete loss of the meaning of freedom that has descended upon my poor country.  It’s sad, to say the least.

Let me tell you a story that might illustrate one of the reasons this issue upsets me.  One of the world-wide icons of America (and a huge business, by the way), is NASCAR racing.  We once called it stock car racing, but there isn’t anything stock about it any more since the government decreed Bill France could own a huge segment of America personally … a story for another time.

image Anyway, in the early days of NASCAR one of the top competitors (and a man who is a personal hero of mine) was a fellow named Henry “Smokey” Yunick.  Smokey is a true American legend … a World War II combat pilot who made it back alive and decided to make a career out of the new US ‘niche market’ of (so-called) stock car racing. 

Smokey was a very talented man at making cars go fast, but one of his chief obstacles was the NASCAR “rule book”.  It seemed that every time he had a great idea to make his cars go faster, up would pop some newly minted rule that held him back.

Then, one day he had his own personal epiphany and life was never again the same for Smokey (or for racing, for that matter).  In his own words:

Trying to figure out NASCAR’s rule book threw me at first. Then, after studying the rules from all sides, I realized I’d made a colossal mistake. I’d been reading the rule book to see what it said. And all along what I should have been doing was finding out what it didn’t say.

From then on he became one of racings most successful (and wealthy) mechanics, team leaders and car owners.  Although he’s long gone now, one of his most famous sayings (again, regarding that infamous rule book is:

“It didn’t say I couldn’t.”

So if you are still with me, counting up the words here I note we are close to 700 and we haven’t mentioned living in the Philippines yet.  Are you ready?

The reason I was inspired to write this article was the almost universal common thread I get in all the questions I receive and even in many of the searches I see people make of this web site.  Everyone interested in living in the Philippines, moving to the Philippines, retiring in the Philippines, et. al, seems to be focused on one basic question … and it is one, if they took the time to think things through, they need not ask.

Ask not if the ‘rule book” gives you permission … just avoid the very few specific places it tells you that you can not.  Believe it or not, you were born free.  And believe it or not the basis of laws, in the Philippines or the USA are permissive in nature.  See the first definition above.

Let me give you a quick example or two.

Question after question after question I get involves some point state law in one of the 50 US states … usually about taxes or voting.  Some of these are relatively simple, some are hard enough to make a good lawyer get a headache, but all of them can be so easily dealt with it is breathtaking for some people. 

If you live in the Philippines the laws of any US state do not directly apply to you.  I can hear the rumble coming, especially from Californians already, so please read the next sentence before you fire off your comments. 

There is no law that required you to be the resident of any US state.  Period.  So if your state (as California and some others do) have laws that attempt to pickpocket your income, even when you don’t live there, then think about this.  Either change your state of residence or don’t have any state of residence.  There is no law that says you can’t!

Not long ago I got a query regarding driver’s licenses here in the Philippines.  Under Philippine law you can get a Philippine driver’s license issued based on any home country license you hold.  This reader was worrying over the fact he didn’t have a license from any of the 50 US states (he does hold one from a US government agency).

Well guess what?  No law says you have to have a state license.  Once again, the law is permissive in nature, not restrictive.

Another reader got himself all wrapped around the axle regarding Medicare, Medicare benefits overseas and what he couldn’t do regarding living in the Philippines.  His problem revolved around this.

  • He knew he was going to need an expensive operation. 
  • He was actually waiting until he became eligible for his Medicare to become effective to [pay for the operation. 
  • He already knew he wanted the operation in a particular hospital in a particular US state, from a particular doctor.  he was just waiting to grow older ;-)

So what was his issue you might ask?  Simple.  Because MEDICARE does not pay for benefits received from medical providers in foreign countries and because he already had his decisions made about his upcoming medical care, he had somehow construed this to mean he needed to maintain a residence (including a physical domicile … a house or an apartment, as an example) in the USA. 

In particular he was quite worried that if he moved to the Philippines and US Social Security “found out”, then he wouldn’t be able to have his future operation.  Even though he really wanted to move to the Phil
ippines he felt he was “stuck” … held back by the rules.

Well virtually every American citizen is entitle to Medicare, and where you live has absolutely nothing to do with your entitlement or lack of same.  Where you can receive care  is restricted by the rules (see www.ssa.gov if you want to know more), but it is the right of an American citizen to live anywhere on earth that the laws of the US do not say s/he can not.  The Social security Administration … nor any other government agency for that matter … does not have to give you permission to move somewhere, period.

There is nothing wrong with the word “permissive”.  The US Constitution, the Philippine Constitution, under some interpretations, even the Holy Bible are permissive in nature.  If God or the government didn’t say you couldn’t, then you can. 

Thanks for teaching that to us, Smokey, may your cars always run fast and pass tech, my friend. Keep turning left forever.

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Living In The Philippines — The Right Thing For You?

August 30, 2009 By Philly 4 Comments

My blogging colleague Paul Piotrowski recently wrote am interesting piece about how to decide if making money online was right for his readers.  He gets a lot of questions that start out sort of like this:

“Paul, should I try making money online?”

First of all, regardless how well you craft this question so that it doesn’t sound like that is what you’re asking me, it still doesn’t change the fact that you’re asking me that question.

Realize that I am not you, so there is no way I could ever make that decision for you. In fact, there is nobody out there who will ever make that decision for you. Only you can decide the answer to that question.

What I can do, however, is to give you some help in how you could go about making that decision based on what I’ve gone through.

Traditionally, what most people do when they are trying to make a potentially life-changing decision like this, is that they try to “weigh their options”. So, they either do it mentally or they get a piece of paper out and they start writing out all the benefits and drawbacks of going down a certain path.

For making money online, their list may look something like this:

Benefits:

  • Can work from home
  • Unlimited income potential
  • No boss
  • More time with the family
  • Flexible schedule
  • Full control over what you do day-to-day
  • Interesting, ever-changing work
  • Get to express creativity, make own decisions

Drawbacks:

  • Lack of stable “salary” compared to a job
  • No guarantee of income
  • Many “proven” systems, but not sure which one to follow
  • Constant changes in the marketplace, must stay current
  • May require some access to capital
  • Higher risk than working for someone else

At first glance, making a list like this may seem like a productive and reasonable thing to do when trying to make a decision. However, for those of you who have actually done this, you may have found – as I have – that making lists like this is pretty much useless. It doesn’t help you make a decision at all. It just complicates things even more….

Complicates things even more?  “Oh no Dave, I know this method works” is likely what at least a few of you are saying.  My rejoinder is. “Oh yeah?  Then why are you still here asking and reading instead of ‘doing’, whatever it is your pro cons list is supposed to help you decide?

Guess what?  The questions Paul is getting about making money online … and the ones I get on the make money online subject, and particularly the “Live in the Philippines” subject are almost never going to be answered with this sort of list building. The very fact you are asking is proof you aren’t ready to make a decision and are dancing about from one expert (or supposed expert) to another hoping someone will decide for you.

“Realize that I am not you, so there is no way I could ever make that decision for you.”…

Want to know the secret to making the decision?

The “secret” if you can even call it that, is to use your intuition and gut to make the decision. Take a drive out to a nearby park, or the beach, or find a quiet place where you can be left alone without being disrupted. Turn off your phone for an hour and just sit quietly for a while…

If you want to make the move, then for an absolute certainty, you can make the move.  It’s not by blind luck that there are thousands of foreigners living here who have already made the move and succeeded.  (Judging by the people I’ve met in the Philippines, on and off line, by the Philippine and US government’s own figures and by the number of foreigners I see every day but do not know, I would make an educated guess that less than 10% of the foreigners living in the Philippines ever show up on a website like this.  It is just not that uncommon and it certainly is not that hard to do,  I am sure some of you have seen me say in the past, if you can handle a move to Kansas, you certainly can handle a move to the Philippines.

But here’s where many get stuck.  They don’t know if they actually want to move to Kansas.  You see where the difficulty lies here?  We could spend the rest of our lives building lists of reasons you could or could not move to Kansas … building up happy scenarios, tearing them down with predictions of gloom, adding up how profitable the move would be in real-world money and then ‘proving’ how it really will be disastrous financially and drive you broke … and at the end,  you still won’t be anywhere except where ever it is you are now … which may, in fact, be just where you ought to stay.

You just can’t be wishy-washy and vacillate back and forth ‘waiting’ for some sign as so many of you seem to be doing.  Trust your gut and make a decision and then, stick by it.  Come to the Philippines or don’t come to the Philippines and your life will go on and you will still love parts of each day and hate others … but at least you won’t be killing yourself by a thousand tiny cuts, agonizing.

I made my decision nearly five years ago and I really don’t have a single regret.  But does that mean it was the right decision for me?  How the hell would I know?

Maybe my US business would have taken off like gangbusters (I just wrote a piece about a friend of mine who started a business very similar to mine about the same time Mita and I decided to go to the Philippines …his gross over those 5 years is up 7,800 percent and he’s a likely candidate for the Inc. 100 club next year.  Congrats, on showing us how GPS tracking is done, Rob.  I might have done that good, or even better or he might have bought me out and given me a fat executive corner office … I dunno, and no one ever will know, because staying in that business is not the choice I made.

Another friend whom I worked with,  5 years ago, 12 years younger than me, just fell over dead one day, with his own fast-paced small company, a dozen or more people with their wagon hitched to his star and “poof”, game over.  We had the funeral as much to say goodbye to each other as to Tim.  “Here today, gone tomorrow” is a very real fact of life that many folks just can’t get their arms around.  No matter what decision you make today, the whole world will be different in five years, so what’s going on now is no where near as important as where you want to be five years down the road.

In short?  Don’t ask questions about ‘if’, instead, decide what you want and then ask questions about How!

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Filed Under: Moving There

For All My Expat Readers — From Any Country

May 17, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

Here’s another important pass along from my colleague JD up in the cool Philippine climes of Baguio.  Many people think they can’t get permanent residency in the Philippines if they aren’t married to a Philippine citizen.  This would be a wrong assumption.  Many former Filipinos think they can’t come back to the Philippines permanently unless they reacquire their Philippines citizenship.  This would also be wrong.

And many foreigners and Filipinos alike have a wildly skewed concept as to how much and what sort of investment they need to make in order to have an SRRV … Special Resident Retirement Visa.

Here’s a great chance to get the true facts for free.  The location is in northern Luzon, for those not familiar with La Union .. right on the coast and a lovely place to visit in its own right.

Also note, this seminar is being held in the VFW post canteen as a courtesy of Post 9892, but it is not limited to VFW members or US military veterans … all expats/former Filipinos can attend … thanks Post 9892 and thanks again, JD for diligently spread if the word.

FOR ALL EXPATS!! The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA)is sponsoring an SRRV Information Seminar.
Date: June 09,2009
Time: 3pm to 6pm
Place: VFW POST 9892 Canteen, Bauang, La Union (next to the Bali Hai East Resort)

This is a free information seminar sponsored by the PRA and hosted by the VFW Post 9892. Please pass this on to any expats who might have interest in this Visa.
JD

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Moving There, Phils Visas, Visas Tagged With: ,

Philippine Questions and Answers — 16 Apr 2009

April 16, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

A few electrical thoughts written as my trusty air conditioner hums away, sucking down that expensive MERALCO power, for which I am very grateful.

It’s the height of the summer here on Luzon … summer peaks much earlier here than it does in more temperate latitudes, and this summer has been the hottest of the three I have been in so far.

A lot of people have questions about the power, and about bringing appliances here to the Philippines.  I started to write a separate post and then realized I had already written a lot of them, so here’s most of what you need to know.  feel free to write with any specific questions which I have failed to cover … and stay warm, or stay cool, wherever you may be.

Watt Did He Say? He Said, "If You Aren’t Careful This Might Hertz" | PhilFAQS
One Aw Shoot Wipes Out All Your Attaboys | PhilFAQS
More Help On Adapters — Fit Any Plug | PhilFAQS
INPUT: AC 100V- 240V~ 1.0A 50 / 60 Hz | PhilFAQS

Remember when choosing appliances, our power is about the most expensive on earth, 7 to 20 times per kilowatt hour what many of you in the US are paying, so think things through carefully.  It’s easy enough to get 110 volt power here, by either wiring modifications or auxiliary transformers, but 110 volt appliances use twice the power to do the equal work of a 220 device, and any transformer will use up at least another 10% that is totally wasted.

I always wonder as I sit here in the ‘rest of the world’ which is almost universally 220 volt, and listen to the supposed ‘experts’ in the US rant on about ‘green power’ and ‘reducing dependence on foreign oil’ and all the other politically-motivated claptrap, why they can’t see the simple physics in every circuit breaker panel.

Virtually every house is wired for 220 as well as 110 volts, and 220 volt appliances will cut consumption by about 50% … so why aren’t we smart enough to use them?   I don’t know of another developed and/or allegedly educated nation that uses 110 the way the US does … it’s a bit mind boggling.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Filed Under: Moving There, The Move Tagged With: ,

Places in the Philippines That Get No Respect

October 31, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

I think a number one take away thought for this post about living in the Philippines today is, things change in 10 or 20 or 30 years … and it may pay to keep up with them.

Years ago in my government job a lot of fuss was always made about people who had ‘20 years experience” or “30 years experience” and so on.  Once a colonel and I who were trying to implement a really nice cost saving project were continually stymied by another senior civil servant who had ‘40 years experience” and a lot of respect and power in our organization.  He kept throwing up roadblock issues based on conditions from 20 years ago, but he had a “following’ and even my full colonel boss couldn’t seem to make much headway.  Finally the was a show down.  “Mr. Experience” said, “Colonel, I have 40 years experience”, that’s why I know I am right.  My colonel responded, “No you don’t.  You have one year of experience that you have re-lived 39 more times.  You are stuck in the 1950 while the rest of us are in the 1990’s”.  Eventually a general who know what year it was overruled “Mr. Experience” and the project took flight.

I brought this story up because a number of my online friends have made comments to me about the two former US base towns, Angles City and the Olongapo/Subic area that are just not right.  Some of these folks have never lived or even visited these towns so I could just say, “Don’t make judgments not based on experience” and let it go at that.

But nor long ago I was talking to a fellow American who really launched off on how rotten the Subic area was and how no one in their right mind would live there, based upon his experience as a junior enlisted man stationed there 30 years ago.  “It stinks”.  “It’s all bars and whorehouses”.  “It’s dirty.” “There’s no good housing/schools/medical facilities” and so on.  I’ve heard statements like this from many in the past 7 or 8 years and they just do not hold water.

The world has room for everyone’s opinion, and in one way I have no dog in the hunt.  I don’t live in Angeles or Subic.  But since the subject of ‘where to live in the Philippines’ has a continual popularity, and since where they settle may be one of the most important decisions a newcomer may make, I just hate to see people making choices or offering advice based on second hand knowledge or the memories of 30 years ago or so.  Angeles and Subic just “ain’t what they used to be” and in most cases the change has been for the better.

Schools, hospitals, infrastructure in general and US mail (for some of us) in particular are readily available in both Angeles and Subic.  So is a wider assortment of Western-specification housing than in any city in the Philippines, bar none.  The US government built thousands of military family housing units on both bases, and in Angeles there are several off-base subdivisions that were built as what we call “rental guarantee” housing.  In return for building the houses to meet US specs the investors were guaranteed rentals from US servicemen, funded by the government.  So everything from the generous size of the rooms to the 110 volt wiring in the wall was modeled on the USA.

Are there bars and ladies of the evening there?  You better believe it.  Just as there are bars, girls and ample evidence of the ‘sex trade’ in any Philippine city you would care to visit.  (Actually in any Asian city I have been in, for that matter.  think the Japanese (as just one example) are reserved and proper?  Ha! Remind me to tell you about the ‘pig farms’ some day). It’s all at a respectful distance, kilometers away from the sort of housing areas where I would visit, so I really don’t give it a second thought.

I visit Angeles on a regular basis, for visits to my US mail facility, the BID field office, my friend’s us-style rental house and that bastion of Fox News, the local VFW(that’s the Veterans of Foreign Wars by the way, not Victims of Former Wives as some allege ;-) ), but anyone is welcome and the food is good and the beer cold.

I also visit the former Subic Navy base frequently.  I have a cousin who is the medical director of one of the three large ex-Navy medical installations there and I like staying in a beach front hotel and watching the waves roll in.  The base facilities there are nicer in many ways than those on the former Clark Air Base and there are a lot more developments in progress there like the top quality condos I’ve already written about, active brand new shipyards providing more substantive jobs that the mainly call-center economy of Clark, etc.  The former Navy housing on Subic was preserved much better than Clark and you can pick up ‘real’ Navy housing with its own water plant, electric generation system, public transportation, decent schools, 24/7 security and ambulance service, etc. for prices which work out to $250 or $300 USD per month on a 25 or 50 year lease basis.

Just to clarify something which causes a lot of confusion in people’s minds … the word “Subic” means too many things to too many people.  When someone says “Subic” they may mean the body of water called Subic bay, the former US Navy base on the shores of that bay, the town of Subic a few kilometers north of the base, or the city of Olongapo which adjoins the former base proper and is home of the famous (or infamous Barrio Barretto) which is a bar district along the beach but also home to some really nice beach hotels and restaurants.  The former US Naval base Subic and its adjoining US Naval Air Station Cubi Point are now the property of the SBMA (Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority), the joint government/private enterprise organization in charge of the base redevelopment and governance.

The SBMA themselves like to call the base proper the SBFZ (Subic Bay Freeport Zone) which is sometimes shortened to SBF, but a majority of people are likely to just call it SBMA or ‘the base’.

Anyway, enough already for most of you and likely not enough still for a few of you.  If you have more questions about “Subic” or “Clark” just shoot them to me and I’ll try to get you definitive answers.  There are many, many places that it’s good to live in the Philippines, and I am no one trick pony, I like many places myself, but if you don’t already know where you yourself might want to settle down, see things for yourself, don’t rely on knee jerk judgments or 30 year-old information.  As they say in the Navy, “That is all”.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Filed Under: Live There, The Move

Questions, Questions, Questions 5

October 17, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

As per request (and I do thank those of you who are sending in questions, about Traveling to, Moving to or Living in the Philippines, please keep it up) here is this weeks contribution, geared to several requests I have had for my take on the issue of:

I Want To Move, But Can’t Sell My House

Well this can certainly be one heck of an issue in today’s unsettled times, can’t it?  Many are in the “boat” of having faithfully invested most of what they cab afford into a house in an area where values have gone up and up and up and have counted on that house to sell and finance their retirement years.  Now, BANG!  perhaps the house is not worth anything near what it should sell for.  Retirement is “down the tubes” for now.  Or is it?

Well here’s a few ideas UI have that may or may not work for those in this position (lay opinions only, mind you, I shouldn’t need to tell you that when you have an issue as important as a large chunk of your net worth the money you pay for competent legal advice is a very, very small price for some sensible insurance and assurance).

Rent It Out: Many people I know will just reject this idea out of hand, dropping it like a hot potato.  “Not me”, they say, “No way am I going to be stuck with deadbeat tenants and clogged up toilets …” and the beat goes on.

It’s certainly true that any of the undesirable outcomes expressed above and even more could come from renting out your home, there certainly some steps you can take to make them very unlikely.

A personal example.  I moved from Colorado Springs to Tokyo in 1996 for career reasons, and had strong expectations I would be back in 3 to 5 years.  The sales market was good and I had equity in my home.  I even had deal with my employer that paid selling and later purchasing costs, so that would have added significantly to my bottom line had I sold.

But since I wasn’t sure I would be able to afford a similar house in three to five years (just as some of you ‘on the cusp” of a move to the Philippines are not sure you won’t be back) I decided to hedge my bet by renting the home.

I used a local real estate agent who specialized in property management, his fee was 10% of the rental price.  The place rented 2 days after I signed with the property manager (guess I asked too little, eh?) and the house stayed occupied for the whole three years I lived in Japan.   Repair costs while I was gone, all handled by the manager, amounted to less that$100 a year … a busted pipe, a gate fell off the fence, vandals smashed a lawn sprinkler head, that’s about all I remember.

When I returned to the house it was in decent enough condition, but I had already decided to spend part of the rental profits in advance to redecorate, replace the furnace and a few other wants.

I still eared more than $11,000 per year of rental and I got significant tax advantages.  (Hint, in addition to the usual things like depreciation and fees that you can deduct, check out what you can legally claim for trips back to the US to “supervise your rental property”.  Your tax advisor may make you smile).

So, especially if you aren’t sure about the move, or if you are pretty confident prices will go up again in a few years, renting is not a bad deal at all.

Contract It:

But suppose you really, really need to be rid of the place … and you’re sure you want a sale … but prices are just too  low and buyers too spares?  One technique many haven’t considered is a “rent to own’ or a ‘contract for deed’ deal.  These two procedures have some legal differences for state to state and are consider similar enough by some to explain in one definition.  Very simply:

  • You decide on a price that meets your needs
  • You find a buyer who agrees but can’t/won’t get financing now to meet the agreed price.
  • The prospective purchaser pays you a fair market monthly;y rate and something extra … often 1 figure like 10% or 15% is used, which is placed in an escrow account towards the purchaser eventually paying the price and owning the property.
  • Advantage to purchaser?  S/he gets to move in and buy much more house with (this is up to you) possibly much easier qualifying
  • Advantage to seller:  It’s gets sold.
  • The rent to own occupant is likely to take much better care than a regular tenant because he already has an investment to protect.
  • If the renter/buyer defaults, the original owner still owns the property and the equity account defaults to the purchaser as compensation for keeping the house off the market.

More about rent to own and contract sales or contract for deed is here:

Reverse Mortgage It:  This is an idea in the area of a non-conventional use of a completely legal but often unknown device legally known as a HECM (home equity conversion mortgage), commonly called a Reverse Mortgage. It is typically only available to home owners 62 and older, but it could well be used as a ‘way out’ for some readers.  basically it works like this:  A home owner (house does not need to be free and clear) obtains a HECM from a lender which gives the owner a lump sum or an annuity based on the projected value of the home at the end of the borrower’s life expectancy.  (the older you are the more you’ll get, because you are assumed to be that much closer to EOL (End of Life).  If the house is worth less than expected upon your death, the lender ‘sucks up’ the loss.  If the house turns out to be worth more, your heirs get any profit over what the lender is due.  This does not sound at all useful to  a home owner who doesn’t want to live in the property, but read the typical ‘residence provision’ below: (in bold

The loan ends when the homeowner dies, sells the house, or, depending on the loan conditions, moves out of the house for 12 consecutive months (for example, to go into an assisted living home or due to physical or mental illness the borrower is not able to live in the property on which the loan has been taken). At that point, the reverse mortgage can be paid off with the proceeds of the sale of the house, or if the borrower has died, the property can be refinanced by the heirs of the homeowner’s estate with a regular mortgage. If the proceeds exceed the loan amount including compounded interest and fees, the owner of the house receives the difference. If the owner has died, the heirs receive the difference. For cases where the proceeds are not sufficient to pay off the loan, then the bank (or insurance which the bank has on the loan) absorbs the difference.  More Reverse Mortgage information here:

So it might be a very viable option to reverse mortgage your currently ‘slow moving’ property, move to the Philippines 9finaced with the tax free proceeds in your hand from the reverse mortgage deal) for 11 months and then do one of two things .. sell conventionally and pay off the reveres mortgage debt with the sale proceeds, or move back in and be assured of a place to live, mortgage and rent free until you want to try again … or decide to attend your own funeral.

Gift It Early: Many folks intend that at the end of their lives their children are going to inherit their home anyway.  Instead of waiting to die and never realizing your Philippine dream, you might consider setting up a trust in favor of your children, gifting the home to the trust and requiring the trust make payments (sufficient to carry the house) to you so you have something to live on.  It’s similar in a way to the HECM idea but done privately between family.  Your advantage is you have an income until you die.  The children’s advantage is, for a known amount of money (which might be made tax deductible) they get the benefit of their inheritance early and they can live in the place, rent it out or do whatever with it.  You certainly need professional guidance here but I am confident there is a way to do this legally and it can be a very advantageous deal in states with slow, expensive probate procedures.

Walk Away: (Jingle Mail): Saved this one for last because obviously it is the least desirable option in many ways.  yet it is an option that in today’s tough times may well be viable for some folks.

Let’s suppose you are relatively young, have a family, have little or nothing in the bank and can’t make your house payments.  The outlook isn’t pretty.  You’re debt to the finance company will just grow and grow, you’ll likely max out your credit, cars may get repossessed and eventually you are very likely to go bankrupt.  Obviously you should do anything and everything in your power to avoid this … but it isn’t always avoidable.

Certain relief may be forthcoming for forced mortgage renegotiations, foreclosure exemptions and such but at this point the US government is only bailing out big name, incompetent Wall Street millionaires … not working people who can’t pay for their house.  Your guess is as good as mine as to the situation getting any better after election day,so you certainly should wait until then, at the least.

But if you are going to go under before then, here’s my thought.  Personal bankruptcy versus “voluntary repossession”.  Both are evils.  But I feel bankruptcy is the larger f the two evils.  If the bulk of your debt is your mortgage and your mortgage company won’t grant you any relief, and you will have some income to live in the Philippines, I would seriously consider mailing them the key and moving.  One voluntary repossession on your credit report is less disastrous than an out and out bankruptcy.  The mortgage company can sell the property at a loss then then try to collect from you in a summary judgment, but depending on the amount and how much of your existing income they can attach, they may not even bother.  And, as I have pointed out before, you US or ‘western’ credit rating really has no affect on you here.  You’ve seen my posts on our cost of living here.  If you have a reliable income (like a retirement annuity) and you live cheap here and pay off your other legitimate debts, relieved from the burden of that over the top mortgage, only you and your credit advisor can decide … but it may be worth it as an escape tunnel.

Anyway, hope some of this has been of a little help in deciding issues about your move to the Philippines. There are more answers where these came from, ask away.

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Filed Under: The Move

Why You Are Still Wishing Instead Of Living As You Please

August 14, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

OK I am going to take a little risk on this post.  It will not apply to everyone who reads this blog.  Some of you (statistically, probably very few) have been smart enough to escape the trap I am going to mention, so if you are among those fortunate and intelligent few, congratulations and don’t take offence at what I am going to write next.

To the rest of you (and let me add this included me for years), the reason you are not already living in the Philippines (or whatever your dream may be) is because you’re a sucker.

And the good old US government (both Republicans and Democrats by the way) have been allowing a bunch of scam artists to systematically (but legally, sadly) defraud you and I for years.  And not only is the beat going on, it is getting stronger.  The problem is getting larger and larger every year.  What am I talking about?  What is holding you back from making a move?  Those cute little pieces of plastic you are carrying around in your pocket.

US consumer credit card debt is like an epidemic of an insidious, financially dangerous disease and the law doesn’t do anything to stop it, it essentially aids and abets in the crime.  The problem is getting larger and more serious every year so there is little doubt in my mind you are not affected … almost all of us are.

Credit card debt is the most cunning financial adversary you will ever encounter. Credit card companies use enticing promotions to lure consumers by increasing credit limits and offering pre-approval. All of these strategies and tactics attempt to install the habit of spending now and paying later.

The interest rate you think you are paying, overall, is very likely a lie.  You know here in the Philippines the cost of borrowing money tends to be much higher than what Americans think they are paying. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize how destructive credit cards can be until their payments become the largest part of their monthly budget. Credit card debt,as a percentage of income, has been on the rise for the past two decades.

So what’s this got to do with moving to or taking a trip to the Philippines?  Simple.  If you don’t have the money in your bank account right now to do what you want to do in life, there are really three possible solutions.

One:  Make more money.  That’s certainly possible, and I write abut that often.  Supplementing and empowering my retirement certainly works for me.

Two:  give up your dreams.  I defiantly do not recommend this one.  I try to make it practice not to dwell on the past and dredge up regrets, but I’m human like you … regrets sometimes come to the surface.  Of all the regrets I can ever come up with, regret of things I didn’t do outnumber regrets about things I did about 1,000 to one.

Three:  make better us of what you already have.  That’s what I want to outline here, briefly, and credit card debt and credit card payments are frequently the number one way to make feast, effective change in your personal financial life.

Fist: (the single most important action).  Stop using your cards!  As Homer would say, "D-oh"!  The number of situations the average person encounters in a month where a credit card has to be used is virtually ‘\nil.  yes they can be convenient, but the debt is killing you.  Start using cash or personal checks.  Hmm, need to buy something and you don’t have the cash in your pocket?  Maybe you didn’t really need to buy it.  Good example.  For years I was paying my electric bill with my credit card .. very convenient just put the information on a from from the electric company, sign it and away it goes.  Well, guess what.  A real emergency came up and I had to charge something big on that card.  Until the entire card was paid off I was paying 19.9% on the entire balance … including that electric bill.  If your electric provider told you your bill was going up 19.9% you would likely be ready to chew nails and spit tacks, but millions of us gave ourselves a rate increase every year by being too lazy to write a check and mail it off.

Second:  Take stock.  Get the credit card statements out for everything you owe and read the fine print section at the bottom of the statement.  Many people would be shocked if they did this and saw that cards they thought had ‘bargain rates’, like 4.99%.  Look close and you are likely to find that your debt is divided into different categories such that what you think is at 4.99% is actually at 20-something percent or even 30% or more.  Make an honest comprehensive list of what you owe, what each amount is costing in interest, and what the minimum payment is for each card.

Third:  Make a pyramid list.  Write down the debts from highest interest to lowest. 

Fourth:   Make an honest assessment of what you have available to pay off each month.  Just recently I posted about how much you are likely wasting on your phone service as just one example.  What about cable TV or NetFlix or some other nice to have but non-essential monthly bill.  Include in the ‘must pay’ list the minimum payment for each card.

Fifth:  This is the most satisfying step.  Take that left over amount, whatever it may be and apply all of it to that highest rate ‘leach’ on the list.  Think of it this way … if that highest interest card is 25%, you are now investing that money in a safe, secure manner at 25% … try buying a CD and see what rate they give you.

]Sixth:  As soon as that highest rate card is paid off, apply this method again, starting on the next lowest .. remember you now have available all the money your were using for card one in addition to your best effort payoff … so number two will pay off much faster than the first one.

From now on, wash, rinse4, repeat.  You can save thousands a year with the method (depending on how deep you were in the pit to begin with of course).  And the best part?  Each little success gets rid of one more obstacle between you and your move.  hard to beat.  This method also goes under the ‘snowball’ debt relief principle, because after that first, perhaps painful, initial start, the debt disappears faster than a snowball rolling downhill.

One last tip … when you do get yourself to where you feel it is time for that trip to the Philippines? DO NOT PUT It ON YOUR CARD!  And if these tips aren’t enough, it might be wise to seek professional advice … because the problem won’t go away on its own. Stop living with bad credit! Let LexingtonLaw.com show you how!

You’ll be here before you know it if you stick to these principles.  Best of luck and do let me know how this article resonated with you … as I said, it’s a bit of a risk.

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Filed Under: The Move

Moving Plans — Shifting Boxes part 2

June 29, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

A few tips I really didn’t get to put into my last post on moving.  The real key to success in moving is in the details.  I made a lot of moves, mostly for the US government in my career, so they were done by professionals.  Believe me, a pro is no guarantee of good performance … I’ve seen both sides of the coin.  It’s not for no reason that an old saying in the military is that "three moves are as good as a fire".  It’s hard to keep nice things nice for multiple moves … but you can do it if you do it right.

Planning:  The earlier you start the better your move will go … this applies no matter if you use a professional or do it yourself.  Get rid of stuff you don’t want (if you are sure you or someone else won’t use it in the Philippines … see Part 1 for more on this.  Pack things yourself that you have the original materials for or that you feel are special.  A good example.  I once shipped two TV’s which I had the original boxes and packing for.  The "professional" packers not only refused to use the original boxes,(leaving me even more garbage to get rid of to be ready to leave my house) but packed two TV’s together in the same carton, the ‘right way’ as they told me.  When I got to the destination, both TV’s had all the knobs on the front cracked or broken off.  In case you’re wondering it’s darn hard to find replacements for little things like proprietary plastic knobs for a 5 or 6 year old TV.  I tuned one TV for years with a pair of pliers, vowing never again to take the word of an expert over my own good sense.  Go through your house, garage, storage shed, etc. with a little packet of stick-on colored labels.  Red for junk/sell, blue for store or send to relatives, yellow for pack for the Philippines (or some other color scheme you like).  This will save untold hours when the day to begin packing actually arrives.

Materials:  There are lots of ways to find boxes and cushioning materials for your stuff.  One thing many don’t realize, though, is that ocean shipping is not like having a name-brand household moving company handle your goods from packing through transport to unpacking.  Containers are handled, often roughly by forklifts and cranes.  Containers may be stacked on the deck of a ship and subject to several weeks of rain and salt spray.  Flimsy cardboard boxes that are sold by consumer-oriented outfits like U-Haul, Office Depot, etc. are not what you want.  Look in your local Yellow Pages for commercial moving supply outlets.  I bought all my boxes, except a few U-haul ‘cheapies’ that I already had on hand, through a local company in our former home town.  When our stuff got to the Philippine end of the trip the difference in the state of the boxes was phenomenal.  The U-Haul boxes looked like refuges from WW II and the commercial-grade boxes were mostly still ready for another move.  In addition the moving supply store had better package sealing tape and some wonderful multi-layer sheets of paper for coving dressers, living room furniture and such with a vinyl layer inside the paper to seal them against moisture and dust while letting things inside ‘breath’.  I see plenty of domestic US moves where furniture is wrapped in plastic shrink-wrap sheeting … if the container sits in the alternate sun and rain on a Manila dock for a few weeks the wooden furniture inside the plastic might just as well be outside in the rain … don’t so it.  Incidentally, our overall costs for materials came out quite a bit less than if we had bought everything at U-Haul.

Preparation: As I believe I mentioned earlier, most shipping companies offer several options for actually getting your good into a container and on their way.  One method that has worked well for many is, you arrange a date and time with the shipper and a local hauling firm arrives with your container on a trailer at your home and the driver waits a fixed period of time while you (and some strong-backed helpers ‘stuff’ the container.  Typical ‘free’ wait times are on the order of two hours.  An experienced warehouse crew can ‘stuff’ a 40-foot container in two hours, but they will work up a sweat doing so.  An average home-packer will be sorely taxed to get it done in that time, so make sure you know how much extra waiting time will cost you … you may need it.  One thing that sounds silly, unless it happens to you is, remember the floor of a shipping container on a truck frame is abut 48 inches above the ground … a full 4 feet.  A friend of mine made a two hour pickup arrangement, had his packed goods all ready to load and was waiting with a crew of helpers when the trucker arrived, on time.  One thing he didn’t have was any kind of a ramp or ladder … everything was packed, remember?  It’s a lot of work to lift everything 4 feet into a container and it wastes a lot of time over the alternative of rolling in stacks of boxes on a hand truck.  Be prepared.

A better alternative for many is to have the container dropped at your location and picked up after loading.  This will add considerably to the trucking costs .. the company has to make two trips .. but will remove the time pressure.  Make sure, however, that your local laws and neighbors will put up with an ugly container in the street in front of your house … again, better to find out sooner rather than later.

Since I had to get my household goods from Colorado to California (where my shipper, Manila Forwarder had their offices) and my wife and I also had to get there (our car was sold with the buyer taking delivery on the morning of our move) I decided to rent a U-Haul truck and let the one vehicle move both the household goods and us.  Worked out pretty well, although you never know about Colorado weather and driving a truck that distance is sure not as comfortable as traveling in your car … but it went all right and the boxes got to the container and we got to our gate at LAX all with time to spare.  So it’s a method you can keep in mind in case it gets you out of the same pickle we were in.

Hope these tips are of some value in helping you with your move … my only regret is we waited longer than we needed to … we’re here in the Philippines nearly two years now and I haven’t regretted making the move seriously once.

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Moving Plans — Shifting Boxes

June 15, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

OK, you’ve figures out , how to support yourself, how you are going to communicate via paper, phone and computer, how to work your banking and how to get a visa.  Now the actual fun part begins.  You get to move things.

The first question is not always as simple as it seems … what will you take?

In general, after having made a "cubic foot"  limited move, I’d say, bring everything!  Several acquaintances of mine who are living here now also share that advice.  They each shipped a whole 40 foot ocean freight container … 40′x8′x8′ … and feel they made good use of it.  I shipped less than half that much, and while I got most things that I needed, and the Unofficial Cook got to bring most of what she needed to keep her fabulous kitchen in operation, we both still miss things every day.

The one thing many Americans want to bring is their car or motorcycle.  In general, the answer to that is, you can’t.  The import rules for motor vehicles, 2 or 4 wheels, (and motor vehicle parts, as well, should you be thinking about taking the motorcycle apart and shipping the pieces) are very restrictive, and the custom duties add up to more than the retail value of the vehicle.  Shipping itself will add several thousand to that.  If you insist you must ship a car, Google for specialists in that department, because I can’t offer any more detailed advice.  Auto import and auto smuggling are a really big hot button with the government, so it is something I don’t choose to delve into.  Guns, also, are a big issue.  Legally a foreigner can not own a weapon.  There are ways to legally import them under the control of licensed importers and store them in approved facilities, such as gun clubs … you can’t carry them and can’t keep them in your home …  but again, that’s way outside my scope.

Aside from those issues, pretty much anything that is your personal property, in reasonable quantities, can ship.  If you are shipping via the multiple box method, customs usually does not check very closely.  If you are making one shipment under a visa entitlement, there is a restriction of $7,000 USD total value.  That doesn’t sound like much, but if you look at used prices .. fair market value .. it covers most households … I mean, how much would you make if you sold it all to a used furniture dealer?  Just don’t so as I have heard of some bright sparks of hope doing .. declare the value of less than $7,000 and then attaching insurance papers showing you bought a policy for a declared value of $30 or $40,000 USD … come on now, these inspectors can put 2 and 2 together, you know.

OK, inventory, valuation issues, now the actual how. 

You can find any number of moving companies (Google is your friend) who will come to your house, pack your belongings, ship them and deliver and unpack them in the Philippines.  The amount it costs will depend upon how much you ship and how much service you want to provide yourself.

The method I used, and the one I recommend is to use a Philippine shipping specialist company who deals directly with the Philippines using ocean freight containers.  Again, there are many to chose from.  The one I used and the one I very highly recommend is Manila Forwarder  in Los Angeles, CA.  they can do it all.  The CEO, Manny Paez, is a personal friend of mine, don’t hesitate to ask Manny or any of his excellent staff for help or special requests.

basically there are three options:

  1. They send a container to be dropped of at your residence and you set a time for it to be picked up for shipment.
  2. They arrange a time for a truck to come with a container and you get a couple hours to ‘stuff’ the container and send it on it’s way.
  3. You deliver you goods to their warehouse in Los Angles and they stuff the container for you and deliver it at the Philippines end.

Option 3 is the one I chose.  I rented a U-Haul to get my stuff from Colorado to California, took about 2 days to pack the truck and 2.5 days to schlep it out to LA.  Method 1 or method 2 would be easier, believe me, but my wife and I had to get to California somehow so the U-Haul served as our transportation as well as the household goods.  There’s a U-Haul dealer within site of the Los Angeles airport, so you can drop off your boxes, then drop off your truck and finally drop into your seat on the outbound flight.

So, that’s some thoughts on the mechanics of getting your items moved … tomorrow I’ll give you some specific tips on packing and perhaps some things you don’t know you want to bring.

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Moving Plans — Forms and Help

June 14, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

It’s Saturday morning here in the Philippines as I write this.  This has been a short week due to the Independence day holiday on Monday (as if I really took holidays off), ;-)

But anyway, I promised to try to keep theses shorter, so I will.

By now you should have decided on which of the legal methods of residence I have covered in the past few days is right for you:

  • SRRV (Special Resident’s Retiree Visa)
  • 13(a) or 13 (g) Filipino or former-Filipino sponsored residency visa
  • Tourist Visa

So how do you get any of these options started?  Basically everything can be at least started online.  I highly recommend, for US folks anyway, that you do everything you can while you are still in the US.  The service you will get from the Philippine Retirement Authority or the Department of Foreign Affairs will like be better, faster and cheaper than trying to traipse around Manila to the various offices you will need., and for some things, like your special household shipment privileges, you may need some visa paperwork in hand.

To start the SRRV process, just go to the main SRRV website, ask any questions and download and fill up the application forms.  The PRA (Philippine Retirement Authority) has an excellent staff who will help you get on your way.

To start the 13 series Permanent Residence visa process,first go to the Philippine US Embassy’s listing of consular sites in the US and look for your state of residence.  Each office has a certain area of responsibility and the one who serves your state (or US possession) will be the one’ to take care of you.  If you aren’t in the US, here’s a list of all Philippine foreign service posts, world-wide.

If you are coming on your own as a tourist, you actually can just get on  a plane and fly if the airline will board you and if the BI lets you in) , but I highly recommend you comply with the rules if the Philippines from day one.  The Philippine government states "tourists intending to stay longer than 21 days should obtain a visa in advance".  If I had a dollar for every argument I have heard on this issue in the past 8 years I’d be rich … but why argue.  Do the right, legal thing to begin with and, as a bonus, it’s better, faster and cheaper … hard to argue.  Your best bet for starting the tourist visa process is the consular listing referenced above, they have the simple form required and will be happy to help you out.  By the way.  don’t be confused.  ALL tourist visas are for 59 days of in-country stay.  Period.  Unless you are planning to go in and out of the Philippines multiple time sin your first year, you only need the cheapest, shortest option.  You will have to extend at the end of 59 days, regardless of the validity period you buy.

Some folks are very put off about sending their passport through the mail.  I can understand this, but unless you can make a personal visit, it’s a fact of life.  It should work just fine.  Go to your local post office and get two of the free 9×12 Express Mail cardboard envelope mailers.  Address one to yourself, address the other one to the consular office you will be dealing with.  Put the forms, payment and your passport inside one, ask the clerk to give you the postage for both envelopes.  S/he will put the postage on the return envelope, you folds it up and put it in the outbound envelope and hand it over for postage and mailing… your passport is safe under US mail and you get a tracking number and proof of delivery, so I feel the risks are very small … after all, your passport came to you through the US mail, now didn’t it?

Anyway, that’s your task for the weekend, while I’m sipping a drink with a little umbrella in it, you can get to work on your paperwork so that you can retire to the Philippines as well.

Next issue:  Mechanics of Moving

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Moving Plans — SRRV

June 13, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

I promised I would talk more about the Special Resident Retiree Visa before I got deeper into the mechanics of moving.  It’s always a toss up to decide how much or how little detail to include in these posts .. looking back over the past few days I sense I have been too verbose, so I’ll try to do better and breaking things into bite-size "lumps".

The SRRV has been around for some years now.  For years it had the reputation among foreigners that it was a program where you "bought" a visa and it was nothing but a useless expanse, only for rich people, etc.

image Well, it does require that you make an investment, so for those who consider that buying a visa, so be it … but it’s a very viable program, it’s very "alive", that is many important changes have come about in just the past few years, and for those not married to a Philippine citizen/former Philippine citizen, it is a very viable consideration.   Let’s look at the pros and cons:

SRRV Pros:

  • Gives you the option to reside permanently in the Philippines. 
  • It gives you an indefinite-stay status.
  • Provides you with multiple-entry privileges that allows you to go in or out of the country at anytime.
  • Exempts you from securing the exit & re-entry clearances from the Bureau of Immigration
  • Exempts you from the payment of Travel Taxes (conditions apply).
  • You can work in the Philippines subject to the issuance of an Alien Employment Permit (AEP).
  • You can start your own business in the Philippines.
  • Entitles you to bring two (2) of your dependents (spouse and/or unmarried children 20 years old). 
  • You or any family member wishing to study will not need a Special Study Permit or Student’s Visa.
  • You can purchase and own your condominium unit or lease a parcel of land anywhere in the Philippines.
  • You may also invest in golf memberships or in shares of stock traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange.
  • You may import household goods and other personal effects (worth up to $7000 USD) tax-free.

SRRV Cons:

  • You must be 35 years of age or older to avail.
  • You must make an approved investment.  Amounts vary from $75,000 USD down to $1500 USD.
  • There is an application fee.
  • There are yearly fees.
  • If you decide to withdraw your investment (which you can do at any time) you revert to tourist status.
  • You do, of course, pay tax on investment profits, as you would on any other Philippines-source income.

I am not a salesman for the SRRV … and I don’t hold one (I’m married to a Philippine Citizen and can hold long-term residency without the SRRV).  But I do think the program’s plusses and minus’s stack up very highly into the plus side of the  ledger, and for those who are single, those who have a life-partner they are not married to, or for married couples who are both non-Filipino it is the best game in town.  SRRV website is here.

And a special note for those (there are a lot of you out there) who absolutely won’t live in a condo, or want to live somewhere where condos don’t even exist, I hope you have been looking at some of the properties I’ve been writing about here … and will continue to write about.  Rents on big city condos can be huge, there is certainly the potential for significant profit,  The SRRV program says you have to make an investment, it does not say you have to live in it.  Worthy of careful consideration.

49 Ways to Make a Living in the PhilippinesI am a salesman of these products, though, and if you haven’t gotten your copies yet, better move fast.  As long as you have passed that magic 35th Retire like a Kingbirthday, you can make the move any time  … you don’t have to wait until you are old and gray like me.

Next edition?  How to get the forms and who to talk to.

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Moving Plans — Permissions

June 11, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

When I promised last time I would talk about the ways to actually get your possessions and your family here to the Philippines I later realized I have jumped the gun a little.   The methods that are open to you and the actual rules on bringing things vary quite a bit depending upon your legal immigration status before you actually commence the move … so we had better devote a little space to a who, what, why discussion … because over the past 8 years I’ve found this to be one of the most misunderstood areas of all.

I hate being put into a category or stereotyped, but there is no other way to get the information people need to know organized and out into a form people can make heads or tails of.  So, let’s perform a little triage here, and cut the problem down to size:

First of all, are you a Filipino or former Filipino ? (by former Filipino I am referring to a natural-born Filipino who gave up their Filipino citizenship in order to accept citizenship in another country).  be careful you don’t answer that question too fast, because even if you were born outside the Philippines and have never claimed Filipino citizenship you mat still be a Filipino if either or both of your parents were Filipino citizens.  If the answer is yes, or if you can make it yes by legal means (reclaiming or re-acquiring your Filipino citizen rights, then you have no "mother may I" problems … you can either enter the Philippines on a Philippine passport or avail of a 13(g) series Philippine Permanent Resident visa which will allow you to live in the Philippines as long as you care to, and to move certain possessions to the Philippines without customs duties and other hassles.

I’ll address this category of folks in detail in a future post in this series. (a ;ink will go here)

Are you married to a Filipino/former Filipino?  If so, then your rights and privileges are essentially the same as a Filipino citizen, so far as the move is concerned … so you can expect to find your answers in the next installment as well.  Of course, this is assuming you spouse wishes to sponsor you.  That’s not as facetious of a statement as it might first seem, because I’ve known of guys who were married but separated or at odds with their spouses and tried to use the spouse as their ‘ticket’ into the Philippines anyway.  I also know of some terrific foul-ups these guys got into, so if you and your spouse are not ‘together’ and together on your Philippine plans, you might want to reconsider and take a route to Philippine residence that does not depend on a spouse.  You might want to take a look at becoming legally free to marry also, but that’s a horse of a different color … for another time.

Ok, if you’re still with me here it means you are either single or married to some one and neither has Filipino citizen rights.  Is there still a way for you to move to the Philippines, including some possessions and live there?  yes, there are several routes open to you.

First you can avail of several international investor visa plans.  These are not of interest to many folk and I won’t cover them here, but keep the fact in mind.  If you were planning to start a business, for example, then you would need to dig out the facts because the programs have some good benefits, especially if you want to locate in certain economic zones which the Philippine government is promoting.  If there’s interest in more info on this aspect, let me know, I’ll write more.

Second, you can take the route many foreigners do and just come here and live here for years on a simple tourist visa. (technically, a tourist visa waiver).  This costs money, but it’s relatively small amounts, spread over time.  It requires visa renewals every 2 months.  It requires you to leave the country at least once a year.  But it’s relatively simple and, very appealing to some folks, requires very little pre-planning.  You just ‘show up’, visit (or have your agent visit) the most convenient Bureau of Immigration office every time your expiration of stay comes up, and make a trip home, or a shopping trip to Hong Kong, or a casino trip to Macao every 12 months and you are a happy camper.  You do not get any sort of household goods shipping privilege with this method, but you can ship essentially any amount of small items in advance via the Balikbayan box method.  There is, however, one better method that I’m going to point out in closing ..

The method I would recommend any single person or non-Filipino couple should look very closely at is the Special Resident Retiree Visa (SRRV).  A lot, and I do mean a lot, has changed with this program recently.  In researching the latest changes I find I really need to write a separate post on this aspect also, because there is just too much to squeeze in here. 

In summary, the SRRV allows you to make a deposit of cash (in interest-bearing bank accounts), or some other investments, including condos or homes on leased property, and in return you get a lifetime visa and a number of special privileges.  For years the cash requirements seemed rather steep and the program languished, but it’s very much alive and well today and much more attractive.  Do not let the word "Retiree" in the name throw you off … the program is available to anyone 35 or over and one of the benefits is permission to work for \salary or run your own business … so it’s a possibility for others than the old pensioner set, like me ;-)

OK, time to get busy and work on the next installment … today is one of the sister’s birthdays so I think I’ll be celebrating a little more than writing, but I’ll get to the end, promise.

by the way, don’t forget your in-country, earn a living textbook:

49 Ways to Make a Living in the Philippines

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Moving Plans — Phones

June 8, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

Last post under this subject we talked about physical (snail) mail and some strategies to handle it.  This time I want to talk with you about phones.  The world of telephones, especially Internet telephony, or VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is changing so fast that many don’t even have a concept of what’s actually available out there today.

The simple bottom line is, you can live in the Philippines as if you were still living in the US with a properly set up phone system.  And, if you are handling your US phones the way I was, before I moved, you can save a bundle just by moving you voice services into the 21st century, in the Philippines or in the US.

If you are still paying a legacy phone company for a land line monthly subscription charge, you really need to ask yourself, why?  You do not need a land line.  The only reason most people are doing it is because Americans have for years, and people seem to expect it, etc., etc.  I’ve been living without a land line now for nearly two years and I have yet to miss it.  Looking back I recall how many land line calls I got that were solicitations and ‘dreck’ that I didn’t want in the first place.  There is no method I know of that will let you keep your current US land line number and have it ring in the Philippines … but you don’t need to.

Suppose your current US number is very, very important to you?  OK, you can move to the Philippines and keep that number in the US if you really want to.  Just order voice mail and call forwarding for it … assuming you don’t have them already … and get your calls and messages by one of the methods I’m going to suggest below.  Change your billing address to the US presence snail mail address I covered in the last post of this series … and there is no need for a paper bill, ever, pay the bill with your US banks online bill paying service.  Presto.  Done deal.

To receive calls in the Philippines as if you were in the US there are two simple and related ways I am going to suggest. They both essentially work the same, just small differences in price and equipment.

Vonage:

Before you move you have the option of switching to Vonage (actually there are competitors to Vonage for VOIP service you might want to check out, but I’m using them as a known-to-work example).  For something like #25 USD per month Vonage will give you a ‘real’ US phone number.  You can pick one in your local area or, as many of my friends have done, pick one in the local area of a friend or relative whom you expect to be making a lot of calls to you.  To them, your phone number is just like any phone number.  They need no computer, no Internet connection, they need only to know how to dial a standard phone number and talk.

At the other end of the Vonage service you have to have a little box that is plugged into a broadband Internet connection.  Standard phones you already own then plug into the box (technically this device is a IP router), or, if you8 chose the right box, wireless US phones will also connect.  A person calls, the phone rings, you answer.  To call out to the US, you pick up the phone, get dial tone and place a call.  A three-year-old can handle it.

I have several friends here in the Philippines with Vonage and we use it all the time to call from one Philippine location to another … the fact that the call ,logically routes from the Philippines to the US public phone system and then back to the Philippines doesn’t matter.  It costs nothing (aside from the monthly subscription) and the call quality is typically better by far than if we made the call over the standard Philippine telephone network.

Aside from the modest monthly cost, I know of no reason not to say everyone should get Vonage before they move.  I know of no problems at all that I have ever had nor any of my friends who use it … it just works.

Notice I have said several times that you need to avail of Vonage before you make the move.  That’s because Vonage will not ship you the router you need to use the service outside the US.  So you should have it before the move and carry it with you.  You can, though, use any of a number of US to Philippine shopping services to get the Vonage box sent here if you want to sign up, with your US address, after you have already made the move.  But I have two even better ideas…

Skype:

Skype is a world-wide VOIP, messaging and specialized messaging service that essentially ‘does it all’.  It’s the service I currently use.  You can dial my number, 1-719-966-4295 and if I am at my computer, I’ll pick up.  Skype can be used to call computer-to-computer anywhere in the world, totally free.  You just download a free agent program to your machine and anyone else who has Skype can call … or you can call them.  But your bank, for example isn’t going to call you from their computer.  So, you buy a "Skype In" number for $60 a year and anyone can call and talk as long as they want.  They pay whatever it costs them to call that standard phone number, you pay nothing. 

At your end, it is totally free if you receive or place calls on your computer.  For as little as $50 or so, you can buy a box (Amazon is one source, there are literally hundreds of others) which plug in to any Internet connection and let a regular phone connect over Skype, exactly as the Vonage router described above does.  My Skype has been working fine for months no … I have absolutely no complaints and the voice quality is at least as good as when I used to make expensive ‘conventional’ land line calls.

An extremely "kewl" thing about Skype is, you can select inbound numbers in any of 21 countries: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong S.A.R.(China), Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US.  So if you have friends or relative outside the US whom you want to stay in close touch with, you can order a "Skype In" number that is local to them.

Most people buy a combination plan from Skype.  the most extensive is $12.95 a month, roughly half of Vonage’s plan and allows virtually unlimited calls to 34 different countries.  You can’t get a much stronger calling plan than that.

Yahoo Messenger:

I wouldn’t feel I was giving you a complete picture without mentioning an old standby that for some reason no longer gets much respect.  Yahoo Messenger, a free application you can download to your computer will give you text, video and voice messaging to any other Yahoo user in the world.  For a small subscription fee, Yahoo will also give you a ‘real’ call in number like Skype or Vonage, and Yahoo offers various outbound calling plans as well.

Normally computer to computer, there are Yahoo router boxes you can buy from dozens of online sources that work as the Skype and Vonage routers do, so you can receive or place calls from your home here in the Philippines on a standard phone.

The last point I feel is important about Yahoo is .. Yahoo voice will work quite adequately over a dial up Internet connection.  Yes the voice will be more compressed and choppy than on a full speed connection, but you may be somewhere that you can not get a broad band Internet connection.  Most people, for some reason, think voice requires high bandwidth, but I have used Yahoo Messenger for many hours to and from the Philippines via dial up (in the old days, dial up at both ends) and it works.  Could be the solution that gets you around a problem, so give it a look.

OK, there’s at least three ways to live in the Philippines telephonically as if you were still in the US
and every one of them will save you money over what most people are paying in the US.  can’t argue too much with that,.now can you?

Next installment we’ll look at the actual methods available to get things moved here to the Philippines.  If you have questions or comments, feel free to let me know … I want to make this information as useful as possible.

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