I’ve written before about “Making a Soft Landing in the Philippines“. It’s the start of a new year and a new decade and sadly, many of you reading this and thinking about the Philippines are still in tough times.
I read about the weather in the US … and my dear wife, the Unofficial Cook, views the streets in our former home town, Colorado Springs via the city’s traffic cams … when they aren’t iced over or obscured by blowing snow. Hard times so far as I am concerned. Why so many people chose to continue living in conditions like that, with utility bills the way they are, completely boggles my mind.
A reader just a day or so ago wrote to me about his “snowbirding” plan for the Philippines. He’s thinking about taking summer work in Alaska (believe me, there are always jobs there in the summer … if you want to work, that is, instead of getting paid to surf on your employer’s time).
Then, when the snow flies, he’ll come back to the Philippines where he plans to have his family living, and enjoy these months where the weather is nice here and the US and Europe are suffering through one blizzard and cold snap after another. He plans to clear about $20,000 USD per season and just live on that the rest of the year. If he and his family are good budget managers I see nothing at all wrong with the plan … it’s eminently practical.
There’s more than one US fellow I’ve corresponded with here in the Philippines, doing that exact thing.
Other snowbirders are couples more my age who already have a pension or investment income and live here in the Philippines while the weather is bad in the US, and then go back ‘home’ for 4 months, 5 months, six months or whatever suits them, to take advantage of the summer months in the US when the weather is bearable.
There are many ways to do this without a conventional J*O*B. (Just Over Broke). I applaud them for being rebels. Breaking the government/media propoganda line that says your worth is in your job, and if you don’t have a regular job, by definition getting paid, on average, one-third of what you are actually making for your employer, then you are somehow a failure. Friends, that is nothing short of patent bullshit.
Your personal worth is in your talents and what you can earn for yourself and your family … in a great many ways the folks in the US who have lost their jobs … and (this part is important) those decide to make something of themselves on their own … as opposed to the drones who sit on the sidewalk outside the unemployment offices and moan about what the government doesn’t do for them, are the lucky ones.
Recently I was browsing on my old friend Don Herrington’s site www.livinginthephilippines.com (not to be confused with my good friend Bob Martin’s site, www.liveinthephilippines.com
(yeah, there’s a little bit of competition there, but both these fellows have a lot to offer … I also see a guy recently publishing www.living-in-the-philippines.com (note the annoying, hard to type hyphens) … not a whole lot of original thinking going on there, but that’s another story).
Anyway, I was struck by this article by Don, Why the Philippines and Why Now?, (scroll down the page that opens to read the full article, pleasee) especially the following snippet …
Some have been snow birding in the Philippines for years: hiding from the cold. Now some are “economy birding,” waiting for the warmer economic climate by hanging out in the Philippines. Here is no sin to be unemployed. (my emphasis) They enjoy living here and all the beauties of the country for a fraction of the cost of the more “developed,” countries…
Don has it exactly right here … this is one of the things about living in the Philippines I like, and didn’t even realize I would like.
In the US, much more than you may realize, you are not judged by who you are, but by what your work is. If you lost your job, there’s an unspoken but hidden stigma that surrounds you and your family, anywhere you go, that cries out “loser“. Does not matter the why and the how of the situation, you don’t have a job, you must be less worthy than the average “wage slave”.
And heaven forfend you be “retired”. That means, especially to the average 30 or 40 something executive or legislator, your life is over, you are physically and mentally unfit to contribute anything, and you are, worse than that, a resource hog, a ‘snorrer” who is sucking the life out of the young who feel they have inherited the earth. As one of my old former governors (ask me sometime why Colorado sucks) was famous for saying, “The elderly have a duty to die.”
In the Philippines, who cares if you have a job? Occasionally in the past, some of my neighbors have asked, in passing, what I am doing with myself. I tell them I’m retired and their faces lightsup with a little respect for the 40 years I put in to earn this status. They never turn their head and spit 
Thinking of Living in the Philippines? It has its ups and downs, but it is sure different than living in the USA in terms of how you are judged and treated … for sure. Living here is a bit like the old US Army tag line, “Be all that you can be”, rather than “Is your job important enough that I should even acknowledge you?”
Dave/philly,
(just a regular guy here can’t spell for crap,and not a poet with words)
I wanted to take the moment to say Thank you and Happy New Year !!
I Worked overseas for many years(am From Usa).When I went back to work in USA in 2000 I had a hard time
just trying to find myself and relate to the things/rat race and the additude of the American worker. Was not warm for the most part.
As management, or self employment(witch did well) was still left empty…. something was missing…
I was 38 at the time, have been in the phillippines almost three years now. I have been self employed online for over 10 years so was not a hard move.
I wanted to move to a place where things were a little slower, where I could spent more time for myself .Enjoy my life, and I could save more for savings. The day to day expenses,
grind becomes a load on the chest that never seems to go away in the usa(all you do is work it seems),makes it hard to save for future goals.
I have found a feeling of peace here.. There have been hard moments and lessons like living anywhere.Mostly the culture different views.(Times I questioned myself, thought was living on Mars)There is a big difference in just living here,and living here and having a business here you run.
I deal with a large amount of people online daily from all over the country. Not to many in person.So you really get a wide/or different views on ways of thinking etc.,a different kind of customer and expectations than have been use to.
The hardest challenge have had living here is meeting quality friends that you can trust,or show up when they say hehehe…., like anywhere will come in time….
I really have enjoyed your writtings and can relate to so many things, they have helped me and made all the difference.
Moving to the philippines was one of the smartest things I have done(am not very smart). For quality of life ,and business venture. I am younger than alot of your readers….
I knew before and now, that my younger age moving here was far better than waiting till older(invest in yourself), and all the lost income paying the higher bills etc. over time till retire?
I find far more business oppurtunity here and not the battle I had in the usa. You can hire more qualified people,who really want to work that could just not find in the states,at a salary witch would make a difference in the long term.
My future is, and becoming so much brighter here… I can kick back relax have a beer from time to time and do not feel guilty about it….
Living life is great. In my case ,my future is becoming stronger everyday from being here in my middle-age. Never could understand the concept of working your ass off your whole life and listen
to folks say “when I get older-retire want to go live on a beach paradise” enjoy life now !!!!!!!!!!!!!! figure out what you need to do ,and fight for that, time goes by very fast,look just another year past… with all the negativity in the world it takes work to be happy…
as they said in the movie “get busy livin,or get busy dieing”
Thank you kindly for your great messages dave, I read them often > It’s going to be a great year…!!!
Hi Bruce.
Wow, what a really great comment. Happy New Year to you, and thanks for reading. Thanks also for letting us know there are more folks out there who are making it here in the Philippines. And not necessarily scraping by on centvos at a time from a sari-sari store. As many know my constant message is, you can make a living from any where while you live in the Philippines. No matter what your nationality, you can make a living in the Philippines, but your money doesn’t have to come from the Philippines.
I’m working on a post right now about the decision I made to give up our US-based ‘brick and mortar’ business when we moved here, and why that might have been a poor decision … because even though that business was not an “on-line” business, I’ve watched some of my former competitors closely … one in particular who is also a good friend of mine, really build up their businesses (credit both their business acumen and the way the technology has advanced), and to tell the truth … I might have been smarter to keep that business going after I moved.
If you would ever care to write a guest post or two telling us about your own business (the aspects you would care to share), feel free to whip one up (reasonable links are always welcome).
It takes a lot of education before the average ‘must make a living where you live’ mindet can be overcome. and ordinary people realize they don’t have to lmit their thinking.
Or if, not, that’s fine too, just let me know if there are any specific things you’d like to see more coverage on … knowing there are folks like you reading makes the exercise less futile. (and don’t worry about spelling, I can’t spell worth you-know-what either and it never stopped me
Great Stuff Guys and Happy New years…. Im in the cold now in USA but will be returning in Feb….Most of the stuff I read now days is about people who are retired with pensions and able to live in the wonderful Philippines. But my question to all you readers what about us younfer men who want to come to paradise with a willing to adapt and try to succeed…..How can we make it there on a sho string budget… Im sitting here in about 15 degrees weather with grey trees and frozen grass. Im dreaming about the warm weather and sweet kiss from my filipina. I dont want to wait untill im 50 to make the change, and I havent hit the lottery yet. Im just an average poor Tennessee boy with a dream. Give me some feed back and pass your wisdom down for the other generation please. Hope to see you soon ……
Tom, welcome. I have to tell you, from the start, that classifying yourself as ‘poor Tennessee boy’ is the wrong way, in my opinion of course, to start living your dream. I fully understand you not wanting to wait, and wait, and wait for what seems forever to then be a ‘poor retiree’. You’re only truly ‘poor’ if you truly assess yourself that way.
You have a great strength already, you _are_ younger … and time 9s the most precious commodity any of us has, way more valuable than money, even Bill Gates can’t buy it.
I’ve written probably a dozen articles here about how you can earn a living without a conventional job. Likewise, many US-based jobs can be outsourced by the incumbent’, in other words, work here, get paid from there. Or folks I know of who are living here are supporting themselves by writing books, consulting inside and outside of the Philippines, selling US-made product all around the world, etc. etc. Instead of dream, decide to live your dream and make it happen. (and stay away from lotteries, they are nothing but an additional tax imposed on people who are bad at math). Read a bit on earning here. Star making alist of specific things you are good ast, and alist of specific things that will stop you, and whittle them down, one by one. Everything is solvable, or avoidable _if_ you want to overcome it … remember one of Henry Ford’s famous sayings … “If you think you can, or if your think you can’t, you’re right.”
So how could you earn aliving while living in the Philippines? (note I diodn’t say how can you earn aliving in the Philippines, the differnce is subtle but important
Hi Dave,
Talking of JOBs.
A few months ago i was reading a UK article with regard to loss of jobs and redundancies, in a part of the UK that has been particularly badly hit.
A local politician stated,
” The situation here, is now that bad,that anyone 50+ without a job now,has more chance of dying,than finding a new job”.Kind of sums things up for that generation.
I have very little time for politicians, but at least this guy spoke the truth.
regards Chas.
@Cahs: That’s why I continually encourage people to learn to become independent of the traditional job market. Once you learn how to make even a small contribution to your own well-being independently, without going hat in hand to an employer, essentially to ‘beg’ for a job, the entire world opens up for you.
There’s a very good logic to the fact that getting a job after 50 is difficult. If you run a business and your principle responsibility is to keep it afloat for the well being of the present employees and the stock holders, how much sense does it make to hire a 50 yo man vice a 20 or 30 year old … Who is going to produce more for you. Of course our hearts say, “But that’s not fair.” And, it isn’t. Life isn’t fair, last time I looked.
Hi Dave,
Ha ha,i fully agree with your statement “life ain’t fair” and most of us have some proof of that in our past.
May i add another “Life is what you make it”.
Happy New Year,
regards Chas.