Yesterday was my friend Bob’s birthday and as I was sending him a Happy Birthday email I realized he is part of a growing list of people I know who didn’t wait and spend the best years of their lives ‘waiting until the time is right’ before they retire to the Philippines and started living the life they wanted to, instead of the life that those magical, mystery ‘they‘ folks that hand around the periphery of everyone’s life seem concerned with guiding their friends into.
(You might also like some of my other articles on this subject, such as How Much Does It Cost to Retire in the Philippines)
Can You Retire to the Philippines Now?
Well the answer is, yes you can. If you want to.
Now let me clarify something right away. Bob isn’t “retired” in the sense of sitting on a rocking chair, anxiously awaiting his next Social Security check the way most people seem to envision retirement. Bob’s a businessman and is actively engaged in a number of business ventures. he also provides employment to a number of folks here in the Philippines. But he’s as free from the grind of the typical American job as any inactive retiree ever was … and his work isn’t physical, like digging ditches … sop he can enjoy what he’s doing for as many years as he desires and then plan an exit strategy on his own terms. Something most of us will never be able to do.
So I can hear the naysayers among you now … “Fine well and good, Dave, but Bob’s a ‘special case’. Carving out your own life wouldn’t work for the rest of us.”
Are There Others Able to Retire to the Philippines?
Could This be You in the Philippines?
I’d say so. I don’t mix with people all that well. I’m not a ‘socializing guy’, but already I’ve found quite a few others who are living the life they chose here, rather than the life someone else told them to live. Take my friends Ellen and Kjartan for example.
Now Ellen and Kjartan are far, far from ‘retired’ in the usual sense. They are workers and builders, both of boats and of businesses. But they aren’t old, they aren’t slaves to what others tell them to be and they live in a way that suits them, not others.
How much would that be worth to you, in your life? Is money or “health insurance” (the great preoccupation of Americans, it seems to me) really worth all that you seem to think it is?
When Ellen and Kjartan decided to “retire” to the Philippines, they didn’t have to check airline schedules, the untied the mppring lines from their boat and sailed here.
Money? Sure, we all need some. When they did, they stopped along the way and made some. Does that make them unique? Well you may say so, but they really aren’t all as unique as you might feel they are.
There are thousand and thousand of others, single, married, married with children, young,old and in between doing the same thing these days.
Some Didn’t Retire to the Philippines yet, but are “Inbound”
I’ve written about my friend Luc before (More Talent Than You Think You Have?). Luc and his partner are both well under “normal” retirement age, and they too are not retired in the outdated rocking chair sence, but many would envy them in their work.
They sail the pacific, stopping and living where they want to be, and making their way, as industrious people always have through history. people who can rely on themselves and not on what others give them permission to do.
This reminds me, I owe Luc a long Skype chat. One of his current projects that I know of is the writing of a book that details exactly how he’s made his own way in the world. I know him to be an exceptional guy, but a superman or specialized genius or ‘rich kid’? nope … just a man who charts his own course.
I guarantee you that you, yes, you the man or woman reading this article right now are exceptional as well … you just need to let what is inside you out. It really doesn’t matter if you want to live on a yacht and sail the 7 seas, or become an airline pilot and get paid to fly over the 7 seas, or just retire to the Philippines and carve out a life that suits you instead of another person … it is possible.
I’ll be sure to let you know when the book comes out.
I’ll sign off with a great article I am going to give you as a mandatory reading assignment.
I’ve ling been a reader of a blog called “Get Rich Slowly”. I highly recommend you put it on your daily reading list. It written by a youngish couple who went to college in the US, migrated into the family business and started to gather all the trappings of what we call “success” in the USA (which essentially means debt and entanglements).
The wife is stu=ill working at a regular job (by choice, not necessity) while the husband ‘writes blog’. He’s become very successful at what he does, too, and one of the reasons is, he doesn’t write or provide all the information himself, he relies very heavily on reader stories. This is one you will enjoy, with a snippet from the article itself to get your attention. It resonated very strongly with me (that’s the original author’s emphasis, by the way, but I would have added it myself if he had not):
Reader Story: Sailing Away from the American Dream
… The Age of the Radical Family
The very fabric of our society is wrapped around a framework of rules and expectations. The U.S. economy is based on the expectation that most of us are on the path our family is abandoning. Our grandparents grew up in a world in which there were just a few well-worn paths from cradle to grave. And things have changed.
- Today, most employees are employed at-will.
- Most are no longer covered by defined-benefit pension plans.
- Many people 20 or more years from retirement don’t think they will see a full return of their lifetime Social Security contributions.
- Most people self-direct funds to their retirement accounts and switch between several employers during the course of a career — or even start new careers.
As our individual financial security has become more abstract, it’s given rise to a liberation, an increasing feeling among many that they can chart a different path through life. And can they ever!…
Did you read the story? What are your thoughts (pro or con)? Will I be featuring a similar Retire to the Philippines story from one of you here soon? I certainly hope so.
Let me close with this question. What, exactly, stands in the way of you and the ability to retire to the Philippines?
Popularity: 12% [?]
Well, Dave, I was fortunate to retire at the age of 57 and retire to the Philippines with my beautiful Filipina wife. I collect a monthly retirement income from funds invested from my former job at AT&T back in the States, and my only “work” now is my website I maintain. We had a choice to stay in America and continue working, acquiring more debt, and living in the rat race. We choose not to. Glad we did.
Dave;
I gave up the working life at age 52. I have no regrets, and I’ve never been more relaxed in my life.
@Paul Thompson (ID 5341): Truer words never spoken, my friend. Had a sad event right here on my street a few weeks ago. The guy who lived in the nice house on the corner was always friendly to me, nice fellow I sometimes stopped to chat with. Turns out he had just retired (lived here in my neighborhood a shorter time than me) retired fron a position as a merchant captain. I think he came home from the sea at 63. Could have retired earlier, but you know how it is … gotta have that very last dollar for retirement ,,, gotta work more … gotta make my retirement safe … so he stuck it out longer.
Went to his wake last Thursday. He was walking from one room to nother in his house and just flopped on his face, dead before he hit the floor of a massive heart attack. A year younger than me. I’m glad for him that he had his time, I’m even more glad for folks like you who saw the opportunity and took it, rather than debating.
What no one seems to realize about this retirement business is, we’re all dead. Already determined, done deal. We just don’t know the hour and manner. Death is the only task we are given that we can’t procrastinate about … and damn but it’s pretty darn permanent. Get things done now.
Dave my father retired at 55, as he started working at age 10 with his dad building houses. After WW II he started working on his plan. He passed at age 86, and the last letter I got from him, told me to retire as young as I could, he also told me; “It’s been a Great run, Paul”. Always listen to your dad!
Thanks Paul. Indeed now after this comment and a couple other’s I’ve had in the past few days I’m pretty much compelled to write another article about the fallacies of waiting until the (sometimes bitter) end before being kind to yourself.
I really have to say I was really affect by the Captain Rengel who lived at the end of my block … even though we weren’t close buddies. Since he went into retirement before he was 5, I’m sure there were plenty of friends and shipmates who scolded him for leaving before he maxed out his pension.
But guess what … he didn’t even live until he would have maxed out … at least he had a couple years of retirement … the last time I saw him alive he was sitting on a bench in front of his house as I passed on my morning walk with a little niece sitting on his knee, and telling her to ‘Say hello to David’ as she watched the strange looking kano pass in that delightful childhood curiosity and wonderment the little ones exhibit.
How few people realize there are things way more valuable that that last dollar.
I gave up working at age 49. I am not rich but I enjoy my life here. Just wish I came here long ago. Hey boys and girls, if you have a dream of doing something don’t wait until the “time is right.” Do it and don’t look back.
@Gary Wigle (ID 5343): Yep. The cemeteries are full of guys “waiting until the time is right”. People just seem to put out of their mind the fact that our ‘end game’ isn’t under our control. I’m also a big believer in the idea that folks who long to come here to live should do it earlier rather than later, becuase the older we get the more chance that something will go wrong health-wise and then the chance will never come again.
Well there is quite a bit of difference between a 50 year old retired guy moving to the Philippines to be with his wife and her family and some crazy adventurer quitting his job, borrowing against his house and endangering his young daughters by moving on to a 32 yr old sailboat in Mexico. The article leaves out a lot of important considerations, is the guy wealthy and have the money to move back to the US if things go sour? Does he really want to take is young daughters into harms way in Mexico? Does he know about sailboats? Does he have a solid plan or is he just going to wing it? People are free to do as they wish but that article is not very realistic. The world is certainly changing, but were do people get the idea that everything in the US is gloom and doom? Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents had it all that great? ever heard of the great depression? WWII, Sweat Shops, Working for $1.00 a day? My Grandfather was 30 years old before Social Security ever existed ! They made a good life only because they were not afraid of hard work and believed in the USA. Living in the Philippines with a stable retirement income coming in each month (coming from the good old USA I might add) and running off expecting to make a living in the another country are totally two different things.
Dave
Did the reading assignment and just said wow! I reckon many people are starting to wake up to the fact that society is breeding a bunch of lemmings and they refuse to be a part of it. Good for them.
I sort of have the same kind of fire I stayed overseas as long as the Navy would let me retired an took the earlery retirment at 18yrs full benifits. Then joined the sheriff office in J-ville for another 20 yr retirment. My goal to retire as earley as possible. Will be retired at age 54 and 10mths. Dave your right some people are already telling me to stay and do the drop plan an get more money. Heck no!! I’ll be their till I’m 60.
I don’t need 200,000 dolars to retire in the Philippines.
All I need is enough to get started on and and have some left in the bank for an exit plan for an emergency.
Then my retirment money will take care of the rest.
When we get there we will travel around the Philippines for a year taking in the sights. Then we will sit down and decide what kind of hobbies could make us an income and be enjoyable too. 28mounths to go.
@Bruce (ID 5528): Exactly, Mike. The idea of ‘saving enough’ that we were always taught in the past just doesn’t work.
great article philly, just 2 months ago I handed my resignation on my job for 10 years in service in the retail business when in todays economy when people are desperately looking for jobs in the states and I think it was the right decision, even if they pay me double the salary I still wont stay, there’s a point in a persons life that person wants to be creative on pursuing things like money, relationship, happiness. for me staying in a job didn’t make any sense any longer, like u said retirement is not just sitting around but be creative and actively happy on what u do. It was funny, when I handed my 2 week notice to my supervisor since i wanted to move to the philippines, and he said “what are u going to do? be a bum? ” I was taken back when he said that, but I was’nt offended though, since i knew he had a different state of mind in terms of making money.
note: I read a book a 2 years back called Your Money or Your life. its a great book on managing money in came out in the 1990′s, when I did the exercise in the book, I was able to see where my money went and how much i made, so I was spending more on what I was making lol. So, by quitting my day job, i actually save more money than having a job, what i mean is spending on traveling from and back to work gas, car maintenance, sickness due to work, kept renting when i could own a house in the phil, food and buying clothes on work related etc. Now i’ve work harder that I’ve ever been on my internet business, i stare on my laptop almost half a day lol, it hard work but i’m happy since I can make my own hours, i dont like reading but it really changes you life when you read books.
julian (ID 5741) » Hi Julian, thanks for sharing and making this a more valuable place to visit.
I had a similar reaction to that nasty comment your ex-boss made when I announced my move to the Philippines. Our US values sometimes seemed warped, in that a banker, for example, is more valuable as a person as, again for example, a taxi driver, and both of them _must_ be ‘more valuable’ than, say, a street artist.
But it is really not true that you are what your job is. And it’s also true that everyone has an intrinsic value that has nothing to do with how much money they make.
Another good point you make is how much the average person spends just to keep working. It costs so much just to ‘keep your head above water’ in the US, compared to how you can live here in the Philippines … if you chose to change your lifestyle that is. So many people who put things off becuase they “can’t afford it” really should think the actual dollars and cents through a little more thoroughly.
A person at a conventional job in the US, let’s say something in the range of $70,000 a year, and who is having trouble making ends meet, might well be able to live better in the Philippines on $35,000 a year instead. Personally, my bank accounts/net worth indicate that moving to the Philippines almost 5 years ago was the absolute best thing I’ve ever done, financially.
But, like everything else, people are all different and YMMV.