Comments on: Not Getting Scammed in the Philippines — Update 1

By: Paul Thompson

Paul Thompson — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:17:23 +0000

Dave;
200.5K, that’s a good one, he’s coming by bukas and I’ll tell him.
Yes, he lives here when not sailing, Wife, kids, Grandkids and owns a nice house. I lived here also for 6 years while still sailing, until 2001 when I called it quits.
My first SS check is next week!

By: Philly

Philly — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:25:45 +0000

I’m sorry to have to inform your friend but his math is off. The plan is officially now a 200.5K. He;ll be receiving a bill for the remaining 0.5 percent. *sigh*.

When you said ‘home’, Paul, did you mean home here in the Philippines or ???

One of my pet ‘pitches’ lately has been this is a great place for someone to wait out their ‘full’ retirement .. like to cover the years up to 65 or 66 or 67 when the full Social Security kicks in, etc.

Even folks who don’t want to live here for the est of their retirement could well consider using the Philippines as a ‘way station’. My bank accounts certainly indicate it is more than possible.

By: Paul Thompson

Paul Thompson — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:37:36 +0000

My friend just got home (Merchant Seaman) the other day, He said his Company’s 401K is now a 201K as half is gone. He had to put off retiring by 5 years.

By: Philly

Philly — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:02:29 +0000

very good explanations/pointers, paul. I do have to say, though, that parking hekpers, especially when backing out into traffic, can often be ahelp. I go to a certain Mercury Drug near me, bypassing another store that’s even alittle closer, becuase the one I go too has ‘parking boys’ who shoe the tricycles out of the parking slots when I pull in, and fearly jup out in front of incoming trucks to hold them up when I back out. I can certainly get buy on my own, but it’s nice to have someone back there, even if he served no purpose than to cushion the blow if an oncoming vehcle refuses to stop. I guess I’m a litle philosophical on this becuase there are so many standbys waiting for money to drop out ofthe sky that a busy lad with a willing smile who greets me whenever I come in and does his best to force a spot for me when I back out is worth 5 or 10 pesos as I drive away … it may be a scam but at least he’s doing something rather than waiting around for his ship to come in.

By: Paul Thompson

Paul Thompson — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:42:08 +0000

P.I. Scams I have enjoyed.
The wedding scam: A major cost off any wedding here in the P.I. is the required Videos and photos. The first thing I noticed was that the wedding took 30 minutes or so, yet the photos session afterward took up to an hour. So with my inquiring mind I set out to answer this Question. I think now I have the answer. At the beginning of the wedding there are two or three guys in your face with a camera, they then disappear to develop said photos. Mister Kodak minuteman, who is the ringmaster, will not allow anyone to leave while he sets up endless groupings for photos of the bridal party. You know, friends of the groom, people who saw the groom one time at the market, Family of the bride, people who know members of the family of the bride, and so on and so on. These endless photos will not end until the 2 or 3 guys who left with their film, are back to sell every person who attended the wedding a picture. Let’s hope they gave the Bride and Groom a piece of that action, or at least a discount. When my last Daughter gets married, I’m going to sell the photo rights to the highest bidder, because, I’m on to them now! And to Mike who escaped without buying his picture, you are my hero! I gave them your address.

The Parking Scam: In 1963 I received my Drivers License in Boston, after demonstrating that I could parallel park a 1960 Oldsmobile 98, which I believe is 2 ½ times larger than my present car. And yet for some reason, maybe my advancing age, I now require assistance in parking my car at the public market. This is not a free service, and it’s not a service one may decline. I know I tried once, which produced a loud wailing and knashing of teeth. Best advice, give them the Pesos!

The Car Wash: After you’ve parked at the market, now come the “Car Wash Crew” ready to wash your already washed and waxed car. Equipped with a bucket of filthy water and rags, “Sir, I wash your car?” I reply, “No thank you it’s clean.” As they dip into the bucket and move towards the car you must quickly stand in the way and try to translate the word NO into something they can understand. Yet if for some reason you are fond of your car not being clean, let them wash it. By the way “NO” in Tagalog is pronounced “NO”. We do choose to live here!

By: Philly

Philly — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:45:19 +0000

I am deeply, deeply disappointed by the way Washington (both parties I am taling about here) treats the working class/middle class American. Millions in bonuses (US tax dollars) to executives at companies who were so greedy they made business deals a kindergartner should have known were bad … ran their companies into the ground and then get paid a bonus anyway “becuase there was a contract in place”?

What about the “contract in place” with the millions of people who were told to move their savings to 401k’s … even enticed to by government .. and now they are nearing old age and they have nothing. Thank God I came into Civil Service under CSRS … they spent years trying to entice me to move to FERS. Sad for all my fellow Feds who took the self-serving government bait.

Social Security sent me a “Stimulus Payment” of $250 USD. Wow. Been working hard for weeks now analyzing all the ways I can spend that windfall. Yet if I had lost billions of other people\s money I would get multi-million bonuses?

It’s not, I stress, a Red vs Blue thing, it’s a”privileged class” versus the “massa” thing. Our poor, poor country.
Sign me, Proud to be Born in the USA, but it wasn’t THIS USA back then.

By: Paul Thompson

Paul Thompson — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:33:05 +0000

CNN and Fox have gone out of their way to tell me about the people who Bernie Madoff
riped off, rich people cheatin’ rich people, it’s just so sad! Then the companys who have moved to China, to produce high end goods on the cheap, are upset that the factory down the street is copying their goods and they are losing soooo… much money, because of throse ripoff guys. Do those company’s feel at all for all the workers from Europe, and The United States who lost their jobs durning the move to China. No they don’t, it’s just the way it is. Yet I should care about the money they lose? Ain’t gonna’ happen!

By: Philly

Philly — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:36:05 +0000

OK I see. It was just my usual unclear writing I guess.

By: Mindanao Bob

Mindanao Bob — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:35:22 +0000

Hi Dave – Nope, I did catch your last article in the series….

By: Philly

Philly — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:18:27 +0000

Hi Bob, indeed. I think you missed my ariginal article on this scamming problem:
http://philfaqs.com/investing-there/never-get-scammed-in-the-philippines/
I explain my thoughts on why anyone who got scammed by Madoff had every reason to _know_ they were being scammed. Some people would argue, “It doesn’t matter if the market is down more thna 34%, I have the _right_ to earn 50% better thna all the other people in the world”.

true, I guess they have the _right_, but like those who followed “Bernie”, my question is, “How’s that working out for you?”

BTW, at least two more Philippine Rural Banks went T.u> yesterday. I hope those folks who were having such a good time promoting the too good to be true bonds are happy. Rough estimate of when PDIC will begin to reimburse the losses tat were covered? After the next election.