In order to prevent provoking outrage mobs with commentary on certain unsavory behaviors by the locals, I will leave those out.
This article will not cover visa or immigration questions.
This will focus on the day to day expenses if one was to retire on 1500USD a month and unable to afford the USA. Either due to living in a high cost living/tax area or not having a debt free life with paid for home.
Living in the far flung suburb of Manila. (Yes locals will debate me this, as somehow determining what is and is not the metro area is based on pre ww2 boundaries).
As of June 2021 these are the expected costs.
Electricity is double that of the USA rate. It is what it is. Nothing to do about it except go solar. Something I have wrote about a lot lately.
Housing, as a foreigner you CAN NOT buy property. EXCEPT... you can buy a condo, and you can buy a house with a Filipino spouse or establish a Filipino corporation and lots of lawyer fees that corp will buy the land. Which in the last case; that nut could be cracked if someone really wanted your property, or you had a powerful enemy with political connections.
Renting is totally fine. As I am the one with a Filipino spouse, I can only relate what my non Filipino neighbors have told me, as being a homeowner and all.
Rent in my area will run you about 500usd per month.
For a house that looks like this:
Not my neighborhood, but same developer, same city, similar price range.
My neighborhood has more green space than the subdivision pictured, wider streets, and more room between houses, otherwise similar.
These houses will run you between 100-500 thousand dollars if purchased.
Your rent may or may not include HOA fees. HOA covers the parks, full time security, grounds-keeping, and keeps out the riffraff, and yes there is a lot of them.
Similar subdivision next door but somehow higher cost and lower quality houses (inflation) had zero gate security. The residents were robbed regularly. Mostly from the tricycle drivers or posing as trike drivers.
Opt for the gated community with strict entry controls.
When I first looked at this subdivision, the plan had more spaced out homes and this castle design with turrets on the corners and lots of little hidden corners in the houses with basements.
However it looks like they re-drew the lots after I saw it and squeezed in a lot more houses when the local gov allowed houses to join together like in the video. Still not a bad place. The supermarket and AllHome store in front is nice. Allhome is kind of like a HomeDepot without lumber, but more appliances, furniture and tools.
Transportation.
You could do the public transport thing, which you will find is actually 2x to 3x more than a car. Not to mention unsafe and liable to leave you stranded. Happened to me countless times
Between the bus stop and jeep stand the last mile is covered by this. Unsafe, dangerous and drivers without regard for human life. Filipinos know them as Kamote driver.
You could do the bike thing. However with a bike you will be severely handicapped on a long term multi year stay. One thing is that it rains buckets from June to September.
Riding a scooter or 175cc bike in the rain sucks. Try bringing home grocery in that.
Used cars here are VERY expensive vs the USA. With exceptions...
My very worn out 32 year old Mazda pickup truck delivery vehicle, cost about 2000USD.
It required about 1000 dollars in repairs to be usable. Plus an additional 200 dollars in past due registration and insurance. If the vehicle is past due registration, to get current you have to pay the ENTIRE past due fee for every year not paid, plus a penalty fee. Even if the car has not been on the road in years.
So basically 3 grand got me a old and quite worn pickup with new tires, new suspension, and it came with a recently overhauled engine.
I would avoid many American cars that are on the resale market and even more avoid the luxury Euro cars. Unless the American car was a local manufacture model, like the focus, lynx, or everest, or the Chevy Optra. Assuming used cars.
New cars, you can get your Blazer, Ford Ranger, and all that. However I would not look for a high HP vehicle. You simply will not be able to get enough room to actually go fast unless on the expressway.
I have yet to use 5th gear on my pickup, I mainly stir the gearbox between 2nd to 4th.
Roads here are actually quite good. Very seldom see potholes, unless the local gov is scamming the cash. However the way roads are laid out and the way people drive without regard for anyone but themselves, you are unable to make good speed on even what should be a high speed road.
Next up is food. Yes food.
I am not a fan of a lot of Filipino daily foods.
The local diet consists of a lot of fake erstaz soy filled "meat", massive quantities of sugar, fillers, starches, basically anything to make it cheap, you will find it. Cheap quality that is. There is good food here, but you will pay a premium.
However never fear. You can eat the exact same food as home if you can cook. You can still find your corn flakes, swiss cheese, canned tuna, macaroni, bread etc.
Ironically fresh bread here is very common. As small bakeries all over. However again , most cut the bread with tons of sugar which makes it very sweet. Some chain bakeries however like Pan de Manila, and French Bakery do the good ol fashioned stuff as well as many supermarkets have in house bakeries with the same stuff as the USA.
Many of the locals buy in the 'wet markets' Now that is a loaded question go generalize. But as a example, many are absolute filth ridden holes of food poisoning. Yet others are as nice and clean as anything in the USA. It will take some work to search out the better ones in your area if your area has them. Otherwise it is the big chain grocery stores + online shopping.
Rice is a huge part of the local diet. You should adapt and eat rice in place of potato. Potato is insanely expensive and it is cheaper to buy frozen Idaho french fries here than fresh.
You want a good rice too. Do not spring for the cheap shit. 47 a kilo or bout 50 cents US per pound will get you good stuff. 57 a kilo rice will get you the gourmet rice that will make you forget all about potato for a month.
There are also a multitude of roadside stands. Which vary in quality. Use your nose, if it smells bad, and looks dirty, do not buy. Some areas like Tagaytay, (south of the metro area by the volcano) have world class fruit stands along the road. You could feast on tropical fruit all month for cheap.
Costs... Well living where I am, and shopping mostly from the big box gourmet supermarket that looks like a Kroger.. We spend around 80-100 dollars a week. Depending on how much is goodies. If we bake, and eat more beans/rice we could cut that down a lot.
Fish at present is high, more than chicken. Chicken is 3-4usd per kilo, beef is 7-8 dollars a kilo for the belly, brisket, and top round cut or hamburger, and pork is 7 bucks or so generally for most cuts.
Pork has doubled in price in 2 years, and chicken has nearly doubled since COVID. Spam went from 100 a can in 2012 to 190 a can now.
So I am foreseeing either I got to earn a lot more money, or eat more beans.
Medical
Medical care here varies depending on location.
You can avail of AIG travelers insurance which a friend used and it paid for his 80 thousand dollar medivac flight, several major surgeries, meds after nearly killing himself practicing his drinking and motorcycling at night on a remote island.
However a example, Had a skin staph infection, that progressed to fever.
Total doc bill was 75USD. You may think, oh that was USA price 20 years ago at a small clinic...
But no.. The doctor cost 15 dollars and the rest was the paper bag of antibiotics, meds and bandages.
A tooth extraction is 15 bucks. You will not get rich as a dentist. Veterinarians make 3x more than dentists here and the patients never complain.
Hospital stay cost me about 100usd per day including the doctors professional fee and meds. In a USA standard hospital, modern clean, and as nice as any small town USA hospital.
Anyways this is a response to a FB friends post and it deserved more than a few sentences on FB.
