How much US dollars would have to be saved to retire in the Philippines?
Posted on Oct 08, 2009 under Retire |How much US dollars would have to be saved to retire in the Philippines? kind of a broad questions.
This is not an easy question to answer.You would really have to look at a wide spectrum of answers on this and even go to expats and ask them about how much they can get by with.
Would the income just be for you or also for a partner / family?
From experience, i think if you were going to live comfortably and retire in phiippines, you would need an income of about $300-450 USD a week - the full 7 days.
You would have to work out where u were going to stay. Would u rent or would u buy? You need money for food, electricity, water bills. You need money for entertainment / going out.
You would have to be getting an income of about $20,000 - $30,000 USD a year to live comfortably or at least reasonably. Maybe you could do it with alot less. depends on your income and needs.
I suggest you keep this question open and try to get a wide variety of replies. And even go and look up other philippines expats sites on the internet. This is simply not a question that can be answered here. Good luck.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Required dollar time deposit varies according to age. For 35 to 49 years old, a US$ 75,000.00 is required, while those from 50 and above, deposit must be US$ 50,000.00.
Retired ambassadors and foreign military personnel are also qualified to enroll in the program for a time deposit of $1,500.00 and $50,000.00, respectively. Former Filipino nationals who have lived overseas and wish to return home are welcome with open arms as well.
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September 29th, 2009 at 11:05 am
A lot of factors are involved to include your spending habits, age, time till retirement, and how many years you plan to spend in retirement. You must also be aware that the cost of living will increase dramatically in the future and that will cut deeply into retirement income.
For me if I was going to retire I would want to hold my money in a high yielding CD or a money market account that pays at least 5% interest. That is something that is hard to find right now. Another thing I would do is convert all of my dollars into an asian currency since inflation is going to affect the USD within the next few years. I would open up a bank account in the Philippines that had a good reputation and deposit at least some of it in there. I might even open up an account in Chinese currency since I expect it to gain verse the USD. I would highly consider buying the newly issued Chinese treasury securities.
Basically if you are near 40 yrs old then you will need at a minimum at least $1,000,000 to retire in the Philippines and that is not living very good in my opinion. I think that retiring in the Philippines at the age of 40 with $5,000,000 would be a lot more ideal. Why so much? Because we don’t know what the future has in store for us. Medical problems come up. People get cancer everyday and require expensive medical care for it. Bones break and need to get fixed. We also make bad financial decisions for ourselves and can overspend the cash we have at times. So I think that $5,000,000 USD minimum would be most ideal. I would not retire to the Philippines unless I had a steady retirement income of at least $2,000/month that kept pace with inflation or had about $5,000,000 USD in cash.
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September 29th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
it is hard to answer this question, because it depends on the lifestyle you anticipate. One could spend as little as $600/month and live modestly, but comparatively well in the Philipines.. (compared to typical filipinos that may survive on under $2 a day); expect to rent a nice 2 bedroom house or condo for $400 month. or you could rent
a mansion with your own private beach.. (or buy one for under $300,000)
some of the big savings will be domestic help or caregivers, costing only about $60/month full time. Food costs will be a lot less, while electric, phone, cable, internet costs about the same in the USA.
You can save big on car expenses by simply not having one, taxis are a lot more affordable, maybe only $1 for a short trip, and $10 for a longhaul 1 hour drive in traffic, and public transportation costs only pennies.
A trip to the doctor costs only a few dollars, even less if you have insurance.
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September 29th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
It all depends on the interest rate you can get on your money. If you are not married to a Philippine you will need a Special Resident Visa. It requires about $ 50,000 cash in the bank to get. Check Philippine embassy web site for details. I would say to be comfortable it would take about $ 700.00 a month, if you are renting. Only a Philippine can own property. However, you can get a 20 year lease on a house and lot, if you do not want to rent. Medical care is very cheap. It is 200 pesos for a doctor visit, about $ 4.00. Major surgery without insurance is about what you would need to pay after insurance in America. Hospitals require being paid up front.
I would skip a car. The taxies are everywhere and very cheap. Less than a dollar for short trips. A few dollars for a bus or van on an hour plus trip.
It also depends on how you want to live. If you eat rice and fish, and do not use air conditioning it is cheaper.
I would also recommend putting money in currency other than dollars.
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September 30th, 2009 at 1:58 am
How much you have saved doesn’t matter as much as how much do you get a month. I came here nearly broke but close to payday and I’m doing OK.
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September 30th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
This is not an easy question to answer.You would really have to look at a wide spectrum of answers on this and even go to expats and ask them about how much they can get by with.
Would the income just be for you or also for a partner / family?
From experience, i think if you were going to live comfortably and retire in phiippines, you would need an income of about $300-450 USD a week - the full 7 days.
You would have to work out where u were going to stay. Would u rent or would u buy? You need money for food, electricity, water bills. You need money for entertainment / going out.
You would have to be getting an income of about $20,000 - $30,000 USD a year to live comfortably or at least reasonably. Maybe you could do it with alot less. depends on your income and needs.
I suggest you keep this question open and try to get a wide variety of replies. And even go and look up other philippines expats sites on the internet. This is simply not a question that can be answered here. Good luck.
References :
go to pi every year for 3 to 5 weeks holiday.