Retirement in the Philippines

For a foreigner to retire in the Philippines would be living like a king if you have the money to fund it as you don't want to be working in there as the average minimum wage is 362 pesos per day in Manila and lower in the provinces. That's only USD$8.12 or AU$D8.48 a day on 2008 currency conversion.

The benefits of retiring in Philippines are the living costs are very cheap, with the average US or Australian income you can have all the luxuries that you wouldn't possibly have in a rich country such as maids, drivers, cheap local foods, cinemas, clothes, public transportation, housing and land, tropical fruits and so on.

The major drawbacks are the cost of electrical consumer goods, appliances and computers cost the same as western countries. This is mainly due the majority of these goods are imported to the Philippines.

Keep in mind the living conditions are in third world country although you can live at a much higher standard than the average filipino with the above luxuries. They are issues with reliable electricity with brown outs, clean water, mobile and internet connection depending where you live.

Philippines is famous for it's chaotic transportation system found in the city areas especially with jeepnes with no real timetable to stick to you simply come out to the main roads and they are literally jeepnes flying past every few minutes. At the moment jeepnes cost about Au$0.07 cents which is extremely cheap this will continue to rise with petrol price increases.

Cars travel at a slow pace of about 20-60km an hour and what's funny they tend to spread over 3 lanes of cars in a 2 land road or highway. Forget about waiting on a red stop light most motorist don't obey it and one more thing filipinos dont wear their seat belts even with kids. If you need to take a taxi it's about Au$2.00 for about 20 minutes averaging.

Retiring in the Philippines would mean getting use to the tropical hot and humid weather. Be prepared to take at least two cold showers a day with a fan running at night time although you can live in cooler climates such as in Baguio City.

Speaking the english is a national language so just about everyone speaks it as it's compulsory in schools and most filipinos are very educated they need to be to compete with a tough job market. Actually most graduates have to work overseas as they are not much job opportunities and the income is quite low to make ends meet so working in the Philippines is not ideal for a foreigner.