Do You Really Want to Move to The Philippines?
A reader asked me to write on this subject, I’m not sure what that reader was looking for but I’ll do what I can. This is going to be a series of articles. How many, I’m not so sure. I’m going to cover the great things about the Philippines first.
Reasons You Should Move To The Philippines
I’ll first cover why you should move to the Philippines or retire in the Philippines. I’ll write a follow up article on why you should possibly not move here.
I’ve known people, married to two actually, that would plan forever. Making list, taking notes, collecting data and doing research but some people uses that as a means to putting things off. They both really believed they were making progress but they could never move from the planning stage to doing stage.
I think some people planning to move to the Philippines are doing the same thing. Others are either emotionally ready or intellectually ready but not both. Some just need more time. I think I was in the need more time category for a little while. On the other hand, if I had good information on why to move, I might have sped things up a lot.
For me, medical care was an issue. I didn’t know how the system worked. If I had known that I could get most of my medications without a prescription, I would have been here sooner. I also would have saved about $200 as I shipped some medication ahead of my arrival via UPS and that cost me $200.00
Even after I got here, I kept shipping medication to myself which cost me around $50.00 in shipping each month. I wouldn’t have done that if I had known I didn’t need a prescription. A doctor visit here will cost you about $12.00 and that’s for a hospital at a private hospital. At a public hospital the cost would be closer to $8.00.
If I had known how to get my things here, that would have helped me come sooner and save a lot of money. I spent a lot of money moving things to another city in the US. If I had that to do over again, I would have sold what I could and shipped the rest to the Philippines.
If I had known I could get a really nice home in the Philippines for $300 a month and a furnished apartment for a bit more. If I had gone for a smaller unfurnished place, I could get a place for less than $200. Depending on how large, it could be as cheap as $100 a month.
If I had understood that I could stay here long term without any thing more than my passport, I might have come sooner. You can enter with a US passport (and many other western and Asian countries) and stay for up to two years by getting extensions every two months. Though you’ll need to get your first extension within a few weeks. I don’t recall the exact time on that.
If I had known how the women of the Philippines would be crazy about me, I might have come sooner. It really helps though if you can meet and become close to someone before you get here. However, that often goes very badly once the foreigner arrives.
Original Author: Russell Ferguson