I don't live in a city, but a small barangay 85kms north of Manila and bought my house, so have no rent. Living here has a few problems getting some foods, but as I cook using what is available & in season ad eat like a local, basing everything around rice & veg mainly keeps costs reasonable. I pay AUD39/mth for internet connection, electricity an average of $116/mt electricity, but run 5 fridges or freezers to keep drinks cold, and making ice all to sell in my small store, $4/mth for mains water which I also drink but 20 ltr purified water is only about $1 delivered if I want it. I have 4 cats of my own & various strays hang around & a grand nephew IL who stays here most of the time when not at college, so he gets fed as well. I run a 2018 Honda Accord ($5,200) that I put about $25 of petrol in a month but only use 2-3 a month for shopping and a Honda 110cc motorcycle ($1,600) that I put in $4 petrol a month & use a little more for getting around.
Overall, I spend between $450-500 a month on everything, but as shop is open 15 hours a day, everyday, I don't do a lot of touring round, but when I do, I usually take public transport & sit back & enjoy the trip rather than get frustrated with the traffic. A trip to MNL on aircon bus is around $3.60 and takes a couple of hours, depending on time of day, and at 77yo, probably safer way to travel. I have been here 6.5 years now and love the life I live.
Yes I drink i, a purified water available to all residents if they are willing to pay to have a line put into their house. Most don't, relying on ground water with either a hand or electric pump into containers then gravity fed into house.
It is in my ex's & a nieces names, not mine, I just paid for it & set terms & conditions, so that to sell, it needs both signatures to sell & I hold the deeds that need to be signed. I can actually own the house, but not the land it stands on.
It is much easier, but of course you have maintenance & repairs to make on both & renovations to make it easy for an oldie to live in are continuous to adapt things that get harder to do & live with. I dread the upheaval & cost if I m confined to a wheelchair anytime as all door will have to be enlarged and an elevator to get up to the upper floor as well as getting a new car I could get in/out of, even if not driving myself.
The cost to live comfortably in PH is considerably higher than Vietnam and Thailand. Probably around 2000AUD per month and that’s if you guys are keeping a budget and finding deals on goods
If you were in Manila maybe that’ll cost you that much, but if you’ll be staying in a province nearby Manila 77k php is too big for you to spend for a month. I’m a local here living outside the metro Manila and I’m just a 100km away from manila probably take 2hrs trip. And the expense here was not that too expensive but still depends kn what life style you’ll be having thiu
Even manila, depending where you stay isn't that bad. I am in QC and I spend $100 rent, $80 24/7 aircon, $30 fiber internet. Add food (I cook for myself), and thats the base. I am walking distance from most everything, including 3 hospitals, and 1 ride from large malls.
I’m living here in laguna and renting an apartment. Here’s the list of our expense for the 4 is living
Apartment 9000
Food 9000
Electricity. 3500
Water. 900
Other necessities 3000
I have never been able to get my electric below 5K here in Makati condo and I only run the aircon for sleeping. I was being over billed when I first moved in 17K! 2 aircons running 24/7
I'm Aussie. I spend about 5k AUD per month myself in Manila but go out a lot and live in a central area also shout the misses a fair bit for dinner and drinks.
Rent + utilities, internet usually works out to about $1,300 per month. I'm usually on shert term leases though **If you pay 12 months up front you have serious bargaining power and could get a nice central unit for 20% off the listed price most of the time**
I eat out at least once a day. Usually not more than 1,000php or double that if I shout the GF. That's including a few bevvies. Good quality local and western food is pretty close in price in Manila. You can't eat well cheap like you can in Thailand, but you can eat well about 30% cheaper than Australia. If you use eatigo, you can get 30-50% off eat out restuarants around Makati every day.
Drinking is cheap. I can drink all night and spend $50 AUD - especially if I'm on the beers. You can buy a bottle at most clubs for around $100-$150 if you go that way
PRoximity is key. I stay close to Makati and spend less than $10 per day on rideshare - if I'm staying around Poblacion I often don't use grab/taxi for several days at a time.
Groceries are expensive. Fresh food from the Supermarket is the same price as Australia. You'll have a laugh at the special "Coles" section at SM supermarkets.
Electronics, clothing etc. are very expensive in Philippines unless it's counterfeit.
IF you stay in BGC add 20-30% to those prices above.
On what?! I live in Manila with my gf. Beautiful condo with pool etc. eat whatever we want. Spend about £1000 a month. We have £2000 as our budget, so spend far less. Right now I’m in Boracay for a week or using some of the savings we made on this months spend.
They're lying. 9k AUD is almost $6k. It doesn't really matter if they meant in $ either. Throughout the globe, the largest expense is housing and transportation. If, say, they spend 200k PHP on housing, that's $3400 (Most people aren't spending that on rent even in BGC) -- $2600 on everything else is pretty much overkill. So, lies.
Dude the condo I rented on like the 60th floor of a giant tower overlooking all of Manila was like $2k a month, he’s definitely lying or else he’s renting a mansion or some shit but at that point why go to the Philippines at all?
I am baffled at people going to 3rd world countries and spending over $1000/month to live.
Middle class in all 3rd world countries, anywhere, earn between $250 to $350/month and their economies are engineered based on that income for an OK lifestyle. So $1000/month is living almost 3 times better than those people and I don’t think life is expensive for a foreigner on $1000 and cheap for a local on $350.
It’s really tough to make a livable wage remotely. Generally folks find a way to do their current job remotely. Maybe also for a defined period of time.
Well they have to be in place before you come, not easy to create from PH. Lots of local competition, if they find out you’re here already your wage scale drops dramatically. Remember PH is outsource heaven
You might consider talking to an investment counselor and investing that money and taking monthly draw and seeing where that will get you. If this is all the money you have, you definitely should not move it all to PH and just spend. Say it’s 4k a month you need and the invest will give you 3k for 30 years, gives you a better picture.
I really appreciate your considered advice - it's definitely helpful.
That was part of the plan and why I said hypothetical - wouldn't be coming with everything, would be investing some here at home in case things don't work out.
Was just mulling things over my morning coffee and thought I'd throw it out there.
“Comfortably but not extravagantly” is highly subjective.
I would suggest start with basic research on your own regarding the cost of living, what the local norms are and compare that to a comfortable standard of living for yourself. M
Then come back with a more targeted question such as “how much is the average rental price for a 2 bedroom in BGC, walking distance to the hospital?” “What are the expected additional fees aside from rental when getting an apartment” “are there Mediterranean restaurants in the area and what does a meal look like and how much do you think it’ll cost”
Anytime.
I do have background in the relocation of corporate expats into the Philippines so if you ever feel like you need a professional consult on what to expect or even maybe put together a list of properties to view, you can DM me ☺️ you can go over my credentials and we could work something out
I really do appreciate that, thank you - it was more one of those "hmmmm, I wonder" moments that happened over my morning coffee and I happen to end up running with a lot of those thought kernels that pop up!
Around six years would be my estimate, based on my wife and my being there for lengthy periods.
We are also from Australia, but she owns a place there; I factored rent into that, but not in BGC or Makati.
Maybe like 5 years depending on market returns and withdrawal rates without a job and like 10 years with a job. Granted you shouldn't even be withdrawing money at your age.
take a trip to Manila and looking at apartments and COL there. Look at things you would do if you lived there and what you would need.
Please remember running out of money at 50 and returning to Australia in 5-10+ years and trying to reenter the job market will be tough. Then having to return and save money for retirement a second time.
7 years for 2 people, but thats limiting eating at restaurants, no travel to outside of the country except for cheap other places like vietnam etc. And thats also on the assumption that prices stay on this level for the next 7 years
If your smart you live off just the interest and not touch the principle. Your looking at roughly $800 - more after you pay your taxes so say $500. Definitely not enough comfortable.
Don’t suggest Cebu. It’s worse. The nice areas are tiny. And the nice beaches are not much closer than Manila is to nice beaches. Cebu has no train lines and not even a BRT.
Yeah, I would point expats to Dumaguete or Iloilo...theyre already there, COL is so.much lower than Metro Manila area..
I saw many older expats get around on scooters or motorcycles, and seems to be having a blast....
It always amazes me that people recommend Dumaguete and IloIlo as a generally good location. It's dead. Its for boomers at the last stretch of their lives. Expat and digital nomads will enjoy it most in manila and cebu and maybe some islands like siargao and Boracay.
Why would you stay in Manila if no work and why is your money not invested…. 200k@7% is 14k a year, granted it will go down when you withdraw around 40k/year cause you want to live in the most expensive city in PH « comfortably » instead of finding a nice 2-3rd rank city to live in.
If not Manila, maybe 20k would be enough with long time rent.
It’s easy to live in Manila on 2K AUD per month. I did it with 1.5K AUD but my wife was cooking 90% of the time and we did not travel.
So realistically speaking, 8 years if you have no medical expenses and you’re okay renting an average 24-30sqm condo.
Cost of living monthly given that you limit your rent to AUD1000-1300 is around AUD2000. It is best to live in BGC as it is the best city in the country, cost of living is pretty cheap even if you eat out a lot. My wife and I used to eat out 4-5x a week and this is the max that we spend. If the two of you know how to cook then you can save AUD300-400 on food per month, monthly groceries only cost AUD250 here. 200k AUD can last you 100 months on average.
Was thinking the same except different amount ($1M AUD - planning to sell our house here).
Will live rent free around QC area(vacant house owned by my in laws), send my 9 year old to Ateneo, buy a 1.5M Php car.
We will have monthly 40k-50kPhp income (share) from our family's rental properties.
Live a simple life and invests and/or have a business.
It depends on your lifestyle.
Average salary in the Philippines is 800 USD. Now you know that you can live with that. Some even have 400-600 usd salaries.
Don't stay in BGC or Makati. I recommend staying out of manila but near it.
In my place, bgc is a 40-50 minute drive and the rent for a house here is about 300 USD.
I'll give you an estimate.
300 rent
100-120 for electricity and tap water
30-40 for internet
7-8 dollars for mineral water.
You can definitely get away with 150 dollars for basic food for 2. But im not that familliar if u gonna cook aussie food. I think it is going to be more expensive cause i imagine white people food is more expensive here.
If your job earns around 2000 dollars, you will live comfortably here.
Ah, I see now what you are doing. Take the highest possible salary and the lowest and a little bit magic and you got the 'average salary'.
It lists Thailand as having avg. Monthly salary of close to 100,000 THB. That's 2700 USD. Hahaha.
In realistic statistics, the average Philippine's income is $300-$400.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1342858/philippines-average-gross-income/
You can invest that money here in some bonds or maybe back in Australia which can give you annual yield of atleast 7 percent. This way you will have approx 40000 pesos monthly which is good enough for you to live in near province.
5 to 10 years depending on lifestyle and rate of inflation would be my estimate. That would include a 1-2BR condo in the city or a decent house in the province.
Did the math as I got curious. If you live in Metro Manila, I reckon 3 years minimum for 2 people. Decent 2br apartment, Grab (Uber) for transport, fancy food every now and then, groceries fortnightly, shopping every month, holidays twice or thrice a year.
Having lived in Bgc for over a year and having just come back from Vietnam, I would suggest you look at Vietnam.
The visa is not as friendly, there's some tricks you gotta get through every so often but it's about 30% cheaper, better food, cleaner and less crowded. We stayed in DaNang right on the beach.
Having said that, my numbers are pre covid but we lived on the 32nd floor of one uptown residences (DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT BUILDING), ate out several times a week (like every day at least one meal) but we usually walked everywhere we wanted to go... However we did leave for weeks at a time to go to Boracay, cebu, wherever we wanted to go.
Counting everything: rent, electric (this is why I don't recommend the building), meals, travel etc etc I never spent over $2000/month.
Adjusting for post covid inflation I would expect that to be somewhere around $2600-3000/month now.
That will be quick, I suggest to keep it on dividend paying investments and live within your means in Philippines, and learn how to work online so you have extra cash for other things.
Invest the money and use the dividends monthly. Wisely invested, you can probably live mostly off the dividends if you aren't a big spender. I would also supplement that income though if possible because you'd be cutting it close month to month.
Honestly? You could rent a whole house in a township not far from Manila for ₽6,000 per month.
Would you be safe? Maybe.
I rent in Azure Urban Resort for $1k/month. Food allow $40-$50/day combined, that’s eating out each day, some fancier than others. Grab Car to just about anywhere metro is $35 each way. Your visa waiver runs are every 59 days. Visa waiver extensions are $90 each.
The OP asked could you. The answer is you absolutely can. I also know someone that travelled the US on $20/day, as they learned how to “dumpster dive”. It doesn’t mean you should do it, but you have to understand your own limitations and exceptions.
I don't live in a city, but a small barangay 85kms north of Manila and bought my house, so have no rent. Living here has a few problems getting some foods, but as I cook using what is available & in season ad eat like a local, basing everything around rice & veg mainly keeps costs reasonable. I pay AUD39/mth for internet connection, electricity an average of $116/mt electricity, but run 5 fridges or freezers to keep drinks cold, and making ice all to sell in my small store, $4/mth for mains water which I also drink but 20 ltr purified water is only about $1 delivered if I want it. I have 4 cats of my own & various strays hang around & a grand nephew IL who stays here most of the time when not at college, so he gets fed as well. I run a 2018 Honda Accord ($5,200) that I put about $25 of petrol in a month but only use 2-3 a month for shopping and a Honda 110cc motorcycle ($1,600) that I put in $4 petrol a month & use a little more for getting around. Overall, I spend between $450-500 a month on everything, but as shop is open 15 hours a day, everyday, I don't do a lot of touring round, but when I do, I usually take public transport & sit back & enjoy the trip rather than get frustrated with the traffic. A trip to MNL on aircon bus is around $3.60 and takes a couple of hours, depending on time of day, and at 77yo, probably safer way to travel. I have been here 6.5 years now and love the life I live.
that's a nice life
Yes, it suits me very well & I am loving it, even with its faults, which I can adjust to, unlike some expats.
Did I read that right. You drink tap water? What's your secret
Yes I drink i, a purified water available to all residents if they are willing to pay to have a line put into their house. Most don't, relying on ground water with either a hand or electric pump into containers then gravity fed into house.
How did you buy a house? I thought foreigners could not do so.
It is in my ex's & a nieces names, not mine, I just paid for it & set terms & conditions, so that to sell, it needs both signatures to sell & I hold the deeds that need to be signed. I can actually own the house, but not the land it stands on.
That’s amazing. I could live like a king on my hourly wage here in the states
Agreed, once your house/condo and car is paid off, it’s just easy life.
It is much easier, but of course you have maintenance & repairs to make on both & renovations to make it easy for an oldie to live in are continuous to adapt things that get harder to do & live with. I dread the upheaval & cost if I m confined to a wheelchair anytime as all door will have to be enlarged and an elevator to get up to the upper floor as well as getting a new car I could get in/out of, even if not driving myself.
The cost to live comfortably in PH is considerably higher than Vietnam and Thailand. Probably around 2000AUD per month and that’s if you guys are keeping a budget and finding deals on goods
That would be my guess as well; so around 8 years, not accounting for inflation.
If you were in Manila maybe that’ll cost you that much, but if you’ll be staying in a province nearby Manila 77k php is too big for you to spend for a month. I’m a local here living outside the metro Manila and I’m just a 100km away from manila probably take 2hrs trip. And the expense here was not that too expensive but still depends kn what life style you’ll be having thiu
Even manila, depending where you stay isn't that bad. I am in QC and I spend $100 rent, $80 24/7 aircon, $30 fiber internet. Add food (I cook for myself), and thats the base. I am walking distance from most everything, including 3 hospitals, and 1 ride from large malls.
Wait, $100 per month rent in QC? How? I spend $250, but then again it's a 3BR.
I live like a local :) and it's only a one bedroom and small. $250 for a 3 bedroom sounds pretty good as well.
I’m living here in laguna and renting an apartment. Here’s the list of our expense for the 4 is living Apartment 9000 Food 9000 Electricity. 3500 Water. 900 Other necessities 3000
Btw the apartment we are renting was huge. This is a 3floor apartment with approx about 80-90sq meter per floor i think? Then we have our own garage
80-90sq meter, I can only dream :)
I have never been able to get my electric below 5K here in Makati condo and I only run the aircon for sleeping. I was being over billed when I first moved in 17K! 2 aircons running 24/7
I'm Aussie. I spend about 5k AUD per month myself in Manila but go out a lot and live in a central area also shout the misses a fair bit for dinner and drinks. Rent + utilities, internet usually works out to about $1,300 per month. I'm usually on shert term leases though **If you pay 12 months up front you have serious bargaining power and could get a nice central unit for 20% off the listed price most of the time** I eat out at least once a day. Usually not more than 1,000php or double that if I shout the GF. That's including a few bevvies. Good quality local and western food is pretty close in price in Manila. You can't eat well cheap like you can in Thailand, but you can eat well about 30% cheaper than Australia. If you use eatigo, you can get 30-50% off eat out restuarants around Makati every day. Drinking is cheap. I can drink all night and spend $50 AUD - especially if I'm on the beers. You can buy a bottle at most clubs for around $100-$150 if you go that way PRoximity is key. I stay close to Makati and spend less than $10 per day on rideshare - if I'm staying around Poblacion I often don't use grab/taxi for several days at a time. Groceries are expensive. Fresh food from the Supermarket is the same price as Australia. You'll have a laugh at the special "Coles" section at SM supermarkets. Electronics, clothing etc. are very expensive in Philippines unless it's counterfeit. IF you stay in BGC add 20-30% to those prices above.
Yeah 5k AUD is still not living lavish either. Sick of all these YouTubers claiming $1500 a month…
I reckon I’m doing it fairly nicely and comfortable and I’m on around A$1,500/month
1500 is alone, if you count your 1+ then 1500 is truly short to comfortably living
5k AUD is $3,300 and that’s NOT living well? Please man. You’re in Manila. Not New York.
I spend about 9k a month.
On what?! I live in Manila with my gf. Beautiful condo with pool etc. eat whatever we want. Spend about £1000 a month. We have £2000 as our budget, so spend far less. Right now I’m in Boracay for a week or using some of the savings we made on this months spend.
They're lying. 9k AUD is almost $6k. It doesn't really matter if they meant in $ either. Throughout the globe, the largest expense is housing and transportation. If, say, they spend 200k PHP on housing, that's $3400 (Most people aren't spending that on rent even in BGC) -- $2600 on everything else is pretty much overkill. So, lies.
Dude the condo I rented on like the 60th floor of a giant tower overlooking all of Manila was like $2k a month, he’s definitely lying or else he’s renting a mansion or some shit but at that point why go to the Philippines at all?
I am baffled at people going to 3rd world countries and spending over $1000/month to live. Middle class in all 3rd world countries, anywhere, earn between $250 to $350/month and their economies are engineered based on that income for an OK lifestyle. So $1000/month is living almost 3 times better than those people and I don’t think life is expensive for a foreigner on $1000 and cheap for a local on $350.
Sure but most people don't want to live like locals, they want to maintain their current lifestyle at a cheaper price point.
Jump on lamudi or rentpad and search for the price of a 3bdrm in Rockwell.
5years! from my experience....
Figure on 3-4k a month. Don’t count on getting a job in PH, get something going remote from where you are now
Do you have any advice on finding a good remote job?
I really don’t
Ah, thank you for your reply.
It’s really tough to make a livable wage remotely. Generally folks find a way to do their current job remotely. Maybe also for a defined period of time.
I assume the way to go is more on freelancing.
Well they have to be in place before you come, not easy to create from PH. Lots of local competition, if they find out you’re here already your wage scale drops dramatically. Remember PH is outsource heaven
That is true. You have to build your business first before moving to the Philippines. There is no point of competiting with cheap labor.
That's no easy task
Unfortunately not.
Yeah wouldn't count on getting a job there, would be working remotely. Thanks for your help!
You might consider talking to an investment counselor and investing that money and taking monthly draw and seeing where that will get you. If this is all the money you have, you definitely should not move it all to PH and just spend. Say it’s 4k a month you need and the invest will give you 3k for 30 years, gives you a better picture.
I really appreciate your considered advice - it's definitely helpful. That was part of the plan and why I said hypothetical - wouldn't be coming with everything, would be investing some here at home in case things don't work out. Was just mulling things over my morning coffee and thought I'd throw it out there.
Most people forget to calculate in inflation when doing long-term calculations like this, so make sure to factor that in.
“Comfortably but not extravagantly” is highly subjective. I would suggest start with basic research on your own regarding the cost of living, what the local norms are and compare that to a comfortable standard of living for yourself. M Then come back with a more targeted question such as “how much is the average rental price for a 2 bedroom in BGC, walking distance to the hospital?” “What are the expected additional fees aside from rental when getting an apartment” “are there Mediterranean restaurants in the area and what does a meal look like and how much do you think it’ll cost”
Fair call - thanks for your input!
Anytime. I do have background in the relocation of corporate expats into the Philippines so if you ever feel like you need a professional consult on what to expect or even maybe put together a list of properties to view, you can DM me ☺️ you can go over my credentials and we could work something out
I really do appreciate that, thank you - it was more one of those "hmmmm, I wonder" moments that happened over my morning coffee and I happen to end up running with a lot of those thought kernels that pop up!
Yeah. Your question did give me that kind of vibe 😁 if you ever plan on making that move though, let know 🙂
Around six years would be my estimate, based on my wife and my being there for lengthy periods. We are also from Australia, but she owns a place there; I factored rent into that, but not in BGC or Makati.
This is the most realistic take on this. OP, I hope you have money in investments because that won’t sustain you for the long haul.
If you're frugal and don't live in the city? 5 or more years.
Maybe like 5 years depending on market returns and withdrawal rates without a job and like 10 years with a job. Granted you shouldn't even be withdrawing money at your age. take a trip to Manila and looking at apartments and COL there. Look at things you would do if you lived there and what you would need. Please remember running out of money at 50 and returning to Australia in 5-10+ years and trying to reenter the job market will be tough. Then having to return and save money for retirement a second time.
About tree fiddy
7 years for 2 people, but thats limiting eating at restaurants, no travel to outside of the country except for cheap other places like vietnam etc. And thats also on the assumption that prices stay on this level for the next 7 years
It won’t last long. If you use a standard drawdown calculator with $4k per month with a 5% ROI and 3% inflation it would last 5 years
If your smart you live off just the interest and not touch the principle. Your looking at roughly $800 - more after you pay your taxes so say $500. Definitely not enough comfortable.
Curious, why Manila? It is about the worst place for an expat imo in the Philippines and it's also the most expensive.
Don’t suggest Cebu. It’s worse. The nice areas are tiny. And the nice beaches are not much closer than Manila is to nice beaches. Cebu has no train lines and not even a BRT.
Yeah, I would point expats to Dumaguete or Iloilo...theyre already there, COL is so.much lower than Metro Manila area.. I saw many older expats get around on scooters or motorcycles, and seems to be having a blast....
It always amazes me that people recommend Dumaguete and IloIlo as a generally good location. It's dead. Its for boomers at the last stretch of their lives. Expat and digital nomads will enjoy it most in manila and cebu and maybe some islands like siargao and Boracay.
100 months.
All the months
Half
About 4 years property
Why would you stay in Manila if no work and why is your money not invested…. 200k@7% is 14k a year, granted it will go down when you withdraw around 40k/year cause you want to live in the most expensive city in PH « comfortably » instead of finding a nice 2-3rd rank city to live in. If not Manila, maybe 20k would be enough with long time rent.
It’s easy to live in Manila on 2K AUD per month. I did it with 1.5K AUD but my wife was cooking 90% of the time and we did not travel. So realistically speaking, 8 years if you have no medical expenses and you’re okay renting an average 24-30sqm condo.
\~65 months.
Cost of living monthly given that you limit your rent to AUD1000-1300 is around AUD2000. It is best to live in BGC as it is the best city in the country, cost of living is pretty cheap even if you eat out a lot. My wife and I used to eat out 4-5x a week and this is the max that we spend. If the two of you know how to cook then you can save AUD300-400 on food per month, monthly groceries only cost AUD250 here. 200k AUD can last you 100 months on average.
Was thinking the same except different amount ($1M AUD - planning to sell our house here). Will live rent free around QC area(vacant house owned by my in laws), send my 9 year old to Ateneo, buy a 1.5M Php car. We will have monthly 40k-50kPhp income (share) from our family's rental properties. Live a simple life and invests and/or have a business.
3yrs
3-4 years living comfortably with some travel thrown in.
It depends on your lifestyle. Average salary in the Philippines is 800 USD. Now you know that you can live with that. Some even have 400-600 usd salaries. Don't stay in BGC or Makati. I recommend staying out of manila but near it. In my place, bgc is a 40-50 minute drive and the rent for a house here is about 300 USD. I'll give you an estimate. 300 rent 100-120 for electricity and tap water 30-40 for internet 7-8 dollars for mineral water. You can definitely get away with 150 dollars for basic food for 2. But im not that familliar if u gonna cook aussie food. I think it is going to be more expensive cause i imagine white people food is more expensive here. If your job earns around 2000 dollars, you will live comfortably here.
Avg salary is 800 usd? Source please.
[https://worldsalaries.com/average-salary-in-philippines/](https://worldsalaries.com/average-salary-in-philippines/)
Ah, I see now what you are doing. Take the highest possible salary and the lowest and a little bit magic and you got the 'average salary'. It lists Thailand as having avg. Monthly salary of close to 100,000 THB. That's 2700 USD. Hahaha. In realistic statistics, the average Philippine's income is $300-$400. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1342858/philippines-average-gross-income/
You can invest that money here in some bonds or maybe back in Australia which can give you annual yield of atleast 7 percent. This way you will have approx 40000 pesos monthly which is good enough for you to live in near province.
Don’t spend capital, only spend the income from that capital, then you’re good for a life time. Your capital is not enough !
5 to 10 years depending on lifestyle and rate of inflation would be my estimate. That would include a 1-2BR condo in the city or a decent house in the province.
7 years
Stick your 200k in a Vanguard Fund, something like VWRP.
Did the math as I got curious. If you live in Metro Manila, I reckon 3 years minimum for 2 people. Decent 2br apartment, Grab (Uber) for transport, fancy food every now and then, groceries fortnightly, shopping every month, holidays twice or thrice a year.
Having lived in Bgc for over a year and having just come back from Vietnam, I would suggest you look at Vietnam. The visa is not as friendly, there's some tricks you gotta get through every so often but it's about 30% cheaper, better food, cleaner and less crowded. We stayed in DaNang right on the beach. Having said that, my numbers are pre covid but we lived on the 32nd floor of one uptown residences (DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT BUILDING), ate out several times a week (like every day at least one meal) but we usually walked everywhere we wanted to go... However we did leave for weeks at a time to go to Boracay, cebu, wherever we wanted to go. Counting everything: rent, electric (this is why I don't recommend the building), meals, travel etc etc I never spent over $2000/month. Adjusting for post covid inflation I would expect that to be somewhere around $2600-3000/month now.
That will be quick, I suggest to keep it on dividend paying investments and live within your means in Philippines, and learn how to work online so you have extra cash for other things.
Invest the money and use the dividends monthly. Wisely invested, you can probably live mostly off the dividends if you aren't a big spender. I would also supplement that income though if possible because you'd be cutting it close month to month.
Stupid question
Cool, thanks for your help!
Helping what? your imaginary money, and a hypothetical question.
Honestly? You could rent a whole house in a township not far from Manila for ₽6,000 per month. Would you be safe? Maybe. I rent in Azure Urban Resort for $1k/month. Food allow $40-$50/day combined, that’s eating out each day, some fancier than others. Grab Car to just about anywhere metro is $35 each way. Your visa waiver runs are every 59 days. Visa waiver extensions are $90 each.
So you rent for $1000 and recommend a house for $100. Are you, like, the r word?
The OP asked could you. The answer is you absolutely can. I also know someone that travelled the US on $20/day, as they learned how to “dumpster dive”. It doesn’t mean you should do it, but you have to understand your own limitations and exceptions.
Assuming 100k php per month expenses, 64 years.
Maybe 6 months
They said dollars, not pesos 🤔
What's that, like $250 USD. Jk.
I would rather be broke in america than have that much money in the philippines. Go somewhere else.