Is a monthly income of 2000 euros sufficient to live in the Philippines comfortably?

[JerrySmith]

Picture a rural Filipino place, someplace warm and sunny. An active income of two thousand euros monthly. This would be 2.378,60 in dollars, or some 110k in Philippine peso.

Is it sufficient and how comfortable would I be with it? Could I afford a small place, eat well, travel?

[Taco]

You can retire in the philippines on $500 a month if your good with money. If you spend a lot then $1000 a month will be enough.

[Yohan]

2000 Euro? This is about 115.000 PHP per month. This is more than enough for a VERY comfortable long stay in Philippines.
Many millions of people in the Philippines can only dream of such a monthly income.

However be aware, that there might be other expenses you cannot avoid easily while living as a foreigner in Philippines, like various formalities, medical fees and also to consider your own security. Good medical doctors are available, but not so cheap and safety is a major concern, plenty of criminals around in some areas, depending where you are living.

Always keep an escape route always in your mind, in case of trouble be ready to move to elsewhere either in the Philippines or to leave the country quickly.

Never bring all your money in Philippines, keep a good part of your saving in a banking account outside of the Philippines.

[yick]

And this is a good point that Yohan makes which are medical expenses and the availability of good medical care. Medical problems pile up for some people and it can get expensive.

My goal at the moment is to get in the best shape possible so when I do reach retirement age I will be able to retire where I want without worrying about medical care and costs. I come from a country with a great medical system but I don't want to retire there. The place I want to retire to has good medical care - at a price - if anything major happens to me - I will end up dying. Maintaining excellent health is very important.

A well known British blogger in Thailand ended up dying of cancer as he and his buddy set up a go-fund-me campaign to pay for his cancer treatment in Thailand and it came to over to 100000 dollars - life as an expat is great when you have your health but that can't be guaranteed the older you get.

In a fair few countries, you can go into debt as you're dying in a hospital bed. Gotta be careful.

[Taco]

You need to set aside some emergency money in case of a medical emergency. 500,000 pesos if you have it.

[JerrySmith]

Thank you all for your responses people. I will have some savings upwards to 500k left, yes, in Pesos. Then 2000k a month in Euros monhtly to spend. I would use this to travel the Philippines with for a while, maybe some months or even a year. See it all, do it all, have fun under the sun. Is this even possible at all with Chinese flu restrictions in place? I would go by perhaps July or August and hope at this time restrictions would be lifted.

Heard restaurants are at least open again but there is forced quarantine do not know much, any news on the ground? After getting the traveling bug out of my system I wish to marry a Filipina. I want it to be a pretty one of the tall-nosed variety, not the flat-nosed bulbous looking maid type. Her skin could be dark it does not matter just let it be clear.

[Yohan]

You need to set aside some emergency money in case of a medical emergency. 500,000 pesos if you have it.

Yes, you should keep a banking account with emergency money, but keep such money always out of Philippines, make sure you have access to it - for example with a credit card and the amount will be collected later on from your overseas banking account.

PHP 500.000 sounds still a bit low - not really enough, just my opinion - 1 million PHP (approx. USD 20.000,-) might be more realistic if you are suddenly in big trouble - you never know what might happen to you...

[Yohan]

And this is a good point that Yohan makes which are medical expenses and the availability of good medical care. Medical problems pile up for some people and it can get expensive....

@yick

Thanks for this important good warning!

You never know what happens to you while overseas - accidents or illness or victim of a crime, visa/work permit trouble etc. - and you need some money as backup preferably in your own native country - if something is going wrong and you have to go back home or face otherwise any unexpected situation you always should be financially in a position to buy a ticket for the next airplane and rent a room after arrival in your country of origin.

There are plenty of not so young guys from Europe who were thinking in Asian countries they are rich with their little monthly retirement allowance (especially those from UK with their really low pension payments)... but this works only for a while - as long as you stay healthy and don't waste money for nonsense (nonsense = girls, alcohol, cars, drugs, gambling etc).

Many Western foreigners think, in countries like Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia etc. they can live like a king, but as a fact, life for a foreigner is not so cheap there, especially not if you need professional help like medical doctors, lawyers...

I have seen not so few penniless Western foreigners in Asia who found themselves in a really bad situation with nowhere to stay and nowhere to go.

They ware totally to be at a loss with what to do next - finally even committed suicide, or ending up in a cheap hospiz/clinic and died a painful death, another one got eye cataract (not at all a medical problem but need to pay for eye-surgery) and he was sitting totally blind in a plastic chair begging for money and so on...

Be careful - in Asia, there is often no real social feeling among locals to help anybody except their own family members (China) and there are very few social services available as poverty is everywhere (Philippines) - and here in Japan authorities and Japanese people in general are not very communicative. This is not a cheap place and if you are running out of money you are a foreign nothing and do not expect any help either...

[yick]

Good point though @Yohan how many of these penniless foreigners end up on skid row because of women (or getting married to...) gambling or drinking.

A modest pension in Thailand can take you far and people say (or I have heard or read it...) why retire to Thailand if not for the women and the cheap booze/mongering way of life. Well, there's weather and the food and of course it doesn't cost all that much to live a peaceful life.

It must be hard if one does live to be a ripe old age, what happens with people who get alzheimers or dementia? You would have to be very lucky to end your life abroad with your marbles intact. You hear a lot of people taking their own lives in Thailand of all places, it seems to be a very unforgiving place regards hitting skid row, I don't know about expat suicides in the Philippines?

[Yohan]

Good point though @Yohan how many of these penniless foreigners end up on skid row because of women (or getting married to...) gambling or drinking.

A modest pension in Thailand can take you far and people say (or I have heard or read it...) why retire to Thailand if not for the women and the cheap booze/mongering way of life. Well, there's weather and the food and of course it doesn't cost all that much to live a peaceful life.

It must be hard if one does live to be a ripe old age, what happens with people who get alzheimers or dementia? You would have to be very lucky to end your life abroad with your marbles intact. You hear a lot of people taking their own lives in Thailand of all places, it seems to be a very unforgiving place regards hitting skid row, I don't know about expat suicides in the Philippines?

@yick

Yes, correct.

Thailand is not known to help foreigners, more the opposite, the idea is about that the Western male foreigner should pay for everything.
Thai are very business-minded people. The country is clearly more expensive, more restrictive, more demanding towards foreigners, but it is in a better economic shape compared to Philippines.

You fail as a foreigner financially and you are out. Thailand is good if you have an expat contract of a foreign company/international school etc. or as long as you can show up with a reasonable monthly allowance/income from somewhere. What is reasonable? For Thai authorities like immigration this means at least a minimum income of baht 65.000,- per month in case of longstay as a foreigner - and this means around USD 2.200,- per month.

I am the owner of a nice condominium unit in Pattaya/Jomtien and I received now the basic bill for maintenance for this year (and I cannot even go there at this moment with this crazy covid-19 restrictions) and the total was about USD 1300,- - To keep a comfortable second home is not so cheap...

I had just a talk by phone a few days ago with a man from Eastern Europe (not an EU-member) I know him since many years, he arrived in Thailand when he was 50 and had 'not so little money', met a Thai woman who is very modest, and now he is 70, both are totally bankrupt and now he and she have no other choice but to pack their few items and move over to his country which is still offering a few hundred Euros per month/+basic free healthcare for both of them as he is legally married with her and is accepting both of them as there is still a minimum system of social welfare existing.

I remember one guy, who was from USA, not poor, but he felt lonely - yes, the usual cheats from Thai girls. Finally he was drinking up to 30 cans of beer and 2 bottles of whisky every day - I say it again EVERY DAY - he became overweight up to 140 kg and yellow in his face and was finally gone to the fire in the temple...yes, call it suicide...

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Filipinos are rather different from Thai in this sense, totally different mentality - Filipinos are more communicative and can talk a bit in basic English, are often jobless and have plenty of time - you will find local people with you even if you live among them in a slum and nobody living there made it past a few years elementary school. Philippine authories are also easier to deal with compared to Thai authorities, visa extentions are easier...