Farang in Philippines tries to make $30K last 4 years, but ends up broke

[MatureDJ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lneBEwPIbtI

[publicduende]

It should be clear by now that every foreigner entering the Philippines is a net giver. There is no way anyone in this country, from the owner of a multinational company to the garbage kid, will ever allow a foreigner to prosper and make more cash than they can (and will) drop. The Spanish, American and Japanese imperial times are over.

[Cornfed]

It should be pretty obvious that if you plan to have a Western lifestyle, your own transport and an active sex life with much younger females then the idea of doing it anywhere in the current year on $7.5k per annum is somewhat optimistic.

[Shemp]

It should be clear by now that every foreigner entering the Philippines is a net giver.

Philippines does continually attract foreign investment, and investors aren't likely to continually take net losses. So a more accurate statement is: "Foreigners can only net profit in the Philippines via geographic arbitrage."

For businessmen, arbitrage is between cheap local labor and high paying foreign clients. Obviously, some of that differential will be consumed by bribes to not so cheap locals in positions of power. To make things work, the businessman must always be in a position to tell the local bribe taker: "if you ask for one more dollar of bribes from me, I'll move operations to XXX and then you get nothing from me but a bunch of angry ex-employees, ex-landlords and other locals who will know they lost their income stream because of you". Larger multinationals are much better positioned to make that threat than small businesses. (This threat, like micro-management in general, should be made by a local messenger boy type manager, while top bosses stay safely in another country. Otherwise, there's the risk of arrest on for some fake criminal charges.)

For sexpats, arbitrage is between high value (to sexpat) of local p***y versus low dollar cost relative to what sexpat earns/earned elsewhere. Fat, out of shape, wrinkled men in their 50's and 60's, with zero charisma and sex appeal, would have almost zero chance with 19yo girls in the USA or Europe, regardless of money offered. So being able to buy access to pretty 19yo girls in the Philippines, AND get a true girlfriend experience (at least initially), is a screaming geo-arbitrage bargain.

The guy in the video is just a fool and deserves to suffer and die. Those who show pity to fools, like many of the YouTube commentators, risk being infected by folly themselves.

[Yohan]

It should be pretty obvious that if you plan to have a Western lifestyle, your own transport and an active sex life with much younger females then the idea of doing it anywhere in the current year on $7.5k per annum is somewhat optimistic.

Cornfed wrote a very good realistic summary of the situation.

I met not so few and not so young Western men from Europe visiting Asian countries who were thinking with their little money - even with a ridiculous low weekly UK retirement allowance of GBP 100 (= PHP 6500,-) or so - they can live like a king up to the end of their life and young local girls will run after them. Such men are stupid and ignorant, they will not listen. They really think they will never run out of money... and within 1 or 2 years they were gone, totally bankrupt, even walking to the airport as they have no cash left to pay for the bus-ticket.

You cannot help such men, there is nothing you can do about it.

In Philippines, there are many impoverished local people who really can survive with surprisingly little money, however as a foreigner you cannot do that.

As a foreign man you do not want to be homeless or live in a bamboo hut without electricity and without clean water, you will have to pay the air-fare for your trip to your far away destination, visa is required and medical bills might become a horror for your banking account. You have either to pay rent for a good room or buy it, public transport is not what you want to use, you prefer your own car or at least go by taxi, you get a high electricity bill if your air con is running all the time, you prefer good food and not only salty fish and rice... and finally you even want young nice girls around you?

As Cornfed said, $ 7.5K per annum is somewhat optimistic - this is about PHP 35.000,- per month...
PHP 35.000.- is not such a bad salary for a Filipino in Cebu for example. Many people in Cebu earn far less than that.

Of course it is not impossible for a single Western man to survive in Philippines with PHP 35.000,- monthly if you are VERY careful with your money - without females of course -but such a modest life-style is not funny...

[publicduende]

Philippines does continually attract foreign investment, and investors aren't likely to continually take net losses. So a more accurate statement is: "Foreigners can only net profit in the Philippines via geographic arbitrage."

That's very true, if you're talking about the vast BPO and outsourced services industry. That's not what I was referring to. Those companies are multinationals who set up shop in Manila, Cebu, Davao or other large cities, only when they have a client secured. Most of the services they provide are on the low-end of the profit spectrum. Their profit margins are relatively low but safe, secured by multi-year contracts. That's why, when a client occasionally terminates a contract early, small armies of Filipinos get instantly sacked.

I once spoke to a BPO manager, the kind of "quality expat" the US, Canadian or Australian head office will second in Manila. They get a paid condo and sometimes benefits for their families but, in the end, their salaries are in the range of $50-75K a year. Good enough to live comfortably in Manila, yet not something that would make them feel rich, or "kings" in this land.

These are the lucky few. Most foreigners who come here do some of their own volition. Perhaps they're attracted by the quiet frugal lifestyle and won't mind doing something online just to pay the bills. Perhaps, like me, setting up a business is their main focus and enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle, including "the ladies", is the bonus.

This is the bulk of the foreigners living here and, for what I could see, the vast majority of them just lose money trying to run their own businesses. When they don't lose money, they just about break even and certainly don't see the cash inflows worth the hassle of running the setting up and running the business in the first place.

For businessmen, arbitrage is between cheap local labor and high paying foreign clients. Obviously, some of that differential will be consumed by bribes to not so cheap locals in positions of power. To make things work, the businessman must always be in a position to tell the local bribe taker: "if you ask for one more dollar of bribes from me, I'll move operations to XXX and then you get nothing from me but a bunch of angry ex-employees, ex-landlords and other locals who will know they lost their income stream because of you". Larger multinationals are much better positioned to make that threat than small businesses. (This threat, like micro-management in general, should be made by a local messenger boy type manager, while top bosses stay safely in another country. Otherwise, there's the risk of arrest on for some fake criminal charges.)

I am not sure this is the usual conversation between companies. Bribes to local politicians or public authorities are usually involved when there is a competitive process involved, a large construction project or the awarding of an exclusive license to run something.

BPOs and multinationals usually follow a standard process. The Philippines actually have a good track record in this. They created an incentive program called PEZA (from Philippine Economic Zone Authority) which extends the special economic zone notion to commercial buildings, where offices can set up shop and have quite significant incentives in income and custom taxation, employment, etc. Most of these companies basically pay 0 taxes for the first 3-4 years and then they're supposed to be on a 5% flat tax for the rest of their life. What most do, though, is close and reopen as a new entity, so they get another 3 year lease at 0%.

For sexpats, arbitrage is between high value (to sexpat) of local p***y versus low dollar cost relative to what sexpat earns/earned elsewhere. Fat, out of shape, wrinkled men in their 50's and 60's, with zero charisma and sex appeal, would have almost zero chance with 19yo girls in the USA or Europe, regardless of money offered. So being able to buy access to pretty 19yo girls in the Philippines, AND get a true girlfriend experience (at least initially), is a screaming geo-arbitrage bargain.

On, this I absolutely agree. I used the term "socio-economic arbitrage" or "socio-sexual arbitrage", as it's predicated more on a socio-economic, or socio-cultural divide, than a geographical one. Poor Filipinas must choose between a young but poor and unemployed "corner boy" who will probably abandon them after knocking them up, or a placid 60-yo looking for a maid, nurse and occasional sex partner. Their "hearts" (pussies) are a fair deal to them, to get themselves, their kids and their families a modicum of financial stability.

On the same geography, barely middle-class girls would never dream of being seen around with these types of foreigners, or even the younger ones for that matter. Their dating/sexual market is safely pinned to their male peers. I spent 2.5 years looking for these kinds of girls in Davao and, obviously, couldn't find any willing to give me the time of the day.

I lucked out with C only because she knew me from my professional circles, as a respectable businessman, plus she had a thing for mature men, plus she had been recommended by her mother to date an Italian. Lots of stars had to align. And she was from Manila, coincidentally, not Davao, where the vast majority of foreigners are the old and wrinkly retiree types.

The guy in the video is just a fool and deserves to suffer and die. Those who show pity to fools, like many of the YouTube commentators, risk being infected by folly themselves.

The guy in the video is one of the many old geezers who make their calculations wrong. $30K for 4 years, or $625 a month, is what a standard Filipino family makes. He could have lived a safe, if frugal, life if he hadn't fallen into the usual p***y traps that sucked him dry.

[publicduende]

As Cornfed said, $ 7.5K per annum is somewhat optimistic - this is about PHP 35.000,- per month...
PHP 35.000.- is not such a bad salary for a Filipino in Cebu for example. Many people in Cebu earn far less than that.

Of course it is not impossible for a single Western man to survive in Philippines with PHP 35.000,- monthly if you are VERY careful with your money - without females of course -but such a modest life-style is not funny...

Actually, it's possible for anyone to live on P35K a month, as long as they are prepared to live exactly like Filipinos do. That means living in a small house in the suburb, as opposed to a condo in the city center, using electric fans instead of air-con, buying food and vegetables from the town market rather than supermarkets, and so on.

And this is not even mentioning the inevitable emergency situations, which would force them to do like Pinoys do: borrow money from family and friends, or...other foreigners.

Reality is, many a foreigner espouse the "noble savage" idea and have no clue what kind of brutal sacrifices the average local must make, just to be able to get to the end of the month. Free or cheap girls at that point are the last of their problem. We are talking acquiring some hard survival skills on their own skin, and being contented with exercising them on a daily basis, just when they would have expected a few years of peaceful, relaxed life in Paradise.