A lot of foreigners who come to live in the Philippines are always looking for is a business where they can make enough money so that they can live here. A lot of people who move here do not have regular streams of income at their disposal, and don't have a lot of savings built up that they can live from. One of the businesses a lot of people talk about is the Jeepney business. Although the business of owning a fleet of Jeepnies is kind of romanticized by many foreigners, it is a really tough business. Especially in today's world of very high gasoline (or diesel) prices, it's hard to make much money from Jeepneys, in my opinion. If you … [Read more...]
Housing: Buy, Build or Rent?
April 29, 2007 By Leave a Comment
I got a question in my e-mail box this morning, and it is one that really fits in with this blog. Let's take a look and see what the e-mail said: Hi Bob - my wife and I were planning to move to the Philippines and rent a house there, maybe buy one later. A Filipina friend here in the States recently told us that we should build a place instead. What do you think? Well, this is an interesting question, and like many questions, everybody's answer may be a little different. Let me tell you my thoughts, though. Firstly, I believe strongly that when you first move here you should rent. A significant number of foreigners who move here end … [Read more...]
The Four Hour Workweek
April 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Everybody who reads this blog wants to move to and live in the Philippines, at least that would be my guess. Why else would anybody come here, after all? Of those who are hoping, or dreaming of retirement in the Philippines, we fall into three classes. We are retired. We are getting ready to retire. Or, we want to move here and must find some way to earn money while living in a place far from our home. Personally, I fall into the third category, or at least I used to. I have figured out how to earn enough to live here, but I am always on the lookout for new sources of income, as you should be too! One of the things that I do for income … [Read more...]
Why are we dreamers?
April 25, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Everybody dreams of something, right? I mean, no person goes through life without dreaming about the life he would have if he just does whatever it is he dreams about. None of us can say we haven't had dreams. Some are pursued, some are not. I like to think of myself as a "doer" instead of a dreamer. However, I must admit that I dream of many things. A lot of the things I dream of are thing I will never do. So, how can I be a doer? Well, I can't say for certain, but I feel like I pursue my dreams a lot more than the average person. For example, out of 100 things I dream of, I probably do 70 of them, I guess. I would bet that … [Read more...]
Julie Campbell, R.I.P.
April 24, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Recently here in the Philippines, a United States Peace Corp Volunteer was murdered, her name was Julia Campbell. Julia Campbell, 40 years old, was from Fairfax, Virginia. Campbell had been teaching at an Albay College on the island of Luzon since September 2005. She was fluent in Tagalog. I saw her do an interview on TV, and was very impressed with her ability to speak Tagalog, she was very fluent. Apparently, during Holy Week, Julia Campbell took a mini-vacation to Ifugao Province. Ifugao is the place where the famous Banaue Rice Terraces are located. It was Julia's intention to do some hiking in the area of the Rice Terraces. Campbell … [Read more...]
Is there a way that you can own land?
April 23, 2007 By Leave a Comment
I've talked a number of times on this blog about the fact that unless you are a Citizen of the Philippines, you cannot own land. There is only one exception to that - if you are a former citizen who has been naturalized in another country, then you can own a limited amount of land, basically enough to have a house here. That is the only exception to the law that non-citizens cannot own property. Funny thing is, lately, I've been getting a lot of e-mails from different foreigners from all around the world. They are all asking questions about what they can do to own land. It's always the same - they want to buy it in the girlfriend's name … [Read more...]
What To Wear
April 21, 2007 By 5 Comments
A few weeks ago somebody asked me to write about how to dress up here in the Philippines. For me for my everyday wear when I go out I usually wear jeans and shirt and a decent shoes. To go to the beach of course I would wear shorts and a shirt and sandals. If you go for a nice dinner to a nice place here you have to wear semi-formal clothing and nice shoes. Some places here won't allow people inside the premises if their wearing shorts and sandals. They even have a big sign outside the door. I know some people got offended if you wear shorts to hang out in a nice place, they feel you are insulting the place and most of all the people. All of … [Read more...]
Update: A story about helping others
April 20, 2007 By Leave a Comment
A week or two ago, I posted an article here about helping the people who you select. In the article, I mentioned that there had been some people in the family that I have offered help to, and they turned around and messed up. Well, I have an update about this. Yesterday, a niece of mine showed up at the house. This is a girl that had lived with us for about 4 or 5 years, and whom I had put through high school, and was attending college. She was doing well, and then something happened. Somehow, she fell in with the wrong crowd, and her behavior changed. Her behavior got so bad that the time actually came where we had to withdraw our … [Read more...]
This business idea is not a good one
April 19, 2007 By Leave a Comment
In relation to this blog, the thing that people ask me the most is how they can get into a business here. They need to earn money so that they can live here, and they don't know how to do it. Well, I have made other posts in the past about ideas on how you can make money, but there is something I want to address specifically. When guys tell me that they have a website that they are operating, or that they have an idea for a website, and they think it can make money for them, inevitably, the most common thing they are going to mention is a dating site, or some kind of site where they will introduce Filipinas to Western men for love and marriage. … [Read more...]
Being an ex-pat opens many windows
April 12, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Living in a country other than your own opens all sorts of windows that you did not have in your home country. The "window" that I want to talk about today is having friends from all over the world. I never really thought about this topic until about a year ago. I have an American friend that I have known for years who lives in Iligan. We knew each other in the States before either of us moved over here too. Well, about a year ago, my friend told me that he and his wife were going to come to Davao for a visit. We were quite happy that they were coming, as it was their first time to visit Davao. We had been to Iligan a few times, but this … [Read more...]
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