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Hi Cheryl.

My savings for retirement were all accomplished in my home country as are dividends, interest and other incomes.

We transfer 8 to 12 months worth of living costs to our bank here, draw it out and stick it in the safe at home and use as required, sorry but I have little faith in the banking system here being mostly franchises and not really a cooperative entity. Just our take and better to look at it than look for it.

Little chance for us to invest here at all levels.

Cheers, Steve.

I'm only new to living in the Philippines and all my sources of income incl retirement savings are kept in my home country. I use WISE to transfer a generous amount equivalent to all living expenses to my Filipina partner's bank account every fortnight and allocate between her bank, her Gcash and cash as appropriate. I get by day to day pretty much using cash only although I have a WISE card and another credit card that I use occasionally for bigger shopping expenses which I pay off directly from my home country bank account. Larger unscheduled amounts like major purchases (recently I bought a portable AC or could be holiday airfares or accommodation) I pay online using my credit card and pay off directly from my home country bank account. We're talking about establishing a bigger reserve in the Philippines (12 to 18 month expenditure like Steve above) but haven't done anything about that yet - maybe using my partner's bank account or a joint account. I'm retired and have sufficient retirement income so my appetite for risk with investments in the Philippines is nil.

1. All I can add to this is not to retire here unless you have a wise retirement fund/s based in your home country, been coming here for 14 years and like most countries the living costs keep rising so plenty of back up is or can be the winner.
2. What was a third of the price 10/12 years ago here is now about half the price compared to Australia, used to be one third the cost, prices have risen everywhere but I see here the wages remain stagnant and why many can't get ahead and put up with third world living, sad yes very.
3. 
   
4. OMO.
5. 
   
6. Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl said . . . .All I can add to this is not to retire here unless you have a wise retirement fund/s based in your home country, been coming here for 14 years and like most countries the living costs keep rising so plenty of back up is or can be the winner.
What was a third of the price 10/12 years ago here is now about half the price compared to Australia, used to be one third the cost, prices have risen everywhere but I see here the wages remain stagnant and why many can't get ahead and put up with third world living, sad yes very.

**

Addendum to Steve's good advice, especially for US citizens planning on living on SS benefits.

Each year do to inflation your COLA will increase.

But,

Your COLA will not reflect the real numbers of inflation, so what's livable today may not be livable in the future.

Totally concur with what those fine gentleman said.

I keep all investments in US brokerage and bank accounts and make transfers monthly from Wells Fargo into my partner's account at BPI, using WFB Express Send service (direct bank to bank). It has a low fee and good rate.

I also pull cash from ATM's occasionally, although the fees are high (yes I know about the Schwab card) and send her cash for unexpected expenses via World Remit - for cash pickup at M Lhuillier or Palawan Express.

I agree with Bob and Steve that the inflation rate for food and other basic items seems to be high in the Philippines, partly due to the steadily eroding value of the peso (rel to USD) although for those of us spending in USD it is compensated by the fact that we get more pesos for our dollar. When I first moved to the Philippines in 2014 the exchange rate was 45 pesos per USD, it's now around 57.

However I really feel for the locals who do not have the benefit of financial arbitrage and are stuck with low wages that do not rise with inflation (despite the min wage laws)..