Expats Cannot Succeed in the Philippines

they were already successful in their home country.

I never intended to live in the Philippines long term.

Hey YouTube, Alex here and in today's video, I want to talk about why expats cannot succeed in the Philippines.

And I think this is a controversial take because you see so many people talking about success, how they're a hot shot or they're a big baller.

And the first reason as to why this is the case, most expats cannot legally work in the Philippines.

And work has a subjective definition like how do we divine work?

But you're not permitted as a foreigner in most cases to work in the Philippines unless you can do something very specific that a Filipino person cannot do.

And a foreign company has to sponsor your visa.

I think there is also what's called an investor visa, but the vast majority of expats are not on the investor visa.

I've met two people that are on the investor visa.

It's not to say they're not more out there, but for the majority, you're needing to bring your money with you.

It's not a situation for most guys where, oh, I'm going to move to the Philippines and I'm going to become some kind of employee or I'm going to start a business.

For a lot of guys that come to the Philippines, they were already successful in their home country.

You have for example returning films that had a career in health care or technology or something like that overseas and they're coming back with the money they made.

So they actually had their success somewhere else and they're continuing that successful life back in the Philippines.

Uh for most expats, they made their money in the US, Australia, Canada, non-filipino Canadians, they're not, oh yeah, so I just, you know, I moved over to the Philippines and I got a job at a manufacturing company or something like that.

It's just not really practical to think that way or even speak that way.

So when people say, "Oh, so and so failed in the Philippines," I would say they weren't uh necessarily successful before they even got there.

For those who say they wanted to come to the Philippines to succeed, how is it that you expect to support a family if you can't legally work?

As far as I know, most of the visas that expats are using, I know tourist visa is the most predominant one.

It allows for up to threeear stay.

How are you supporting a family if you can't legally work?

I'm not so sure about the other visas.

It's something I'd have to take a look at.

But I found it's often when expats do start a business in the Philippines, there are some exceptions.

This is not a blanket statement, but most of the time it's like a a hobby farm.

It's a sorry store with their wife.

It's not some rigorous enterprise where, [snorts] you know, they're making moves and there's already a lot of talented people in the Philippines.

A lot of talented people.

And they don't need foreigners to do things that they themselves can do.

I think when you look at the colonial history of the Philippines, there's a lot of Filipinos that they they want to do things themselves.

They're not needing uh outside talent.

They've got a lot of homegrown talent.

And so when people talk about this, I'm going to go succeed in the Philippines, it's like for these guys that were successful before they came to the Philippines or say they expanded their business there.

You see a guy like John Smulo, he was successful before he came to the Philippines.

Uh that's not to say the Philippines didn't contribute heavily to his success.

I think it's obvious that it did.

He's got a lot of talented people working for him in his offices.

Uh but he didn't just come there totally oblivious, right?

[snorts] He had already been hiring there.

He had already been working with Filipinos through like basically digital uh communication platforms.

It wasn't just this he woke up one day and and showed up in the Philippines and all of a sudden he succeeded.

He was building on it.

He was building on his past success that he'd already had.

And you also see this with guys who come to the Philippines and they live a very comfortable life.

That's a comfortable life that they built prior to coming to the Philippines.

Um [snorts] they had a long career in uh whatever industry they specialized in.

You know, you see a lot of veterans, for example, that they had a 20, 30 year career as a veteran.

They're collecting a pension and that pension funds their lifestyle uh and can fund their lifestyle in many countries, not just one.

You know, when you're working for the military, you don't necessarily get to choose where you live.

So, you got to follow your instructions, your orders, and in return eventually, uh you get to collect that sweet pension.

But yeah, I just People talk about failure in the Philippines.

I think life's too short to think about things in this dynamic.

And this is going to be my next point.

The Philippines is not for everyone.

It's fairly evident there's no place for everyone.

Um, some places are better for some people than others.

Some people like certain places more than other places.

I think it's a great option for a lot of people, but it's certainly not for everyone.

And so if somebody they decide it's not for them, I think it's better to figure that out early, then some of these guys that do crash and burn and have to go back home with far less money or with health issues that they didn't, you know, necessarily arrive in that state.

I think it's like anything.

I mean, United States is the same way.

There's people that move to the United States and they can't handle the freedom.

Just like in the Philippines, you have a lot of uh freedoms that you don't have in the US.

In the US, you have a lot of freedoms you don't have at other countries.

So, that's a big one where I think it just assumes this binary.

And I had a few expats tell me this, either you succeed here or you fail here.

Well, it's a lot more complicated than that because we see a lot of OFWs going abroad to send money back home.

Did they fail in the Philippines?

I don't I don't think they say that.

That goes back to another discussion I've had where you have a lot of expats that they have this double standard.

They're happy to critique or to criticize, you know, people for behavior based on their nationality.

If one nationality does it, it's okay.

If another nationality does it, it's not okay.

So, there's that double standard.

But yeah, I mean, I haven't seen any of these guys tell of, "Well, you just couldn't you just couldn't make it.

You just couldn't handle it." There's a lot of crabs in the bucket in expat communities.

You'll notice this if you live overseas.

I think it's unfortunately more common than we'd like to see, but it is a reality.

To me, the Philippines is best seen as a retirement destination.

Once you've made your money and you've been successful in another country, then you go to the Philippines and you relax.

You enjoy the slower pace.

you I'm not saying you shouldn't go back and forth, but I think for many people the ideal is to make your money in your home country where you're permitted to work and you understand the economy, you have connections, you you know people, you know the rules.

You have so many what I would call home turf advantages.

And then once you've made your money, you come to the Philippines, you relax.

You don't have to worry, oh, am I allowed to work?

Am I allowed to open this business?

Uh, is this permitted?

Is this something I'm going to get in trouble for?

These aren't concerns for you.

Plus, you get to enjoy it.

You know, one thing that I struggle with with YouTubing in the Philippines, there were days or times I wanted to enjoy life and I had to work on my channel.

So if you've actually like made your money, you don't have to do anything.

You're just, you know, if you want to do a channel, you're just documenting.

It's very different to um have the economic freedom after having made it in the west than to try to try to do something big there when it's just a very relaxed atmosphere, laidback.

you're trying to push and get things done where a lot of people are just enjoying their lives.

So, yeah, that's why I'm skeptical of this fail thing.

I think, you know, one of the things that's unfortunate, I talked about crabs in a bucket, but a lot of expats hate to see each other succeed.

Uh it's not all, but there's a decent chunk that for whatever reason they get upset when other people are accomplishing what they set out to accomplish or have accomplished what they set out to accomplish when they were younger.

you definitely notice a a disconnect among people who are not as successful in their early years versus those that were more successful in their early years and and have a lot more to show for it.

Now, when it comes to success or failure, one of the things I point out, a lot of guys that are going over there to retire are typical retirement age, I would say like late 50s to late 60s, somewhere in that 10 year band.

And you know, at this age, you begin to have more health concerns just as a matter of aging, getting older.

uh it'll happen to me, it'll happen to you if it hasn't already.

It's just part of life.

And my question is, if somebody, you know, goes over there and then has a health issue, do they fail in the Philippines?

Health issues they probably accumulated back in the US if it's genetic and they're a western person.

Uh they're getting illnesses that Western people are more prone to developing.

I say all this, I make this video because I had [snorts] a couple people I thought were my friends saying, "Oh, you failed in the Philippines." I never intended to live in the Philippines long term.

In fact, I came for I think with the expectation I'd stay a month, maybe two, and then get my job, next job back in the US and go back [snorts] to work.

I did not plan to stay longterm at that point in time.

It was pretty obvious, too, cuz I was like the youngest guy in a lot of these social circles that I'd need to go back and uh work, but I was just kind of scoping it out.

I mean, and I personally I think Thailand is going to be the place that I want to live long term.

There's a lot of reasons for that.

It's not a knock against the Philippines.

I enjoyed my time there.

I see myself returning for vacation and for travel.

That's my preference.

I ended up staying in the Philippines about 8 months because I was struggling to get a job eventually.

I just called it because I was like, well, you know, might as well go back.

Probably be easier in some ways to get access to certain jobs uh in person that I wouldn't be able to access, you know, remotely.

But there's a lot of guys, I mentioned it before, that they find it's not for them and they're they have that self-awareness to call it before they become embittered.

I met a number of guys uh in [snorts] the Philippines that were not happy there for whatever reason.

I think some of it comes down to relationship problems.

I think if some of these guys get into these situations, they get themselves into these situations where they rush into a relationship with the wrong person and they uh maybe they build a house, maybe they buy a car or you know they get entangled in some way or another and then they find you know what this person isn't who I thought they were.

they find out, you know what, I enjoy the Philippines for vacation, but I miss my family back home more than I thought I would.

There's a lot of reasons why somebody who moves to another country may find it doesn't work for them.

I mean, there's quite a few people who uh come to the US to spend their working years and then when they've completed those working years, they go back to where they're from because they would prefer to live where they're from cuz that's what they're used to.

It's not that the US is bad.

It's not that the Philippines is bad.

It's that I think a lot of people out there realize I really like what I'm used to.

I like what I'm accustomed to.

There's nothing uh specifically wrong with this place, but you know, I miss uh being able to see longtime old friends.

I miss, you know, maybe they have grandkids, children, that kind of thing.

So anyway, yeah, I just wanted to clarify that because I [snorts] think some people have a misconception.

I intended to stay in the Philippines forever.

And for me, it was more about scoping it out.

One of the things I want to do is really a year in each of the Southeast Asian countries or almost a year just to see could I live here one day.

Um, so Thailand is probably going to be it.

But eventually I'd like to do a year in Cambodia.

I'd like to spend a year total in Malaysia.

Vietnam I don't think is for me.

But there's a lot of options.

The Philippines is a great option for a lot of people, but by no means is it the only option.

And I found that a number of the guys I met in the Philippines had never been to any other countries in Southeast Asia.

So, they didn't really necessarily have that perspective that I have.

I've been to almost all the countries in Southeast Asia.

All of them except for Lao, Brunai, and Myanmar.

Brunai is pretty small.

Lao is pretty rural and Myanmar is unsafe right now.

So I have ability to compare and contrast that.

I think a lot of them don't.

And I guess they get offended when I say that.

But it's the truth.

I've been to Malaysia, month in Malaysia, like a month in Cambodia, year over a year and a half in Thailand, eight months in the Philippines.

I spent about a week in Singapore.

You know, Singapore is pretty expensive.

About a month in Vietnam.

It's not as much of a mystery to me as what I I prefer.

But let me know what you think down in the comments.

Did I fail in the Philippines?

Am I a big failure in life?

It's ironic to me.

There's a lot of irony to me in this situation, but uh give us a thumbs up if you enjoy this content.

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