I've extended my stay in Dumaguete

Evening in Dumaguete and First Date

0:21 I'm a bit tired tonight but I thought I'd hop on here and do a live stream. We'll just give it a few minutes to let people get on. Hey, how's it going? We've got our first viewer here. Welcome! Welcome. I am just winding down my day here in Dumaguete.

1:05 Man, it's been a long day. Hey, welcome Gerard, good to see you. Yeah, it's been a long day. It's been rainy and cold and windy. I finally got caught up on some sleep today, but I'm still tired as you can tell. I ended up rolling into town around 4:00 p.m. because the rain and the wind stopped.

1:41 I ended up running into a friend at the mall and we just talked about his upcoming race. He's doing some racing here in Dumaguete. I bought more load for my phone and went and had dinner at S's Revol. I'll throw the name of this because if you come to Dumaguete, you should try this. I went and had dinner at S's Revol and I actually saw another friend there, but didn't realize it until too late. I should have gone up and said something because I actually have plans to have lunch with him tomorrow, but it just slipped my mind.

2:17 I'll probably text them. I'll let them know tomorrow. We have plans to meet for lunch tomorrow.

2:30 Sorry about the yawning, guys. I know it's probably making some of you yawn as well. Welcome to the new subscribers, if you're watching this, whether you're live or watching on replay, who are coming from my recent interview with Chad Foster. That was great. Chad's a great guy. He and I have had a number of conversations and he's just a really hardworking content creator. I mean, he puts out a lot of great content.

3:04 What else? Oh, I went on a date tonight. Yeah, so it's about 10:30 p.m. here, Gerard. So yeah, I went on a first date tonight and that went well. She and I met a few nights ago. A friend of mine pushed me to introduce myself to her when we were out at the Boulevard.

3:30 And yeah, I mean, it went really well. We went walking on the Boulevard and then we went and had, we shared a mango sago, which is this mango tapioca pearl-based dessert at my favorite cafe on the Boulevard, Cafe Fellomina. And yeah, it's a nice place. It's attached to a hotel and it's just really nice to sit down and chat with her and get to know her better. We'll see where it goes. You know, a first date can't really tell where it's going to go, if it's going to be allowed or might become something more serious. I'm open to whatever possibility is in store for me.

4:16 And yeah, she's great. We had a great time. I think we're going to be hanging out tomorrow night as well.

4:25 Hey Sky Stone, I retire in January. 62 years old, looking forward to visiting the Philippines. Yeah, I mean, the Philippines is a fantastic country. It's beautiful, it's tropical, lots of friendly people here. I'm not sure if you're from the US, but you'll encounter plenty of people from the US, like as far as expats go. I think it caters a lot to Americans because of the English, also just the shared culture and some of the shared history.

5:04 Oh, you're in Tennessee. Yeah, so I'm a Tennessean as well, very familiar. I've been to Pigeon Forge several dozen times. Gorgeous area, probably my favorite part of the state, if I'm being honest. I grew up in Nashville, but I think you're very, very fortunate to be in Pigeon Forge. At the same time, I think that you'll really enjoy your visit to the Philippines. It's got some of that kind of vibe that you have in Pigeon Forge. I know a lot of people come to your area for vacation, certainly a lot of people come here to the Philippines for vacation.

5:53 But yeah, I'm just hanging out. I'll try to go for about an hour and then I'll probably do some editing. I've got to edit the video I did with Chad, so I turned the camera on Chad and I got a great video with him. I need to start editing that. I'd like to get it out tomorrow. It may come out Sunday.

6:13 Where are you, Gerard? Because we had an earthquake Tuesday morning. So I woke up at around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning here in Dumaguete. Was it Monday morning? It might have been Monday morning. Yeah, I think it was Monday morning, actually. Time flies so fast here. But yeah, Monday morning, I woke up around 2 a.m. and was like, what's going on? The room was kind of rolling a little bit, and then I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

6:46 Not as intense. The most intense earthquake I've ever experienced was in Peru about three and a half years ago. Oh, you're in Benicia. Okay, so you're in SoCal. Yeah, California definitely is earthquake-prone. Certainly, there's a lot of earthquakes.

7:02 Oh yeah, 3.0 is not bad. The strongest one I ever went through was in Lima, Peru. It was about a 6.4 and I thought the building was coming down. I was up on the fourth floor in the Miraflores district in Lima. Why don't I pull that up actually? That would be kind of interesting to look at.

7:21 How's everybody's week going? I guess we're Thursday morning in California.

Earthquake Experiences

7:43 Coast. Yeah, so I was here in this neighborhood when that happened. I don't know, I can't remember the address. I never remember the address. But anyway, yeah, the furniture started going up and down and like slamming up and down. And it was, yeah, it was crazy. I mean, I was laying down to go to sleep. It was around 10:00 at night and all of a sudden the furniture starts slamming up and down and the building starts rolling. And I just thought, oh, I guess this is the end. If this is it, you know, at least I went doing what I love, traveling the world. And then it stopped and I was like, whatever, and went to sleep. Turns out a bunch of the people in the building went outside to chat. And yeah, it didn't bother me a bit for whatever reason.

8:28 Earthquake to me, like I've maybe I just haven't, knock on wood, haven't been through one so serious that it really bothered me. It just hasn't been that major of an issue. Maybe in the future that'll change. I hope not, but you never can fully predict those, right?

8:51 GMM, good to see you. Good evening from Bangkok. Soon Friday the 13th. Hope you did buy some lottery. Oh yeah, tomorrow is Friday the 13th. Yeah, I mean, 13's an unlucky number. A number of the buildings I've stayed in throughout Thailand did not have a 13th floor. They had 12 and they had 12A and then they had 14. So yeah, 13 is definitely regarded as an unlucky number. I haven't really spent as much time in Cebu or in Manila, but I suspect they probably have some of the same things going on.

9:40 Morning, Gerard says 5.1. Yeah, 5.1, you would definitely feel it more than a 3.0. Sky Stone, did you try Christian Filipina for finding dates? Yeah, so I haven't yet, Sky, but I am trying to set up an affiliate link with them. So I need to actually link with some of my friends about it to troubleshoot it because I think it's a great option, especially if you're a guy and you're interested specifically in Filipinos who are Christian. And to be fair, most Filipinos are Christian, whether they're Catholic. The woman I went on a date with tonight is Christian, though not Catholic. But yeah, I think it could be a great option. I've heard that they do a great job of filtering day candidates, bachelorettes, as far as just making sure they're genuinely interested in a relationship because there's a lot of challenges with any dating site in the world, but I think they do a great job, just as far as what I've heard from friends. I know I have a lot of friends who are working with them just because they feel like Christian Filipina is able to offer a solid experience for those who are looking to use it.

11:01 But no, I haven't used it. I'm trying approaching in person. I've also had people recommend their cousin or their sister or their niece. You know, that kind of thing. But yeah, I mean, it's great. Even if you don't find the one on there, it's great to learn about the culture. It's great to have some of those experiences where you're like, hey, you know, this is what I'm looking for, this is what I'm not looking for. I think any tool that you could use, as long as you're just being safe and careful, it's, yeah, I mean, you know, there's so much stress in the world that I support anybody that's looking for love in a good way.

11:52 GMM, earthquakes really make you feel small and realize Mother Nature's forces. Yeah, that one in Lima, GMM, definitely made me somewhat humbled. I mean, I was kind of in a daze, right? I was so tired. It was 10 o'clock. And when I was in Peru, I was in fantastic shape, so I was like drifting off to sleep, just kind of halfway in between sleep and wakefulness, and everything just started slamming up and down. At first, I thought it was like loud music, or I thought there was, I thought the furniture just decided for whatever reason to fall down. It didn't fall down, fortunately. There was like a bookshelf and the bed and all that. But I'd never been through an earthquake like that before.

12:42 I didn't think much of it. The Airbnb host reached out to me the next day asking if I was okay, and I told her, yeah, I'm fine. You know, 4.6 magnitude centered in Malibu. Oh, wow. Okay, I see. You know, I never, I don't think I ever went through any that I felt when I was in NorCal. The last big one I heard about in NorCal or in California, Gerard, was the Loma Prieta earthquake. I think that was '89. That was the last big one I heard about. But I've heard that California is due for a big one, so I'm not sure when it'll happen. I'm not sure when it's coming.

Dating Apps and Cultural Insights

13:22 But yeah, um, and Sky, I'm not opposed to using Christian Filipina in the future. So, you know, for whatever reason, the woman I'm chatting with now, it doesn't pan out. You know, we just had our first date. Of course, I'd be happy if things progress, but if not, I understand.

13:42 Things progress, but if not, I understand. It's unlikely that I'll find love in just the first month that I'm here in the Philippines. But, yeah, I would definitely not be opposed to using Christian Filipina. I've tried some other dating sites like Tinder. I've had friends suggest Bumble, but I haven't used Bumble myself. I also have a profile on Facebook Dating that I've used a bit.

14:15 But it's, you know, the interface for Tinder is great, of course. I think Tinder is not necessarily what it used to be, just my personal experience. It first came out, gosh, getting close to 10 years ago. I had great experiences on Tinder, but I think as it got more and more saturated, it definitely changed the landscape of dating, and not necessarily in a positive way.

14:41 And so that's where I think websites like Christian Filipina come into play, where they're still trying to do more of that quality control. They're still concerned deeply, I think anyway, about user experience, where I think Tinder is more... I don't know. I don't know that they're always as concerned about user experience.

15:01 Just my personal opinion. Hey Chris, good to see you. Welcome, welcome. It's always good to see Chris in here. He's very experienced as far as living overseas, and I think he brings a nuanced perspective to our conversations and discussions.

15:23 Josh Rowley, ha, just woke up because of that earthquake. Yeah, that's interesting. So, yeah, an earthquake woke me up the other night. It was around like 2:00 in the morning here in the Philippines. Everybody I ran into for the next couple days asked me, 'Hey, did you feel that earthquake?'

15:39 And it was kind of funny. One of my friends slept through it. He said he didn't even notice it, but most of my friends woke up or they were awake and they noticed it. I think the one we had was not, you know, too significant.

16:05 What kind of loud music do you listen to? Yeah, Gerard, I'm not as much of a music guy these days. I do like to listen to hip-hop music sometimes. I'll listen, you know, I listen to some of the music I grew up on. Modest Mouse is something I've been playing a lot lately.

16:24 Modest Mouse. I grew up on Modest Mouse, one of the first bands I ever got into 20 years ago. Man, I feel my age a bit. I started listening to Modest Mouse after seeing their music video for 'Float On' on MTV, aging myself again, and then looking into their other music.

16:46 And yeah, that really kicked off like my love for music. But now I'm much more into just watching, like, informational YouTube videos, trying to learn as much as I can about the Philippines. It's been a big one for me where, with my limited time, I'm just trying to absorb as much as I can from guys like Chad, Mike, and Paul, who have really great content and really in-depth narratives.

17:09 And they craft all of these narratives that help you to kind of understand the dynamic here that you wouldn't understand overnight. You're only really getting that insight from these guys who are living here and have lived here for several years, where they've seen what seems like every story in the book and they can articulate it very well.

17:28 So that's where I find more value. But I mean, nothing wrong with music, and I've certainly been hearing some loud music from, you know, different people around the city. They want to enjoy it, they want you to enjoy it too.

17:40 Karate Kid, you did the right thing to move to the Philippines. So did I. It will change you for the better. Yeah, Karate Kid, I mean, it's nice here. I like it a lot. I've definitely been smiling and laughing a lot more than usual. Been laughing so much some days my stomach hurts.

17:56 But yeah, I noticed my default back home is kind of frown and to be unhappy. And here I'm catching myself frowning sometimes unintentionally, and I'll break out into a smile. Especially, like, you know, going on a nice date like I did tonight. I was definitely smiling from that.

18:15 And feeling a bit awkward. It's the first date I've been on in a very long time. And, you know, felt a bit awkward about it, and I think she could pick up on that and laughed a bit, but it didn't bother her. I think in some ways, they may find it endearing that you're not, you know, this experienced kind of serial dater.

18:34 Or for lack of a better term, I think the phrase 'chick boy' gets thrown around a lot. If you're a guy who's really, you know, trying to play the field and you get that reputation, it could really harm you. But I don't have that reputation. I'm much more laidback and reserved compared to when I was younger.

18:54 I mean, when I was younger, I dated around a ton in the US. And I do plan to do a video about that upon the prompting of some of my vlogger buddies. They're like, 'Open up about it, chat about it, talk about it.'

19:07 Because from like 17, 16, 17 to about 25, I dated a ton. I mean, I just dated woman after woman after woman. Dated dozens of women. And then around 25, it just kind of fizzled out. Started to travel to Asia, enjoyed my dating experience again in Thailand, and then also the Philippines.

19:34 But then, you know, I went back and I was working in the US for a couple years. Didn't date at all in that time period. I could have, but just, you know, just wasn't seeing what I was looking for.

19:47 And so now that I'm starting to get back into it here in the Philippines, there is kind of an awkwardness or a bit of a rustiness that comes with that. But fortunately, a lot of Filipinas, you know, they don't mind that. I think that they're not necessarily looking for that in the same way that some, you know, the dating culture in the West.

20:09 I think it's more about fun. It's more about entertainment. It's not necessarily a serious relationship-oriented. So, not that you can't have fun. There's definitely some women here who are looking for there who are not looking for something serious.

20:23 By the way, 14 viewers, thank you so much, everybody. Please give us a thumbs up. It really helps with the distribution of this video and to share it out to more people who could benefit from this content.

20:40 Yeah, I can't thank you enough, everyone, for joining tonight. I know it's late night in the Philippines, it's early morning in parts of the US, closer to midday and toward the East Coast, and then probably midday in Europe.

20:54 So watching GMM says watching. Oh, I wanted to tie in that, you know.

Channel Membership and Financial Independence

21:08 Hey Michael, great to see you. Yeah, Michael is a very kind supporter of the channel through membership. Feel free to check out membership. You'll get videos early, eventually, probably here pretty soon. If the channel keeps growing the way it's been growing, we'll do members-only streams where we have a more private, in-depth conversation. I could definitely take more time to address questions or concerns or thoughts.

21:34 I greatly appreciate the support. It's not required, but it's greatly appreciated. It definitely helps me to focus on content, on making quality content, on planning content out. You know, some people say, 'Oh, you know, it should be free.'

21:50 And I think a lot of content creators offer a whole lot for free, but for those who want to get extra value, then I think it's also fair for us to be able to, uh, be able to cut out the time necessary to provide that.

22:06 But yeah, as far as dating goes, very good experiences here in Dumaguete. You know, I'm not in a committed relationship, so I'm still, you know, willing to chat with different women. But if I were to be in a committed relationship or to take it to the next level, then that would be the cut-off point.

22:24 I wouldn't be looking to chat new women. I wouldn't be approaching women in the context of dating, of course. If you're in a committed relationship, then you want to be respectful of that.

22:41 A lot of, you know, a lot of guys, they're in the West, they're underestimating their value. They think, 'I can't get a date in the West,' where two-thirds of young men are single. So it must be a 'me' issue. And I think it's like, 'Ah, no, it's just, you know, you got to go where you're treated best.'

22:57 You got, you know, famous words of Nomad Capitalist. You really ought to look for places in the world where you're more appreciated. That may not be the Philippines. I'm not saying you won't be. Rather, you may prefer to live somewhere else, but there's a lot of different places around the world where the qualities that may not be appreciated in your home country may be more appreciated, may be more respected.

23:21 People may be less likely to take that for granted. I think in the US, we're always looking to upgrade. We're always looking for the next best thing. I think men and women are guilty of this. But, you know, if you're not looking for, you know, a famous actress, if you're not looking for, you know, America's Next Top Model, then you know, you just want somebody who is going to be a quality partner.

23:48 You know, there's 8 billion people on Earth, and presumably, I think 80 or 90% of my audience is male. There's 4 billion women on the planet, and if you cut out all the ones that are not appropriate, you're still left with quite a large selection. So I think there is, I do believe there is someone for everyone out there.

24:10 I'm not so much sure I believe in, like, you know, I don't believe that you're necessarily going to find that overnight. I think it's going to be a time investment. I think you're going to probably go through some people, dating some people that aren't the right fit before you find that right one.

24:27 But I think they're out there. I think that people can find somebody that they're compatible with, not just from a looks perspective, but also from a personality perspective.

24:39 And I've had so many friends come to Southeast Asia, as an example, and find a quality partner and settle down and, you know, have a life that's more in line with what they want as opposed to life.

24:51 with what they want as opposed to life they have to have back home due to some of the challenges back home. GMM says watching movies and TV series is still one of the best ways to understand culture and languages in Southeast Asia. I think that's a great point. Entertainment is a great way to get insight into the mindset of people in different countries.

25:18 They're able to express some things maybe they can't say out loud, whether it be about the romantic scene or whatever it may be. They're able to kind of show it in an artful way. I've definitely, for example, Thai horror films are awesome.

25:37 I've seen some horror films in Thailand that are very different from Western horror films, probably more similar to like Japanese horror films, which I'm also into, but don't watch as many these days. But yeah, worth the discussion.

25:51 Skystone says, do you think Jeep tours for tourists would be popular in the Philippines? Absolutely. I think that's a great point, Sky. I think there's some of that. It's more often, at least than Dumaguete, from what I could tell, that you're getting a trike tour.

26:09 You could hire a trike driver for a day to drive you around, but I think Jeeps would be the next level up in terms of comfort. You could have the aircon running, you'd probably have a little bit comfier seats, you're higher up off the ground, so ideally not quite as bumpy of a ride. And yeah, I think Jeep tours would be well.

26:36 Michael says, howdy. Welcome, Michael. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. I think Michael is one of those guys that found love over here in the Philippines, and every time I see him on stream, he just looks happier and happier.

26:50 I know that, as far as I could tell, he's just a happy guy, and he's found happiness that, for some of us, we struggle to find back home. Just because he's happy here, does that mean you'll be happy here? Not necessarily.

27:07 But I think that he's not the only guy that's going to be happy here in the Philippines. Hey, do you drive over there? Do you have a driver's license? I don't.

Transportation and Driving in Southeast Asia

27:21 So I do not have an international driver's license. I do not have a Filipino driver's license, so I don't drive. I take public transportation, I take Jeepneys, I take trikes.

27:31 If I were to stay here, if I were to commit to a year, what I would do is I would buy an electric three-wheeler. So they have these three-wheelers, they've got one in the front, two in the back, or two in the front, one in the back, so it's like a tripod shape, and it's just much more stable.

27:48 It's not, it doesn't have the same risk of a motorbike. I really am not interested in driving a motorbike. I'm not very coordinated, I just feel awkward on them. I didn't grow up riding them, and so I just don't think they're right for me.

28:05 I've also seen a number of motorbike wrecks here already, and I'm not envious of the people that go through that unfortunate circumstance. I just saw one today actually, in front of Robinson's mall. I saw a motorbike wreck.

28:18 Fortunately, I think that was probably at a slow speed, and it looked like nobody was seriously hurt. But yeah, I'm very cautious about driving in Southeast Asia.

28:28 It may have been Chris, it may have been one in the front, two in the back. So I still haven't seen it up close. My friends have told me where I can go find one. They run about $1,200 USD.

28:39 One of my buddies was talking about we should do a fundraiser for me to get one. And yeah, I mean, it would be fun. It'd be a lot of fun, but yeah, they're more stable. They don't have to have the same level of skill.

28:54 Now, with the one I'm looking at, that's $1,000, or I want to go look at it. It doesn't do hills well, so you might be able to get up to like Valencia, like the area west of the city, but you're probably not going too much further up than the plaza.

29:09 So I would call it more of a town car. You're driving it around town, running errands, not as much something I'd want to go take on some long adventure. I think they're also electric-powered, so I'd have to pay. I don't know if there's like charging stations in town.

29:26 I don't know that I could charge it here where I live. But yeah, it seems cool. GMM says nowadays, it's the hunt after a good lady that's exciting and fun, not the play in relationship. Oh, I've been in Asia too long.

29:40 Yeah, I mean, hunting for the right one is so important, not getting ahead of yourself. And we pull up Dumaguete here, change the scenery. Staring at there we go. So yeah, this is Robinson's mall right here, just south of downtown.

29:58 It's about a 20-minute walk from here to the boulevard. Half the time, I'll have the Jeepney driver drop me off here, and I'll go into the mall. I'll get an energy drink. I like to start my day off with an energy drink. That caffeine helps me wake up.

30:15 And I'll walk around the mall, maybe have lunch, work on my laptop. I like to work on my laptop in the food court, or I'll work on my laptop in a restaurant. Whether it be Sansal or Moon Cafe, is another place I really like.

30:30 And then usually when it starts to cool off, maybe even before it cools off, I'll go down to the boulevard and I'll step into a cafe. I'll work on my laptop until around, yeah, like 5:00 PM, and then I'll go out on the boulevard. I'll meet up with friends.

30:43 I'll be socializing and hanging out with people. I do that until usually around 9:00 PM. And then around 9:00, I'll hop on a trike and I'll come back home, usually get home by 9:45. And I'm pretty worn out.

30:58 I'll usually watch YouTube until I fall asleep. Um, Gerard and Shre both ask about the job interview. So I had the last job interview I had was last Friday, so almost a week ago.

31:23 I heard back from the hiring manager or hiring personnel Monday or Tuesday, and he said he needed to check in with a team. So I lean toward that I didn't get it because it's been almost a week since that last round. I haven't heard back from them.

31:40 But they did tell me it was a little bit slower hiring process, that they're not rushing through the hiring process. So it could be that I find out tonight, or maybe even like technically my Saturday. I don't mind the extra time at all.

31:59 I'm loving my time here in the Philippines. I'm not in an emergency financial situation, so I'm not in a situation where, oh, I've got to rush back because I needed a job yesterday. However, to answer your question, Josh, I'm not financially independent.

32:15 I am interested in FIRE. At the income that I made in my last job, if I'm able to get back into software sales, I should be financially independent in a few years. I estimate three to four. It could be shorter than that depending on how my investments play out, depending on if I get promotions, depending on my bonus checks, depending on if I'm able to continue to moderate my cost of living.

32:44 My last job, I was saving around 70% of my income. So I was living on a fraction of what I was making and banking everything I could possibly bank because I knew tech is volatile. And I also knew after traveling in Southeast Asia, I wanted to live in Southeast Asia.

33:04 The United States is a fantastic country for making money. If you're somebody who, you know, you want to maximize your income, I don't think there's much better that you could do than the United States. Once you've made some money, once you have some wealth, I think there's some other places in the world that are better to enjoy it.

33:31 I'm also a fan of Latin America. If I wasn't here in the Philippines, I would consider Peru. I like Thailand a lot, but I think that Spanish is just a much easier language for me to learn. I already have basic Spanish, I can pick it up pretty quickly.

33:48 I just like the sound of it. It's kind of musical, and it's very, very comfortable language to learn. So yeah, I may not get that job. I'm cool with it. I could easily live in the Philippines for another year at my current expenses and not even think about it.

Puritan Mindset and Existential Crisis

34:23 Karate Kid says, anywhere I went outside the US, I was a hot commodity. It might be a Puritan mindset. Yeah, Karate Kid, I absolutely agree. I mean, I think that in the US, people look at it as something to be ashamed of, something to be embarrassed about.

34:41 And a lot of the world doesn't function that way. Some places do function that way, but yeah, I think it's just a hangover from the Puritan days, and people are just kind of uptight about it. They look at it as, I don't know, it's just not a very healthy mentality in my personal opinion.

35:04 You see that with the declining birth rates in the United States. I mean, you know, I had arguments in the past with friends about it who are more that Puritan mindset, and I'm like, man, you guys get any more uptight about this, there aren't going to be any more Americans.

35:18 Unfortunately, that's just the consequences. If you look at it as something to be ashamed of, if we look at our bodies as something to be ashamed of, apologetic about, the consequence is, you know, fewer births. And that's not sustainable.

35:36 Yeah, it's just not sustainable. Um, Karate Kid says, you can drive with your US license for about six months. You can buy a multicab for around $4,000. They come with automatic, with power windows and doors. Just get it from a good dealer.

35:51 Yeah, I've heard about multicabs. I've had a few friends tell me about them. You know, I think this option is a bit more economical, but certainly, if my income grows, then a multicab seems like a good idea. After GMM says, after 15 years in Southeast Asia, I stopped driving a scooter.

36:12 Seen too many accidents and been in three myself. I'm not under 30 and stupid anymore. Yeah, I mean, people get in their heads like, oh, I'm a good driver. I'm sure you are.

36:23 I'm a good driver, I'm sure you are. I'm sure you're a great driver. I'm sure you're responsible, I'm sure you do the speed limit. I'm sure that you don't have any drinks before you go out, but you can't say that for everybody, right? Just like in the US, I tell people all the time, it's not about your driving skills, it's about the driving skills of the drivers around you.

36:42 Unfortunately, not everybody is paying attention. Not everybody's in a good mood. Not everybody's focused. Some people are tired, some people just broke up with their girlfriend. Some people woke up on the wrong side of the bed. And so, I don't trust everybody 24/7 to drive properly because I myself have been stressed out when driving, drove a bit aggressively, maybe wasn't thinking straight for whatever reason.

37:11 And I don't anticipate anybody else to be better than I am in that regard. So, I lean toward having a more stable vehicle. I think the ideal is a small car. I have some friends that have small cars, and those seem to work out really well. They're very stable, very comfortable to ride in, and easy to park in the Philippines. They're also reasonable on gas too, because gasoline is expensive here.

37:38 Yeah, can you be transparent around them about the amount of money you make right now from YouTube and how do you plan to fire dividends? Yeah, sure. So, my income has really taken off in the last since I got to the Philippines. It was starting to pick up in Thailand. I would say I'm making like a couple hundred bucks a month right now, not life-changing money, not certainly comparable to my income potential in the US, but I think it'll grow.

38:04 I do plan to roll out consulting, much to the chagrin of some people. I will be rolling out a consulting offer. I've already put the framework, I've already recorded the video, I just need to edit it. But just talking about how I can help, the goal of that would be to help you, whoever is interested in that, to save money and save time. Everybody, you know, there's a lot of people out there that they don't need it, right? They're living over here, they've spent plenty of time here. It's just not going to be of value to them.

38:35 It's not going to be a who they're concerned is they're going through this existential crisis in their home country where they're thinking, man, my life is not panning out the way that I thought it would. I don't have the opportunities that I thought I would, whether it be relationships, or whether it be quality of life, homeownership. All these issues are starting to become more and more of an issue in the West.

39:02 And so, if I could help some of these guys save money, save time, better understand what they're looking for, help them narrow down their options, then I'd be happy to do it. And I think the amount that I charge would be very reasonable in comparison to the downside risk. I mean, some guys are going to come over here and they're not going to have planned it out very well. They may have not thought it out very well, and they're going to be unhappy and they're going to go back home dejected.

39:31 So, if I can prevent some of that, provide some alternatives, share my insight about different countries, hey, you know what? The Philippines may not be the right fit for you. It's not for everybody. You may prefer to be in Thailand. You may prefer to be in Mexico. You may prefer to be in Colombia. These are all places that I've spent a considerable amount of time in. I lived in Colombia for several months, lived in Thailand for a year, spent about a month in Mexico. I love Mexico. I think it's the easiest option for Americans, honestly.

40:00 If people would ask me, what's the easiest option coming from the US? Well, it's south of the border. You're still connected to the US. You can get back to the US quickly. Very easy to convert US dollars to pesos. Plenty of English in the hot spots that you'd be considering living in. So, even though the Philippines is fantastic for me, there's a lot of great options out there.

40:24 But yeah, I hope that answers your question. A couple hundred bucks a month, certainly not enough to get rich, not even enough to cover all my expenses, but it could very well grow to a level that does cover my expenses. I'm doing this in part as a passion project. I'm passionate about helping guys who want to move to Southeast Asia, who want to live over here, who are not thinking necessarily about the psychology, or maybe nobody's talking about the psychology of living over here.

40:59 Also doing the interviews, I think the interviews are really helpful for people. And then also the financial part, right? The financial part is not something I've covered as much as I want to, but it's something that I need to get more into. The problem with the financial part, and this is something I need to get over, is anytime you throw out what you spend, half the people are going to tell you you're not living, you're not spending enough. And the other half are going to tell you you're spending too much.

41:22 It doesn't matter what number you throw out, there's always going to be people that don't value from it, don't get value from it because it's very individual specific. So, I would have to be targeting bachelor budgets, right? The guy who's coming over here to live as a bachelor, maybe he wants a girlfriend, but not necessarily supporting a family because I'm not necessarily sure if I want to have a family.

41:44 You know, I just am unsure about it. It could change, it could change. But where I'm at currently, as far as just resources, as far as lifestyle preferences, I could have, you know, I could start a family much later in life. I've had plenty of friends here from 40 to 50 to 60 to 70s start a family or start a relationship with a woman from with children from a previous relationship.

42:10 There's nothing wrong with that. I do think parenting tends to make people happy. Not necessarily having kids, but the active parenting can actually bring a lot of joy to a person's life. That mentorship, that guidance, that sense of fulfillment that, you know, not necessarily getting as a bachelor. Now, we can be fulfilled in different ways, but it's a very unique sense of fulfillment that's been really timeless.

Future Plans and Financial Goals

42:39 And how do I plan to fire dividends? Yeah, sure. I have a lot of growth stocks right now. My plan is after a certain point, I have enough that I could pull in enough from dividends, buy, you know, go full on on dividend stocks and just collect that cash flow and live off that cash flow and not touch the principal. That's the rough goal I have.

42:58 As far as financial independence, and then build YouTube on top of that. Once I get say, a thousand to 1500, I lean toward 1500 a month from dividends, then I can go fully focused on YouTube. I can put all of my time and attention on YouTube, won't worry about doing job interviews, which do take a fair amount of my time and attention. Even if I don't get an offer, it's still a significant time investment.

43:23 I'm staying up late, answering a lot of questions, and all that. It's a pain to get a job, especially in this job market. Nice, I've been saving around two-thirds of my income. I'm far along my fire journey in the US, but could take a shortcut by moving abroad and be fire now. Yeah, definitely worth considering, Josh. It's, you know, there's a lot of different lifestyle options abroad that are harder to pull off in the US, whether it be economics, whether it be logistics, whether it be the wrong culture fit.

43:57 The most desirable places in the US, in my opinion, aren't necessarily the best places to make money. Some of my favorite places to live have been in rural Colorado, not a ton of job opportunities in rural Colorado, just very Spartan landscape, kind of cold, desolate, very beautiful, but not a place where you're necessarily going to get, you know, a factory job or a tech job unless it's remote.

44:26 Some other places I've been interested in are Hawaii, also rural California, not urban California, but places south of the Bay Area, Central California in particular, is gorgeous and really nice, but not, you know, not necessarily a place it's easy to get where it's easy to get a job.

44:42 Have you considered Panama? I haven't yet. Haven't been to Panama. I'd love to visit. So, as far as visiting goes, I'd love to visit Panama. I've heard a lot of raving reviews about it, including from yourself. But also a number of expats really like Panama. They like the level of development, they like the conveniences, they like being able to fly back to the US whenever they want. They like the international feeling.

45:09 I've heard a lot of good stuff about Boquete, not just Panama City, which is the obvious choice, but I know Vagabond Awake seemed to really enjoy Boquete. Josh says, I don't know how much longer I can hold out in my job, but just trying to stick with it as long as I can. I work in two. Yeah, it's a grind, Josh. It's a lot of repetitive work. It can be really a grind, but you can bank a lot of money. You can really set yourself up to have a very comfortable life overseas.

45:38 For what it's worth, I'm not as comfortable as I could be. I didn't make all the great decisions career-wise that I could have. I got into tech relatively late and haven't had the longest stint in it. So, there are days where I'm like, man, I wish I had some more money. Of course, I'm sure we all feel that way. But the other side of it is like, look, I've known people with tons of money that still wish they had more money.

46:00 So, I think that you can't always, you can't always wish you had more money. I know everybody does, but like there's some level of balance. Of course, balance, what is balance, right? So, you know, I'm sure you won't regret it when you make that decision whether you want to stay in the US or you want to go abroad. Then, you know, having that extra money in your pocket, you won't regret it. You could treat yourself to maybe a nicer place.

46:26 yourself to maybe a nicer place and you would have had some nicer meals than you might have planned for originally. Maybe do you know, take some more vacations from your vacation? I love that phrase, by the way. I need a vacation from my vacation.

46:41 Yeah, and I'm grateful for the time over here. I mean, even on what I'm spending, I would say I'm spending probably around a thousand a month. The average family here making around $250 a month. So this idea that, oh, it's such a bad life? I have a comfortable place, I eat great food, I can afford to go on dates, I get around town just fine, I have a vibrant social life.

47:07 I'm also young, so I'm also in the position where I'm not at a major risk of some major health issue coming up. I'm also comfortable with public transportation. I don't have the same need for comforts that a more senior expat would have.

47:30 Welcome Lex. I think this is the first time I'm seeing you. I just came from watching your interview on Chad Foster's channel. Great stuff as usual. Thank you so much for joining, Lex. I really enjoyed chatting with Chad. He's a great guy. I mean, he has been so generous with his time as far as teaching me stuff, pulling stories out of me, getting me to see angles that I never thought were possible before.

47:53 I think his channel is only going to continue to grow rapidly. People really enjoy his content and for good reason. He's original. I mean, he really does things from a different angle, and I think he's going to see massive success on YouTube. I wouldn't be surprised when he hits 100k, 200k, and more because he's really building out a blueprint for younger guys. He's not the typical expat retiree in Dumaguete. He's a guy who's in his 40s, a very different demographic from your old dog, new tricks, from your Mike's Philippine retirement, from these guys who are more what you call a classical retiree where they've got their social security check and that's what's covering their basic expenses.

48:50 About 6% of all YouTubers make over a thousand a month on vlogs only. That's why they sell memberships, get sponsors, and even beg in live chat. Yeah, you'll never catch me begging. I have heard and seen that. I look at it like, if I'm going to beg, I'd rather just go get a job in the US, because my income potential in the US is far more substantial than my income potential here. And it's going to get me to my goal a lot faster, and it's more intellectually stimulating, and it's not embarrassing. I have shame. You know, I come from Japanese culture, and avoiding shame is top priority in Japanese culture. So you'll never see me begging.

49:38 You know, I'm happy to do offers. I'm happy to provide additional value for compensation, just as you would in your job. I mean, anybody who works a job, if they're offered a promotion, their expectation is they're going to have to offer more value to the company. They're not just giving me more money for no reason. They're getting extra attention from me, a deeper skill set, management responsibilities in some cases. They're getting a lot more from me.

50:04 And so that's how I feel. I'll always have plenty to offer for free on the main channel, but if you want to take it to the next level, you can. If not, it doesn't bother me. For me, I'm nowhere near even paying for all the investments I've made in the channel. I bought camera equipment. I would say I've easily spent $5,000 on gear for the channel, if not more than that. And this isn't, once again, I do this because I enjoy it. I enjoy connecting with you. I look at it like being able to meet so many different people that want to live this alternative lifestyle is worth way more than $5,000.

Risk Management and Multiple Income Streams

50:45 But that's roughly what I've put into it. I think at this point, that may be a bit of a low estimate. You could say all this time I've invested in Southeast Asia, in living in Latin America, is greater than that. But yeah, it's far more lucrative for me to work in the US and just sock away money. But I risk, you know, I risk the public embarrassment to make an impact.

51:17 Christopher says, I see it as just good risk management. The juice isn't worth the squeeze. Not sure. Not sure about what that's in reference to, Chris. Please, if you can, expand upon that. Gerard says, where do you not want to visit anytime soon? Yeah, that's a great question, Gerard. Morocco. I had a difficult experience in Morocco. Yeah, that's a big one. I'm not going to get into that story. I've mentioned it before, but I may do a video for my members only for that one. Part of the reason for members only is I could talk about spicy content that I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing publicly. And I assume those who would have a problem with that spicy content aren't going to pay money to get access to it. The only people that are going to pay me are the people that trust me to be honest and to be able to expand on some of those spicy topics.

52:14 But yeah, Morocco is a country I don't anticipate visiting again anytime soon. I may never visit Morocco again in my life.

52:40 Yeah, I mean, Morocco is top of mind. It'll probably be a while before I go back to Vietnam as well. Yeah, it'll probably be a while before I go back to Vietnam.

52:50 Sher says, that's my goal as well, $2,000 to $2,500 in monthly dividends. Gone. Yeah, I think that's a solid amount, Sher. I think you're going to be able to live comfortably on that amount in much of Southeast Asia. Singapore not included, but most of Southeast Asia. That's a solid amount of money that you'll be able to cover your insurance, renting a nice place, eating healthy meals, getting around town, taking an occasional vacation. That's a solid amount for sure.

53:26 Mau, welcome. GMM, it's so cheap to do full medical checkups in most of Southeast Asia. So being young is into protection. Spend less than $100 for a comprehensive medical checkup per year. Yeah, I think that's a great point, GMM. Certainly worthwhile to do a medical checkup. I had one in Thailand, a couple in Thailand, and I may get one here and do meet-ups around my birthday. My birthday is in three weeks, actually. Three weeks from today, and I should probably go and get one. I'm turning 32 years old. So yeah, it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to go get a comprehensive check, just make sure there's nothing major wrong with me. I do struggle a bit with autoimmune disease, but I don't know of anything else. Like, that thing feels weird. I have my normal aches and pains, but I feel like I'm probably in peak physical condition as far as my life goes. Probably downhill starting at about 35, 36. But now, whatever, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this meat sack.

54:52 Chris says, Alex, I was commenting that I don't drive in Southeast Asia. Public transport, Grab, Uber, driving while being an expat comes with some risks over here. Yeah, and Chris, you know, I think we're probably on the same page about this. It's so cheap to hire a Grab, and you know, public transit, it's just so cheap. Like, why worry about it? Why take the risk? You know, there's a lot of risk that comes with it. I mean, if you bump somebody, you don't know necessarily the rules of the road. Maybe you get stopped. It's just comes with a lot of hassle.

55:30 I also find the roads over here to be tighter, whether I'm in Thailand or, you know, in the Philippines. The roads are just tighter. You just don't have as much wide room. You have chickens running out in the road. I mean, when I was in another Southeast Asian country, you had like regular bicycles, motorbikes, animals out in the road. It just gets to be a bit chaotic in some places, and the risk isn't worth it. I'd rather have somebody local drive. They know the rules of the road, they know what to expect. They've driven around that city. They know the speed limits. They just know how to handle the situations much more effectively than I can. And the cost is so low. It's, I think it's often not worth it to own a vehicle unless you're permanently settled somewhere, you've been there for say, five or six years, you really know what you're doing. And even then, I'd hesitate to recommend it because hiring a driver is just so affordable now.

56:34 You do run the risk of scams. Taxi and driver scams are unfortunately prevalent around the world, and you've got to be cautious wherever you are about that. So that's the tradeoff. But if you've got a local partner, a partner from the area, and she can help you navigate those waters, then that can definitely help.

56:56 How long will you be planning on working in the USA to make your dreams come true, like living in the Philippines? Great question. So it depends. It depends on if I get back into tech sales. It depends on how much my YouTube income grows. I'm happy to do a combination of those two. I think it's great to have multiple sources of income because some people will say, all my investments, your investments can do really well, but maybe they don't. Maybe you have a down year, maybe the market goes down. Better to, in my opinion, regardless of how much your income is, to spread it around.

57:32 My ideal would be, if I just had to throw out an ideal, $1,500 a month from dividends, $1,500 a month from YouTube. If I could do that, if one of my incomes fails, if one of my income gets cut in half, I'm not all of a sudden destitute. I mean, there's guys who've had investment accounts. I think Steve from Philippines Info Channel, where his bank caught on that he was living in the Philippines and forced him to sell all his top stocks and shut down the account. What do you do now? You've got all these taxes you've got to pay. Now you're trying to find another brokerage for your stocks. Now you're trying to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars over.

58:09 You're trying to come up with an excuse to an American stock brokerage why you need an American stock brokerage account even though you don't live in the United States anymore. This idea that, oh, I'll just have this investment income and it's going to be perfect, no. I mean, Chad's brilliant in that way. He talks about multiple sources of income. He's got his income from his rentals and he's got his YouTube income, and I'm sure he's got some other ideas in mind.

58:35 But you really want to be antifragile. You want multiple different streams that are paying you. In my personal opinion, you need multiple streams because if one thing fails, you don't want to be in a position where you're thinking, oh no, where's my money? I've got no money. I don't like that idea.

58:53 So that's another reason for me building up YouTube. If I build up my investments, but I get rejected by my brokerage, right now I'm with Betterment, and I'm going to have to move a bunch of money out of Betterment to another company if I stay in the Philippines longer than, say, February or March. I'm going to have to move it because they already threatened me. They said, look, we don't support people outside of the United States. We don't accept customers who do not live in the United States.

Expat Life and Financial Planning

59:21 So that right there, even though it's just cash, it's a pile of cash, it's my emergency fund, they're already giving me warnings. Hey, this is a limited timeline. That's not even investments, that's just a pile of money. So, yeah, having different sources of income, I think, is part of how a person can protect themselves from the downside.

59:45 It doesn't necessarily mean YouTube. YouTube works well for me, but you know, having some real estate, having some stocks, and maybe having an online business, maybe you offer consulting, maybe you come up with some different ways of bringing in dollars because you can never have too much money. Nobody I've met as an expat has ever told me I've got too much money.

1:00:19 But as far as how long if I were to go back to the US, let's say I get this offer, I go back in about a month. Three or four years is what I'd need if I'm able to maintain that level of income at what I was making. You know, yeah, three or four years and sock away 70%, and I'll hit my FIRE number. And then I would just go full on on YouTube.

1:00:44 But let's say my YouTube channel grows back in the States, which is my intention if I do get an offer back in the States, I want to do at least one video a week, ideally one stream as well per week, depending on how worn out my voice is from sales. But yeah, the goal would be probably three or four years.

1:01:05 And that would also allow me to empty my storage unit, sell everything, sell my car. I own a car in the United States outright. I want to get rid of my car, get rid of all my stuff. See quite a few people in the States that I probably would not be seeing for a very long time because my long-term goal is to move to Southeast Asia and never go back.

1:01:26 That would be except to see friends back home. I have no other ties to the United States really. It comes down to two: one is friends, two is income. Aside from those two factors, I have no attachment to the United States, very little interest to ever go back, except to see my friends. And no need to go back except for the financial piece of the puzzle.

1:01:48 This isn't to disparage the US. The US has a lot of opportunities, but I've been there, done that. I've been there plenty, lived there much of my life, seen much of what I wanted to see in the United States. Had the privilege to live in California, which was a childhood dream of mine. And I want something different.

1:02:05 You know, I want to keep growing, you know, in many different ways personally. And my business, by the way, guys, there's 18 people watching. Please give us a thumbs up if you haven't already. Hey, to Buggy on it. But it definitely helps to grow the audience to share this content, the stream with more people.

1:02:26 But yeah, that's a big thing is just like I want to be able to avoid going back unless it's for interest as opposed to a requirement. I do need to find, and I've heard there's, I should ask Chris about this actually. I've heard there's a certain credit union that services former military, but also Americans in general.

1:02:51 I need to find a brokerage that's cool with me living over here. So that may be something that's, you know, not easy to find, but I need to find a stock brokerage where I can leave my stocks there and not worry about them threatening to shut me down or forcing a sale where I've got all these taxes I've got to pay that I didn't anticipate paying.

1:03:13 So that's top of mind for me. If anybody knows of a brokerage that caters to expats, I haven't heard of one, but if there is one, feel free to plug him in the chat. I'll reach out to him on email. But yeah, thanks so much for the thumbs up, everybody. By the way, Chris says, get into a fender bender in this area and locals will come pouring out in the streets sometimes, blaming the nicer vehicle and more affluent-looking party. You pay.

1:03:38 You're going to pay. You're going to pay, or you know, face the consequences, whatever they may be, right? Most of us don't want to just up and leave overnight. So most of us are going to be in the position where we're trying to figure out, okay, what do I have to pay? How much do I owe?

1:03:58 GMM says, my old Honda Cub scooter, 110cc, has been unused for almost one year. Now I think I'll sell it for parts to a local mechanic. I did buy it secondhand, so it paid for itself. Yeah, if you got four years of use out of it, that sounds good.

1:04:14 Jesper says, hi, I'm happy to have stumbled upon your channel via chat. After three holidays in Thailand, looking for a way to live there. I have a bachelor's in education. Perhaps I can teach and live comfortably. Jesper, I would definitely, if I were you, one of the things I would consider, and this is just from what I know, not from personal experience, you might look into getting that international experience under your belt and then going for international schools.

1:04:41 So that's just what I've heard is the international schools tend to pay a bit more. I've heard of some people teaching in the more affluent areas like Saudi Arabia or China and then taking vacations to Thailand. That may not be what you're looking to do. Thailand does struggle with having lower pay and higher expenses because everybody loves Thailand, right? Everybody wants, or many people want to live in Thailand.

1:05:07 So that's something to think about as well is that it could be valuable for you to teach in a more expensive area and take your vacations to Thailand. And then, you know, you get that experience, apply to an international school that's going to pay a premium. Even within Thailand, that could be a route for you to go. Not trying to discourage you at all, just trying to shed some light on that because I know a lot of people really like Thailand.

1:05:28 I spent a year there from last summer to this past summer and enjoyed every minute of it. I'd happily be in Thailand, except my education visa ran out of time and I was ready to try something a little bit different. But I wanted to get that experience on the reel to be able to speak on it because I know so many guys want to live in Thailand. And it's a great country. I mean, it's just so beautiful, the tropical weather, the food, the people are nice. It's a great option.

1:05:58 I know in a previous chat or previous live stream, somebody asked, are the Philippines and Thailand overrated? And I'm like, no, they're the most popular, two of the most popular or well-known expat destinations for a reason. Indonesia's up there. I think, of course, in the Western Hemisphere, I'm a fan of Mexico, Colombia, and Peru. Some people really like Argentina. Some people really like Brazil.

1:06:29 But yeah, thanks so much for joining, Jesper. Wonderful. Always appreciated. Wise card is a good idea to have as an emergency Visa card. Yeah, GMM, I am a fan of Wise. Wise is fantastic. I used Wise all throughout my year in Thailand to transfer money to my Thai bank account. I do plan to order one when I go back to the States, even if it's just a visit. I plan to order a Wise card.

Teaching English Abroad and Economic Conditions

1:06:55 I don't know if I can have one sent to me here in Dumaguete, but I plan to have one in hand. Chris says, I agree with keeping a Wise card handy. GMM, yeah, absolutely. Chris, very good insight. Wise is fantastic. Their service is great, the product is great. It's funny, I'm actually interviewing with a Wise competitor, so I probably shouldn't be saying all this.

1:07:17 The company I'm in final rounds with actually competes with Wise, but I'm a fan of all the services. I mean, they all provide fantastic service for people living abroad. It's just a personal interest of mine.

1:07:37 Gerard says, perhaps Schwab. Yeah, I've heard mixed things about Schwab. I've been using Schwab with no problems. Actually, I just used my Schwab card at the mall earlier tonight, Gerard, to pull some money out. Chris says, haha, GMM, good plan. So many people from US, UK, New Zealand, Australia trying to teach English in Asia. The market is somewhat oversaturated and the pay isn't so good.

1:07:59 Yeah, it's just a struggle to earn enough to save. I think of it as, you know, for a lot of people, it's more of a lifestyle choice. Now, you have formal education and an education, which puts you ahead of the pack. But yeah, I mean, it's a great lifestyle, very desirable for a lot of people, but also that comes with the downside risk of lots of people wanting to live and teach English in Asia.

1:08:26 Chris says, Alex, some use Navy Fed with mixed results, while others test to USAA. I don't know the requirements for joining these days. Yeah, I'll take a look. I think USAA is the one I heard about. I thought I had an account with Navy Fed, but maybe no. I had an account with Pentagon Federal, but yeah, not the same as those.

1:08:47 Two Jesper says an international school would be ideal. I'm not sure if you have to be a native speaker for that though. It's more competitive to get a job at a place like that. I'm more open to other places in Asia.

1:09:02 Jesper, you know, I would say research Hong Kong. I think their compensation is very strong. China as well might be worth looking into. I don't know, I've heard some stuff about Singapore. A lot of people in Singapore speak English, but many would probably be looking for business English, right? They're looking to take it to the next level.

1:09:27 I know even Gio, he taught business English in Cebu. So he actually got a job offer to teach business English where he's teaching English to doctors, to lawyers, to CEOs, people that have very formal English expertise beyond just basic communication. So even in the Philippines now, those jobs are rare. They may not even be as plentiful today as they were when he arrived eight years ago, but there's some demand there.

1:10:01 For safety, Asia is unmatched against most of the western world and Latin world. If you're not a bar and social guy anyway, I ate at a Peruvian restaurant in Bangkok and asked the owner, he's from Peru, why'd you come here? Peru is a beautiful country. He said safety. He said there are starting to be some safety issues in Peru and he wanted to get out of there and do something different. So yeah, Asia in general is fantastic.

1:10:46 Yeah, GM, I mean, you know, it's I feel much safer here than the US. It's unfortunate what's going on in the US. The US just broadly speaking, just does not feel as safe right now. I think part of it is the recession that nobody will call a recession. I think some of it is just the chaos. It's kind of devolving into chaos.

1:11:11 Some of it's the upcoming US elections that are really having a lot of people on edge. I look forward to that being over. That's part of the reason I prefer to wait until after all that's done and the ensuing chaos is done before I go back to the US because I know no matter what happens, a certain chunk of the population is going to be unhappy. Half the population, I should say, is going to be unhappy with the result.

1:11:35 And they're going to, you know, they're going to raise heck. I mean, there's going to be a lot of people in the US that are going to be very upset come November. And I could say that without a doubt. I'm not, I'm homeless in that regard. I don't have a side in the US that I'm on, but a lot of people are going to be disappointed and they're going to have trouble expressing their frustration in a healthy way, and I don't want to be a part of that. So that's another reason I'm kind of pushing my return back.

1:12:11 Jesper says, what's your opinion of teaching in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Malaysia? I would say of the three, Vietnam is probably your best bet. I've heard wages are still high. I don't know if you're European of European descent, so I've heard somebody that looks like me is not going to have an easy time getting a job in Vietnam teaching English. And that if I did get one, it would be lower pay.

1:12:31 But yeah, based on your background, I'm not sure what it is, but Vietnam, I've heard offers a decent pay to cost of living ratio. So yeah, Malaysia has more English and Cambodia. I think your income would be a little bit more modest based on what I saw. I watched a guy who did an interview, he's living in Phnom Penh teaching English.

1:12:58 You said China would be okay, but I do like good weather throughout the year. Yeah, that would certainly be a tradeoff there. Chris says, agree, GMM, treble is a two-way street in Southeast Asia. If you look for it, you may just find it.

1:13:19 Sorry about the barking, by the way, guys. Yeah, yeah, I mean, you could definitely find trouble in Southeast Asia. I'm, you know, I'm a chill guy. I come home pretty early, go to bed early, like to get up at a decent time, spend most of my time working on YouTube or watching videos, reading articles, trying to learn.

1:13:43 I spend most of my time just trying to learn, and that seems to do pretty well here. I'm not, I don't drink at all, and I don't go to the nightlife scene. It's just not my area of interest.

1:14:00 Lex says, we're definitely in a recession in the US. Lenny says, not here just yet. I would say we're, it's you're in kind of, we're in kind of a rolling recession. So there's a recession in tech. I mean, you look at the tech job openings. I know because I got laid off last summer and a number of my friends have gotten laid off as well.

1:14:19 That, you know, in the compensation offers are not what they were a couple years prior. So, you know, you definitely see that in the Bay Area. Right? I mean, San Francisco is a ghost town right now. I've heard it's gotten worse since I left actually. That downtown is more and more empty, and they're just not having any luck trying to attract people to come to downtown San Francisco and spend money.

1:14:55 So yeah, I think it depends on who you ask, Lenny. It also depends on the statistics that you look at. I feel that we're in a recession for me personally because I got laid off. But yeah, I think we're also, we've also witnessed the destruction of the middle class in the United States.

1:15:12 I think that we've seen asset prices stay high due to money printing, but they're being a kind of a bimodal or bifurcation in wages where you've got people either making $15 an hour or like 100K plus, and not much in between. There are skilled trades people that are doing well, of course.

Recession and Global Economic Trends

1:15:31 I think if you're a skilled trades person, you're best off to start your own business, but that's a whole another conversation. It's the whole Western world. It's almost as if it's directed and aimed. Yeah, GMM, it seems like coordinated, like the whole of the West is going through this recession.

1:15:56 And they, um, yeah, it's just very sad. So unfortunate because a lot of people are really unhappy. I mean, you can see the mental health stats go way out of whack whenever these kinds of things happen.

1:16:09 Jesper says, yes, I'm from the Netherlands. Thank you. I'll look into Vietnam. I don't need to make much, but I would like to be able to save up a bit. Yeah, and you know, Vietnam is a rapidly growing economy. It's vibrant. It's a young country. It's interesting. It's earlier in development than say Thailand, but you've got delicious Vietnamese food there. You've got some interesting towns and cities.

1:16:34 If you're somebody who likes to travel, I think Vietnam offers some great options. Lex says, GMM, agreed. Paul says, maybe better off with Fidelity is then. You have Forex where you can buy currency like bricks. If it comes out in the end of October, I live in Valencia, but I go to USA as I have rentals.

1:16:56 Very cool, you're Valencia. We might run into each other at some point depending on how long I stay here, Paul. Yeah, I'll look into Fidelity. That's a great option. I do have, you know what, now that you mentioned it, Paul, my 401k is with Fidelity. So actually, I have a 401k from my last employer at Fidelity, and they're always pushing me, hey, you want to open another account? So maybe I'll open up another account with Fidelity.

1:17:22 Lex says, on paper, not yet, but looking around and hearing firsthand what's been going on for a while. At wager, we are. Lenny says, I think it will get very bad in the second half of 2025, 2026.

1:17:34 Yeah, I think it's going to get worse because they're talking about dropping the interest rate in a week. Right? But they're only talking about a quarter of a point. That's not very much of a cut, right? I mean, going from five and a half or 5% to four and three quarters or five and a quarter, that's still pretty high interest, right? So that's going to continue to destroy and break the economy.

1:17:59 To reduce the ability for business to invest, to cut, cause more job losses. I mean, I think we're going to continue to have layoffs in tech, especially with the advent of AI. And yeah, it's going to lead to civil unrest in the United States. People are going to get very increasingly unhappy.

1:18:17 You're going to see more people start to leave. I think that's why there's so much anti-expat content out there. I mean, if I was somebody trying to get people to stay, I'd write a pro, I'd program a bot and go through and attack Xat channels. I think probably some of the attacking that Xat channels like mine are getting is bot saying, no, no, no, you need to stay here even though it's getting worse. You need to stay here and pay your taxes and spend your money.

1:18:45 When a lot of us are finding, hey, no, no, no, no, no, I can go over there. I can enjoy a better life over there. You want to make a mess here? I'll go over there because much of the West world outside of Europe has been populated by people who moved countries, people who came from another. Like you think about the Commonwealth countries or the former colonies, they're comprised of people whose ancestors were risk-takers.

1:19:10 People who moved abroad, and those people are going to be able, are going to be willing to move abroad again. I mean, why not, right? They were the people who are willing to take. They are descendants of the people who are willing to take the risk to move to another country. Why would they not be willing to do it again? It just seems so painfully obvious to me.

1:19:31 Um, that more and more people are going to be willing to do that. I have more and more, what I would call normal people, you know, move abroad. People I never thought would go to another country, people who, when I started talking about doing this five, six years ago, they weren't rude, but they were just skeptical, right?

1:19:49 They were like, ah, you know, that place seems kind of dangerous, or that place is really far away from here. And now things have gotten bad enough in the states that some of these same people are like, man, you know, I'm planning my first trip to Thailand. I'm planning my first trip to the Philippines. That, you know, I love my home country, I love the United States.

1:20:07 Home country, I love the United States, but to say that it's what it's always been is just inaccurate. You're talking about La La Land. To say it's identical to what it's always been.

1:20:21 Paul says, "I'm a master plumber and HVAC owner who retired here, so best to have savings, assets for passive income, stocks, and bonds, crypto, tangibles like something you can trade or sell." Assets are the way to go. That's the way to fund your life abroad. It's not just a stack of cash; I think you need a stack of cash as an emergency fund, but you want monthly income.

1:20:43 You want X amount of dollars, pounds, or Australian dollars, New Zealand dollars, coming in every month such that you're like, 'Okay, every month I predict that I'll have X amount.' And I can dip into my emergency fund if that changes, if I need to find a new tenant, if I need to hire a person to come in and repair or fix things.

1:21:06 Yeah, very good call out, Paul. I think that's part of my interest in the Financial Independence Movement is pursuing asset ownership where I can collect rental income or dividends. Having your own business is another way to do it that a lot of people don't talk about as much because you are going off on your own, taking a bigger risk than say, just owning some dividend stocks and collecting your paycheck.

1:21:32 I'm sure you got to do some managing. You've got to build up your business, build out a customer base, that kind of stuff. But now that you've got it built up, you do have that recurring revenue, right? You get people that need your company's plumbing services, your HVAC services, and they'll provide a great service.

1:21:54 Paul, where those people for their friends, they'll bring in other people. They'll say, 'Man, you know, Paul's business, they're really of great service to me. They, you know, I had this massive plumbing issue, it was such a headache, and now it's fixed. They were able to come out in a timely manner, they charged a reasonable price, they got the job done.' And now my whether it be commercial or residential, then we're rolling along, right?

1:22:26 So you're able to be a big problem solver, Paul. I think I'm a huge fan of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. I think it's a great way to have your freedom. That's the way toward financial freedom is owning a piece of a business.

1:22:40 Selling your time is a great way to get training, a great way to have somebody invest in you. Working as a salesperson, you know, I could have probably made more money on my own. On the flip side, I needed people to train me and give me feedback, 'Hey, do this, not that. Hey, think about it this way, not that way.'

1:22:55 Working in sales really has helped me a lot as far as YouTube goes, too. I'm just better able to understand what people want, what's of value to people, because the channel is not about me, it's about you guys. I'm a conduit or a vehicle for some of these ideas and the conversations I have with friends, and I'm here to validate your experiences.

Life in Dumaguete and Expat Community

1:23:19 Some of us are constantly facing invalidation back home. 'Oh, why are you going abroad? Oh, is it because you're a loser? Oh, is it because you're, you know, looking for what?' Just all these negative perceptions. And I'm part of the reason I'm here is to tell you, you're not dumb for wanting to go to another country. You're not wrong for wanting to try something else out.

1:23:48 Maybe you find out it's not for you. Maybe you find another place it is. Maybe you ultimately go back to your home country. There's nothing wrong with that. There's a different solution for each individual who wants to try this.

1:24:01 For some, it's just entertainment. Lenny says, 'I'm from the UK. It's very bad there now.' Yeah, Lenny, I'm hearing the UK is like, really just not doing good. It's just going backwards in a lot of ways. The standard of living is declining.

1:24:18 I was in London about a year and a half ago, and I was at Heathrow Airport, and they weren't running the heat. It was freezing cold, maybe 12 or 13 degrees Celsius. In London Heathrow Airport, I'm thinking, 'Where am I? What kind of...' I came to London expecting a very, very developed place, and in some ways it was, but in other ways, I'm just like, 'Why is the airport freezing cold?'

1:24:50 You know, they're too cheap to turn on the heat. And I know electricity has gone up a lot. The cost of electricity in London has gone up a lot, but I thought, man, what, you know, all the money this airport makes, one of the busiest airports in the world, you'd think they could have the heat on.

1:25:12 Maybe it was Gatwick. I sometimes get the two mixed up, but yeah, it was definitely tough. And then my hotel, of course, I did rent a cheaper motel, but they had turned the heater off, so I had to use a space heater.

1:25:28 John says, 'Alex, keep vlogging, you're good at it.' Thank you so much, Sean. I really appreciate that. That's very kind of you to say, and the encouragement is always appreciated. It definitely keeps me going in spite of the difficulties, in spite of the trolls.

1:25:46 Knowing that I'm able to bring you value is just very humbling. Chris says, 'I was curious about the current state of affairs in the UK. Lenny considered a holiday trip there sometime soon but has put it on the back burner for now.'

1:26:01 Yeah, it's a real challenge, Chris. I enjoyed it. I'll give London some credit. I loved the tube, I loved the interesting food, I liked the walkability of London, just being able to walk around. I'm a big walker, so being able to walk around different neighborhoods was cool. I like the architecture. It's a cool city.

1:26:23 It's just a cool city, very expensive. I spent a lot of money in a very short time. I spent like 150s in 24 hours, but on some level, it was worth it. Yeah, I think it was worth it. It was a cool experience for sure.

1:26:40 I got to see a lot of different parts of the city, and I also got to see some places I grew up on house music and listened to replays of concerts. I'd never gotten to go to London, so I got to, you know, Brixton, for example, South London, very popular in the electronic dance music scene. I've listened to a ton of playlists of people doing warehouse shows in Brixton.

1:27:12 So getting to see that neighborhood, yeah, it's a bit rundown, yeah, it's a bit dodgy, but it was cool, you know, cool to have that kind of connection there.

1:27:20 Paul says, 'We can influence others as best friends in the state, married to Filipina 21 years, invited me to tag along seven years ago, and I was sold on the Philippines. Ended up in Dumaguete by accident, then met my girl.' Paul, it's a weird crossroads. Dumaguete gets all kinds of people. It's such an international vibe for the size of the city.

1:27:44 It's got such a cool international vibe. I meet people from all over the world every day. Yesterday, I met a woman from Korea. I met people here from the UK, one of my friends, Colin, is from the UK. We have friends from Somalia here, friends from all over the world.

1:28:08 It's so strange how such a small city can attract so many different kinds of people. I think that's the power of Dumaguete. I came here to the Philippines five years ago originally. I didn't visit Dumaguete. I wanted full immersion and thought, 'If I go there, there's going to be a lot of foreigners, it's going to be an easy place for me to love.'

1:28:31 'Or I may not like it and feel like, ah, there's just too much of an ex-pat crowd.' So I went to Cagayan de Oro, I went to Camiguin Island, I went to Cebu. But this time, I'm like, 'I'm going to do Dumaguete.' I've been watching Paul for five years, Mike for a couple years, Chad for a couple years, and I'm so glad I came here.

1:28:56 I've made so many friends here in a short time. Starting to date here, it's a cool city. I thought it might have too many foreigners, but the foreigners are a small percentage of the population when you think about the population in its entirety.

1:29:10 Jesper asks, 'Do you have a plan to be able to stay in the Philippines long-term, as for job or passive income?' Yeah, so Jesper, I'll probably eventually go back to the US and work in the technology field. Save every penny I can, and in three or four years of working back in the States, I should be able to move here permanently.

1:29:32 So I'm targeting, I'm turning 32 in a few weeks. I'm targeting 35 or 36 is when I'll probably be able to move here long-term.

1:29:45 Lenny says, 'Chris, it's really sad to see the state of it now. I wouldn't bother going now unless it's been a lifelong urge. Much better options in Europe.' Yeah, I'm a fan of Spain and Portugal in Europe.

1:29:58 Paul, I'm going to do a little bit of catch-up here. Interestingly, I am looking at building a combo building with commercial on the first floor, residential on the second and third floor, not like most expats with grand houses. Property perpetuates income and also housing.

1:30:14 Yeah, I'd be interested to hear more about that, Paul. I think with your background, you're going to really be able to make a nice place. You have the plumbing and HVAC experience and the insight that a lot of guys don't have, right?

1:30:24 I've always been a sales guy, so I've always just been in business and kind of a hustler in some ways, for better or worse. Some people don't like that term, I being transparent. But if you have that construction experience, you're going to be better able to pull that off than a lot of the guys.

1:30:42 Lenny says, 'UK has the worst weather.' Yeah, I'd agree, Lenny. I mean, it was just cold, drizzly rain when I was there.

1:30:51 Jesper says, 'Honestly, for me, the people in Asia are so welcoming. They're smiling, while here people seem miserable. It's very individualistic. We don't...'

1:30:57 It's very individualistic. We don't go out much; it's just home and work. There's no third place in the West. You've got home and you've got work, but you don't have the public spaces. In California, I try to avoid public parks most of the time because they've got sketchy people and characters of ill repute.

1:31:16 They close early, so you're not hanging out there past dark in many cases. That's just a very lonely life. I think a lot of people feel very deeply isolated in the West, and it's materially wealthy. They've got all the toys they want, the whizbangs, all the extras they could want, but the internal is just not so good.

1:31:42 Michael says I should share some of my music with you sometime. Michael, please, we'd love to hear your music sometime. Maybe we could do a stream sometime, Michael, like a StreamYard stream, and have you share some of your music.

1:31:54 Chris says, any thoughts on CCO? I don't know too much about it, but yeah, Lenny okay, cool, he's chiming in on that. Lenny says, is Dumaguete saturated with foreigners? Yeah, yeah, somewhat, Lenny. I mean, you're going to see them out and about everywhere you go. You go to Robinson's, you go to the boulevard, you walk around downtown, you can't miss them. They stick out here for sure.

1:32:21 I don't think it's too saturated. I think that some move on, or some find out it's not for them. Some move out to the provinces. It's an easy landing point if you want an easy place to land in the Philippines. You want to have some Western food, you want to be able to meet and chat with people easily, and there's a high level of English. Then Dumaguete is a solid option.

Long-Term Plans and Lifestyle Choices

1:32:55 Maau says, I am into education and I work with Canadian, Australian, American, and British teachers. The thing now is that many Asian countries require a degree in education to be qualified as a teacher. Yeah, if you want to make the big bucks, Maau, I definitely agree with that. If you want to top out your income and you don't want to just be living month-to-month, an education degree is very much appreciated.

1:33:21 Dime says, US to Philippines currency is around 56 pesos. Let's see, if you have $1,000, that quadruples into 56,000 pesos. That's enough for you to feed yourself for six months or so. Yeah, definitely, if you have US currency, it's powerful here.

1:33:42 Poland is lovely, debating on living there. Traditional people. Lenny says, I'm 35, made the jump. Yeah, I mean, it's more and more possible with online income. Lenny, I'm curious, how are you funding your expat journey? It sounds like you worked for a number of years in the West to save up and prepare.

1:34:16 Paul says, Dumaguete has 110,000 people and less than 3 or 4,000 expats. You don't run into them, and even then, it's just passing. Best suggestion is to vet your girl and her family. Yeah, Paul, I was saying I think it's around 5% of the population, maybe five in every hundred people. It's not as much as people think.

1:34:37 I see way more local people, normal people, than I do expats. If I stay here in Bohol, I just don't see that many. And they are here, but they're running up and down the road, going to town, running their errands. People are living their lives. But yeah, guys, I'm probably going to wind down in the next 10 minutes or so because I'm starting to lose my voice.

1:35:07 I just talk so much in Dumaguete that when I get to the stream sometimes my voice can be running down a bit. But yeah, Paul, I think it's exaggerated how many foreigners are here because, you know, people see the outside influence of the vlogging community. And there are a lot of vloggers here, but there's also a lot of travelers.

1:35:28 I think some people think every foreigner I see is living in Dumaguete. That's not the case. There's a lot of people that come through. They come from the ferry, they fly in, they're here for a week, they're here for a couple of weeks, and then they go on. They go to Siquijor or they go down to Davao to go diving, or they go into the mountains above Valencia.

1:35:51 There's just it's a like a landing point for a lot of different places and a lot of different things. And it's cool. I mean, it's just got a cool vibe. It's a little bit, to me, it can even feel maybe a little bit Bohemian in certain ways. It's just got this cool factor. The weather's nice, the Western food is nice, the conveniences are nice, but it's not too big of a city.

1:36:20 To me, it feels way more chill than Cebu or Manila, which can be very overwhelming if you're not a big city person. Cebu and Manila can be incredibly overwhelming. You're just surrounded by people, people are in traffic, they're going to work, they're there to do business. Here, it's just more laidback. It's got a more traditional feeling, a nice atmosphere.

1:36:51 Lenny says, I was in sales, sold everything, and now work online. Very cool. Any, yeah, I think online income is the way to go. That's somewhat what I'm attempting to do with my YouTube, but also, you know, just trying to explore other avenues because I'm such a happier person over here. I'm just much more happy and calm.

1:37:09 If I go back to the US, you guys will tell, I won't be smiling like this. I won't have the same sense of humor or laughter that I have here. My personality changes. It's actually a pretty severe personality change. I become much more introverted in the US because I just can't trust very many people and don't have much to talk about beyond work.

1:37:30 Paul says, I just hit 62, so I didn't count on SSI, that's all a bonus. Go to Billy's Burgers, owned by Aussie and his ex-girlfriend Filipina. Great food. And Cici's Tacos on Anaheim. Guy, great Hispanic food. I'll check out both of those. Both of those sound great.

1:37:56 I think one of my friends told me about Billy Burgers, Paul. Actually, one of my buddies who lives in Davao City, he was telling me about Billy Burgers. He said he loved it, so that's high on my list. And then I'm down to check out Cici's Tacos.

1:38:13 Lenny says, heavy in assets, also stocks and Bitcoin. Yeah, you were way ahead of me, Lenny. A great call on that. I've got some crypto, got some stocks. Yeah, that's mostly it for now, but I'll keep grinding away at it. I'll keep growing my channel, roll out my consulting offer, set up my affiliate links, really build it out to have those additional offers for the people that would benefit.

1:38:42 Jesper says, it's the same for me. I'm much happier in Southeast Asia. I don't want to live only for my holidays. Yeah, I'm always disappointed and unhappy when I go back home.

1:39:17 Anyway, yeah, I think we'll wind down here in the next minute. Anybody want to get in any last thoughts or questions or anything to add on? I'm just, my voice is starting to go, and I don't want to...

1:39:34 Cebu and Manila are concrete jungles, and here you have nature everywhere, beautiful scenery, and people. City of gentle people. Yeah, I definitely agree, Paul. The people are overall very gentle and kind. It's pretty rare I run into a jerk here. There's an occasional one, but it's like 99% of the people here I just really get along with very well.

1:40:12 LOL, just playing. Made big up to you. Thank you so much. Ah, it means hi, baby brother. Well, thank you so much, Fromis Gunner. I much appreciate it. Being Japanese, I kind of struggle with sarcasm, but I'm trying to get better at it because some people do make sarcastic jokes here for sure.

1:40:30 NBA Champs Raptors, make a video going on a date with a Filipina. Thank you for the idea, NBA. I'll consider it. We'll see, a lot of them are very, very shy and they're not too shy to be on camera, let's put it that way. I did an interview with a Filipina last night, and she was very shy and she has a boyfriend too.

1:40:56 I was thinking, like, hey, you got a boyfriend, what is there to worry about? Like, you're in a committed relationship, but she was very shy. I do plan to get that up once I get it edited. I understand, right? I mean, they're just shy people. But it would be great content, right? It'd be interesting to see how that goes.

1:41:15 We'll see. Jesper says, thanks for making videos about this, it's inspirational for sure. We're all just trying to live the dream. Having dinner now. See you, take care, Jesper. Southeast Asia for the win. I think we agree.

1:41:31 Absolutely. Lenny, give them 200 pesos and they'll do it. I'll keep that in mind for sure. But yeah, thanks so much, guys. Really appreciate you watching. I'm going to go ahead and wind down now. Anybody watching this on replay, please subscribe to the channel below. If you are interested in channel memberships, it's not required, it's always appreciated.

1:41:55 Give us a thumbs up if you want to help us with the algorithm, if you found the content to be valuable. Comment down below what you think about the stream, what you found to be interesting, what you'd like me to cover. Feedback is a gift from you to me to help make this better for you.

1:42:17 Yeah, thanks so much for the subscription, NBA Champs Raptors. Much appreciated. From everyone. Last question I'll answer really quick. Do you schedule live? I hop on whenever, so sometimes there's background noise. Fromis Gunner, so I can't do it when there's background noise, but always happy to hop on.

1:42:38 But hey, thank you so much, Paul. I love your perspective. As it is, professionally positive. Yeah, this is an amazing lifestyle. I'm so blessed to be here. Every day is a fortunate one. I'm so grateful to the Filipino people for welcoming us. And I'll catch you all soon. Take care, everyone. Have a good weekend.