the women dating in the US sucked I can go live in the province live in a Bamboo Shack go down the river to take a bath no you can't she's going to do everything in her power to save
you money I'm going to say no we have the why not lady boy capital of dumag Getti he picked the hottest day of the year to sit in the sun hey YouTube Alex here I had a great time
today with my friend Mike Mike of Mike's Philippine retirement and we sat down today for about 20 minutes to chat before we get into it I want to let you know I was having some mic issues we had
to pass my mic back and forth I also had mic cooking under the midday Sun you could definitely see the sweat pouring off of our faces so I hope you'll forgive that but more importantly I hope that you
will enjoy the interview let us know what you think down in the comments thank you so much today Mike for joining us we really appreciate the Insight that you have to share today I've got some questions for you
that I think would really help my audience to better understand your process and how you managed to go from living in the US to now living the dream without further Ado let's go ahead and get into them before
we get started could you take a moment just to introduce yourself well thanks Alex for having me my name is Mike Mike's Philippine retirement I'm a 70-year-old expat retired here in the Philippines been married for over a year
with my wife Janet we've been together for over two years I got here in February of 2022 and uh live in the dream it's the some of the best times of my my life I've been having here in
the Philippines excellent well without further Ado let's get into our questions what brought you here to the Philippines that's a great question I don't really know the exact reason there a couple reasons one one are the women you
know I came here for the girls man you I'm not going to lie about that when I decided I wanted to come to the Philippines it was 2015 and I made a 2-year preparation to come here it got
extended to three then some family problems came up and covid hit I wasn't able to get here until 22 but the main reason was the women dating in the US sucked and I did take a whole year and
I said during this year I'm going to look hard for a permanent partner for for long-term girlfriend somebody to live with and I couldn't find nobody man you know you had the Walmart women walking around in their dirty
sweatshirts and the dirty sweatpants poop stains on the back end of it and also the girls when you went to date them so many were just looking for what I call dinner dates they just wanted to go somewhere
to have dinner an expensive meal on somebody they would be on Plenty of Fish or they would be on one of the other dating sites and they would just have multiple dates and their whole purpose was just to
get a free meal at a restaurant that they couldn't afford just couldn't find any good woman and it's probably because the good ones are taken by you know once you hit your 50s and there was also that little
thing in the back of my mind that said am I ever going to sleep with a beautiful girl again when is the last physical relationship I'm going to have is it going to be with someone a lot older
unattractive I wanted somebody that was exciting physically I looked at the Philippines I was married to a Philippine girl that was an American citizen we visited a couple times back in 2000 I enjoyed the culture when I came
here and I decided like I said in 2015 I was coming and the cost of living I couldn't afford to live in the US anymore in Las Vegas my one-bedroom apartment unfurnished nothing in it in 2017 was 1,500
us a month that was you know a week and a half wages just to have a roof over your head I absolutely agree I've had a lot of similar experiences I think a lot of my audience feels the
same way what's the best Insight that you have for a young guy they see guys like you they see guys like your friend Paul that are living the dream that you know they're financially independent they're enjoying their life
in the Philippines they've settled down with a nice woman what kind of insight do you have for these guys who want to get to where you're at well the first point with the younger guys and don't wait too
long don't let life go by because oh I need to save this I need to do this if you have family responsibilities you have things you want to accomplish back home do those you know the Philippines is not
for everybody but come here for a vacation man if you can get a month off come here and just travel as a young guy and enjoy the country but don't let life go by I'm going to say 90%
of my audience who are always thinking I'm going to move to the Phil they end up not coming they end up not coming health issues age many different things happen that they don't make it because they're waiting till
their 62 65 70 in some cases because they wanted to get Max maximum Social Security don't don't waste your whole life waiting I so much wish I could have came when I was in my mid-50s I financially could
afford to come here back then but I didn't you know I said oh I got to reach retirement age first I got to have social security yes you need to have money to make this move but don't let
that be the one thing that makes you miss the opportunity yeah Mike I think that's such a great point I mean some guys I think that they get in this tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow they may think oh well you
know I spend 4,000 a month here in the US I need 4,000 a month over there when the real number there may be half that right they may do just fine with 2,000 a month they may feel like
well I need 4,000 but that's cuz I've got to make a truck payment I've got to make a big mortgage payment I've got to set aside money for my homeowners insurance these things you don't have to have over
here no you got to have some sort of income you can't come over here with nothing and there's many horror stories of people who have 30,000 ,000 100,000 in the bank and they make the move here but you
know it's like a SS in an hourglass it's draining if you have nothing going in so you got to have some income streams you know YouTube Investments digital nomad who work online for a company in the US is
a great way to go but don't let life pass you by don't let life pass you by and it's like buying a house when I bought my last house in Las Vegas it was well I want to save
some more money to buy buy the house well I saved another 5,000 but the price of the house went up 10,000 you know you're saving you say I need this much and I need this maybe you never catch
up to the inflation or what you can save you can definitely come here 1,500 a month if you're a thrift person not wasteful and you take your time you can live on a thousand as a traveler you know
you're not going to live in the best hotels you're not going to live in the best apartments but you'll be able to see the cities the towns and then go back home and make your decision on what you
want to do absolutely these are all great points what are those pitfalls that you've seen that some of my subscribers need to be mindful of well health issues are the number one thing that are going to take you
down you come over here if you break a leg you can get that fixed it's not that expensive it's it's those life-threatening injuries that uh will cost you a lot take advantage of any insurance policies you have back
home go see the doctor get all these taken care of money can buy you out of a lot of problems here and the biggest issues people have here are with immigration you know there are more people in jail
for overstaying their visa as a foreigner than there are for you know foreigners who commit crimes here it's it's the number one reason foreigners end up in jail is overstaying on your Visa and when you get here you're
not smarter than everybody else yeah you're smart you know what you're doing but these people have street smart they live here what they do every day is what you don't do every day and a lot of people think
oh I can live like a Filipina you know or a Filipino on 400 a month I can go live in the province live in a Bamboo Shack go down the river to take a bath no you can't that
might be fun for a weekend camping trip or something but for a lifetime that's something you can't do but the biggest problem is not having an income stream you have to have money coming in I don't care how
old you are and if you have an online job or way to make money online make sure everything's in place and you received a couple months worth of checks in so there's nothing that you have to worry about
cuz correcting problems here that happen in the US is hard there's a communication lag there's mail lag everything and sending something FedEx is expensive from $100 to $200 to send some notorized letters so uh be prepared have an
income stream make sure you're healthy enough for this and you have the time don't come here rushed make and slow down when you get here to the Philippines get off that plane slow down go to your room take
a shower take a nap and then go out there don't hit the streets tired the first day cuz you're so excited the adrenaline's everywhere and you just need to slow down meet people meet girls online do all that
stuff enjoy your life what's the point of working so hard if you cannot enjoy your life I don't care if you're 20 30 60 90 my friend Jerry and uh SAU he's over 80 and he found himself a
beautiful girlfriend he's happy as can be he's the happiest he's been in his whole life and he's 80 he so much wishes he could have done that at 40 so if you have the opportunity and it's something you
can do and you can afford think it through but man don't let time go by these tips are so helpful Mike I think that it's very easy to get trapped the mindset of tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow I've talked to
a lot of people back home that not even in the context of coming to the Philippines but they always just delayed gratification and they're always thinking about the future and then eventually they run out of the future maybe
they come down with a health problem and then the Philippines is off the table where before they would have been fine to come over here maybe they would have had a 5year or 10year run now it's maybe they
can come for a couple weeks maybe they can come for a month so I think that's so powerful the next question that comes to my mind and we talked a little bit about this the other day you told
me emphatically I would not be able to repatriate on just 10,000 what do you think is a reasonable amount let's say a guy comes over here he's got his 50,000 maybe he's got his 1,500 a month for whatever
reason his 1500 a month business it slows down it shuts off what do you think is a reasonable amount of money to repatriate to your home country wow you just have to do the math you you know you
have to deconstruct it and go backwards you need a place to live so say it's an apartment you're going to need the first month's rent you're going to need security deposit you're going to need to buy a used
car to get around town you you know all these things that you sell and give up and I recommend people if you have a house or condo or something in the US don't sell it until you're sure you're
here forever rent it out get a management company but I think to repatriate that is the number one reason a lot of guys don't go home for medical issues is they have nowhere to live they have to fly
home you got to get a place to stay you got a transportation to and from the doctor you got to get admitted into the hospital the cost is just so great and overwhelming that they don't go back home
for medical treatment so everybody says oh I can go back to the States if I have a medical issue not really can you afford to go back that's a great question and as a person you have to decide
do you have family that you can go back and live with you're going to crash on their couch yeah they're going to love you for a week or two but at some point they're going to say when you
leaving so yeah that's a a great Point think hard about we call it an Exit Plan you have to leave you know maybe you have a girlfriend and then you have a fight and her brother's mad at you
and you got to leave the island that's a legitimate problem you need an exit plan to get out of the island that you're on or even the country and this goes for staying in Thailand or Vietnam anywhere you
go same things apply absolutely I think that's a great way it varies by person right what one person needs to repatriate isn't the same as what another guy needs we got a few more for you here Mike we
do want to be respectful of your time you're a married man and a lot of guys are saying oh well I can't afford to have a relationship here for whatever reason they've made that calculation what are some of
the ways that you feel make it more economical for you to be in a relationship versus you having lived the bachelor life if you're traveling if you're not setting up a shop in one town There's No Advantage there's
no Advantage you're traveling everything cost double you got to buy two meals maybe have two motorbikes or she rides on the back of the other one you got to buy two fery tickets everything's double two plane tickets but
if you settle down and you pick a home and you have a girlfriend she's going to do everything in her power to save you money and just think of the cost of a maid of a cook someone to
go shopping for you all these things are eliminated because your girlfriend that's her job and finding the right partner you find a partner who knows what everybody's job is my job is a man's job to support the family
bring in the income and you know guide the family in the right direction Janet's job is to take care of the house take care of the family her son make sure you know the fridge is full the house
is clean the clothes are washed she takes care of all those things and when we travel she pays so we don't get any what people call skin tax and my habit of over tipping where I would over tip
a cab driver all day long but Janet no she tips the right amount because because this is her country there's no shame in letting her handle the daily uh cash and when you find the right partner everything goes
right for you and that's same thing at back home you know you find the right wife and you have a great life together that's the same thing here there are many bad apples many bad girls that you can
choose I would rather have a girl that is a six but her heart is an eight so I got a 14 then then give me a 10 that is terrible you know the old saying gorgeous on the outside
and trash on the inside stay away from those I think that's such a powerful point in looking for somebody with good character right because in my opinion character lasts it's something that's going to be with you for a
lifetime it's much better to select for character than some superficial quality doag Getti it's very popular for guys who are retired should young guys choose doag Getti I'm going to say no one thing if you're good financially you
want to see all these islands I'm my age is starting to hamper where I go so I'm limited to how much traveling I do a break in between traveling but if you want to travel a lot you want
to somewhere different and if you like nightlife doag Getti does not have a night life we have the why not lady boy capital of dumag Getti you know but the boulevard is where the NTI is where we're at
right now it's hot it's under the Sun but at night this place is cooking the lights are on the food is being served the young people are out here enjoying music enjoying life that's free not to me a
landing spot would be SAU it Park area iel mall area iel Business Park get your feet wet get used to the Philippines if you need a home base you want to travel out yeah I think you can make
doag Getti work we have a nice sea port we got an airport easy to get places but probably Sabu or even Al Lona Beach area I would pick as a a place for a young guy Lona Beach is
very active very big night life all the girls that live on the island of behold that don't go to university and don't have a good job they seem to head down towards Pango and Alona Beach to make a
living and look for a boyfriend and so there's a lot of young girls there not young below you know 20 and that but women of the proper age for young men yeah I think that's a great point that
you know here in dumag Getti it's great once you're committed you're ready to settle down you want a place with your western style restaurants you want a few shopping malls to select from but you don't want to be
sitting in traffic right you're not looking to be stuck in major Metro City traffic and waiting in line for an hour at the bank some of these things that do happen in any big city around the world so
super helpful and then I've got one final question for you in what ways are you happier here in the Philippines compared to being back in the US well thanks for having me Alex he picked the hottest day of
the year to sit in the Sun N just joking Financial Freedom Financial Freedom and this is what drew me to contact Alex I wanted to talk to him when even when when he was in Vietnam and out of
the country uh some of his blogs the stress relief from Financial pressure you know you guys know this you know the car insurance that you work and you're hoping you know it's not really how much you make it's
how much you can save it seems like everybody's pulling at your money in the US and it's not dollars they're pulling at hundreds and thousands look at the cost of a new truck if you want to buy a
brand new truck I mean you 70,000 100,000 outrageous numbers I bought my first house for those prices back in the day but the Financial Freedom the stress relief I know that if even on 2000 if things happened and
I wasn't going to get another check for a month you know the government shut down and said I'm not going to get check I could stretch that 2,000 for two or 3 months me and Jan just hunker down
at home do walking trips close trips to home there's no pressure here my bills here are my rent my electric my water and of course my cable TV and internet after that I don't have any bills I go
get food you know and if we couldn't afford food Jan we' go to Janet's family you know they would have rice they have chickens we could get everything we need the Financial Freedom the stress relief and I had
this discussion this morning with somebody guys are coming here and they're really out of shape and they've lost 100 PBS since they've been here God bless them man that's such a lot of weight but they're feeling better now
are they feeling better because they're exercising and they're losing weight or has this all come around because now they don't have the stress from back home and they can take a deep breath and not worry about their bank
account did did that check bounce or this happen they can just go about their daily life worrying about their physical health enjoying their partner and enjoying the relaxation of the Philippines and this goes for any country that you
move to you know you have to pick a country that will give you the Financial Freedom with the cost of living some people can afford more they want to retire in Paris France they want to retire in London
but a lot of guys want to retire in Costa Rica or Brazil Brazil or Argentina Cambodia all these different places you can find the country that fits but don't be afraid to take that trip a month minimum month
to go hang out and make sure you like what you see I think that's such a great idea taking that Discovery trip and living comparable to how you'd actually be living there not just thinking okay I'm in vacation
mode so I'm going to live in vacation mode but what does my grocery bill look like when I go down to the market what is a month-to-month rental price how much do I spend on electricity these are all
important questions that you need to be able to answer to get a sense of how much you're going to spend so yeah thank you so much for joining us today Mike it's been so insightful I think that you're
in my opinion coming out with this howto guide the step-by-step process if you go through and you watch Mike's videos you'll go from 0 to 90 in terms of your understanding of what it actually takes to live over
here and you'll be able to get a sense of what what that looks like what success looks like so can't thank you enough for taking time today to join us Mike yeah really appreciate your time no problem I'm
going to put a little plug in here go check out my channel Mike's Philippine retirement and if you're interested in the Philippines and the cost just go to my playlist under budget and you'll look at I got some
good budgets and I also have the single guy Common Sense budget which is 1,500 us and you could live in a $600 $700 a month apartment and live on that on that budget but Alex thanks for having us
thanks so much Mike until next time we'll see you next time oh
