hey YouTube Alex here and in today's video I answer the question why does some expats fail to reach the Philippines there are a number of different reasons as to why a guy may fail to come here to the
Philippines let's go ahead and get into these the first reason is that they're listening to their friends and family their friends and family they're well-meaning they care about them they've heard all these horror stories about other countries they
think every single country except for the United States or the UK or Canada is Armageddon and they are worried about you they think that you're going over there and it's going to be the end of the world you'll
never come back well some of you may never come back but for different reasons you may enjoy it so much you don't want to go back but that's a side note and others have a crabs in a bucket
mentality they're unhappy in their life they're stressed out they don't like their life you try to sit down with them and show them videos of expats living their best lives getting a fresh start getting a second chance and
they don't want that they don't want to have this thought in their mind this idea that hey maybe if I go over there my life will get better there's this sort of cognitive dissonance that they experience where they
don't want to be confronted with information that conflicts with their beliefs that may force them to change two things can be true at once two things that are seemingly contradictory can both be true your friends and family may
care about you but they don't understand they haven't watched all these videos of guys like my friends Mike of Mike's philppine retirement Paul Paul old dog new tricks Chad of Chad Foster explorers who step by step break down
how to get over here the stories that really make this place come to life that help you to understand the dynamic the complexities of living over here they don't have all that Insight they're not dreaming of a better
life fundamentally they don't understand some cases they don't want to understand so maybe they're toxic maybe they're not toxic ultimately you have to make the decision for yourself am I going to listen to them am I going to
live the way they want me to live or am I going to live the way I want to live am I going to at least do a discovery trip I may not move over there forever I may go
for a month I may go for 2 weeks maybe I go there for 3 months maybe it turns out it's not for me but until you come over here until you actually experience it you can't let other people
decide for you it's ultimately on you now the conat here is that if you have small children I think it's better to wait back home I think it's better to help them to grow up even if you're split
up from your significant other you're a single guy take it from somebody that did not grow up with strong male role models young guys young gals they need strong male role models the next reason is that they experience
heartbreak they meet a Filipino online they chat with her for a while they maybe send her some money for load maybe they send more money than that and time goes by and then one day she goes silent on
them she goes radio silent and he keeps persisting sending her messages texting her finally he gets a message I want to break up or maybe he finds out that she's actually married she's actually seeing somebody else she's got
other American boyfriends or British boyfriends Australian boyfriends and he realizes wow this isn't what I thought it would be and he's heartbroken he is so disappointed maybe he has some baggage before her and that experience is just added
to it and they get into this mindset where the only thing they associate with this country that they want to move to is heartbreak I've been there before I sworn off a country temporarily after I came to my
senses because I realized there's more to that place than heartbreak but some guys never make it past that stage they think you know what the only thing I think about when I think about that country is My Broken
Heart my sadness my relationship struggles the pain and suffering that I've experienced from learning about that country or sense learning about that country and they decide I'll never go back there I'll never go back to visit I don't
ever want to live there they research some other country they've been curious about they decide you know what instead of country a I'm going to go live in country B when I hit retirement age I don't want to
be reminded of that I have no stress associated with this other country and so I'm going to use that other place for my fresh start and I'll set this other place aside and that tends to be and I
think that's more common than we think where guys meet a nice woman online and they want to go over there and they feel good about it they feel like it's a solid option but then they get this emotionally
difficult situation and all they think about is the pain and they don't want to give it another chance they feel like why would I set myself up to get burned again why would I set myself up to experience
heartbreak again I could just look somewhere else for love and I'll give them some credit here there's 8 billion people on the planet I personally think there's somebody for everybody that wants somebody naturally we're going to filter down
and that's one of those criteria where it's like okay you know what maybe it ain't going to work out for me over there for some guys who experience heartbreak they just never make it over here for some guys
they realize they can't afford it I know this sounds crazy to a lot of you who know that it costs less to live over here for some guys they want a certain standard of living no longer can you
live like a king for $1,000 a month month here if you want to live a Western Standard here in the Philippines or in comparable places you could easily spend as much or more than what you'd spend in the
west now I know there's some disagreement about this but I've got some high-end coffee shops here that I like to frequent I could easily spend $3 $4 on a cup of coffee I know that maybe some high-end spots
in some places in the US they may charge 78 bucks at the point you get up to $34 for a cup of coffee that's beyond the budget of most Americans most The Americans I know they make their own
coffee at home because Starbucks is pretty expensive now I know many people do go to Starbucks but not everybody's going to Starbucks certainly not every day another example Stakes there are some places where I can get Stakes at
a moderate price point but if I want to go to a name that is recognizable I'll pay the same price there that I would in the US I remember reading a thread where somebody was complaining about the quality
of their accommodation and the responses were something like if you want a high-end experience you can spend $400 a night at a five-star hotel but if you're not spending those kinds of prices be prepared for a more normal
experience and don't expect that you're going to have the Bora Bora style or Bora Bora level experience and you're going to get that at a much more modest price point I personally think that the Philippines offer some of
the best value for money of any country I've been to as as far as what you get versus what you're paying but you have to have reason reasonable expectations I think there's so much on offer here but you
have to have an open mind there are Resorts I've stayed in that have doubled in price because they make improvements every year they upgrade the lighting they upgrade the beds they upgrade everything about it and so it's a
better and better experience and they charge a higher price in line with that yes this country is more expensive than it was 5 years ago to live in a way that's approximately a Western Standard you're going to pay
for that you want to live in a gated subdivision have two big SUVs in the driveway visit borai Palawan that's going to cost a lot when you hear guys living on these very modest budgets they're living in a
small apartment they're eating more affordable cuts of meat they may not be dating they may not have their own transportation they're not living large by Western standards they're actually living what you would say what most would describe as
lower than Western standards and there's nothing wrong with that for the people who think I'm going to live like a king over there I think some will come over here expecting to live live like a king on a
th000 per month and then when they realize wow I can't I actually live a fairly modest life and I'm not really getting a deal on Goods like buying a new iPhone buying a new laptop purchasing a vehicle these
aren't really deals especially import taxes have to be paid gasoline ain't cheap it's not cheap to ship gasoline here all these things cost money and so if you want to live a high-end lifestyle be prepared to pay for
it and I think for some guys they're going to be unpleasantly surprised by the numbers the next point is that they visit and change their mind a lot of vloggers only show the positives of anywhere they go this
includes the Philipines they're in sales mode they're trying to sell you on the twoe millionaire lifestyle oh every single day is going to be a vacation you're going to have women surrounding your car at the airport beating on
your windows to get in and the reality is far from that unless you are a famous actor actress famous musician you're not going to get this kind of response it's a wonderful full place but there are challenges here
there are many ways in which it's not going to be like your home country we're talking about an archipelago we're talking about an archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean you're not going to go on a CrossCountry
road trip here very easily for example there are things that are going to be a challenge in the popular parts of the Philippines expect traffic you're not going to go to the most in demand desirable parts of any
country and it be traffic free there's a lot of really nice places here those places tend to be popular among a lot of people for many reasons they tend to get a disproportionate amount of the attention they're going
to have some challenges that you're not used to the heat is a big one I think some people may love Sunny hot weather on vacation are they prepared to have Sunny hot weather year round I think some people
love the idea of living on a tropical island are you prepared to live on a tropical island year round there are very few things I don't like here but if I only ever said positive about life here you
wouldn't be able to trust me that being said I feel that a bad day in the Philippines is better than a good day in the United States but there are some things here that will bother some people I
think a lot of people will come here and enjoy it a lot some people won't some people will fail to stay here so for some people they might reach the Philippines but they'll fail to stay in the Philippines
they'll move on to another country they might go back to their home country not everyone that comes here will stay here there are people that do stay here a long time I have a number of friends who have
been here for years but there's this sort of survivorship bias right where if you only pay attention to the guys it works out for you might think well everybody loves it everybody wants to stay here for some people
something comes up like a health issue that'll be my next Point here is that for some people they fail to reach the Philippines because they have a health issue I actually have a friend back home in this position
where he debated moving over here he's had some health issues he's talked to his doctor and he's ultimately come to the conclusion it's not for him to live here he still thinks about visiting here but a permanent move
is not in the cards because his health care in his country is fully covered he doesn't have to pay a co-pay he doesn't have to pay an extra fee he doesn't have to search for a doctor he doesn't
have to do research all that's cut out for him all that work is done for him and for him to come over here he'd have to be starting from zero he'd have to really be taking a risk that
he doesn't have to take back home that's Scara where and when it comes to health I think that's an area most of us want to minimize risk we don't want to take big risks when it comes to our
health for some they're going to research their target town and realize man I'm not sure if there's specialists in that area I'm not sure if they can provide me with individualized treatment that I need I'm not sure if
I'm going to get the services that I demand and that really goes for any country I mean I think your mileage may vary a lot of guys fly to bigger cities in the Philippines if they're living in a
smaller City this is why a lot of guys don't live in the province some guys have this romantic idea of the countryside oh I'm going to be rural it's going to be just like being in a rural part
of the United States well just like in a rural part of the United States there's simply not as much infrastructure and service providers so if you need health care you may be limited to larger cities and you may
not be a big city person you may be thinking I need health care but I want to live in a smaller town I can't do that over there so that's another area which they may fail to reach the
the Philippines that person may do a lot of research they may know they can afford it budget wise they may know a friend that's moved over there they may have a buddy that's moved over there but they're not
in a position to where they can do it themselves because they are concerned about their health they are concerned is the medication I need readily accessible am I going to be able to afford the medication I need in
your home country you may have insurance that subsidizes your medication where that medication may not be covered under a relevant health care plan abroad so that's another reason why some wouldbe expats will fail to reach the country of
their choice because they have a demand for certain kinds of health care treatments that are simply not available this is why I tend to push back when I get these comments you need to go home you need to
go home you need to go home there's no guarantee I'm going to be in good shape when I'm older cardiovascular problems run in my family I'm not guaranteed to make it to typical retirement age I hope I make
it there I hope nothing bad happens to me but I'm not counting on it and so I believe in a mix of living in the here and now and also planning for the future but this idea that your
health is going to be in perfect shape when you get older everything is going to go to plan you're going to go over to Southeast Asia and nothing is going to go wrong is not entirely accurate either so
anyway comment down below what do you think about these reasons did you change your mind about coming to Southeast Asia have your plans not panned out the way you thought they would it helps for us to generate an
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