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Best Posts in Thread: Cost of living in dumaguete? ($860 VA disability pension enough?)

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  1. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    It is extremely difficult (but not impossible) for a long nose to live on a local budget....and basically impossible for anyone that hasn't already lived in the Philippines for several years to learn all the local tricks on price negotiation. I would even go so far as to say that unless you are at least conversational in the local dialect you won't be able to live on a local budget. It is dangerous to suggest it is possible to a new comer. There are no social programs in place in Asia to help those that fall on bad times. Coming here on a limited budget could lead to an early death.
     
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    Rye83, Jan 1, 2018
    #49
  2. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    The simple solution and Golden Rule on the internet is do not send money to anyone for anything. If you follow that rule then you cannot lose money. I fail to understand the mentality of people who send thousands of dollars (for example) to people they never met or to obtain a 'benefit' of millions in return! The scammers have all the time in the world to keep plugging away, so stay resolute. In fact, at the first mention of sending money, use the delete button.
     
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    Notmyrealname, Dec 30, 2017
    #35
  3. PatO

    PatO DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer Veteran Marines

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    If your VA disability requires you to go to the Manila or Guam VA centers or if you need to hire a helper, that could eat into your budget. Not a lot for a 26 yr old guy with limited funds to do here. The reality is many of the young chicks here will go for a fat old foreigner with money to help them and their families so unless you get lucky you might not be satisfied with your lifestyle here.
    My suggestion would be to find a match on one of the Philippines dating sites, explain your situation, and hope for the best. Proceed with caution and good luck.
     
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    PatO, Dec 29, 2017
    #30
  4. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    Yeah ... my personality is to prepare for the worse-case scenario (although I don't have a fully stocked bunker yet!).

    When you so often see a family of 5 or more fully unprotected on one motor cycle then you know the possibility of serious medical costs is one crash away.
     
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    Notmyrealname, Dec 30, 2018
    #98
  5. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    This is why I shake my head when people say they are happy to take care of their extended family's medical bills - one serious vehicle accident involving, say, 5 family members and that could be P5 million.
     
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    Notmyrealname, Dec 30, 2018
    #96
  6. osodelnorte

    osodelnorte DI Forum Adept Restricted Account Showcase Reviewer

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    No, you could not live in Dumaguete on that amount. However, you could move to Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia and live fairly well. Of course you would need to apply for welfare programs, Medicade, Food Stamps, etc but you could do it. Here in the Philippines you would pretty much be miserably broke.
     
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    osodelnorte, Mar 22, 2018
    #73
  7. NYC

    NYC DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer Blood Donor Veteran Air Force

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    My experience is that they come to the Philippines to sit around a cafe drinking Red Horse and complain about the Philippines. I think that may be part of the reason for the "trailer trash" comments earlier in the thread.
     
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    NYC, Jan 16, 2018
    #67
  8. Happyandre

    Happyandre DI New Member

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    I use one of the sites .. know some nice girls in Duma with it.. ones with jobs checkable Facebook pages... real ones. The scammers are easy to pick after a few conversations if you know what tosay and questions to ask.
     
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    Happyandre, Jan 6, 2018
    #66
  9. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    Wait....how the f'n hell are you getting $860 a month on less than 60% disability?! I'm at almost 40% disability and get a bit over $400 a month? What was your rank when you got out? Maybe you were smart and joined a bit earlier than I did at 21 and obtained a higher rank?

    As for the working online: unless you have some moderate coding or exceptional writing skills you probably won't have much luck getting work online.

    If you possessed a security clearance (and have been out of the military for less than 2 years) I would highly suggest you go to Security Clearance Jobs - ClearanceJobs and upload your resume and look for work over seas. You can make anywhere from $100k-400k per year contracting, depending on your skill set of course. (Avoid security positions as they generally only pay around $50k-75k per year.) I've been contacting on and off since 2008 (since I was 25) and have done very well for myself. On average I work 1 year and take one year off....but I'm in good with my company and they allow me this freedom.

    If your experience in the military involved air defense, radios, crypto, intel or C-IED stuff I can point you in the right direction. (I work on radio/cell phone jammers for a C-IED program with Lockheed Martin. These programs have not seen much of pay cut like a lot of other programs have. After the first year you would be looking at an effective pay of around $200k, after the $105k tax free benefit of working overseas.) Being smart with your money and you could have around $1M saved up after 5-6 years or so. Then your $860/month would allow you to stretch that money out, if smart, for the rest of your life.
     
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    Rye83, Jan 2, 2018
    #61
  10. Dutchie

    Dutchie DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer Veteran Army

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    Rets, with all due respect, if you need to ask that question, it is very unlikely that you'll be succesful as an entrepreneur.
    There are plenty options, and most of the more succesful ideas rely on attracting enough of an audience (viewers/readers/subscribers/visitors) so you can make money through advertisements. Whether it's a succesful website/blog/vlog/youtube channel, they all make money through advertisements. However, any option of starting an online business will require a lot more initiative than asking for advice.
    As for "getting a job online", some people teach a language online (but unless you have teaching skills and know more than one language yourself that's obviously a no go), so unless you have better qualifications than most, forget it; I can't think of any unskilled work online.
     
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    Dutchie, Jan 2, 2018
    #57
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