Retiring young. Age 38. Active duty military.

Hello there.
There are many comments on this in different threads on this forum,  I suggest you search through as many of these as you can, will probablly give you a good idea. Most important is " have you been to the Philippines before ?"  You need at least a long visit before you make up your mind.
regards  Bruce

I definitely agree with Bruce, smell the roses but I have to ask CL why do you wish to retire at such a young age given children of 2 and 5 can only assume you are young and have plenty of fight left. Perhaps I am wrong with your age.
Regardless, welcome to this forum and we do hope you glean, contribute and enjoy.

Cheers, Steve.

Yes. I have visited approx a dozen times and been to about two dozen different cities. Longest stay was about 30 days consecutively.

Well, for me 20 years in the military doesnt got me feeling young. I'll be 38 when I retire and had my kids a bit later after doing all the cool guy army stuff during my first half of my career.

I may do government contracting for a few years just to scoop up some extra income. Thanks for the warm welcome. I look forward to chatting with those who have lived the expat life and picking their brains for advice and mentorship.

Why the Philippines...are you involved with a pinoy? I only ask because of your childrens future. Most young people here want to go eltsware as soon as they can start a carrier. The economics here do not look bright.

Greyone48 wrote:

Why the Philippines...are you involved with a pinoy? I only ask because of your childrens future. Most young people here want to go eltsware as soon as they can start a carrier. The economics here do not look bright.

Pinoy or Pinay? Filipino children don't necessarily want to go "eltsware" for a decent education where they learn to spell, many/most are happy to live a simple life with a caring family. Most start a career in a god forsaken university that proffers employment for the ill witted individual and mayhap family and whilst taking their pesos most recipients cannot secure employment as an architect, nurse or an engineer or attorney  and suffer the life of a helper/slave in a foreign country only to get out of what they perceive to be an ill begotten homeland.
Economics in PH. and dare we forget family are relative no different to any other country or desire. Filipinos are a lot more passionate and committed with regards to the topic.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl wrote:

Greyone48 wrote:

Why the Philippines...are you involved with a pinoy? I only ask because of your childrens future. Most young people here want to go eltsware as soon as they can start a carrier. The economics here do not look bright.

Pinoy or Pinay? Filipino children don't necessarily want to go "eltsware" for a decent education where they learn to spell, many/most are happy to live a simple life with a caring family. Most start a career in a god forsaken university that proffers employment for the ill witted individual and mayhap family and whilst taking their pesos most recipients cannot secure employment as an architect, nurse or an engineer or attorney  and suffer the life of a helper/slave in a foreign country only to get out of what they perceive to be an ill begotten homeland.
Economics in PH. and dare we forget family are relative no different to any other country or desire. Filipinos are a lot more passionate and committed with regards to the topic.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

And I can easily add more resilient and humble than myself and what others can bring to this conversation.

Cheers again, Steve.

Greyone48 wrote:

Why the Philippines...are you involved with a pinoy? I only ask because of your childrens future. Most young people here want to go eltsware as soon as they can start a carrier. The economics here do not look bright.

His Pinay wife is a Filipino national, as revealed in a similar thread.

I have been married to my filipina wife for 6 years(together for 9) and we have two kids together. I know the education is not the best however they will attend a private international school and love the simple life.

The thing I enjoy the most about the Filipino culture is the simplicity.

AmericanSoldier2022 wrote:

I have been married to my filipina wife for 6 years(together for 9) and we have two kids together. I know the education is not the best however they will attend a private international school and love the simple life.

The thing I enjoy the most about the Filipino culture is the simplicity.

Tuition at an international school is around US$18,000 - 25,000 / year / child at elementary level.

I do understand...great luck to you and yours.

FilAmericanMom wrote:

AmericanSoldier2022 wrote:

I have been married to my filipina wife for 6 years(together for 9) and we have two kids together. I know the education is not the best however they will attend a private international school and love the simple life.

The thing I enjoy the most about the Filipino culture is the simplicity.

Tuition at an international school is around US$18,000 - 25,000 / year / child at elementary level.

In addition to the economic strain you will be quite limited in your location choices, as many of the International schools are in Metro Manila.  There are schools in Angeles, Subic ,Baguio and Cebu, but this eliminates many of the provinces as places to live.

To the American soldier. Let me start by saying I am a retired Marine. Plus I worked and additional 23 for civil service. So 43 years with government. I was stationed here in Subic plus visited here numerous times. I live here now as missionary

I am not trying to discourage you from coming to live here. But just visiting here the time you have does not really provide what it’s like to live here. Ultimate the decision to come live here is yours.

At 38 you are still young. You could start another career why you are still young and retire twice. You could get with government job 10 years and retire. I am just saying why not wait. Gain more money plus better education for your kids. Come here on vacation until you are ready to come for good.

I had the same plan as you initially. Retire military and come here. Glad I waited. Really glad. Now military retirement, government retirement, ssn and disability. Much better position financially.

It’s your choice but being in to big of a hurry to come live here isn’t always best.

Finishing culinary school here is a great thing because of cost. But if you try work in that field here you might be disappointed. First they can pay filipino way less than american with same education in the field you are in. Maybe taking that back to USA maybe better. I don’t know.

Just my final take. Do your due diligence to find out all you can before coming here. Learn Tagalog if you can it will help out a lot. Getting 13A visa done before you come is the best thing in my experience. But again learn all you can. Use this website and others.

Great advice Wayne... been all over the Phils and Thailand, staying in US until my daughter is in college, then 6 months US and 6 Months Asia

I'm going to go to culinary school just for fun. I have no intentions of working as a chef for anyone but my family. Always loved cooking. Gotta love that GI Bill!

AmericanSoldier2022 wrote:

I'm going to go to culinary school just for fun. I have no intentions of working as a chef for anyone but my family. Always loved cooking. Gotta love that GI Bill!

I feel the love and appreciate your enthusiasm. Coming around one night to enjoy your passion. You will go far in the Philippines with your positive vibes and hope the reality never dents your commitment as it tends to do with others, on the same page mate.

Cheers, Steve.

AmericanSoldier2022 wrote:

I am planning on retiring in about 3.5 years in the Philippines. I am just starting to look into the process of everything so if anyone can give me initial tips and practices, please let me know.

My husband and I moved here back in  mid 2008. I lost my job and it was hard to support a family of 3 in San Francisco, CA with just my husband's income. (And I had a feeling that the housing bubble was going to burst and I would have a hard time finding  job.) We were also thinking long term.

Back in America, we didn't have a house because we could not afford it. And unless we had an unexpected windfall, we might have to work till we could not get out of bed, had Alzheimer's, got paralyzed or died, which ever comes first. So the decision to move here was not that difficult, especially because I had the support of my parents.

It was hard adjusting at first and we went over our annual budget. It was so easy to spend. We had to adjust to a lot of things. Stuff that was so commonplace in America, of which their availability we take for granted, you might not find here. (One American on this forum asked recently where to find Daisy Sour Cream, something he said he could not live without. He would have to improvise.)  Blueberries, tender USDA beef, fresh milk, Haagen Dazs ice cream, (I think the last item had been discontinued the Philippines 3 years ago), Neosporin are very expensive. 

I would like add to this, perhaps later or tomorrow, about kids and schools. Got to go back to work.

Coming from a military background like myself you like order and discipline. In my opinion that’s liking here in philippines. Depending on where you live it can be really bad. I live in province so it’s really liking. In USA you come to expect that. And to me it was tough living in a place liking that.

Like USA there is the good, bad and ugly everywhere. I went to college after I retired as well using G. I. Bill. The extra money helped.

Are you billing home here? Or buying one or just renting? That’s another interesting factor in and of itself.🤪🤪🤗

How do you figure you're making 3 - 5k with military pension at 38? 

https://militarypay.defense.gov/calcula … alculator/

Your first year out retiring at E-7 with 20 years, you're only making $21,070.27 annually.  That's around $1700 a month.  Not enough to live comfortably over here by most American standards.

I think you may be wrong not being able to live comfortablely here on 1700.00 per month.

Greyone48 wrote:

I think you may be wrong not being able to live comfortablely here on 1700.00 per month.

He's talking about sending his two children to International schools.  Cannot see how anyone would support a family of 4 with two children in private schools on $1,700/month.

Greyone48 wrote:

I think you may be wrong not being able to live comfortablely here on 1700.00 per month.

Not when he's talking about supporting a family of 4 and sending two of them to school for less than $1700.  His original post mentioned having 3-5K in month in retirement in 3 years.  Not as an E-7 with 20 years in you're not...

Hi thanks for the reply. I am going to be renting a house until I find a stable location to live out my life with my family.

Hi, and thanks for the reply . I have calculated and estimated everything due to VA medical payments as well. I should retire at between 60% to 100% due to my PTSD and other medical issues. The estimate is accurate of between $3k to $5k 

Thanks