Investing in the Philippines

human nature does not change from location to location.

The only thing the US has going for it is a less corrupt than many places judiciary and enforcement mechanisms.  That is quickly changing and not for the better.

kernow2017 wrote:

@geolefrench:

I am not that courageous, but  have learned a lot.

I am moving from the Philippines to Panama - no more Asian countries for me.

Where ever you go, there you are.  Panama is just another former Spanish ruled country, heavily corrupt (or did you miss the drug and rebellion conflabs).  Just easier to get to US and more influenced a bit by US near the canal zone.

LemSaDipolog wrote:

human nature does not change from location to location.

The only thing the US has going for it is a less corrupt than many places judiciary and enforcement mechanisms.  That is quickly changing and not for the better.

example: Elizabeth Warren writes legislation, then markets herself to corporations to help them get around the legislation she wrote.

“A lot of people don’t realize that Elizabeth Warren in the mid-1990s was paid by us, by taxpayers, and hired by Congress to rewrite portions of bankruptcy law,” Schweizer explained.

“While she was doing that and after, she started going to large companies that would be affected by this law and said, ‘Hey, you know you can hire me, an expert. I will help you navigate around and through this law to your own benefit.’ And that’s what she did,” Schweizer told Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow.

I know a retired ‘judge’ who cannot think a way out of a wet paper bag and cannot think through simple solutions: a slave to a corrupt system, seems the person negotiated a way through turbulent waters for many decades, and now will place blame on whomever rather that think things through and accept responsibility where it’s obvious. Telling your truth - that may be spot on - is bypassed in favour of the favoured narrative most times.
These kinds of people run the country, and so it is that the by-word here is to go easy, lest you enrage the sleeping sleaze.

daenr wrote:

I know a retired ‘judge’ who cannot think a way out of a wet paper bag and cannot think through simple solutions: a slave to a corrupt system, seems the person negotiated a way through turbulent waters for many decades, and now will place blame on whomever rather that think things through and accept responsibility where it’s obvious. Telling your truth - that may be spot on - is bypassed in favour of the favoured narrative most times.
These kinds of people run the country, and so it is that the by-word here is to go easy, lest you enrage the sleeping sleaze.

No Filipino I know would deny what you say. There are some hyper defensive foreigners who will though.

Its not FUBAR its FBAR and its anything but a joke.

If you are a US citizen with a foreign bank account which has had a balance of ten thousand USD or more for ANY period of time during the year, you are required to report it before June 30. There is no extension. The penalty is 50% of what is in the account or $10,000 - whichever is more!!

Foreign Bank Account Report
You may have heard of FBAR filing, but you don't know what it is. FBAR stands for “Foreign Bank Account Report”, and refers to FinCen Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
americansoverseas.org › ... › Explanation of the US tax system
What is FBAR and FBAR filing? | Americans Overseas

All you never wanted to know about FBAR
https://www.philippinedestiny.com/2019/ … xpats.html

And I used the Free Fillable Forms this year from IRS. I liked it. You may not.
https://www.philippinedestiny.com/2020/ … -2020.html

note: Free File and Free Fillable Forms are not the same thing. I need to change that url some time.

Fiveboy wrote:

Its not FUBAR its FBAR and its anything but a joke.

If you are a US citizen with a foreign bank account which has had a balance of ten thousand USD or more for ANY period of time during the year, you are required to report it before June 30. There is no extension. The penalty is 50% of what is in the account or $10,000 - whichever is more!!

Foreign Bank Account Report
You may have heard of FBAR filing, but you don't know what it is. FBAR stands for “Foreign Bank Account Report”, and refers to FinCen Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
americansoverseas.org › ... › Explanation of the US tax system
What is FBAR and FBAR filing? | Americans Overseas

Hi and welcome to the forum, please contribute more. But I have to ask though who would be stupid enough in your opinion to firstly have more than US 10K in one Filipino bank account let alone others?
All our dollars are offshore and guaranteed and then some. feed it in as needed.
OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

manwonder wrote:

Kernow 2017;

Lucky you!

International Living ranked Panama the world's best retirement haven on its 2019 annual list.

Best wishes
Cheers

Then again a certain FBAR expert lived 11 years in Panama, moved to Iloilo.  This is not a joke.

Agreed with bigpearl;

"Feed Usd Back As Required"
Oooppps...same us fm Singapore

Cheers

bigpearl wrote:

Fiveboy wrote:

Its not FUBAR its FBAR and its anything but a joke.

If you are a US citizen with a foreign bank account which has had a balance of ten thousand USD or more for ANY period of time during the year, you are required to report it before June 30. There is no extension. The penalty is 50% of what is in the account or $10,000 - whichever is more!!

Foreign Bank Account Report
You may have heard of FBAR filing, but you don't know what it is. FBAR stands for “Foreign Bank Account Report”, and refers to FinCen Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
americansoverseas.org › ... › Explanation of the US tax system
What is FBAR and FBAR filing? | Americans Overseas

Hi and welcome to the forum, please contribute more. But I have to ask though who would be stupid enough in your opinion to firstly have more than US 10K in one Filipino bank account let alone others?
All our dollars are offshore and guaranteed and then some. feed it in as needed.
OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

A lot of foreigners build houses. That usually requires lots of cash being transferred in within short periods of time. It can go over $10k at once.

They buy cars too, which can have the same effect.

When you transfer money in for large purchases it will briefly be in one bank account generally speaking even though it may be more than 10k.

Do you have more than one dollar account that you transfer money into for large purposes so as to not go over the 500KPHP limit at any one time?

But I under stand what you are really saying. And you did not have to call people stupid. Some expats may not know about the 500K PDIC limit. That does not make them stupid and there are better ways of stating what you said, e.g. this post

Fiveboy wrote:

Its not FUBAR its FBAR and its anything but a joke.

If you are a US citizen with a foreign bank account which has had a balance of ten thousand USD or more for ANY period of time during the year, you are required to report it before June 30. There is no extension. The penalty is 50% of what is in the account or $10,000 - whichever is more!!

Foreign Bank Account Report
You may have heard of FBAR filing, but you don't know what it is. FBAR stands for “Foreign Bank Account Report”, and refers to FinCen Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
americansoverseas.org › ... › Explanation of the US tax system
What is FBAR and FBAR filing? | Americans Overseas

You also need to know that it is not $10,000 in one account at one time.

It is $10,000 in the aggregate of all accounts of all types in all foreign banks in which you have said accounts at one time.

LemSaDipolog wrote:

At at least the two rural banks i mentioned you are not correct, but they are 2 of the biggest.  I have cashed in a 6% at Katipunan and received the full principal after only 1.5 years.  The same policy applies at Rizal.  They also offer 1,3,6month 1 yr deposits at lesser amounts.  The taxes are just as you said earlier.

Not sure what you are talking about being incorrect. but just in case it is about being able to cash out early, then remember the N in the LTNCD. The ones you cashed out were likely not negotiable instruments. Otherwise you cannot cash them out early - they would have to be marketed on the secondary market as explained in previous post.

also, anything less than 5 years is not technically long term

Then again a certain FBAR expert lived 11 years in Panama, moved to Iloilo.  This is not a joke.


Forgive me but Im new on this forum. Where's the "joke" and what's your point?
Is this forum like many others just a place for snipers to take aim, or is there a helpful community?

I moved to Iloilo because its much much nicer and more interesting than Panama and I am now married to the most amazing, genuine woman I have ever known in my life (and I have an honorary PhD in that area).

Citing International Living gives me insight into your actual awareness level.

Thanks for the snark though. I hope it served your needs.

Fiveboy wrote:

Then again a certain FBAR expert lived 11 years in Panama, moved to Iloilo.  This is not a joke.


Forgive me but Im new on this forum. Where's the "joke" and what's your point?
Is this forum like many others just a place for snipers to take aim, or is there a helpful community?

I moved to Iloilo because its much much nicer and more interesting than Panama and I am now married to the most amazing, genuine woman I have ever known in my life (and I have an honorary PhD in that area).

Citing International Living gives me insight into your actual awareness level.

Thanks for the snark though. I hope it served your needs.

You are too sensitive.

The operative word in what you wrote is ‘know.’ And that knowing is really all about really knowing them?

Fiveboy wrote:

Then again a certain FBAR expert lived 11 years in Panama, moved to Iloilo.  This is not a joke.


Forgive me but Im new on this forum. Where's the "joke" and what's your point?
Is this forum like many others just a place for snipers to take aim, or is there a helpful community?

I moved to Iloilo because its much much nicer and more interesting than Panama and I am now married to the most amazing, genuine woman I have ever known in my life (and I have an honorary PhD in that area).

Citing International Living gives me insight into your actual awareness level.

Thanks for the snark though. I hope it served your needs.

Sorry if you were offended by my use of your description of FUBAR as not being a joke to site your expertise and experience in knowing that the Philippines is a better place to retire than Panama.  International Living is the true joke.  Lighten up.

Sorry guys..dun mean to be rude!!!
But can i laugh now?

Philippine Destiny wrote:

bigpearl wrote:

Fiveboy wrote:

Its not FUBAR its FBAR and its anything but a joke.

If you are a US citizen with a foreign bank account which has had a balance of ten thousand USD or more for ANY period of time during the year, you are required to report it before June 30. There is no extension. The penalty is 50% of what is in the account or $10,000 - whichever is more!!

Foreign Bank Account Report
You may have heard of FBAR filing, but you don't know what it is. FBAR stands for “Foreign Bank Account Report”, and refers to FinCen Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
americansoverseas.org › ... › Explanation of the US tax system
What is FBAR and FBAR filing? | Americans Overseas

Hi and welcome to the forum, please contribute more. But I have to ask though who would be stupid enough in your opinion to firstly have more than US 10K in one Filipino bank account let alone others?
All our dollars are offshore and guaranteed and then some. feed it in as needed.
OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

A lot of foreigners build houses. That usually requires lots of cash being transferred in within short periods of time. It can go over $10k at once.

They buy cars too, which can have the same effect.

When you transfer money in for large purchases it will briefly be in one bank account generally speaking even though it may be more than 10k.

Do you have more than one dollar account that you transfer money into for large purposes so as to not go over the 500KPHP limit at any one time?

But I under stand what you are really saying. And you did not have to call people stupid. Some expats may not know about the 500K PDIC limit. That does not make them stupid and there are better ways of stating what you said, e.g. this post

Sorry my bad but just picked up on this. Stupid is as stupid does. Just a reminder that PH. law only covers PHP 500K per individual or double for a couple, as another stated aggregate.
One cannot/should not move to a foreign country blindly whether the girls, the destinations, the cheaper way of life/retirement or even that countries liberal visa laws until they firstly do their homework and then boots on the ground and I could go on as I do and it's only my opinion and observations.

As for my comment "Who would be stupid enough?" Most learned people understand that as a generalisation and take that on board, some don't it seems.
We have 4 bank accounts here in PH. but two inactive in Manila for some years though we do deposit a couple of hundred pesos every 20 to 22 months to keep them alive.

Transferring large amounts of money for a property purchase or a motor car and the likes? Those funds were transferred from Australia directly to the recipients account and not to ours in PH. Extensions and renovations will also be paid to the recipients accounts from our bank in Oz.

We only have peso accounts and need nothing else as it appears our banking system in Oz caters for the lowly likes of me.

Cheers, Steve.

manwonder wrote:

Sorry guys..dun mean to be rude!!!
But can i laugh now?

go for it

bigpearl wrote:

Philippine Destiny wrote:

bigpearl wrote:

Hi and welcome to the forum, please contribute more. But I have to ask though who would be stupid enough in your opinion to firstly have more than US 10K in one Filipino bank account let alone others?
All our dollars are offshore and guaranteed and then some. feed it in as needed.
OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

A lot of foreigners build houses. That usually requires lots of cash being transferred in within short periods of time. It can go over $10k at once.

They buy cars too, which can have the same effect.

When you transfer money in for large purchases it will briefly be in one bank account generally speaking even though it may be more than 10k.

Do you have more than one dollar account that you transfer money into for large purposes so as to not go over the 500KPHP limit at any one time?

But I under stand what you are really saying. And you did not have to call people stupid. Some expats may not know about the 500K PDIC limit. That does not make them stupid and there are better ways of stating what you said, e.g. this post

Sorry my bad but just picked up on this. Stupid is as stupid does. Just a reminder that PH. law only covers PHP 500K per individual or double for a couple, as another stated aggregate.
One cannot/should not move to a foreign country blindly whether the girls, the destinations, the cheaper way of life/retirement or even that countries liberal visa laws until they firstly do their homework and then boots on the ground and I could go on as I do and it's only my opinion and observations.

As for my comment "Who would be stupid enough?" Most learned people understand that as a generalisation and take that on board, some don't it seems.
We have 4 bank accounts here in PH. but two inactive in Manila for some years though we do deposit a couple of hundred pesos every 20 to 22 months to keep them alive.

Transferring large amounts of money for a property purchase or a motor car and the likes? Those funds were transferred from Australia directly to the recipients account and not to ours in PH. Extensions and renovations will also be paid to the recipients accounts from our bank in Oz.

We only have peso accounts and need nothing else as it appears our banking system in Oz caters for the lowly likes of me.

Cheers, Steve.

PDIC covers, for example, couples up to 2 million PHP.

500,000 PHP each separately and then the two can have two more 500,000 PHP accounts jointly.

https://www.philippinedestiny.com/2019/ … xpats.html

Each account must be 500k or less, that is why the joint account cannot be a single 1 million peso account.

There are a lot of reasons for temporarily going over the 500k limit. Not everyone has the same options and it is not always convenient. If one of the large banks is going to fail without warning in the short time in which one would be over the limit, then there are bigger problems afoot.

But, as my contact with Bangko Sentral tells me, just like in the US certain banks in the Philippines will not ever be allowed to fail. And if they ever do, then the entire global banking system has failed. In which case you better have lots of yams.

For USA citizens 500,000 pesos is right at the $10,000 mark concerning the extra reporting for FUBAR purposes, another item to keep in mind.

mugtech wrote:

For USA citizens 500,000 pesos is right at the $10,000 mark concerning the extra reporting for FUBAR purposes, another item to keep in mind.

be careful

one of the grouches might bite you 

Fiveboy wrote:

Its not FUBAR its FBAR and its anything but a joke.

If you are a US citizen with a foreign bank account which has had a balance of ten thousand USD or more for ANY period of time during the year, you are required to report it before June 30. There is no extension. The penalty is 50% of what is in the account or $10,000 - whichever is more!!

Foreign Bank Account Report
You may have heard of FBAR filing, but you don't know what it is. FBAR stands for “Foreign Bank Account Report”, and refers to FinCen Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
americansoverseas.org › ... › Explanation of the US tax system
What is FBAR and FBAR filing? | Americans Overseas

Perhaps you should watch Saving Private Ryan to understand why FBAR is FUBAR.

GuestPoster285 wrote:

PDIC covers, for example, couples up to 2 million PHP.

500,000 PHP each separately and then the two can have two more 500,000 PHP accounts .

Nope. That is incorrect. The couple would only recover 1 million.

PDIC covers only up to 500k per account. And a maximum 500k per depositor.

For example,  if my husband and I share a joint account  with 1 million pesos deposited, with a bank that closed, each of us would recover 250k for that account because only up to 500k per account is insured by PDIC. (500k will be divided equally among depositors for joint accounts.) If I have another account with 500k pesos, under my name only, I would recover 250k only from that account, NOT 500k, because I already got 250k from the joint account, and PDIC insures a maximum of 500k per depositor. If my husband has another account with 100k deposited, he wil get back that 100k. So, even though, in that scenario, we have between us 1.6 million, jointly, we can only get back 850k.

If my husband had 500k in his account instead of 100k, he could recover up to 250k from that account since he already claimed 250k from the joint account. Together, we can only recover a maximum of 1 million.

NOT 2 million that you presumed.

Next time you visit a bank, look for a flier / poster / sign that explains what are the rules with regards to PDIC insurance or ask a bank manager / official.

Fil-Am Mom wrote:

GuestPoster285 wrote:

PDIC covers, for example, couples up to 2 million PHP.

500,000 PHP each separately and then the two can have two more 500,000 PHP accounts .

Nope. That is incorrect. The couple would only recover 1 million.

PDIC covers only up to 500k per account. And a maximum 500k per depositor.

For example,  if my husband and I share a joint account  with 1 million pesos deposited, with a bank that closed, each of us would recover 250k for that account because only up to 500k per account is insured by PDIC. (500k will be divided equally among depositors for joint accounts.) If I have another account with 500k pesos, under my name only, I would recover 250k only from that account, NOT 500k, because I already got 250k from the joint account, and PDIC insures a maximum of 500k per depositor. If my husband has another account with 100k deposited, he wil get back that 100k. So, even though, in that scenario, we have between us 1.6 million, jointly, we can only get back 850k.

If my husband had 500k in his account instead of 100k, he could recover up to 250k from that account since he already claimed 250k from the joint account. Together, we can only recover a maximum of 1 million.

NOT 2 million that you presumed.

Next time you visit a bank, look for a flier / poster / sign that explains what are the rules with regards to PDIC insurance or ask a bank manager / official.

So it's better to have accounts, spread your cash with multiple banks to reduce your exposure to a single entity. Get your drift.

Cheers, Steve.

Curious - other than having funds in the USA or the Philippines - where can one park funds that are protected in the event of a bank default?

We are in Metrobank specifically because of the notion that they are "too big to fail".

In this country it is best to hedge your bets based on the level of consumer protection and history.

LemSaDipolog wrote:

In this country it is best to hedge your bets based on the level of consumer protection and history.

Agree and is it really any different in any other country? I think in reality my biggest investment here in PH. is my better half, not the properties or bank accounts, sure they help but at the end of the day? That's why I'm here putting up with all the foibles, for OUR future.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Fiveboy wrote:

Curious - other than having funds in the USA or the Philippines - where can one park funds that are protected in the event of a bank default?

We are in Metrobank specifically because of the notion that they are "too big to fail".

Like in the Auto industry, just in time supply chains, works with my money. I keep my boodle in CitiBank USA were my SS check is direct deposited.

I'm more concerned about fraud than bank failure in the Philippines, so I transfer just enough to cover monthly expenses if my account should get hacked.

If they hack at the wrong time they will be disappointed.

Full faith and credit of the government of (insert your choice here)  changes impact based on which government.

Diksha wrote:

Is the Filipino economy open to foreign investment?

Well. KInd of but foreigners aren't allowed to have control except in "export business"  =Minimum 60 % of the income coming from abroad.

Diksha wrote:

Do local authorities encourage investment (through formalities, tax etc.)?

Well. There are incentives for foreigners in economical zones    (but they are in cities where I don't want to be by I don't want to be in any city or town.)

Elsewhere it seem the government don't want foreigners to have businesses by the rules ffor instance not allowing foreigners to use our business knowledge!   So need to find a Filipino with that knowledge, which can be hard.  It took me several years to find one ok...

But I'm starting anyway   

Diksha wrote:

What are the promising sectors to invest and do business in the Philippines?

That's a business secret      
I have list with 184 business ideas    I could like to start in Phils. (All suiting to live rual, so for people fining cities ok there are mure.) By very much research I have eliminated all except around 10 of which I'm starting one now and plan to start 1-2 more of them later, so I don't want anyone else to start them before me     that's why I don't tell them. 
But I can tell almost all of them are refining oroduction of things growing rural.

One thing I can tell, because I don't like to doi it myself     trading of agricultural products can be very profitable in some cases, but can be problem now by travel restrictions because of covid.

NOTE!  Filipinos are [b]to good at copying because iften they copy to close [/b]- which have made I have skiped - probably    - one of my business ideas, which is much needed, but it would be copied  fast far to much if I start it. (But perhaps I will start it anyway later doing a "speed start" and try to earn before the to much copying will destroy the earning. It will be ok earning in common Filipino messure, but not enough for me to be interested.)
To get chance to avoid this problem it need to be to many can't copy because of:
/Not so many can raise capital to start such.  I mean of them being interested in starting such business.
/They don't have the knowledge.  (But then we have the problem Phil government don't let foreigners use our knowledge (except in "export businesses".)  I have two such businesses at my 10 in top wanting to start, but I'm not allowed if I don't find a Filipino with knowledge and want to be business partner. OR I will start "export business" but then I have the problem I want to be owner of land, which is allowed up toi max 40 % if fullfil the demands, but then I'm not allowed to have the decision power     I have bad experiences from having business partners in my home country, because many even business people are realy stupid      so they have screwed up big, voting me down, while I have succeeded when I have had the majority power.)   So I will not start any of these now but perhaps later in a separate "export business".   It's hard to know what these are even if see the products so I suppouse less theft risk by hard to sell something few people know what it is   
But close copying is a handable problem for prioductions   because in difference from shops normal selling is elsewhere anyway, so a production business can stay even closed much copied as long as geting raw material enough for ok price.   (I will solve that by (main part) of the raw material I will grow myself if needed. The business will have enough space for that too by the business is buying many hectares anyway.)

Diksha wrote:

Who do you turn to for information before investing your money? (organisation, professional, lawyer, consultant)

There are so many scammers/incompetent "specialists" in Phils so I have had to researched, researched and researched again to be "sure".  E g one of my earlier favorite business ideas was mango, back when "specialists" had fooled me too - as they have fooled many farmers    - to believe I would get twoi harvest per year by spraying. The truth is - yes it's possible to get extra harvests a short while, but then will the trees get exhausted or even die, so the total harvests will be less by spraying...
Many farmers have got fooled concerning e g palm oil too.
An info I trust ok is some official statistic from e g Department of Agriculture, which tell the top lists of best earning per hectare.  (But sometimes they have calculated wrong    by some crops don't give harvest the first years.)
There are some interesting official statistics of regional differences in prices too, which can assist both concerning what can be interesting to grow and what can be interesting toi trade from where toi where...
Sure there are some good lawyers, but many are incompetent or even scammers, so I don't trust most of them., Almost all Iaw things I have found by studying Phil laws myself.  That's why I know to many lawyers are incompetent/scammers by they do "solutions" which are illegal and noi chance to stand if checked. Many foreigners have been fooled by that by lawyers they have paid concerning real estate and businesses! 
But I ask many common people and some of them know interesting pieces which together with other pieces can become something good.  Some say I ask to much, but it's because I ask so much I know so much   haha

Diksha wrote:

According to the sectors of activity and the projects, what budget should be foreseen for an investment in the Philippines?

It depend of which type of project 
Concerning starting business - see what I wrote above about try to avoid toi much copying by such business need biger capital. 
(In the business I'm starting now, I will probably need to invest a bit over 2 million pesos, before it start earning, so I don't need to add any more money, but that business is less sencitive for copying than many other businesses, because it's production of a product Phils is a bit short of and there are some export markets in neighbour countries too.)
Some simplified - Concerning starting business I believe biger start capital make biger chance to succeed - but make more capital can be lost too.

Although it can be less amounts for instance at the Phil stock market, which has much better potentials than USA and West Europe, but biger scam risk too by less control in Phils. 
Or can invest in a part of a business, which someone skilled handle.  /(My origin plan was to invite Filipinos to buy shares in the business I'm starting now. Filipinos because of the max 40 % for foreigners and I want whole the foreigner part myself        But we made a simpler solution to start with to get things started faster, but perhaps we will add selling shares possibility later, which add costs at the basic business and much more documents and permits needed.

Diksha wrote:

What do you think are the pitfalls to avoid and what advice would you give someone who wants to invest?

They are a lot, enough to write books about   
by there are more scamming in Phils,
but on the other hand there are a lot of good opportunities in Phils too, much better than in USA and West Europe, because in Phils there are many people short of business capital, so they are prepared to give a much biger share of the income to investors, so investors "only" need to find projects, which will get good earnings   

A Filipjna I know is very good at finding projects (before covid, harder now)  with good earning possibilities, but she was terrible at judging risks. Three years ago she called me and was sad because she had lost 46 000pesos, which was very much for her back then, by some people hadn't paid her as agreed and had disapeared.  I just gave her a hint how to think to jugde risks, which she understood direct, and told her better to chose projects which has interesting earning possibility for both her and the others.  Before covid she had developed that so good so she needed to work only 2-4 days per month collecting her shares of the projects she had financed, plus the days when she looked for more projects. (E g she finance products other sell, but alsoi some other things as e g constructioin workj.)  All has paid since she changed.  One got delayed two times, but found that so embarrassing so second time he gave her his nice motorbike which is worth more than she were suppoused to get.
Some after the change she called me at Tuesday being at one island visititing a friend, went home Wednesday to other island to feych her shares.,  Sunday she called me again., Then she had been at a third island and bought a farmland for almost only bank borrowed money allready!  She had figuered out her shares from harvests will cover all loan costs, so in 10 years it will be hers without dept without she has paid anything      (She has relative there, who she know is trustworthy and have the knowledge to handle her land proper too, and for that they split incomes 50-50.)

pnwcyclist wrote:

I invest in the markets through US brokerage firms and real estate. Some of the fund investments are in foreign markets but they are managed by experts who know the markets, currency exchange issues, etc. Besides overall performance having been extremely good the past 10 years (I don't expect that to continue indefinitely) we have laws in the US that provide transparency (disclosure of risks and fees paid). We also have recourse in the courts. None of this applies to a foreign expat direct investor in the Philippines. Way too risky in my opinion.

Well.  You are right about the biger risk in Phils stock market by less control.
But big part of broker "experts" advices don't even beat index...
In a test a journalist made some years ago, a chimpansee threwing darts did beat over half of them...  hahaha
For real. It was a clever chimpansee named Ola, now in a terrible zoo in  Thailand after he got sold. (If he is alive still.)

NOTE!  Salary system for most brokers are not built at good results, it's built at how much transfers they make customers to make. Bad recomendations accumulate more transfers than very good buy and keep recomendations...

Both US and West European stock markets are crazy overvalued. with so few exceptions so I I don't find it worth the work to try to find the few exceptions...
Even much worse after covid.  Index in USA showextreemly nuts reactions at covid from investors there!!!

GuestPoster285 wrote:

pnwcyclist wrote:

We also have recourse in the courts. None of this applies to a foreign expat direct investor in the Philippines. Way too risky in my opinion.

Well. That is the key takeaway from this thread. You can make a small fortune in the Philippines if you start out with a large fortune. The investment environment is extremely competitive and most foreigners are not prepared to jump into it.

It's much less competition for investors in Phils  compared to "western" countries, by so many in Phils have toi get any financing. Even in financing programs for people without collateral they don't get financing even when they have good business plans!
So there are many opportunities in Phils, but many scammers too. 
But most scams I find obvious scams, so remarkable so many people get fooled by them!  E g how can anyone believe geting "guaranteed" high payouts soon???!!!   It's possible to get high payouts rater soon but no chance it can be guaranteed, because fast such have to be risky...

To judge if it's scam, just think if it's possible the organicers can earn enough at the project they say to be possible to make the "guaranteed" payouts...
Just the word "guarantee" at an "investment" is a huge warning flag...
An other warning flag is making payout soon.  That's common in Ponzy scams...

But there are a lot of high yield possibilities in Phils., E g I know of some types of projects where money realy have been almost doubling their money in 4-5 months, but that's in best case, such types of projects can be losses too. 
But there are some projects, which are almost safe, with good but realistic earning possibilities, and taking longer time...

Scams are as old as prostitution, if not older.  That is only true because as one brilliant person put it " There is a sucker born every minute"

Your yield may vary based upon your choice of associates and level of ignorance.

LemSaDipolog wrote:

Scams are as old as prostitution, if not older.  That is only true because as one brilliant person put it " There is a sucker born every minute"

Yes. It's remarkable though so many people get scammed when it's obvious scams.  Obvious if thinking...

The new business partner I have found  - or more correct found by an American, who has hired this team. lead by my new business partner, for different jobs.   The Ameriucan said: 
-These guys don't drink or gamble, they work...  With these guys we just agree price and what to get done, then I can leave and it's done like agreed when I get back...

This guy has been scamed twice rather recently himself by rich Manila people.  1. Didn't get pay for a work.  2. They tried to grab his family's ancestral land. Many such rich people expect common people to give up without trying to go to court, but  this time it was the rich, who gave up     when my business partner made a court case of it.

In the negotiarions with me it was my business partner, who hesitated much to accept the very good offer I made him, where I take almost whole risk. He hesitated so long time so I could have lost patience, skiped him and chosed an other business partner alternative I have elsewhere rather far away. So my business partner is  very honest or an extreemly good scammer   

LemSaDipolog wrote:

Your yield may vary based upon your choice of associates and level of ignorance.

Yes. I'm used to succeed, when I have had majority power, but have been in some "partnerships" * in Europe where I haven't had majority and the majority voted me own and screwe up, some by incompetence and some by they wanted fast money instead of much more total but slower... 

It can be level of ignorance at sellers too     by they are incompetent at handling the business they have! When they don't understand why they get bad results, then many want to sell cheap. Cheap IF knowing how to solve the mess they have done      It's such cheap bad handled business I and my business partner aim at buying.  Two such checked a bit so far. One is crap not worth to try to solve.  The other we will check in details and buy probably.

We foreigners aren't allowed to have the control of such in Phils (except export businesses )  so I hope my business partner will do as I hope  he will         (Although in the contract both have veto right against two types of changes, so both have to agree to become such types of biger change.  =Not allowed to borrow with the business as collateral. And both have to agree at both buying (or selling) the businesses we aim at solving the messes in.  But we aim at never sell, only exband      by profits we expect to make. So I expect to only make a one time investment.  Although a Swedish friend of mine, with experience from such business in Sweden, got interested when I tol him what I have found in Phils, so it seem he will want to join adding money for faster exbantion - after he has seen how I succeeded with this  haha

*Partnerships.   No chance I would ever be in any normal such where partners are responcible for what other partners screw up -. more than can lose investment and value of work. So I have never been in any such unlimited partnerships in Europe neither and will never be - except perhaps with my wife   

Foreign investments are very much welcome in the Philippines, subject to certain conditions (e.g. corporations can't be fully foreign owned, foreigners can own condo units or houses but not the land it's on, etc.) so it's best to work with local partners if you plan to invest or do business here.

***. Hope this helps!

"Foreign investments are very much welcome in the Philippines, subject to certain conditions (e.g. corporations can't be fully foreign owned, foreigners can own condo units or houses but not the land it's on, etc.) so it's best to work with local partners if you plan to invest or do business here.

[link under review] is doing well right now and can actually be a profitable investment, even with the pandemic ongoing. Hope this helps!"

Hi Rose and welcome to the forum. I will offer that most foreigners/expats that chose to live in this country already made their biggest investment, their partner. If you want to sell something perhaps you should visit the the classifieds and advertise.

Cheers, Steve.