A professional in paradise

I live in the Philippines. When I talk about it it’s about sunshine, nice people, spectacular diving, great food. But sometimes it get a: ”…and it must be sooooo cheap to live there.” This is when the smiles freeze and the clouds emerge…. it isn’t.

 I also get this when I talk to potential customers. When I ask for my usual rates and they find out that I live in the Philippines the eye brows go up: “but don’t you live in the Philippines?” As if I wanted to rip them off by asking for fees that I am worth for. Or as if they have some right to benefit from my own life decisions. I am a professional living in the Philippines, not a society drop-out. So more often than I want to, I need to set this right.

Unfortunately, as a professional, living a Western (in my case German) life-style in the Philippines is more expensive than at home. As a foreigner you want to maintain at least some of your own lifestyle and have: A nice solid house with aircon close to the business district/airport, eat cheese at least sometimes, have your own car for safety, send your children to a good school to keep them globally mobile, have access to global and universal health insurance, have wired, fibre internet. And yes, in the Philippines, I have 50Mb fibre at home. Listen to that, Germany!

You can only benefit from the lower cost base if you adopt the same life-style as the locals. In the Philippines that means: live in a nipa hut in the provinces that you can simply rebuild from scratch after the next typhoon is over, don’t use air conditioning, eat rice with soy sauce and dried fish, take a jeepney, put your children into public school, fall back on your vast family for health insurance, and use only your mobile for internet access. 

In the Philippines, electricity, internet, imported goods are more expensive, some things are cheaper like housing, but most of the rest costs about the same. I compared the cost of my life-style in the Philippines with Germany and Singapore. It does not make a big different. Of course, that includes not owning a car in Singapore.

So, no, unfortunately, living as a professional in paradise is not cheap. This is why these expat living surveys keep putting third world countries at the top. A 1st world life-style is easier to pull-off and cheaper in the first world where demand keeps prices down and more resources are local (e.g. cows).

There is no paradise in the world. If there was, everybody would want to live there. The world is a big place and everybody can find a place that comes close to their individual definition of paradise. Keep searching but be aware of the offsets.