So, I’m living it up here at the Mope Resort on La Paz beach in San Narciso. Running way behind schedule, so I’m going to have to hurry through this post and get back out to see new places other than this keyboard. I had a nice first day yesterday, taking a walk around the neighborhood. Lots of new places have opened, but I ain’t see many expats out and about. Three altogether yesterday. Matt, the owner of Mope Resort, is currently out of town, but his wife gave us a warm welcome. I chuckled when I was reminded what “Mope” stood for: Matt’s outta pocket expenses. The Resort is for sale, and there may be only one other room occupied at the moment, but we are enjoying our stay regardless. Okay, need to run, but before I go I’ll throw up some photos from yesterday’s adventure:
So, I took LOTS of photos. Some I zoomed in on, others I cropped, and the rest are just on normal settings. Sit back and enjoy the show:
And that was that.
Then it was off to our room for a good night’s sleep and getting ready for day two.
It’s now December 2018 in the LTG archives, and in this post, I claim to have gotten down to “the heart of the matter.” Basically, I didn’t have love in my life, but I had reached the point where I was okay with that. You can probably guess how long that lasted. Even so, I finally found my keeper, so it all worked out in the end.
For today’s YouTube video, I’ll share the latest from Reekay talking about the “part-time living in the Philippines” option. I used to do six months in the USA and six months in Korea when I first retired. It wasn’t bad, but it never really felt like I was at home in either country.
Some humor before I go:
Okay, I’ve got a sunset to attend to and a thirst to quench. Later, gators.
RE: Reekay video
IMO, Working remotely overseas is not as easy as he makes it sound, especially if you are a full time employee and not a contractor. I have gone through it. The tax implications (for the company) can be pretty significant if an employee establishes a base in a place like the Philippines, and the company has not had a presence there previously.
Doing short term work in the US to save money to live in the PI for a few months and then repeat. I am pretty financially conservative and boy, that is not something I would ever think about doing. Seems like you are always one step away from disaster. Something unexpected happens (medical emergency, accident, no job to go back to, etc.) and you are up the proverbial creek without a paddle. YOu’ve seen and I’ve seen it where an expat has some type of calamity and then they are looking for money to help them out. One of the project managers in my company used to say, “your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part”. LOL
Brian, good points. I’m glad it is something I don’t have to worry about. Of course, if Uncle Sam goes broke, I’m screwed. Here’s hoping I don’t live to see that day.
Yes, it is amazing how many people come to the PI with inadequate resources to sustain them in the event of a calamity. And then a lot of them proceed to do stupid shit that brings on disaster. Anyway, we’ll never be riding that boat, thankfully.
Do you have a retirement plan?
Yeah I do. The traditional 3 legged stool.
Part 1 is save save save. LOL
Part 2 is the lucky fact that I work for one of the few remaining non governmental companies that offer a pension plan. They no longer do for new employees but I have been grandfathered in. No COLA, but at least it is something.
Part 3 is Social Security. Not really counting on it, so it will be a nice bonus if it is still solvent when I want to collect.
Yup, we are lucky for sure.
Brian, do you plan to live outside the USA when you retire?
Thinking of what your initial plan was – keep a base in the US and spend time overseas for part of the year.
We will see how that works out. LOL
“Man plans, God laughs”
Brian, that can work. Several of the expats I know do the part-time-at-home thing. They usually try to miss out on the rainy season here.
The ultimate goal is to do what makes you happy.