Retire in Palawan, Philippines

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"If I only knew about this place sooner" How often do we come across something new or interesting to us and quickly say, I didn't know that, or, what I could have done if I knew about this sooner.

Well, such was the case about 15 years ago, during my investment years, as I like to call it. I use to wait eagerly, for the monthly, business magazine to arrive in my post office box. Once I got home, I would sit down and read it from cover to cover. My thirst for knowledge, not just any knowledge, provided me with the desire to learn something new. In this case I was hoping to learn something new from the writers of the different business articles in the magazines. Such was the case when I read an article about retirement.

The article shared about the option of retiring in a foreign country. Well, I had spent my life, growing up in Europe, and even spent, about 10 years of my life, working as a school teacher, working for the Department of Defense. Why not retire in a foreign country. The article went on to share that many Americans are working for 5 - 10 years and selling everything they own, and retiring. It even suggested three countries to retire to: Costa Rica, Panama, or the Philippines. Wow, I felt as if I had hit the “Jack-pot” (An expression which is used here in Puerto Princesa, among those that go out and fish daily.) My next assignment was to go to the library and look up those countries in the Almanac. It was important to read about them. I particularly paid attention to the “Per Capita Income” (How much they earned a year.) This provided me with important information concerning how much it would cost to live there yearly. I realized right then and there, that I could take what ever savings I had acquired and live off of it in one of the three countries mentioned above.

There was only one problem as I could see it. I still enjoyed teaching, and was not ready to leave my profession. So the idea of living in one of these countries would be put on the back burner for the time being.

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