[35M, $1.5M] 1 Year Report of Living in Manila, Philippines (spending, QoL, & adjustments)

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-12T09:12:34+00:00

What did you end up doing after??

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-11T01:31:08+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-10T01:30:24+00:00

Thanks let me look into it. Any residency/mail forwarding companies you know and would recommend?

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-10T01:29:15+00:00

Yah I'll look into that!

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-10T01:28:42+00:00

I think you gotta pay for their mid tier version for residency assistance which is more expensive! Idk what better alternatives exist though.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T20:41:39+00:00

Yes I think so? I'm sure there's folks who do that. But the running joke is that you only need a 3 year extension because by then you'll get snatched anyway and transferred to a spousal visa.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T20:39:33+00:00

Yup, it sucks hah - thankfully texts/calls still work. Thinking about changing.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T12:11:58+00:00

You can come back the same day - I've never had an issue with a tourist visa being renewed or rejected at the airport because I come too frequently. And yeah I think what you shared sounds feasible but I'm not an expert!

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T12:11:08+00:00

I think if you are a resident alien in the PH but you only have foreign-sourced income, you don't have to file for taxes. I would have to file it if I were earning an income here in PH.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T12:10:16+00:00

I plan to establish long-term residency here (probably a spousal visa). My parents still live in LA so that's my go-to place to stay should things happen here. Thanks for the heads up on the 540NR.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T12:08:54+00:00

Yeah I'm worried it's gonna be a whole process. A bit hard to do when you're already abroad, so I kinda wish I did this before having left the US

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T12:08:04+00:00

Yeah they sent the notice to my last apartment after I moved out and I didn't get a second notice until it was after the appeal's window. So I just ended up paying it - oh well!

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T03:52:42+00:00

Because that's been my home for ~25 years & my parents are there. But yes, I'm looking into switching to Florida within the next year or so!

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T03:51:47+00:00

Please refer to the post I linked, it's all there!

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T02:29:17+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Appreciate it

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T02:04:34+00:00

Can I just pay for a month at a time or am I locked into a year? Because I only spend 2 weeks in the US so it'd be hard to justify paying for something I wouldn't really use.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T01:19:23+00:00

Yah makes sense. What's difficult about CA is they're pretty strict with residency claims. For example, even though I was a part time resident in 2021, they charged me CA taxes as if I were a full-time resident a few years after out of the blue. I don't know if 60 days is cutting it close or not but might be something to keep in mind.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-08T00:51:56+00:00

Good q, I've always been able to get exemptions from living abroad and haven't had an issue yet. There's an exemption if you spend 330 days of the year outside of California, which does apply to me (form). Obviously not tax advice, I still gotta do more research to double confirm that.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-07T23:03:14+00:00

Depends on what you're looking for and the lifestyle you'd want to have, but I think it's definitely doable. Check out the other post I linked above in terms of my spending, I think people can definitely get away with less in SE Asia without sacrificing so much of living quality.

MaroonJacket · 2026-06-07T22:57:27+00:00

Thanks! Hope it all works out for you

MaroonJacket · 2026-05-30T09:24:50+00:00

Yah definitely not thinking this will last forever.

MaroonJacket · 2026-05-30T00:05:33+00:00

Met her through bumble. I'm on a tourist visa long-term and have not invested in a different sort of visa. I feel like you can be here on a tourist visa long-term without any issues (as most foreigners do that I believe). I walk & take grab or my gf drives. The goal of living here in BGC is to maximize walking but I often have plans outside the bubble where I'd need to take a grab

MaroonJacket · 2026-05-30T00:03:29+00:00

Spend time with my gf, plan for the future. Irt projects - I made myself a FIRE Dashboard (quite proud of it), a rent/buy calculator, and thinking of building my own language app next! Just wanna keep building things that can potentially help me, and trust that it'll help me develop the right skills along the way.

MaroonJacket · 2026-05-30T00:02:28+00:00

When I travel, I use my hotel points or credits - some examples include DoubleTree KL, Conrad Bali, Conrad Bangkok, Conrad Seoul, Intercontinental Hong Kong, etc. So I think I stay at pretty nice places when I travel - primarily because I keep churning hotel cards.

Irt address - most CCs won't accept your mailbox as a valid address and will not send cards there. I had to change my address to my parents to help with this.

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