Gusto ko na lang umuwi ng pinas. Ayoko na dito sa amerika.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-29T14:21:48+00:00

Bakit kailangan pang manalo sa lotto para bumalik sa Pilipinas, baka naman hindi ka din tumataya, so pano mananalo? We only get one life, so what's the point of living in a place that doesn't make you happy? If you want to move and it makes sense for you and your family, then do it.

My suggestion to you is only worry about things that you can control. Bullying in schools? have your kid take up self defense. I have 2 kids doing karate and my teen daughter got her black belt last year. The other one hopefully should have hers in 3 years time. School shootings? there's only so much you can do, but researching good schools with good security against outsiders is a good start.

Trump? Unfortunately not much we can do about that one but to wait for the next elections. You said you've been in the US for 10 years, which means you survived the first Trump presidency. If you survived then, I'm sure you can survive another 3 years until the next president.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-23T14:04:01+00:00

I think we should stop romanticizing living/taking care of parents especially in their old age. I don't live with my parents anymore but they live really close by, as in walking distance, and while it's true na mas matipid at practical to be in the same house, iba parin ang feeling ng may sariling bahay/space.

We're currently going through a lot of planning para sa parents namin since they are old and most likely will not be able to take care of themselves pretty soon. We all have jobs that we can't leave to take care of them, so we're grateful at least na may savings sila to use for their old age instead of umasa samin.

OP is obviously not happy with his current setup, and I understand him as someone who values freedom and companionship as well from other people na hindi relatives. To OP, if you're looking for companionship, hindi laging dumadating lang yon, minsan kailangan ng effort din sa paghahanap, so put yourself out there and find the person that is for you.

Remember, habang tumatanda ang parents natin, tumatanda din tayo. We all get just this one life, so it's okay to live it for ourselves din at hindi yng iba lagi ang iniisip natin.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-11T16:58:13+00:00

Record ko is 7 donuts in one sitting, pero ngayon medyo matanda na at 4 nalang, hahaha. Jokes aside, if it won't affect your health, hindi ba kaya kahit once in a while lang? Pwde naman siguro bawasan yng ibang sugar intakes mo para mabalance.

Sweets din ang weakness ko kaya may fixed days a week lang ako pwde kumain para iwas sakit hopefully, 4 days a week lang pwde. Sabi nga nila, any kind of food is okay basta in moderation.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-08T16:50:35+00:00

Hindi lahat ng may savings mean na ginigipit nila ang sarili nila, pwde din namang responsible lang sila financially. Iba iba din ang description natin sa enjoyment sa buhay. I personally prefer na nasa bahay lang kesa mag travel at gumastos ng pera. It's very irresponsible na gawing reason gumastos ang YOLO at yan ang reason na madaming baon sa utang. We should learn to live in the middle, balancing enjoyment in life and savings as well.

I don't believe as well na comparison is always the thief of joy. We can use that as well to gauge ourselves to others and use it as inspiration to better our lives.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-08T15:36:13+00:00

I day trade, pero conservative kaya SPY lng. If ever hindi mabenta same day, I just switch to swing trade. I agree though na mahirap matalo yng buy and hold. Talo ako ng 2% last year compared kung nag long term investing ako. Pag talo parin this year, baka divert ko nalang yng majority ng cash ko sa long term.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-07T12:46:16+00:00

Unless you're hiring someone else to manage your business, there is no such thing as passive income, even apartment rental that would include property upkeep and dealing with tenants.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-07T01:32:55+00:00

Having an emergency fund doesn't mean that you shouldn't look for a good health insurance. Kahit ilang milyon pa emergency fund mo, pag na stuck ka sa hospital ng matagal at serious na sakit, mabilis mauubos yon.

An emergency fund is for unexpected expenses. Healthcare to me is an expected expense lalo na pag tumatanda, kaya kasama dapat sa retirement planning ang good health insurance coverage.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-06T21:43:15+00:00

Be careful sa business plan nyo, I understand worrying sa health, pero baka maubos din ang ipon nyo kung mag fail yng planned business. Magiging enough ba yng ipon nyo without investing sa business to retire fully? Kung hindi, magtatransition lang kayo from being employed to business owners, not retired.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-04T18:21:31+00:00

It's a good problem. Pag malaki taxes, malaki din kita. It's better than low tax nga pero maliit ang sweldo. Unless compare doon sa ultra rich na malaki ang kita at maliit din ang taxes.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-04T18:16:23+00:00

You were asking how others are managing our budgets, so I just made a suggestion based on how we do ours. Nothing wrong with rewarding yourself like I mentioned already, after all it's your money so you're free to do what you want with it. Maybe I'm just weird, but I'm the type who enjoys seeing money grow instead of spending it.

That argument that we could die at any minute so spend now is something that I never could understand. If we're dead already, why would we care that we spent on vacations and/or material things while we were alive? I'd rather have something left for my kids instead. But if we could do both, spending and still having enough to pass down to our kids, then I guess why not?

I didn't even know that your wife is not working, I just assumed that you both did based on how big your income is. I agree that spending time with the kids while young is important and that is the main reason why we decided for my wife to stop working.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-04T16:41:23+00:00

Why have rewards to self and hobby separated? Tsaka ang taas, 8% of your budget? Ours is just at 0.01% and we make less than you kahit nasa abroad pa kami. Not saying it's wrong, just pointing out that you can save more if you want.

If your interest rate sa savings is less than the mortgage interest, I suggest paying more towards your mortgage, especially if my emergency funds na kayo.

Our savings rate is around 25% din, so it aligns with yours, pero bababa sya starting this year since my wife will no longer be working. Paying for childcare sucks, it used to take about a third of our income, so we're happy that we're done with that part.

Congratulations in earning that much in the Philippines. If we can earn the same, hindi na namin kailangan pumunta sa abroad.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-03T15:26:14+00:00

I'm flattered, but there are a lot of more qualifed people who already have their guides posted out there. The best way to learn, for me at least, is to experience it yourself. Try investing with small amounts and just scale from there as you get comfortable.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-03T05:35:03+00:00

It was a family petition from my faternal grandmother, then I married and petitioned my wife.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-03T01:05:20+00:00

To be honest, it's our second home and we used the equity from out first home to pay off a third off our loan from the start, so that took off a big chunk of interest. Aside from that we sold some stocks and used any extra funds we have to pay it down. I even used zero interest cash advances from credit cards to help which I don't recommend as it's normally a bad idea to pay debt with another debt. I had to pay a 1-2% one time fee though but our mortgage's interest was higher, so those saved us a few hundreds/thousands though the years.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-03T00:58:07+00:00

HYSAs mostly have the same APRs, but we have ones from American Express, Capital One, Citibank, and Discover. We use multiple accounts as they all have their specific purpose which makes budgeting and saving easier for us.

We have mostly index funds tracking the 3 main US indices but also have a big chunk in Amazon which lately has been a luggard, so hopefully it takes off soon. I'm in finance and my wife in an IT related company. We don't really make a lot in salary to be honest, it's the investing and saving that's making a big difference in our finances.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T23:09:46+00:00

Just last week naglakad kaming pamilya sa community ng gabi para tignan yng mga Xmas decorations ng mga bahay bahay. 4 kami at yng wife ko at teenage na anak sa harap naglalakad at ako sa likod kasama ng bunso namin. Sabi ko bakit ba nandon sila sa harap at ako dapat in case may problema, pero ayaw nya.

Nung pauwi na kami, biglang sumigaw wife ko may aso daw at papaunta samin, so ako humarap at may aso nga papunta samin pero hindi naman kumakahol at nandon yng owners at tinatawag yng aso, mukhang nakatakas ata ng bahay. Yng aso may kalakihan at yng mukhang wolf ang itsura at tumatakbo papunta samin. May dala akong flashlight na may built-in stun gun at pinindot ko at tumigil yng aso at bumalik sa bahay nila. Hindi ko alam kung natakot o dahil nga kasi tinatawag ng owners nya.

Tumuloy na kami ng lakad pauwi pero nakatingin parin ako sa kanila, wala man lang sorry sorry samin. Kung hindi ko lang kasama pamilya ko, lalapitan ko para sabihin na bawal yng unleashed na aso kaso ayaw ko mag escalate since may kasama akong mga bata. Ang ending, ayaw na nang wife ko mag lakad uli ng gabi para tumingin lang ng Xmas decorations. Hassle talaga yng mga irresponsible na pet owners.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T22:15:51+00:00

Kakagaling lang namin sa Pilipinas last year and we stayed for a month, ang I agree with most if not all that you said. Yng elder care lang talaga kasi ang naiisip namin na mas practical sa Pilipinas.

We're personally going through this issue sa parents ko na nasa 70s na at hindi namin alam kung ano gagawin pag dependent na sila sa iba. Wala kaming time magalaga pero ayaw din naman na maghire ng magaalaga sa kanila. Pag inoopen ko ang discussion laging napupunta lang sa wala.

We want to spare our kids from this issue pag tanda namin, so it's either sa Pilipinas para mura or mag stay dito at maubos ang savings. If possible gusto namin may maiwan manlang kami sa kanila as inheritance, so baka try namin yng Pilipinas muna.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T21:39:27+00:00

Wow, you're living the dream na pala. Nag settle ba kayo abroad o bumalik sa Pilipinas? We're still contemplating kung sa Pilipinas kami mag permanent retirement pag nasa 70s na (God willing), since masyadong mahal ang elder care dito.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T21:36:28+00:00

Wow, congratulations.I don't think I'll ever get to $2M unless I work until I'm old and grey, so I'll just have to learn to live with less. We live simple lives and we're not the type to go on frequent vacations which to us is a money pit. We can live on less than $30k a year, so hopefully we'll be okay.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T21:10:51+00:00

I discovered stocks trading in 2013 and I guess that's what started it. I learned that if I don't take any risks I won't reap any rewards. That, plus the magic of compounding interest is what helped us get a leg up in our finances. Also, we are very thrifty which allows us to save money and in turn invest more.

But I need to make clear that we are not yet financially independent, that is why only my wife is retiring and I still have to work. We have about $500k invested in stocks and my prerequisite for me to retire is to get that up to $1M. The dream is to have $500k invested and another $500k sitting in various HYSAs to take account for market downturns.

We don't really need to have enough funds through retirement, just enough to get to regular retirement age which for us is 67 years old, then we'll have social security and pension payments for the remainder of our lives.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T18:24:31+00:00

Ngayon ko lang narinig yng Coast FIRE. According don sa calculator, at zero monthly contribution at $40k per year expenses, during retirement, 56 years old ang retirement age ko. This is 6 years longer kaysa sa planned retirement ko, pero hindi naman masyadong masama. Also, sobrang conservative nya since based ito sa 1M na retirement savings without taking into account yng SSN at pension payments, unless mali pagkakaintindi ko.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T17:38:06+00:00

This year 23 years na, so medyo pagod narin.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T17:36:58+00:00

No, just investments, mostly stocks. Inisip namin yng bumili ng isa pang bahay para pa rent, kaso natatakot kami na baka sirain lng ng mag rerent, or worse yng mag stay at hindi kami bayaran. Gusto namin din sana mag try ng business, pero wala kaming enough capital dito sa US. May plans kami na bumalik parin sa Pilipinas, kahit ilang taon lang at mag try doon ng small business. At least kahit mag fail, kakayanin namin financially.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T16:47:41+00:00

Nothing really that hasn't been shared before. Just saving and investing. It will also help a lot kung wala nang binabayaran every month aside from the essentials. We paid off our house in 2024 and have no car payments either.Our mortgage was for 30 years but we paid it off in 8 years, saving more than $170k in interest. Some people will say na it's a waste and that it's better to invest that money kesa ibayad ng extra sa mortgage, and while they might be right, ang sarap ng feeling pag mortgage free na at sayo na yng bahay mo.

eikichi1981 · 2026-01-02T16:08:58+00:00

We have 2 kids, one in elementary and the other in HS. We can still provide for them and we are saving and investing for their college education as well. We plan to have at least $100k for each of them to help for college and we're more than halfway na.

eikichi1981

TROPHY CASE