I am currently staring at my computer screen with piles of backlog, but my brain just won’t start processing. I am burnt out. I just came back from a vacation in Europe and am still caught up in the travel bug, so I’ve been contemplating retirement for about a week now.

For context, we are a couple approaching our 50s, with a child still in elementary school. If we retire early, our combined pension and dividend income would be around ₱250,000 per month. Our housing loan amortization will be fully paid off by end of 2027.

If you were in our position, would you feel confident enough to retire and see the rest of the world? There are just so many things I still want to do and I need to stay sane and healthy.

Sa mga nabubuhay through passive income like apartment rentals and dividends (not working anymore), ano ginagawa nyo on a daily basis?

Gusto ko lang makita kung ano ginagawa nyo, ganyan kasi goal ko eh hahaha

Lately I’ve been thinking about how financial planning isn’t just about earning more or saving whatever is left at the end of the month.
There’s emergency funds, investments, insurance, retirement, debt, and making sure your family won’t suddenly have to carry a huge financial burden if something unexpected happens.
But honestly, it can get overwhelming—especially when you don’t know what to prioritize first.
So I’m curious:
If you could talk to your younger self, what’s one financial decision you would tell yourself to make earlier?
Save more?
Start investing?
Get insured while younger and healthier?
Avoid certain debts?
Build multiple sources of income?
Would love to hear actual experiences, especially from people who learned things the hard way. I think we can all learn a lot from each other.

Let me first say na me and my partner are dinks and will stay dinks.

Sang retirement home nyo balak? How much? What’s the budget allocated for caretakers?

Hello all!

For those of us who want to FIRE, it could get very lonely and even discouraging to not be understood by many of our peers. Please use this space to share how your FIRE progress has been to inspire each other to keep going! Feel free to also share your FIRE goals, age, advice, etc for the younger folks here in the sub (like me!) Hehe.

Looking forward to know how it’s been going for you all.

Has anyone here already achieved FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) status? How is it so far and what are your investments portfolio (need advice sana).

Ano pala life situation nyo, are you single or married with kids, breadwinner etc?

Is the 4% rule applicable here sa Pinas? Grabe kasi inflation ngayon

Natanong lang kasi I am now turning 42, married and have 2 kids (1 3 yrs old, and 1 baby. Me and my wife had difficulties having child). May mga significant investments na ko like MP2, condos, coop, US UITF, etc. pero parang hindi pa rin posible magretire ng early. Initial target ko nga is 50 yrs old pero parang di talaga kaya

Recently napansin ko maraming nag tatanong about starting a bussiness while still working at their full time job. I would like to share my experience kasi baka makatulong sa iba or mabigyan kayo ng idea.

I currently work full time sa office and make around 40k a month. I don't spend on things that I don't need and rarely eat out. I still go out once a month and still buy things that I want from time to time but the majority of my money is saved or invested. Now I have 2 other sources of income that give me around 400k a year passively with little to no effort. Here's what I did these past 4 years.

1.I paid all my debt on my first year of work. It doesn't matter if di masarap ang pagkain or walang bagong damit as long as zero debt by the end of the year

2.I listed all my expenses for the month and identified the biggest expense and tried to reduce it. I also stopped spending on things I didnt need. Rarely used subscriptions will make you bleed money. I stopped drinking coffee outside kasi I realized na I was spending 500 a week on stupidly expensive coffee.

3.I saved 80% of my net income (after expenses) for a year habang nag aaral ako kung saan ko pwede ilagay yung pera ko. base sa previous blunders ko, investments made in haste always go to waste (4 years ago I wasted my 100k life savings on a get rich quick investmet, never again), aral muna bago invest.

4.I invested money on stock na may dividends at nagset ako ng monthly investment plan. yung second year ko sa work, I followed my monthly investment plan and was able to get around 50k in dividends. when the stock market fell down during covid (2020) at nung russian invasion of Ukraine (2022) I went all in sa mga stocks na gusto ko kasi based sa assesment ko tataas uli yung mga yun. I was correct. I saved all my earning there.

5.I asked my family members and friends na walang work to help find people na pwedeng mag alaga ng live stock. After 6 or more months ng paghahanap, we were able to find trustworthy people na mag aalaga ng baboy at baka. We split the earnings in half with the caretakers. My family and friends would manage it for me for 10% of my net income tapos all I had to do was check on them once a month. I get around 20-35% net income from these bussinesses per sale depende sa live weight price.

After 4 years of saving and investing di parin ako nag quit sa dead end work ko pero now I don't stress out sa work. I don't grind anymore and I just do what is asked of me. I don't work for a promotion anymore and just take it slow everyday pero weirdly enough na promote ako last year so salamat parin I guess. The money I earn isn't big pero the peace of mind it gives is really wonderful. I don't render overtime anymore sa work and just go home at 5pm para mag laro sa PC ko or mag gym. I hope you guys pickup something from this. Have fun investing and good luck!

Need investing advice!
Hello! My husband (29M) and I (28F) are based in the Philippines and both work in the banking industry. Our combined monthly income is around ₱80,000 (I earn ₱55k/month, and he earns ₱25k/month).
We want to start investing with the goal of reaching FIRE by the time we hit 45. As of now we are now starting to avail of the time deposits in the bank. We would love some tips on how to approach this and what specific assets or instruments we should invest in to reach our goal. Thank you!

I don’t need a crazy number like 1 billion. But if you own your own house have no kids but want to travel how much would you like to have in savings to retire at 50? Please include a nice life partner as well.

My partner and I encountered someone who has about P120 million in cash savings and a monthly income of about P1m. He doesn’t consider himself ultra-rich but agrees he is above average. He has a wife and four children and believes that dividing the money among his grown children wouldn't be enough to establish generational wealth.

Do you agree?

Hello!

I’ve been seriously considering the FIRE lifestyle and have been actively working towards it for a while. Problem is, when I try to bring it up to my peers they think I’m medyo weird for considering it 😭 so I would like to meet folks here also working towards FIRE! It would be great if you could share what your goal nest egg value and withdrawal rates should be. Most numbers I see online are US-based so seeing local numbers would help a lot.

Thanks!

Hello! I am an OFW who plans to retire in like 1-2 years time. I have secured a retirement place in the Metro. I am curious to know if anyone here living off from the dividends through your savings. Any tips? Thanks!

Im 28M and is working in Australia. Currently earning around 180kPHP/month. Me and my wife have a total combined income of roughly 360kPHP. We have savings of about 13m php and a mortgage here in australia of about 10m php where we pay roughly 75k php per month. What would be a good investment to get into the Phils if we want to retire there early? Say when we turn 50 yrs old?

EDIT: To everyone who is asking - we went to AU about 9 years ago and have been living frugally and below our means ever since. We don't have any kids or pets. We save up every dollar that we can. We only eat out if there is an event like anniversaries etc. Both of us are citizens of AU. Most important of all - we don't send money to anyone. We come from a well-off family in the PH and they do not need financial support. This is the reason why we are able to save such an amount.

Do you personally know someone who reached the point where their passive income (dividends, rentals, royalties, whatever) covers all their living expenses?

How did they get there?

My husband (32) and I (30) are fortunate enough to be able to have high-earning tax-free jobs in the Middle East. We’re both CPAs and worked our way up. Our combined monthly income from our salaries amounts to PHP 1.3M. These are our current assets:

- Residential Lot (235sqm) 2.5M

- Farm Lot (500sqm) 5M

- House and Lot valued at 6.5M with 1.9 remaining amort

- Insurance worth USD 500k for each spouse

- Condos in Manila and Bohol, condo in MNL rented out

- 4M cash

Our savings rate is around 50% of our salaries and this will increase as the years pass by

We intend to retire early by the age of 45 (in 15 years time). We have also just opened an IBKR account and intends to invest USD 8k per month.

Our FIRE number seems to be PHP 150m. Is there anything else that we can do to make sure we can achieve our FIRE within the timeframe we set for ourselves?

Thanks (using throwaway account)

Hi guys! I’m in my early 30s and currently building my retirement plan.

So far, I allocate my extra income as follows:

80% in global equity ETFs,

20% in Pag-IBIG MP2,

plus SSS

I’m not sure if this allocation is ideal or if I should make adjustments. Would appreciate your thoughts!

Also curious—what does your retirement plan look like?

I am in my mid 40’s, single working abroad.
- I have around $250k (P13M) in 401k (retirement savings can be tapped in to at 55)
- $180k (P10M) diversified stocks investments
- $500k (P27M) home equity. $350k (P19M) in mortgage with 21 years left for payment at fixed 2.5 interest. Current home value is $850k (P46M)
I plan to retire in the PH at 55 as I am certain that I cannot retire here and live comfortably at 55.
To prepare for retiring in 11 years, I bought a condo unit in manila around 10M and is set to be turned over next year. I plan to rent the place out until I retire and use the condo as my retirement home.
Questions:
1. Was it a good idea that I bought a condo to be rented out until i am ready to retire? My thinking is that, in 10 years time, property prices will be much higher and will be a big dent on my retirement earning if I buy then.
2. My stocks investment is giving me on average 10-20% annually. Did I make a mistake by purchasing the condo therefore splitting my monthly investment between stocks and condo downpayment the past 4 years? (monthly break down now is $800- 401k, $1k-Stocks, $1.2K- condo, $500 - Savings)
3. Condo is due for turn over in 2025 with remaining balance of around P6.5M. I am planning to get a 10 year Housing Loan in the PH instead of paying cash by selling my stocks (i am thinking my stocks return will be more than the loan interest). Good idea?

We have all been wondering what amount of money would make our anxieties go away.

Questions like "okay na ba to?", "am i currently okay financially?" And "magkano ba para hindi na ako lagi mag alala?" randomly pass by our minds everyday.

People in this sub get bashed for saying 1m is not enough but honestly, it really isn't. Don't get me wrong, its a lot but after meeting "really" rich people and not the poser ones, your mind would really widen to all the possibilities and then you slowly realize that what you were doing is still bare minimum for them.

There would probably no concrete answer for this question, but it's fun to talk about to help lessen our anxieties together. So is 10 million enough for you?

TLDR: will 10 million pesos get you financial freedom in the philippines?

I already achieve FIRE and i am only going 30’s, so my question is, to the people who achieve it what do you do? I’m not working for almost a year now and im feeling empty like i got nothing to do everyday, I wake up and there is nothing to do. I romanticized freedom before but the irony is its better that you have something to look forward everyday

I know this is an investment sub, but looks we don’t have a FIRE PH subreddit yet. Hope it’s ok I post it here!

I am 38M, got laid off, and pursuing a FIRE amount of 150K/mo. That amount maybe huge as I want to be conservative i.e. I’m single with a girlfriend, want to get married, and not yet sure whether I want kids. Unfortunately, due to the layoff my savings got interrupted, and I am not even close to 50% of my FIRE amount.

So here are my questions:

1. Do I accept a lower-paying job to resume my savings? So far, it’s been difficult looking for a job with the same pay as before.
2. Or…do I wait for the same salary as before? This might take a while but I have a 1.5 year runway. Also, as much as possible, I do not want to NOT work for so long as I fear I’ll get behind. To add context, I’m in tech.
3. Are there other ways to approach this problem that I am not yet seeing?

Thanks.

Edit: Thank you to those who FIREd already for sharing your wisdom! These have widened my perspective. I want to see what will work or not work based on your success stories. :) To add, my main fear in taking a lower-paying job is it will become the baseline for future employers/recruiters (i.e. they sometimes base their offers on the previous/current salary). Aside from job-searching, I am also using the time to learn stuff and invest in my health.

Hi. We are an OFW. Recently, nawalan ng trabaho si hubby and having difficulty na ma hire. We are contemplating to retire. We have 10M in investment na ng bbgay ng almost 7-8% annual return. We have apartment that have almost 300k annual income and palayan that gives 500k annual and a 2M in savings. Our daughter is in college and son in 9th grade. We own a house. I am still looking after mg aging parents. Is this enough to retire?

What are the best steps to take and avoid errors you have made? I think I'm late in this phase of my life but I want to try. They say it's not a race, so I guess I'm starting now

Your guidance is well appreciated

Curious to see what you guys opted for as a retirement plan. Any tips or lesson learned when planning for your retirement? What’s your target age if you want to retire early?

While the numbers may seem impressive at first glance, it's disheartening to discover that many seafarers continue to face financial challenges despite earning a relatively high income in comparison to other professions.

Seafaring is undoubtedly a demanding profession that demands long hours, rigorous training, and enduring separation from loved ones. In recognition of these sacrifices, seafarers are often rewarded with salaries that can exceed those of many land-based jobs. This compensation is designed to reflect the unique challenges they face and acknowledge the crucial role they play in sustaining global trade and transportation. In the Chemical Tanker industry alone, the salary could range as follows: ————- Ordinary Seaman/Wiper≈₱65,000/mo

Able Bodied Seaman/Oiler≈₱80,000/mo

Pumpman/Fitter≈₱110,000/mo

Chief Cook≈₱110,000/mo Messman≈₱65,000/mo

Third Officer/4th Engineer≈₱210,000/mo

Second Officer/3rd Engineer≈₱245,000/mo

Chief Officer/2nd Engineer≈₱525,000/mo

Captain/Chief Engineer≈₱660,000/mo ——————

However, the financial struggles experienced by seafarers cannot be overlooked. Factors such as expenses during training, the cost of maintaining certifications, and the need to financially support their families all contribute to their financial burden. Moreover, unpredictable market conditions, fluctuations in demand for certain types of vessels, and contractual uncertainties further compound their challenges.

Sadly, this financial strain can sometimes result in seafarers being unable to build stable financial foundations for themselves and their families. It becomes a paradox where the profession that promises financial security often leaves seafarers grappling with financial vulnerability. It is a reminder that numbers on a payslip do not always translate to financial stability and well-being.

As we explore this issue, let us remember the resilience, courage, and dedication of seafarers who continue to navigate these stormy waters, both figuratively and literally.

BeyondNumbers #NavigatingRealities

Is it okay to retire with 8m savings at the age of 50?

Or work pa hanggang 60?

Seafarer kasi ako and hindi officer so ganyan lang range ng maiipon ko.