60s are the new 40s - Flores thread tangent

Thank God for you Phil. I was going to stay in bed all day.You pulled me out of a depression!

I'm 69.......and love growing stuff.....do you have room on your 'spread' for a mango or lychee plantation? If so, I'm in!

How the hell do you keep up with the Sox so well half-way around the world?...and how/why did you get there in the first place....not to get too personal.

gerry, that sounds like a slice of heaven.

Short version, lol, mid 90-s, I was living the American dream. My wife and I were both self employed, well known in our fields and generated 6 figure incomes working an average of 6 months a year. Everything including our house was paid off and we had well over $1m in a (Defined Benefit Pension Plan) which was set up to maximize tax deferrals. I was the administrator and that was a key. For those with high incomes and self employment, a good (very good actually) tax attorney would know about it.

Medical financial disaster struck (step grand-son) and my wife and I decided to cash in everything including not withholding taxes from the pension plan). The boy is fine today so, I'd do it again in a heart beat. A year or so later, my wife passed away (inoperable aneurysm). Our plan had been to go BK and move to Mexico for a restart. At that point, I said screw it, established residency in Nevada (no state taxes on pensions or social security) and declared bankruptcy for over a million (mostly taxes). When that went through, I converted my remaining pension to an annuity to last until my social security kicked in and moved to the Philippines. Little cash but reasonable income relative to the Philippines, enough to live an upper middle class lifestyle for a family of four and invest about 40% per month in our family future.

Over time, we bought 2 side by side 300 sq. meter lots, cleared them and put in septic tanks then started saving to construct a house. In about a month we will be at about the 40% mark on the house and will move in. Unfinished but livable. At the rate we're currently going, it will take about 2 years to complete but it will be a mansion, complete with a small pool, slides, spas, solar assist, 10 4x8 black glass picture frame windows, Mediterranean architecture with western interior, central air, hot and cold running water (rare in the Phils). It will be about 180 sq. meters under a reinforced suspended slab roof.

Where the pigs came in. My wife is very active in the church. She had planned on donating a pig for their annual anniversary party (Filipinos roast a pig for almost every occasion). The second lot houses our worker bunk house and storage. My wife decided to buy a small pig and raise it which saves money and yields a better product since you can control the feed. (Not 'lamao' (garbage) pigs). Very little fat. Our workers were taking care of it so, we got the idea to buy 3 piglets, one for XMas, New Years and youngest daughters birthday. (Like I said, pigs for everything, lol). When we move in, we're likely to buy a breeding sow and raise pigs for sale.

About the mangoes. We actually considered that for after the first house and before the second house. Like the USA, you can own up to 4 parcels in a section without having to create a subdivision. There is a 375 and a 1200 sq meter parcel adjoining ours. The island I am on is famous for it's mangoes and even has it's own breed which trees can't be exported from the island. You can drill a well with close to 100% certainty of hitting water for about $3-4000. We decided not to though because the mango business is very controlled and unless you have market contacts and trucks for transportation, it is only a marginally profitable business usually only done by people that have land that would otherwise be sitting idle. We decided a better crop would be mahogany trees which have about 8 years growth, can be densely planted and loggers come in and purchase and clear cut.

That was a serious plan since my house has no mortgage, we could easily handle that but a recent development will likely change that. I live on a small island, Samal, which is off the coast of the third largest city in the Philippines, Davao. Japan recently announced that they will be funding a bridge from Davao to Samal. (The intent to develop Samal's coast into a major resort destination.) The real estate values will skyrocket within a year, about 10x based on what happened when they built a bridge from Cebu to Mactan and based on Davao housing prices. When I posted about the bridge in my Facebook, some of my college buddies (about 20 of us are still in contact) are considering investing here. The 1200 sq meter parcel could easily be a luxury multi story condo site. Any of you guys would be crazy to invest with me because none of you know me in real life and there would be little to no protection for an investment but the college group is appealing so I might do that. Time will tell, rough estimate is about $750,000 (construction costs here are very low) to pull it off and I should be able to 10x their money.

As far as how I keep up with baseball, I subscribe to both MLB.TV and MiLB.TV. Earlier in the year, I was mostly following the minors but switched to Boston when Devers got promoted. (MiLB.TV leaves a lot to be desired for trying to watch pitchers). Haha, I'm also fully intending to have to worry about who will replace Flores when he retires.

For me, having to learn new things and apply them has kept me interested. I can't imagine the boredom I'd have if I just kept my career going. There's always something new to tackle. Except for the majority of the physical labor, I've pretty much done everything myself from processing the paperwork, house design, materials and labor scheduling, etc. Fortunately, I have some exceptional people to draw upon. My foreman, for example, is not only a certified contractor but also certified in welding, plumbing and electrical. The man I bought the real estate from is one of the top civil engineers in the area.

Along the way, we're also accumulating equipment for future projects. I now own things like a cement mixer, cement vibrator, arc welder, pipe threading equipment, PPR heaters, compressor with paint spray, generator, etc. After we move in, we might take on sub-contracting jobs.

One of my longtime hobby loves has been woodworking so I'll be doing all the cabinetry, doors, moldings etc. We now own a planer and router. Woodworking here is quite different. With the exception of plywood, you don't get finished wood at a lumber yard, you get rough wood and form it yourself. The woods are also different than in the USA, no Oak, Maple, Pine, Cherry, Walnut, etc. I selected Bagalna wood and Luan skinned plywood (similar grains but you need to adjust the stain darkness to match).

That all should keep my interest. LOL, I think it runs in the family, my older brother, a career frame maker, just finished a 10 year project in which he totally rebuilt (custom not stock) a '57 Ford. He did everything including paint and upholstery and it came out great. Now he's looking for something else to do.

Samal Island is a thinly populated island (we just reached 100,000 on the last census) and the mangoes are largely small time so, you won't see anything on our mangoes in a national story. Almost no economic impact but they are huge and very sweet and served as shown in that article.


Since the Philippines are tropical islands, the fruit supply mix (and comparative quality/prices) is significantly different here. There are several I've never seen anyplace else, durian, jack fruit, ube (might be a root), lanzones, miracle fruit, rambutan plus several I don't know the names of.

Things you never see fresh (at least in the south), strawberries, blueberries, cherries, plums, peaches, pears.

Things that are plentiful and comparatively cheap (some depending on the season), coconuts, papya, pineapple, grapefruit, guava, mangoes, bananas (many varieties with different uses), avocados, & mangosteen,


Also available but comparatively expensive, apples,oranges and tangerines.

Here's an article which includes the Samal Bridge. At this point they haven't settled on the location but I'd guess the Davao side will be Damosa which is easy access from Davoa International Airport. Not mentioned in the article is that the Japanese have been pledging huge amounts of money for Davao infrastructure so, my thought is that they plan to turn Samal into an environmental friendly (Duterte requirement) resort destination. The bridge will need to be tall because Sasa Port is the 5th busiest port in SE Asia, capable of handling super tankers.

www.philnews.xyz/2017/04/dbm-davao-samal-bridge-mindanao-railway-system-construction-starts-2017.html

For reference, the Chinese investments have been primarily further north, near Manila. My guess there is their biggest interest is in Subic Bay as the shipping port hub of their silk road to BRICS countries. Most other country investments tend to be agri-business oriented throughout the Philippines.

If you were to look at recent, non political, financial articles, several major firms like Price Waterhouse, for example, generally project The Philippines to have the second highest economic growth rate in the world over the next several decades. Second only to Indonesia who is going the manufacturing and electronics sub contracting route. There are no close thirds.

For reference, my property is about 1.2 miles from the coast (I don't like feeling like I'm covered in sand 24 hours a day), 100 yards off the primary highway, on a marginally paved road in a rural neighborhood. I'm within a few miles of several public beaches and resorts with beaches for day use. My favorite is Vanishing Island which is a white sand bar that disappears at high tide. The resort range in accommodations is huge with overnight cabana prices ranging from about $20 to about $400 a night.

Also for reference, people not born in the Philippines can never be Filipino citizens (I have a permanent visa) and can never be the title owner on property or vote. Community Property country though, 50% ownership yes, title no. That includes companies with less than 50% Filipino stockholders. Companies like Smart and Globe and foreigners in general take 90 year leases on their properties and companies like Dole and Del Monte sub out their production to locally owned large farms. For me, it's not an issue since my wife literally lives for our kids future.

Greetings all. It will be another week or two before I get my internet connection back. In the meantime, we've moved into the house we are building and moving day showed me that 60's aren't always the new 40's.

We will be pretty crowded for a month or two until we get a few more rooms usable but it's all good. For now, 6 people. 2 dogs and goldfish have moved into a tuco lizard's house but it appears he's staying. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and the kitchen dinning area are usable. Next the guest bathroom and laundry room as well as the master bedroom/bath are nearing ready. lots of temporary features but livable.

See you all in a few weeks but I was very saddened to see our young catcher has passed away. A stark reality that when things are going great in your family, that's never the case for all families.

I just got news that a 2000 sq meter property which abuts the lot I am building my house on has been purchased by a So. Korean. This is good news because he plans to plant coconut trees which means my view from the long side of my house will remain with no buildings for likely my lifetime. The lot across the street from the front of my house is already a mahogany grove (and is where we raise our pigs).

Rural living. My house has (10) 4' x 8' black glass picture frame windows. You can only see relatively distant buildings from 3 of them.

Here's a tourism video of the island I live on. We call it Samal but the official name is Island Garden City of Samal (or, IGACOS). It's a fairly large island sparsely populated at about 100,000.

I live about 1.2 miles from the beach. I've never been enamored with feeling like I'm always covered in sand so I prefer not to have a house on the shoreline.

www.facebook.com/samal.tourism/videos/vb.100004056493048/1643675845777616/?type=2&theater

One of the niceties of living in the countryside. This is a tuko gecko, we have about 15 or so living on the property, most born in or on the house. Tukos are rare but not endangered. Unfortunately, they are marketable to the Chinese medicine people but there's a 1 million peso fine (about $20,000) for dealing in tukos. For reference, the blind slats are 1 inch each. I believe this is the original mama and she's been getting braver recently.

LOL, a Geico could never exist here. A bit complex for how it works but for all the insurances, auto, health and life, the insurers pretty much only do the paperwork for the government and all have the same rates. Civil suits are also almost non-existant because the person that brings the charges is responsible to prepay all the court costs. I'm sure you are aware of the impact of civil law and insurance costs.

To insure (comp not collision) my car and two motorcycles costs me about $60 a year. My family hospitalization health insurance costs about $50 a year. Private doctors are about $6 a visit. I have no need for life insurance because my social security dependent benefits continue after I die and my house, incomplete as it is, is worth at least 40 years of median income relative to the local economy.

Any cost expressed in dollars is significantly more relative to the local currency, the Philippines peso but nowhere near the proportionate rate of those same services in the USA.

I used to buy into the old horror stories about Indian garment workers making $2 a day and thought of it as horrific slave labor. Now I think that was not likely the view from an Indian economic standpoint. I'd be willing to bet that the Indian garment workers make approximately the same as American garment workers relative to their economy.

I can use a specific example. I'm building my house 100% with excess money from my social security, no mortgage. As such, it's slower because of a limited monthly budget. I have three workers, a contractor who is also a certified welder, plumber, electrician and whose specialty is carpentry. I also have an foreman whose specialty is masonry and spray painting and an unskilled helper who is young and learning the trade from the other two. My supervisor tells me that they are the best paid workers on the island. The three total cost to me is 1350 pesos a day which is very good money. In terms of dollars which is what my social security is, that's about $26 a day. Under Republican administrations, Trump, Bush as opposed to Democrat administrations, Obama, my income in pesos is about 20-25% higher because of strong dollar vs weak dollar policies associated with those two parties. The average peso/$ exchange rate was about 55 under Bush, 41.5 under Obama, 52 under Trump. Exchange rates tend to take a while to normalize after a new administration right now it's abut 52.75. This same effect is worldwide, not specific to The Philippines. Both approaches have their merits but for me personally, I'm better off with a strong dollar policy since my income is in dollars. The median income in Davao is about 10,000 pesos a month, my social security is about 190,000 a month. God bless exchange rates.

OK, so now I'm going to brag about going on 70. Christmas day, I did Seven Seas Park's 6 story water slide that starts with a one story free fall. I survived that then did Asia's longest tandem zipline at 840 meters (Dahilayan Adventure Park) with my wife the next day. Gettin' better faster than gettin' older.

lol, they made me take a blood pressure test before the water slide.

lol2, We also used GPS for my first time to get from place to place. It was great with the exception of one little sidetrack where we left the highway and found ourselves on a crappy dirt road. Other than that, it was impressive. I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks.

I lol'ed at the blood pressure test. That's fantastic. Funny, we did Busch Gardens Tampa on Christmas Day.

As for the GPS, this is all I could think of: