# Need advice on what I should do?



## jdavis10 (Oct 1, 2012)

Anne and I had an in-depth talk last night. Anne wants our child when we have one to be able to get into the United States and live there so it can go to school with options. My only problem with that is the United States has a different culture that is set up where people begin talking ignorant, kids only play games, and my salary is only enough as i earn $1000-$1200 at most a month. There is no way I could pass the spousal visa to get her in U.S. with my current wages because I dont have insurance for her, I dont have a residence there, and dont have yearly stipend of $20,000 a year or more so now you see my concern.


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## raconnor (Oct 30, 2012)

If you can't afford a kid, don't have one.


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## Mug (Sep 28, 2012)

Since you are a USA citizen I do believe your child could be declared a US citizen and have all the rights of citizenship. Not sure how the child gonna attend school in USA with parents living and working in the Philippines and unable to afford to live in USA. Good Luck


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## Glen48 (Jul 6, 2012)

USA is going down hill here has 8% growth ,this is where the next empire will come from.. stay here and do some home tutoring/


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## jdavis10 (Oct 1, 2012)

Glen,

I like your way of thinking my friend. Staying in Philippines sounds alot more likely for me. I told anne would be simpler to have home tutoring done per year versus expensive private school. Cost of living in U.S. is continuing to increase higher and higher its why i made decision move to philippines be with my fiance and settle down and live without stress visit my family once a year.


U.S. is really going down hill. Ever since I got back they increased the minimum wage to $9.50. If you know what that means? Will make businesses take away insurance costs for employees and take away his/her hours for part time work. In the end will leave many disclosures, stocks will fall, and the real estate market will bankrupt all over if they go through the "plan".


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## Glen48 (Jul 6, 2012)

Trouble is here they don't know 1 grand a week in USA or OZ is poverty level


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## jdavis10 (Oct 1, 2012)

Glen,

Bud I wish I earned 1 grand a week. I earn roughly $250-300 a week. I dont earn enough even for poverty level. I tried explain that to anne other day she dont realize how expensive is here. Even fruit after getting back to U.S. couple weeks ago food continues to rise. What is hypocritical to me is they want the people to "LOSE WEIGHT" but they raise price on healthy foods. Definitely poverty level


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

jdavis10 said:


> Glen,
> 
> I like your way of thinking my friend. Staying in Philippines sounds alot more likely for me. I told anne would be simpler to have home tutoring done per year versus expensive private school. Cost of living in U.S. is continuing to increase higher and higher its why i made decision move to philippines be with my fiance and settle down and live without stress visit my family once a year.
> 
> ...


Public schools are not that bad, I put my child in a Private school and they ate me alive with extra charges to get the diploma ect... you will see your hard-earned money going to teachers and administrators, you also end up funding other kids in private schools, who are dirt poor and think they are rich and act rich but they are far from it and have trouble making the payments, also, your child will surrounded by the same kids you will find in public school the class room might be smaller, if I was to put my child in private school it would be for prep only and after one year your ready to get him the heck out of that place and it will cost you. 

Your child will learn more from you than you think in private or public it makes no difference because of you, he will also be at the top of his class, my son is a 2nd grader this year and he can read and write, mathematics and speak English, private schools can mess with your diploma too, it's all about money, they give you a set price, get ready for that price to have all sorts of twists and turns and add on's, making sure your child gets taken to and picked up from school is a good idea for so many reasons.

One other thing I have learned since living here 5 years this time, skills seem to be worth more money and you can start business with skills the whole computer thing is not going to work well here or it looks like anywhere the pay is dropping because of the overabundance of workers, even the US, your right my pay scale for working in a call center was $9.50 hr here it's probably $4 a day or 200 peso's for an 8hr shift only.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

mcalleyboy said:


> Public schools are not that bad, I put my child in a Private school and they ate me alive with extra charges to get the diploma ect... you will see your hard-earned money going to teachers and administrators, you also end up funding other kids in private schools, who are dirt poor and think they are rich and act rich but they are far from it and have trouble making the payments, also, your child will surrounded by the same kids you will find in public school the class room might be smaller, if I was to put my child in private school it would be for prep only and after one year your ready to get him the heck out of that place and it will cost you.
> 
> Your child will learn more from you than you think in private or public it makes no difference because of you, he will also be at the top of his class, my son is a 2nd grader this year and he can read and write, mathematics and speak English, private schools can mess with your diploma too, it's all about money, they give you a set price, get ready for that price to have all sorts of twists and turns and add on's, making sure your child gets taken to and picked up from school is a good idea for so many reasons.
> 
> One other thing I have learned since living here 5 years this time, skills seem to be worth more money and you can start business with skills the whole computer thing is not going to work well here or it looks like anywhere the pay is dropping because of the overabundance of workers, even the US, your right my pay scale for working in a call center was $9.50 hr here it's probably $4 a day or 200 peso's for an 8hr shift only.


From the sound of it, there is a wide difference in schools place to place and the owners of the private schools. We have four children from 9yrs to 14 yrs old. We have done both the private as well as the public school systems.
The private school (at least the one in our town) does a good job. Extremely clean inside and out, air conditioned class rooms, and the books issued are first rate by local standards. No hidden charges. And any extras are very small (like under 10.00us).
Public school on the other hand are grossly over crowded with some class rooms having 70+ students. No air conditioning and some without even an electric fan. Every book I've looked at from public shcool is filled with typos, words spelled wrong, and all together wrong information and facts. So in the end, those going to public school learn a huge amount of wrong information and know little or nothing useful at the end of their years of education.
If the child is going to live here forever it makes little difference. But if on the other hand he or she will live in another country or want to attend college overseas, it's a lost cause...


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## raconnor (Oct 30, 2012)

I still don't see anyone else addressing $1000 per month while living in the metro and sending your kid to private school... am I the only person who sees that as a difficult task? 

Does anyone else think moving to a more rural/provincial area would be a better option? $1000 can give you a decent live here in the Philippines, but not if you're renting a condo in Manila. 

Also there are people in here talking about the US economy going down the toilet (I just don't believe that overall, honestly)...but if it WERE to be as bad as some people here think, you do realize that means the US Dollar would be worth less, right? 

So if you move here on $1000 per month because you think the US economy will tank, what will you do when you aren't getting a high enough exchange rate and instead of 42,000 pesos, you drop down to 30,000?

If you're just scraping by month-to-month, paycheck-to-paycheck a scenario like that could really hurt you if you aren't able to save money every month. 

Moving to the provinces where you might be able to kick back $300 or so per month into a savings account could give you some breathing room if something bad were to happen to the economy or you weren't able to keep your $1000/m salary or something like a medical emergency popped up. 


As far as private and public school go, I think it really depends on the location as Gene mentioned .. but it's like that everywhere. I went to high school in a little town in Arkansas and some of my classes had less than 10 students in them. If you look at inner city schools in places like Baltimore, though, there are 40 kids in a class and the education is crap. 

So I would say the same thing applies here... in any big city you will find 40, 50, 60 or more kids stuffed into a hot room and private school is the ONLY option to get a decent education for your kids.. but out in the provinces, who knows? You might find a good little public school with only 15-20 kids in a class. 

THEN you have "exclusive" public schools like Baguio City National Science High School where you have to qualify to get in so the classes are only open to a few "smart" students.. in those public schools you can find a better education than a private high school that's open to anyone. 

But as you mentioned before that you're in Manila, public school is not a good way to go in my opinion so be prepared to shell out for a private place.


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## raconnor (Oct 30, 2012)

jdavis10 said:


> Let me verify something first when I do have our first newborn as it gets ready for school I am considering homeschooling so I know my child will learn most up-to-date education needs to be smart and be able to read/write, mathematics, spelling, and just inspire him to grow into education as I was growing up in the states. I dont live in a condo and never plan to live that form for lifestyle. I figure we are in philippines we should accustom ourself accordingly. I want to take her to a province and we will discuss that later when we look at housing prices. Right now though Anne is a Nurse/Caregiver and I cant take that away from her so I am staying in Las Pinas until we have our first newborn and then we will look into finding a house to settle into. I make $1000 a month but I dont live fancy lifestyle I stay in a private dorm (p3500 per month) has electric fan and is near perpetual help hospital. I am fine living like a local until Anne and I are married and we will find an apartment that I'll let anne negotiate. Point is you dont have to live a drastic lifestyle in Manila especially Las Pinas. *You guys are weighing in kids, house rent, and everything else I havent ran into that yet.*


You were asking about advice for your future, specifically your child(ren) and his(their) education and living condition. I don't understand why people ask questions here on the forum and then always say they have it all figured out and don't need any input. Reminds me of a thread the other day where someone was asking for Visa advice and then did nothing but talk about how he already knew the answer. If you already know what you'll do to live here/are content with your decision, why ask? 



jdavis10 said:


> Racconner - All expats from the U.S. know that the U.S. is going down little by little it has been this way for very long time. If you follow trends from the government there has to be alot done to "fix" what current mistakes are in office right now. Like Glen said alot that is helping us is the printing of money. We are in so dire debt to china and other countries it will seem almost impossible to comeback in my generation, my children, or their children generation. Just realistic statistics. Private Corporations and People in Office are taking money off reform and filling their pockets instead of providing for U.S. people. Rich will not be affected but our people will it is only a matter of time.


The economy, in my opinion, is on the rebound. Like you, I am only in my mid-20s and I am also a freelancer (and have done a lot of freelance writing) and from where I sit, I'm making more money now than I did 4 years ago and in the last month or 2 I've seen the US Dollar climbing in value against the peso (though I do admit it's not as strong as it was a long time ago).

If your fears are right, though, and you think that the US economy will continue to get worse.. then your $1000 per month will be worth less 3 years from now than it is today; if you're barely scraping by alone, how will you be able to handle it with a wife and kid on less money?

I'm not trying to argue or start drama or anything like that; I just think a lot of people looking to live in paradise haven't thought everything through. Now I may be wrong here, but I think that our fellow member mcalleyboy might have some good input here. If I'm not mistaken, he lives on a similar salary and he has gone through a lot of the problems you'll face here by trying to live like a local. The problem is you AREN'T a local, and everyone will see you as a rich foreigner, whether you are or not.. It can be tough.


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