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Decide

Where you sit in this

Living here carries risk, and it carries consequences; nothing about a month here is free of a decision. I have written down what I pay and what I hold, so you can see where each choice lands and judge where you sit in it. The route I took, and the one I would point a friend to, is passive income first and real estate later. Each part below is drawn, with its fors and cons beside it.

This is arithmetic on past numbers, not a plan I am recommending.

The equation

Dividends from capital the ten payers Work hours I sell Spending what I saved money I already had Exchange at the day's rate CAD per month CAD per month CAD per month Rent 12,000-18,000 PHP a month Food market and meals Services massage, haircut, laundry Getting around rides, transit PHP per month Visa the extension fee dividend cut rate swing visa cost typhoon season typhoon season
Where a month's money comes from, and what it meets. Dividends come from capital; the other two sources end. The rent band is 12,000 to 18,000 PHP a month, my own October 2026 prices, with no public link yet. The rate is the day's rate; the one I read on 6 October 2026 was 44.0420 PHP per CAD (open.er-api.com). The four outer arrows are the things I do not control.
The four parts of a month here, and what each one asks of me
Part For Against Risk What it cost me
Dividends from capital Money arrives in the month whether I work it or not. A dividend is a payment a board chooses to make, not a debt it owes. A board can cut it, and one payer cuts by more than a fifth. The capital is exposed the whole time. The ten names.
Work Income that can start in a week, paid in pesos. It stops the day I stop. The rate depends on who is hiring that month. Hours I do not get back. The ledger.
Spending what I had saved It covers a month without asking anyone. It runs down towards zero. It is the source that ends by design. Once spent it does not come back. Cost of Living.
The exchange rate One CAD bought 44.0420 PHP at the rate I read on 6 October 2026. The peso can move either way. A move of a few pesos changes the whole month. Nothing today, and everything if it moves. The rate table.

Rent band: my own October 2026 prices, no public link yet. Rate: open.er-api.com, the same source the ledger uses, read 6 October 2026.

Rent or buy, the same 100,000 CAD

100,000 CAD my capital Buy a unit for my own use A condo unit not the land Dues and taxes every month Resale slow to sell Capital in the walls locked until I sell Keep the capital in the ten payers CAD a month 396 to 964 PHP a month 17,459 to 42,436 Rent 12,000-18,000 PHP Capital stays liquid I can sell any day buy keep price monthly to sell until sold dividends at the rate rent not capital
The same 100,000 CAD in two shapes. Both put a roof over me; only one keeps the money spendable. No unit price of my own is on this site yet, so I drew none and linked the ledger instead. For who may hold a unit I read section 5 of Republic Act 4726, the Condominium Act, and the land question in the 1987 Constitution: lawphil.net, RA 4726 and lawphil.net, 1987 Constitution.
The same money in two shapes, and the other side of each
Shape For Against Risk What it cost me
Buying a unit The roof is mine to use, and the monthly rent stops. The money turns into walls, and walls cannot be spent. A sale takes months I do not control. Liquidity, from the day I sign. Cost of Living.
Keeping the capital The capital stays sellable while the dividends pay the rent. The rent never ends, so the capital has to keep working. Dividends can be cut and rates move. The rent, month after month. The dividend route.
Who may hold the unit, and the land Section 5 of Republic Act 4726, as I read it, allows a unit to pass to a corporation at least 60 percent Filipino-owned. The land under the building is a separate question; the 1987 Constitution keeps private land for those qualified to hold it. The section leaves the foreign share of a condominium corporation at 40 percent at most, since 100 minus the 60 percent Filipino rule is 40, and that is the only figure it supports. What it means for a foreign buyer holding a unit in their own name is not settled by the page I read, and I put no figure on that. A lawyer, before any signature. Sources: RA 4726, 1987 Constitution.

Section 5 of Republic Act 4726 and Article 12 of the 1987 Constitution, both read on lawphil.net, 7 October 2026.

The dividend route, month by month

100,000 CAD my capital Ten payers dividends, after tax CAD a month 396 to 964 PHP a month 17,459 to 42,436 Rent band 12,000 to 18,000 PHP Left after rent at the 15,000 rent: 2,459 to 27,436 PHP CAD a month cut 20 percent: 317 to 771 Left after rent cut 20 percent: -1,033 to 18,949 buys ten pays me at the rate against minus rent if dividends fall 20 percent cut by 20
The dividend route on the numbers on the dividends page. After tax, in 2025, 100,000 CAD held in these ten names would have paid 17,459 to 42,436 PHP a month; at 44.0420 PHP per CAD (6 October 2026) that is 396 to 964 CAD, and against the 12,000 to 18,000 PHP rent band, at the 15,000 mid rent, 2,459 to 27,436 PHP would have been left. A cut of 20 percent on both ends: 17,459 x 0.8 = 13,967 and 42,436 x 0.8 = 33,949 PHP, or 317 to 771 CAD, which against the 15,000 rent leaves 18,949 PHP at one end and is 1,033 PHP short at the other. Dividends can be cut and rates move.
The dividend route, and what each step would have cost
Step For Against Risk What it cost me
The ten payers In 2025 the after-tax dividends on 100,000 CAD bought in 2016 would have been 17,459 to 42,436 PHP a month. That range is the spread over ten different companies, not one payment. Past dividends are past dividends, and a payer can stop. The capital is exposed the whole time. The ten names.
The rate At 44.0420 PHP per CAD the same money is 396 to 964 CAD a month. The rate can go the other way. The peso fell from 33.7 to 43.9 PHP per CAD over the ten years I looked at. A move in the rate moves the whole month. The rate table.
The rent 12,000 to 18,000 PHP a month for a one-year lease, my own October 2026 prices. Rents rise, and I held this band flat to test it. The rent is the one number here with no public link yet. At the 15,000 rent, 2,459 to 27,436 PHP would have been left. Cost of Living.
A cut of 20 percent 13,967 to 33,949 PHP a month would still have covered the 12,000 low rent. At the 15,000 rent the low end would have been 1,033 PHP short that month. A cut is not always a fifth; some payers cut more, and some stop. The arithmetic: 17,459 x 0.8 = 13,967; 42,436 x 0.8 = 33,949.

After-tax 2025 dividends and the 2016 entry dates are from the table on the dividends page; the rate is the 6 October 2026 rate stated there.

The order of decisions

Arrive on a tourist entry September 2026 Extend the stay each extension, a fee Monthly condo 12,000-18,000 PHP quoted Long lease or SRRV decision not yet decided Income set up the route above Local team: services you hire massage, haircut, laundry, rides Stay or leave every year, again fee, see source a place before signing fund it hire weigh it month to month
The order I did it in, top to bottom. Each step is a decision I make again, and the cost so far is what the ledger and the pages here say, or nothing where I have not decided. The return arrow is the honest one: most months end back at the place I rent, month to month.
The order I did it in, and the cost at each step
Step For Against Risk What it cost me
Arriving on a tourist entry It puts me in the country and lets me look before I commit to anything. It is a date, not a plan. It runs out. The fare and the first days. The ledger.
Extending the stay It buys the time to decide the rest without leaving. Each extension is a fee, and the fee moves. A rule can change while I am standing at the window. A fee I have no source for yet, so I drew none.
A place to live Month to month keeps me free to leave. A monthly rate is usually higher than a one-year lease. The place I like may be gone next month. The band I saw: 12,000 to 18,000 PHP. Cost of Living.
A long lease or the SRRV Both aim at staying longer with less paperwork each month. Both tie money up before I know the country well. The retirement pages I read carry two different deposit tables, so I published no amount. Nothing yet. Not decided.
Staying or leaving The decision is mine every month, not once. It never quite closes. Staying and leaving both cost. Month to month, on purpose. Why I came.

The rent band is my own October 2026 prices, no public link yet. The extension fee and the SRRV deposits have no amount here because I have not settled the sources.

What the drawings leave out

Every box is my reading of my own position, not a promise about yours. The numbers are past numbers from named sources, the prices are prices I paid, and the two things that move without asking me are dividends and the exchange rate.

What I pay, day by day: the ledger. What 100,000 CAD would have paid here: the dividends page. The first plan built from these receipts: what can you do for yourself.