To men who live in Phillipines/Thailand

[JayTwila]

From a purely misogynistic perspective the concept of a Filipina or Thai bride does appeal. The idealistic notion of home-cooked meals, a tidy home and a good romantic life. But somehow I feel such arrangements seldom last long and usually end up in tragedy. Not to mention the ethical or moral quandary of using one's superior financial and legal/citizenship status as a device. The same is true of Russian and Ukraine brides in many cases.

Perhaps, the solution is to actually live in those countries with your spouse or to move to a third country. For example, attempting to take your Filipina wife to Panama. Because then it would be a new place for both parties. I still think for the truly misogynistic it's better to lease than to buy.

[againstignorance]

since you guys were dreaming of living in the philippines you should know that the USD has collapsed and shopping with pesos is at least and more often considerably more expensive than in europe or the usa. If you want to rent a relatively decent home you pay at least 30K pesos a month and that's now more than 700 USD a month. So forget trying to scratch a living here on a measly 1000 USD pension. Houses are generally more expensive than in the USA with land prices as much as 10K per sqm. and above so a small decent house without any garden at all costs at least 200K USD. And repairs are now carried out by guys who arrive in brandnew pick ups and charge comparable rates to europe or the usa. As far as security is concerned don't employ a guy with a gun he is most likely to shoot you on orders from gangs that see foreigners as a cheap source of easy money or kidnapping etc. It's one of the world's most dangerous countries including on the roads where driving standards are something out of a lunatic asylum and the world's most expensive health service for foreigners. Yes there's girls available but they no longer come cheap. If you don't give that extra tip you could end up in serious trouble from her boyfriend or gang who she works for.
There are actually very few foreigners here and most of them want to leave but can't afford to get away....If you marry a filipino don't forget you marry the whole extended family and that includes cousins and aunts and oncles even you wife didn't know she had.....They will endlessly ask you to help out - of course they promise to pay you back but they forget when....So make sure you have adequate cash resources or you will not be welcome....
Of course there are exceptions like everywhere: you just got to be lucky!