When I began looking into the possibility of moving abroad for the rest of my life, I found a lot of YouTube channels and blogs created by men who moved abroad alone. I've been learning a lot from them and I'll be forever grateful to them for sharing so much valuable information on what's involved, including dealing with visas, different cultures and so many of the other issues an expat faces when moving to a new country. What has been missing for me in doing my research, though, as a 67-year-old retired American woman, is the point of view from a solo woman retiring abroad.
Western senior men who move abroad alone, especially to Southeast Asia, usually have a different agenda than a solo western woman would, especially with regards to looking for a romantic relationship. And, honestly, I think it's a brilliant plan. They can usually find a beautiful, younger woman to be their girlfriend or wife, who will take on a traditional role of homemaker, who can help him navigate the culture, act as a translator and be his caregiver as he ages, along with her family. In return, he provides for her and often makes the commitment to support her extensive family, as well. I think it makes perfect sense and can be a real win-win for all parties.
Western senior women, however, are usually not looking for a romantic relationship anymore. A 2017 survey done by the General Social Survey, which has been collecting data on Americans since 1972, found that 72% of senior-aged women were highly satisfied living alone. I know that's true for me. At this stage in my life, I love the freedom I have now with no responsibility to take care of anyone or any living thing anymore, other than myself. My dog died last year, and as much as I loved her, I'm happy to not even have any pets, anymore. I even got rid of all of my plants. I don't even want to have to water tomatoes anymore.
This doesn't mean I don't like men or other people or animals or tomatoes. I just don't want to be responsible for any other living creature's needs anymore. This freedom, to me, is the true value of my retirement years.
What this means, however, is that when I look at retiring abroad, as a solo woman, without considering the possibility of getting involved with any kind of familial partnerships, is that what I look for in choosing another country to move to as an expat, will include different issues than what most men need to consider.
The method I used to boil my choices down to The Philippines and Thailand, from any other countries in the world, started out by looking at the cost of living. I have a Social Security Retirement income of only $880 per month. I also looked at the visa requirements. Since my goal was to stay in a country until I died, there needed to be visa options I could afford that would also allow me to stay in the country for the rest of my life. Safety was also a huge factor; as was the quality of healthcare, especially, long-term care facilities and/or affordable in-home caregivers. I also considered the cost and any duties related to possibly shipping my household goods to either The Philippines or Thailand, as well as all transportation considerations.
I did not consider Mexico, even though I could probably afford to live there, because I had moved to Mexico in my 40's, intending to retire early at that time, and found Mexico to be unsafe as a solo woman even back then in 1999 and 2000. Security has become worse in Mexico. As much as I love the country and the culture, especially as a Californian, I just would not consider moving there again.
Many countries I would have liked to live in required a higher monthly pension than I have, plus a much larger investment than I could meet. So, after eliminating countries I couldn't afford and checking others off my list because of safety concerns, I funneled my choices down to The Philippines and Thailand.
Looking at safety between Thailand vs. The Philippines, I watched countless YouTube videos by expat western men in both countries, where they spoke about how safe their towns are. But as a woman, I could never help thinking, but maybe you can feel safe because you are a man. Would it also feel safe to me, as a woman?
Women are the deer and the antelopes of our human animal kingdom. I think men can forget that, because they are the mountain lions among mountain lions, or the tigers among other tigers. As women, we are raised to understand that we are prey. Men don't worry about walking down a dark street or having their car break down on the side of a road nearly as much as women do, because they are only dealing with other tigers. They won't be as easy to take down, and there is very little concern about being raped. And, even if an old white lady is far less likely to be raped than she used to be, we're still easier targets for muggings and kidnappings than a man. So, our idea of what safe means, can be very different than that of a big, tall white guy in The Philippines or Thailand.
So, I went looking for data. And, if you just look at the data for safety, Thailand wins over The Philippines. The crime index for just the last two months on Numbeo.com for April and May of 2023, comparing Bangkok and Manila, on 13 different categories including feeling safe walking at night to fear of break-ins and attacks based on gender or race, Bangkok was consistently much safer than Manila. The only exception was a category for corruption and bribery, where Bangkok ranked just slightly better than Manila.
I also found many more articles and news stories of violent crime in The Philippines than I could find for Thailand. This is not conclusive, because as I learned when living in Mexico, that there can be incidents that happen that are never reported in the local news. But, after reading and watching as much news as I could, even if it wasn't in English and then searching for actual data, it does seem to be the case that Thailand would be the safer country of the two, by quite a bit. And so, in my "safety" column, I chose Thailand.
As far as visas, The Philippines wins, hands-down. I won't list all visa options here, as you can find that easily online. But, the visa for The Philippines that I would choose, is called the SRRV Classic visa. SRRV stands for Special Resident Retiree's Visa. This visa would give me permanent residency. It only requires that I earn a pension of at least $800/month. It would allow me to work. It would allow me to ship my household goods duty-free up to a value of $7,000. I could come and go to and from the country as I pleased. I would not have to pay taxes on my SSA retirement income. And, I could buy into the national health insurance for a cost of only around $300 USD/year.
The SRRV Classic visa comes at a cost of an initial one-time fee of $1,400 and an annual fee of $360. It also requires a deposit of $10,000 USD into a Philippines bank, which I could later use towards buying a condo, if I wanted to. And, this money is not a fee, which means if I wanted to let this visa go, I could get my $10,000 back.
Thailand has no option for me to get permanent residency. The best option I found for me in Thailand would be the Elite visa that would allow me to stay for up to 20 years, which would take me to about 88 years old. Then, if I were still alive at that point, I'd have to deal with figuring out a visa that would allow me to stay longer.
The Elite visa would not require me to pay for health insurance, but it would not allow me to work and would cost me an initial up-front fee of about $30,000 USD that is not refundable. It would not require any additional annual fees, but would require reporting annually, as well as filing a report every 90 days to let the Thai government know if you're alive and in the country and where you are living. Depending on where you live in Thailand, the Elite visa agency will usually deal with all of this reporting for you, as part of the benefit package that comes with this visa.
The Elite visa has other benefits, like free annual physicals and dental check-ups and limousine service for international flights and some deals with merchants and golfing memberships. I personally don't care about all of the other benefits, as I probably wouldn't use them, anyway. It's the ability to stay 20 years that is the selling point for me. Thailand is somewhat notorious for changing visa rules, and I'd like the stability that the Elite visa offers.
There are other less expensive options for Thailand, but without guarantees of being able to stay for 20 years, and they require a bank deposit of around $23,000 USD, which would still be yours. Additionally, they can require health insurance, and the problem with the health insurance requirement is that it's nearly impossible to find any coverage if you're over 70 years old, and it's very expensive.
Since I intend to stay in Thailand until I die, and am not concerned with leaving money to heirs that would still be in a Thai bank account, it makes more sense to me to go ahead and pay the $30,000 for an Elite visa and not have to worry about the possibly of getting kicked out of Thailand for 20 years, when the other retirement visa option would still tie up $23,000 and have to be renewed every single year.
So, as far as my Philippines vs. Thailand checklist with regard to visas, The Philippines wins by a landslide with its easy access to permanent residency, national healthcare and much lower fees.
Another consideration, with regards to The Philippines SRRV Classic visa, is that if you think you may want to go into a Philippines nursing home later on, if you wait until you are already sick, you would be required to get a different visa called the SRRV Human Touch, and for that visa you must be receiving a pension of at least $1,500 USD, and you must put a deposit $10,000 into a Philippines bank. I would not qualify for this visa, because my SSA retirement is only $880/month.
So, even though I will probably move to Thailand, at least initially, I'm still seriously considering getting the SRRV Classic visa while I'm still healthy, which would give me a back-up plan, in case I have to leave Thailand. If I already have permanent residency in The Philippines with an SRRV Classic visa, then if I get sick later, and don't want to or can't stay in Thailand, I can just go to the Philippines without having to qualify for the Human Touch visa. I definitely don't want to have to go back to the states and end up in an American nursing home.
If I do go this route, I would also go ahead and pay for the Philhealth national health insurance every year, too, so I could always fly to Manila and get treated there, if paying out of pocket in Thailand was going to be much more expensive for whatever treatment I may need. This option would still be much cheaper than keeping up my American Medicare premiums of $165/month, and I also wouldn't have to worry about qualifying for Medicaid for nursing home care if I was to end up back in the states, instead of The Philippines.
As to long-term health care costs, Thailand won in this category for me. I compared two resort-style care facilities that handled all levels of care from fairly independent patients to dementia patients, and both have a swimming pool, which I would really like to have. One is located in Chiang Mai, Thailand called Care Resort Chiang Mai and the other is located in Mandaue City, just outside of Cebu City in The Philippines, called We Care Home Healthcare. The cost for me to move in as a mostly independent senior now would be significantly cheaper in Thailand, where I was quoted a monthly cost of about $1,400/month at Care Resort Chiang Mai vs. about $1,700/month at We Care Home Healthcare in The Philippines.
Also, for overall quality of healthcare across the entire country, according to blogs and YouTube videos I researched, they all seemed to conclude that Thailand beats The Philippines, where quality healthcare seemed to be more restricted to major cities.
The Philhealth national health insurance in The Philippines seems to be pretty decent, though. It's a cheap yearly premium of only around $300 US, and then you pay a discounted amount out of pocket. There is a YouTube channel by a young Filipina woman, called "The Olego Fam" in which she details her out of pocket cost for a cesarean section surgery and hospital stay of several days in Baguio in the Philippines, for the birth of her baby, which ended up only costing her about $700 total out of pocket. As an SRRV Classic visa holder, I would be entitled to the same discounted healthcare costs as a Filipino citizen. Nursing homes and in-home caregivers, however, are not covered.
Healthcare costs out of pocket are really affordable in Thailand, though, and the quality of healthcare appears to be more consistent across the country, including dental care.
As far as transportation goes, it's really a tie between Thailand and The Philippines. In either country, if I wanted to, I could buy a car and get a drivers license pretty easily, based on already having a U.S. driver’s license. I did discover that it's not worth it to ship a car to either country. The duties are too high for either one.
In The Philippines, they do drive on the right-hand side of the road, like in America, with the steering wheel also on the left. The road signs are also in English. In Thailand, they drive on the left, like in British countries, with the steering wheel on the right, and street signs are mainly in Thai, though some signs will also include some English.
The roads are better, overall, in Thailand, and Bangkok has a very extensive public transportation system with sky trains and buses and even boats that travel the canals. There is nothing equal to this in The Philippines, even in Manila.
When I am looking at transportation, I don't care so much about the ability to get from one end of the country to the other, which you can do in The Philippines with ferries and flights. I am more interested in getting to doctors or immigration lawyer offices and doing normal shopping. For this, the best choice for me would be somewhere in Bangkok, where I could easily get to one of the sky train stations, which would allow me access to the entire Bangkok area without having to buy a car or learn how to drive in crazy traffic on the left side of the road or deal with taxis and traffic jams.
So, for me, I think Thailand is the better choice for transportation, but I could easily see another American choosing The Philippines instead, for the ability to drive a car like we're used to doing in the U.S.
Infrastructure, overall, is better in Thailand, which includes not only better roads and more reliable electricity than in The Philippines, and Thailand also has better Internet and cell phone coverage. If you're living in the Bonifacio Global City or BGC area of Manila, the Internet is supposed to be great, but outside of metro Manila -- not so much. This is completely understandable, as The Philippines is a nation of islands, so the challenges to infrastructure are much greater. However, for me, Thailand wins on overall infrastructure, where I would have less to worry about regarding power outages, cellphone coverage and good Internet.
As to shipping my household items, Thailand wins overall in this category, too. Should I decide to ship my stuff, Thailand has less restrictions on what I can bring into the country and there are no duties, as long as I have a visa that gives me permission to live in Thailand, and I just bring in used items intended to be used by me in my home in Thailand. In The Philippines, I'd be allowed to bring in only $7,000 worth of household goods.
There are also a lot of reports and stories online regarding problems with shipments to The Philippines, such as lost or stolen goods and long shipment delays, and unexpected duties and storage and shipping costs, whereas, it's really difficult to find any stories of negative experiences shipping household goods to Thailand. So, I would feel more confident shipping my household goods to Thailand without unexpected additional costs and delays.
As a final note, I think for some solo senior women trying to decide between The Philippines and Thailand, another consideration might be language. Most Filipinos do speak English, but most Thais do not, and there will be many signs everywhere without an English translation on them. With apps like Google Translate available, I think it should still be possible to get by. And, you could choose to live in an area where more Thais do speak English, such as Bangkok.
But, if you're someone who would feel really lonely without the ability to chat with strangers at the store or on the train, you may want to choose to live in The Philippines where that would be much easier to do.
I'm Kelly Portola. You can always find everything I do on HerExpatRetirement.com, where I post articles, videos and podcasts. The letters spell "her," H.E.R., Her Expat Retirement.
And should you feel so inclined, check out my YouTube channel's community tab where I post polls and other random fun stuff.
I hope to see you again real soon.
References:
2017 General Social Survey: Senior Women Prefer Living Alone: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/article-women-older-than-65-dont-want-to-live-with-their-partners/
2023 Crime Comparison Between Manila and Bangkok: https://www.numbeo.com/crime/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Philippines&city1=Manila&country2=Thailand&city2=Bangkok
The Philippines SRRV Classic Visa: https://pra.gov.ph/srrv/
We Care Home Healthcare Long-term Care Facility in Mandaue City, Philippines: https://www.facebook.com/people/We-Care-Home-Health-Care/100063940632372/
Care Resort Chiang Mai: https://www.careresortchiangmai.com/
YouTube Channel "The Olego Fam" video on out of pocket cost for cesarean section and hospitalization using Philhealth in Baguio, The Philippines On YouTube, titled: "Hospital bill reveal cesearean delivery sa Baguio General Hospital & Medical Center / The Olego Fam"
Criteria for Used Household Effects Duty Exemption (Thailand): https://www.customs.go.th/cont_strc_simple.php?ini_content=individual_F01_160426_01&ini_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02_160421_01