With the state of the United States economy and the growing dissatifaction of the job our Government officials are doing more Americans are choosing to retire overseas. I come across a great article in the New York Times newspaper giving some tips on how to retire overseas and what to look for. I believe some of these helpful hints and tips can assist an American moving to the Philippines. Such tips as maintaining a bank account in your homeland to facilitate transfer of money or making sure the health care system is adequate to help you in old age. I’ve already considered and made plans for these as well as other concerns but if someone were considering doing as I am this would be a very good article to start out with.

If you’d like to read more on this subject and maybe get a few tips the entire article can be read at the following link: Americans Who Seek Out Retirement Homes Overseas

A question for my friends who were born in the Philippines but have migrated to the United States later in life. What do you call yourselves? I have some friends who refer to themselves as Fil-Am (Filipino American) and some just refer to themselves as Filipinos and others refer to themselves as Americans. One of the greatest things about being a U.S. citizen is that you have the right to label yourselves as such. I’ve seen many people from other countries that take on the label American but obviously they were not born here. But they have become U.S. citizens and now they ARE Americans and proud of it.

Not many other countries allow people to come in and become a citizen of their countries so it would be rare for someone born in the U.S. to refer to themselves as anything other than Americans. The same goes with my friends from the UK, Germany or any other countries. It may happen but in my travels around the world I have never experienced it.

What I’ve been leading up to in the previous paragraphs is there is a controversy going on in certain parts of the U.S. about dual citizens from the Philippines and why they have did it. Some Filipinos believe that it is for the benefits of unlimited purchase of real estate or being allowed to own businesses in the Philippines while enjoying the benefits of living in the U.S. These people who are against Filipinos obtaining dual citizenship for the previous reasons argue that many people who obtain dual citizenship don’t even teach their children how to speak Tagalog and refer to themselves only as Americans, leaving their Filipino heritage behind. Still others obtain a dual citizenship and refer to themselves as Filipinos confusing some who want to know where their allegiance really lies.

My wife is in the group of people who while obtaining dual citizenship has embraced both countries. She and I plan on moving to the Philippines to live out our later years only returning to the U.S. to visit with family sometimes. We have made our children (and grandchild) aware and proud of their Filipino heritage. We also have encouraged them to visit the Philippines as often as possible. My wife votes in Philippine elections and pays her taxes just as she does in the United States so I would hope that many Filipinos would respect her as she chooses the label of Fil-Am.

One of the videos concerning this controversy is on YouTube and I am including it at the end of this post Please comment and tell me how you how you refer to yourself and why.