Money

Shrimp Vest recently got back from a 3 week visit to his hometown in the Philippines. I try to avoid him because of the smell, so I haven't really talked to him since he got back. But today I had to talk to him about work, and it turned into a personal conversation:

Me: This project has to go out by the end of the year, so if you're taking any time off for the holidays, it's got to get done before you leave.

SV: Of course I'm taking some time off. You're not?

Me: I don't have any vacation days left.

SV: Neither do I, but I just take them unpaid. You could too.

Me: Well, I'm trying to save money for a couple trips next year.

SV: Yeah, me too. I'm going back to the Philippines next year to check on the house that I'm having built there.

Me *excited*: Oh, a retirement house?!?!

SV: Yeah, maybe a retirement house. We'll see.

Umm, if you're not sure that you're going to retire there, then why are you building a house there??

SV: It will depend on money, you know, if I can retire there or not. Right now I have to send $1,200 every month to the Philippines to take care of my wife's house. You know, for the gardener, the maintenance guy, the maid. It's very expensive to maintain a house. So I'm not sure if I can retire. I might need to keep making money so I can send it for my wife's house.

I didn't ask for clarification as to what he meant by his "wife's house," but I assume he meant the house she grew up in. But why would they still own that house? They both moved to the States decades ago. And it doesn't sound like any other family lives there now if they have hired a staff to look after the house. And his wife is dead, so I don't see any reason to keep the house for sentimental value or whatever. But I didn't ask. Also, if you already own a house in the Philippines, why are you building a new house for yourself? Why not just retire to the house you already own??

SV: My options are to either get rid of the house all together, or pay 100% of the costs myself to keep the house maintained. So I've got to keep paying. You know, what can you do?

Umm, I think you just said you could get rid of the house all together....

SV: So I might need to keep working so I can afford to keep sending the money every month for the house. And I REALLY overspent on my trip last month. I had budgeted $20,000 for my trip. But when I got there, I saw that the church had been destroyed in the typhoon last year. So I ended up spending $170,000 on my trip, so I could pay to repair the church for a few years.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!? 170 THOUSAND?!?!?!?!?!?!???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SV: Just a temporary fix, you know, to keep it going for a few more years. Then I will go back in 2017 and have it torn down so it can be rebuilt the right way, because this was just temporary.

$150,000 is only enough for a "temporary" fix???

SV: You know, as long as I have the money in 2017. I think I will, but I sort of blew my budget for this trip a little bit.

"Sort of" blew the budget? $150,000 extra is "sort of" blowing the budget???



So the moral of this story is, he's got an extra $150,000 lying around. But he can't buy a new sweatervest.