Craig was on the golf course in the mountains of Rizal, San Miguel in hand, Monte Cristo cigar lit, overlooking Laguna Lake and Taal Volcano, when I asked him the question.

On a scale of one to ten, how happy are you right now?

Craig looked around. The pine trees. The mountain air. Coach Ronnie who has been teaching golf on this course for 24 years. The full Filipino spread waiting at lunch — crispy pata, bulalo, the works.

You need to ask that question? That's an eleven.

His golf membership back in North Carolina cost $450,000.

His membership here at Eastridge Golf and Country Club in the hills of Rizal cost $22,000. And that is not even a membership — it is a share. Meaning Craig owns a piece of the club outright. If he ever wants to leave he can rent it out and make money off it while he is gone.

Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars versus twenty-two thousand. For the same thing. Golf in the mountains with views that would make any course in North Carolina look ordinary.

That is not a discount. That is a different world entirely.

Craig spends $5,000 to $6,000 per month in the Philippines. And before you think that sounds like a lot, understand what it gets him.

He has an executive assistant named Jerica who handles his bills, his memberships, his appointments, everything that used to eat his time. He pays her 30,000 pesos per month — roughly $500. He has a personal assistant named Ann for everything else. He has a private driver on 24/7 call.

He lives in BGC and is buying a condo in Ortigas — two bedrooms, 43rd floor of a premium building — for a mortgage of $474 per month.

He goes to his cigar lounge in Makati on Wednesdays. The owner keeps two bottles of his tawny port in a private locker. They put on the blues when he walks in.

In North Carolina, this lifestyle would have cost him close to half a million dollars a year to replicate. His words, not mine.

Here it costs him a fraction of what he spent back home. A fraction.

Craig is not a lottery winner. He is a retired military veteran and former VP of procurement and logistics who did the math and made a decision.

He sold his house. He sold six cars. He sold the furniture. He moved to the Philippines because he wanted to live well and the Philippines was the only place where that was actually affordable without compromise.

He does not penny pinch here. He eats wherever he wants. He golfs whenever he wants. He goes to the cigar lounge on Wednesdays because that is just what Wednesdays are now.

Most people spend their entire careers working toward a version of this life and never actually reach it because the cost of living in the States keeps moving the finish line further away.

Craig stopped chasing it and moved to where it already existed.

The question is whether you are ready to do the same.

Click here to start your move to the Philippines the right way

Travel Well,

Evan Lorezca The Savvy Expat