Most people retiring to the Philippines have their ongoing income (pension, annuity, investment income, etc) generated in their home country, but need to get it to their retirement home in the Philippines. With the advent of the internet, combined by an ever increasing number of people retiring to overseas, moving money into the Philippines is no longer a difficult matter. Of all the methods to transfer money, the following is the best ways:

1. Bank Wire Transfer

You need to set up a US dollar account at a bank in the Philippines and then wire transfer funds from your home country bank to your Philippines’ account. You wire transfer money from your home country bank by signing up with their procedures for sending wire transfers while out of the country. One you have signed up with your bank’s procedures to do this, it is a quick way to send money to the Philippines. However, it is expensive. Depending on the amount being transferred, the wire can cost as much as $75. Clearly, you would not want to transfer money more than once monthly.

2. Use a Philippine National Bank Transfer Facility.

If you are in your home country at the time of wanting to make a transfer, and there is a Philippine National Bank transfer facility nearby, a wire transfer of funds to a Philippine bank is relatively inexpensive. The fees are based on a sliding scale: the more money you transfer the bigger the fee, but the fee decreases as a percentage of the transfer as the amount of the transfer increases.

3. Use WesternUnion

This is a very reliable, very quick, but very expensive method (currently the fee runs around $68 – pretty much the same as a bank wire transfer). The advantage is the money can be delivered to one of thousands of locations in the Philippines. Simply go to a WesternUnion location, fill out their form and deliver in cash to the clerk the amount you wish to transfer.

4. Use an online money transfer website

Online companies such as Xoom and Remit Home are less expensive options ($10 to $12 per $1,000 transferred). These are easy to process while in the Philippines by simply going online, setting up and account and entering the relevant transfer data as to the bank you transferring from and the bank you are transferring into in the Philippines.

5. Use PayPal

Also internet based, but unique in that you can even transfer money by charging the transfer to your credit card. A very popular way to transfer smaller amounts of money – the transfer fee is a percentage of funds being transferred. Go to Pay Pal and follow their instructions for setting up an account with them, and then simply follow the instructions at their website for make the transfer.

6. Use an ATM machine

Like in the U.S. and other countries, ATM machines are just about everywhere in the Philippines. Once you are in the Philippines, you can draw from ATM machines at a local Philippines bank, just as you to in your home country. The funds withdrawn of course will be in the local currency (pesos), not dollars, and there are limitations on the amount which can be withdrawn on each transaction and the total daily.

7. Write a Check.

Once you are established in the Philippines and pretty well know you monthly expenditures, simply monthly deposit a dollar check into your Philippines dollar bank account for the average monthly disbursements. It takes roughly 3 weeks to clear. This is also the least expensive, as there are NO wire or internet transfer fees.

The Philippines is home to some of the most beautiful flowers in the world. The tropical climate might be too extreme for sensitive flowers such as roses so many professional growers choose to use greenhouses to control the weather. However, other flowers such as anthuriums, ginger, birds of paradise, heliconias and orchids are perfect for the tropical weather. These flowers can be cultivated easily in the hot and moist weather that is the trademark of The Philippines.

The grower plants seeds in the soil and waits for the flowers to grow, all the while taking care of it with devoted patience. The grower protects the plants from pests both from the soil and out of it by using appropriate pesticides. Fertilizer is used to enrich the soil to ensure that the flowers are “fed” properly, other than being given water and right amount of sunlight everyday.

Since The Philippines is a tropical country and therefore prone to extreme and sudden changes in the weather, growing flowers traditionally involves a lot of risk. The grower may lose all of his or her crops to an abrupt spike in the temperature or a heavy downpour of rain. This is not practical since the time, labor, and capital lost can never be replaced.

That is why Philippine flower growers utilize greenhouses in farming their flowers for commercial sale and export. Greenhouses offer a controlled environment perfect for the flowers’ optimum growth. The risk for pest invasion is drastically minimized as well, since the greenhouse is sealed. All the flowers are tended to more thoroughly in a greenhouse than in an exposed flower bed since all necessary conditions are maintained at less the cost, time, and manpower.

After harvesting, the flowers are delivered straight to the flower shops. These flower shops in turn offer flower delivery to their clients. Delivery is efficient and stress-free, which makes the flower shops competitive not only in the quality of their flowers but in the quality of service as well. In fact, delivery is not limited only within the Philippines; it also exports its flowers to the rest of the world. And why not? Their beauty is renowned and unique – only in The Philippines!