The Philippines

Would rich people in the Philippines give up their lifestyles to be middle class in America?

I'm wondering if any of the rich people in the Philippines would give up their lifestyle in the Philippines to live in America. Would these people give up their maids, their luxuries, and their status to be middle-class in America?

Public Comments

1. Not hardly.
2. Put yourself in their position and then ask if you would do it, I doubt it very much
3. Some of them do. A relative who was a doctor from a well to do family, never had to do chores, had maids doing things for her all her life in the Philippines (I guess you can call her a prima donna) came here and became a nurse, got married and now has a family. She learned to wash dishes, cook... basically learned to do household things she never did before and now lives here.
4. I think of several people that have done that. A lot of them are my relatives. They are all very hard workers. With so many opportunities, they won't be middle class forever.
5. I think it happens a lot. I remember having a conversation with a healthcare administrator that immigrated from the Philippines to the U.S. and became the director of a major hospital in the U.S. making well over $100,000/yr. Now she has moved back to the Philippines and is living a well-to-do lifestyle. When she immigrated to the USA though she was middle class but moved up fast into upper-middle class.
6. I cant speak about others' purpose of immigrating elsewhere, but IMHO......its more for the challenge of the mind, not the pocket.
7. the truth about that is security, because in america you can pay your bill's while working fulltime in mcdonald's,unlike here in philippine's there's no assurance that your bussiness is going better,because of the law and politic's,let's say now your making a flow with money, maybee next yr your client's and investor will run out of philippines because of all tax charge to them by the government,based on family experience,that's why we move here in vancouver, we all work part time 3-4 days a week 6-8 hrs a day but we can pay our house our bill's without getting worried,so we have more time for our self, rather than working.that make's our life more easy and fun, but still im miss philippine's so much.
8. THAT IS WHAT I AM DOING,WORKING HARD,BEING HONEST.
9. They would & they do. I know of a few who did, even those who are business owners, even CEOs, Presidents, VPs or those in upper management of huge companies back in the Philippines. It just depends on their own specific circumstance & their own unique personal reasons.
10. If I were a rich person back in the Philippines hypothetically speaking, I would still leave my comfort zone and find my place under the sun even if it means giving up what I had. Sometimes one have to give up to gain something. I don't want to end up being a bigot and ignorant to the people around me just because am rich, it only means that I would like to see and think outside the box. Just want to point out as well that not everybody who comes to America will make it. This would depend on a person's will and strong determination to make or break it. For those who are limp, best thing is to remain where they are.
11. why not? it's a very good feeling to know that what you are spending came from hard work and not doled out from your parents' trust fund.
12. I don't think so. If that is the case, then we would have no rich people living in exclusive villages here.
13. I would say some but not most rich people here would give up the comfortable lifestyle. Compensation here in PH in the corporate world or in most of the industries is low and so rich people would rather go to US to get the compensation they want for they studied in a nice school with expensive tuition fees. Some just want to stay there because the weather is cooler. =).. I hate the weather in PH.. so hot...
14. I don't think so. What is life as a middle-class citizen in America compared to one that is luxurious and satisfying? No rich man in his right man would even give it a thought. I know of one very affluent man who owns a string of businesses in Cebu and comes from a very well-respected family. Every year he goes to America to unwind however, his idea of unwinding is to work as a dishwasher in a restaurant. He does manual jobs he finds pleasure doing. When asked why he does it, he answers "Back at home (Cebu), I have housemaids to do everything for me. Here in the States, I have to do everything myself. The funny thing is, I like doing those things. When I am bored and have nothing better to do, I do odd jobs like washing dishes in a restaurant...or putting their garbage out."