Hey,
The question I get more than any other: Philippines or Thailand?
I've lived both sides of it. Phuket in Thailand. Cebu in the Philippines. So here's the honest answer instead of the internet's usual take.
[WATCH: The walk in Phuket → youtu.be/jbsVpoeBKA8]
◆ // THE PLAY
It's Not Philippines vs Thailand. It's Cebu vs Phuket.
Phuket - beautiful, built for tourism, priced like it. Most people picture Phuket when they picture Thailand, then are surprised when the bill doesn't match what they researched.
Cebu - real city, real cost of living, not built around tourism the same way. This is where the math actually works for building something long term.
But here's what the cheaper city actually buys you: time. Not a solution. It slows the clock. It doesn't stop it.
The only thing that stops it is a business.
◆ // THE NUMBER
Cebu runs $800 to $1,800 a month for a single person living comfortably. Phuket runs $1,100 to $2,000. When I lived in Phuket, rent and bills were genuinely affordable, the food was so good I kept overspending anyway. The overlap is real at the low end. Where they actually diverge is rent, and one detail almost nobody accounts for: electricity in the Philippines runs roughly double Thailand's rates. Cebu is still the cheaper city overall, but that gap narrows more than people expect.
Full breakdown, real numbers → expatbuildr.com/blog/geo-arbitrage/cebu-vs-phuket-cost-of-living
◆ // THE TOOL
The Thing That Actually Stops the Clock
Cheaper rent buys you months. A business buys you years. Mine started with a website, not a course, not a mindset shift. A page that turned a stranger into a paying client. Before it existed, I had an idea and no way to prove it to anyone. After it existed, I had a business.
If your runway is the problem and you don't have a website that can actually convert a stranger into a client yet, that's the real starting point. I built the offer I wish I'd had back then → expatbuildr.com/website
◆ // THE MOVE
This week, pick your city, then ask the harder question.
Look at where you're actually thinking of landing, not the country's average. Check what that specific city costs, not what the country is known for.
Then ask it straight. Are you buying time, or are you building the business that means you never have to ask this question again.
DM me on Instagram @ExpatBuildr with which city you're weighing. I'll tell you straight if it fits your runway.
◆ // PROMPT OF THE WEEK
Paste this into any AI chat, swap in your real numbers:
"I have $[savings] saved. My monthly costs are $[amount] in [city]. Calculate my exact runway in months. Then tell me, if I need to build $500 in monthly income to double that runway, what's the fastest realistic way to do that with the skills I already have: [list 2-3 skills]."
Next issue, the currency math, how the dollar gap actually works in your favor right now.
— Galaxy (Tony Long II) 🌏
Building from Cebu. Earning in USD. Sharing the math.
P.S. — Free forever → newsletter.galaxyarbitrage.com/subscribe
P.P.S. — Run your own numbers → galaxyarbitrage.com/shop