Definitely the costs to live in Buenos Aires are MUCH less if you don't have to worry about having kids. Kids definitely add a huge amount to the total budget due to medical insurance and private schools. Also, for single guys you have to ask yourself if you ever will get married in the future or have kids as that will make a huge difference to future budget.
Also, healthcare costs are going up. I'm not sure I would want to depend on the public healthcare system. I've heard some horror stories of people having to wait hours and hours for procedures. Everyone always thinks best case scenario with their health but I think it's better to assume worst case scenarios when trying to plan for the future. I wouldn't want to count on Argentina's public healthcare system or plan that it will always be the same. Obviously, if you definitely can't afford medical coverage but I can tell you that your health can quickly change even if you're healthy now.
In my experience, people always underestimate what they will spend vs. overestimate. I listed all of these expenses on another post. Obviously, most people won't own a car in BA and shouldn't own a car here. But I included it below in case you will have a car.
-Rent (if you don't own your property)
- Property taxes if you own
- Maid or Housekeeper or cleaner
-Phone (Land line and Cell phone)
- Utilities (gas, water, electricity, cable, internet, etc)
- HOA fees/expensas each month
- Maintenance and repairs (if you own a property)
- Car payments
- Car insurance
- Auto Fuel each month for each car
- Registration fees for your car each year
- Maintenance on your car to include car washes and oil changes
-Parking (various times when you're out and about plus if you don't have a garage in your apartment and have to rent one)
- Home/rental insurance for your property
- Life insurance
- Health insurance premiums
- Dental insurance premiums
- Medical/Dental expenses (what insurance won't cover)
- Prescription medications
- School expenses for kids if applicable (tuition, stuff for school, ballet classes, etc)
- Babysitter expenses
- Annual fee for Credit Cards
- Clothes for kids and yourself
- Toys for kids
- Dry Cleaning/ Laundry mat
- Health club / gym
- Taxi/Uber fares which are inevitable.
- Beauty (hair salon for hair cuts, color, nails, make up, etc)
- Extracurricular activities dues/fees
- Entertainment (movies, theatre, plays, Zoo, concerts, sporting events, etc --)
- Magazine/newspaper/Ipad subscriptions
- Dining out at restaurants
- Grocery budget
- Retirement savings contributions
- Kids college fund savings contributions
- Charity/donations
- Travel / vacation expenses
- Federal/State/local income taxes
- Any revolving debt payments you might have
- Bad habit type stuff (alcohol, smoking, etc)
- Emergency savings fund for any major health issues
- Non reimbursed office/work expenses and supplies
Also, life is much different married and with kids but even as a single guy I spent quite a bit of money going on dates with girls. If you plan on having any social life in Buenos Aires it will involve going out on dates, meeting up with friends socially and locals are big on going to cafes and out to dinner. I would get invited in BA to an asado almost every weekend and just things like buying a nice bottle of wine or two each time I sent to one and going on dates added up.
You can definitely live a frugal life in Buenos Aires but even still you will end up going out to eat or meeting up with friends. Things add up. You might want a maid to clean once in a while. Or even adding in laundry fees if you don't have a washing machine/dryer. Laundry mat fees have gone up significantly. For the 2-bedroom apartments that I own for rentals, It's up to 21,000 pesos to launder all the sheets, blankets, towels, pillow cases for a 2-bedroom unit. I have a washing machine in my unit but often times I have high turnover of guests and the maid won't have time to clean them in the machine as it takes too long. So you have to account for things like this in your budget as well. Prices aren't nearly as cheap as they once were.
I spend quite a bit of money on Ubers when I'm in town and even when I lived there because I was constantly in meetings all over town. I'm not a public transport kind of guy but if you're on a budget you would just do that. Buenos Aires is a great walking city so if you have time you can do that. Even though Uber/taxis are cheaper than the US you can definitely spend a lot on them.
Definitely the biggest risk of damage to your property is water damage. Since construction is all concrete and bricks, things like fires are rare there. I've purchased over 1,000 properties in BA over the past 23 years and never ever had a fire in one of them. I know they can happen but they are rare. On the other hand, I have had water leaks in several properties including 2 that I owned. Don't count on the legal system if you try to sue someone. Takes forever and just doesn't work. Many people don't end up getting insurance. Insurance costs have really gone up over the past 2 years. I just got a quote for a client who purchased an apartment in Palermo Soho last year. It was more as he was renting it out via Airbnb as well and was honest about that with the insurance company but you can see the quarterly quote below in pesos.
Typically if there is a water leak they try to determine if it was caused by the building or an owner. In all the years I have been buying and managing units for other owners, only 2 got broken into. The biggest risk is water damage. I would probably say even with a lower end budget it would be a good idea to have at least $1,500 dollars a month to be safe assuming you own your own place if you wanted any type of social life at all.
View attachment 8857