Best Move I Ever Made

[Betsy Ross]

And god help you if your kids are athletes - only if you have kids in club sports here do you have the faintest idea what I'm talking about. I could go on and on.

Very true @CraigM. I think some of these people have lost total reality of how expensive life is in the USA. I don't think many of them have really lived or maybe even visited for long periods of time. Argentina is still extremely cheap overall for cost of living. Rents are dirt cheap (heading up but still very low). Obviously they are higher in Buenos Aires vs. other smaller towns.

But you nailed it on HIGH COST of living in the USA. We sent our kids to public schools because we moved to an area with the best school. But my friends are paying $30,000 to $50,000 per year per child to send to private schools. I opted to pay more for my house and pay property taxes vs. that bigger tuition amounts but many people pay both!

My health insurance premium for my family of 5 is about $35,000. Not the best program but not the worst either. Just a decent PPO plan. Since I own my own company I have to pay 100% of that. That's not even counting the co-pays as @CraigM nailed. Spot on target! Add in at least $10k on co-pays each year. And mine doesn't include dental insurance so we also pay out of pocket on that. (You don't want to know the cost of 3 kids having braces all at the same time!).

My property taxes luckily aren't too bad as they can only raise the value 2% a year. Fortunately I purchased when prices were lower but values tripled since I bought it 14 years ago but the property tax has only gone up 2% a year. But even at that rate you're talking about $20,000 per year in property taxes even after fully owning my house and it being paid off. My insurance bill they said will go up 250% as my company is leaving California.

And just taking Craig's example. All 3 of my kids are in extracurricular activities. My daughter is a Varsity tennis player since she was a freshman. Tennis lessons are $100 USD per hour. And she takes several per week. Same as my other 2 kids. Add on all the other stuff like piano lessons, drawing classes, etc, etc. Life in the USA is expensive! You have to be making a fortune and even then, it goes pretty quickly!

Many people on the forum that haven't lived in the USA before would be surprised. And many that have before and haven't been back would be surprised at the inflated cost of everything.

It sounds like Mike and Craig have similar situations with multiple kids and kids in sports. My sister's kids in California are also in sports and it was insane what she tells me she spends on sports and extracurricular activities. It boggles my mind. It is great that you can provide that to your kids but not sure how the typical family gets by.

My sister in Santa Barbara pays $35,000 per year just in property taxes alone. I think her insurance bill and her HOA makes it around the same as that. It's no wonder more and more people are not having kids. Anyway. I don't just think it's expensive in the US but all around the world relative to salaries, cost of kids is too much.

 

[lemonade]

I'm not rich. As Bow Tied Mara shows up there, it's quite possible to live here on $1300/month.

How many are leaving? And where are they going? I don't see evidence of Argentinos moving to Paraguay or Vietnam...

I don't think Argentines are moving to countries where they make less! Examples of Paraguay and Vietnam are not good. All the Argentines I know have passports to Spain or Italy and then they can also work in other countries of EU. I met many that moved to Spain. A few I know are moving to Germany. You can make much more there than in BA but maybe that will change soon at this rate. Salaries seem like they keep going up.

Don't get me even started about University prices! The colleges my daughter are seriously considering are about $95,000 to $100,000 USD per year when you factor in tuition, room and board and books. That's insane. She is trying to get into the London School of Economics which is a top tier school. Even with out of country tuition for room and board and all expenses it will be about $55,000 USD per year but it's only 3 years vs. 4 years.

Many Americans ARE struggling to pay bills.

This is shocking!

 

[Blockchain]

It's quite annoying to see people throwing the word "privilege" around.

Working hard, good planning, saving and investing (not being too greedy) so that he can enjoy a comfortable retirement is not called 'privilege.'

Congrats Dave!

Great post! Too many people don't even save anything. I read posts on X or even here where young people that are in their 20's 30's or 40s are living in Argentina and basically unemployed or living off their crypto savings. That is just dumb to me to not be money. Most of them are going to end up like @LyellLanatone blaming others for their woes when they are older.

 

[CraigM]

It's quite annoying to see people throwing the word "privilege" around.

Working hard, good planning, saving and investing (not being too greedy) so that he can enjoy a comfortable retirement is not called 'privilege.'

Congrats Dave!

Congrats Dave indeed. Sounds like you've cut out a wonderful life for yourself in a very short time.

 

[James Bond]

Congrats Dave indeed. Sounds like you've cut out a wonderful life for yourself in a very short time.

Agree. Buenos Aires is an amazing city! It is a great city to live if your income or savings is in dollars and you don't have to worry about finding a job or making money. If you're still trying to work and build income not so much. Glad to hear you are doing so well Dave. Is your wife and kid moving down?

 

[James Bond]

Occupancy has been great, I have it rented out until about July and that's with increased rate of about 15% for this year.

That is great. But did your expenses also jump up 15%? How are electricity and gas and home owner's expenses since you purchased it?