View Full Version : Moving abroad to a cheaper country?
We’ve had a few threads over the years discussing the idea of retiring abroad to a low cost of living country. But never one about currently employed people. Then this weekend I read this article about Buenos Aires efforts to attract remote workers and I was intrigued. Top notch steak dinners for $18? Fancy lattes for $1? Nice weather? Cosmopolitan city? Sign me up. Unfortunately SO can’t do the remote work thing. So I will undoubtedly let this opportunity go. But it’s an interesting idea for the right person.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-02/argentina-pitches-weak-currency-to-draw-remote-workers
We’ve had a few threads over the years discussing the idea of retiring abroad to a low cost of living country. But never one about currently employed people. Then this weekend I read this article about Buenos Aires efforts to attract remote workers and I was intrigued. Top notch steak dinners for $18? Fancy lattes for $1? Nice weather? Cosmopolitan city? Sign me up. Unfortunately SO can’t do the remote work thing. So I will undoubtedly let this opportunity go. But it’s an interesting idea for the right person.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-02/argentina-pitches-weak-currency-to-draw-remote-workers
Any chance that down the road the "this opportunity" would be desaparecido?
The political situation in South American countries would discourage me especially as I grew older. It is not primarily about costs but security and services now and in the future is my thinking
Apart from the occasional currency collapse, the idea has merit. Even if you’re paid in USD, a lot of that cheap stuff can get hard to find. Ultimately, you can’t devalue your way to prosperity.
I know people who’ve done this in the Philippines, but they had family ties to the country and spoke the local language.
I'm in a spouse caregiver group on FB. Several of the folks there have moved to Ajijic, Mexico. They're able to place their spouses in a clean, caring facility and they can rent an apartment and live all for a couple thousand a month. I'm intrigued.
I have been looking seriously at Canada, Norway, Iceland, England, Scotland, Ireland, and will be investigating Uruguay once Covid calms down some more. My partner is making some sound proposals for France or Italy, again though Covid is in the way of R&D.
Canada would be logistically simplest, the UK or Scandinavia would put me closer to my dear daughter in the coming years.
ToomuchStuff
12-7-21, 5:02pm
I have been having to do some legal stuff at work, that should have been done, LONG time ago. Original partner in the business, was bought out in the first year, after not being open long, not having the debt paid off and looking at Rolex watches, because he was a business owner.
He almost never kept a job long enough to have a retirement, and he took a LOT of good jobs where he could have had a good retirement. He expected to live high on the hog off his parents money. (his father actually helped the business out once, and was paid back). His parents lived too long and went through it, and he blew what he did have waiting for them to die (pulling it out and paying the 0% taxes). Then towards his parents end he got a divorce.
Somehow he ended up "on a missions trip" for a church, so the church would pay his expenses to live in some country in Africa. I figure the next time I see his ex, or his daughter, it will be interesting to see if, like I suspect, he has had a falling out with the church, because they won't pay for his livelihood.
iris lilies
12-7-21, 6:06pm
I am now over my vague interest in moving abroad to live.
We went as far as we could go in getting DH Swiss citizenship. It isn’t doable because they require he speak more of the language than he speaks. His mother is from Switzerland and there was a program factoring in her children. I didn’t want to live in Switzerland, but that would have been an EU passport to live many places. Probably we wouldn’t have been there for very long, though, just some years.
If I were younger, I'd emigrate in a heartbeat. I considered moving to Canada when I retired; I should have followed through. Cost wasn't a consideration.
I looked up Ajijic, Mexico and it does look very nice. I can't say that I've ever wanted to relocate to another country other than youthful folly during the Vietnam draft era. I've not ever understood tourism, but it would be nice to live one region and then another for moderate periods to get some sort of sense of place than just breezing through popular attractions. and moving on to the next. Though exploring some of the worlds natural areas would interest me.
I looked up Ajijic, Mexico and it does look very nice. I can't say that I've ever wanted torelocate another country other than youthful folly during the Viet Nam draft era. I've not ever understood tourism, but it would be nice to live one region and then another for moderate periods to get some sort of sense of place than just breezing through popular attractions. and moving on to the next. Though exploring some of the worlds natural areas would interest me.
I don't understand tourism either, unless one is traveling with the idea of selecting a prospective place to live; I've always felt this way, and I'm glad I'm not the only one.
I don't understand tourism either, unless one is traveling with the idea of selecting a prospective place to live; I've always felt this way, and I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Yes, I loathe the "30 places in 7 days" approach. I usually try to spend a couple weeks at each destination.
Tourism means different experiences to different people. I love watching the locals interact with one another, their gardens/homes, the activities of their children, their food options, the traffic flow, etc. Some tours don't give one all the opportunities to do this. While I enjoy seeing some of the touristy highlights, it is the locals and the local geographic scenery that I most enjoy seeing.
I don’t think I’d want to move to a different country for forever. But a yearlong adventure might be fun. I’ve had a couple of work acquaintances take advantage of covid and no in person meetings to do this. One spent six months in Africa since she still has family there. She had to work on pacific time zone time but otherwise was free to do whatever she wanted. Another spent the first 9 months in the Caribbean because they own a condo there which they air bnb most of the year. They were there in March 2020 on vacation. As all their reservations cancelled they decided that it would be nicer to just stay there as opposed to going back to London.
Yes, I loathe the "30 places in 7 days" approach. I usually try to spend a couple weeks at each destination.
A longer stay--a month?--might be an acceptable compromise for me.
rosarugosa
12-8-21, 6:26am
I'm in a spouse caregiver group on FB. Several of the folks there have moved to Ajijic, Mexico. They're able to place their spouses in a clean, caring facility and they can rent an apartment and live all for a couple thousand a month. I'm intrigued.
Wow, Beckyliz, you sent me down a rabbit-hole and I've picked out a couple of lovely potential nursing homes for less that $2000/month! In my neck of the woods, the very crappiest of places cost at least $10,000.
Teacher Terry
12-8-21, 2:42pm
When I travel I tend to spend a few weeks in one location or areas close by. I don’t like to be gone longer than 2 weeks because I miss my dogs. I am going to Southern Ireland in June and will be gone 11 days.
Wow, Beckyliz, you sent me down a rabbit-hole and I've picked out a couple of lovely potential nursing homes for less that $2000/month! In my neck of the woods, the very crappiest of places cost at least $10,000.
I know, right? These folks have kept their homes in the US and I believe are required to come back every 3 months or so for visa requirements (not the spouse in the facility). Still, if you have assets you want to protect, spending $2 - $4K a month instead of $10K for better care is worth looking into.
Although I'd be embarrassed to live in a town with a name I can't pronounce, the facilities there look nice, and having watched relatives blow through their savings in assisted living facilities, I'd certainly consider it.
rosarugosa
12-8-21, 6:41pm
Although I'd be embarrassed to live in a town with a name I can't pronounce, the facilities there look nice, and having watched relatives blow through their savings in assisted living facilities, I'd certainly consider it.
Ah-hee-heek, see, I've been practicing!
Ah-hee-heek, see, I've been practicing!
No matter how hard I try, it comes out sounding awkward. It just doesn't roll off the tongue. It's a pretty place, though.
He does it better: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Ajijic_pronuntiation.ogg
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