[Tully Mars]

I have always enjoyed following Colin Post's articles, books and insights into living as an expat in South America (Colombia & Peru). His writing is honest, and in my opinion right on point. He has chronicled years of living the Gringo expat life in Latin America....Starting off with loads of debauchery, wild partying, travel adventures, settling in, marriage to a latina, business owner and eventually a family man.

His recent article describes his reason's for repatirating back to the USA from Lima, Peru. I agree with his reasoning for the move....and as he says it all comes down to MONEY. It's not easy to afford quality education, a nice home in a good barrio, and giving your family a quality life with travel and memorable experiences.

I often try to explain to new guys that arrive in Colombia it's hard to make it here longterm, especially more so for those that want to wife up and have kids. To have a good quality of life you better earn good money, be in a location indepedent job or be on a solid retirment or pension.

(Don't even start me on the other issue of taking a latina wife back to the West..that has been discussed at length and is full of TROUBLE!)

Finally, I am curious if there are other stories from Latin American expats that have wifed up and taken the family back to the West (USA/Europe/OZ) or managed to stay in South America longterm?

In my past 7 years here...I have seen both types over the years, mostly the one's that stay have good marriages and careers. With access to top notch private education for there children otherwise I think they would be gone to gringolandia like the others before them.

I will link the article below it's a good read for those guys contemplating staying in South America longterm and seeing the cost it takes to provide a quality life while trying to raise a family in Latin America....I also look forward to hearing how Colin and the family adjust to living back in the USA.

Link: https://expat-chronicles.com/2019/03/14/repatriation/

[Roosh]

I don't believe Peru is that expensive now!

I am considering repatriation myself, and the thing that is blocking me is money. The big cities (e.g. Washington DC) are prohibitively expensive, but at least there is tons of value in the Midwest, where you can buy a nice house for $100,000 or less. Living there is another story.

[Brodiaga]

The guy has children, needs a big house and a good English-speaking school for them. In a country like Peru, private school is the only option in this case. Of course it's cheaper for him to live in St Louis than in Lima.

[Papi Rico]

"I’d love to stay in Lima … but I can’t afford it!"

He's an entertaining writer overall, I agree, but his above conclusion in this post is highly misleading.

He is not being driven out by costs in Lima; he is leaving because his online businesses have failed to consistently produce income sufficient to sustain a 5-person family on a Western lifestyle.

The key here is that he appears to be going from location-independent blogging/e-commerce back into the 9-to-5 Corporate lifestyle. In other words, the fact that he is repatriating back to the US is entirely irrelevant. He's simply going somewhere he'll have a stable paycheck. This is something which is implicit in his writing but which he refuses to explicitly acknowledge.

I'm going on the 3rd month of my 6th trip here in Lima, so I have a few observations:

Lima is not expensive. My current monthly spend is at US$2,300, and anybody who knows me can attest that I have zero regard for lifestyle budgeting. My 750 sq.ft. Airbnb is in the center of Miraflores, one of the most sought-after districts in all of Peru, and hands-down the best for young people; total cost is $1,200 and that includes weekly cleaning and Airbnb fees. In the last month, I've cooked a total of 2 meals at home and went on 15+ dates. Gym is $40/month and cell data is $20/month for 6GB. Admittedly, I've taken time off clubbing but even with the alcohol spend I'd still be doing Lima like a king at under 3K/monthly.

In his blog he has a column called "Peru is rich as f*ck." For some reason he attributes the installation of tile floors in a local meat/produce market as evidence of the Peruvian economy's "new prosperity," and seems awestruck by the fact that he's having a hard time finding a maid who will work for $30/day. These weren't troll pieces either.

Now this guy latches on to the idea of settling with his family in Lince, which is a Peruvian middle-class neighborhood where it's possible for a single guy to live comfortably on under $600/month. I couldn't fathom spending more than 2k/month for a family of 5 in Lince, when most Peruvian families in that district spend far, far less. Then he starts whining about the supposed impossibility of acquiring a 4-bedroom house in Lima, as if as an American he had zero access to financing back home. Unless he had zero or bad credit, he could have easily pieced together the $175k for the down-payment through a series of personal loans, at rates considerably below what any Peruvian bank would offer him. Was he not willing to stomach the risk of default? That's another story. But I'm not going to sympathize with the "I'd love to stay in Lima, but I cannot find financing" bit.

Popping out 3 kids and deciding after-the-fact that they should attend a $25k/year high school is also a peculiar scenario. But what he says about the best private school in Lima being equivalent to an ordinary public school in the US seems right on the money. And that brings me to what I suspect is his true motive for going back home:

He's simply fed up with being part of a society where the average individual's IQ is in the low 80s and the only things on young people’s minds are Netflix and Social Media. And he probably doesn’t want that for his kids. In the last 2 months I haven’t met a single young local girl who has read more than a page-long excerpt of Mario Vargas Llosa (the country’s greatest ever writer and Nobel Prize winner). I say this with zero animosity or disdain towards the locals, as this is a trend that may be observed in most parts of the world today. And it has zero effect on my bachelor lifestyle. But would I want my offspring growing up amidst this cultural degeneration? Definitely not, though on the other hand, St. Louis…?

He also neglected to mention the crucial fact (again, based on inference) that his wife would go from a job paid either at 550 USD monthly (avg. salary for unskilled labor in Lima) or 900 USD monthly (avg salary for mid-level office jobs in Lima), to an hourly wage job with benefits in the States. That second income is as crucial as not forking over 300k USD just to put your 3 kids through high school (which of course is a ludicrous idea to begin with).

He made the right call and I'm in no position to judge a man with 3 kids and a wife, as that's not something I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I wish him and his family the best in their new chapter. But this particular post had the tone of a sob story showing a lack of ownership for one's past decisions, and appeared to be rife with mischaracterizations and omissions. It should be read accordingly.

[CleanSlate]

Why couldn't he just send his kids to a local school in Lima without the outrageous fees, and fill in the gaps of that education himself? There are tons of educational material online, learning apps, books, and resources he could use... AND he could direct the supplemental curriculum the way he wants to!

I've always thought parents SHOULD be taking an active role in the education of their own offspring.

[Papi Rico]

(03-20-2019 12:56 AM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

Why couldn't he just send his kids to a local school in Lima without the outrageous fees, and fill in the gaps of that education himself? There are tons of educational material online, learning apps, books, and resources he could use... AND he could direct the supplemental curriculum the way he wants to!

I've always thought parents SHOULD be taking an active role in the education of their own offspring.

That's a good point. And if he were hell-bent on that top American school, he'd find a way to work for the State Department or directly for the school itself as an employee, thereby entitling his children to tuition waivers.

In many cases, Americans abroad have this (delusional) perception that they are esteemed members of an expat community and must therefore send their kids to the most prestigious private school in town. It's a status thing.

[Australia Sucks]

A lot of people don’t realise that in many developing countries if you want to live as an expat family man you often have to spend the same money as a first world country (but you get a lower quality of life).

A lot of people from first world countries get free or partially free healthcare (provided by the government or their employer paid private health insurance) which they often wouldn’t get in a developing country so they they have to pay for that. Also as discussed already in a developing country they often have to send their kids to an expensive private school to get the same quality of education as a free public school in their home country. Add to that often certain imported items like brand name clothes, electronics, cars, etc can cost more due to higher import duties, add to that frequent trips back to the home country to see your extended family/parents, etc and suddenly being an expat with a wife and a few kids in a city like Lima or Santiago is not so cheap if you are trying to have a western standard of living.

The lifestyle and spending requirements of a young single man are completely different to a family man. In many developing countries living as a young single bachelor can be very cheap but often not so much for a family man.

[WombRaider]

No way would I bring a hot Peruvian wife back to the U.S. Even if she is, say, a 5 -- I haven't seen her pictures. Even if she has three kids.

The thirst is extreme.

[Shimmy]

I agree, sounds like lifestyle change. The same would be true with any city you live in, if you are not making enough $ to be a top earner you shouldn't live there and find a scenario where you either make enough $ to do so or to go somewhere else. Living in NYC and not making enough $ to enjoy what NYC has to offer and not have a budget is no different than doing the same in Lima, the price is just different.

It's the same even if you don't have kids, as Papi Rico said having $2,300-3,000 allows you the live like a king in Lima, if you were trying to do it closer to $1,000 to $1,500 a month you will be living like a local/backpacker and you would probably be better off living in the west and getting a decent paying job, something you can't get easily in South America without a specific skill.

[Tully Mars]

Interesting comments. I enjoyed reading all the feedback.

Roosh, I think if I was to repatriate back to the USA it would be in a Western Mountain town, Midwest or somewhere with a cheaper cost of living and more conservative family values....the major West and East Coast cities are priced out for the Middle class family.

I had the opposite feeling of some posters. I did not take it as a sob story. I think the author spelled out exactly why it makes sense for him to repatriate. Honestly assessing his situation. Looking at it through the lense of a family man with 3 kids, not a single man solely responsible for himself.

I actually am impressed that a man like him built himself up over the years in South America, from coming here with very little, making connections and hanging on this long...it's a tough way to etch out a living.....in my opinion he has lived an interesting life doing it on his terms.

Let me address the financing as I have looked into this as well. Unless you have large collateral (House, business) or a family member in the states willing to do a home equity loan your not getting financing from a US bank for a large sum of money. Personal loans are usually for lower sums....I imagine it would be very difficult to convince numerous banks to lend you up to 200K. As he said he also can not get a local loan as his business does not register as a local company.

Speaking from experience in Colombia a 3-4 bedroom house in a nice barrio is not cheap, renting is a totally different scenario! He even list those prices for an average home in a bad part of an average barrio. Also what you are paying for is usually half the size and quality of what he would get in a Midwest city. I for one would not wanna live in a shit barrio with a wife and kids just so I could buy a crappy house I needed to fix up.

It is also extremely difficult to get a job at the State Dept, or working at an elite private School that recruit teachers internationally. Hot spots like Peru, and Colombia have thousands of applicants for a handful of jobs. These tution waivers go to the families of teachers living on excellent packages.

As far as just tutoring or home schooling your child as a way around not paying for a solid private education this is full of many issues. For starters the public schools are horrendous in Colombia (I imagine Peru it's the same). You truly get what you pay for and I for one would not want to short change my child's education.

I certaintly don't think I would have the time or energy it requires to sit with 3 children after working all day to make sure they completed their work to a satisfactory level. Not to mention the socal aspects of going to school...Home schooling often produces social retards from not playing or being around other children 7-8 hours a day. This comes down to personal choice...

I think we both agree as you stated... a majority of the people in his position would repatriate back to the states. Also comparing the cost of living for a single guy, and a family is way different. $2300-3,000 USD a month (your expenses) would be considered a very good paying salary in Colombia as Shimmy posted, high paying jobs are just not that plentifully in Colombia and I imagine in Peru.

Ultimately the rub to me is that for a family man trying to make it abroad in a developing country while still wanting to provide a western lifestyle for your children and wife is very difficult.

The other side of the coin to me is full of dangers as well. Repatriating to the West with a latin wife, and all the shiny objects, competition, and keeping up with the Jones sickness that infiltrates Western living sounds like a nightmare.

This to me is the ultimate Catch 22 and why I often tell newbies here with stars in there eyes....raising a family here is TOUGH! This is why I do not see myself with a wife and kids...to many obstacles to overcome. I will keep my life as stress free as possible, living single abroad....it's just a massive gamble where nowadays the deck is stacked against you.

Again I would love to hear from someone not in our demographic (single w/o kids) with a local wife and kids and how they have managed to make this all work while still living in Latin America.

[scotian]

I work with a guy from Bogota who grew up in a fairly wealthy family and graduated from a top university in Bogota and worked as an engineer there before moving to Canada with his wife and two kids about ten years ago. He left because it was too much of a grind especially in Bogota, the only city where he could make a "decent" salary of about $2000/month, had to deal with pollution, traffic, crime, etc. In Canada he makes about five times what he made in Bogota-life is much easier, there's much less daily stress and his kids are both fluent in Spanish, English and French (they lived in Quebec for five years before moving to Alberta) and attend free public schools in a school board that is consistently ranked as one of the best public boards in the world.. Mortagage rates in Colombia are something stupid like 20%, compared to about 3.0% in Canada. There's a lot of structural things in third world economies that prevent or at least make social mobility a lot more difficult for locals, these systems can be hard for expats to navigate too.

There's so many ways to get fucked over in the third world that I applaud anyone who is able to tough it out for several years, especially with kids. I think Colin is making the right move in relocating back to the US, even if it's only for a few years.

[Papi Rico]

Quote:

I had the opposite feeling of some posters. I did not take it as a sob story. I think the author spelled out exactly why it makes sense for him to repatriate.

A) I am leaving Lima because I cannot afford it.
B) I am leaving Lima because I will have a paycheck in the US.

Do you see a difference between A and B, and how going with A and adopting its tone for the entire article is both misleading and an attempt to evoke sympathy? Case A is one of failure. In case B he is taking direct action to improve his life.

Quote:

I actually am impressed that a man like him built himself up over the years in South America, from coming here with very little, making connections and hanging on this long...it's a tough way to etch out a living.....in my opinion he has lived an interesting life doing it on his terms.

I'm not impressed at all. There's nothing inherently impressive about getting on a plane to Lima, working odd jobs for several years, and then knocking up a Peruvian chick 3 times.

That's a sub-par performance compared to the RooshV Travel Forum contingent. I'm way more impressed by the dozens of guys I've met from here. Most of us do what we love and we find ways to make it work.

Quote:

I imagine it would be very difficult to convince numerous banks to lend you up to 200K. As he said he also can not get a local loan as his business does not register as a local company.

Convince? You're not in a conference room negotiating a multi-million dollar financing deal with a conglomerate of banks. It's as simple as googling 'personal loans' and applying with lenders online. You can deal with as many lenders as you want. I guarantee you he could get 200k on better terms than any local lender would give him. There should be no speak of local (overseas) loans for Americans with medium-excellent credit.

Quote:

It is also extremely difficult to get a job at the State Dept, or working at an elite private School that recruit teachers internationally.

'Extremely difficult' isn't an excuse for not pursuing a legitimate option.

Quote:

Also comparing the cost of living for a single guy, and a family is way different. $2300-3,000 USD a month (your expenses) would be considered a very good paying salary in Colombia as Shimmy posted, high paying jobs are just not that plentifully in Colombia and I imagine in Peru.

I only disclosed my expenses so you guys could get a feel for the cost of living here. My spend could sustain a family of 5-7 in Lince. He could easily rent a 4-br house for under 1k in Lince. If he can't put together another 1k to put food on the table for his kids then he shouldn't be abroad, we agree.

If Lima is too expensive, why wouldn't he consider Arequipa (his wife's city)? Houses and private schools there are a fraction of the prices in the capital city.

Quote:

Again I would love to hear from someone not in our demographic (single w/o kids) with a local wife and kids and how they have managed to make this all work while still living in Latin America.

I don't think such guys would have time or interest to post on a travel forum for single guys. Doesn't mean they're not out there. I know an older expat in Arequipa who is raising 2 wonderful kids in a comfortable environment while putting them through a local private school.

I just don't understand what is so unbelievable or 'tough' about doing something that millions of families are already doing without relative issue.

[Tully Mars]

(03-20-2019 02:33 PM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

Quote:

I had the opposite feeling of some posters. I did not take it as a sob story. I think the author spelled out exactly why it makes sense for him to repatriate.

A) I am leaving Lima because I cannot afford it.
B) I am leaving Lima because I will have a paycheck in the US.

Do you see a difference between A and B, and how going with A and adopting its tone for the entire article is both misleading and an attempt to evoke sympathy? Case A is one of failure. In case B he is taking direct action to improve his life.

Quote:

I actually am impressed that a man like him built himself up over the years in South America, from coming here with very little, making connections and hanging on this long...it's a tough way to etch out a living.....in my opinion he has lived an interesting life doing it on his terms.

I'm not impressed at all. There's nothing inherently impressive about getting on a plane to Lima, working odd jobs for several years, and then knocking up a Peruvian chick 3 times.

That's a sub-par performance compared to the RooshV Travel Forum contingent. I'm way more impressed by the dozens of guys I've met from here. Most of us do what we love and we find ways to make it work.

Quote:

I imagine it would be very difficult to convince numerous banks to lend you up to 200K. As he said he also can not get a local loan as his business does not register as a local company.

Convince? You're not in a conference room negotiating a multi-million dollar financing deal with a conglomerate of banks. It's as simple as googling 'personal loans' and applying with lenders online. You can deal with as many lenders as you want. I guarantee you he could get 200k on better terms than any local lender would give him. There should be no speak of local (overseas) loans for Americans with medium-excellent credit.

Quote:

It is also extremely difficult to get a job at the State Dept, or working at an elite private School that recruit teachers internationally.

'Extremely difficult' isn't an excuse for not pursuing a legitimate option.

Quote:

Also comparing the cost of living for a single guy, and a family is way different. $2300-3,000 USD a month (your expenses) would be considered a very good paying salary in Colombia as Shimmy posted, high paying jobs are just not that plentifully in Colombia and I imagine in Peru.

I only disclosed my expenses so you guys could get a feel for the cost of living here. My spend could sustain a family of 5-7 in Lince. He could easily rent a 4-br house for under 1k in Lince. If he can't put together another 1k to put food on the table for his kids then he shouldn't be abroad, we agree.

If Lima is too expensive, why wouldn't he consider Arequipa (his wife's city)? Houses and private schools there are a fraction of the prices in the capital city.

Quote:

Again I would love to hear from someone not in our demographic (single w/o kids) with a local wife and kids and how they have managed to make this all work while still living in Latin America.

I don't think such guys would have time or interest to post on a travel forum for single guys. Doesn't mean they're not out there. I know an older expat in Arequipa who is raising 2 wonderful kids in a comfortable environment while putting them through a local private school.

I just don't understand what is so unbelievable or 'tough' about doing something that millions of families are already doing without relative issue.

Sounds like you have it all sorted. I don't share your views but all the best.

[BBinger]

(03-20-2019 12:56 AM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

Why couldn't he just send his kids to a local school in Lima without the outrageous fees, and fill in the gaps of that education himself? There are tons of educational material online, learning apps, books, and resources he could use... AND he could direct the supplemental curriculum the way he wants to!

I've always thought parents SHOULD be taking an active role in the education of their own offspring.

In Saint Louis City and many of its suburbs the public schools are going to be awful and dangerous. The city itself suffers open violence along ethnic lines. Most cities in LATAM attracting expats are going to be safer than St Louis City.

I grew up near there, both my brothers live in St Louis City now. One hates it, but hates the commute more. The other has a wife with activist leanings working for an AIDS charity intent on saving African in America, when they had a baby he pushed to move to a suburb for the schools and safety. She pushed him to instead purchase a Pintrest friendly converted firehouse centrally located in the city. He bought the firehouse. The kids too young for them to have crossed the public versus private school rubicon yet, but...

In my current city of choice I can walk at all hours without being targeted for crime based on the color of my skin. In Saint Louis city, my light skin would make me a target for racially motivated crime. Here people steal things, usually unattended things. Back in Saint Louis, the knockout game is a thing. Assaults happen because a certain demographic's kids make a sport out of suckerpunching pedestrians.

[noktrnl]

(03-20-2019 12:22 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

"I’d love to stay in Lima … but I can’t afford it!"

He's an entertaining writer overall, I agree, but his above conclusion in this post is highly misleading.

He is not being driven out by costs in Lima; he is leaving because his online businesses have failed to consistently produce income sufficient to sustain a 5-person family on a Western lifestyle.

The key here is that he appears to be going from location-independent blogging/e-commerce back into the 9-to-5 Corporate lifestyle. In other words, the fact that he is repatriating back to the US is entirely irrelevant. He's simply going somewhere he'll have a stable paycheck. This is something which is implicit in his writing but which he refuses to explicitly acknowledge.

...

This is entirely it. The guy is delusional thinking that simply moving down to South America would automatically make him an expat. Real expats, or at the least the ones that he's dreaming of, are hosted on an expat package where housing and your kids' tuition are covered for you.

Quote:

Peru is rich as fuck

Most of Peru is still poor. He's just looking up at what the upper crust have, rather than looking down at what 99.9% of the poor have to deal with.

I have to wonder though. If he moves back, what will he and his wife do for work in the midwest?

[zoom]

Papi Rico you are completely off-base and you don't know much about the guy. He's not going back to the US for a paycheck, he running the same business that he owns (Peruvian Naturals).

Colin spent years in Colombia and Peru, made a successful supplement line, and created a family. I think most guys here would be impressed by that.

[Papi Rico]

Thank you for the correction. I don't claim to know the guy, and made inferences exclusively based on his writing, which is defeatist and full of "I can't do X, and I can't afford Y." I can't back that sort of pity party. I also can't back his misrepresentations of expat living in Peru, which remains extremely affordable by Western standards, even for raising a family. If he's a successful serial entrepreneur, as you say, then he would have found a way to finance a middle-class Peruvian home, rather than venting to his readership about the supposed 'difficulty' of doing so. He would have found solutions to all of the 'issues' he raises, or he would have at least put forth a good faith effort. But why go through all that difficulty when you can just write about it on a blog?

[zoom]

(03-20-2019 04:58 PM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

Thank you for the correction. I don't claim to know the guy, and made inferences exclusively based on his writing, which is defeatist and full of "I can't do X, and I can't afford Y." I can't back that sort of pity party. I also can't back his misrepresentations of expat living in Peru, which remains extremely affordable by Western standards, even for raising a family. If he's a successful serial entrepreneur, as you say, then he would have found a way to finance a middle-class Peruvian home, rather than venting to his readership about the supposed 'difficulty' of doing so. He would have found solutions to all of the 'issues' he raises, or he would have at least put forth a good faith effort. But why go through all that difficulty when you can just write about it on a blog?

With his supplement business he has a lot of money tied up in inventory. America makes more financial sense to him at the moment so he's moving back.

I don't see his writing as defeatist. He blogs because it's a hobby and he promotes his supplements and books on the blog. I'm glad he does blog because his experiences can help other young guys who want to live/get married in Latin America.

[CleanSlate]

So the premise he is putting out is that it’s cheaper to raise a family in America than abroad.

To me, that makes no sense, even if you put your kids in an expensive international school. Don’t forget that while abroad, he probably used the FEIE to reduce his taxes. Going back, he can’t use the FEIE and therefore pay more tax (which pays for the schools).

Real estate? Unless you want to live in the middle of nowhere, you’re dishing out a lot to buy a house and pay that mortgage plus insurance, HOA, property taxes, etc... You can save by living in the middle of nowhere, but do you really want to live there?

And don’t get me started on health care costs in the US. Yes it’s better quality, but since he runs his own business, he’s gonna have to cover his whole family. How much that’s gonna cost him? What are his monthly premiums going to be?

And finally, guys like us migrate abroad to get AWAY from the western way of life. Then when kids come into the picture, we end up trying to IMPORT (or return to) the very lifestyle we wanted to get away from. Makes no sense to me?

[Sidney Crosby]

Long story short, 3rd world countries are good to pork sluts but not raise multiple kids will trying to keep up with the Garcias

[CleanSlate]

(03-21-2019 12:39 AM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

Long story short, 3rd world countries are good to pork sluts but not raise multiple kids will trying to keep up with the Garcias

So what's the point in going wife hunting in 3rd world countries in LA, EE, and SEA then? Might as well marry an American, pop out a few kids, and keep up with the Joneses with divorce rape hanging over your head, waiting to drop when you least expect it.

(this is not specifically directed at you in particular, Sidney)

[Dulceácido]

(03-21-2019 12:39 AM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

Long story short, 3rd world countries are good to pork sluts but not raise multiple kids will trying to keep up with the Garcias

Nailed it.


Don't think you're gonna bring up 3 kids and send them to English-speaking private schools while you live in upper-middle-class suburbia and all this is gonna happen on pennies to the dollar just because you live in Lima. Wtf are you thinking? You are trying to live like a rich person. That's what they do. Hate to break it to you (and it seems like the guy learned this) rich people in Perú are rich people. You want to live like them, unfortunately, you have to be rich, too.

I lived in Colombia, yes, it's considered 3rd world. The people that lived around me had more money than God. They would be off-the-charts rich here in the US. This dude has mistaken a couple of facts. Yes, you're in the 3rd world, but there are rich people there, too. And just because you have the gringo dollars, does not mean that there aren't people surrounding you who are wealthy beyond comparison. You can't live like them because you are not them.

Don't be an expat who goes somewhere because you can stretch your dollar there, then you try to live like you're living in 'Merica, okay?

Can you go there and live like a wealthy vagabond for the rest of your life on $60k/year, yes, you can. Check that block if that's what you want.

Can you go there and live the life of the "rich American" (or Peruvian, in this case) on $60k/year? No, you cannot. You know why? Because rich people make more than $60k/year.

The "cost of living" analysis, TOTALLY depends on your lifestyle.

[croquet]

(03-20-2019 12:22 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

Now this guy latches on to the idea of settling with his family in Lince, which is a Peruvian middle-class neighborhood where it's possible for a single guy to live comfortably on under $600/month. I couldn't fathom spending more than 2k/month for a family of 5 in Lince, when most Peruvian families in that district spend far, far less. Then he starts whining about the supposed impossibility of acquiring a 4-bedroom house in Lima, as if as an American he had zero access to financing back home. Unless he had zero or bad credit, he could have easily pieced together the $175k for the down-payment through a series of personal loans, at rates considerably below what any Peruvian bank would offer him. Was he not willing to stomach the risk of default? That's another story. But I'm not going to sympathize with the "I'd love to stay in Lima, but I cannot find financing" bit.

On this part I have to say you are way off base. 175k in personal loans? As a middle class expat who can't buy a house in cash in the low 6 figures? As a small business owner whose business and future property are in a foreign jurisdiction?

You find me a US based bank/banks willing to throw 175K USD in personal loans at mid to high single digits and I'll come there and buy the property in cash with you standing next to me.

[worldtraveler3]

He can’t get 125k after working on his business after so many years? If he is really serious about growing his business he should be renting! I imagine a house in Lima wouldn’t cost more than 1000 usd a month.

Expats are better off going to Hong Kong or Singapore rather than places like Lima.
I know guys making that amount in one year in these places, and he’s been there all this time for what exactly?

Why need to be based there in the first place?

These countries are great to visit or spending a few months while on a break. But to live longtime you better have some connections with the local political or business elite to make it big.

[NoMoreTO]

Quote:

$17,908 per year in tuition plus a one-time entrance fee of $18,500. That translates to $90,000 per child to go just during the high school years (grades 9-12). With three children, that’s basically another house to pay for.

I would chalk this up to him wanting his kids to go to a decent high school and getting that experience.

Simply put, you could hire one person to teach your kids down there for the price of one kid $18,500 and the caliber of person you would get would be through the roof. Fuck he could actually teach his kids how to code. Along with some based history.

In Canada a student through the public system costs 12,000 CAD to the state which would be about 8,000 USD. I thought this was wasteful.