Two questions about retiring to Argentina

[lbaron]

Regarding the banks -- I was just involved in a transfer from Wells Fargo to Santander in BsA. What a nightmare!! After two months, the party in the USA finally gave up and sent a cashier's check to the party in BsAs. The Argentine banks are a mess, so be cautious. Sra Kirchner just confiscated pension funds to pay the national debt. When a government can just take money belonging to others, that's dangerous

[gouchobob]

Originally Posted by SaraSara

The top-rated Hospital Italiano has a special plan for people between 65 and 80. I believe it is something like US$ 150 a month, all inclusive.

As far as I know, it is the only one. All other HMOs have a cutoff age of 65.

This could be the solution, the only disadvantage is you are limited to them for services, if you don't live someplace convenient it could be a problem. I would also check the coverage to make sure it's really comprehensive, $150 a month seems like a very good deal for this. Are they not including some services that might cost extra if you need them to get to $150 a month? I think this is less than half what somebody over 65 would pay under the other plans.

[gouchobob]

Originally Posted by lbaron

Regarding the banks -- I was just involved in a transfer from Wells Fargo to Santander in BsA. What a nightmare!! After two months, the party in the USA finally gave up and sent a cashier's check to the party in BsAs. The Argentine banks are a mess, so be cautious. Sra Kirchner just confiscated pension funds to pay the national debt. When a government can just take money belonging to others, that's dangerous

I agree, wouldn't bother with a bank account there, wire transfers are just too much of a hassle for daily needs(the only exception would be if you are planning on buying property, about the only way to get large amounts in). Just have your money deposited in Schwab or another U.S. bank account and use the ATM's. Not an entirely satisfactory solution in my opinion but much better than dealing with the banks there.

[SaraSara]

Originally Posted by gouchobob

This could be the solution, the only disadvantage is you are limited to them for services, if you don't live someplace convenient it could be a problem. I would also check the coverage to make sure it's really comprehensive, $150 a month seems like a very good deal for this. Are they not including some services that might cost extra if you need them to get to $150 a month? I think this is less than half what somebody over 65 would pay under the other plans.

I understand it covers everything, even dental. The reason for the lower price is that all services are provided at the Hospital Italiano, which would make it convenient only for those in the BA metro area. But the hospital's medical staff is excellent and the equipment is state-of-the-art. There's no better hospital in Buenos Aires, although there are others with fancier rooms.

[nikad]

Originally Posted by SaraSara

The top-rated Hospital Italiano has a special plan for people between 65 and 80. I believe it is something like US$ 150 a month, all inclusive.

As far as I know, it is the only one. All other HMOs have a cutoff age of 65.

This is true, but if you get insurance before you turn 65 they cannot cut it off.

[steveinbsas]

Originally Posted by gouchobob

I agree, wouldn't bother with a bank account there, wire transfers are just too much of a hassle for daily needs(the only exception would be if you are planning on buying property, about the only way to get large amounts in). Just have your money deposited in Schwab or another U.S. bank account and use the ATM's. Not an entirely satisfactory solution in my opinion but much better than dealing with the banks there.

If you get a resident visa, in order to renew it annually migraciones will require you to have an Argentine bank account and for you to show that the money is being deposited on a monthly basis, even if you deposit, withdraw, and redeposit the same $$ each month. They will ask for the last three statements at the most (six months).

You won't need to have the Argentine bank account to get your visa and DNI, and once you have the DNI it is very easy to open an account. I suggest Banco Santander Rio as you can get 20% rebate on debit card purchases from Carrefour on Wednesdays and Thursdays on everything except electronics and get a 20% discount and or extended payments with "zero" interest on electronics at Garbarino. I also have received great customer service at Santander Rio.

If you stock up on "sale items" at Carrefour on Wednesdays and Thursdays you will save even more. Recently on weekends Carrefour has offered a 70% discount on the second item when you buy two identical items (35% net discount/no debit or credit card required). The items on sale vary from week to week but in a given six week period most "dry goods" (as well as soft drinks, frozen veggies and burgers) were included. Fresh meat, veggies, and cheese are rarely discounted, if ever.

[Utopos]

I love the organic nature of this forum. An innocent question or two can lead to an evolving cascade of information and advice. The last page of a thread can occasionally have little resemblence to the first. It is a tribute to knowledge, experience, and kindness of the people here.

Many thanks to each of you for all your help and advice.

A small side note. I was originally unable to post separate paragraphs . I discovered it was due a feature I use with Firefox called 'No Script' which disables Java scripting. If you have a similar problem, that may be the cause.

[HotYogaTeacher]

To answer your rental question, you can rent a normal apartment, you just need someone to sign a guarantia for you, which isn't hard, any home owning local friend will do it for you. I had a friend offer to do it for us when he had known us 2 months. It's not that big a deal. If you don't have a guarantia you can still rent from owners if you just offer some of their rental in advance. 6-12 months rent, cash in hand, you can rent almost anything.

As for getting your paperwork, if money is not an issue I STRONGLY suggest just getting an attorney. Ours, Gabriel Celano, set us up with a list of paperwork we needed to bring with us and I got my residency within 12 DAYS of being in the country. This whole 2 year do it yourself thing doesn't appeal to me at all.
It cost $1200 US and was worth it.
Let me know if you want his contact information. Prices likely have gone up but it still won't be really pricey....