Argentina Versus Colombia to Retire

[earlyretirement]

Reading this makes me want to go with Colombia, haha. How unhappy could you be if you can find a amazing wife/girlfriend? How happy can you be if you can't find a good one?

Oh yes. You certainly won't be unhappy in Colombia. I assume you're fluent in Spanish? If not, get fluent or at least conversational. That will greatly enhance your experience, especially with dating. It will make the relationship meaningful vs. just about sex. I have friends that have lived in Colombia for years and they don't speak much Spanish. I really despise expats that live in a host country and never take the time to learn the local language. I never hang out with these people. I'm not saying you have to get fluent. But take the time to learn Spanish.

If your goal is to find an amazing girlfriend/wife then Colombia is definitely the place to go. The girls are genuinely friendly and beautiful. If you're looking for a genuine girlfriend than stay away from the putas. I'm not saying you shouldn't have fun. But don't delude yourself or confuse yourself between sex and love. That's the biggest mistake I've seen guys make there.

Culturally, I don't think there is much to do in these cities compared to Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is a world class capital city. None of those cities (even Bogota) can be considered that. In BA you have opera houses, amazing plays and shows, world class bands filling stadiums here. Amazing restaurants of any type of food. European style/feel living. Even the locals look European as 80% of them are descendants from Spain/Italy. So while beautiful, they don't look at themselves as "Argentine" more as "my grandparents were from Spain, Italy". Colombians are just exotic and hot. They consider themselves "Colombian" and know they are some of the most gorgeous girls on the planet. However, because there are so many other gorgeous girls they know they have to keep you happy.

I just don't get that feeling in Colombia at all for as much as I love the place. But yeah having sex with tons of beautiful girls won't make you unhappy either. So you have to factor that into the equation. Ha. But don't discount what I'm saying about it being hard to stay faithful there.

I had the same problem in Brazil many years ago. I was dating a model in Rio de Janeiro. I mean this girl had it all. She spoke three languages fluently. She looked like a young Sofia Loren with big breasts. She was a runway model working in Milan and Rome much of the year. I fell in love, I bought an apartment in Rio to spend more time with her. And I TRIED to stay faithful. But there were just too many gorgeous girls around. It was impossible to stay faithful. I was a happy guy in love but after all a guy is a guy. We are only human. That's going to honestly be your biggest risk in Colombia.

Girls from Colombia and Brazil are the best sex you can imagine. So after that it's hard to go back to anything else. I had my apartment in Rio during the early 2000's which was arguable the best time for a single guy to ever be in Brazil. I've been to over 500+ cities around the world and I have yet to experience anything close to that era.

 

[FrankPintor]

Reading this makes me want to go with Colombia, haha. How unhappy could you be if you can find a amazing wife/girlfriend? How happy can you be if you can't find a good one?

How empty can your bank account be?

 

[Redpossum]

Girls from Colombia and Brazil are the best sex you can imagine. So after that it's hard to go back to anything else. I had my apartment in Rio during the early 2000's which was arguable the best time for a single guy to ever be in Brazil. I've been to over 500+ cities around the world and I have yet to experience anything close to that era.

Damn.

 

[earlyretirement]

How empty can your bank account be?

Well I know you're joking about it but that's the thing in Colombia. In much of the world including most western countries. The girls are gold diggers. They probably wouldn't give a lot of guys the time of day if you aren't successful and have money.

But in Colombia and Brazil this isn't the case. The key is to never really show how much money you have even if you have it. They will figure if you're well off if you're living in a nice apartment. But I honestly don't think they are mainly motivated too much if you have money or not. Obviously they have to be attracted to you a bit.

From my experiences, the girls more are interested if you are a nice guy. If you will treat them well. If you will respect them and love them vs. if you're wealthy.

Where you could end up "going broke" is you can end up going on a lot of dates if that is your goal. I mean, you can invite a girl to lunch or dinner and I've just never had them say no unless they were married or had a boyfriend. But even in a majority of those cases they still wouldn't say no.

You can be more adventurous and many guys that have no confidence in their home countries will just find the acceptance rate of asking girls out is very high. So you CAN find yourself going out to a lot of dinners, lunches, coffee dates, etc. I have really high standards so in the USA I would only ask girls out not too often. Not because I didn't think I'd get rejected but more so because I didn't think they were hot enough to warrant asking out. I still dated a lot (1to 2X a week) in the USA but nothing like Colombia (7-15 X a week).

But in Colombia I could be in a bookstore. I chat up someone in the store or the girl checking me out at the register. I could be at the haircut salon. Same. Restaurant, same. You name it and there were so many beautiful girls I'd have so many phone numbers. So I'd just spend a lot of money going on dates, etc.

Then on the other side of the spectrum I'd have a lot of girls when I went out at night sometimes give me their #. A few times I thought the girl was stealing my phone but they were just putting their # in my phone. Most of these girls are putas that do this. But still it's hard to say no if you're super attracted to them.

After a while you could ask yourself what the hell are you doing? I mean, I figured out I didn't really want a girlfriend at all. And I felt like an asshole just asking girls out on dates, then going out again with the ultimate goal of having sex. And these were nice normal non-puta girls. I didn't think it was fair to do that. Because after sex they were expecting a committed relationship and that's hard to do in Colombia for a lot of guys.

Such are the "downsides" to Colombia.... In Buenos Aires I just don't find you will have the same kind of opportunities. Not nearly as many beautiful break your neck turning around girls.

 

[earlyretirement]

Ive owned businesses and lived in both Buenos Aires and Medellin (and been to all major Colombian cities). Bogota is a cold, ugly, high altitude dump. Medellin is an attractive place and Cali has potential. However Colombian cities are inherently much more dangerous than Buenos Aires and as a white American (if that is what you are) you will stick out like a sore thumb and will always be a target and you will really only be able to date a subset of woman who are of a lower socioeconomic strata. The default assumption among Colombians is that any white male foreigner is automatically a sex tourist.
In Buenos Aires that is not the case at all, as you can blend in visually and there is no such assumption whatsoever about foreign origin males presence in the country.
In either country you need to speak Spanish otherwise you are totally missing out on what would otherwise be available to you.

Nah I don't necessarily think that the default assumption is that any white foreigner is automatically a sex tourist. I stood out but once they could see I was fluent, could communicate with them. Had a solid profession, well traveled, I didn't have any problem dating normal girls. I mean the OP is only in his early 40's so it's not like he is really an old guy. I've found that Colombia girls aren't afraid of dating older.

Granted, I don't know if the OP is looking for age appropriate girls but I always dated younger in Colombia without any issues. And this was normal non-puta girls. But I spoke Spanish. It probably would be a different scenario if this isn't the case.

You can get by in BA with English as most educated girls speak some English. In Colombia lots of girls don't speak much English. Obviously the more educated they are the better their English is. But call me crazy but I actually preferred girls that didn't speak great English. Ha, ha.

 

[earlyretirement]

This sounds like a good idea. as long as you are willing to transfer twice as much UDS per month from the USA (and deal with the tax consequences) so your Colombian wife will also qualify for temporary residency in Argentina.

But Steve. People always talk about the negative tax consequences of Argentina and "worldwide assets" but the truth of the matter is that Argentina is so chaotic and unorganized that they don't even police people living in Argentina and their own citizens. Just about 0% chance in the near term they are going to worry about what any American has abroad.

That was my biggest worry when I got permanent residency in Argentina almost 20 years ago. I'm certainly not advocating it but there are definitely ways you can shield your tax exposure. Setting up LLC's ,etc.

My point is the last thing I'd worry about in this equation is possible tax consequences. I don't know about Colombia but this wouldn't worry me at all in Argentina.

I know they talk about sharing tax information later with USA but my guess is this gets extended out and gets delayed. And even then the goal of Argentina isn't going after American permanent resident holders living off retirement savings and pensions. It's very wealthy locals that have tons of bank accounts in the USA. But this will take a while if at all.

 

[Alby]

And even then the goal of Argentina isn't going after American permanent resident holders living off retirement savings and pensions. It's very wealthy locals that have tons of bank accounts in the USA.

People keep confidently asserting this around here. And maybe it's true. But nobody has yet provided any solid information that shows this to be the case, or that at least backs up the serenity they appear to have on the matter.

 

[oddDistribution]

Oh yes. You certainly won't be unhappy in Colombia. I assume you're fluent in Spanish? If not, get fluent or at least conversational. That will greatly enhance your experience, especially with dating. It will make the relationship meaningful vs. just about sex. I have friends that have lived in Colombia for years and they don't speak much Spanish. I really despise expats that live in a host country and never take the time to learn the local language. I never hang out with these people. I'm not saying you have to get fluent. But take the time to learn Spanish.

If your goal is to find an amazing girlfriend/wife then Colombia is definitely the place to go. The girls are genuinely friendly and beautiful. If you're looking for a genuine girlfriend than stay away from the putas. I'm not saying you shouldn't have fun. But don't delude yourself or confuse yourself between sex and love. That's the biggest mistake I've seen guys make there.

Culturally, I don't think there is much to do in these cities compared to Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is a world class capital city. None of those cities (even Bogota) can be considered that. In BA you have opera houses, amazing plays and shows, world class bands filling stadiums here. Amazing restaurants of any type of food. European style/feel living. Even the locals look European as 80% of them are descendants from Spain/Italy. So while beautiful, they don't look at themselves as "Argentine" more as "my grandparents were from Spain, Italy". Colombians are just exotic and hot. They consider themselves "Colombian" and know they are some of the most gorgeous girls on the planet. However, because there are so many other gorgeous girls they know they have to keep you happy.

I just don't get that feeling in Colombia at all for as much as I love the place. But yeah having sex with tons of beautiful girls won't make you unhappy either. So you have to factor that into the equation. Ha. But don't discount what I'm saying about it being hard to stay faithful there.

I had the same problem in Brazil many years ago. I was dating a model in Rio de Janeiro. I mean this girl had it all. She spoke three languages fluently. She looked like a young Sofia Loren with big breasts. She was a runway model working in Milan and Rome much of the year. I fell in love, I bought an apartment in Rio to spend more time with her. And I TRIED to stay faithful. But there were just too many gorgeous girls around. It was impossible to stay faithful. I was a happy guy in love but after all a guy is a guy. We are only human. That's going to honestly be your biggest risk in Colombia.

Girls from Colombia and Brazil are the best sex you can imagine. So after that it's hard to go back to anything else. I had my apartment in Rio during the early 2000's which was arguable the best time for a single guy to ever be in Brazil. I've been to over 500+ cities around the world and I have yet to experience anything close to that era.

It sounds like you have had some really great times. I would love to experience living like that even for just a year or two.

In terms of meeting women I've heard that Brazil is the best. I loved Rio when I was there. I think it's expensive to get a long term visa to live in Brazil also I think it would be hard to learn Portuguese, but I can't say I have ever tried.

 

[oddDistribution]

People keep confidently asserting this around here. And maybe it's true. But nobody has yet provided any solid information that shows this to be the case, or that at least backs up the serenity they appear to have on the matter.

Something like this would be hard to have solid information on. If they were going after a lot of people I could imagine having info on that, but the opposite is hard to demonstrate.

Having said that I have no idea whether it is the case or not.

 

[Alby]

I agree. It's hard to know one way or the other. That's my point. People around here (this board) regularly express supreme confidence on the matter, when at best it can only be a hunch or educated guess based on whatever criteria each one uses to think about the matter.