Is This Offer Good Enough For Our Family To Ba?

[PhilipDT]

Hello everyone,

Thank you in advance for any help regarding my question. We are a family of four (husband, wife and 2 kids 5 & 8) currently living in Atlanta, GA. My husband recently got an offer to transfer to BA, the offer is around $240,000 US dollars , about 50% is US dollars and the other 50% in Pesos (compensation in pesos will be re-evaluated & adjusted quarterly for inflation). Because we have no idea about the cost of living in BA, I would really appreciate it if you anyone could give us a realistic view of what to expect in terms of living expenses:

1. Private English speaking schools
2. Cost of lodging: what neighberhood do you recommend that would be ideal for school and work location (My husband's office would be in Palermo), and what would be a realistic budget to allocate
3. Cost of owning a car
4. Cost for domestic help

Thank you so much again for your input.

Mayas

As others have said, you'll be fine with money.

Whether you can live just on your peso salary, 60000/month, or not depends a lot on your personal spending habbits. So you should have some plan to bring dollars in.

Bottom line, it's enough to live more than comfortably on. Also you should talk to a good argentine acountant.

 

[syngirl]

Dirt boy is the tuition 3900 for both, or per child, and is it bilingual or just Spanish? Just curious. Our guarderia has been going up 35% a year and is no about 3000 for full day (and I send lunch, the meal service is another 600!!!) I am fed up so I think next year we will be switching to a local (urquiza) bilingual that is currently 3000 a month but includes bilingual and sports at club de amigos, and based on historical pricing they've only been raising 15% a year. But it's a gamble, we might start and they'll say nope we have to raise 40% in March. It's impossible to predict.

For the OP -- Lincoln, Northlands and the one in quilmes (San Andres I think) are all very high scale. But they are also far and with young kids wouldn't consider sending, makes for a very long day as full day is approximately 830-500pm here. No need to add on 45mins travel each direction.

I would rent in Belgrano or Belgrano R where you are about 20mins to Palermo (depends on where in Palermo the company is). In Belgrano and Belgrano R you have a tonne of bilingual private schools. Most of the vacancies at the good schools are gone for next year at this point however, so don't be surprised. However, the IB schools allow foreigners to apply and enter at any point in the year, as do some others. the IB schools Saint Matthews and Islands for instance are very good schools, I've interviewed at both, a warning, schools are very cramped here compared to the USA, the nature of being in a big city. if you want large modern classrooms and huge sports fields you have to go to the burbs, the city schools usually have about 25kids in a teensy classroom we a play area on the roof of the building, and they send them to a club on Fridays for sports.

I just interviewed at St Matthews this year, so I've got the tuition numbers for 2014 -- full day is obligatory from age 5 on. Right now SMC is asking $3900 per month for age 5 and a deposit of 4290. For grades 1,2,3 they are 4700 and a deposit of 5170, but if you send two kids you'll get a 15% discount on the younger one. Grade 4 jumps to $5395 and $5935 deposit. Prices are in PESOS, presume a 30-40% increase for next year considering inflation is hovering around 40% now. Swimming is not included in that price for SMC. Those numbers give an idea as to what the very-good-but-not-absolute-top schools are charging. the lycée francais is supposedly in about 7000 now. Converted to dollars for private education sounds good, but in pesos with 35% increases every year it gets expensive. And the facilities are nothing wow - like I came away from the interviewing thinking, ok that looks like my school -- when I went to my school -- in 1982!!

There is a group on Facebook Buenos Aires Mummy Group, join it when you are ready and they will be able to help with schools.

 

[sergio]

Belgrano Day School is not an American school. It's a bilingual school run on a sort of British model. It definitely started out as a British school. Lincoln is an American style school and there was and I think still is a small American school called BACA, Buenos AiRes Christian Academy in Zona Norte. You will have to check on the latter as I am not up to datw with it. Expat Americans on top salaries, families anyway, traditionally gravitate to Zona Norte and luxury house rentals with easy access to Lincoln School and a few espat churches etc I have never met an expat family on a high income that didnt have a car but maybe there are one or two out there.

 

[sgibson123]

We just recently moved here..

you will be fine monetarily, but be prepared for a shock on purchasing things..best to rent semi furnished..(12week lead time for shipments of items from the states)... you can get a car (we got 2)..we bought used to blend in and paid in the 90-100k peso range.. those prices change daily based on inflation. you pay taxes on cars monthly. Schools.. we go to Lincoln and so far we are quite satisfied. but again be prepared to be in shock for the cost. bring dollars with you to exchange at first. bank accts and cc's are hard to obtain at first and yes.. have a lawyer fine tooth the contract..

 

[wongjoh]

Amount is plenty. As others have mentioned, one challenge will be to bring in those USDs at the blue (contado con liquidacion is a way -- Google it).

As with pretty much everywhere in the world (I think), private schools and rent will be the largest ongoing expenses. Northlands/San Andres (bilingual) are ~$1.5K USD (blue) for 2 kids. Lincoln (all english) is slightly more expensive - quoted in official USD - and is not for everyone given the transient nature of students with parents on expat assignments, but it is on an American curriculum if you want to stay on that. We also considered Belgrano Day School, but you need to apply well in advance so not sure if the timeline will allow it. Depending on your expectations for school, you may want to supplement your kids' education with tutors -- we think even the top schools here are a bit too lax for our tastes (but then again, we're kind of tiger parents).

Rent will depend on area and size as usual -- go to MercadoLibre or Zonaprop to get an idea of costs. I'd strike a balance with a midpoint between work and school.

The rest is stuff that over a period of time is not a big dent (unless you want to be driving 2 BMWs here). BTW, don't even think of importing.

 

[wongjoh]

On 125,000 dollars a year you will be able to live better than the overwhelming majority. If you choose the American school for your kids costs will be vert high, though. You can easily have one or two live in maids if that is what you want. You can certainly afford a car. I said 125,000 dollars as it is unclear what the rest in pesos will amount to. I urge you to get a good lawyer in Argentina to review that contract as it could turn out to be weird. Don't give up a good US job unless your contract is very clear and you can get dollars out of Agentina. I would insist on part of the salary paid to a bank account in the US. I am surprised that there are still jobs like this for foreigners in Argentina,

Sounds like a 2-entity (American and Argentine) payment arrangement which needs to be triple checked for its legality here with awesome Argentina's AFIP (local IRS). There is no way you can officially get dollars here in Argentina other than buying them at the bank with your locally paid salary (amount prescribed by AFIP, never exceeding the $2K cap). One gotcha is that Argentina and US will tax on worldwide income, so to be fully above board, even the US side will have to pay Argentine taxes, especially if the husband will be physically here.

 

[ElQueso]

In 2007 I was shopping for a new car in the $40-$50K price range. The $500 pesos per month your friend was paying were undoubtedly cuotas (installment payments) and not a tax.

Not according to him. It was a luxury tax on his patente, is what he told me. He is a VP of some sort working for Personal, based in Rosario. He told me he paid cash for the car - we were commiserating on the lack of financing options at the time.

You could be right though, wouldn't be the first time I got wrong information

 

[ElQueso]

El Queso...you write very long messages.

Don't get me wrong. You write lot of good info. Can you make it shorter and more crisp, please?

I understand, and I would, except it takes a long time to write something very concise, with the same amount of information I can write something like I wrote in 5-10 minutes and be done with but I don't have an hour to be concise, unfortunately.

Plus in this case I was writing for someone making a decision about moving a family down here and for them I'd think maybe a conversation-length piece was better than bullet points.

But you're absolutely right - I should work on distilling things a bit.

Edit: I get paid a decently good amount of money to write clear, concise, efficient code for companies - maybe BA Expats would like to make me an offer to clean up my long-winded prose? (hehe, j/k)

 

[ghost]

You want the US side to be Deferred salary not paid till repatriation of hubby and family. Let the Argentine company pay for the container/and the bond, The school and the rent. Take what little is left as a salary. Check out Martinez and Accusso ie houses with nice yards and pools etc.for rental houses. [your kids will thank you]. If your stay is 2 years or less seriously consider Lincoln School because the credits are transferable without problems. And you meet parents in the same situation as you and the kids will have better access to social activity. They will not get as much Spanish but you can easily compensate. Good Luck

 

[Girino]

Belgrano Day School is not an American school. It's a bilingual school run on a sort of British model. It definitely started out as a British school. Lincoln is an American style school and there was and I think still is a small American school called BACA, Buenos AiRes Christian Academy in Zona Norte. You will have to check on the latter as I am not up to datw with it. Expat Americans on top salaries, families anyway, traditionally gravitate to Zona Norte and luxury house rentals with easy access to Lincoln School and a few espat churches etc I have never met an expat family on a high income that didnt have a car but maybe there are one or two out there.

Here up north you can get mansions with lots of green, detached house, pool, security, etc. It is all very nice and pleasant. However you will live a pretty American suburb life: you will always need a card to get around, you will meet other people only by appointment and if you want to wander/jog alone.... you will have to drive to a private garden or other venue where you will be able to do so safely. Rich people usually hang up in one of the locals along Av. Libertador in La Lucila and Acassuso, which are pretty safe since they offer valet parking and security for they guests. Also, you could get a house with a view on the river (Rio de La Plata - which I find soothing) and live near to a marina if you are the kind of sailing type.
Your husband will face a 40' commute (excluding traffic), however with that kind of money he could also hire a private chauffeur so he won't have to do the driving himself.

If you are more inclined to urban life, then stay in the city. There are posh barrios and malls in the American style, although you will always perceive it as a step-down compared to the American standard.