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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[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....