Would You?

Voiceofreason said:
Hey Julieta,

So Argentina has changed a lot since you left. I doubt you'll find it as appealing as before. Society is divided, the economy is slowly but surely stagnating and crime and the black market are soaring. I would only come back if i could assure myself a dollar denominated income. The entrepreneur thing works if you have an e-business, you keep your US bank account and get people to deposit there directly. I'm sure there are loopholes, but you will have to be a different person to take full advantage of them.

I would like to know what Montauk_Project is doing, but i doubt it's for everyone.

I work in finance also and i must say it's a shrinking market. IT only makes sense if you are a recent grad or a managing director with contacts to exploit. There are slim opportunities in the middle. Most of the sector is moving to Chile and Brazil. To live comfortably you will need a net 20K a month plus salary if it's just you, and you will need a guaranteed 30% raise per year.

On a weekly basis you will need to cope with the following:

Blackouts (ever more and longer duration)
Strikes (increasing with inflation)
Worsening public transportation (es como estar en una lata de sardinas)
Razing costs (on taxis, buses, ABL, luz, gas, prepaga, etc.) once and sometimes twice a year.
Crime (more knife and firearm related robbery)
Anarchists (people who burn cars in the street)
Beggars (lots and everywhere)
Trapitos (pay between 5 – 100 pesos to park your car depending on where you go)
No FX market – you have to pay around 8 pesos for every dollar and rising (cuevas)
Less and less electronics at 100% mark up.
No foreign brands on white ware and no parts for maintenance
To get something fixed its 100 pesos to look 1200 to fix no matter what it is.
Cars are at least 120K pesos for a safe model with ABS and so on.
Going out is expensive (50 to 80 pesos a drink; 150-300 to eat out; concerts in the 800 plus range)
Travel is expensive 1500 pesos airplane tickets locally with delays etc.
And the looming uncertainty of a 2001 crash in the next 2 to 3 years

My advice is the following:

Wait till after the next presidential election (two years) and then decide.

Or find a finance job in Chile that is growing and many friends in finance are there enjoying life and their job with no worries. This is probably the best option. Get your LATAM connections in finance and monitor closely the situation here. Also you can visit more often and ski at Cerro Catedral with your son. Win-Win.
Click to expand...

I never read so much BS in my life...
 
Voiceofreason said:
Hey Julieta,

So Argentina has changed a lot since you left. I doubt you'll find it as appealing as before. Society is divided, the economy is slowly but surely stagnating and crime and the black market are soaring. I would only come back if i could assure myself a dollar denominated income. The entrepreneur thing works if you have an e-business, you keep your US bank account and get people to deposit there directly. I'm sure there are loopholes, but you will have to be a different person to take full advantage of them.

I would like to know what Montauk_Project is doing, but i doubt it's for everyone.

I work in finance also and i must say it's a shrinking market. IT only makes sense if you are a recent grad or a managing director with contacts to exploit. There are slim opportunities in the middle. Most of the sector is moving to Chile and Brazil. To live comfortably you will need a net 20K a month plus salary if it's just you, and you will need a guaranteed 30% raise per year.

On a weekly basis you will need to cope with the following:

Blackouts (ever more and longer duration)
Strikes (increasing with inflation)
Worsening public transportation (es como estar en una lata de sardinas)
Razing costs (on taxis, buses, ABL, luz, gas, prepaga, etc.) once and sometimes twice a year.
Crime (more knife and firearm related robbery)
Anarchists (people who burn cars in the street)
Beggars (lots and everywhere)
Trapitos (pay between 5 – 100 pesos to park your car depending on where you go)
No FX market – you have to pay around 8 pesos for every dollar and rising (cuevas)
Less and less electronics at 100% mark up.
No foreign brands on white ware and no parts for maintenance
To get something fixed its 100 pesos to look 1200 to fix no matter what it is.
Cars are at least 120K pesos for a safe model with ABS and so on.
Going out is expensive (50 to 80 pesos a drink; 150-300 to eat out; concerts in the 800 plus range)
Travel is expensive 1500 pesos airplane tickets locally with delays etc.
And the looming uncertainty of a 2001 crash in the next 2 to 3 years

My advice is the following:

Wait till after the next presidential election (two years) and then decide.

Or find a finance job in Chile that is growing and many friends in finance are there enjoying life and their job with no worries. This is probably the best option. Get your LATAM connections in finance and monitor closely the situation here. Also you can visit more often and ski at Cerro Catedral with your son. Win-Win.
Click to expand...

Your life must suck, lol. So much BS and inacurate information in one post.
 
Wow, i'm liking the controversy.

I guess we can get used to life in BA and all its problems and thus we don't notice them after a while. If you move here after 15 years in the US you will feel things as i have described in my last post.

Of course that if you live in a good neighborhood (Recoleta, Palermo, Belgrano...) and have a stable job you will likely only encounter the lower end of everything i listed, you may even never get mugged.

When i say 20K a month i take into account a person in their late 30's early 40's who wants to live in a nice neighborhood in at least a two bedroom. Someone who will be living here for good and probably want to have a private retirement plan in place (ANSES isn't paying what it owes), a gym membership or be member of a local club to play sports. Someone who doesn't just want to just survive, but someone that wants to go to the beach in the summer and Ski in the winter. You know, live a full life.

Anyway a 20K a month for someone with 15 years of experience in finance is average.

The smart thing to do is to stick it out save as much as you can in the US and come over when we devalue and buy an apartment, car, anything you want. We are at the inflexion point where we either fall into a Rodrigaso scenario as in 1975 or something not as traumatic, but still bad. There is no upside, just many different levels of downside. I say this as an insider. The peso will probably be at a 6.5 to 1 dollar range by years end.
 
I really appreciate all the different opinions, it truly is great to see what people think about Argentina and all its current problems. I think that after being in US for 15 years it will be an adjustment to go back to the chaotic life in Buenos Aires, however, I find life in US sometimes a little too dull and people just go a out life like cattle, just following without questioning much. Everything works well here, but it's far from the perfect place I once though it was. I commute 2.5 hours a day to go back and forth from work, hoping that nobody shoots me because I might forgot my blinker when changing lanes in the freeway. I get to work and deal with the same kind of people I would deal in most places.... Everyone thinks they are great, never their fault and they should be rewarded despite of their performance. Maybe this is a human race problem and not a matter of citizenship? I don't know, I met so many great people here but also so many ignorant and pretentious ones and I work hard at not generalizing the entire population based on the few bad apples I have encountered over the years. My motivation to move is mostly family related, while I find the culture in US to be very positive in some aspects, it feels like people in Argentina are way more friendly and it is easier to make friends there than it is here. I know romanticize my homeland and I know I'm up for some hard times, but sometimes the predictable life in US seems like is not fitting for me any longer. While I live a comfortable life and I have been lucky enough to make and save a few dollars, I found that money and the comforts afforded in US come with a big price tag because I have to be far away from my family. Please keep posting, I love reading different points of view!
 
Julieta0317 said:
I really appreciate all the different opinions, it truly is great to see what people think about Argentina and all its current problems. I think that after being in US for 15 years it will be an adjustment to go back to the chaotic life in Buenos Aires, however, I find life in US sometimes a little too dull and people just go a out life like cattle, just following without questioning much. Everything works well here, but it's far from the perfect place I once though it was. I commute 2.5 hours a day to go back and forth from work, hoping that nobody shoots me because I might forgot my blinker when changing lanes in the freeway. I get to work and deal with the same kind of people I would deal in most places.... Everyone thinks they are great, never their fault and they should be rewarded despite of their performance. Maybe this is a human race problem and not a matter of citizenship? I don't know, I met so many great people here but also so many ignorant and pretentious ones and I work hard at not generalizing the entire population based on the few bad apples I have encountered over the years. My motivation to move is mostly family related, while I find the culture in US to be very positive in some aspects, it feels like people in Argentina are way more friendly and it is easier to make friends there than it is here. I know romanticize my homeland and I know I'm up for some hard times, but sometimes the predictable life in US seems like is not fitting for me any longer. While I live a comfortable life and I have been lucky enough to make and save a few dollars, I found that money and the comforts afforded in US come with a big price tag because I have to be far away from my family. Please keep posting, I love reading different points of view!
Click to expand...

You have family in Argentina so you have a built in social network. You are also fully bilingual. This makes a huge difference. While I have some excellent friends in Argentina inluding a couple of the most reliable and honest people I have ever known, on the whole I have to say that Argentines are not especially friendly. Kissing when you meet is almost always superficial and no true measure of gnuine friendliness. What I have missed over many years is the openness of Americans, the hospitality, the frequent invitations to dinner, and a general caring. Yes, people plan social events in the US, write it down in an agenda and do not stay all night but that does not mean that there is no warmth or kindness. Doing things on the spur of the moment without planning is not synonymous with true friendship or warmth. In many years in Argentina I could count on two hands the number of invitations to a meal in somone's home. In a short visit to the US I can not fit in all the invitations to dinner - in homes, not restaurants. I know this will annoy some expats but it is the truth. Another impediment to socializing is the ideological way that Argentines judge Americans. There is a strong tendency to think in media fed stereotypes and a resistance to anyone who challenges those views. No matter how long you have lived in Argentina, you are seldom allowed to criticize the government, no matter how reasoned your position, without provoking people. Yes this is a generalization but it is generally true. An Argentine friend recently returning to his country found himself in constant dispute with his family abd friends when he debunked some of the lies or myths about the US. At a restaurant where he was paying for his Argentine guests, one if the guests sarcastically ordered my friend's dessert telling the waiter "he'll have a giant portion of crema americana".
 
Voiceofreason said:
Hey Julieta,

So Argentina has changed a lot since you left. I doubt you'll find it as appealing as before. Society is divided, the economy is slowly but surely stagnating and crime and the black market are soaring. I would only come back if i could assure myself a dollar denominated income. The entrepreneur thing works if you have an e-business, you keep your US bank account and get people to deposit there directly. I'm sure there are loopholes, but you will have to be a different person to take full advantage of them.

I would like to know what Montauk_Project is doing, but i doubt it's for everyone.

I work in finance also and i must say it's a shrinking market. IT only makes sense if you are a recent grad or a managing director with contacts to exploit. There are slim opportunities in the middle. Most of the sector is moving to Chile and Brazil. To live comfortably you will need a net 20K a month plus salary if it's just you, and you will need a guaranteed 30% raise per year.

On a weekly basis you will need to cope with the following:

Blackouts (ever more and longer duration)
Strikes (increasing with inflation)
Worsening public transportation (es como estar en una lata de sardinas)
Razing costs (on taxis, buses, ABL, luz, gas, prepaga, etc.) once and sometimes twice a year.
Crime (more knife and firearm related robbery)
Anarchists (people who burn cars in the street)
Beggars (lots and everywhere)
Trapitos (pay between 5 – 100 pesos to park your car depending on where you go)
No FX market – you have to pay around 8 pesos for every dollar and rising (cuevas)
Less and less electronics at 100% mark up.
No foreign brands on white ware and no parts for maintenance
To get something fixed its 100 pesos to look 1200 to fix no matter what it is.
Cars are at least 120K pesos for a safe model with ABS and so on.
Going out is expensive (50 to 80 pesos a drink; 150-300 to eat out; concerts in the 800 plus range)
Travel is expensive 1500 pesos airplane tickets locally with delays etc.
And the looming uncertainty of a 2001 crash in the next 2 to 3 years

My advice is the following:

Wait till after the next presidential election (two years) and then decide.

Or find a finance job in Chile that is growing and many friends in finance are there enjoying life and their job with no worries. This is probably the best option. Get your LATAM connections in finance and monitor closely the situation here. Also you can visit more often and ski at Cerro Catedral with your son. Win-Win.
Click to expand...

all the issues mentioned in red exist, may not happen every week, and some are more severe than others, but none are UNTRUE..!! And in the future will be more recurrent...!! :eek:
 
Voiceofreason said:
Going out is expensive (50 to 80 pesos a drink; 150-300 to eat out; concerts in the 800 plus range)
Click to expand...

I agree with a lot you say but 50-80s per drink??? Most places a Fernet and Coke costs around 30 pesos if you go to right places its 20.
 
Julieta0317 said:
I really appreciate all the different opinions, it truly is great to see what people think about Argentina and all its current problems. I think that after being in US for 15 years it will be an adjustment to go back to the chaotic life in Buenos Aires, however, I find life in US sometimes a little too dull and people just go a out life like cattle, just following without questioning much. Everything works well here, but it's far from the perfect place I once though it was. I commute 2.5 hours a day to go back and forth from work, hoping that nobody shoots me because I might forgot my blinker when changing lanes in the freeway. I get to work and deal with the same kind of people I would deal in most places.... Everyone thinks they are great, never their fault and they should be rewarded despite of their performance. Maybe this is a human race problem and not a matter of citizenship? I don't know, I met so many great people here but also so many ignorant and pretentious ones and I work hard at not generalizing the entire population based on the few bad apples I have encountered over the years. My motivation to move is mostly family related, while I find the culture in US to be very positive in some aspects, it feels like people in Argentina are way more friendly and it is easier to make friends there than it is here. I know romanticize my homeland and I know I'm up for some hard times, but sometimes the predictable life in US seems like is not fitting for me any longer. While I live a comfortable life and I have been lucky enough to make and save a few dollars, I found that money and the comforts afforded in US come with a big price tag because I have to be far away from my family. Please keep posting, I love reading different points of view!
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should try somewhere like Australia.
I'm not sure I want to live in a country where a lot of the population is in therapy.
 
Julieta0317 said:
I really appreciate all the different opinions, it truly is great to see what people think about Argentina and all its current problems. I think that after being in US for 15 years it will be an adjustment to go back to the chaotic life in Buenos Aires, however, I find life in US sometimes a little too dull and people just go a out life like cattle, just following without questioning much. Everything works well here, but it's far from the perfect place I once though it was. I commute 2.5 hours a day to go back and forth from work, hoping that nobody shoots me because I might forgot my blinker when changing lanes in the freeway. I get to work and deal with the same kind of people I would deal in most places.... Everyone thinks they are great, never their fault and they should be rewarded despite of their performance. Maybe this is a human race problem and not a matter of citizenship? I don't know, I met so many great people here but also so many ignorant and pretentious ones and I work hard at not generalizing the entire population based on the few bad apples I have encountered over the years. My motivation to move is mostly family related, while I find the culture in US to be very positive in some aspects, it feels like people in Argentina are way more friendly and it is easier to make friends there than it is here. I know romanticize my homeland and I know I'm up for some hard times, but sometimes the predictable life in US seems like is not fitting for me any longer. While I live a comfortable life and I have been lucky enough to make and save a few dollars, I found that money and the comforts afforded in US come with a big price tag because I have to be far away from my family. Please keep posting, I love reading different points of view!
Click to expand...

I would suggest moving to another place in the US rather than Argentina. There are places that are much different than Texas.
 
Rich One said:
all the issues mentioned in red exist, may not happen every week, and some are more severe than others, but none are UNTRUE..!! And in the future will be more recurrent...!! :eek:
Click to expand...

No one say that they don't, they are, but the problem with that post is the inaccuracy, talking like that i would be able to say BS about every city in the world, just an example is telling that anarchist burning cars is something someone would even notice beside the news paper in one article from year to year, they have burn 2 cars in what 1 year? then i could affirm that London, Paris and all mayor city’s have really serious anarchist problems as they burn 1000 of cars, is just everything exaggerated in that post 80 pesos a drink lol where a fuck he go out, Now it is possible that everything is heading in that direction thank to the queen K but that is a different think and to talk in a different topic.

In any case no one can see the future but i agree with you that the economy is not heading in the right direction unless something change drastically in this government economy plan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top