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Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

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Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#361

Post by bobthechef »

satellite2 wrote: post #160
gmorning315 wrote: post #18

Europe: Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania. Of these countries Romania and Hungary have the fastest internet speed. See this map and click NUTS-3 https://datavis.europeandatajournalism.eu/obct/connectivity/ They seem to have faster internet speeds than some western countries like the UK and Germany. They seem lower on crime too: https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2... Outside Europe…

Warning in Hungary though, with Orban's government if you are not perfectly white, straight and Christian you might want to avoid it.

Hah, that's quite the caricature. You should diversify the media you consume.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#364

Post by mattbee »

rwmj wrote: post #185
Leftium wrote: post #11

I live in Korea. Some months my total expenses are as low as $400 while living comfortably. If I spent $1000 in a month, I spent a lot of money. I'd say my average monthly living expenses are $600-$800. My main expenses are food/entertainment, and I eat out a lot (50% of meals). Housing is probably the biggest living expense. I take advantage of Korea's interesting rental system called Cheonsae: Basically, if you put…

The maths behind this is similar to UK leasehold. With a leasehold (which is a truly terrible system) you pay as if you're buying the flat, but actually you only have a lease usually with a very small annual payment and some management charges. The catch is the lease only lasts usually 99 years and for various legal reasons you have to renew it before it drops below 80 years, and that costs a bunch of money. Leasehol…

Usually 99 years? I bought a new leasehold in 2004 with a 999 year term, and I don't think that's unusual now. The government announced plans in January that leaseholders will have the right to renew leases for a standard term of 990 years, as well as capping ground rent. So I hope the worst abuses of UK leasehold are on their way out.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#365

Post by [deleted] »

LurkingPenguin wrote: post #340
cybwraith wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you seem to be informed here, how would one look for places like this that are explicitly not hot & humid, or nearly tropical locations? Effectively a climate and geography filter on this site with "has winters, mountains, summer highs typically < 90 degrees"

Expat here. Reality is that there aren't a lot of "cheap" places, easily accessible to foreigners, that meet this criteria.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#366

Post by codethief »

anm89 wrote: post #356

Hands down. Come to Medellin. Send me an email if you want some advice on specifics. Ive been doing the nomad thing for almost 5 years now and the quality of life / $ is unbeatable.

+1

I lived in Medellín for four months a few years back. I'm dying to go back!

To add some numbers: Back in 2016,

- a basic but delicious lunch at the restaurant at the corner used to be ~7,000-8,000 COP (~2-3€ back then)

- rooms in shared apartments could easily be found for ~300,000 COP (~100€) per month (or even less if you're fine with very basic accomodation)

- a nice spacious apartment in one of the high rises was (at least) 1,000,000 COP (so ~300€) per month

USD and EUR have become stronger since then but at the same time the COP has seen some inflation, so I'm not sure what the current price level is.

> Ive been doing the nomad thing for almost 5 years now and the quality of life / $ is unbeatable.

What industry are you in? Is it only remote work that you do or do you (by now) also have people you collaborate with in Medallo?

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#368

Post by SavantIdiot »

Rezwoodly wrote: post #346
SavantIdiot wrote: post #310

How long? I spent 4 months in Vietnam in 2007 in HCMC. Rent was $300/mo for a sweet pad down the street from the Ben Thanh market. Food was $400/mo, and I didn't cook much at all because street food is cheap and delicious. However, I'm not sure how this would work out long term, like decades. I couldn't commit to living in a country like that full time. The language barrier would be overwhelming, and I did get tired…

Lived there for roughly a year. Short term I cant think of anywhere better, the country is within the OPs budget and offers metropolis cities, to tropical beaches. The food is good, and the culture is fascinating - if thats your kind of thing & are prepared to be open minded. Long term, I share the same sentiments and felt it was time to leave after a hell of a year. On reflection, that year was probably on of the be…

Right? The Vietnamese were really, really friendly. Constantly had people wanting to talk to me wherever I went, regardless which part of the country. At first I was scared there was an ulterior motive, but not in the slightest. They just wanted to talk.

Contrast: I spent some time in Central America a few years ago, and I found a lot of people who were really unfriendly, or hostile. Mostly because I didn't speak Spanish. Whew did I get yelled at a lot. One guy at a Panamanian IT cafe called me out when I asked for the password in English. He shouted: "You come here with all your money and expect us to do everything for you and you can't even speak our language?" Yikes. Whoops. He was 100% right.

TBH, because of that incident I'm still embarrassed to this day when I have to travel to a country for work and can only speak the few phrases I crammed on the plane, and then have to point or speak English.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#370

Post by absorber »

FabHK wrote: post #157
Leftium wrote: post #11

I live in Korea. Some months my total expenses are as low as $400 while living comfortably. If I spent $1000 in a month, I spent a lot of money. I'd say my average monthly living expenses are $600-$800. My main expenses are food/entertainment, and I eat out a lot (50% of meals). Housing is probably the biggest living expense. I take advantage of Korea's interesting rental system called Cheonsae: Basically, if you put…

Just for the record, I don't think that South Korea is particularly cheap. As OP demonstrates, one can live there for USD 1000/month, but that really holds for most countries. While the US is in the top 5% in terms of nominal GDP per capita, South Korea is in the top 15%. For cheap, yet comfortable and safe, I'd aim around the median, eg Indonesia or Georgia. ETA: Nomadlist suggests €1,925/mo for Seoul, €1,530/mo for…

No way the estimate is real for Tbilisi. For €1047/mo you'd be living like a king there. Especially with post-Covid prices.
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