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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?

#401

Post by collaborative »

gilney wrote: post #208
collaborative wrote: post #188

No one has said this but one option also is to book an all inclusive hotel deal in Spain, Portugal Morocco, Tunis, Egypt, Greece, Turkey or Israel. These destinations have amazing value for money because of the volume of tourism And you won't have to worry about cooking or cleaning. Every day delicious buffets and room service :-) you could even keep switching hotel and do some lazy traveling. I do this once a year b…

Is this possible with a 1000USD/month budget?

Yes. You wont get 5 stars but 3 stars for sure (5 stars in Egypt, which is the same)

And the food is amazing everywhere

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

#402

Post by anm89 »

codethief wrote: post #394
anm89 wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprise surprise, I do software consulting. Most of the prices you list are still roughly correct in 2021. It is getting easier to spend more here but the deals are still around. I arrived back here for my fourth trip about a week ago with no plans to ever leave. My goal is to do a startup in the tourism sector here. If you are in town write me an email

Niiice, looks like you're living my dream :) > I arrived back here for my fourth trip about a week ago with no plans to ever leave. Which neighborhood are you planning to move to? > If you are in town write me an email Will definitely do!

I'm in Provenza bt I'm trying to move out towards Santa Elena/Retiro

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

#403

Post by collaborative »

phonon wrote: post #202
collaborative wrote: post #188

No one has said this but one option also is to book an all inclusive hotel deal in Spain, Portugal Morocco, Tunis, Egypt, Greece, Turkey or Israel. These destinations have amazing value for money because of the volume of tourism And you won't have to worry about cooking or cleaning. Every day delicious buffets and room service :-) you could even keep switching hotel and do some lazy traveling. I do this once a year b…

For $1000 per month? Links please?

Yes, replied below. Just go on loveholidays and filter results.. I usually decide the country on the best deals to get more value.

You can do the same in winter if you fancy skiing in Bulgaria

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

#404

Post by adekmm »

burntoutfire wrote: post #19

Poland is doable if you stay out of major cities. You can rent a studio for $300 (incl. all utilities). Food, if you cook, will cost you $200-$250 ($300-$400 if you don't cook and want to eat out only). Wired Internet and cell phone will be around $20. State-provided health insurance is about $120 per month (this is "socialized medicine", so it provides everything with no deducible, up to treating cancer etc.), but c…

@41209 look at this: https://pl.usembassy.gov/abct/

I live in Żary (Tier-3 City), which is near Żagań. Quick overview:

- small city is quite cheap. Prices said by @burntoutfire are right

- there are around 2000 US soldiers hanging around here. So you won't be alone :) if someone told you that small cities in eastern europe may be intolerant (or unsafe or unwelcoming) for travelers - it's not here. Here Everyone thinks that every American met is a soldier with combat training ;)

- internet is cheap and stable. mobile is cheap and stable (comparing to US or western Europe). In almost every place you can pay using credit card.

- ecommerce is working great here. Delivery takes 1 working day. Parcel lockers are on every corner of Poland already :)

- it's close to Germany (10 miles to border, 100 miles to Berlin) so you can get two cultures in one visit.

- people in Poland are... mentally somewhere between Russians and Germans ;)

- most of the people - it's the region with a lot of forests (like 70% of area). So the air quality is decent comparing to any large city.

- covid is not an issue here right now. We had 6 new cases in last 24h per 1 million people. There is no "next wave" coming. You should wear a mask in closed space, but except visits at hospital/doctors no one cares.

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

#405

Post by fomine3 »

pvaldes wrote: post #373
paxys wrote: post #60

Rather than looking at entire countries as a whole you should consider the urban vs rural split. Major cities in Eastern Europe or Korea or even third world countries are still going to be a lot more expensive than, say, some random town 200 miles outside of San Francisco or New York. First decide what kind of lifestyle you are looking for.

But very rural and fast internet are often incompatible terms

It's very compatible in Japan, symmetrical 1Gbps FTTH is virtually on everywhere. Oppositely, there are many urban apartments only support rotten builtin internet, that significantly worse than FTTH.

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

#406

Post by Leftium »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #319
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…

I always found that system super interesting! What would the equivalent rent have been for the place you live in for free (with 90k deposit)? In nominal terms the S&P500 would do 10% a year or so on average. Over the past decade it's been 14.7%, so that $90k would've returned 13k a year on average. In general I feel South Korea has been a great value for money location, if you bring external capital. If I compare it…

80,000/10,000*50 = $400 rent + $10,000 deposit.

The general rule is $50/rent per $10,000 deposit, however it's up to the landlord. I think my place was actually more like $80,000 deposit + $100 rent (vs. $50). I recall the different options with rent fit the formula, but there was a big drop in rent if it was all deposit and no monthly rent. Maybe the owner preferred avoiding the hassle of collecting monthly rent (still have to collect monthly management fee, though...)

When calculating the real estate commission, the formula is used to arrive at a total value for the transaction. So the real estate broker's cut is the same whether the rent is big or small. And I think the commission is the same whether it's a rental or purchase.

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

#407

Post by birdyrooster »

turtlebits wrote: post #391
yorwba wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience of living in Shanghai, Nomadlist and Numbeo estimates are way too high. That's not to say that rich expats aren't actually paying those prices (someone must've entered them, right?) but if you're willing to shop around and learn the local language so you don't get ripped off like an ignorant foreigner, you should be able to get things much cheaper.

I’m sure the numbers are skewed highly by expats who’s employers pay for them to live there. I still remember my parent’s rent when they lived in HK- 13k USD/mo.

What in the world? That's incredibly high!!

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

#409

Post by elondaits »

pelasaco wrote: post #130

If you want to have a great experience, I would suggest South of Brazil (something like country from Rio Grande do Sul or Santa Catarina), Buenos Aires in Argentina, or my favorite spot Montevideo, Uruguay. In the 3 options, you can live well with 1k USD and have one of the best times of your life, without a super huge cultural shock. Have fun!

I came to say that Argentina is a very good option. You can live more than fine with that amount (specially if you sell USD in the black market, which at the moment pays like 70% more than banks). You’ll also be able to meet a lot of high quality artists, programmers, etc. There are a lot of coworking spaces, a local game dev scene, nice restaurants, a vibrant cultural scene, etc. There are many things to complain about, but coming as a tourist you might very well love it. Buenos Aires is pretty pretty safe, as long as you avoid certain places and behaviors (e.g. don’t dress like a tourist and flash expensive things).

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

#410

Post by Leftium »

kadomony wrote: post #203
Leftium wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been quite an interesting journey! The original plan was to study Korean language for just a year, then I kept extending the trip... I haven't blogged in a long time, but here are the Korea-related blog posts: http://blog.leftium.com/2007/06/my-life-prologue.html http://blog.leftium.com/2007/06/past-month-in-review.html http://blog.leftium.com/2007/06/my-life-chapter-i.html http://blog.leftium.com/2010/08/dragon…

How do you stay there? Just in an education visa?

Oh, that's one thing that might make it harder for the OP. Forgot about that. Before COVID, people used to do "visa runs" to nearby countries so they could stay more than 90 days (tourist visa).

I have an F4 visa that allows me to stay in Korea for up to 3 years, and it's simple to extend without leaving Korea. Technically I have almost all the rights as a Korean citizen except for the right to vote for president. (In practice it's more limited. For example it's nearly impossible for me to get a loan.)

With the F4 visa, I can work or not work. The F4 visa is granted to people who have relatives who are Korean citizens.

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