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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?

#61

Post by jl2718 »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #50
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…

> Basically, if you put down a huge deposit (like $90,000: 50% to 90% of the value of the property), you don't pay any monthly rent and get the entire deposit back when you move out. That's kind of a strange system. Any idea how it evolved there? Basically sounds like the landlord has to invest the money in such a way as to get a return that would be equivalent to rent but also safe enough so that they can return the…

Seems similar to a leasehold purchase which is common in commercial real estate.

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

#62

Post by rich_sasha »

devops000 wrote: post #57

Southern Italy. You can live in a small but beautiful village in the south (e.g Sicily) or any seaside village during autumn/winter. If you like mountains you have to go north (Dolomites) but it’s harder to find a small village for 1k/month in winter. Obviously living in big city like Milan or Rome costs around 1500-2000€/month for living.

Honest question: if you’re a long-term visitor, do you get affected by the organised crime at all? My general impression is that tourists are fine, but business owners are in the receiving end of the nastiness.

Digital nomads feel like something in between.

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

#63

Post by sq1020 »

walrus01 wrote: post #40

Lots of places in Pakistan and India you can do that on $1000 USD a month. If you don't do really well with hot weather you could pick a traditional hill station location (Murree, Darjeeling, Shimla, etc). They have lots of domestic tourism accommodation, I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to negotiate month-to-month terms with some of the property owners there.

Curious about Pakistan. Are you from there? Which cities besides Murree would you recommend?

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

#64

Post by muhammadusman »

walrus01 wrote: post #40

Lots of places in Pakistan and India you can do that on $1000 USD a month. If you don't do really well with hot weather you could pick a traditional hill station location (Murree, Darjeeling, Shimla, etc). They have lots of domestic tourism accommodation, I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to negotiate month-to-month terms with some of the property owners there.

how's the internet in those areas?

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

#65

Post by pzduniak »

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…

That 6% tax is... complicated. Bug fixes are not innovation IIRC - I just end up paying 19%, which isn't that much anyways.

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

#66

Post by kaycebasques »

One thing I'll mention for US citizens. Aetna's Mobile Healthcare Plan seems fairly reasonable. I'm paying around $300 a month total for coverage for my partner and me (most comprehensive coverage, highest deductible). Apparently it's still valid in the US so long as you spend the simple majority of your time outside of the US (i.e. 6 months abroad).

https://www.aetnainternational.com/en/individuals/health-pla...

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

#67

Post by ai_ia »

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…

Korea is something I have on my mind for so long. I would love a detailed blog post regarding your experience living in Korea as an expat with breakdown of cost and how you ended up there. Seems like an interesting journey to know about.

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

#68

Post by yongjik »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #50
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…

> Basically, if you put down a huge deposit (like $90,000: 50% to 90% of the value of the property), you don't pay any monthly rent and get the entire deposit back when you move out. That's kind of a strange system. Any idea how it evolved there? Basically sounds like the landlord has to invest the money in such a way as to get a return that would be equivalent to rent but also safe enough so that they can return the…

I believe the system was adopted in the old days with very high interest rates (~10% was common) - landlords could easily expect to make enough return.

It's actually greatly favorable to landlords. Just think about what happens when one side is out of money. Under the monthly rent system, landlords can't get any more money until they evict the renter (which is a lot of hassle, anywhere in the world). Under the "jeonse" system, if the landlord becomes bankrupt, the renter is suddenly out of a large portion of their total wealth, and will be evicted by the new owner - without any money to find the next place.

(There are insurances to protect renters but the risk is still there.)

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