The Argentine peso is one of the few world currencies that has lost ground lately to the US dollar. Canada, Europe, Russia, Asia, even Brazil… virtually everywhere is getting more expensive for American visitors as the US dollar slides…
As a middle class American you can live well in Argentina… but only if you continue to receive an American wage in dollars… Unless you have some kind of special opportunity with an Argentine company or money to invest, we would not recommend moving to Argentina with the hope of finding a job here… You do not want to be beholden to the Argentine job market, as an English teacher etc, the wages are just too low…
What you can do is get some kind of online business going and get paid in dollars with your expenses in pesos, then outsource in rupees. (Of course, we recommend this to our Argentine friends as well.)
Getting an online business going from scratch is hard. But if you want it badly enough, you can do it…
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August 27, 2007 at 2:55 am
Lifestyles of the Middle Class and Anonymous « ArgentinaBloggers.com
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August 27, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Salvatore
Love the site. Interesting reading about your life in Argentina. Look forward to reading more.
August 30, 2007 at 11:57 am
familyhack
It sounds like you’ve been reading the 4-Hour Workweek.
Best,
Michael
http://www.familyhack.com
September 8, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Dr. Faust
Excellent observation! Yes, BA is charming and their upper midle class live a great life, but what few people know is how hard it is for locals to get into that group. Most people don’t have a chance, even with a good education.
There is no such thing in Argentina as an “american dream” where a reasonably good education, hard work and honesty will get some sort of success. The “argentine dream” is to be born rich or make it rich by some extraordinary means, many times not quite legally.
Your advise is excellent when you say don’t plan to live well in BA with a local job. Most pay less than a thousand dollars per month. Even in Argentina this will definetely not allow for much lifestyle. Unless your income is still in the american range, even it is only retirement income, you may as well forget it.
January 15, 2008 at 6:29 pm
jamie
Well written! I would even go so far to say if you earn American dollars in Argentina, you actually jump up a social class. Another option is to own property with rental income as tourism is booming in many parts of the country.