DeGen Island USA and Ox Breaks the Handcuffs
Level 1 - NGMI
Welcome Avatar! While Brain will do an in-depth overview of Puerto Rico later, Duck wanted to provide his initial reactions to the island. As you know, the two main locations for Sovereign BowTied Individuals is PR and Singapore. While Portugal, the Caymans and Dubai may work for others, the aforementioned islands line up with our broad readership the most.
General Info
Puerto Rico is a Carribean Island 2.5 hours south-east of miami. It lies east of Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic/Haiti and west of US Virgin Islands. The major nonstop USA hubs to PR are Dallas, Miami and NYC/NJ.
NY direct flights are ~4hrs. West-coast flights will often layover in Dallas/Houston. Flight times from West Coast including lay-over is roughly 9-11 hours (roughly equivalent flight time SFO/LAX-> Tokyo, Beijing or Seoul).
History: Christopher Columbus landed in Puerto Rico 1493, and originally named the first city San Juan Bautist (Saint John the Baptist). This was later shortened has been shortened to San Juan. In later years, Ponce de Leon colonized the island. And it remained under Spanish control for ~400 years.
Upon the conclusion of the Spanish-American War of 1898, USA authorized Puerto Rico into a commonwealth state, allowing it to form its own constitution. This explains the heavy Spanish influence that still exist to this day in Puerto Rico.
Climate:Tropical Carrribean Island. Temperatures are generally ~80F year-round (plus or minus 10 degrees). But humidity increases during summer months. Best time of year are late Nov- early March (similar to miami).
Rainy season is usually from the months of July to October. August/September especially would be better spent elsewhere. There is light drizzle of rain daily, but generally stops in 15 mins. Considering the proximity to the equator, the sun is very strong so sunscreen is a MUST if you intend to spend more than 60 mins outside.
Island Topography/Cities: Coastal areas with mountainous jungle in the center of Puerto Rico. There is 360 miles of coast. Major cities of note include: a) west coast : Rincon (surfer paradise) + Mayaguez (largest city on western side of PR. western side manufacturing hub); b) east coast: San Juan (capital), old San Juan (touristy area/harbor for cruise ships), Carolina(SJU airport and Isla Verde) and Dorado (wealthy suburbs outside capital)
First impressions
Getting in: Assuming you fly commercial, you will land in Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU). *Disclaimer as of Dec 27,2021 you will need to take a covid test (48Hr prior to landing)*. First impressions when getting in: Holy sh-t, its hot and muggy (especially if you are wearing winter clothes). It will take roughly 30 mins to claim bags and clear customs. After picking up your bags, make your way to the taxi line. Official Taxis will cost roughly 15 dollars to Condado.
I paid 25 to a bootleg unofficial taxi after bargaining in broken Spanish (30 dollars bargained down to 25). Was lazy/tired to wait in 20=30 min line.
Getting an apartment: I choose Condado as my stomping grounds. I spent my early adulthood in a walkable, major metropolitan city. The walking culture left an indebile mark + compounded w/my hatred of driving = tourist walkable areas only. Getting a lease prior to Jan 1 was a tremendous struggle. Rents in Condado have gone nuclear, because of the mass influx of wealthy e-commerce/crypto folk moving here to take advantage of act 60.
I highly recommend you get a local real estate agent. There are many scammy services that charge $500 to help you find an apartment. Avoid them. Try to go through word of mouth first since many real estate agents keep pocket listings. Zillow rents is for gringos only. Expect to get ripped off if you try to use modern internet infrastucture for PR apartments.
My experience was extremely frustrating through Zillow. I called 17 places. 16 never even called me back. The one that did was located in a very bad area. Luckily, a friend helped set me up w/his real estate agent...found something decent and within my budget.
Funny enough, the apartment in the bad area got rented out the very next day ( i was the first one to call the first day. 15 mins after it listed. It was gone in 48 hours). Expect to pay 2-3k for studio. 2.5-3.5k for 1bd. 3-5k for 2bd. 4-6.5k for 3bd.
Furnished apartment are on the higher end. Keep in mind, these prices ranges are for Condado. *Important note: Make sure your apartment has AC, stove, refrigerator, etc. Some apartment especially cheaper ones do not*
Getting Mattress: Bought a blowup mattress from Walmart first night. Key tip the Spanish words = "Cama inflatable". Or you can be a lost gringo and wander around a Spanish only Walmart for 20 mins. Recommend you purchase a bed from Costco online. I personally ordered the Stearns and Foster eurotop firm matress. It was ~1200 shipped (48 hour delivery). The same bed will run you 3k shipped @ JC/Pennney (Basset home furnishing)- 2 weeks delivery time.
Getting furniture: I went to IKEA. Bought a computer table, computer chair, leather L-shaped couch, bed frame, couch pillows, throw blankets, knick knacks. ~3k dollars. Delivery is $150. Unlike the States, assembly is 18-20% of total value. But after tax, delivery and install, ~4k dollars.
Getting beddding/clothing: Marshalls for cargo shorts/T-shirts/socks/bed sheets/towels/bed pillows (higher quality than ikea). ~300-400 dollars.
Getting a TV/Electronics: Best Buy. Delivery and Install = $200. Bad news, very long wait time: ~ 1 month for TV to be delivered and installed. I am a bit of tech geek so I like ginormous TVs (especially since it was only marginally more expensive). ~700-1500 dollars (lower end is for 50 inch TV delivered).
Getting around San Juan/PR: Condado is very walkable. It’s probably 20 mins walking from one side to the other of Condado. Ubers are much cheaper than taxis. Generally an uber anywhere reasonable close is between 4-10 dollars (Bayamon which is where main ikea is ~10 dollars)
Supermarket/Grocery Store: Main supermarket in Condado walking distance is Supermax. Walmart is ~ 1mile away in Santruce. Recommend uber, because the area is somewhat shady at night. Costco is in Carolinas. There is a Sams Club as well, but I have never been. Most food items are priced reasonably EXCEPT green veggies. Good luck finding kale. Celery is also absurdly expensive. One stalk of organic celery was $5.
Restaurants: Too many to count. OpenTable and yelp are good resources. Still looking for the best green juice place. Surprisingly hard to find. See above about kale. 25-30% cheaper than major Metroplitan city.
Gym: Liv Condado: Best gym in Condado. Pretty sure every single person in that gym is an expat/ act 60. $70-80/month for annual membership.
Act 60: Close all your USA based bank accounts. Chase. BofA. Wells Fargo etc. Citibank is okay (bank here in Hato Rey). Schwab is okay(they have a branch in San Juan). Close all your mailbox, safety deposit box. Change your official mailing address at USPS. Change all your mailing address for banks and credit cards. Get rid of your USA lease for apartment. Your car. Sell all your furniture or donate it.
Quit your job. If you have a home, remove primary home ownership provision (special paper you need to send in). Rental properties are okay. Either sell the home or establish a tenant w/long-term lease. Remove your voting registration. Get official criminal record from DOJ (livescan fingerprinting)
Steps when you arrive in PR: Open a PR bank Account. I recommend Banco Popular since they have special Act 60 department. Get a long-term lease/utility bill. Get internet connection (1 year). Recommend liberty 300 meg/s. Make sure to check speed before technician leaves. Mine was originally set to 100 until i called in.
Turn in your drivers license. **Make sure you have an official CERTIFIED driver record. Very annoying process. Supposedly, 30-45 days for processing **
Register to vote in PR. Get a social or club membership. Gym membership works well.
Submit your Act 60 documents (can use a lawyer or the service PRelocate)
Quick Mistakes to Avoid: While it sounds like living dead center near the Vanderbilt and Serafina is smart, we wouldn’t do it. You want to be closer to Condado beach as it is more residential and has lower noise pollution. No matter what you’ll have some nightlife noise (like any major city) but if you’re closer to Parque del Indio - Condado; you will suffer from less of it. Going out towards Barbosa is quieter and more residential.
We will go over the tax benefits later but they are huge. For those who have worked in online sales, if you sell a company based in PR you pay $0 in income tax. This is a good way to tell if someone is legitimately making a lot online because if you don’t have a family every $1M is ~$450K in tax savings (earnings) and if you sell it for 10x you get $10M tax free (versus closer to mid singles).
The Last Year In The Jungle - BowTiedOx
It has been an absolutely wild ride. In April I made an account half as a joke, half as I knew anything BowTiedBull was doing would provide a great opportunity. I was not nearly expected to grow my account to almost 20 thousand followers, a Wifi Money Business making me a livable income and be surrounded and have access to some of the smartest/best people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting in my life.
What’s crazy is the BowTiedJungle pretty much has it all. For my website I was able to meet talented website designers (BowTiedMink), have people do custom code for a calorie calculator and a “exercise selector” that is coming soon (BowTiedCrocodile), and the dozens of other BowTied Cartoons that have helped me refine my knowledge on just about everything from Sales to Ecom.
I’ve start multiple online businesses, some have been successful, some have failed, but at the end of the day I had built up a recurring 3-5k a month from a small ecommerce site in 2 YEARS.
As BowTiedOx, I have now built, in 6 MONTHS, a side hustle that generates $5000 dollars a month, and currently does better than my “real job” (military pay sucks, don’t do it unless you go Officer).
I need to put more emphasis on “6 MONTHS”, this is absurd for a new business to reach numbers like this, this fast. This shows that what the Jungle is/does works, and works well. I don’t like referring to myself as “valuable”, “expert”, etc. but my knowledge and expertise does speak for itself. This shows a very important fact:
If you can join the Jungle, provide value and offer something that people want, the sky’s the limit for what is going to be possible. Half a dozen other BowTied Cartoons are making living incomes from this, and let’s be honest, there are MUCH harder jobs than just writing some tweets, coaching some clients, and writing a substack.
Now, I’m not a particularly sentimental guy, but none of this is possible without the ecosystem and community BowTiedBull has created. I myself have been a reader of about a decade, and to say their posts (yes I have them ALL saved) and books has changed my life would be a gross understatement.
What’s be pretty cool is the opportunity to actually change the lives of so many people. In the past I’ve done 1 on 1 Coaching which has always been a good experience and you change a few lives.
Here the reach is tens of thousands, and the dozens of positive DM’s daily of “hey man you really changed my life, I’m even a better father now” make this insanity the best thing I’ve ever done.
2022 is going to be crazy, so much planned, so much valuable information that can help change so many lives.
‘Twas written in the stars.
Note: As a token of his appreciation BowTiedOx will answer some fitness questions even if you’re not on his stack (you should be its only $5 US Trash tokens). Please leave your comments below!
Note hold off on gifts for friends until January when we work to scale and fund more anons.
Disclaimer: None of this is to be deemed legal or financial advice of any kind. These are opinions written by an anonymous group of Ex-Wall Street Tech Bankers who moved into affiliate marketing and e-commerce.
Niche Info: If you have a specific niche skill that you believe will be useful for our audience let us know. We’re always looking to send traffic to winners. And. Don’t ask us “How can I help” or “I can work hard for you bro” neither of these mean anything. You have to know your skill and bring something clear to the table.
The only thing the article lacked was the mention of the latinas in PR.
@bowtiedox, how do I make sure my firstborn is a son?