I've also lived here in Argentina for 15 years. Buenos Aires is actually a safe city compared to most of South America, I've never been a victim of crime since living here (knock on wood). Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Soho are full of restaurants and bars and cafes and are where a lot of foreigners choose to live. Wait staff in Palermo will typically speak some English. Healthcare is excellent, and for an 'expensive' private insurance plan of 200 dollars a month you can access the top hospitals and doctors with no co-pays, no annoying paperwork in the mail, just wave your card and that's it. OSDE and Swiss Medical are two well regarded health insurance companies.
The property market has already had a steep decline over the past 4 years, so it's not a bad place to buy an apartment if you're are looking to cash out from a housing bubble area (there are almost no mortgages, however, due to the high and unpredictable inflation). Check Zonaprop for listings (caution that the rentals there often require a guarantee of another property that you own (long story) so short term furnished rentals are much easier via airbnb).
You don't need to pay more than 10 dollars for a good bottle of wine in a wine shop (and good wine for half that too), and top cuts of steak at the grocery store like rib eye, new york strip or T-bone cost 1000 pesos a kg (US$ 2.10 a pound). What's not to like :)
Plus it feels far away from world upheavals. There has been a new flow of people from abroad coming to live here since pandemic restrictions ended, but I'.m surprised more people don't know about it.
Spent three months earlier this year working remotely from Buenos Aires. OP is spot-on. With WiFi money in USTT, it’s an elite city. I lived a comfortable lifestyle — solo apartment and eating out three times a day — for like $2k a month. Was great city to save up and invest without cutting back on lifestyle. Will return next year for sure. Argentina steakhouses are elite
It’s no wonder Argentina is top 10 most crypto-active countries. Thanks for writing this, also loved all the tie ins to current events and funny jabs. Also continuously humbling to read how hard people fight for USTT - another BTB case in point, do you think countries *like* this? No.
Hey BTB/Mara, thanks for putting together the post, it's definitely useful info for many of the readers who don't live in the US/West and a great perspective to hear about even if you do
However, what this post doesn't address is how to survive inflation/hyperinflation if it actually occurs in the US/UK/CAN. The Argentines manage/survive by depending on the USD, but what about the inflation or potential hyperinflation in the USD itself? Buy land, cattle and ammo?
Or perhaps is it your view this it won't occur with the USD? When I think of it sure the USD is a shitty fiat currency, when you compare with all the other even shittier fiats its still better and holds value better than the rest (I hope?). Plus throw in the stuff about a lot of sovereign debt held in USD and military power backing it blah blah, for whatever its worth.
Might want to look at immigration, demographics, economic policies, and parallels between Argentina and US. Argentina is just happening faster because it’s smaller.
Wow! Extremely interested in the upcoming posts about nomad visas. I really want to move and am going to travel for the next 12 months on tourism visas, but ideally I'd like to live somewhere cheap and save up
First comment ever on the substack, and I just wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed this first-hand perspective from Mara. Getting unfiltered knowledge from an Argentine local making it on BTB's principles and sharing his insight is absolutely incredible.
"The only way to get access to the dollar blue is through cuevas: local money managers that do nothing all day but earn a sweet spread + an additional 2-4% on the final converted amount. Locals withdraw whatever chunk of pesos they can save after living expenses from their bank account and exchange it at the blue rate for physical US token."
How to the cuevas not get wrecked sitting on large inventory of pesos?
What's the infrastructure like? Do you have functional roads, consistent electricity and water? Can you use public services?
By contrast my own country has become dysfunctional on that side and is sliding towards a scenario of hyperinflation but not yet (African continent). So earning wifi money is a requirement, but the local environment often requires you to pay twice (taxes for non government services) and then a private service provider (electricity, security, schooling and health)
Is Argentina able to provide basic infrastructure despite the collapse and continuous default of its government?
Just in case someone is thinking on travelling to Argentina or you want to understand better the blue dollar situation you can check this website: bluedollar.net
I usually use that website to explain the Argentina situation for foreign investors. I will add this post to my repo to explain the real situation too, thanks Mara.
I've also lived here in Argentina for 15 years. Buenos Aires is actually a safe city compared to most of South America, I've never been a victim of crime since living here (knock on wood). Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Soho are full of restaurants and bars and cafes and are where a lot of foreigners choose to live. Wait staff in Palermo will typically speak some English. Healthcare is excellent, and for an 'expensive' private insurance plan of 200 dollars a month you can access the top hospitals and doctors with no co-pays, no annoying paperwork in the mail, just wave your card and that's it. OSDE and Swiss Medical are two well regarded health insurance companies.
The property market has already had a steep decline over the past 4 years, so it's not a bad place to buy an apartment if you're are looking to cash out from a housing bubble area (there are almost no mortgages, however, due to the high and unpredictable inflation). Check Zonaprop for listings (caution that the rentals there often require a guarantee of another property that you own (long story) so short term furnished rentals are much easier via airbnb).
You don't need to pay more than 10 dollars for a good bottle of wine in a wine shop (and good wine for half that too), and top cuts of steak at the grocery store like rib eye, new york strip or T-bone cost 1000 pesos a kg (US$ 2.10 a pound). What's not to like :)
Plus it feels far away from world upheavals. There has been a new flow of people from abroad coming to live here since pandemic restrictions ended, but I'.m surprised more people don't know about it.
Spent three months earlier this year working remotely from Buenos Aires. OP is spot-on. With WiFi money in USTT, it’s an elite city. I lived a comfortable lifestyle — solo apartment and eating out three times a day — for like $2k a month. Was great city to save up and invest without cutting back on lifestyle. Will return next year for sure. Argentina steakhouses are elite
It’s no wonder Argentina is top 10 most crypto-active countries. Thanks for writing this, also loved all the tie ins to current events and funny jabs. Also continuously humbling to read how hard people fight for USTT - another BTB case in point, do you think countries *like* this? No.
tldr: earn online USD, live in a country where USD has more purchasing power.
Hey BTB/Mara, thanks for putting together the post, it's definitely useful info for many of the readers who don't live in the US/West and a great perspective to hear about even if you do
However, what this post doesn't address is how to survive inflation/hyperinflation if it actually occurs in the US/UK/CAN. The Argentines manage/survive by depending on the USD, but what about the inflation or potential hyperinflation in the USD itself? Buy land, cattle and ammo?
Or perhaps is it your view this it won't occur with the USD? When I think of it sure the USD is a shitty fiat currency, when you compare with all the other even shittier fiats its still better and holds value better than the rest (I hope?). Plus throw in the stuff about a lot of sovereign debt held in USD and military power backing it blah blah, for whatever its worth.
Very uncertain times.
Great post
Might want to look at immigration, demographics, economic policies, and parallels between Argentina and US. Argentina is just happening faster because it’s smaller.
Wow! Extremely interested in the upcoming posts about nomad visas. I really want to move and am going to travel for the next 12 months on tourism visas, but ideally I'd like to live somewhere cheap and save up
Javier Milei o irse a la mierda
First comment ever on the substack, and I just wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed this first-hand perspective from Mara. Getting unfiltered knowledge from an Argentine local making it on BTB's principles and sharing his insight is absolutely incredible.
"The only way to get access to the dollar blue is through cuevas: local money managers that do nothing all day but earn a sweet spread + an additional 2-4% on the final converted amount. Locals withdraw whatever chunk of pesos they can save after living expenses from their bank account and exchange it at the blue rate for physical US token."
How to the cuevas not get wrecked sitting on large inventory of pesos?
Great post
BowTied Mara, are you tied to nomad capitalist at all?
Similar work
Useful and clear. Thanks.
This is an amazing article. Thank you!
What's the infrastructure like? Do you have functional roads, consistent electricity and water? Can you use public services?
By contrast my own country has become dysfunctional on that side and is sliding towards a scenario of hyperinflation but not yet (African continent). So earning wifi money is a requirement, but the local environment often requires you to pay twice (taxes for non government services) and then a private service provider (electricity, security, schooling and health)
Is Argentina able to provide basic infrastructure despite the collapse and continuous default of its government?
Just in case someone is thinking on travelling to Argentina or you want to understand better the blue dollar situation you can check this website: bluedollar.net
I usually use that website to explain the Argentina situation for foreign investors. I will add this post to my repo to explain the real situation too, thanks Mara.