66-year-old retiree who left the U.S. for Mexico: Here's what you can buy here | Hacker News Reader

66-year-old retiree who left the U.S. for Mexico: Here's what you can buy here

cnbc.com

23 pointsandrewfromx11 comments

I too live in Mazatlan. Ten years ago I bought a 3 bedroom house on the edge of the historic district for about $80,000 US. I paid about $5000 US to completely remodel the front facade of the house into something historic and elegant. My income is $1000/month from Social Security and $500/month pension with my U.S. health insurance paid. I'm putting about $500 US / month into savings. The articles prices seem about right.

On the other hand, my house has been burglarized repeatedly during the summers when I'm in the US. I added a bugler alarm service for about $200 US / year. Still, finding someone to check my house weekly and respond with the alarm company is difficult.

Have you considered having a property manager rent out the property during the summer months to keep it occupied (dissuading burglars)? I’ve had good luck with this strategy when I’m not staying at one of my properties.

I don't think my house is in suitable condition to rent out. After all the thefts, I have furniture for only one room. Termites have destroyed some of the kitchen cabinets. While I have had termite insecticide injected beneath the walls, I don't have the money to replace the cabinets. Also one wall has some unsightly cracks. It would take a lot of money to put the house in a condition that Americans would tolerate. I originally contemplated that when I bought the house, but I don't think it is practical.

Is the threat of violence an issue for you, otherwise? Or is it overblown?

Most of the violence is between drug criminals. At this time there is no significant threat to foreigners in Mazatlan. There is a substantial protection racket victimizing business owners. I do fear that once drugs in the US are legalized, local criminal activity will increase to make up for the lost revenue. In particular, I fear the possibility of having to pay for protection.

Again, as of now there is no significant threat to foreigners other than the occasional threat of muggings which can happen in the US too.

There's no denying that money can go further in Mexico. But there are two aspects of nuance missing from this article.

First: there are often options that cost more than $5, in some cases significantly more. Some of these will cater to tourists, and/or locals with deep pockets who will pay more as a status symbol/reputational thing, and hence may not be worth the extra outlay from a quality perspective. Other times, paying more really does get you better service. Determining the difference between the two can be a challenge.

Second: because of the low local wages mentioned in the post, that $5 service may be executed by someone wishing to save you money in whatever way possible. This is completely well-meaning, of course. But when the electrician, plumber or whoever else comes up with the cheapest possible solution to your problem, you end up spending $5 over and over again, rather than just paying more upfront. In the worst case scenarios, the cheaper solutions may be unsafe or otherwise suboptimal.

Do your research, and gain good local contacts. You'll be fine, if not sometimes exhausted at the amount of specialist knowledge you're taking on just to increase the chances of having a job done well. But $5 is not always going to buy you what $50 or $500 would in the US.

Source: I live in Central Mexico.

This person is living off social security at age 66, yet he has lived in Mexico for 15 years? I really wish they had filled in more information, including whether this person has/had a spouse, other sources of income, and medical costs.

The author has a series of articles on CNBC that detail other sources of income.

The first article mentions living on $9,500 in their first year in Mexico at 50. $5,000 in savings and $4,500 from an online editing job. Then they started a business and ran that until 62. Social Security in 2018 (at 62) gave them $1,000 (I don't know if this is per month or annual, I'm assuming per month based on the article title). In 2019, they published a book that generates $100 per month.

They seemed to make $35,000 in their last full year in California before moving to Mexico.

Their first article (mentioned in previous paragraph) in January 2021 mentions living on $1,000/month in the title. An April 2021 an article mentions living on $1,200/month. An October 2021 article mentions $1,500/month. This article details it as being social security, freelance writing, and the sales from their book. They also mention having started two businesses.

Something to note is that US Medicare won’t cover health services in Mexico, but healthcare is affordable and the Mexican public option will cover you in some situations with temporary or permanent residency.

I highly recommend Mexico for remote workers and seniors retiring due to the incredible quality of life arb possible.

From the article: "Janet Blaser is a writer who has lived in Mazatlán, Mexico since 2006. A former journalist in California, her work now focuses on expat living. " Her main source of income is writing these types of articles.

And you can get even more in India. I don't see the point of this article really. You're just taking advantage of the conversion rate to get cheaper services from a bunch of people that get paid much less than you. I'm not saying this is wrong for others to do, but it gives me a weird feeling personally. If that's your thing there are plenty of countries with favorable conversion rates around the world. But in many countries, just being an American makes you a target. Sometimes for scams, sometimes for violence

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