2393 sats \ 8 replies \ @elsalvador 19 Nov 2023 freebie \ on: deleted by author bitcoin
Semi-anonymous post. Some of my El Salvador friends will know who I am by reading this.
I've been in San Salvador for about a year. I've been trying to optimize for highest possible quality of life and comfort. It wasn't a hard sell to convince my family to move because we're not sacrificing anything, but rather improving our lifestyle significantly. We also have family/friends visiting often, and I want them to have a 5-star experience when they come to El Salvador.
I pay $3000/mo for a 300sqm+ apartment in the nicest area of the city. Great pool/gym/amenities, amazing location. Huge balcony with a great view. Lots of nice cafes, restaurants, bars, shopping malls within walking distance. In my opinion this is the nicest building in San Salvador. Or at least the nicest I've found. Similar units in this building have sold for $850k+ recently.
Time is one thing in this world that nobody can buy, and being able to delegate away tasks that waste my time or annoy me is huge.
$1000/mo for a full-time family assistant with perfect English and college education.
$20/day 3x/week for 8am-4pm house cleaning.
$400/mo for an excellent private school.
$50 to hire a private driver for airport pickups/drop-offs.
Last week I purchased a nice family SUV to be chauffeured in. I'm currently in the process of hiring a full-time driver for taking our kid to/from school. Traffic in the city can be annoying. I'm expecting to spend around $600/mo for the driver. Our building has a waiting area for private drivers. The driver would hang out there and be on-call during the day.
I've heard you can pay around $300/mo for a full-time driver/maid/chef/etc if you also provide food & housing. Our condo has a separate part of the house for live-in staff but I'm not interested in having people living at our house right now. Maybe that will change at some point. We like going out to eat and don't mind cooking, so a chef doesn't make sense for us.
I don't track monthly living expenses, can't give a detailed breakdown of those, but some observations:
Internet and cell phone plans are overpriced compared to Eastern Europe and Asia. Similar to US prices I guess.
Imported stuff like TVs and electronics are overpriced. You'll pay around 50% more for your TVs.
High quality hand-made custom furniture is very affordable.
Cars are very overpriced, similar to prices in Asian cities like Tokyo.
Supermarket and restaurant prices are higher than I expected. Alcohol at the supermarket is overpriced. Alcohol at bars/restaurants is cheap compared to other countries, $2-3/beer at a bar is normal. Food delivery is very cheap.
Expect to pay $30-40/person at a high-end steakhouse. $10-20/person for other nice restaurants. Still much better than places like US and most of EU.
Basically what this boils down to... labor costs are affordable and imported things are overpriced. I've certainly lived cheaper in other countries.
I don't think I could figure out how to spend $100k/year in El Salvador even if I was trying to burn my money here. Car prices excluded, there's not a lot of ways to throw away your money like you can in global cities like London, NY, Dubai, HK, Tokyo, etc.
I've lived in many countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latam, etc. and traveled to many places. El Salvador has been incredible for me and my family, and we're happier here than anywhere else we've been. Weather in San Salvador is absolutely amazing (weather and bugs at the beach are miserable, but some Bitcoiners seem to like it, glhf). There's beautiful nature and green trees everywhere. Salvadorans must be the nicest, friendliest people in the world. Shopping and getting around is convenient. Tons of things to do and places to visit. Airport/flights are very easy. Beautiful family-oriented culture. Great food. One of the safest countries in the world. Excellent place to raise kids.
Maybe the one downside is that if you're single and like nightlife, your options here are slim. There are still fun places if you know where to look, but it's not Berliln.
There's no place in the world that I'd rather be, and it's mind-blowing to me that every Bitcoiner doesn't already live here full-time. Most other Bitcoiners living here seem to share the same sentiment. I think a better question for the Stacker News crowd is: if you're not already living in El Salvador, wtf are you thinking?
things are 50% more expensive food and services is 50% cheaper
I lived in Mexico for about 5 years and the above describes my 2 sec takeaway. I think much of the developing world is like that....
One thing I really miss about my time in Mex is the service, for example waiters at restaurants, etc. Coming back to the States that was one of the reverse culture shocks: Remembering that your waiter at Applebees hates her job and finds doing anything for you a chore....
One thing I do prefer about States is the efficiency. It is much much quicker to get "things done" in the US. I don't mean in all ways, but just mean in general something like replacing your AC in house....in the US you can call someone they arrive same day take a look and by next afternoon the total job is complete. In developing world often times these types of things are drawn out and have more twist and turns.
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One thing I really miss about my time in Mex is the service, for example waiters at restaurants, etc. Coming back to the States that was one of the reverse culture shocks: Remembering that your waiter at Applebees hates her job and finds doing anything for you a chore....
Service quality here in San Salvador is great too. CDMX was great in many ways, but one downside was I often felt like staff would expect big tips from foreigners. CDMX, even living in Polanco, was overall cheaper than San Salvador though. I think the currency difference played a factor. Polanco had more upscale places to entertain visiting family/friends too. Weather in CDMX was a little nicer, but San Salvador weather is great too.
One thing I do prefer about States is the efficiency. It is much much quicker to get "things done" in the US. I don't mean in all ways, but just mean in general something like replacing your AC in house....in the US you can call someone they arrive same day take a look and by next afternoon the total job is complete. In developing world often times these types of things are drawn out and have more twist and turns.
100% agree. Vendors will tell you they're coming between 9am and 2pm and never show up, nor call. Same goes for buying a car/house, renting an apartment, etc. Lots of time wasters. Huge annoyance, and a big reason we hired the full-time family assistant. Not my problem to deal with anymore.
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Great write up!
How do you experience the safety there for you and your family?
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🧡 Thank you sir. Take my zaps.
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It's interesting to note how El Salvador contrasts with other regions in terms of cost of living, especially regarding labor costs and the pricing of imported goods. For those of us involved in Bitcoin and technology, where work often transcends geographical boundaries, such insights are invaluable.
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