11 Places
Where Your Shrinking Greenbacks Still Go A Long Way
Where To Stretch Your Shrinking
Greenbacks ~ by The Editors Of International
Living
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Americans are taking a beating abroad. Our dollar is down 18% against the euro
in the last year, for example. Down and falling, in fact, against most every
major world currency.
Tough enough these days
to be a traveler with greenbacks but, oh, the pain for the American residing in
euro-land. Every week the cost of living grows greater.
Not so everywhere,
though. In some places, your dollars still can take you far. Following are our
recommendations for 11 countries where even U.S. dollars can buy a grand
adventurer an enviable new life.
In Panama, for example,
your dollar has as much local buying power as ever as the Panamanians use the
U.S. dollar as their currency. No exchange risk
here. |
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And, though the greenback has
fallen against most currencies in the past 12 to 18 months, it is not down
against them all. In fact, the U.S. dollar has gained 113% on the Dominican
Republic peso in the last year (it's currently worth 48.39
pesos).
The dollar is also up
20% versus the Venezuelan bolivar and has held its ground (gaining maybe 3%)
against the Nicaraguan cordoba.
Currency ups and downs
aside, some countries are absolutely cheap. Whither the worth of a dollarou can
live well in places like Thailand and Ecuador on just a
fistful.
Argentina
In the land of tango,
gauchos, and mate tea, the mood is good, and the country is well along the road
to recovery following its most recent financial crisis (of 2002)...but the cost
of living remains wonderfully low. You can employ a full-time, live-in maid
(working six days a week) for $200 a month. One family of six we know eats well
on $700 a month (including groceries, cleaning products, and personal
items).
Our favorite hotel in
the city, the Claridge, a five-star place with white-glove service reminiscent
of a fine hotel in London, charges less than $100 a night.
Real estate values,
though up 20% to 25% from their bottom of July 2002 and still rising, remain one
of the world's greatest bargains. You can buy a Grade A apartment in the Retiro
district for about $200,000 an unremarkable studio for less than
$20,000.
For more on living and
traveling in B.A. and beyond in Argentina, write to Argentina@InternationalLiving.com.
Bulgaria
Ten countries are moving
toward EU membership this year. Real estate values in these markets have been
appreciating (at varying levels) for the past several years, and, as Steenie
Harvey, our Euro-editor, has been reporting, it can be harder and harder to find
a good deal.
However, Bulgaria is not
scheduled to enter the EU until 2007. It early on in the curve here. Still a
lot of opportunity. Lief Simon, Editor of Global Real Estate Investor and
Contributing Editor to these pages, has identified Bulgaria as one of the most
attractive markets in Eastern Europe.
This country hides
early-in opportunities with big upsides...and the promise of rental return while
youe waiting for the longer-term payoff from the appreciation that is sure to
follow EU entry. Right now, for example, you can invest in a resort rental in
this country, on the beach, for as little as $24,000. That works out to $100 per
square foot. Cheap on the world market for an apartment on a coast. And in this
case...there financing.
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Crete
Yes, we realize Greece
uses the eurout we include Crete in this report as the most affordable
destination in the euro-zone for the American with
greenbacks.
Greece largest and most
spectacular island offers one of the world most pleasing landscapes (of soaring
mountains and deep gorges, fertile valleys and golden beaches, olive groves, and
clear blue seas)ost interesting histories (home to the Minotaur and Zorba the
Greek)nd most traditional ways of lifell at a price it easy to find too
tempting to resist. Two can dine out well for less than $20, including winend
you can buy a renovated village house for as little as $46,000 (unrenovated,
that price falls to less than $25,000). Steenie full report is featured in the
December 2003 edition of Island Properties Report (www.IslandPropertiesReport.com).
Dominican
Republic
The fallout of Sept. 11
and a banking crisis last year have set this country economy into a tailspin.
The DR peso lost half its value against the U.S. dollar in 2003, while inflation
ballooned to 35%.
All good news for the
traveler, for the DR is desperate to resuscitate its faltering tourist industry.
You will find on these sandy shores, as a result, the least expensive
all-inclusive resorts in the region. You can negotiate a rate of as little as
$40 a night per person, including all meals. Tip: Shop around and always ask for
a discount. Try www.meliacaribetropical.solmelia.com;
www.casadcampo.com; and www.superclubs.com.
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Ecuador
We didn't have a lot of
money, and our income was even smaller,� explains International Living
Correspondent in Ecuador Lee Harrison, speaking of the circumstances under which
he and his wife Julie moved to Cuenca two years ago. If we were back in the
States, I'd still be working. But here in Ecuador, we live an upper-class
lifestyle.
We withdraw $240 every
Monday from our U.S. account at a local ATM. This covers all our food, clothing,
gasoline, entertainment, and eating out in restaurants two to three times a
week. If $960 per month sounds like a small amount to maintain this type of
lifestyle, remember that a professor here earns only $220 per month. In this
economy, $960 a month is a lot of money. You could live on
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ur 4,400-square-foot home in
Cuenca cost $170,000, and services and utilities run about $60 per month.
Property taxes are less than $10 a year. A haircut is $2, an oil change is $9,
and a beautiful handmade woman leather jacket can be bought for 30 bucks. You
can see a first-run English-language movie for $2...buy a bottle of Chilean wine
in a restaurant for $9...or attend a concert by the local symphony orchestra
free.
ee recently invested
in a vacation home in Ecuador's Valley of Longevity, near the town of Vilcabamba.
We bought a small three-bedroom home with a guest cottage on 2.5 acres on the
Vilcabamba River. It's in a tropical setting with bananas, papayas, mangoes, and
oranges growing on the property. Cost was $34,000.�
For more on Lee and
Julie's adventure, write to them at Ecuador@InternationalLiving.com.
Mexico
Why
Mexico?
Three words: close,
comfortable, affordable. No, Mexico isn't as cheap as it once was, but don't
overlook our neighbor to the south. In many ways, the charms of Mexico are still
barely understood. Dan Prescher and Suzan Haskins, our man and woman on the
ground, spend time in both Ajijic and San Miguel de Allende. This colonial
highlands area of Mexico offers temperate, consistent weather and an established
expat community (with all the infrastructure that
implies).
For a place with so many
happy gringos, Dan and Suzan report, this region of Mexico remains surprisingly
affordable. The taxi from Guadalajara to Ajijic is 220 pesos about $20. It's a
20-mile ride, the same distance it might cost you more than $100 to travel by
taxi in, say, Miami.
A couple can enjoy lunch
at a little restaurant on the plaza, including cold beer, for less than $3A
dinner of grilled fish and fresh shrimp for about $6 a
person.
The real estate market
is booming, and as more Baby Boomers discover how far their dollars go there,
prices will continue to rise. This is a good time to be in the
market.
For more on life in
Mexico, contact Dan and Suzan at Mexico@InternationalLiving.com
Nicaragua
Our favorite country in
Latin America continues to offer Pacific-coast real estate at one-fourth the
cost of coastal property across the border in Costa Rica one-tenth the cost of
the same thing along the coast of southern California. We've been telling you of
the opportunity to park some dollars in this country's beautiful hard assets for
more than 10 years. The window to act is closing.
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| Panama
Seems we've unable to
publish any list of favorites without including this country on it. We've named
Panama the world's top retirement haven for three years running in our Annual
Global Retirement Index and we include it here as one of the world'a most
appealing destinations today for the American trying to stretch his shrinking
greenbacks. For here, your greenbacks are not depreciating. The Panamanians use
them, too.
A couple can retire to
this beautiful, diverse country, with its cosmopolitan, First World capital
city, on as little as $600 a month that's the income you need prove to qualify for
a pensionado visa (for singles, it's $500 a month). Resident in the country as a
pensionado, you're eligible for discounts on everything from entertainment
anywhere in the country (50% off the cost of movie, theater, concert, and
sporting event tickets) to bus, boat, and train fares (30%) from airline tickets
(25%) to hotel accommodation (50%)from hospital bills (15%) to prescription
medicines (10%)rom doctor consultations (20%) to closing costs for home loans
(50%). |
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It's a buyer's market for real
estate, both sales and rentals, and this country is our top choice if you're
looking to invest in this part of the world in a city apartment (no city in the
region begins to compare with Panama City) or an island hideaway (the Bay of
Panama hides the Pearl Island archipelago, site of the two most recent Survivor�
series and including Contadora with its 13 white-sand beaches, playground of
Panama's rich and famous).
Poland
ow is a wonderful time
to visit the homeland of Copernicus, Chopin, and Pope John Paul II,� says our
Euro-editor Steenie Harvey. Then Poland gains EU membership later this year,
prices may rocket. At the moment, they're laughably low. And cheap doesn't mean
nasty.�
Poland showpiece city
is Krakow. For centuries, this was the royal capital and it boasts more than
6,000 historic monuments and buildings. Much more so than in Warsaw, there's a
real buzz and vibrancy to this university city. Streets around Rynek Glowny (the
Old Town's main square) heave with people until the wee
hours.
And, as Steenie says, it
all can be enjoyed right now at bargain rates. Krakow's Hotel Demel ul
Glowackiego 22, a four-star hotel within a couple of miles of Old Krakow, has
double rooms for as little as $46 a night.
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Thailand
Thailand not only offers
the best lifestyle in Asia (according to sources we trust)but also the best
lifestyle bargain. The cost of living is almost embarrassingly reasonable partly
due, still, to a collapse in the value of the Thai currency, the baht, in 1998.
You can rent a nicely furnished room in Bangkok for B3,000 (about US$70)per
month. The going rate for a two-bedroom townhouse is but B8,000 a month
(US$190).
Friend and Contributing
Editor Doug Casey writes recently, as an investment, beachfront land in Thailand
has been a standout, going up about 10 times in the last decade alone. It's not
absolutely cheap anymore; an acre of beachfront on Koh Samui will run about
$200,000, minimum. Of course, that's still cheap relative to what you pay in
Hawaii or Florida or California. And it's far more
desirable. |
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You'll find the costs of
food, construction, and household help are a tiny fraction of what they would be
in the States. And although you can easily get absolutely anything you want, the
lifestyle is far more laid back.
Thailand is actually the
safest and surest way to play the boom in China, as well. As the Chinese middle
class grows, they'll travel. And they'll pile into Thailand, as a first choice
foreign destination, simply because it's such a delightful place. The price of
land is going to go much higher".
Of course, things can go
wrong for a while; timing is important. The main downside to Thailand is its
government, under Prime Minister Thaksin. What this megalomaniacal nincompoop is
doing is creating a credit-driven boom, and its going to result in a
bust.
Fortunately, Thai
culture will outlast Thaksin, the boom, and the coming bust. And the country
remains perhaps my top choice in the Orient. But I'd hold off major investments
until the bust. Which I expect will come within a couple of
years.�
Doug also offers two
travel tips: The best hotel in the world is the Peninsula in Bangkok. It's much
classier and half the price of the Oriental across the river, which has been
unjustly rated as the best for years. In Koh Samui, don's even think about
staying at the outrageously overpriced Meridian; stay at the excellent, and
conveniently located, Nordic Inn, for $50 a night.�
For more on Doug's take
on the market in Thailand (and elsewhere in this part of the world), see his
International Speculator issue published Jan. 30, 2004; website: www.caseyresearch.com.
Doug also sends out a free weekly That We Now Know.� You can subscribe at:
http://server.publishers-mgmt.com/wwnk/index.php.
Venezuela let the current economic and political troubles scare
you off. Both the contrarian traveler and the speculator see opportunity here.
The cost of living can be extremely low (gas is 25 cents a gallon of can of beer
or Coke can sell for 23 cents a bottle of Chilean wine for $2.50 and you can hire
household help for as little as $130 a month).
From one perspective,
things can only get better for little Venezuela. If you take that point of view,
you may be tempted by current property prices here, which are at an all-time
low, down as much as 50% in the past two years. A two-bedroom, two-bath
apartment in a beachside complex was recently on offer for $30,000. And that was
the asking price. |
