Cost of living in the DR - how much will we need?

[bltkmt]

Many thanks to all for the sound ideas and advice....in any case it fuels my dreams!

[Chirimoya]

Inevitably, opinions and experiences will vary. Please let's try to express this without insulting fellow posters. OK?

[bltkmt]

Do most of you that have responded live in DR full-time, as ex-pats?

[Chirimoya]

To the best of my knowledge, most -if not all- respondents are expats who live in the DR.

[AK74]

Originally Posted by MikeFisher

numbers depend a lot on "what somebody names a comfortable living".
i am myself a small business man in the Dr since 13 years passing up's and down's during that time, living with dominican wife and actually with one 5years old in a 2 bedroom/2bathroom/1 living room/1 kitchen/ rented beach front appartment in Punta cana we spend an average of $3.000.- US per month which includes the bilingual school for the Boy and the gas i burn on my daily road to work. i don't htink we are living in some kind of "luxury", but we eat what we want, we drink our wine late eve on the pier in front of the house aso.
it depends a lot on which area of the island somebody lives, costs for the same things specially in renting a appartment/house vary a lot, and the kind of daily stuff somebody names "usual".
also schools of course vary within a huge range of rates,
everybody names an other kind of car "usual/average"
and prefers a different kind of wine(sorry for that example, but i have friends who pay 50-80US$ for a bottle of wine to name it "good", i am myself happy with my copa of 250 pesos per bottle cheap imported one),
so livestyle can only be calculated after a lot of details are on the table.
basically i would highly recommend the following points:
* first of all visit the country several times to check out some of the very different spots to find out which living sourroundings would suit your family's likings. some are fine in a barrio aside a mayor city, your mentioned amount of belongings i would assume you will look more on a nice penthouse in a upper area in the capital city or a beach property in punta cana.
* after you found the area/surroundings which suit you you should first only rent, because very often after a while a specific area looks different than it has been expected just by descriptions on a bord/forum/vacation aso.
* with the time you will start to get yourself involved in the community where your new home is located, you will get your bown connections, you learn step by step how it works over here. then you can start to think about investments over here, maybe purchase your own property/house instaed of a rental home, make some business, bring your money to a dominican bank aso.

til then i would recommend to just rent a place which suits you and learn about the very different way of life in a very different contry. leave your money at home, bring just what you need for your living and don not break up all bridges to your home right away. always count on the worse, would mean you loose what you bring in and you have to go back again.
a citizenship i would not recommend until you are completely settled over here after several successful and happy years on the island, to find that out a simple residency is absolutely enough.
good luck
Mike

even on your own example we can see that 2 mil of saving are just for a decent (not excessive) life without having to work for survival.
You spend $3000 US month. It means $36 000 US per year. It means that if people think to live 30 years they need $1 200 000 just to live IF PRICES DO NOT GO HIGHER.

Plus they need $250 000 to buy a house. And $$$$ to maintain and upkeep it.

Plus they need a car also with maintanace and repairs.

They need rain day money for emergency.

So even from your own words one
cannot

see how a person can decently live in DR without working with less than 2 mil US
savings.

Interest on money invested in CD`s will be eaten by rising prices.

[Chirimoya]

Note to posters - please keep to topic, leave out the sniping, and put socks back in drawers.

[AK74]

Originally Posted by Barbie B

Ak74, you definitely didn't thoroughly read what Mikefisher posted, even know you have his quote in full view, just above your post. He states that he rents, so there goes your $250,000.00 house purchase. He also stated that he works too. It seems as if his liquid money would have to be under a mattress because there isn't any mention of the interest it would gather. You only mentioned that the interest gain would be lost to higher cost of living.

You must be kidding, thinking that a million $$ isn't enough to live on in the DR! Even at 5%, you are getting $50,000.00 to live on, without touching the principle. Most people I know, are living off less than that. Heck what about the 14 to 16 percent interest that is repeatedly talked about on this forum.

My guess is that MOST people retiring to the DR, are not millionaires.

To retire to DR having only one mil in savings for the rest of your life?
Of course it is not enough.

At least I`d not feel comfortable knowing that there is a possibility that I will outlive my money.

Investment with 5% (after tax?) GUARANTEED return? Without risk of losing EVERYTHING?

At this current time? Hmmm...

If our guru financial analists are to be trusted now there is NO guaranteed investment that GUARANTEED beats inflation.

It means OP will eat up his money faster that they will replenish from investment.
To be 75 years old and when your money ended - what can be a worse nightmare?

BTW, MFisher said nothing about medical expenses that will be huge for OP after certain age. It is not US. There is no any functionning affordable medical insurance for elderlies.
For a person of 70 y.o. annual medical costs can be very easy way over $100G US. No, my math is not such bad.
It is not optimistic that is true. Realistic. Expecting BAD surprises in the course of life. Not good ones. That is REAL life not a dream after
three cuba-libres.

[AnnaC]

Can we please just answer a question without jumping all over someone else's opinions.

Everyone has a different standard on how they live and how much $$$$ they need to live in the DR.

Please post what you live on and allow others to do the same. People reading the different amounts can decide themselves. Arguing with each other never solves a thing.

Thank you

[AK74]

Originally Posted by AnnaC

Can we please just answer a question without jumping all over someone else's opinions.

Everyone has a different standard on how they live and how much $$$$ they need to live in the DR.

Please post what you live on and allow others to do the same. People reading the different amounts can decide themselves. Arguing with each other never solves a thing.

Thank you

You are very right!

Trying to keep somewhat close to my mid-class level of living in USA cost me in DR $3000US a month plus housing.
If a person is willing to downgrade drustically quality of his/her life after many years of hard work - he/she will be able to live on less. $1700-$2000 maybe.
But even in this case one-mil savings is a bare minimum to afford a dream-like relaxed but responsible Caribbean life without having to work.

Going to DR with less - Russian Roulette in my humble.

[Hillbilly]

I'll try this:
1) If you want to get away from the rat race, that hectic keeping up with the Jonses thing in the states
2) If you are flexible, intelligent, decent folks
3) If you want more than Jimmy B's "Margaritaville" lifestyle
4) If you have children to educate and who might want to live a lot of their lives inthe States

Then, yes, you can certainly live in the DR for a lot less than US$3,000 a month.
You simply choose a town that is not on the beach.
You go about this with caution and prudence.
You find out what you like or dislike and how to avoid the negatives
You begin to network with people of similar likes and dislikes
You explore for suitable housing at affordable prices. And, yes, it can be had.
You rent for a while, learn some of the language, see the dos and don'ts..

I would not disassociate from the US, and I would maintain accounts there, like a previous poster mentioned, the internet is a Wal-Mart..

You can get a lot more answers, but foremost in your plans should be caution and patience. Nothing ever works like it is supposed to or like you want it to the first time.
You could purchase a copy of Lambada's book: Quisqueya....a good read about real life experiences.

Just be patient.

HB