Cost of living in the DR - how much will we need? - Page 8

windeguy · #71 08-10-2008, 02:59 PM

How Long Will My Money Last? (Retirement: Personal Finance) at SmartMoney.com

The above site has a simple calculator to determine how much money you can spend per month for different scenarios of longevity, inflation rate and after tax returns. (This does not include putting the money into an annuity style account to protect the principle. )

MikeFisher · #72 08-11-2008, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob saunders

The countryside, farming country.

Camposinos - poor country people

right.
just a little detail.
Bob,
it's written "Campesino",
for the female it is "Campesina".
have fun
Mike

PBJ27 · #73 10-14-2008, 02:14 PM

I agree with Mike, it is important that you visit several times in different areas to see what suits you. I would suggest that you rent a condo/apt etc as opposed to staying at an AI so that you can get the flavor of living there. I am leaving for my 9th trip to the DR in Feb. for 3-4 months staying in a condo. I too, live in CT so I certainly understand what you are saying about the cost of living. Hope this helps

surplus1 · #74 10-17-2008, 02:07 AM

I have read lots of these posts with the following thoughts. After you have spent some time renting, observing, and adjusting; maybe a few years. during which you'd do some living, laughing and maybe working a bit too (not too much.. hehehe). Long term, find a nice place to live with some rental income. Maybe an in-town building with a store to rent, or outside-of-town house with a guest house to rent. Make it desirable so that it will always have a tenant. That cures some revenue stream issues and taxes associated with owning in DR.

After all you cant expect to just sit on your butt and keep up with the cost of life.

Always stay low-key yet make sure to find a few great friends who know the ropes and the folks.

Then from time to time, do a little business... every so often, nothing stressful, just fun and a little profitable.

You also would thing about some sort of internet related activity, maybe drop shipping type business or an information service, just something fun which brings in a few bucks. Nothing major, just something, even if it only brings in $20 average daily, it helps the bottom line and gives you something to do.

The whole idea in my mind is not HAVING to work if I simply don't want to, and when i do want to, I still don't have to right away, as long as it gets done eventually.

I would say that with a few hundred thousand dollars (4-5) all should be good to go. You should have a pretty nice existence with plenty to do, plenty of time not to do anything at all. Be neither rich nor poor, but certainly relaxed and happy.

But what the heck do I know. I still have 5 years of child support payments ahead of me, lol. It's all fantasy until thats over.

TANX

track · #75 10-17-2008, 09:44 AM

I think I've seen most of the posts in this thread. I did not see any advise about the kids. He has two kids that will probably go to college with in 7 to 8 years. One very important expense we do not gamble on is education. My only opinion is to have the cash available for the two kids. I would set aside $250K for each, that's $500K.

Most likely you will want to send them back to the states to receive a higher education.

English Schools are not free in the DR, they are expensive, last I heard was about US$800.00 per month per child. Good local Spanish schools are about US$350.00 + .

CyaBye3015 · #76 10-17-2008, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by track

I think I've seen most of the posts in this thread. I did not see any advise about the kids. He has two kids that will probably go to college with in 7 to 8 years. One very important expense we do not gamble on is education. My only opinion is to have the cash available for the two kids. I would set aside $250K for each, that's $500K.

Most likely you will want to send them back to the states to receive a higher education.

English Schools are not free in the DR, they are expensive, last I heard was about US$800.00 per month per child. Good local Spanish schools are about US$350.00 + .

OMG, how do I get in on this scam? 10 kids @ $800.00 per month each = 8'000.00 a month. I'll live like a king!

MikeFisher · #77 10-17-2008, 11:59 AM

Track,
your rates about the schools are much too high.
sure we have some(very few) top spots in the country wher high rates appear, but that's not for everyone, like not every european can efford to send his youngguns to a internate in Switzerland.
my 5 years old is in preschool at a private school named Las Hermanas Mirabal in PC, they teach spanish and english, costs 1500.- pesos per month, that's around $45,- US$$$. sure there are some extra costs like i.e. the transportation, the school is located on the strip in Veron, we live down at the beach in Cabeza de Toro, that's a 15 minutes drive, he got picked up at the front door and brought back there every day for 1000.- pesos per month, transportation is organized in a save 7 seater Van. the rate for that school will go up once they have all their menities/buildings finished, they are new since 2 years here.
an other example where several friends of mine have their young crowd of all ages is the small private school on the crossing of Veron, right at the church, kid in 2nd grade for 1200 pesos a month plus 800,- pesos monthly for transportation door to door. they are also helding their classes in spanish and english, further languages are extra lessons on request and available, usual are here in the area french, german and italian. than we have the more expensive variation, Centro Educativo Punta Cana at the Punta Cana Village, the biggest and longest running private school in the PC area, here i am not up to date with the rates, last year the 1st grade been around $3.000.-US per year, don't know exact transportation rates here. and there is the new heritage (sp??, sorry) scholl at Cap Cana, a good friend of mine has his 2 daughters there, but we never spoke rates or such, it is new, looks top notch.
Mike

havinfun99 · #78 10-20-2008, 07:54 PM

Saludos to all. This is my first post. I have been reading since my friend Paul (forgot his apodo) told me about dr1 three months ago. Having read the posts in this thread has shocked me quite a bit. I have been coming to DR for eight years and wanted to live here of course from the second trip. I have of course suffered the usual ripoffs from the natives but still love this place. So far I still have to work in the US but I stay in DR six months per year. What I do see is that it is definitely difficult to move to DR without a good steady income stream from the developed world but the question of how much seems difficult to answer.
US$3000 sounds like alot of money but might not be if one plans to live in a tourist area, the Capital, or Santiago. I am amazed that other expats spend that much. I have always gone to smaller cities and feel I can get by on much less. I don't want to criticize but I think maybe alot of posters are trying to maintain their US lifestyle. The real secret of success in this absurd economic system is to forget everything you know about business and economics. In the US, inventory decreases in value over time, in DR the value increases. Here in DR (where I usually imagine myself) I find that the price of something is set by Dominicans deciding whether or not something is desirable. Breakfast cereal is desirable therefore expensive; bainita (green beans) not desirable so is cheap. I live reasonably during my time on the Island because I do not eat cereal; I eat eggs and platanos for breakfast. I loved one poster's comment that he enjoyed a bottle of wine that costs $250 (pesos of course) - I drink it too, called 120 or something. The thing to do is to forget about eating shrimp here (very small and hard to find) and eat fresh fish. The only thing I really miss when in DR is a good rare steak.

AK74 · #79 10-20-2008, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by havinfun99

Saludos to all. This is my first post. I have been reading since my friend Paul (forgot his apodo) told me about dr1 three months ago. Having read the posts in this thread has shocked me quite a bit. I have been coming to DR for eight years and wanted to live here of course from the second trip. I have of course suffered the usual ripoffs from the natives but still love this place. So far I still have to work in the US but I stay in DR six months per year. What I do see is that it is definitely difficult to move to DR without a good steady income stream from the developed world but the question of how much seems difficult to answer.
US$3000 sounds like alot of money but might not be if one plans to live in a tourist area, the Capital, or Santiago. I am amazed that other expats spend that much. I have always gone to smaller cities and feel I can get by on much less. I don't want to criticize but I think maybe alot of posters are trying to maintain their US lifestyle. The real secret of success in this absurd economic system is to forget everything you know about business and economics. In the US, inventory decreases in value over time, in DR the value increases. Here in DR (where I usually imagine myself) I find that the price of something is set by Dominicans deciding whether or not something is desirable. Breakfast cereal is desirable therefore expensive; bainita (green beans) not desirable so is cheap. I live reasonably during my time on the Island because I do not eat cereal; I eat eggs and platanos for breakfast. I loved one poster's comment that he enjoyed a bottle of wine that costs $250 (pesos of course) - I drink it too, called 120 or something. The thing to do is to forget about eating shrimp here (very small and hard to find) and eat fresh fish. The only thing I really miss when in DR is a good rare steak.

You got it correctly. In non-touristic areas prices are twice cheaper, but there is absolutely nothing to do there except drinking of boredome.

In touristic areas there is some activity and diversity but prices are corrupted by a small group of people up to the limit when Dominican life becomes not affordable and stress-free for many any longer.

Cooking at home and renting cheap away from the beach front helps to stretch dollar so far and to live economically. For how long? Nobody knows. Depending on economic situation in the world and in USA.

In case of recession (depression) demand and prices will go down and life will be easier. Many ex-pats/retirees will have some space to breathe.

in case of further economic boom and continuing development - prices will keep growing fast and alot of people will be priced out of the Dominican paradise.

Let`s see. Next year should show the direction for the future.

As of today nobody knows nothing. Only guesses and projections.

MikeFisher · #80 10-21-2008, 12:42 AM

havinfun99,
welcome to the bord.
i am the one with the wine, it's not called 120, it's not dominican neither, it's spanish and imported, i like it and i have the last glass for tonight right aside myself.
when you search the bord and read about 'how much' is needed for this and that, for living in this or that area, you should not forget that the people posting on this bord come from very different sides of the globe, different educational levels, range very different in their ages/life experiences, live here since very different sized time periods, come from very different home town classes.
if all that would be written within the profiles, you would see that those expats come from the very high mid class of their home til down from the street smart educated, and that wide range is in my case exactly what i like on a bord, specially on the dr1 bord.
so when you read all those posts about the needed money to spend a 'decent' living over here on the island, you have to compare the inhaled info with the matter of fact what you name 'decent', what you need to be happy, what you call a day. some are retirees with a comfortable $$ backup, so for them it may not matter if a bottle of wine for a chat on the forum costs a 250 pesos or a 200 US$, because they earned that lifestyle a while ago and now they just live it. for otheres it may be the same way a great eve to sit in front of the computer and have the same chat with a 40 pesos per bottle rum of cuba libre aside. it makes for both a nice even in the way they like it to be.
from my reading of your very first post of the bord, so please excuse me if i am completely wrong and off the point, i read that you are still in the crowd which did not finish working life, at least not to the point where the rest of the life can be spend 'decent' without earning more money.
for that we come to the point where you have to forget about the small rural areas or barrios where life can be found cheap, because you still have to work, you need a job to stay on the island, and a job which pays a 'decent' life and brings up some savings for the "ole girlie" days will sure for a foreigner/expat not be found in the rural areas or the cheap living barrios.
so for such you have to focus on the 'other' areas,
for that some $$ backup is needed to start and get settled down, get that job aso aso aso.
you mentioned that you life 6 months per year over here.
so my question to you is, during those 6 months, do you work to pay for that living over here or do you work during the other 6 months over there to efford the 6 months of livimng here? including the airfare(when settled down here most expats wanna visit the homecountry for whatever reason also, once in a while). including not to have the med insurance from home. bring up more info about yourself and you can be sure you will get a bunch of info up here on the subject.
s'y' around
Mike