Post: #1

I heard that living costs in Brazil are the same as the United States. If Brazil costs as much as America, why move? What are the cheaper countries in South America? I have a budget of less than $1000 per month.

Gracias.

Post: #2

Yeah, I would say living in Brazil is close to the same as in the US if you don't live conservatively. But you can surely get by a lot cheaper if you find a cheap apartment to stay in and eat at the market everyday. Don't go to a lot of night clubs. In brazil I spent an average of around $2000 a month, but I wasn't really trying to be conservative, I was just doing whatever I wanted. I went out all the time. Plus I spent over $1000 on a hotel room and spent a good chunk of money traveling, probably close to $6-700, maybe more.

Post: #3

"I have a budget of less than $1000 per month."

I would go for a week then.

Post: #4

Ecuador, Peru, Bolvia, Paraguay, Argentina.

Post: #5

I would also add Colombia to your list Roosh as I have been hearing that Colombia is a good place to go to stretch one's $$$. Would those who have been to Colombia agree or not with that?
Regarding Brasil, yes it will be the same if not more expensive than North America if you're going to Rio/SP. If you stay in the interior or in the smaller cities, $1K a month can be definitely done but you'd need to live like a local. Not sure if this is what you're looking for. Needless to say that your level of Portuguese will be a huge factor in that as well. If you only have 1K, I'd go to Brasil for a week maybe 2 and live it up but not stay there with just a budget of 1K/month.

Post: #6

Cost of living is about the same as in the West, yet they have one fourth the per capita income on average. That's gotta hurt!

Post: #7

(05-09-2010 06:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  Cost of living is about the same as in the West, yet they have one fourth the per capita income on average. That's gotta hurt!

Yeah, but then again cost of living for people who live in the favelas isn't much. You can spend about $5 a day or less on food and they pay around $50 a month for their houses. Yeah, they aren't living it up by any means, but not many people are starving in Brazil. There are places that have it much worse.

Post: #8

(05-09-2010 08:06 PM)lavinci Wrote:  

(05-09-2010 06:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  Cost of living is about the same as in the West, yet they have one fourth the per capita income on average. That's gotta hurt!

Where in South America is cost of living about the same as in the West except Rio? I think measuring the actual purchasing power rather than the per capita income is more of a better evaluation. What does it matter if they earn one fourth of what US earns if let's assume stuff costs one fifth of what it costs in the US?

Norway I believe has the biggest per capita income in the world. You wouldn't believe how freaking expensive it is there though. It does not matter at all.

No man, we're saying that it acutally is that expensive if you are bringing US dollars down there. A lot of places if you want to eat good you are going to spend at least $7 on food. Most hotels are around $40. And Sao Paulo is just as expensive if not more expensive than Rio. There are lots of expensive places in Brazil.

Post: #9

(05-09-2010 08:06 PM)lavinci Wrote:  

(05-09-2010 06:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  Cost of living is about the same as in the West, yet they have one fourth the per capita income on average. That's gotta hurt!

Where in South America is cost of living about the same as in the West except Rio?

Chile was about as expensive as Brazil from what I saw. Especially the affluent Santiago/Vina del Mar region.

Quote:I think measuring the actual purchasing power rather than the per capita income is more of a better evaluation. What does it matter if they earn one fourth of what US earns if let's assume stuff costs one fifth of what it costs in the US?

I think you missed my point, stuff in Brazil doesn't cost one fifth of what it cost in the U.S. Basic goods seem priced about the same in U.S. dollars, and often are substantially more if it's something imported like electronics or clothes. At a mall in Rio, I saw some Levi's jeans that were going for nearly 400 Reais. They might have cost $80 at most in the U.S. And if you want to buy a camera, iPod, computer, forget it. Expect it to cost way more than what you'd pay in the U.S. It's like that in all of Sudamerica. I know this Venezuelan girl who said when she lived in Venezuela, she'd only bought expensive electronics(like this dope DSLR camera she had) in Miami.

So my point was, people make way less money in Brazil than they do in the U.S., but the price of shit seems the same unless you're going to live in a favela and eat street cart food. Brazil has to be a tough place to be middle class.

Post: #10

Who is says Brazil like US (pricewise)?



Rio (arguably one of the most cities in BR) can be as expensive as you want it to be or as cheap as you want it to be. It's generally a very forgiving city on your wallet.

Food is MUCH cheaper than in the US

The only thing that's really expensive is electronics, so bring those from the states.

I give you an example..

Foodwise:
Us (4 guys) spent about 200-240 reals per week on avg for all of us. So that's about 50-60 reals per person per week. Not bad at all, and we bought a lot of shit.

Apt:
You can live in Leblon for 3k reals/month or like 700-1000 reals/mo in Botafogo, Flamengo, etc.

It doesn't have to be expensive, and FOR SURE it's not at NYC level.

Post: #11

(05-09-2010 11:16 PM)lavinci Wrote:  OK - bad comparison with America. The US has arguably the biggest purchasing power in the world. What I was trying to say is, the per capita income is not a true equivalent of a society's wealth. You said that South America's GDP per capita is on average four times lower than the West's. That leads us to think that they must be 4 times poorer. But more often than not, if we're not talking about Rio od Sao Paulo, I thought the things are a few times cheaper than in the West so it doesn't turn out THAT BAD living on their average wage, no? It seems like imported goods such as Levi's or electronics are then however considered luxury goods. Cause why else would they be priced so insanely high?
Excluding living in touristy places and buying luxury goods (yeah, like ipods), do you think middle class in SA lives one fourth of the West's standard? I don't know. I know the standard of living has to be lower, but I've always been curious how much lower it actually is. That's why I asked where is the cost of living equal to US in South America. Like I said with Norway, the country has the 2nd biggest GDP per capita in the world, yet it does not tell us how much less you can buy with that money they make there, say comparing to US. But you guys are saying that prices in Brazil are comparable to US, so there's nothing to say except, how lucky we are to be living here I guess. I've seen Levi's being very pricey all over Europe as well. Electronics too. Bought a laptop in Ireland for 1000 euros, when I could have bought it here for 700$. Excluding Rio and Sao Paulo, I don't think all Brazil is that pricey though, huh? Maybe we take US for granted and underestimate the fact, that it's everything here that's so cheap. What about the rent prices? How long would you have to work there to rent an average-SA-apartment?

What do you mean when you say middle class in Brazil? If you are talking about middle class compared to our standards, then that is a very small percentage. It would be even harder for Brazilians to be middle class than it is for us if you are talking about personal possessions, since their electronics, clothing, etc. are much more expensive. But like I said man, food is basically the same price if you are eating out unless you are going somewhere that doesn't have that great of food. To live like a middle class american in brazil, you would need even more money than a middle class family would here, in the US, at least it definitely seemed that way to me. I was suprised at how my friends parents who made US$200000 a year had just the same, if not less possessions than my father, who makes US$100000 a year. Sure, if you want to live barely getting by, Brazil can be cheap, but that wouldn't make you middle class. I see what you are saying. I think you are basically saying that for example, in South Africa you may only make $15000 a year, but that is plenty of money in their currency (Rand) to live a middle class life. In Brazil this is not true. The average income is somewhere near $12000 a year. I spent $9000 in less than 4 months in Brazil, and I would have said I was living as a middle class citizen most of the time.

Post: #12

El Guapo,
Food in Rio CAN be cheaper depending on where you buy it and what you buy. If you go to places in Centro and eat at por kilo types of restaurants and even at launchonettes, yes it would be cheaper than the US. But when I was in Orlando last fall, I found food to be very cheap, at least cheaper than in Canada. I really would like to know what you're getting in Rio to be spending only 50-60 reais for a week per person. I assume you're buying groceries and cooking yourself? Because I remember spending at least 30-40 Reais for a light lunch and upwards of 80 Reais for a dinner at a restaurant and or at a churrascaria like Carretao in Ipanema. I'm not even mentioning Porcao where you pay around 90 reais per person let alone Marius where you pay 180 Reais per person for the all you can eat seefood.

Post: #13

Food in Rio sucks ass unless you are willing to spend a lot of money or I guess if you cook at home. If you want a good meal you are going to spend at least $5, but if you want the per kilo it's still going to be around $6 or 7. A cheap rodesio is $15.

Post: #14

(05-10-2010 02:33 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  El Guapo,
Food in Rio CAN be cheaper depending on where you buy it and what you buy. If you go to places in Centro and eat at por kilo types of restaurants and even at launchonettes, yes it would be cheaper than the US. But when I was in Orlando last fall, I found food to be very cheap, at least cheaper than in Canada. I really would like to know what you're getting in Rio to be spending only 50-60 reais for a week per person. I assume you're buying groceries and cooking yourself? Because I remember spending at least 30-40 Reais for a light lunch and upwards of 80 Reais for a dinner at a restaurant and or at a churrascaria like Carretao in Ipanema. I'm not even mentioning Porcao where you pay around 90 reais per person let alone Marius where you pay 180 Reais per person for the all you can eat seefood.

We bought our food in Mundial in Copa and our maid or one of us cooked it.

The food over there is super cheap.

BTW, if u wanna splurge, forget porcao and carretao, the best is Espaco Brasa in Leblon = ~85 reals/head including drinks.