Metal Buildings Held Up Well
I am thinking about moving to Chile, but last weekend’s earthquake got me to thinking twice about making a move down there and building my own house. While it’s a dream of mine, I am not really interested in having something bad happen. Fortunately, I was talking to a friend of mine who survived the quake down there and he said his secret was metal buildings. He said they stood up much better than concrete structures did.
Interesting to say the least and this is certainly something I need to research more.
Identity Theft Abroad
In the US, we are lucky to have the protection of laws concerning our private information and documentation. That isn’t necessarily so with foreign companies. If you are working outside the US, private information that is given to the place of business for job application or immigration purposes can be given to the highest bidder and is freely given to ANYONE requesting it. Your only protection is the integrity of the business that has your paperwork.
This should scare you. I know it scares me. I worked abroad and I am a victim of it. A private dispute with someone else has resulted in a business giving out copies of my passport and certificates to someone else. This is a huge worry of mine, especially with the rise of identity theft.
I think it’s a good idea to pay attention to who you are giving out your documents to and what they are doing with those documents. It could be that someone with less than honorable intentions is getting ahold of your documents to use in a way that might be negative for you. This is something to keep in mind when you going abroad or applying for jobs abroad.
You need to protect yourself from identity theft.
Cubans Can Have Cell Phones
Telecommunications infrastructure is important for any country, especially in this new information age. The quality of the infrastructure is just one part of the equation, the other part is accessibility to the infrastructure. It seems like Cuba is moving a little more to improved accessibility to telecom infrastructure.
As of today, ordinary Cubans can now own cellphones.They are able to sign up for prepaid contracts on cellphones. Granted they have to pay for them in convertible pesos and the phones will be out of reach for most Cubans, but it does signal a shift to greater telecom accessibility and this could be a very good thing for the Cuban economy.
Is Argentina still cheap?
Over the last few years, I’ve often heard how cheap Argentina is and I have posted about the cost of living there before. It’s always seemed real cheap and a place where someone without a lot of money coming in can make a go of it. Seeing these figures about the cost of living for a family and reading the comments, I really don’t know if that’s the case anymore.
Rent (2 or 3 BR + Depend.)
$800.00Electric / Water / Vonage
$100.00Cable / Internet
$60.00Cell Phones
$40.00Child School & Activities
$200.00FT Domestic worker
$450.00Groceries
$150.00Family Entertainment
$200.00Pocket Money / Discretionary
$200.00Local Travel / Major Expenses
$300.00Savings
$0.00Car – Gas / Insurance
$150.00Health & life Insurance
$200.00Other – in the USA expenses
$200.00MINIMUM Mo. Budget
$3,050.00
I think I’d be hard pressed to leave the US if I knew I would have a cost of living of more than $3,000 a month. It’s possible to do it in the US on less and if getting out of the US is your objective, there are cheaper alternative. Maybe these figures aren’t accurate but they sure do deserve a closer look.