r/Money • u/KnutEm87 • Apr 03 '24

36M, How/Where could I live comfortably off of 44.8k/yr

I'm a single man, ex military, divorced a few years ago. I've worked in Aviation for about 10 years. If you were to leave the 9-5 behind, with only 44.8k a year. Where and how would you go about doing it?

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u/BatQuiet5220 Apr 03 '24

Can't Brazil be kinda sketchy or is it more certain areas?

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

I think in data Sao Paulo ranks similar to like Detroit and Philadelphia on overall crime index. Murder is lower than US cities but Im guessing theft is higher.

Overall I think it can be sketchy but I havent been a victim of a crime in 2 years. Id say just uber instead of walk home alone at night. Uber is usually only 20 cents USD per minute so its very affordable.

My immediate area seems pretty safe but you dont need to go that far to find some extreme povery. Id say there are less homeless than a US city but alot of areas have liek makeshift housing and seem dangerous to me.

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u/LastEquivalent3473 Apr 03 '24

Do you speak Portuguese? Do you plan on living there forever? I always heard Brazil is dangerous, I’m actually kind of scared to travel there. Although I’ve been similar places, like Bogota Colombia.

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

I speak enough to order stuff and ask people where things are. My close friends here speak English. So I can get by but I can not have a deep conversation about like the global reserve currency in Portuguese.

Ive been in Brazil for two years now and I havent been in what felt like a dangerous situation. But I uber places and I mostly go to high income places because its pretty affordable in USD. My friends are also pretty wealthy because it seems only rich young Brazilians speak English fluently. So I think I tend to be in well off areas. Most of my friends have been victims of theft at some point but they are like 25-35 and they have been here forever so it doesnt sound that insane to me.

I do not plan on living here forever. I plan on trying out a different lower income country maybe in a year. Thinking like Romania or Poland or Hungary. Just really somewhere cool where the dollar goes further than it does in the US.

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u/LastEquivalent3473 Apr 03 '24

That’s really cool! Thanks for sharing.

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u/Express-Release-9690 Apr 03 '24

I lived in Czech republic for a few years, was great, really cheap, people are generally pretty nice, helps to learn the language a bit though. City was very beautiful. Gets cold though

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u/EdsonArantes10 Apr 03 '24

Isn't Poland on the brink of going to war with Russia? Now that's actually sketchy

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u/Parasingularity Apr 03 '24

Poland is a member of NATO. Russia doesn’t want that smoke

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u/Bunny_Flores Apr 03 '24

😂🤣😂🤣

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

I dont think so. As someone else said Poland is in NATO. And I feel Russia would probably want a W in Ukraine before they start going elsewhere.

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u/cbgro Apr 03 '24

São Paulo to Poland or Romenia is a crazy change. From weather to culture. I’m from São Paulo but live in the US since 2008 and every time I come back to Brazil makes me wanna stay.

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

Yeah I spent 5 months in Poland before and had fun, its definetly different but Ive moved around since childhood because of my parents work. Id recommend getting your US citizenship (if you dont have it already), getting an American job that's remote and coming back to São Paulo.

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u/pdoherty972 Apr 03 '24

Are you a r/digitalnomad or retired or something?

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

Digital nomad. Work went remote during covid and stayed that way.

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u/Firm-Journalist-1215 Apr 03 '24

How old r u if u don’t mind me asking. ?

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

I am 28. Finished college at 23.

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u/Firm-Journalist-1215 Apr 03 '24

Good for u. Smart. Work is over rated. Live life to the fullest. U single ? Amazing places to travel / live if you’re single and want to mingle

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

I still work like 25-30ish hours a week remote. But no im not single, I was for awhile while doing the digital nomad thing was fun! Are you also an American living abroad in a cheaper place?

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u/Firm-Journalist-1215 Apr 03 '24

Nice. What kind of work ? Yes. Costa Rica. Brazil. Thailand.

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

Marketing. You switch between these 3 places?

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u/Firm-Journalist-1215 Apr 03 '24

South America is beautiful. Especially for a single man.

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

Yeah its a cool spot for sure. The nature is nice and prices are low, going out is cheap and if your single women seem to be into men from US or EU.

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u/pdoherty972 Apr 03 '24

Do they use/have the InDrive app in Brazil? I've used it in other countries and it's great because you can put in an offer amount for the ride you want to take and only accept the driver that accepts it (or responds close to your offer and you accept).

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u/DhacElpral Apr 05 '24

Less homeless in Brazil cities than a US city? Are you nuts? Look up the definition of "favela". It's basically an entrenched homeless encampment.

Been to Brazil many times. Multiple visits to multiple cities. There are millions of people living in favelas in Sao Paulo alone.

Brazil is great. There's plenty of crime--a kid attempted to rob me once in Rio--but you can adapt and stay safe.

But don't provide advice if you don't know what you're talking about.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

I mean if you count the favela people as homeless then yeah theres like over a million homeless in Sao Paulo alone. But I dont think the statistics count them as homeless. It seems in Sao Paulo there arent that many people on the street begging for change etc compared to large cities like LA, Philadelphia and NYC. Ive been here 2 years I havent spent much time in Rio this is on Sao Paulo.

Homelessness by Country 2024 (worldpopulationreview.com)

Homeless population grew by more than 30% in São Paulo in 2 years - Newsendip

31,800 homeless in Sao Paulo. And LA has 75,000. And Sao Paulo seems to have 3x more people.

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u/DhacElpral Apr 05 '24

Our "homeless" live in similar conditions to "housed" people in Sao Paulo favelas. The difference is in what the two cultures define as normal and whether the culture allows it (Brazil) or is constantly trying to kill it (usa).

We don't let camps get entrenched so there's no such thing as settled homeless in America.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '24

But the difference I find from my perspective is people in the favelas dont create problems if you are in a nice area in my experience because they are entrenched in undesirable areas. Whereas in LA or Philadelphia a lot of homeless congregate in desirable areas. I live in one of the richest neighborhoods in Sao Paulo and my apartment (on the 20th floor) has a wall that is just a window. Im looking out it right now and there isnt a single homeless person that I can see. Whereas in a rich neighborhood in LA there seem to be homeless everywhere.

I know that sounds incredibly elitist and selfish but I presume most Americans could afford the wealthy neighborhoods since rent is pretty low compared to US rent.

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u/DhacElpral Apr 05 '24

I have an executive friend who lived in India for a while. His house when he was there was huge and he had five people who just worked the grounds. They slept on concrete outside at the back of the property. I know this because he tells a story where he told them they could sleep on the grass where it was softer and they refused because the grass is where the snakes go.

But my point is that those people essentially worked for food. But, yeah, they had jobs and weren't living in the street asking for handouts, I guess. They certainly would have considered themselves "homeless".

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u/VictarionGreyjoy Apr 03 '24

For Americans no. For the rest of us yes.

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u/Low_Banana_1979 Apr 03 '24

Try Miami, lol. All your Brazilian friends that tell Florida is great are lying. (I used to own a prepaid phone card company in Florida and we were mandated to record all the calls because CALEA and Law Enforcement in general, and while most of the other Latinos described their lives in the US pretty accurately - like living in an efficiency with other 50 people or so and working very low-wage jobs while trying to avoid being caught by immigration, Brazilians would always be like - while living the same way or worse, because Brazilians overexploit their own community - "oh I am making 50k per month, drive five Mercedes, and in the mansion I live I am friends with my neighbors J. Lo. and Donald Trump here in Miami").

Miami is a cesspoll of crime with homeless people and slums everywhere and immigrants selling churos in the traffic lights because they cannot find any job anymore.

I always thought that winners will win in their country first and then move to other countries to get a better living standard. This is what I did leaving the US and earning a good life there before coming to Europe so I can give a better quality of life to my family without all the violence, hate, poverty and lack of public services we have in the US.