Tainari88 wrote:@wat0n is in debt with student loans. If you are in debt with student loans, buying a house or an apartment in Chicago in a safe neighborhood with maintenance costs with those tough Chicago winters is going to be a challenge for him. That is guaranteed. It is very hard to get mortgages or almost impossible with student loans. He needs to square those away as soon as possible.
Indeed, and there's also another reason why I can't buy a property: I'm on a H1B, as long as I don't have a Green Card there's always the chance that my immigration status can run out, and if it does I'd have a much harder time keeping up with the mortgage.
Thankfully, I should have the Green Card 1-2 years before I'm finished with the loan.
Tainari88 wrote:AI and chatbots are threatening a lot of financial market jobs in the future. So his best bet for getting rich is going to be specializing and connections with people who have an 'in' in those industries.
I am not in the financial sector. I don't think I would go into it either.
Given my current education, I could actually work in tech instead if I really wanted to get as rich as possible. It could perfectly be a smarter strategy, too. But, honestly, while I would obviously not mind making more I am fairly satisfied with what I currently make (although I don't have any kids).
Right now, I am a lot more concerned about getting rid of debt (credit card debt first, I had to live off it for some time while I was looking for jobs) and getting a Green Card. Only then I will be able to change jobs.
I may also just go back to school for a PhD, and indeed I spent a fair amount of money on MORE coursework after getting my degree to get ready for applying again (I say "again" because I applied after finishing these courses and got admitted to a couple of good schools, but the stipend was too low to be able to study and keep up with the student loan - and I would have had to go back to a student visa). I don't know if I will, though, since a PhD is a big, long project and the issues within academia make me doubt. If I did a PhD, I would do it for both intellectual enjoyment and, yes, also as an investment.
Tainari88 wrote:If he gets married to someone who is a US citizen? That is not enough for immigration status to happen quickly. He will have to be solvent on his own mostly. Then both of them have to agree to get rid of student loans fast, do not do credit card debt and save for a hefty down payment on that home of their own. It is going to be a lot of factors for Wat0n to make a go of it in the USA.
True, but I am currently in a long-term relationship with a Chilean girl. I don't need to get married to get a GC.
Tainari88 wrote:Once he pays off the student loans he might consider remote work? I do not know if he will or will not do so. Then save and pay off in one shot a nice place in Santiago. It is a lot more affordable. But it is up to him.
Believe it or not, Santiago is not all that affordable if you consider salaries back in Chile. Even worse, in some cases, a comparable unit in a comparable neighborhood would only be somewhat cheaper in Santiago than in Chicago (but still far cheaper than in San Francisco or New York), but Chicagoans make a lot more than Santiaguinos.
Tainari88 wrote:He can do what many people like him do. They rent for the rest of their lives furnished apartments that have amenities in safe neighborhoods and never own a home. They pay off their student loan debt and live a lifestyle and avoid having kids. Kids are expensive and a huge responsibility.
This is exactly the type of thing I feared if I stayed in Chile, and many Chileans are in that boat. I was also heading to that kind of arrangement.
I was only able to move out and live alone when I moved here, to the US. I might have done it in Chile, but I was in a long distance relationship and travel ate much of my budget to be able to. Plus the neighborhoods I could have moved to would have been worse than where I am now (with either a lot less amenities or way more dangerous).
Now, this is a problem even for Americans themselves. And it's also a problem in Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and developed countries in general. One thing many Chileans don't realize is that some of the problems Chile and much of Latin America face are the same as in the developed countries, e.g. expensive real estate, expensive education and lower earnings for going to college than in the past, expensive healthcare, pension problems, etc. For much of Latin America (but not all of it), you can also add crime and a higher inequality to that mix, but in exchange you usually get better weather (better than Chicago's at least).
My unit wasn't furnished though. Everything except for the microwave oven, stove and fridge is mine.
Tainari88 wrote:If he has kids he will have to think about mortgages. US property is harder than in Latin America. The property taxes in places like Chicago, NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Houston, Miami, etc are KILLER. They go up every year. Mérida I am going to pay the yearly property taxes in Mérida and one house is about $10 US dollars a year. The other one is about $75 US dollars a year. Therefore? It is doable. I pay the bank trust to Monex in Mexico from my tax return every year. When I become a Mexican citizen I am changing the title on my houses. That way I cut out the damn banks altogether. You got to have a long term strategy to survive in this capitalist jungle.
Indeed, property taxes are very high. A LOT higher than in Chile and I assume than a lot higher than in Mexico too.
The upside (I'll put on my economist hat here) is that 1) they aren't that high to push people to sell, 2) it's hard to evade them, 3) they are progressive - wealthier people tend to pay higher taxes.
Tainari88 wrote:It is really not easy. But he thinks assimilation is the formula for doing well in life. He will find out it is killing everything of meaning in terms of real culture. But that is HIS CHOICE. Not my choice or your choice @QatzelOk but his choice. My mother and father had to face that pressure long ago. Kill your ethnic identity in order to become a 'real' American. Once they do that it is almost impossible to get it back. Their kids lose all connections to their roots and they are very easily told that being an American is about some blasé crap that is worthless. But let him make his choices.
I had intelligent parents who were never snowed by assimilationist crap thoughts. Everyone has to pay for the consequences of their choices. That is life.
It is a lot of work for people not born inherited wealth multi-millionaires Q.
If that is what he loves? That is what he loves.
The freedom to choose is something important for all individuals.
You are a rare one Q. I always loved that about you!
I would not say I am an assimilationist. I take what I like about American culture and reject what I don't like.
E.g. I make a conscious effort to reject the pathological obsession with race you see here, which I see as part of American culture (which is like the pathological obsession with social class in Latin America, I don't know if you perceive that in Mexico. I have a friend who lived in Mexico for several years and it's far worse than in Chile, where it's already bad). Not only because it's alien to me, but also for ideological reasons.
Other shit many Americans do that I will not be doing anytime soon: Go outside in pajamas (wtf), have a fur "baby" (I've seen people taking their dog in a baby trolley), etc. I may revise later when I think of other similar weird shit I've seen here.
One thing many Americans have done that I may do in the future, but haven't done yet: Learn to shoot a firearm (I don't need to own one, but it's not a bad idea to learn how to use them).
Of course, this is always subject to the maxim "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" when it comes to doing anything that may irk someone else. I think of this as a minimum courtesy to locals as a foreigner, and one reason why xenophobia against Venezuelans (specifically) has increased in Chile is that many don't respect Chilean customs in a way that is disruptive for others (e.g. some will party hard, until late at night, during the weekday - which is seen as extremely rude and annoying in Chile, and most Chileans avoid doing).