It's a good life here in Argentina. 🇦🇷
“Argentina is the cheapest civilized place on earth” - Doug Casey.
As a 32-year-old single Australian lad, and after recently having an Australian mate visit me here in Buenos Aires, I’ve decided that life is too good here not to share it in publication format. I want to inspire a few of you adhering to the rat race, wherever you are in the world, to do something similar to what I have done, and that’s throwing it all away and getting out of your comfort zone.
The Australian mate who recently visited is a lord, an international pilot who is an absolute lady killer, has obviously traveled all over the world, and has very high standards for where he spends his time. He was meant to spend 2 days here and ended up staying for 2 weeks. The point of mentioning this is Buenos Aires is epic, from the georbitrage, nightlife, extremely attractive women, barrios (neighborhoods), and restaurants, I can’t find a better place to live and I consider myself very picky for where I base myself.
Geoarbitrage is the single most important reason I live here. The cost of living is incredibly cheap, even by Latin American standards, from rent to eating at classy restaurants, buying drinks/fun stuff, gyms, etc. I can live off $1200 USD per month and still enjoy the quality of life described below. I’m going to say that I think I’m sitting on a good hand in the market (probably deserve to get a smack for this), I’ve already made some money thanks to investing in March 2020 market lows & being very early to uranium stocks, but I’m not willing to sell anything until I think the investment thesis has played out. So for now, I’m quite happy to base myself here, in a safe city with a low cost of living, trading options for income enjoying a bloody high quality of life.
Nightlife is unreal and if you're a funny-looking foreigner like me (6’6, blonde), you will get a lot of attention when you go out and it isn’t all from women, unfortunately for me. There are many classy speakeasy bars that don’t break your wallet, where you can buy a Negroni for $5 USD pints of beer are no more than $3 USD. Every Thursday night, like clockwork, I stroll down to the local to meet the crew for a few pints, some of these nights can turn large! No one in Argentina steps foot outside of the house before 1-2am on weekends and even some weekdays. I wasn’t a nightclub guy before I came here but when you can get a bottle and booth for $20 USD, it suddenly made a little bit of sense, occasionally. I always keep an eye on Enero Costanera, whenever they have an event, trust me, it’s a must-go. November is one of the best times for partying in Buenos Aires in my opinion, this is all because the Argentine Open World Polo Event is on for the whole month, and at least twice per week Imperial Beerhouse at Palermo Polo throws a huge party.
Extremely attractive women and in my view are some of the best-looking on earth, I’ve been to over 30 countries & Argentina is top 3. A mix of European Spanish-Italian-German immigrants. Still amazes me every day when walking in the streets and takes everyone (men and women) by surprise when they first arrive. Some of the events I’ve been lucky enough to have attended here have literally blown my mind. Dinner/drinks dates are extremely cheap here, and as a bloke, you never have any worries about getting the bill, more on this topic in future posts. (no pictures)
Barrios (neighborhoods) look like Europe. Walking through Recoleta will have you amazed at the neoclassical French-style architecture, especially Avenida Alvear. Palermo is the gringo hot spot but there are literally 10’s of barrios which have the same potential based on the beautiful/historic architecture. I’m a huge fan of Villa Crespo which is one barrio to the south of (booming) Palermo and is considered up & coming, full of beautiful historic buildings screaming for a makeover. I feel as if it’s only a matter of time before it’s a full Palermo scene. I love Villa Crespo, it’s quieter but has some “hidden gem” cafes and restaurants all within walking distance. Avenida Corrientes has good local supermarkets with farm fresh produce at local prices, not Palermo (gringo) prices. One big plus about Buenos Aires is getting around the city, I walk mostly everywhere but if I want to call a taxi or Uber, it literally costs peanuts with the blue dollar (more on this in future posts), & the subway (Subte) is literally $0.30 per trip, simple and safe.
Restaurants are another huge reason why I live here (some people I meet can’t understand this) where in the world can you eat quality 450-gram steaks cooked on a grill for $10 USD & order a quality bottle of wine for $10 USD? This part of Argentine socialism, which prioritises agriculture for the domestic market, I have no issue with since ~80% of my diet is meat. It’s all about parrillas (steakhouse restaurants) here for me, and it’s too easy to just sit down at a local one any time during the day and order a 450g steak, it’s not a once-off event like it used to be for me in Australia.
I’m looking forward to going deeper with posts on Substack over the next few months. Subscribe for posts on lifestyle and a monthly update article about the situation in Argentina from my home in Buenos Aires, how I trade options for income (complete guide), unfiltered thoughts, talking to my mentor Trader Ferg each month, and stock market thoughts as a Geologist.
Cheers,
Jordan - Geólogo Trader 🇦🇺