Should I move to Colombia or stay in the U.S.?

[sagi36]

Hi, I'm new to gringos.com. Before I was active in poorbuthappy.com but that was shut down.

I have a question for members of this group. I am deciding whether to move to colombia or stay in the u.s. Here is the situation.

I am a young (31 year old) attorney with real estate on the side. I have a decent income. I married a Colombian 18 months ago, a doctor, good salary great family etc. She has a condo in Boyoca, 4 bedormms, new building, no mortgage. We have access to a nice condo in Bogota for free, (its her parents), 4x4, maids etc. With her salary of $6,000 a month and hypothetically if I had an income of $6,000 a month from investments, would my quality of life be better in america or colombia? I ask this not because I have visited the country 30 or 40 times but because I am debating if I should retire early and just live a relaxed life in colomboa or bring her here. The way things are going in America, I see my country going into a slow decline. I am patriotic but realistic.

Any advice would be welcome.

[Benjio]

Originally Posted by sagi36

Hi, I'm new to gringos.com. Before I was active in poorbuthappy.com but that was shut down.

I have a question for members of this group. I am deciding whether to move to colombia or stay in the u.s. Here is the situation.

I am a young (31 year old) attorney with real estate on the side. I have a decent income. I married a Colombian 18 months ago, a doctor, good salary great family etc. She has a condo in Boyoca, 4 bedormms, new building, no mortgage. We have access to a nice condo in Bogota for free, (its her parents), 4x4, maids etc. With her salary of $6,000 a month and hypothetically if I had an income of $6,000 a month from investments, would my quality of life be better in america or colombia? I ask this not because I have visited the country 30 or 40 times but because I am debating if I should retire early and just live a relaxed life in colomboa or bring her here. The way things are going in America, I see my country going into a slow decline. I am patriotic but realistic.

Any advice would be welcome.

Sir, you're extremely lucky and in a great position. LEAVE NOW!!!!

[Cap'n Jib]

As stated in another post, perhaps ‘Quality of Living’ should not be thought of in terms of dollars. (Yea it is easy for me to say).

The American culture puts a price tag on almost everything and, IMHO, this is a fool’s errand (I was such a fool for over 40 years).

How much is a family get-together worth? I’m talking a real FAMILY here. In the US, we have a glimpse of what a family should be however put earning a living FIRST…. oh and then LIVING life later.

You mentioned having been to Colombia 30 or 40 times in the past. Here is the questions I would ask myself (already answered them) and would suggest others answer them for themselves.



What is the relationship between her family and you?
Are you accepted? Don’t mean tolerated here.
Do they feel comfortable enough with you to poke fun at you from time to time?
Are you willing to spend just about EVERY Friday evening visiting (socializing/drinking) with her family?
Do you feel that you could take at least one of them into your confidence?

After 30 trips or so, I will take it as given that you know your way around the Spanish language.

Do you LOVE the culture?
Can you appreciate Latinas and Latinos have no intention of becoming ‘just like us’ Gringos?
Efficiency and effectiveness are results stumbled upon in Latin America….can you accept this as a fact of life?
Can you party ‘hardy’? Some social gatherings do not stop until the sun rises the next day…. granted this is not an everyday event…however….
Can you accept a two hour wait in a bank line? Do you get angry….unacceptable? Do you get bored…acceptable. Can you amuse yourself while wasting the two hours by being enthralled by the ‘wonder’ of it all…the best option?

With the income level you have stated, you should be able to buy comfort anywhere. However, for living a zestful life…….nothing beats L.A.


Boyoca…just the word brings back memories. I am still amazed that Boyoca was where ‘Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios y Blanco’ known to his friends as ‘Simón Bolívar’ put his military boot up the ‘behinds’ of the Spaniards. Arguably the defeat of the Spanish is thought of as the single biggest event in the history of Latin America.

So how does one know this is where it all happened? A very small statue and an even smaller plaque says so.

In the U.S., we would have a humongous monument to commutate the event (Mount Rushmore anyone?). Politicians would speak in front of the monument at every opportunity and especially when they decide to run for a higher office. Souvenir shops would be selling Bolívar swords (made in China), Bolívar coffee mugs, and Bolívar t-shirts (right next to the Che t-shirts).

Instead those Colombians have put up a small plaque in celebration of Gen. Bolivar…..go figure!

[RXD]

Colombia is the best place to move. It has several of natural attractions. The big cities are Bogota, Medellin and Cali. The country is rich in natural resources and has an educated population. You can easily move to there and hope you will enjoy there lot.

[DennisLevy]

I do not want to be critical...but if you have been married for a year and a half...why arent you living together already in Colombia or the US?

[PatrickenCali]

The first question to ask is "Are you ready to retire so young?"

If so, I would say go for it. I have been living here almost 5 years and have something new to discover almost every day.

[SCourt]

I think you're far too young to retire. I see the problem though. Your wife can't practice medicine in the U.S. and she's probably in the cat bird seat in the relationship because she goes from relative riches to rags if she drops everything for you in the States.

You have a dilemma. That's for sure. If you "drop out" of your career in the U.S. and stay over there, you may one day regret it and then find it very hard to get back into your profession at a standard of living you're accustomed to.

With my wife, I went through the expense of getting her reeducated in the medical profession in the U.S. It definitely paid off in the long run. She's happy. She has her own practice and now Colombia is just a thought of maybe someday visiting for a couple of months each year during retirement. Heck, but we're thinking more like renting in different places in Europe during retirement rather than going back there so much. It's not the be-all end-all for us like it sounds like it is for so many on this board.

It seems like you're leaning towards you making the sacrifice and living there, hoping you can bring some bread to the table in the form of some kind of U.S. investment returns. She's pretty much "institutionalized" in Colombia. She's got a relatively good standard of living over there and Mommy and Daddy give her extra perks to keep living the good life. The sacrifice on her part to come to the U.S. and start over is probably not what she wants because, at 31, with the way you're thinking, it doesn't sound like you've especially hit the big time as a lawyer (no offense intended, just stating it from a money standpoint).

Man, I'm glad I don't have to make your decision. Tough one. Good luck!

[Rogbo]

It's all about your personal comfort level, I would recommend a trial period, as living here is much different than visiting.

[AltoHombre]

Been away for a little while, but back now. And so I'm catching up. Let me see if I understand your question. You wonder if you have a combined income of $12,000 USD a month, if you can live a better life in Colombia or the USA? That is your question?

Well I guess it depends on what you consider better. Certainly at $12,000 a month you can live in either country in a manner that far exceeds the quality of life for most people. However, in Colombia, you'll have a level of income that so out paces the majority of the people, that you'll never have to worry much about being at the top of your social strata.

I would guess that your outlay for security in Colombia will be higher. But given that income you can certainly afford the best in security as well. Having been raised in the US, you'll expect certain kinds of services that are not going to be found easily in Colombia. Life there is much more laid back things happen at a slower pace.

If you've been to the country 30 or 40 times I can't imagine anyone here can offer you much more insight then you've gotten yourself. How do you enjoy Colombia? How long was your longest stay? What is it you find difficult to deal with?

I doubt anyone here can answer your general question better than you can.

[sagi36]

sorry for the late response to older threads.

we have made our decision and my wife and i are going to live in the usa
my father in law died a few weeks back and after discussions its the best thing to do. for my wife its a temporary srtback but in the long run at least for the next 5 years we will be in the u.s.

im lucky enough to have assets to be eligible to be semi retired at my age. i had nothing and worked my ass of for the last ten years to accumalate my nest egg. i figure if i wait a few more years ill be really comfortable and probably can travel and live a few months in different countries.

the biggest thing for my wife is family. she will miss them but i told her that we, herself and i are a family and need to focus on that and having kids. plus we can visit every few months.

as for my inlaws i like them all except for for one sister in law. otherwise everyone is very accomadating, friendly bi lingual, and open with me. my mother in alw tolerates me and is very formal but thats a different story

in the end i decided i cant live here. as much as like some things about colombia to live here everyday at least for the moment and probably in the near future is not feasable.

i appreciate everyones input. its hard to find people where i live and or in the same situation as me to confer with

-sagi36