How Much Money is Enough to Move to Paraguay?

I received an email from someone that watches our channel and they've asked me to provide them with some advice about how they might go about moving to Paraguay on what is a very modest budget. This chap, his name is Frank, is writing from that great southern land that I originated from. So, I have a bit of an understanding as to what he's been through.

And I'd just like to say straight up that I think it's really quite sad that a chap who's at the age he seems to be, which is at retirement age, is even having to ask this question. I think it's really quite sad that people are in that situation. And suffice to say, it isn't just this chap. There are literally thousands and thousands of people looking at the same sort of scenario because of what's going on.

But I thought rather than writing an email to this guy, I'm going to be raving on forever. It might just be easier to do it by way of a video. And perhaps there's some information in this video that may be of interest to other people that may be thinking about going along the same path as what this chap's thinking about. Or just maybe just for interest sake, you might be interested in my two cents worth in terms of what I think about people who are in a situation where they're on a very limited budget and they're looking to come to a place like Paraguay.

So the first email that he sent me sort of went on a bit of a preamble and he asked me about if I know about an immigration agent. Then he went on to say, "Also, do you reckon I could make it to have enough to buy a roof and a car with 40k?" Because of where he's coming from, I assume that's 40k AUD. He also said, "See, I am completely clueless, but you strike me as a cost conscientious bloke. So, I would love to know what is your opinion on this." So, he's basically saying I'm a tight ass, which he's 100% spot on there. So, bingo on that one.

But then I wrote to him and said, "Look, would you mind if I shared this by way of a video?" And he said, "Fine." And he sent me a follow-up email. And in that email, he went into a bit further detail about some of the things that he's trying to find out more information about. And in that email, he talked about the costs of buying a car and keeping it on the road and registering it. Purchasing a plot of land. He said maybe around a hectare in a safe location, maybe buying or building a small one to two-bedroom house. Average outgoings for a small house. Average fuel cost for the month. Average internet cost. Cost for water well or water connection. Cost of private health insurance. Cost of food, shopping for one. What is a good minimum savings amount if there are emergencies? And how much do you really need monthly to get by on a budget after you've set yourself up and you've got a house and car?

Well, I've got a few things to say before I actually get into what I would say as my response. The first is just to reiterate that I think it's unfortunate that you even have to ask this question and I would hope that anyone out there who's watching that happens to fall into the category of NPC should be looking at these sort of emails and just wondering what on earth is going on in this place and many of the other places that people are watching this channel and pretty much most places around the world. Why on earth would someone this age have to even be considering this? It's a question that if you haven't asked yourself, well, really, you probably need to perhaps stick your head out of the hole and just wonder what is compelling people to do this because take for example, we lived in New Zealand for a number of years before we came here. There is a mass exodus going on from New Zealand. And it's not just people on a modest budget or tinfoil haters or people on the fringe. It's the best, brightest, most educated people are just leaving that place. In that case, a lot of them are unfortunately going to the great southern land where Frank happens to be. And then they're finding themselves in another situation where you've got a country that doesn't know how to differentiate between a man and a woman or it's got spiraling stats on certain sorts of mysterious health conditions and cancers that have only arisen since 2020. And in that country, they can't even find the wisdom to ask themselves the question, what's happened between that time that may be contributing to that sort of phenomenon.

So all in all, we've got really quite a mess out there where a lot of people are just asking themselves, can I go to a place of relative sanity where questions as to whether we can safely identify the difference between a man and a woman or any other such ridiculous nonsense isn't such a feature. And so it is in a place like Paraguay. And so I understand why a chap like this would be asking the question because when you've lived that long, do you really want to be putting up with all that BS? Well, I know the answer to that question as far as myself and many others.

But the other thing I would say is that this chap has a budget of 40k and that is an astonishingly modest resource. But what I would say is that I want to offer a general opinion about people who are thinking about moving on a modest budget. I don't want to focus specifically on this chap because I don't think it's fair that anyone looks at a specific sum of money that someone's got and make an ironclad determination. People once upon a time came to places that I once called home with little more than a suitcase and a few bucks in their pocket and they made a go of it. So it can't be said that people can't go to other places on a modest budget and make things work. And what is the threshold where it goes to the point where you can't make that work? Well, that's for each and every person to decide because everybody's unique. Everyone's got a different set of criteria and standards that they're willing to set for themselves and hardships that they're willing to face in order to make it. So, I think it would be a folly for anyone to say that it's x amount that you need because a prudent person with a modest budget will get along far better than an imprudent person with a ton of money. For those reasons, I just want to tread carefully about what I put out there in terms of a number or a threshold because I just don't think it's fair to do that. And I think that everyone needs to make their own decisions.

But what I would say is that I will put some information in the description below for some of the categories that Frank has asked about so that if you do want to crunch some numbers, you can go down there and do your own calculations and do a bit of sifting around and just work out what you think you may be spending in a place like this. And it's pretty much achievable for you to nail down a lot of those costs without someone like me having to give my two cents worth.

But in terms of things like costs associated with having a property, water costs, electricity, it depends on where you are located, how much water you use, how much electricity you use. The good news is is that you can dial those things down in terms of the utilities to be so small that it's almost negligible. For example, it's a few dollars a month for just a water supply that would probably more than be enough for a single person or maybe even a small family if they were economical. The same with power. If you don't ramp up your air conditioning all day every day, if you use a nice cheap fan and just keep your electricity cost down, it's not like the place where Frank is, for example, where there's a fixed cost of some ridiculous amount before you even flick on a switch. So, there is the capacity in a place like Paraguay to dial down your costs to such a degree that you can live here extraordinarily cheaply. But that's really up to the individual and what I'm willing to accept may be different to what you're willing to accept. So, it's really up to each and every one of us to really make that assessment.

When we first started our channel, we're actually called a dirt cheap life in Paraguay. And we changed the name because I kind of felt like it was kind of a bit misleading. We didn't intend it to be, but the name really originated from our desire to wanting to build alternative buildings and we're going to do that. And hopefully we'll be using some earth as part of the building process. And I don't know what we're actually thinking at the time, but we just sort of incorporated the word dirt with cheap and we came up with life. But it wasn't really to suggest that you can come here and just, you know, buy a house, buy a car, and just live this free life on just the smell of an oily rag because it's not so. And I often face this when I do property videos, for example, and I'll post a video of a property and I'll get that's ridiculous. You can buy a property for a fraction of that price. That's why I am kind of diligent about following those comments up with asking those people to put up or please don't go there because the truth is I don't want people to be reading such things and think well maybe you can get it for a fraction of what this guy on our life in Paraguay is saying and then sort of develop this notion in your mind that you can do everything for nothing because you simply aren't. And the people who tend to come up with those sort of estimates of what things might be worth here are probably people who have been here some time ago. In some cases, have never been here or are operating on a scale that they believe is the local scale where they can buy things for a fraction of the price that people like me may be looking at. Well, maybe so, but if that economy exists, I haven't been able to tap into it. And I really don't think that for the most part it really is a thing here.

But as I always say, in any part of Paraguay, you can find significantly different price points for things like property and such things. So there is some truth to the claim that if I say that a hectare of land for example might be at this price point I always say I'm in Cordillera and it's not the cheapest department but I'm here because it offers certain features that I believe are worth paying the extra to be here. But those things are all just things that I just want to make clear because there's a lot to think about. But I think that we always need to keep our feet on the ground and not give false hope about the realities of what you're going to encounter here.

But getting back to Frank's question, he's got 40k AUD. He's looking to come here. My understanding of that country is you're unable to draw a pension at least from the government coffers if you're living abroad. So without knowing anything about his circumstances, I'm working on the information that he's got 40k to make it work and he's nominated things like how much would it cost for a car, how much would it cost for a hectare of land and such things. Well, just based on that metric, I would say stop right there because straight up take a car for example. A car is going to cost you anywhere from $3 to $10,000 USD. And after you've spent that amount, there's no guarantee that you're not going to be hit with southern cost because there can be all sorts of unexpected surprises that come with buying a car in Paraguay because there are varying degrees of quality when it comes to things like maintenance and mechanical work. So unless you are a forensic mechanic who can identify every nut and bolt of a car and be sure that it's all completely 100%, you can never rule out the possibility that you'll drive that car down the road and you may be hit with a cost of some thousands of dollars to rectify it. It's a common occurrence.

So if I was working on such a shoestring budget, I would say the first thing I wouldn't consider would be buying a car. Instead, I would consider if I was going to come to a place like Paraguay and I was on such mega resource base, I'd be looking to live in a place that I could basically walk everywhere or if not catch Bolts, which are like the local Uber here, or they also have Uber. By the time you paid for the odd Bolt, which is like a taxi, you would be 100 miles ahead rather than buying a car. So, if you're coming on any sort of modest budget, really think about the reality of buying a car because it isn't all that cheap in terms of buying a car and then once you've got it, you got to keep it on the road. And if our experience is anything to go by and just about everyone else I know, it's going to cost you from there. So, you don't want to be having to hold your breath trying to keep a car on the road on a modest budget.

The other thing that he talked about was buying a plot of land and he nominated in this case a hectare of land. Well, I wouldn't even consider that kind of size for several reasons. One, a hectare of land is quite a lot of land, particularly for one person. And as I've said on many videos, on any property, you want to be able to secure it. So a hectare of land is a lot to fence. So you've got to ask yourself the question, why would I want a hectare of land? Because with a hectare of land comes the on costs that are associated with keeping that hectare of land, even keeping the grass down. Because you've got to keep the grass down here because there aren't snakes everywhere, but you need to keep it safe. So if you're in a country location, you don't want to get it overrun. So that's going to be a regular on cost just to get that trimmed and everything else that goes along with having a significant parcel of land. You wouldn't want to go there.

So the next consideration is on that sort of resource base, would any size bit of land be viable? Well, it's up to you to decide. In my opinion, I wouldn't even consider buying land if that's all I had to work on. The cheapest house and land that I've been able to find in this area was 150 million. It was a nice decent house. It'd be fine for one or two people. Had a nice yard and it was pretty well set up and ready to go. But if you took that very modest resource and you took such a chunk of change to throw at a house, well, now you're really down a lot in terms of what you've got left. And remember that you're going to have to pay for things like the residency application fees, whether you get someone to do that for you or you do it yourself. All the other on costs associated with accommodation that you're going to need until you set yourself up into a more solid permanent accommodation situation. So, you're already starting to really bite into a nest egg that you really can't afford to be biting into. So they're two of the main things that I would say straight up. You would want to rethink absolutely about even the possibility of buying a property or a car on a modest budget.

In terms of the alternative of renting, well, I can say at least around my area, the very cheapest rent that I know that anyone's paying is 600 mil per month. It's a single man living in a very very modest situation. He's happy with it, but he is like a Spartan. He's able to live basically and reap the reward. But generally the kind of general going cost per month for a rental for one person would be like around 1 and a half million per month. So you would want to ask yourself the question, can you sustain that sort of outgoing month after month on that sort of resource base of 40k AUD and if you do the math I think you get to a point where in a not too distant future you're really biting into that lump sum. So, it's a question that you really have to ask yourself very seriously about in terms of day-to-day living costs.

Well, I'll leave a link in the description below for a supermarket chain. You can go in and punch in the different terms for butter and milk and meat and all the other necessities that you may require. and you can tailor that shopping cart to what you think you would need for the week and then total it up and go to xe.com and do the translation in terms of what it costs in your money so that you can get an accurate idea of what's going to cost you. But that link is to a supermarket that is on the higher end in terms of what their prices are, but you're not going to get it massively cheaper than that. But I've given you that link because that's probably the worst case scenario in terms of what you're going to be paying at the supermarkets. So that's kind of your outgoings.

In terms of internet, we pay 150 mil a month for good home internet connection. But I would suggest to anyone that's on such a modest budget to just get a phone plan. You can get it for maybe 80 mil a month and you can get a certain amount of gigs per month and just moderate the amount of internet and things that you use. So that's almost half your price in terms of your data usage right there. So in each and every category I'd be looking at it and just going how can I dial that back to the very minimum. The good news is in Paraguay there are many ways that you can do that because I'm sure you've probably noticed this, but in most places around the world, they've worked out some really innovative ways to make the costs of living at a minimum level before you even turn on a switch or turn a tap on or turn on your computer and surf the net. They found all sorts of ways to get in your pocket before you've even woken up for the first day of that month. But in Paraguay, the nice thing is they haven't quite caught on to that yet. So, you're still able to look at all of your costs. And if you have the will, ability, and commitment, and determination to do it, you can achieve some pretty remarkable things.

And that's the way that we roll. We rent a house here. There's four of us. And we pay less than half of what most people we know are paying in rent. We put up with some things, but not too many bad things. I think that well we've definitely put up with worse but you know we we take some things that we have to deal with as just part of the deal that comes along with enjoying a really cheap rent in a nice part of town. We don't feel that we're really compromising too much and we're happy to make that sacrifice. And there are many other areas of our day-to-day living where we do likewise. We shop around and we don't go crazy on it. We don't hang out in bubbles that encourage us to be like the Simpsons or be like the Joneses and hey, they've got that type of car or that type of house, so we better get it, too. We don't do that. we sort of roll on our own lane and we try and find the savings wherever they are because there's two ways in my view of making money. One is by making money and one is by not spending money because the money that you didn't spend at the end of the month is in your pocket. So I reckon it's kind of like you've made that money and that's the way we like to roll. Does that mean that we're on a crazy modest budget? Not necessarily, but we live like we are because that's what immigrants do. They make every postal winner, they make every guan count and they don't take anything for granted because this crazy world today, what can you take for granted?

But just one other thing that comes to mind in regards to this chap's situation is I don't know if he's got any other sort of income that he may be relying on, but it's something that we ponder about in terms of your ability to access income from overseas sources and there are many people here who are doing it. Our personal policy is don't rely on anything that's coming from overseas. If it's having to come through the system, you can be sure that there'll be some cunning individual some sitting somewhere that will be just working out ways to either limit or prohibit that. So, we always work on the basis that this is where we're at. This is what we've got and this is what we need to work with. And by doing that, we minimize the nasty surprises. Because the one thing is for sure, you're always going to have to spend something on something that you didn't expect. We've bought a property. What happens? We buy it on about the third day of the build. They drive a truck into the property and the driveway partially collapses because it's over a culvert and hasn't been done properly. So the concrete has been compromised. It's not a massive cost. It's a quite a modest cost, but it is a cost and it's just an example of the many and varied things that are going to crop up that will invariably happen. That's life. So you can't go out in my view with such a tight budget that you simply can't sustain those unexpected things because the one thing you can expect is that you will be hit with unexpected things.

I've kind of answered the question in a roundabout way, but with the links that I've provided below and the information in this video, I think that I probably covered most bases in terms of what this chap and anyone out there may be asking in terms of how to live here on a tight budget and just trying to get by when you're of limited means. And my hope and prayer is that this is enough information for you to make what is definitely one of the biggest decisions of your life. But they're the times in which we live. And I have a lot of heart for people who are in the situation that this chap's in because we were in essentially a similar position. Living in a place that we no longer recognized and that we realized was completely untenable in terms of a place that you'd want to raise kids in or to live the rest of your life in. For us, it was a simple decision once we looked at our resources and did our homework. But, you know, we didn't have all the boxes ticked because unless you've got truckloads of money, you never can really have all the boxes ticked. There are always some really big unknowns when you go to move to another country. But that shouldn't stop us from trying to nail down at least as many of the things we can like for example basic living costs and all the other on costs that will come with doing what we've done and I think it's better that you go and do that yourself because you'll see it firsthand and just don't accept it from me and because the resources are there online there's no reason why you can't go and verify that for yourself so that at least you can, you know, have peace of mind that you've got the right numbers.

But the other thing that I'd like to say just in closing is when I make a video, I'm always got another voice inside my head thinking, well, what are people going to sort of come back with or what are going to be the objections about anything related to the video? And in this case, I imagine there might be someone out there who might say, "Well, it's ridiculous that anyone on a modest budget would even consider going to move to a place like Paraguay or anywhere else." What are they thinking? So reckless. That's ridiculous. They should have whatever sum of money that anyone's cooked up in their head that is necessary in order to make the move. Well, what I would say to that is what I said at the start, and that is each to their own. And I've seen some people make an astonishingly good deal on the smell of an oily rag, and I've seen others who have had a pot of gold and just blowing it. But the difference between the person that has a very modest budget and works with purpose and strategy and wisdom as opposed to the person that comes with a truckload of money. Well, apart from the fact that sometimes the person with the truckload of money ends up in a worse position than the person with the modest resource. But the other thing I'd say is that people who are coming to a place like Paraguay with relatively modest means aren't in a position to come and blow the property market to smitherines. So anyone that suggests that someone coming to a place like Paraguay on a modest budget is somehow doing a disservice to this country. Well, how? Because they can't pull a pension. They can't rely on the system. If they don't make a go of it, well, that's on them. There's no one coming to their rescue. So, I don't really see that there's much of a case to be made that if someone decides to put it all on black, look at their resource, and decide that they can make it work, who are we to judge? because countless thousands did that in the place where you're probably sitting now. What's the difference? They flee some form of tyranny. Exactly what people are doing now. So, I'm very slow to make any assessment about situations that people are in cuz people in dire situations can do amazing things. And I believe everyone should just be allowed to pursue freedom and happiness. And it's their choice as to what degree and to what cost they're willing to bear. But it's not for me. And I don't think it's for anyone out there to really judge. It's really for the person. And I'm just glad that if people are coming here with without tons of money that they can't do what I've previously said, and that is blow the property market up. Because that truly is one of the most damaging things that can be done, not only for people coming in, but people living here, locals. Nobody benefits except the person that's making the truckload of money. So, you know, I just would put the brakes on anyone who sort of suggests that, well, it should only be for the wealthy that should be allowed to make that move. And I've even heard kind of some semihysterical things like, well, there should be some sort of coming into the country tax to dissuade people who are of modest means and all this sort of stuff. some sort of elite club. Well, it sort of sounds all right on in theory, but in the long term for a place like Paraguay, I think that if you gave the average person here the choice between a foreigner on a modest budget who comes with respect, humility, ingenuity, initiative, drive, and a willingness to fit in, as opposed to a mega cashed up foreigner who's just happy to pay ridiculous amounts for property so that the Paraguayan will never be able to get into the market and to drive around in their flash cars and have a look at everyone as though they're a little bit beneath them. Well, I think that most people here would say I'll take the former. I think they'd be quite happy to take the foreigner who has got the right attitude, intentions, commitment and of course sufficient resource to make a go of it. But one thing for sure, whether they make a go of it or not, it's not going to really be too much of a burden on that Paraguayan because the health care system here is pretty much universal. But if you want healthcare, you're going to want to be finding a way to pay for private care. And apart from that, what else is a foreigner really going to lean on in terms of the resources of the country? I don't see foreigners being generally a burden here. I think the one thing I I do believe is an issue is the property market. So, I would encourage anyone that's of modest means to do their homework, to crunch the sums, to ask all the questions, to search their hearts, and be really, really clear and honest with themselves and those around them. But if they make the decision to come here or anywhere else, just do it. Do it with every ounce of your being. Don't look back when you come here. Just think, what am I going to do? And try to minimize the amount of gazing that you do in your rear vision mirror because moving is two parts. One is leaving the place where you're at and the other is making a go of it here. And what can happen is if you got enough resource, you can come here and only do the first part. You can move from the place that you chose to move from and then kind of be in like a state of suspended animation. You can surround yourself by people who talk like you and really just immerse yourself in the culture that you've came from in many ways and not really move forward with your plan. But if you come with a limited amount of means, you're probably more likely to go, okay, well, we're here now. That's good. Cool place. What are we going to do? How are we going to make this work? What are the opportunities? Where are the gaps in the market? How can I contribute to the country? How can I contribute to the society? A lot of questions to answer and there's a lot of answers to be had, but you're not going to get them if you've got enough means to keep you in second gear. So sometimes the person with limited means might be in the best position because being in the comfort zone is sometimes the place that you don't always want to be or at least not too comfortable. So I think that's kind of covered that question. I wish that chap all the best. Quite sad that he's having to ask the question and whatever he decides to do, let's all hope that it's the right decision and he lives a good life because despite what many of the people who are running our world today would think, we actually do have a right to live a happy, free, peaceful life. Well, that's my theory anyway and I'm sticking to it. So, I hope that's useful to someone out there and please do check those links in the description below if you're interested in costs and such things. And until next time, take care. Ciao.

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