Being rich in the 3rd world

Come in Bosnia ,correctly in Banja Luka city ...We have most beautifull woman !All people say that when come first time here ,and we have clear water ,a lot of woods...Clear air ...Cheap life ..No rules for cyber criminal ...:)
We don't have paypal :( and there is no nice survey in ************** for my country ...But still here can earn some good money with internet :) and live really nice!!!


I confirm this... especially when it comes to girls... Serbian Bosnian women are amazing. Good internet conections, proper banking system and cheap rent.

Food is great, and piracy laws are non-existent :)
 
I don't want to get all academic but some people seem to be making up the concept of a "second world country" which is not too poor but not too rich either.

The whole classification belong to the cold war era and first world countries refer to US allies and second world to soviet allies. Third world is what is left out. With Cold War being over, second world doesn't correspond to anything today.

The distinction could be between "developed countries" and "developing countries". Developed ones being USA, Canada, Australia, most EU countries and Japan... (from the top of my head).

Recently BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are mentioned as separate from other developing nations as they are important challengers.

By the way, I realize that I live in the only country that is/was by definition a "first world" country but still a developing country. Life is good, but could use some more tolerance...
 
It makes me laugh (no offense) the amount of Americans who complain they want to move to a cheaper country because it costs too much to live, they have such high tax etc.

I have always thought of moving to the US (been there a couple of times for a month or so) because its so much cheaper to live. I found the people there much nicer too. When people go to the US they buy as much branded/designer gear as they can bring back because everything is such a bargain, and everyone puts on weight because its so cheap to eat in restaurants there.

Off the top of my head, I think a few comparisons would be:
* 1 US Gallon of standard unleaded 'gasoline' around $5 - Diesel costs more.
* Burger King Whopper Meal around $10/$15
* A very small 4-slice pizza around $12 (think its about 6" cant remember)
* Loaf of bread over $2 / 1 liter milk around $1.5 / 6 eggs around $2-$2.5 (and these are the cheap places, if you shop in 'corner shops' it costs you double - when I first moved in I went to the local corner shop + it cost me just under $8 for 4 toilet rolls !!)
* Pack of 20 cigarettes around $9/$10
* Park your car for 3hrs (e.g. shopping) around $4/$6 (you even have to pay to park your car at the hospital!)
* A permit to be allowed to park your car on the road outside your own house around $71
* Income tax + 'social security' can be 61% of your salary if you are a high earner
* Property tax is between $130 month/$1,500 year and $450 month/$5500 year
* We have to pay a form of road fund (a further tax to drive on the road) which can cost up to $600 year (in addition to 'toll booths' etc)
* Plus all the extra tax - such as for all insurance policies there is an additional tax on top of 'sales tax', including mandatory ones such as auto insurance (dont even get me started on actual prices too - when you pass your test it costs around $2000 a year for a tiny 1.3liter engine car with a top speed of about 150km/h)

So yeah, all those complaining they want to move out of the US 'cos its too expensive, I will take your place ;)
 
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Wikolia, where are you from that you want to move to the US because it is "cheaper"?

I am looking at all of my options much more seriously right now but I can't move away from the USA 100% of the year since I have family here. I am beginning an outsourcing business today and definitely want to move as soon as possible. I'm looking at a cheap, semi-rural "home base" in the USA as well as setting up shop in the Philippines, Thailand, and/or Central/South America.

I'm into Mountain Biking and Martial Arts, so I need someplace with trails and a decent selection of MA schools. Would like something with a pool, too. As far as the USA I'm looking at small towns, suburbs, and rural/semi-rural areas around mid-size cities... specifically Winston Salem, NC, Charlottesville, VA, and Asheville, NC. I think a small "hobby farm" would work. Having space for a grass airstrip is important, too, since my goal is to buy a small airplane (and travel).

Offshore, I'm leaning towards Panama, Belize, virtually anyplace in South America, and the Philippines since I speak decent spanish.
 
Wikolia, where are you from that you want to move to the US because it is "cheaper"?

Guess he's from UK/France/Germany/Switzerland, am I right ?
 
Ah, well that explains it. As for the insane taxes, and fees, you can blame our governments for creeping privatization and cronyism. There's almost no escaping it for the moment, but I don't want to hijack this thread and talk politics. I did say that I was exploring all of my options, though, so you should know that I'm not only considering third world countries. Tell me this, though... many Americans envy Europeans for the amount of time off that they get from work - 3 weeks or more spent "on holiday" is supposedly typical. Retirement is also a problem here - "social security" and "medicare" are not only barely adequate, but also in declining spirals. My question is can the typical person afford to "go on holiday"? Are pensions still available to the average retiree? And how do you feel about your healthcare system? I work in healthcare and have an "excellent" insurance policy, but if I were to actually get deathly sick or injured, the insurance would still only manage to keep me from going bankrupt immediately. Once the bills accrue and I've paid off my co-payments, I would then go bankrupt as the healthcare companies collected their money and took all of my assets. I'm looking for a long term solution to those problems and trying to take into consideration possible political changes due to peak oil/climate change/economic calamity and possible war, not just looking into taking a long vacation in a supposed paradise. I'm not only looking for hot women (might have just found my "perfect woman" this week, btw...) but I'm looking for someplace affordable, safe, with access to the activities I like and with some form of real social security. So a Nordic/Scandinavian country might be the best long term choice for residency, a vacation home in central/south america and a small farm in an inexpensive part of the USA are also possibilities. The way I see it, all of these things can be incorporated and revenue generating - a farm can generate revenue in many ways... people can be hired to run it or the land leased to other farmers. A vacation home can be rented out, or it could just be a hotel/motel/small resort to begin with. Having more than one of these things might be a possibility, but realistically I might have to settle for only one of these possibilities. Either way I need to give this more thought, since polishing my Spanish skills obviously might not be enough.
 
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This post might be a little off topic but I once walked out of an economics class in the U.S after I protested against the word Third World. I am from India and I was studying in the U.S. and it just irritated me a little to hear "third world", "third world"...

I insisted that a better word to use would be "under developed nations" but the professor insisted. I walked out and withdrew from that class. :confused:

Anyways, being rich in under developed countries will let you live like a king because the inequality of wealth is huge. One of the main reasons for that is labor is very cheap in a country like India.

You can get a plumber to fix a major problem for about $20. The same thing would cost you at least $500 in the U.S. The same sort of thing applies to everything else too. Car repairs - cheap, maids - cheap, chauffeurs - cheap. Most of the westerners however would not find the same quality of life here. You can buy all the things you want here but you will never have clean air, open highways, uncrowded streets. Population is a huge problem and is one of the biggest reasons why the rich become richer and poor become poorer - at least in India.
 
@ramsweb - Academically speaking a third world country is a country that is(was) not a Capitalist/NATO country or Soviet/Communist country. I think what we're really talking about are developing countries - countries that are not fully industrialized. Arguments against third world status aside, do you know of any westerners who have moved to India and liked it? What about Indian social services - good healthcare, secure retirement, and public safety? Yes, those things can be bought by a wealthy person anywhere, but I want to move somewhere where those things are available to everyone regardless of status. India apparently has a persistent caste system that the government cannot fight in the rural areas. Sending you a PM.
 
Ah, well that explains it. As for the insane taxes, and fees, you can blame our governments for creeping privatization and cronyism. There's almost no escaping it for the moment, but I don't want to hijack this thread and talk politics. I did say that I was exploring all of my options, though, so you should know that I'm not only considering third world countries. Tell me this, though... many Americans envy Europeans for the amount of time off that they get from work - 3 weeks or more spent "on holiday" is supposedly typical. Retirement is also a problem here - "social security" and "medicare" are not only barely adequate, but also in declining spirals. My question is can the typical person afford to "go on holiday"? Are pensions still available to the average retiree? And how do you feel about your healthcare system? I work in healthcare and have an "excellent" insurance policy, but if I were to actually get deathly sick or injured, the insurance would still only manage to keep me from going bankrupt immediately. Once the bills accrue and I've paid off my co-payments, I would then go bankrupt as the healthcare companies collected their money and took all of my assets. I'm looking for a long term solution to those problems and trying to take into consideration possible political changes due to peak oil/climate change/economic calamity and possible war, not just looking into taking a long vacation in a supposed paradise. I'm not only looking for hot women (might have just found my "perfect woman" this week, btw...) but I'm looking for someplace affordable, safe, with access to the activities I like and with some form of real social security. So a Nordic/Scandinavian country might be the best long term choice for residency, a vacation home in central/south america and a small farm in an inexpensive part of the USA are also possibilities. The way I see it, all of these things can be incorporated and revenue generating - a farm can generate revenue in many ways... people can be hired to run it or the land leased to other farmers. A vacation home can be rented out, or it could just be a hotel/motel/small resort to begin with. Having more than one of these things might be a possibility, but realistically I might have to settle for only one of these possibilities. Either way I need to give this more thought, since polishing my Spanish skills obviously might not be enough.

The thing is most of the world seems to believe the EU is the same, but there is massive variation throughout. Most (if not all) people here also envy "Europe" and feel hard done by for our long working hours/weeks and less holiday time. Ive never had 3 weeks off for a holiday, I think the most ive ever had was 5 days and that had to be booked 6 months in advance. I was too ill to go to work once for 4 days, so my employer deducted my days off sick from my holiday allowance.
True we are supposedly 'EU citizens' too, but we have none of the benefits they do, even if we are supposed to by law. Such as the 'working time directive' which an employee can choose to opt-out of, but employers here say "sign this opt-out form for the working time directive, or leave, its your choice". We don't even have national holidays like others do, most jobs are mandatory sat/sun working with no additional pay... the list goes on.
Health service, well I wont even get started on that one.

So all-in-all you could consider going to Europe, but you will want to look more at eastern Europe since they are now part of the EU (so stable, better services than before which should keep increasing). I would probably also consider somewhere like Bulgaria if the move will be in 2/3/4 years rather than right now. They will be full members of the EU, stable government/politics, a lot of things are massively improving there (regulatory frameworks etc) and its still relatively cheap to live. With such an influx of Britons rushing over there for somewhere cheaper to live, they are actually building new towns/villages with nearly all the population English speaking immigrants (including doctors etc).

Unfortunately Spain isn't as viable as it used to be 5/10 years ago, costs are going up due to gaining strength an a member of the EU.

While France is expensive, the south is apparently a lot cheaper to live, lots of countryside etc. Although services are not as good, such as utilities (electricity is a bit shaky and current can be a lot lower in places that electricals don't always work properly, as well as have a lot of spikes), public transport, etc etc.

You could always think about Southern Ireland, its not supposed to be too bad there (except the weather).

Of course you could always think of somewhere like the Dominican Republic as I think more and more is developing there. They also run a citizenship program for an investment into the economy of about $20k I believe, which can in fact be spent purchasing a property!

Not many people realise that most countries run Citizenship programs. Even the US do, for an investment of $1m you can get a social security number and passport. With the current economics I believe its been lowered to only $100k into a local business to employ a minimum of 15 staff in one of the allocated deprived areas of the US - although its been a while since ive looked into it now so im just going by what I can remember.
 
I live in Argentina, I would say is a 2nd world country.

I live close to the capital city (buenos aires) and as a disadvantage I would say it is pretty unsafe, you can get killed, robbed or kidnapped and police wont help much. Forget about using the social medicine system because it sucks! same happens with public schools. and politicians are 100% corrupt.

the advantages:
easy to avoid taxes, other cities of the country are safe ( I am planning to move soon!) , USD is good! a worker earns $500 usd a month, a bank employee earns $1000usd a month, a good job pays $2000usd. over 3,000 usd a month is a dream salary, over 5k usd and you are considered "rich"...

a recent statistic showed that 70% of the population earns 500$ usd a month. so that would be less than 20bucks a day! traffic is a mess but you wont get tickets! super easy to bribe policemen! having a good car is easy, but you dont want to make thieves point you! so better have a regular car. food, alcohol are super cheap! rent of a 100 m2 in a good area is around 400-500usd/mo
you can buy pirates copies of anything in the streets!! they also dont bother with spam laws and copyright much! not that I am proud of... but well I was born here!
 
I just moved to South Korea a few weeks ago. Doing the whole English teaching gig. Fastest internet in the world, good food and beautiful women. Not a bad place to be.
 
^^^

Sounds interesting.Care to share some interesting places to visit while there?:)
 
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a lot white Beaches, natures seeing, a lot of diving spots. disco bars, malls, low cost of living, low crime rate, afordable 5 hotels, foods- a lot of restaurants, casinos, hospitable people.
 
i think we can talk to were blue in the face, but the truth is there is no country like the usa! at least here you can at least live somewhere safe and aint gotta worry about getting your ass ripped out of your ferrari!

I know there are places in my city that I'd have to be unbelievably stupid to come on through driving in a Ferrari... no matter where you live there will be parts of town you just steer clear of (no pun intended)
 
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