Job Discussion Forums

MotherF · Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:53 pm Post subject:

First of all, like we said--that guy does not teach in Mexico.
BUT I do.
I almost own my own house. I bought it on an INFONAVIT credit and I only have three more years of payments left. Then I will own it outright.
When I first came to Mexico, if I had known that I was going to end up staying here, I would have bought land with the money I made in Japan. Land prices around our university, which is now 20 years old have gone from about 15,000 pesos for a 10 by 20 lot to 150,000 pesos for a 10 by 20 lot!!! Sure wish I would have bought. But I was only planning on being here for a year or two.
In other parts of town you can still get a nice lot for under 50,000 pesos. The cost of living here is very low. My single colleagues can easily save 50% of their income each month if they want to. They could buy a lot or two each year no problem.

Owning rental property can be a pain. My uncle has about 20 houses, managing them is a full time job.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Do you know what he does for taxes on the rental income? I've always wondered how that is processed as income or if it's even common to declare it.

Phil_K · Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 2041 Location: A World of my Own

Given the average age of the posters here (mentioned on another thread), I'm surprised that many more don't arrive with money they earned from selling property in their own country. That's what I did and, admittedly with help from a wife with a good job, that has helped us to arrive at a situation where we are living in a good apartment, 100% paid off, in a good area, and with another property in the city and land in Michoac�n. That in itself isn't enough to ensure a good retirement, but shows that astute financial management can provide a basis for future prosperity. The secret of a good retirement is to look at multiple streams of income.

Professor · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 449 Location: Mexico City

Professor · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 449 Location: Mexico City

Professor · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 449 Location: Mexico City

TeresaLopez · Joined: 18 Apr 2010 Posts: 601 Location: Mexico City

MotherF · Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:39 pm Post subject:

Guy,

I meant my uncle, not part of my inlaws. My uncles houses are all in the US so yes, he declares that income. The properties are set up as a business, not a personal asset and he employs an accountant.

One of my former landladies here in Mexico declared her rental income and had propper reciepts with her RFC number printed on them an everything. The others did not.

mejms · Joined: 04 Jan 2010 Posts: 390

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

I don't think I ever had any original retirement ideas, but I imagined I'd work, live economically, and save what I could. At the appropriate age, I'd begin receiving social security and continue working, gradually reducing the number of hours I worked, as my energy waned with age but not "quitting" working, ever. Of course I planned to look for good opps as they came along to get some return on those savings. In the intervening years there have been opps to lock in high interest rates on USD savings by buying long (five year) cds at 5%, at a number of banks, and U.S. Government "I" bonds (in the very early 2000s) at rates that went as high as 8% in the intervening years; in the meantime, for those with enough foresight, gold has gone from $450 per ounce (2005) to $1400 USD per ounce this year.

A U.S. citizen who has worked a sufficient number of quarters is vested, when it comes to Social Security: it is possible to go online and see the value of your retirement account should you never again contribute to it (it does not go down, under current law, even if you don't contribute, further: should you contribute, owing to self-employment income in Mexico, it may go up).

Although the particulars may change (by which I mean the best place to park your savings evolves, over time, and has to be considered on an ongoing basis), the strategy does not, and at your age, Prof, you have a chance to go through several "boom and bust" cycles from which you can profit, and put yourself in retirement position. The key will be to get your income up, and keep your personal overhead low, so you can save.

As awful as things are there, now, the U.S. represents one of those chances to "buy low," when it comes to real estate, so anyone, of any nationality, thinking long-term could consider it. Gold is very high, relatively speaking, but as long as the Chinese and Indian economies are cooking demand will remain high, as both groups historically see gold as a place to park value, long-term, along with real estate.

FreddyM · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 180 Location: Mexico

Professor · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 449 Location: Mexico City

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

Nobody's got a crystal ball on things like this, but interest rates in the U.S. in the last 15 years or so have varied from just about zero on savings (like now) to above 5%. Finding banks that will offer long cds lets you lock in the higher rates (five years is the longest cd I've seen offered) which, coincidentally is about what the cycle of interest rates has been during that time. Some have enjoyed higher interest rates for almost that entire period.

Last year, early summer, was an excellent time to purchase foreign currencies: the AUD, for example, has gone from around 65 cents to 99 cents U.S. Just as great an opp to buy was presented in U.S. stocks, at about the same time.

The U.S. housing market is still near a bottom: that's why it makes a reasonable place to look for a long-term investment.