Fielding Your Questions: expat.com Members Want to Know...

Hello,

My husband and I are moving to Ecuador (most likely Cuenca) and would like to meet locals and expats. We are from the country between Mexico and Canada. The stress here is too much.

Need to know if anyone recommends a local hangout or nice hotel we can stay in. We arrive Dec 26th at 7 pm.
Thank you,

Beverly and Jim

bevblas wrote:

Hello,

My husband and I are moving to Ecuador (most likely Cuenca) and would like to meet locals and expats. We are from the country between Mexico and Canada. The stress here is too much.

Need to know if anyone recommends a local hangout or nice hotel we can stay in. We arrive Dec 26th at 7 pm.
Thank you,

Beverly and Jim

Have you ever been to Ecuador before?  What kind of visa will you be seeking?  Will you be looking to work or collecting a pension?  I can understand your desire to flee the USA, but if you are USA citizens you do not dodge federal income taxes until you give up your citizenship.  Don't you want to stay for the biggest tax cut ever?  Best of luck in your post Christmas relocation.

Prospective Expat 'Big Brad' wrote on a healthcare thread....

"All my money is currently in my TD Ameritrade account and I can withdraw via ATM with no fees and write checks.  Do I need an Ecuadorian bank account if I stay permanently?"

----

Technically, no, Brad, you could withdraw money indefinitely via ATMs in Ecuador.

However, here are three reasons why may want to open an Ecuadorian account once you have your national ID or cédula...

1.  If anything happens to your TD Ameritrade card (lost, stolen, damaged, hacked/account frozen for security issue), then without a local bank account, you may be SOL for cash.

2.  If you need to make a large purchase (used or new car, Corian countertops, whatever), having a local bank account may enable you to avoid the logistical challenges of setting up an international wire transfer.  Ask TD Ameritrade for the company policy on wiring money to you overseas.

3.  If the Big Orange Head pulls some unexpected or outrageous maneuver, who knows if your ability to access money from a USA account will be temporarily interrupted!

cccmedia in Quito

As for writing checks in Ecuador against your TD Ameritrade account, don't count on anyone or any company in Ecuador accepting them.

Not that you'll be able to obtain a checking account in Ecuador either, even with a cédula!

Once you have the cédula, opening a savings account should be a snap.

cccmedia in Quito

Question to the Experts?

Do most expats have a savings account in Ecuador an use that for funds with an ATM and leave most money out of the country?

Whatis the best way to bring in a larger sum of money, maybe $10K or enough to pay cash for a car?

Robin

Since nationwide statistics are not available for most or all Expats' banking choices, it's not possible to report reliably on what 'most' of us do.

I opened a savings account at a Banco in Quito as soon as I obtained my permanent visa and cédula in 2014.  I have my government benefits sent directly to Banco each month and my private income sent to a USA bank account.  This gives me easy access to cash in Quito without paying ATM-related fees. 

Banco charges a tiny fee for accepting the USA benefits transfer.

cccmedia in Quito

RobinJoel wrote:

What is the best way to bring in a larger sum of money, maybe $10K or enough to pay cash for a car?

Robin

The best way?  That may depend on your specific factors.

1.  When I was still living in the USA and purchasing my condo in Quito, I had my USA bank transfer the series of payments directly to the developer's account.  I sent closing costs to my Quito attorney via separate wire transfer into the equivalent of an escrow account.

2.  When I purchased my 2016 Chevy Sail in '16 from a Chevy dealership, I had my USA bank transfer the full purchase price directly to the Chevy dealership in Quito.

cccmedia in Quito

I do not know where to post this so I posted here. Does your Amazon fire stick (or a Roku) work in Ecuador?

If you have a bank account in Ecuador, you may wish to stay below USA government radar by never holding $10,000 or more in your Banco account.

That's the dollar threshold for FATCA reporting.  Hold that much or more in any combination of foreign accounts for even one day .. and you are supposed to report your bank holdings to the IRS.

cccmedia

Also pertinent for Expats bringing or wiring large amounts into Ecuador...

Ecuador will later slap a five percent tax on money in an international wire transfer from your Ecuador bank.

This tax is in addition to any capital gains tax, for instance, on selling a house or condo in Ecuador.

Bigbrad2008 wrote:

I do not know where to post this so I posted here. Does your Amazon fire stick (or a Roku) work in Ecuador?

Yes, my firestick works. Netflix has better offerings than amazon prime. some people use a VPN so they can watch more stuff, but I am satisfied for now. Then again, most of my TV watching is in Spanish to help me understand the language

My main questions revolve around finances. We are considered “very low income” in the US. My husband works and I am on SSDI disability. As I understand it, my disability benefits would continue even if I lived outside the US. We would be 55-60 by the time we move (45 now). I am also uncertain about whether Social Security retirement benefits will be available when not in the US. I anticipate that if I ramp up my at home business, I can put aside $1000/mo toward our retirement. After 15 years, that amounts to around $180k USD. That is assuming no interest, of course. We have zero savings at this time.

Our thought is, we can take a few trips to various countries we are considering, but Ecuador is our main focus for now. We would stay in a rental home, not a tourist area, to see what it is like to live locally.

I have some early questions: Is it truly possible, with a modest rental home in Ecuador, to live on $1000/mo for a couple? Our current income is my husband’s adminstration job and our online reselling income. Is it possible to do Ecuador’s eBay equivalent and earn a few hundred a month? If not, I could do small freelance writing jobs or possibly earn from Amazon books, I believe. What expenses might I not be considering besides rent, utilities, groceries, transportation and health insurance?

I am happy to live a community based life, gardening, walking, hanging out with friends, etc. We love to cook, and aren’t very demanding shoppers. My husband’s main concern is around technology and Internet. At first I was looking at areas like San Vito, but it seems that for decent Internet, we would be looking at Quito? I would love meeting fellow ex-pats, but living in an ex-pat community is not a high priority. If I can teach my husband Spanish over the next decade, I think we would be fine living in a non-English-speaking community.

I am just a total newbie at the concept of living abroad permanently and I hope to gain insight through research and this forum to decide how feasible retirement will be abroad. I am concerned that if we stay in the US, we would have a much lower standard of living and healthcare as we get older will become unsustainably costly. Thanks for reading!

RiskyWriter wrote:

I have some early questions: Is it truly possible, with a modest rental home in Ecuador, to live on $1000/mo for a couple? Our current income is my husband’s adminstration job and our online reselling income. Is it possible to do Ecuador’s eBay equivalent and earn a few hundred a month? If not, I could do small freelance writing jobs or possibly earn from Amazon books, I believe. What expenses might I not be considering besides rent, utilities, groceries, transportation and health insurance?

I am just a total newbie at the concept of living abroad permanently and I hope to gain insight through research and this forum to decide how feasible retirement will be abroad. I am concerned that if we stay in the US, we would have a much lower standard of living and healthcare as we get older will become unsustainably costly. Thanks for reading!

Do you want to retire to Ecuador now? Or in 10-15 years?

For now, living on $1000 per month is possible now for a couple, but I would characterize that life as being low-middle class.

But to project life in 10-15 years, especially in LatAm... there could be three or four different revolutions by then. Who knows about inflation? For now it's very low though.

Internet access in Ecuador is better than I expected. I have a fiber optics connection in Guayaquil, 50 mbs for $50 per month. I get 3G/4G everywhere except obviously remote rural areas (just like the USA).

MercadoLibre is the equivalent of Ebay (it's actually partly owned by Ebay). OLX is also widely used here for selling and re-selling. Having said that, it's super-competitive and margins are thin.

Writing is an excellent way to earn money while being a digital nomad. And you can do it all your life. It's hard to get rich doing it, but you can certainly pay the bills.

One of the best decisions I ever made was to get passionate about personal finances and savings. I learned (and earned) a lot by studying and following Jeremy Siegel, James O'Shaughnessy, and Dave Ramsey. If I hadn't done that, I never would have been able to make this leap to Ecuador and have a safety net. I'm still working, still investing, and I'm 25 years from collecting social security.

Thank you for the reply. If it were up to me, we would move sooner, but my kids have moved around the US quite a lot and are hell-bent on staying in their current school. My youngest is 11, so if he went straight off to college, we would be looking at seven years, but I imagine it will be closer to 10. One of my main concerns is my husband’s health. He is (and frankly so am I) very overweight. I think the need for cooking meals and walking for transportation would do both of us a lot of good. As you said, it would be difficult to gauge now what things might look like in 10 years. We definitely need to get our finances in order so we can save for this move (and retirement in general). We live in poverty level housing at this time, so lower middle class would be a-ok. I guess we will have to see closer to the time whether we can still swing it.