Rule of thumb from another expat in Brazil (10 yrs): (1) per unit of money, everything is nearly the same, (2) as long as the product or service is not in high demand or involves a lot of handling. If an accountant makes $55,000 in the US, an accountant doing the same work in Brazil will make R$55,000 in Brazil. The domestic tax rate is 20-60% on everything and is hidden in the price where it is seen on your receipt in the States. Imports start at a tax rate of 160% and go up from there (have seen 3000%+ on some items - like Hummers, Benzes, etc). Inflation has been bumpy - we used to fill my wife's small fridge for about R$100, now that will take about R$250. We ditched her small fridge for 2 'large' ones, the size of an American fridge. Converting this to USD, I could have bought 6 instead of 2 in the States (see #2 above), same for our server, computer, car, stereo, car (getting the picture?). When I arrived in Brazil 10 yrs ago, my DeLonghi coffee maker in the States was US$200, here it was R$3900 (exchange rate then was just under R$2 to US$1). 2 reasons for the huge price - again, the price is mostly taxes, the other is the demand. The tax structure in Brazil requires every service and item to be taxed on the invoice total not the product cost - as the high demand items are handled as much as 6 times, so the total taxes paid to the government is enormous - if you are a Brazilian, for Americans it is still affordable as long as the exchange rate remains in favor of the dollar. As true in any country, if the price of electricity for the people of the country is expensive, then quality suffers - Brazilian products are beautiful to the eye, but require a delicate hand to handle it. As Brazilian exports is mostly agricultural (coffee here is MUCH better than Columbia), the country is doing well for itself - if only the govt corruption wasn't so high the people would do so much better. As with Tucker, I find life here mostly enjoyable and affordable - but you always have to be vigilant, financially and otherwise. Now, if they would only do something about their consistently barking dogs...
Brazil only makes sense if you earn dollars and spend reais. I spent the whole month of December in São Paulo. I ate out every day, spending less than what I would normally have spent eating at home in North America. I ate breakfast at padarias every day and lunch at kilo restaurants. Yes, you can live ridiculously well in Brazil and rent a spacious and well-located apartment near transit for less than $700. In the off-season, you can fly regularly to sunny places, and it won't break the bank. Poor in North America, rich in Brazil. It's great to feel rich and to be able to afford things even though you're still frugal. Your mind goes from scarcity to plenty. If you're earning reais like the locals, you're better off staying where you are.
Difficult to establish a general budget that fits everyone But we lived in California and Florida and most things here are a lot less expensive ,meds ,doctor ,visits dental cleaning for under 40 dollars . maid services eating out and rent etc. We have a house and car paid for and our average monthly cost is around $ 2000 dollars . We are in a small rural area in the state of S.P close to the beach 35 miles and 35 miles from a more metropolitan cite 800 000 people.. Best of both worlds safe friendly quiet kleen and near everyone.
Hey man, love your videos! Appreciate you spending the time to create all this content, its given me a lot to consider as I am planning on moving to Brazil in January and I intend to live nearby. Would it be cool if I reached out to you privately? I have a few questions if you have some time, and it'd mean a lot!
Hey man, nice videos! Did I understand it correct that you guys lived in RIo as well? If how did you find an apartment to rent for long term? I mean I can google. More if you have some good sites to look for it. Appriciate.
Yeah man we lived in Saquarema about 2 hours north of Rio. We used vivareal.com.br for our most recent rental and I believe we used apimoveis.com.br for that one in Saquarema. Vivareal has way more options and the latter is just listings from that specific real estate company. quintoandar.com.br is also a good one.
Thanks for putting so much detail and effort into your videos. Great to see a young American traveling and living life on your own terms. May I ask what do you and your wife do to earn income? Have you all done a video on how you all met? What methods are you using to increase your Portuguese?
I started teaching English online about a month ago. We have not done a video yet about how we met but we are going to. And I read and listen to a lot of Portuguese music and my wife speaks it with me at home.
I think we found it on vivareal.com.br... that's where we were looking mainly.. But if you are wanting to find something, olx.com.br has the biggest selection and almost all rentals get put on there
Man that is a great question. I live in Florianopolis right now and we loved it until the busy season which started in December and lasts until March/April. We love the ocean and that's part of our lifestyle so we are moving back to a small town north of Rio where we first lived. It all depends on what you are looking for but I would definitely do research on any place and check it out before moving. I wish I had.
@@joelvega9200 Well I am married so I can't answer that one haha and with $1500 yes you can live middle class. If you live in one of the more expensive areas you would be on the lower end of that but in most cities you can have a nice apartment and live decently on that income
Was the renting process simple? I am in Seattle as well. Moving to Belo Horizonte next year. Luckily, I have Brazilian citizenship but this will be my first time living in Brazil
My wife dealt with both of our rentals so far but it was very similar to renting in the U.S. Just make sure they are legit and read through the contract carefully. For instance, in our first rental they never did a vistoria which is the most important thing in the contract for receiving your deposit back. This made it a pain in the ass dealing with the snake oil salesman of a realtor when we were checking out. The new rental we have here in Floripa they did a thorough vistoria and we have everything documented for our checkout.
@@northofidaho Appreciate the advice! I'm looking to rent a place in the Belvedere barrio of BH which is the most upscale so I may deal with less nonsense. 90% fluent in Portuguese but gotta watch out for the other 10% lol Thanks again, subscribed to your channel
Yeah of course. I started teaching English online back in August and I do that full time at the moment. I hadn't had steady income for over a year before that so it was a blessing to find something, even if it's only for a few months.
One thing I don't understand is why or how so many Brazilians own cars, apparently 47% and they are ridiculously expensive in comparison to the US, apparently the taxes and insurance are insane as well. I guess Brazilians pay more money on their cars than they do on their rent lol
@@northofidaho Most Brazilians own small cars that are manufactured in Brazil. Imported cars you'll pay twice the price than you would in the US. Quality standards are lower for Brazil made cars. The best selling car model right now in Brazil is Chevrolet Onix which starts at $12,000usd. Personally I would probably buy a 20 year old car because apparently you don't have to pay a certain tax when the car is 20 years old or older. This particular tax is called "IPVA". You can choose to have no insurance but if you do it'll be around $800-1000 per year.
*walletinvestor.com/forex-forecast/usd-brl-prediction This website I use to check the exchange rate. It also gives a 1 month forecast that is fairly accurate.*
@@AlejandroRubioHN I don't remember everything but I actually did a video outlining all of the steps shortly after. th-cam.com/video/O_IauEvb5Tk/w-d-xo.html
Hey Tucker! What is your area of profession. Assuming you’re an expat
I was in real estate before moving to Brazil but I started teaching English online when I got there
Rule of thumb from another expat in Brazil (10 yrs): (1) per unit of money, everything is nearly the same, (2) as long as the product or service is not in high demand or involves a lot of handling. If an accountant makes $55,000 in the US, an accountant doing the same work in Brazil will make R$55,000 in Brazil. The domestic tax rate is 20-60% on everything and is hidden in the price where it is seen on your receipt in the States. Imports start at a tax rate of 160% and go up from there (have seen 3000%+ on some items - like Hummers, Benzes, etc). Inflation has been bumpy - we used to fill my wife's small fridge for about R$100, now that will take about R$250. We ditched her small fridge for 2 'large' ones, the size of an American fridge. Converting this to USD, I could have bought 6 instead of 2 in the States (see #2 above), same for our server, computer, car, stereo, car (getting the picture?). When I arrived in Brazil 10 yrs ago, my DeLonghi coffee maker in the States was US$200, here it was R$3900 (exchange rate then was just under R$2 to US$1). 2 reasons for the huge price - again, the price is mostly taxes, the other is the demand. The tax structure in Brazil requires every service and item to be taxed on the invoice total not the product cost - as the high demand items are handled as much as 6 times, so the total taxes paid to the government is enormous - if you are a Brazilian, for Americans it is still affordable as long as the exchange rate remains in favor of the dollar. As true in any country, if the price of electricity for the people of the country is expensive, then quality suffers - Brazilian products are beautiful to the eye, but require a delicate hand to handle it. As Brazilian exports is mostly agricultural (coffee here is MUCH better than Columbia), the country is doing well for itself - if only the govt corruption wasn't so high the people would do so much better. As with Tucker, I find life here mostly enjoyable and affordable - but you always have to be vigilant, financially and otherwise. Now, if they would only do something about their consistently barking dogs...
Thank you for sharing this.
Brazil only makes sense if you earn dollars and spend reais. I spent the whole month of December in São Paulo. I ate out every day, spending less than what I would normally have spent eating at home in North America. I ate breakfast at padarias every day and lunch at kilo restaurants. Yes, you can live ridiculously well in Brazil and rent a spacious and well-located apartment near transit for less than $700. In the off-season, you can fly regularly to sunny places, and it won't break the bank. Poor in North America, rich in Brazil. It's great to feel rich and to be able to afford things even though you're still frugal. Your mind goes from scarcity to plenty. If you're earning reais like the locals, you're better off staying where you are.
FACTS
i am planning to spend christmas in sao paulo in two years. these videos are great for reference and info. keep them coming.
Thanks, I definitely will
@@northofidaho Have you been to Sao Paulo? Will you do content about Sao Paulo?
@@jamesg6109 I have not. I will do more about Florianopolis because that is where I live but I can't do any about SP
Difficult to establish a general budget that fits everyone
But we lived in California and Florida and most things here are a lot less expensive ,meds ,doctor ,visits dental cleaning for under 40 dollars .
maid services eating out and rent etc.
We have a house and car paid for and our average monthly cost is around $ 2000 dollars .
We are in a small rural area in the state of S.P close to the beach 35 miles and 35 miles from a more metropolitan cite 800 000 people..
Best of both worlds safe friendly quiet kleen and near everyone.
thanks for your video. It was very informative.
Happy to help! Thanks for watching
You forgot the price of electronics and imported products in Brazil, it's way more expensive than the US. due to import taxes
I know, there were a few things I thought of after I put up but that is definitely the biggest.
Hey man,
Awesome video.
I have a question I'm not a US citizen and I wanted to know what options I have to stay in Brazil with my wife legally.
Thanks for posting
New subscriber in the house bro 😎. Good job 👏🏽
Welcome!! Thank you !
Hey man, love your videos! Appreciate you spending the time to create all this content, its given me a lot to consider as I am planning on moving to Brazil in January and I intend to live nearby. Would it be cool if I reached out to you privately? I have a few questions if you have some time, and it'd mean a lot!
Yeah man, here is my whatsapp +1 425-937-2912
Hey man, nice videos! Did I understand it correct that you guys lived in RIo as well? If how did you find an apartment to rent for long term? I mean I can google. More if you have some good sites to look for it. Appriciate.
Yeah man we lived in Saquarema about 2 hours north of Rio. We used vivareal.com.br for our most recent rental and I believe we used apimoveis.com.br for that one in Saquarema. Vivareal has way more options and the latter is just listings from that specific real estate company. quintoandar.com.br is also a good one.
@@northofidaho thank you for these links. Much appreciated 😊
Price of Gas in Downtown Florianopolis was 5.90 today, not 6.70. I don't know how I got such an inflated number.
Thanks for putting so much detail and effort into your videos. Great to see a young American traveling and living life on your own terms. May I ask what do you and your wife do to earn income? Have you all done a video on how you all met? What methods are you using to increase your Portuguese?
I started teaching English online about a month ago. We have not done a video yet about how we met but we are going to. And I read and listen to a lot of Portuguese music and my wife speaks it with me at home.
How did you find your apartment? Airbnb?
I think we found it on vivareal.com.br... that's where we were looking mainly.. But if you are wanting to find something, olx.com.br has the biggest selection and almost all rentals get put on there
Where you recommend to live in Brazil ?
Man that is a great question. I live in Florianopolis right now and we loved it until the busy season which started in December and lasts until March/April. We love the ocean and that's part of our lifestyle so we are moving back to a small town north of Rio where we first lived.
It all depends on what you are looking for but I would definitely do research on any place and check it out before moving. I wish I had.
@@northofidaho thank you for the reply. How is the single life ? Can I make it with 1500 dollars and live medium class?
@@joelvega9200 Well I am married so I can't answer that one haha and with $1500 yes you can live middle class. If you live in one of the more expensive areas you would be on the lower end of that but in most cities you can have a nice apartment and live decently on that income
Was the renting process simple? I am in Seattle as well. Moving to Belo Horizonte next year. Luckily, I have Brazilian citizenship but this will be my first time living in Brazil
My wife dealt with both of our rentals so far but it was very similar to renting in the U.S. Just make sure they are legit and read through the contract carefully. For instance, in our first rental they never did a vistoria which is the most important thing in the contract for receiving your deposit back. This made it a pain in the ass dealing with the snake oil salesman of a realtor when we were checking out. The new rental we have here in Floripa they did a thorough vistoria and we have everything documented for our checkout.
@@northofidaho Appreciate the advice! I'm looking to rent a place in the Belvedere barrio of BH which is the most upscale so I may deal with less nonsense. 90% fluent in Portuguese but gotta watch out for the other 10% lol Thanks again, subscribed to your channel
@@andrewm1221 Yeah, you will be fine. My ignorance and lack of Portuguese was my own fault ha
Great video. You gave a nice detailed breakdown. Are you willing to share how you earn income in Brazil as an American?
Yeah of course. I started teaching English online back in August and I do that full time at the moment. I hadn't had steady income for over a year before that so it was a blessing to find something, even if it's only for a few months.
@@northofidaho It's great you could find an online job. 👍 Congrats on the baby !
@@Fairview104 Thank you!
One thing I don't understand is why or how so many Brazilians own cars, apparently 47% and they are ridiculously expensive in comparison to the US, apparently the taxes and insurance are insane as well. I guess Brazilians pay more money on their cars than they do on their rent lol
I was wondering the same thing. I still don't have a car here yet lol
@@northofidaho Most Brazilians own small cars that are manufactured in Brazil. Imported cars you'll pay twice the price than you would in the US. Quality standards are lower for Brazil made cars.
The best selling car model right now in Brazil is Chevrolet Onix which starts at $12,000usd. Personally I would probably buy a 20 year old car because apparently you don't have to pay a certain tax when the car is 20 years old or older. This particular tax is called "IPVA". You can choose to have no insurance but if you do it'll be around $800-1000 per year.
*walletinvestor.com/forex-forecast/usd-brl-prediction
This website I use to check the exchange rate. It also gives a 1 month forecast that is fairly accurate.*
Where are you in florianópolis?
One of the reasons I discounted Florianópolis as a place for me to consider was that I would need a car to enjoy both downtown and a beach
I live on the northern end of the island in Ingleses Norte. It takes us about 30 minutes to get downtown
Hey man,
Awesome video.
I have a question I'm not a US citizen and I wanted to know what options I have to stay in Brazil with my wife legally.
Are you trying to get residency in Brazil?
@@northofidaho Yes
@@AlejandroRubioHN I don't remember everything but I actually did a video outlining all of the steps shortly after. th-cam.com/video/O_IauEvb5Tk/w-d-xo.html
@@AlejandroRubioHN I hope this helps