In the very near future I will be moving to Rio under the $2000 per month pension visa rules. Can someone live a decent life on $2000 per month? As a 56 year old single male I plan to budget $3000 per month and can go as high as $3500 per month. Is this a sufficient amount live a fairly quality life? I assume my biggest expenses will be housing(plan on renting a one bedroom apartment for the first year), medical insurance(excellent health, jog about 70 miles per week)food, health club fees. Appreciate any thoughts or input.
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You can live like a king for US$2000 (~R$6,300) per month and still have some money left over. A nice one-bedroom apartment would cost you about R$1200 (~US$380)per month in rent + about R$600 (~US$180) in bills (maintenance, utility bills, cable, DSL). Part-time maid (cooks, cleans, does shopping, laundry...) would be more or less R$200 (~US$60).
Medical insurance should not be more then R$350 (~US$105) per month.
The rest, over a US$1000 you could use to enjoy the life. And US$1K would last you a long time in Rio.
Now, if you are willing to spend US$3K per month.... the sky is the limit
Let me know if you have additional quesions about medical coverage in Brazil.
Regards,
Boris
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Thanks for your prompt and informative response. Sorry, I didn't respond sooner---I've been away for a few days. It would be helpful if you could post some general information regarding the quality of healthcare and type of medical insurance coverage that can be purchased in Brazil. Boris, I have your phone number and e-mail that I picked up from looking at your previous responses and I would like to stay in touch with you as I await my approval papers to make the final move to Brazil. Again thank you kindly for your response.
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Health care in Brazil is in many way superior to what is available to common folks in the United States. Somehow medicine in Brazil, managed to remain medicine without turning into a highly profitable and hardly accessible business enterprise.
There are many Brazilian doctors who not only speak good English, but had also received post-graduate and speciaty training in the United States. I had met a highly experienced oncologist who graduated from New York Medical School and had private practice in Queens for 15 years before going back to his roots in Brazil.
I didn't have an insurance back then. He spend over an hour with me, checking out what I was suspecting (wrongly) a melanoma spot. Nice, professional, and I don't remember the last time a doctor spend more then 10 minutes with me in the States. The cost was just under US$90.
There were other encounters with orthopedic surgeon (perfect enlgish, internship in Emory University hospital in Atlanta), a few general practitioners who took time to listen, interview and correctly identify and treat the problem. A friend, who busted his hip in car accident and had complicated surgery in a public hospital that correctly pieced together the fracture and after getting second and thrid opinions from the top US doctors was found to be done nearly perfecty. He never had any pain, was put in traction, went to recover to one of the best private clinics in Rio (clininca Sao Vincente) for 12 days, had a private one bedroom suit there with balcony, restaraunt meals, too much attention from the staff and end ed up paying 0 for the surgery, 3-D topography and MRI (pubic healthcare is free in Brazil) and whopping US$2400 for the stay at the clinic (he didn;t have insurance). There were additional expenses for doctor's visits (twice a day), but it was something like US$400...
The trick is that he could've bought an insurance plan that would cost him about US$60 per month no deductibles, no out of pocket expenses and he wouldn;t have to pay anything.
Medical plans in Brazil are inexpensive and readily available. One of the most expensive plans we sold was to a 59 year old man for US$90 per month (no deductible, no out-of-pocket expenses). The best thing about plans in Brazil that they can;t refuse customers, they have to cover pre-existing conditions (after two years) and they are pay as you go. There are no contracts.
Regards-
Boris
My contact info in Rio is 9396-2986 my e-mail is boris@lifestylesbrazil.com
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Boris, also planning to move to Brazil on a retirement visa in about 2 years. Your information has been helpful. Plan to live in a smaller city, so hopefully the money will go a bit farther.
RP, would like to keep in touch with you to find out what problems/pitfalls you encounter in the process of moving and getting settled.
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You are very welcome! You can very comfortably live in a major city on the required retirement funds ($2000 per month). In a smaller town (especially in the North East), you could have a very comfortable lifestyle for a fraction of this amount. RE and (rents and property prices are 1/2 to 1/3 of what comparatible places go for in Rio) cost of living are significantly less...
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Hi Boris,
My husband and I are hoping to move to Brasil on a retirement visa. Is there any minimum age requirement? My husband is 58, but I am ONLY 40. :}
Also, I will be in Brasil for several weeks this summer and hope to apply for a CPF. Does my husband have to be in Brasil with me to apply in both of our names?
Thanks!
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I am pretty sure that the minimum age for retirement visa is 50. Please, double check with your nearest Brazilian Consulate. The problem being is that the actual law doesn´t fix the min. age, there is another set of regulations (that is constantly changing) that establishes the details.
Your husband can list you as a dependent on his visa, then you don´t have to file a separate application. There are no any additional requirements for family members.
Your husband will have to be in Brazil to apply for his CPF. Meanwhile, you can successfully apply, receive, and use your CPF for all your needs (i.e. Opening a banc account...) until he recieves his.
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Carefull, exchange rate varies, Health Insurance maybe
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April 20 2003, 12:01 AM
Right now you can do very well with US$2k a month. Do you know what the salaries are in Rio? Earning US$2K a month might be limited to the top 10% if that. I once taught English to execs who were making the equivalent of US$1K a month and I hired a guy to work at my newsstand and paid him about US$300 a month which he was very happy to receive and our maid was a freebie from the country whose parents couldn't afford to keep. Of course we fed and clothed her.
But ... gosh ... what happens when the rate of exchange changes? And be ready for it. My rent once doubled in a day. Yup, went from US$150.00 a month to US$300.00 and it took a few months to settle back down. If I were you I'd want to see a history of rental rates going back about 10-12 years and get the rates in dollars. Things are cheap now but they weren't just a few years ago when the Real was artifically kept high for more years than I thought it could.
Now, about insurance. Holy cow, be careful. They sell this thing in Brazil that I think Grisham wrote about here in the states. They sell it as "insurance" but it is not. It just covers the SMALL things, not the big things. It is very popular. But it is the OPPOSITE of insurance and don't expect anyone to know the difference. I knew I had to get rid of my accountant when he was suprised that his "insurance" did not pay for his wife's pregnancy. I knew he bought one of the cheap, pay less for doctor visits but nothing for anything big, policies but he did not. I found a new accountant. One of the big problems in Brazil is not the individual doctor but the whole infrastructure or lack thereof. The best health care in the world is in the U.S. and let no one ever convince you otherwise. The doctor might have been trained in the U.S. but his assistants and everyone in the supply chain have been trained wherever and are earning very little. That said, I throw it all to karma myself. But I would be very careful about the health policy I had. I would also buy a major medical policy here in the states so that if there were something serious I could fly back and have it handled in the U.S., well maybe, I probably wouldn't but I'd consider it the prudent choice.
I once had to get new glasses in Rio. What a runaround. I complained to all my Brazilian customers about the lack of quality I encountered and they all responded with even worse stories.
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I bought a health insurance over two years ago. In my experience, Brazilian Health Care system is far superior to what is now available to average person in the United States.
I have no deductibles and no out-of-pocket expenses. It takes me a day or two to land an appointment with even a specialist. All exams requested by my doctors are approved without a problem, and so on. Many doctors in Brazil did their training, internship, or continuing education in the United States. Many foreigners (especially from the USA) are shocked by the time a doctor would spend with a patient during a visit, and the amount of attention the patient gets
Of course, if I have to have a serious cutting edge surgery, I would be better off in the States, but for normal health and recovery needs the infrustructure that exists in the main BRazilian cities is more then sufficient.
At the end all my health needs are covered for less then US$30 per month.
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It means that if you have a pre-existing condition, such as diabities, cancer, HIV+, TB or any other, the plan will not pay for the treatment for the first two years after you´ve purchased it. After two years, all pre-existing conditions are covered just like any other.
It is illegal in Brazil for a health plan to turn down a customer because of a pre-existing condition.
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HELLO BORIS,
I`LL BE IN SALVADOR FOR AT LEAST FOUR MONTHS STARTING IN DECEMBER,2004.I HAVE FILED FOR A RETIREMENT VISA AND I AM WAITING FOR AN ANSWER.I AM IMPRESSED WITH YOUR RATING OF YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE CARRIER AND WOULD TO KNOW HOW TO CONTACT THEM.
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I am 71 and have a very good health insurance here in Brazil paying just
US$ 65.- per month. It is an old established company handling exclusively senior citizens. The name of the company is SENIOR PREVENT and has excellent rates for a person of my age. In addittion I have opted to remain a volontary member of my regular public health service in Norway for which I only pay 10% of my pension payment. This will allow me to cover the cost of any extra or superior services if needed.
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