Chile Forum

sounds good for the most part.

Wells fargo offers a sort of expat account. I could not sign up for it because of the above issue regarding drivers license and the whole legal address mess in the states. Does not really make any sense, but it might work if you signed up before you left. Still etrade offers the best international account for easy use I have found.

you should be able to link accounts to your etrade accounts and use your etrade ATM where ever you like. Get a few ATM cards. You should try and get at least one master card symbol ATM, in the event you end up in a no visa zone such as way way down in southern chile. It will make your life easier.

ATM's in Chile have a 200,000 peso a day limit per card. So, with 2 or 3 cards you can take out sufficient money to handle most day to day living without an issue. If for example you have 3 cards, you can get out about $7,000 a week. If you need over say about $7,000 a week in cash, then doing wires and the whole hassle becomes worth it. There are also banks in Chile that will let you take out more cash over the counter than the ATM limit. Just you need a good book to read for the lines, or go early in the morning. We have clients buy land and cars just using their ATM cards.

I certainly don't anticipate needing anymore than 200.000 pesos in a day. Thanks for the WellsFargo advice though, I'll have to check that option out.I certainly don't anticipate needing anymore than 200.000 pesos in a day. Thanks for the WellsFargo advice though, I'll have to check that option out.

admin wrote:... ATM's in Chile have a 200,000 peso a day limit per card. ...

I have taken out more than that in the past. For me, it has depended on the exchange rate and my maximum USD limit - 500 to 475 USD - seems to be the determining factor not a fixed CLP number.

no you are right. There are ATM's that will give you more, depending on your card. It is just I have never had one give me less unless it was out of money. That is your secure amount.

If you read the "other" board, it appears the peso climb-dollar fall has chased out a multiyear expat.

I remember a handful of other posters there in the past also saying they were on some kind of pension (though quite amply generous for the COL in Chile) or fixed income type situation.

Just because your dollar goes farther here when you move to Chile does not mean you should use up all excess till you are maxed out like in the States. The tipping point can then come literally overnight.

You should also be firm in action and not let any conventional MSM or fairy tale belief in the omnipotence of your mother country deceive you in implementing the proper hedging investments and specs needed to protect yourself and those in your immediate circle of responsibility.

JMHAdvice.

admin wrote:ATM's in Chile have a 200,000 peso a day limit per card.

I've had no problems taking out 300,000 pesos at any one time using Maestro.. could not take more than that out..

I was never able to withdraw more than 200.000 pesos at a time. Must depend on the bank or perhaps the ATM. I always withdrew my funds from an ATM in an Ok market.

If you read the "other" board, it appears the peso climb-dollar fall has chased out a multiyear expat.

What other board, and why are you reading it?

The sometimes comatose ChileGringos Yahoo Group. There are still knowledgeable and experienced long time posters there who never bothered to check out or join this site despite its superiority.

As I completed the above post here, another ChileGringos post came through from another multiyear gringo that will be leaving due to the USD/CLP exchange rate.

o.k. I read it sometimes too, but don't tell the all Chile blob. I mostly quit reading it because it tends to go fairly dead for long periods of time or is rather Santiago centric. The more info about Chile the better.

yea, it is really more of mailing list or news group than a forum. Which is useful. I could likely find a mod to have the forum do the same thing. It does on a limited basis, it just does not mail everything. Only the threads you subscribe to.

So, what direction is that peso going? I am not sure if I should be taking money out of the states or putting it back in.

I think it is a bit early to be jumping ship, but I could see if you moved to Chile to retire on a limited pension or something and put down roots in the more expensive central regions this could be very painful.

We have been very mindful of not raising our rates this year, because in some sense our rates went up between 11% and 16% just with the exchange rate. We decided to implement a policy of freezing our rates for now.

I see Chile cut the gas tax today, but the gas suppliers are still not sure how to implement it (grabbing a little cash in the mean time). The president says they are doing it to boost economic activity, yet at the same time the central bank may have to raise interest rates. Would not those two policies be working against each other? You want to slow economic activity to stop inflation, but you are making gas cheaper to increase the economic activity.

On another economic front, through a friend of a friend of friend that knows a guy that has a friend that rents office spaces in Santiago I was told here is currently a massive shortage of office space in Santiago and the central region. Even with the mega towers being opened and built, there is a 6 month back log of companies looking to buy offices let alone all those looking to rent. That would sure seem to indicate Chile is bucking the global real estate trends, and also the economic trends. Where else do you have that kind of economic expansion going on in the face of a global economic slow down?

Some recent insights from Doug Casey:

Doug Casey wrote:... From here on, it’s best to avoid thinking about anything just in terms of dollars. What’s developing now is likely to be the biggest monetary crisis of the past 100 years, potentially the biggest since the U.S. Civil War. This isn’t a prediction, just an appraisal of the tumultuous possibilities that are opening up. Americans are going to have to learn to think more like Argentines: if an Argentine tried to keep track of value in the local peso, he’d be bankrupt in 5 years.

Doug Casey wrote:...I suspect we’re going to see foreign exchange controls of some type or description in the years to come. That means if you don’t have assets outside your native country, you’re going to be caught like a lobster in a trap. I think it’s very important to diversify internationally. Buying foreign real estate is one prudent way to do so because, even though there’s been a worldwide property mania, there are still some places where property is very cheap, leaving plenty of upside. In addition, if you pick a locale where you’d like to live, you’ll have a comfortable place to wait things out – which is a serious plus, because I think things in the U.S. are going to get really ugly in the years to come. And most important, the government can’t make you repatriate foreign real estate.

http://www.resourceinvestor<DOT>com/pebble.asp?relid=41460

1 USD = 434.680 CLP

Well at least the bleeding has seemed to slow. I think 400 by the end of the year is a real possibility, but hopefully this will hold for a few months.

We have just simply come to a point where we are no longer doing any dollar contracts of any sort. At least without some sort insurance on top of it to protect from drops.

So when can we expect the dollar to strenghthen? I hear conversations in the news offering the idea that several of the main exporters to the US are actively working with the US to strenghthen the dollar, any truth to this? I certainly hope that this will not persist for more than another year at the most.