patrick.net

Very... International.

S-So, Chic and Inter-nat-ion-alllllll

So Worldy, So Welcome

www.youtube.com/embed/FnNq-UGhVrc

Oy, so 70's.

That is a sad story.

I have had fun in Mexico and still visit but I would trust them as far as I can throw them where my money is concerned.

Pay as you go is the rule for me.

addendum: Americans are often naive about how other people perceive us. The people we meet may not like us when we travel, this is almost universal.

In Mexico, this is pretty common.

If you are an American living in Mexico, you can simply withdraw cash from the ATM at a bank branch; your actual money is safely stored in the USA bank.

You can probably also electronically transfer funds from time to time, although I haven't done this and don't know for sure. Banamex is associated or owned by Citibank so maybe this is easy if you have a Citibank account in the USA.

Trust your money to an institution in a country where everything is a conveyer belt to theft and corruption. What could possibly go wrong?

Guess in a decade or two this will be California, too.

Patrick says

American retirees in Mexico say their life savings vanished from a Mexican bank

Grupo MONEX.....lolol.....what fools...probably because they were offering 6% instead of 3%...BANAMEX, HSBC, BANCO SANTANDER, I'd trust a little, maybe with $10k dollars...GRUPO MONEX.....with 0$...I'd keep my money in the USA at 0.05%...even at 0 interest, or even negative, you will earn more pesos with the exchange rate than with 6% interest. And at least FDIC insured for whatever that's worth.

Why the fuck would anyone keep their money in a 3rd World shithole bank?

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Banco de Reparaciónes de GringoFucks

Iranian_Oil_Burse says

Why the fuck would anyone keep their money in a 3rd World shithole bank?

Because they are morons.

I travelled in Turkey for a bit during college. I could not believe the interest rates being offered, like 60% if I recall correctly.

It was tempting until I realized that inflation in Turkey was over 100% per year.

I hadn't even considered that even getting the nominal amount of my deposit back could be difficult.

I travelled in Turkey for a bit during college

What parts? I was in Anatolia during the early 90s, and the inflation was 100% then also. The locals did not mind taking US dollars for that reason.

I was studying in Munich that year. I flew to Ankara, met up with two other classmates there, and we went south to Cappadocia (the really weird sandstone formations with caves), then Antalya, Kas, Bodrum, and up to Istanbul.

It was a good trip overall, in spite of some petty scamming by the locals. Like they sell you a bus "ticket" that is not valid, or perhaps the guy taking it just wants more money and says it isn't valid. Or you make the mistake of ordering some drink without asking the price and it's 10x higher for you because you're foreign and too trusting. Things like that.

I got really tired of the scams, so at one point we three were buying food at some market stalls, and when we sat at a bench and started to eat, I found that my gyros or whatever it was had no meat in it. I was so pissed I marched back to the stall and demanded that the guy put meat it in or I'd call the police. So the guy, who couldn't understand English but got the idea and was looking really worried, put meat in it. I went back to my friends who were laughing their asses off -- because I had gone back to the wrong stall and accosted some poor random gyros guy. Very embarrassing.

Banks are useless and full of crooks, everywhere.

I have an anecdote, almost on the subject.
In La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, I joined an expat group on Facebook.

A guy was telling everyone that they should buy Mexican Bank CDs and make like 14% interest or something.
Another loudmouth female from Canada was also bragging about the great "investment opportunity" in Mexican banks.
I wrote a comment warning about "currency risk."
Some people didn't like my comment and told me to fuck off, racist, etc.
As might have been predicted, the Mexican peso has dropped well over 20% since the people on Facebook were bragging about making 14% interest.

Mexico is not particularly cheap except for 1. rent 2. energy 3. some restaurants 4. services of almost any kind
I met people who were remote working who lived in Mexico for cheap rent.
Slightly off the subject even more, Mexican females accept men who are older than they, unlike the USA.
I don't have a bank account in Mexico although I may establish one just for paying bills; it's not necessary however.

clambo says

Mexican females accept men who are older than they, unlike the USA.

Oh, American women like older men also, when those men are rich.

Any older man with money is not a problem for a woman in ANY country.

Doesn't this come up in the news every 10 to 20 years? In the 2000s they would just take all the retirees house right out from under them.

RC2006 says

Doesn't this come up in the news every 10 to 20 years? In the 2000s they would just take all the retirees house right out from under them.

I am not advocating moving to Mexico as a retiree, but the people that lose money do so because they don't have local knowledge.

Houses were taken because they were built on disputed land. The dispute ended up benefiting the original owner, not the developer that originated the trust deed when the houses were sold to American retirees.

People that lost money with quasi banks like Monex were chumps. Affluent Mexicans don't use those institutions.