Dollar weakens

[pappysmarket]

On 7/10/2023 at 6:10 PM, blankletmusic said:

Jim,

Do you mean some EU countries? Or non-EU nations such as Macedonia, Montenegro,etc? Or some of both? Ecuador would probably be a good deal as they use the USD (as does Panama).

Big drug problems now in Ecuador.

[bmh]

On 7/13/2023 at 8:12 AM, pappysmarket said:

Big drug problems now in Ecuador.

Unlike Mexico...

[Hud]

24 minutes ago, bmh said:

Unlike Mexico...

Excellent comment !!! 

[RickS]

Back to the subject.....   16.75 today, 7/14/23

Edited July 15, 2023 by RickS
chanage date.... thanks BMH

[bmh]

7/14/23

[hkrause]

We are also feeling the crunch as our dollars are worth less than we've become used to compared to pesos. However, much of that is from becoming spoiled by how much further our dollars have gone since we moved here, compared to our original expectations. I dragged out an old spreadsheet I made when we were researching a move to Mexico... lots of numbers to calculate what it would cost compared to staying in the US. At that time, in 2009, the exchange rate was 13.40. That's the range I was using to calculate what it would cost us to live here, and what we based our decision on. By the time we moved, that buying power was reduced to a rate of more like 12.00 pesos to the dollar, but we were still OK. Since moving, we've been delighted to watch our buying power increase to over 22.00 pesos to the dollar, or more. We were able to spend more... eating out, hiring workers, donating to others, etc. Wonderful!

Now our dollars don't go as far as they have the last few years. The peso is gaining ground, worker's wages are increasing, cost of products is going up. It seems more difficult to get by, but I'm pretty sure it's still better than when we were originally looking at a move to Mexico. And we've had 10+ years of being better off than expected, of our own property value increasing, of being able to breathe easy when medical bills hit, etc.  As the current trend leaves us with less spendable money, we'll possibly have to cut back on some expenses... eat at less expensive places, do some of our own work around the house, travel less, watch our spending more closely. But I'm not turning on Doom and Gloom just yet. If it gets bad enough, we might have to look at a different place to live, but we're nowhere close to that point yet.

Meanwhile, what a ride we've had over the last 10 years!! Imagine how well others have done who moved here 20 years ago. Check the chart at this website to see why we've been so happy in recent history, and why the current change feels so ugly.

https://www.macrotrends.net/2559/us-dollar-mexican-peso-exchange-rate-historical-chart

[HoneyBee]

1 hour ago, bmh said:

7/14/23

More importantly it is Bastille Day 😊

[HoneyBee]

mexijims1, yes it was a sad day for Louis the 16th 😊

[Hud]

1 hour ago, HoneyBee said:

mexijims1, yes it was a sad day for Louis the 16th 😊

And for Marie ! 

 

[bmh]

and for a whole lot of people it was the beginning of the end...They only found one prisoner in the Bastille so it was all a phony excuse to take the place and destroy it.

[lakeside7]

1 hour ago, bmh said:

and for a whole lot of people it was the beginning of the end...They only found one prisoner in the Bastille so it was all a phony excuse to take the place and destroy it.

But did they find any $ or pesos,  that's the topic of interest,!

[bmh]

when the dollar was at 6 to 12 life here was very cheap, I sure did not pay 100 pesos for a gardener or a maid

 

[lakeside7]

1 hour ago, bmh said:

when the dollar was at 6 to 12 life here was very cheap, I sure did not pay 100 pesos for a gardener or a made..

And what was the " official" minimum wage per day back then vis now?

[bmh]

who remembers what it was in 2000?  Do you?

  just found it, it was 40 something pesos a day   , under 41 pesos a day and now I believe it is over 200 pesos a day.

[pappysmarket]

On 7/15/2023 at 10:50 AM, HoneyBee said:

More importantly it is Bastille Day 😊

Met my wife on Bastille Day in 1990 on the French island of Guadeloupe. Oh what a celebration they threw that day!

[HoneyBee]

The young girl that lives above my apartment with her parents just lost her job at one of the centro laguna businesses. I asked her if she was having any luck finding a new job. She said there is other work but the pay is low. So I asked her how much she was making at her previous job and she said $ 148 pesos. I said that is good, she then said that was per day 😑 (I believe that must be the current minimum wages, incredible..). 

[artsnob]

Have her go to Ajijic Plaza, there are six businesses around plaza needing help and all pay alot more...

[lakeside7]

22 hours ago, HoneyBee said:

The young girl that lives above my apartment with her parents just lost her job at one of the centro laguna businesses. I asked her if she was having any luck finding a new job. She said there is other work but the pay is low. So I asked her how much she was making at her previous job and she said $ 148 pesos. I said that is good, she then said that was per day 😑 (I believe that must be the current minimum wages, incredible..). 

Folks when it comes to salery's paid.... in case you have been living under a rock, there are 2 economy's here'''them" and "us" ....either by being shocked at the "normal" low wages and feeling compelled to pay a "living" wages, or because we have significant discretionary   income....we/us mostly pay over and above the local ( and Guad) Mexican community for services rendered. Regardless what you do, if you feel warm and comfortable and can sleep at night..........so be it 

[Hud]

3 hours ago, lakeside7 said:

Folks when it comes to salery's paid.... in case you have been living under a rock, there are 2 economy's here'''them" and "us" ....either by being shocked at the "normal" low wages and feeling compelled to pay a "living" wages, or because we have significant discretionary   income....we/us mostly pay over and above the local ( and Guad) Mexican community for services rendered. Regardless what you do, if you feel warm and comfortable and can sleep at night..........so be it 

Lake, you need to speak only for yourself. The comment "because we have significant discretionary income" certainly does not apply to my wife and I, nor several people we know here from NOB. So, if you want to pick up the slack from what we can afford and what you can afford, feel free to do just that. BUT, please, speak for yourself here; don't include those of us who are in the row boat with one paddle, not in the cabin cruiser with you and your friends. Fortunately, we do sleep good at night.

[bmh]

Honeybee, I think that the minimum wage perday is 207.44 per day. last year was like 123 0r 5.. and Amlo is planning to raise it again..So it is going to raise the amout of money foreigners are going to need to retire in Mexico.. Cleaning ladies are always making more than the minimum wage unless they are live in so it does not affect their earnings.

Paying over the market only helps onflation. If you feel generous help the kids going to school , give them scholarships to encourage them to stay in school and earn a better living later on. Right now inflation is pretty crazy and there is a very large disparity between salries in th various states.. A Chiapaneca friend of mine  told her relatives to come and work at the berry farms in Ocotlan or Jocotepec, they pay 2000 pesos a week which is above minimum wage but her relative told us they could earn more money in construction in Cancun so they all left gor Cancun. Cancun has become more attractive than the US to them as they are legal there so can come and go as they please and earn a decent living if they share accomodation. In the villages the masons make 250 to 300 a day and the helper 200 a day and for poor people the salaries offeredin Cancun are great right now.

If people want to help the locals encourage their kids to go to schoo and get a better education so they can earn more money lateron, do not pay over the market as it only rises people s expectations, make IMSS go up  and will raise what you have to pay when you lt them go.

Pappysmarket , yes Martinique and Guadalupe can be fun over the 14th of July but please you and Honeybee refrain from bringing up anything French as it really irritates Lakeside7 ..Ok to speak about the US ad nauseum or Canada but do not mention France please as it ha nothing to do with Mexico

[Mostlylost]

[lakeside7]

8 hours ago, Hud said:

Lake, you need to speak only for yourself. The comment "because we have significant discretionary income" certainly does not apply to my wife and I, nor several people we know here from NOB. So, if you want to pick up the slack from what we can afford and what you can afford, feel free to do just that. BUT, please, speak for yourself here; don't include those of us who are in the row boat with one paddle, not in the cabin cruiser with you and your friends. Fortunately, we do sleep good at night.

Hud I did give two categories....(1)either by being shocked at the "normal" low wages and feeling compelled to pay a "living" wages, or (2) because we have significant discretionary   income...

Possible if the situation gets too stressful for folks with only "one paddle", they will have to consider seeking other locations from Ajijic... which has become "Gringofide" and too expensive a place to live. I would suggest that "we" have created the problem by making it a very desirable place to live and now some of us must face the consequences.

I must admit I am a bit surprised by the number of posters who like your comment which suggest there are many more Gringos here who are facing the financial cost of living dilemma, than I expected 

[rafterbr]

If things get too expensive for us in Ajijic we can always move to the other side of the lake where things are much cheaper.  Of course, I don't think Mexican's on the other side would appreciate a bunch of gringo's moving in.  I think the things have gotten more expensive not just because of gringo's but also rich Tapatio's.  I understand the majority of real estate is now sold to people from Guadalajara.   

[HoneyBee]

16 hours ago, bmh said:

Honeybee, I think that the minimum wage perday is 207.44 per day. last year was like 123 0r 5.. and Amlo is planning to raise it again..So it is going to raise the amout of money foreigners are going to need to retire in Mexico.. Cleaning ladies are always making more than the minimum wage unless they are live in so it does not affect their earnings.

Paying over the market only helps onflation. If you feel generous help the kids going to school , give them scholarships to encourage them to stay in school and earn a better living later on. Right now inflation is pretty crazy and there is a very large disparity between salries in th various states.. A Chiapaneca friend of mine  told her relatives to come and work at the berry farms in Ocotlan or Jocotepec, they pay 2000 pesos a week which is above minimum wage but her relative told us they could earn more money in construction in Cancun so they all left gor Cancun. Cancun has become more attractive than the US to them as they are legal there so can come and go as they please and earn a decent living if they share accomodation. In the villages the masons make 250 to 300 a day and the helper 200 a day and for poor people the salaries offeredin Cancun are great right now.

If people want to help the locals encourage their kids to go to schoo and get a better education so they can earn more money lateron, do not pay over the market as it only rises people s expectations, make IMSS go up  and will raise what you have to pay when you lt them go.

Pappysmarket , yes Martinique and Guadalupe can be fun over the 14th of July but please you and Honeybee refrain from bringing up anything French as it really irritates Lakeside7 ..Ok to speak about the US ad nauseum or Canada but do not mention France please as it ha nothing to do with Mexico

You are correct about Cancun pay rates as the Albanil/iron worker/plumber who has been doing work for me for years told me then many construction workers from his town of Jocotepec left for Cancun for this reason. 

I never bring this up but since you mention it, I have been helping a single mother of three for over 8 years. One is entering his 3rd year at the University, another her 2 year and the 3rd starts this year.

Then the young single mom girl where I use to buy 'junk food" now has her nursing diploma, in addition to that I gave her one of my apartment and a car. So she is set.

The young girl that live upstairs that I mentioned in a different post was not at school one day, I asked her why and she said education was not for her. I talked to her mom and it turned out that her aunt was paying her tuition at octavio la paz but could no longer afford it so I ended up paying the remaining one and a half year. She did not want to continue on to University  because she wanted to be close to her family.

I helped the albanil mentioned above by getting him his drivers license last year and this year I got him a pickup with a cargo bay. Not to mention a bunch  of tools. He maintains the property grounds once a week at no costs.

I live in probably the poorest neighborhood of Chapala by mistake but I love it because I am surrounded by people if I need help. Drugs are a major issue and the only thing I could do was to tell the dealers not to come on property. Also it is not unusual to see 12/13 year old girls with the first baby. 

Anyway, I did what I could to help some that wanted to be helped and will have a good shot at a successful life.

 

 

 

 

[bmh]

Education or training is the key to help people.. giving food, clothing , overpaying etc can only be temporary, It is a blackhole and have people expecting to be helped...not good in the long run for anyone.