Can you live in HCM city with 500-600k asset and never have to work?

Ciambella wrote:

Clocky wrote:

my family lives the local life, they have houses so their rent are virtually nothing.
I'm more Americanize and probably will be hard to live like them. They spend less than 1k a month for a family of 3.

No rent, only utilities and food and they spend $1000?  Do they eat out daily?

Our food bill for two is 3M and we eat first grade seafood weekly.  Our utility bill (electricity, water, two cellphone packages, and the fastest internet available from FPT) is less than 2M.  Transportation (Grab) is fluctuate, not much since Covid.  Our monthly "date night" at an expensive restaurant with two kinds of wine is 500k.  My hair care and beauty care is 400k - 500k.  That's a tad over $250 for two people.

Americanized or not, without rent, you wouldn't need more than a few hundred dollars to live comfortably and comparable to American standard.  Just add rent on top of those few hundred dollars and you'll know your range of budget.

How does your food bill stay so low? 3m for 2 for 30 days is like 100k dong a day. Is that possible? Where are you staying? This sounds really good.

Clocky wrote:

How does your food bill stay so low? 3m for 2 for 30 days is like 100k dong a day. Is that possible? Where are you staying? This sounds really good.

Yes, it’s possible and quite probable.

We live in Vung Tau.  When you buy seafood from the boats, chicken and seasonal fruits from the farms (delivered), veggies from the old women who sell only fresh produce from their gardens, and other necessities from wholesalers, the prices are much lower than at the supermarkets while the quality is much higher. 

I only shop at supermarkets for Western produces such as kale, arugula, pasta, and cheese.  We grow our own Western and Vietnamese herbs.

Clocky wrote:

Ciambella wrote:

Clocky wrote:

my family lives the local life, they have houses so their rent are virtually nothing.
I'm more Americanize and probably will be hard to live like them. They spend less than 1k a month for a family of 3.

No rent, only utilities and food and they spend $1000?  Do they eat out daily?

Our food bill for two is 3M and we eat first grade seafood weekly.  Our utility bill (electricity, water, two cellphone packages, and the fastest internet available from FPT) is less than 2M.  Transportation (Grab) is fluctuate, not much since Covid.  Our monthly "date night" at an expensive restaurant with two kinds of wine is 500k.  My hair care and beauty care is 400k - 500k.  That's a tad over $250 for two people.

Americanized or not, without rent, you wouldn't need more than a few hundred dollars to live comfortably and comparable to American standard.  Just add rent on top of those few hundred dollars and you'll know your range of budget.

How does your food bill stay so low? 3m for 2 for 30 days is like 100k dong a day. Is that possible? Where are you staying? This sounds really good.

For me........breakfast 1/2 banana & quarter apple, juiced beetroot.........max 5,000vnd
                     lunch 1/2 corn on cob whole banana, 1/2 glass fruit juice.....max 10.000vnd
                     dinner (supper for Scots) well every other day I get Pho or what ever I fancy delivered ( like 10 people advertise on FB every kind of fresh cooked Vietnamese foods in my complex) 30,000vnd to 35,000vnd.
Other days I cook Western sort of in bulk & freeze it & that might cost say 50,000 per day. Then I drink 1 strongbow a day at 18,000 & lots of tea & coffee.
Ms My is Vegan & only eats fresh veg, fruit & tofu so I suspect she is easy to feed cost wise.
We actually budget for 6,000,000vnd for food & that well covers it even eating out sometimes & the odd Dorian or jackfruit in season.

This makes more sense now. I'm more of a pho or something equivalent 3x a day kinda guy lol, been that way since I lived in VN. I suspect 300 usd per month on food for me.

Glad you finally figured it out.

Eat out every day = high cost
Cook at home most days = low cost.

My wife and I spend about 4 million a month on food we eat at home most days.

Clocky
 
        ... do you love it, do you hate it, there it is the way you made it ... Frank Zappa

My wife and I  are retired. We live within a 8000sqft compound, Saigon.  Still a work in progress.  We live simple yet eat very healthy, Internet, A/C, Cable etc.  We do not smoke, drink, gamble, nor loan money.  Lot of garden herbs, vegetables, flowers and a multitude of small fruit & banana trees.  Even sugarcane.   We give to friends, neighbors, and $$ to local cancer hospital.  Our Muop vines grow along one outside wall, where neighbors are welcomed to pick.  The Loofah are shared with friends.  What goes around, comes around.  I freely give sand, cement, supplies and labor to neighborhood projects.  Friends and neighbors give much in return.  Foods, discounts, tools, labor, clothing, plants, advice, soil, pots etc.
We use groundwater (free,  + get exercise) in the garden.  Wife loves to cook great meals and I am the general contractor/laborer.  We swap saving $$ for splurging $$ with quality coffee dates, dinners out, new fruit trees, and travels.  Local bank interest rates along with cash back credit cards help.

Plan ahead, make it happen.   Clocky, you are on the right path.  Talk and plan with family in VN.  Make your Dream become Real.

Thing is the question is like saying......."how long is a piece of string" live like a back packer & you can live here for say 500 usd a month incl rent. Live here like a superstar & you could easily spend say 10,000 usd a month. The answer is simple....you get what you pay for & 1,500usd gets a good standard of life providing you dont spend the best part of it on rent.
Just as a foot note & purely my own opinion & experience. I certainly would  not be basing my income on the stock market & projected dividends you might get. That can change very quickly & recently the stock markets have been sending out some very negative signals..........in my opinion that is of course!

goodolboy wrote:

Thing is the question is like saying......."how long is a piece of string" live like a back packer & you can live here for say 500 usd a month incl rent. Live here like a superstar & you could easily spend say 10,000 usd a month. The answer is simple....you get what you pay for & 1,500usd gets a good standard of life providing you dont spend the best part of it on rent.
Just as a foot note & purely my own opinion & experience. I certainly would  not be basing my income on the stock market & projected dividends you might get. That can change very quickly & recently the stock markets have been sending out some very negative signals..........in my opinion that is of course!

market go up and down, but on average i think you would get 4% annually... those are very conservative numbers.

gobot wrote:

Clocky wrote:

... Anyone have any ideas? I would assume that I get around 1.5k from my asset per month just based of the stock market/dividend ect... (that's roughly 18k a year) or around 3.6% annual growth.

Just checking with all the expat on here if 1.5k is livable? or can I do it with 1k?

1. @dionstravels is talking about an investment visa. I don't know about investment visas, I think it is off-topic for your question. FYI Vietnamese banks pay around 5% but I recommend new arrivals leave their money in their home banks. That's another long story.

2. Good news: your assumptions about stock dividend returns are very conservative. I encourage you to dig deeper and research the topic, it will pay off!  It took me over a month to sort it out. There are too many articles that promote companies. Investopedia is good. There is a reddit dividend channel. The best free site I have found for data is dividendchannel.com but there are lots of pay sites that might have better research and recommendations.

I like no-growth REITS and BusDev stocks that pay high dividends. My current five holdings are monthly OXSQ, CLM, ORC and quarterly NLY and SACH, paying between 8.6% and 17%. Forget about Dividend "Champions and Aristocrats" that have paid 4% for 50 years. If a business has kept up high dividends over the last crazy year, good enough for me. Some other monthlies I have used are EFC, ARR, RA, AGNC, all in the 8% range and solid companies. It is good to diversify of course. I prefer monthly dividends because they pay sooner, and if the business has a problem and nukes the dividend, you can bail and switch to another stock faster.

8% of $300k is $2000/month

3. Taxes. You can easily live in SE Asia (except SIN) on US poverty level income, plus taxes on dividends are lower than on regular income. No tax up to $40k, then only 15%.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answer … axable.asp

4. I am updating my budget estimates for cost of living for new arrivals to $1500 w/$600 apartment, $1800 w/$800 apartment in Saigon. Small cities 20% less. That affords a standard of living closer to the US with occasional Non-Vietnamese food, gym/pool, Grab cars, funds for travel, visa/border runs, and a buffer for the unexpected. Sure if you are a 22 yo backpacker, your expected standard of living is lower, 3 people in a $350 apartment, bahn mi everyday, 2009 Nuovo, etc.

8% of $300k is $2000/month,,,,,, is that 8% / month ? 96% / year ?

MarkinNam wrote:

gobot wrote:

Clocky wrote:

... Anyone have any ideas? I would assume that I get around 1.5k from my asset per month just based of the stock market/dividend ect... (that's roughly 18k a year) or around 3.6% annual growth.

Just checking with all the expat on here if 1.5k is livable? or can I do it with 1k?

1. @dionstravels is talking about an investment visa. I don't know about investment visas, I think it is off-topic for your question. FYI Vietnamese banks pay around 5% but I recommend new arrivals leave their money in their home banks. That's another long story.

2. Good news: your assumptions about stock dividend returns are very conservative. I encourage you to dig deeper and research the topic, it will pay off!  It took me over a month to sort it out. There are too many articles that promote companies. Investopedia is good. There is a reddit dividend channel. The best free site I have found for data is dividendchannel.com but there are lots of pay sites that might have better research and recommendations.

I like no-growth REITS and BusDev stocks that pay high dividends. My current five holdings are monthly OXSQ, CLM, ORC and quarterly NLY and SACH, paying between 8.6% and 17%. Forget about Dividend "Champions and Aristocrats" that have paid 4% for 50 years. If a business has kept up high dividends over the last crazy year, good enough for me. Some other monthlies I have used are EFC, ARR, RA, AGNC, all in the 8% range and solid companies. It is good to diversify of course. I prefer monthly dividends because they pay sooner, and if the business has a problem and nukes the dividend, you can bail and switch to another stock faster.

8% of $300k is $2000/month

3. Taxes. You can easily live in SE Asia (except SIN) on US poverty level income, plus taxes on dividends are lower than on regular income. No tax up to $40k, then only 15%.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answer … axable.asp

4. I am updating my budget estimates for cost of living for new arrivals to $1500 w/$600 apartment, $1800 w/$800 apartment in Saigon. Small cities 20% less. That affords a standard of living closer to the US with occasional Non-Vietnamese food, gym/pool, Grab cars, funds for travel, visa/border runs, and a buffer for the unexpected. Sure if you are a 22 yo backpacker, your expected standard of living is lower, 3 people in a $350 apartment, bahn mi everyday, 2009 Nuovo, etc.

8% of $300k is $2000/month,,,,,, is that 8% / month ? 96% / year ?

If its 8% a month I want some of that, sounds like a good deal!!

8% annum of $300k = $24k per year.
24,000 / 12 = $2000 a month. 

So yes, you can have some of that!  It’s readily available.

Yoda0807 wrote:

8% annum of $300k = $24k per year.
24,000 / 12 = $2000 a month. 

So yes, you can have some of that!  It’s readily available.

8% of $300k is $2000/month,,,,,, is that 8% / month ? 96% / year ?

read my message properly, I asked about 8% a month & it was a joke!!! 

goodolboy wrote:

Yoda0807 wrote:

8% annum of $300k = $24k per year.
24,000 / 12 = $2000 a month. 

So yes, you can have some of that!  It’s readily available.

8% of $300k is $2000/month,,,,,, is that 8% / month ? 96% / year ?

read my message properly, I asked about 8% a month & it was a joke!!! 

Or may be I was replying back to markinnam. 🤔