The Economics of Dating the Latina of Latin America

Are Latinas more expensive than Western women?

Growing up, I remember my dad making some joke about how expensive women are.

Though I forgot how exactly the joke went down, I doubt it was much of a joke.

He also had other statements about women like what you can see in this clip here from The Shining.

"Women: Can't live without them, can't live with them."

But my dad wasn't comparing women of the US to women of other countries obviously.

He never had much experience dating abroad as far as I am aware.

In contrast, I remember this scene from 90 Day Fiance where Colt tells his Brazilian wife how "she is expensive" after she demands a million dollars from him and they settle on a much smaller allowance that still probably stings the bank account a tiny bit.

You can check it out here.

Either way, I guess it is a question: are Latina women of Latin America "less expensive" than "Western women."

Of course, the term "western women" is a bit weird.

People tend to refer to it to mean women from "the west."

That often could mean American, Canadian, French, German, Australian, etc.

Though, when I was in college, "the West" also implied Japan sometimes but those talking about women don't seem to include Japanese women as being "part of the west."

Regardless, you get the idea.

"The West" basically means women from countries that are typically both majority-white, considered "first world" for the most part in terms of economics, etc.

And we all know obviously where Latina women of Latin America are from.

.....from Latin America!

Though I would give the obligatory "not all of Latin America is the same" argument here before we moved forward.

We will cover that point again later to look at something interesting!

So then let's go back to the question: are Latina women of Latin America "less expensive" than "Western women."

There are different things to consider so let's get to each point briefly.

Dates

In theory, it shouldn't cost much to go on a date in either Latin America or the US.

After all, I just take chicks usually to a park, back to my place afterwards, pour a drink perhaps and then get to fucking.

Still, if you aren't that cheap, you might instead try buying some beer, perhaps food or whatever else.

Obviously, what you spend is going to depend heavily on your standards for what you are down to spend on a date and whatever else.

There's a few things to add though.

For one, it's more common for women in the US to cover their own half in my experience.

You got plenty of women like that down here also (especially in more liberal, urban and richer places) but Latin American women are more "traditional" on average on this topic when compared to American women.

Anyway, assuming you don't go for the cheap park date and assuming she doesn't spend her half in either area, then expect dates in the US to cost more obviously for beer, food, vodka or whatever.

Easier to Impress

As I wrote here, I once met a Mexican chick named Araceli who I took back to my apartment.

She seemed quite impressed by my luxurious rental cost.

That cost being?

About 5000 MXN pesos or 250 USD per month.

To an American women looking for a man with more financial stability, 250 USD payments in rent is nothing.

She'd think you live in a crackhouse of Gary, Indiana or something.

Whereas, for a lot of Latinas (especially those who aren't even 30 yet), that can be impressive.

And even if they are above 30, a payment of 250 per month isn't anything to scream "poor" when so many jobs down here pay 200 to 500 bucks a month.

In fact, quite a few Mexicans would love a job that pays 10,000 pesos per month (especially if they lived outside of Mexico City).

On top of that, you have the car.

American & Canadian women are definitely more likely to shit on you internally when they realize you don't have a car.

In Latin America, having a car is a good sign but every woman I have been with never gave a shit if I had a car or not.

Granted, if you are hanging out with the richer of Latinas from decent family money, your lack of car might be disappointing.

Then, going back to the cost of dates, it's easier to impress Latinas down here because the cost of living is so low and dates are much cheaper.

Here's a video of a dude spending 780 bucks on average per date.

Definitely no need for that down here.

Though I would argue you shouldn't need to spend that either in the US. 

Next, when it comes to gifts, I think Latinas are easier to impress also.

With my last girlfriend, I only had to buy her like a flower sold in the street every 6 months that only costed a buck to make her happy.

Once in a blue moon, perhaps she'd show more cleavage in the moment and say "papi, I want some earrings."

And, if her birthday was coming up, I'd buy some for the high price of 3 bucks or whatever in a cheap jewelry store and she'd be happy with it.

Compared to American or Canadian women, I doubt your gifts will cost just a dollar or 3 dollars.

Not saying American or Canadian women are gold diggers but gifts in the US or Canada generally cost a lot more than a dollar or 3 dollars because prices are higher in the US.

Now, to be fair, some gringos get taken for a ride in Latin America and end up spending hundreds on a woman.

Those men tend to be older though and going for the hot gal that is the same age of his daughter at around 20 or so.

In such cases, said man might be getting a hotter and younger piece of ass to fuck but it's going to cost more than a typical American woman (though, if he was paying for sex up there like down here, it'd probably cost him more up there but we'll cover that soon).

Finally, another reason why it can be easier to impress women down here is because you are a foreigner from "the first world" (bonus points if you are white).

That alone usually makes it easier to get a chick to think that you have decent money and aren't poor (though, if you are some poor German dude living with illegal Haitian immigrants like this guy here, I imagine it'd be hard to hide your poverty).

Debt

While some Latinas do have debt, most do not.

Especially those in the age range of 20 to 35. 

In contrast, most American women seem to have some amount of debt in the form of medical, student loans, credit card debt, car debt, etc.

In short, you can expect the American or Canadian woman to more likely be a financial liability than your typical Latina.

Just watch any Dave Ramsey show here for horror stories (and, to be fair, American and Canadian men are the exact same way for the women up there also).

But it's also not 100% accurate to say every chick up north is a financial liability just because she has debt.

She might have debt but does she have a job to pay it off herself without you needing to help her out?

The Job

This is one point in favor of American and Canadian women.

While cost of living is much higher in the US, at least wages are much higher too.

If you date a Latina down here in Latin America, you will find most are not paying more than 500 bucks a month.

Whereas your typical American gal is making something like 30,000 USD a year on average with many more easily enough making more than that.

Now, to be fair, it all comes down to the amount of money she makes relative to the cost of living.

Personally, I think it's easier to find a woman who makes good money and can contribute well to the family household versus a Latina chick if we are just talking pure numbers.

.....Or is it?

Well, I do think that there are more better paying jobs in the US and and your average American chick can run miles around your average Latina chick when it comes to income relative to cost of living (especially if she works hard, majored in something well and is smart with her career).

Now you could say the same about Latinas being able to do well career wise but most will never hold a candle to what an American woman can bring to the table.

For example, I dated a Mexican chick once who was a med student and who will likely make 1,500 to 2,000 a month more or less.

That is peanuts compared to doctors back home (but without insane student loan debt but still).

I know another chick who I used to hookup with who is a computer programmer that makes around 2,000 a month and would make a lot more in the US if she could only be allowed in there.

Having said that, I think it's easier to appeal to the Mexican doctor or computer programmer than the American one for the man who doesn't want to work too hard breaking his back.

I say that because most women don't want a man who makes noticeably less money than them.

Plenty of stories online of women and men having issues when the woman's career is doing miles around the career of the man (even though some couples do pull it off to be fair).

What I'm saying here anyway is that -- assuming you aren't broke as fuck like so many gringos -- I think it's easier to get a Latin American doctor, scientist, computer programmer or whatever else to date you when in the US or Canada for that issue regarding money and career.

For the one back home, I'm going to guess that she isn't going to want to settle with a man who doesn't feel like breaking his back working 60 hours a week at a shit job so he can keep up with her at a job that pays well.

Either way, there are pros and cons here, right?

Down here, I've known gringo men who would rather let the wife stay home because her job making peanuts is not as valuable as raising the kids.

And the job of some of these women truly does make peanuts.

On the flip side, if the dude was to take her home, she would be expensive so to speak as she wouldn't be able to get a job right away legally (not to mention other costs of bringing a spouse into the US) but could eventually and whatever job she'd get would pay more in the long run.

But, as I said, I also think it's easier to get an upper class woman who makes good money with a solid career than a woman back home (assuming you know Spanish, have your shit together, are not a typical sex tourist, etc).

Cost of Bringing Her Back

I already mentioned this before so I'll keep it short.

If you don't plan on living down here, you will end up bringing the Latina back to your home country.

That could cost you lots of money beyond what I understand as there are legal costs from what I can only assume and also she wouldn't have the legal right to work initially and you'd have to wait a few years.

Your Job

This is one point in favor of either sticking to American or Canadian women or, if you insist on finding a gal down here, marrying one and bringing her back.

As we all know, it can be sometimes hard for folks to support themselves down here.

Most jobs are not available to us down here and, as you can guess by now, most pay shit anyway.

Plenty of gringos have gone broke down here (including myself at times) and some have had to go back home to earn USD as I wrote here.

In many ways, living abroad can hurt your potential career prospects (and, in many cases, can outright kill them if the career you always wanted is not realistic for you to take on down here like being a cop and if the job can't be done remotely).

That's not to say you can't have a career living down here.

You absolutely can!

And, over the last few years, remote work has become even more plentiful and so it has gotten easier for folks to make it work while living abroad.

On top of that, some dudes just make an absolute killing working online or having their own business.

Sometimes they live more humbly with a solid career though in jobs that gringos usually do take up like English teaching as I wrote about here.

Anyway, just keep all of this in mind. If you want to date Latinas in Latin America, this factor will likely affect your money situation noticeably.

Easier for Wife to Stay Home

Want a wife to stay home to take care of the kids?

Well, that can be expensive obviously!

Some people prefer childcare services as the wife might have to work and those can be very expensive back in the US.

And, if she isn't working, then you only got one income to support the family on in either Latin America or the US and that can be expensive too obviously.

Still, I think it's easier to support a family on one income assuming your income is in USD and is at least 2,000 dollars per month (assuming you don't live in the best neighborhood of the most expensive Latin American city and assuming you only have like one kid ideally).

In the US, I find it unbelievable that you'd be supporting a family with one kid on just 2,000 a month.

On top of that, I'd argue that, to some degree, maybe Latin American parents or grandparents are more supportive in watching over the kids than those back home.

While childcare services likely do exist down here (I've never seen them but I'd guess they do), I've always been under the impression Latin Americans lean more on the family to watch the kids more often than using those services when compared to folks back home.

I could be wrong about that but I think that's true from what I've noticed.

Anyway, in short, it'll be cheaper for you to have a one income family down here than back home assuming you aren't making 500 bucks a month or whatever.

Cost of Wedding

Obviously, this is tough to say if the Latina will turn out to be cheaper or the American.

For the wedding itself, I'd imagine it's expensive in either country.

If she was American, her parents could more easily help support the wedding than if she was a Latina simply because American or Canadian parents would have more money to help out.

Also, if you had a wedding where one of you is a foreigner from another country (be it the Latina in the US or you in her country), then you have to factor in the cost of flying in family of each person into the other country.

That's assuming you want them to visit, right?

So plane tickets are likely to be expensive as fuck and you might have to be more limited on how many you can get to show up for various reasons (cost of tickets, the family getting time off work to travel to another country, etc).

And for the cost of the wedding itself?

I have no idea because I never ran a wedding anywhere in the world.

Obviously, it depends too on where you are holding it.

If you hold it at Cancun of Mexico, I would guess that you are paying a few more pennies than what you'd pay for in small town Iowa.

Anyway, given I'm not an expert in this topic of how expensive weddings can be, I'm not going to say with strong conviction who is cheaper.

I'd think a wedding with a Latina could be cheaper assuming your family members (the few who can arrive) pay for their own tickets and assuming you don't do it in a venue too expensive.

Perhaps you could get more bang for your buck then compared to having a wedding back home.

But I'll leave it at that.

Way too many variables and not enough knowledge or life experience with this one to make a definitive statement.

Just food for thought.

Divorce

Though I've never gotten a divorce anywhere in the world, I'm inclined to believe that the cost of divorce is lower down here than up in the US.

I have casually looked at the issue in various countries and will write an article making comparisons someday.

Based on my informal research so far, it does generally seem cheaper down here than back home.

All the days walking by Cuatro Caminos area and seeing advertisements for "quick divorce" or however they'd phrase all for the low price of whatever it was -- 25 or 50 bucks or something?

Of course, you have other issues that come with divorce: child support payments, alimony, who gets the house, cost of lawyer fees, etc.

Generally speaking, I haven't heard many ugly lawyer stories that bring the financial wrath in legal fees like they do back home.

I'm sure it happens somewhere but I just haven't heard as many stories down here and I've informally looked into the topic.

When it comes to alimony, that does exist down here but in some countries, like Chile, I've only informally read that it's not as commonly applied.

When it comes to child support and custody, my informal impression is that Latin America broadly speaking isn't very favorable to men but child support is rather low in many cases.

For example, I knew a gringo guy who had a "happy accident" in the DR. Tried to make it work out with the woman by living with her. Didn't last. Now lives in the US because that's where the good paying jobs are.

And what does she hit him with in terms of child support?

From what I heard, only 100 bucks a month (slightly less than that last I heard a few years ago).

Of course, a 100 bucks seems a bit low even for Latin America. I knew she was a "barrio girl" from a piss poor neighborhood and so maybe costs are lower there.

Regardless, that's one of the few stories I've ever heard of child support stuff down here and every Latin American country is different.

Compared to back home anyway, shit seems much more expensive.

My sister once told me about a friend of hers who gets some insane payment of like 700 a month or whatever it is but it's something up there from what I remember.

Other stories I've heard list similar prices of like 400 a month or whatever else.

Which, to be fair, 400 in the US doesn't sound terrible given how expensive a kid is. A 100 in the DR almost sounds criminal.

Regardless, I am not an expert on divorce and child support standards across Latin America.

Not even in one Latin American country!

All of what I've said on this point is just informal stuff that I've either read about on legal websites about divorce in Latin America or is stuff I've heard from people I know personally.

Above all, my "informal" impression is that everything to do with divorce is cheaper down here than back home as a broad generalization.

I'll leave it at that.

School

While everyone shits on public schools in the US, they are generally OK to work with.

And they are free.

In Latin America, every gringo I have known about or read about has contemplated instead sending the kids to a private school.

The cost of a private education obviously can vary quite a bit by country, city and also how nice the school is obviously.

So it's hard to put a price tag on this.

But if you choose to marry a Latina and have kids with her down here, take this into consideration.

Your American gal that you have kids with won't need kids sent to a private school (unless she is religious and wants a good Catholic school or something) but you will likely want a private school if you have kids with a Latina.

Though, as I said, every Latin American country is different.

I do wonder how decent the public schools are in very select areas of Latin America like Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, etc.

I'll leave it at that though because I don't know.

Your Cost of Living

As I've said before, cost of living is much lower here.

Because of that, you could factor this into the cost of dating Latinas.

If you were to live in a nice city in the US to date women up there, you are spending maybe 3,000 to 5,000 a month or more?

I don't know.

I never lived in NYC or Chicago.

A city of that size anyway with lots of women to work with.

In short, your cost of living is much higher to live in a place that has lots of women up there and you will have to work harder in a real career to afford living and dating up there.

Down here, you could be a literal bum on 500 bucks a month in a big city like Mexico City and still get lots of women easy enough without having to work hard for it.

Financing of Houses

I've heard at times that a lot of Latin Americans just save up the money to buy a house and buy it outright without a loan.

Not sure how true that is as I've never bought a house anywhere but I could see it being the case in some areas of Latin America.

From what I've heard informally anyway, interest rates are higher here but price of housing can be cheaper depending on your area.

Here in Mexico, property houses in Mexico City can obviously be expensive as fuck.

But in the rest of the country? Pretty cheap.

In a normal city called Pachuca de Soto, I remember seeing houses on the market out of curiosity that were listed for 70,000.

They were much nicer than what my dad had growing up and in a gated community.

With obviously houses being much cheaper too outside of a gated community if you wish.

A friend of mine even just bought a house in Chiapas not too long ago. I think he bought it for around 50,000 or so and it doesn't look bad at all.

Having said all that, I also wonder too how easy it would be for a FOREIGNER to get financing on a house?

I have no idea but, as I think about it, I imagine it'd be tricky.

So if you date a Latina and wish to have a family down here living in a house you purchased, just keep that in mind.

Scams

As I said before, you have lots of scammers down here looking to rip gringos off by the hundreds and thousands.

Sometimes it might be that they drug your drink and steal your shit in your apartment.

Maybe you never met them and you sent them hundreds of dollars over Mexican Cupid as I wrote about here.

While you got scammers in the US also, I think it's more common for gringos (especially old ones) to get scammed while looking for love or sex down here in Latin America (especially if they are new here).

Reminds me of this dude here who has spent so much on his Colombian girlfriend.

Or this dude here who, while it's not Latin America, has sent over 40,000 on a girl he never met before.

Just keep all of that in mind.

Prostitutes

While this technically isn't dating for sex or love, prostitutes are part of the scene for gringos looking for sex down here also.

While I'm not into prostitutes personally, I know it is cheaper and legal down here versus back home.

Not encouraging it whatsoever!

But I am just saying that it is much cheaper down here.

A fat chick who is in her 30 thirties charging 230 USD for thirty minutes in Las Vegas or perhaps you prefer 23 average looking gals (not fat though) who go for 10 dollars a chick?

Or some hotter ones that go for 30 to 50 bucks a chick.

You get the point.

In no way do I encourage this behavior but it's a detail of life down here for plenty of gringos looking for that.

Anything to Add?

These were the main things that come to mind when it comes to the cost for gringos looking for sex or love in Latin America.

Generally speaking, it's hard to say who is cheaper: the Latina or the American/Canadian.

You know, it depends!

Are you looking to just date and not marry?

The concerns about divorce, child support, alimony, buying a house, private schools and all that go out the window.

How good is your job? Make a good salary and can do it while in Latin America (say 5,000 a month or more)? Most likely the Latina is going to be much cheaper for all of the reasons mentioned (no debt on her end, cheaper cost of living, cheaper homes, etc).

But it all just depends on what you are looking for exactly and what part of Latin America versus what part of the US or Canada you are comparing it to.

The devil is in the details.

But, as a broad generalization, I'd say Latinas are cheaper in general than the American or Canadian.

Anyway, throw any comments below.

And follow my Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Best regards,

Matt

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