#1035 – The Expat Files: Navigating Life, Scams, and Insurance in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now that I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Hey, we're back and just a little update. It's possible next Friday. I won't be doing a show got some visitors coming in from Chicago I haven't seen for some years and I'll have to you know Make sure they don't get kidnapped and sold for their body parts after all this is Latin America

[00:46] And if you go on the US State Department's website, you'll see most all Latin American countries are on the US travel shit list But you know if you talk to any gringo or expat down here in Latin America They'll tell you that's exactly the way they like it It keeps the general exodus numbers down In other words it cuts down on the riffraff because you know what happens when gringo is start piling in to a Latin country It ends up like Costa Rica, which ironically is one of the only Latin countries That's not on the US State Department shit list Shows you the stupidity of governments and how ass backwards the world really is now today I'd like to start with a rather long email that hits on so many points of concern Regarding gringos and expats living in Latin America that I thought it was worth taking a deep dive into this one This one's from Scott. He says hey Johnny

[01:33] Could you please send me the info on that EMP shield you talked about on your show the other day? I want to incorporate it with an off-grid solar system that uses Victron components and is set up with lightning grounds. All right me Johnny here. Let's get that out of the way first Of course I'll send that to you and I just want to mention to all you guys and gals out there whether you've got solar Or just regular grid electric this EMP shield product. I spoke about it on I think it was two shows ago now It really is a revolutionary thing and not even available a year or so ago Again, let me state for the record that I make absolutely nothing from this There's no clicks going through my websites or anything. I make no percentage But being an electrical engineer in a former life, let me tell you this thing's really a game changer Why because you no longer have to worry about possible solar EMP strikes or man-made EMP strikes that you know

[02:23] Governments will use of course in future wars to knock out power grids now I know it's not a scenario Anybody wants to be thinking about and very few people actually know about Hardening of your electrical devices in and around the house or hardening of your local electric grid itself Just ask a power utility guy or an electrician. They generally won't know what you're talking about But you know if there's an EMP pulse man-made or not It'll wipe out all your sensitive electronic and before this EMP shield product you either didn't want to contemplate an EMP pulse because it was too catastrophic to think about or you bought some EMP bags like I Did and put some of your hard drives and spare electronics in them knowing that they'll be safe If and when an EMP pulse comes in one will come I guarantee you that the Sun does it with some

[03:10] Regularity only the big ones the ones that will knock out the grid in your electronics only about every 70 to 100 years So we're about do for one Luckily though if a solar EMP pulse comes will probably get about two hours notice Everybody will find out on their TV internet or radio Then at least you'll have time to unplug all your sensitive electronic equipment because you don't want to have any cords attached at all To your wall outlets or any wires of cords attached to anything like your cell phones or TVs Because it's the wiring that picks up the EMP pulse and it goes into the system and fries Components the cool thing is you no longer have to worry about any of that stuff if you get one of these EMP shield devices They're expensive 300 bucks apiece But you'll only need one at your breaker box and if you've got a solar system

[03:56] You'll need to put one where the solar panel wires connect to your inverter controller box They've even got a model if you've got an electric car now I know you probably don't have an electric car But that's the future you will have one and since electric cars are loaded with electronics and copper wiring a good-sized EMP pulse We'll fry the thing So again, just know there is a solution out there and it dropped 300 bucks to protect all the electronics in your house Is it cheap insurance policy? However, I predict in the upcoming months There will be some other companies making that stuff lots of competition will come in because it's a wide open and growing field So expect the prices to drop like a rock in the next year or so I'm thinking instead of 300 bucks So probably be around a hundred and the name of the company again is EMP shield just stick that in your browser and pull up

[04:42] Their website. Meanwhile, the US government is busy hardening all their military equipment so that it could take an EMP pulse They're expecting that you know, it'll be one of the weapons in the next war and guess whose products they use and they actually certify them the EMP shield I'm talking about you don't have to take my word for it Just read about it on their website. All right back to Scott's email now I have to tell you Scott's an expat living in Peru So he's coming from an already living in Latin America perspective actually living in South America perspective And as you'll see there's a big difference between living in Central America and South America We'll get into that in a little while. He says Johnny on another note. I'm so frustrated down here in South America Customer service is almost non-existent. I'm sure you already know that for example

[05:29] I've been trying for the past five months to put together an order for an electric fence system for some small livestock I have the company I'm in touch with is the only distributor in Peru for these sorts of systems and it seems to be run by one guy and his Son I've been in touch with them for literally five months now trying to work out the details to just place an order for what I Need in fact, there have been times when I've contacted them and I don't hear back for two weeks Other times they just don't respond at all I'm actually trying to put together an order for about three thousand US dollars and that's not small potatoes Especially for Latinos some of them don't make that kind of money in a year But I still don't even understand how to connect the various components of the system

[06:16] That's why I need these guys to help me out crazier yet is they don't even have any videos and how to put these things together and when I recently asked these guys about it they just told me to look for an electrician a Horrible answer for me since the parts of the system that have me scratching my head are the parts that don't even carry electricity Because of things like that Johnny. I really miss the good old USA the land of conveniences good products and customer service Now I'm not new to Latin America. So I guess it's no surprise to me that people will leave 3,000 US bucks sitting on the table just because they're too useless as salesmen to care But I am getting to my wits end with this sort of behavior throughout Peru. It's everywhere down here Imagine having to provide a little customer service to land a sale of 3,000 bucks. Nope

[07:05] It's much easier to ignore or scam people and what a scam culture I found down here Well, I take that back because I haven't been scammed lately However, I also really need those products to get a farm business plan off the ground soon. It's so simple, too I just need to do my due diligence and figure out that the products will actually work for my situation and what I'm planning on Doing with them. It's not rocket science too bad The salespeople seem as clueless as me about it. Also the flakiness factor with them is very strong Though I finally received one answer about one component But four months after I made the inquiry and Johnny on a side note Here's some tips from a slightly seasoned expat on how not to get scammed here in South America Number one, it helps to have a family in strategic places in the Latin American country. You're in luckily

[07:56] I have my wife a Peruvian national and I'm lucky that a few of her family members are also trustworthy and Nowadays, at least we have the website Mercala libre.com is big here It's another Craigslist style olex.com copy with lots of internet merchant businesses taken off Well, they're trying to anyway The problem is with this covid it pandemic all the people are being forced to go online in a country that just wasn't ready And probably never will be to make that leap into the internet business world problem Number one Google Yelp and critical reviews for example are basically non-existent down here So everything's a gamble when you're looking for service or any company to purchase from on the internet

[08:42] All right me Johnny here with a comment on that. Yep. That's right It's one of the big problems when you're shopping online in Latin America There's no way to do a search of the company to find out if the customers are satisfied or if there's any public or private Comments about the company at all. There's just no rating system or customer feedback Alright, then Scott says Johnny generally speaking individuals and not registered companies will be the ones to scam you I'd say probably nine times out of ten if someone asks for any amount of money up front They've got no intention of doing anything in your favor or perhaps the intention is there But later when faced with the concept of having to lift a finger to fill an order It's just easier to slink away with the dough and do nothing one more thing, Johnny I'm living basically out in the sticks and we're in the stone age when it comes to internet stuff

[09:32] So when we order something online here, it usually has to come directly from the capital Lima, Peru or another city like Tarapoto Luckily, my wife has family in both places and I've learned my lesson So before we make any payment for any online product We'll send my wife's brother or sister to go look at the product with their own two eyes first And confirm that it's in good condition or at least exists Sometimes we'll even arrange a video chat and they'll send photos to see the stuff for ourselves Only then do we make the payment and my wife's siblings immediately take the product and ship it via courier To a town close by to us in the same vein. It's always best to order something That's a service they'll offer sometimes Means basically cod cash on delivery

[10:22] Where you basically pay the courier office when you go to pick up the item I've done it that way a few times too and it's a nice option when offered So johnny getting back to my rant about the culture here in south america I've seen some of the reviews of your own podcast floating around and it always strikes me as funny When people criticize you for not being politically correct when talking about latinos Just goes to show you a lot of gringos are clueless about real latin americans It's as if they just know machu pichu the mexican chain señor tortugas the resorts in cancun And whatever pc views they've heard about latinos on national public radio Then they'll criticize you johnny a person who's been living there for decades for pointing out some very Inconvenient truths and quirks about the locals and culture that are absolutely true

[11:11] So johnny if any of those people are listening right now, i'd like to further orient them towards a reality check Latinos are some of the most perennial dishonest people i've ever been exposed to in all my world travels They're just full of envy too and as just explained with my business dealings can be kind of flaky They'll lie and cheat and steal and as a group You'll have a big target painted on your back if you're a gringo and johnny that gringo advantage you talk about There's also a gringo disadvantage Then he says as for me I speak fluent spanish and have my wife who's native to this country And it amazes me how often latinos think i'm the clueless one when they try to pull their scams And i'm way off the gringo tourist trail, too Unfortunately i've learned the hard way too many times people are constantly trying to pull one over on me the gringo

[12:00] How is that for politically correct? But don't get me wrong johnny. There are plenty of good people here and no one's perfect I'm certainly no saint myself, but down here the bad apples i've found are really rotten Just saying but back to my original topic and dealing with the electric fence distributor It has me remembering an old podcast of yours where you were recommending starting an american style customer service Certification program where you'd train up latinos in customer service first world style Latinos love their little pieces of paper certifying their qualifications and awards in all sorts of insignificant and sometimes laughable things They really love to put that stuff on display Seems like they've got a diploma for every four hour lecture They've ever completed and it'll be nicely mounted and framed in a choice spot on the wall of fame

[12:48] Prominently displayed in the house somewhere So johnny, what about your idea the american style customer service certification program? Any ideas johnny on how to begin to develop such a curriculum? I think it's really a great business idea I think one could even develop it into a lecture tour then he signs it all the best scott Well scott thanks for that nice complete boots on the ground take from a gringo expat living in the boonies out in peru Now speaking of gringo business idea. Here's another idea That would take virtually no investment that I just know would kick ass and be in very high demand Because you know gringos and expats are always looking for great business idea And this one's particularly aimed at the flood of new green gringos the post-election post-covidiot wave Wanting to get the hell out of dodge now think about for a minute

[13:37] Just what a newly arrived green gringo is thinking about or it's very concerned about when he first arrives in latin america Besides, you know having a place to live in a decent area getting a bank account utility hookups and all that Well for one, they're all looking to get a health insurance policy. We talk about that all the time But here's the thing nearly every gringo expat I know has what you might call arrival anxiety They worry about a lot of stuff one of the main things being insurance and once they get down here to latin america They soon realize none of the locals have any of that kind of stuff But for them it's a given that everyone up in the state says homeowners insurance renters insurance life insurance car insurance Business interruption insurance even pet insurance whereas 99.9 percent of latinos do not have life insurance

[14:23] Homeowners or renters insurance and even when it comes to car insurance only about 10 Percent of cars you see on the road have any kind of car insurance at all even though third-party Liability coverage is mandatory though It's really only lip service because there's no cops or government authorities enforcing it Whereas up in the states if you get pulled over by the cops for pretty much any reason They can and will ask you to show proof of at least liability coverage And you'll get a ticket and they'll find you if you don't and they certainly won't let you drive that car home They'll impound it Oh, and did you know there are only two states in the union that have no car insurance mandatory requirement That would be new hampshire and virginia So in latin america about 10 of all cars and trucks you see on the road are covered by car insurance That's a scary thought, huh?

[15:09] And the reason why it's even as high as 10 percent is because when you take out a loan to buy a car The loan company or bank requires you carry insurance, but you see in latin america. It's not a societal norm. There's no time honored Generational tradition for carrying any kind of insurance at all. That's why it's a given down here when someone pays off their car Loan, they drop the extra expense of having insurance, too So the thing is here in latin america At least you know if you get an accident with a car that's fairly new chances are they'll have coverage Because 99 percent of people who own late model cars have four and five-year car loans And the loan company forces them to pay for insurance But as for umbrella policies renters and homeowners insurance earthquake pet or flood insurance I don't think in all my years down here. I've met a single latina who has that kind of coverage

[15:56] Except those latinos. I know who have gone to school university in the united states and came back to work in daddy's firm They do absorb all those gringo customs the good ones and the bad those latino entitled children of the rich are extreme gringo wannabes However, when it comes to newbie gringos and expats who've just arrived once they get over the euphoria stage We all get that when we first come down They start getting anxious about certain things one of those anxieties being insurance coverage They feel naked if they're not insured ear hole to a hole So the business idea is this you approach a local latino insurance broker in whatever latin city you're in There's a lot of these guys that sell health and car insurance, basically

[16:41] Well, you walk right in and make him an offer. He can't refuse you tell him look You want to be the gringo insurance connection to expats the gringo guy that markets an entire gringo insurance package you offer a one-stop shop package offering Homeowners insurance renters insurance fire car theft appliance electronic equipment and even pet insurance All the usual suspect insurance coverages gringos have up in the first world You will provide that service and the latino insurance broker you approach He'll have the network and the access to all those insurance plans that he's not selling right now Because latinos don't ever buy that stuff And the only thing you'll have to do is put together the plan A website in english, of course start advertising in all that country's english language expat rags and gringo expat fake book groups

[17:30] There are hundreds of them in every country and believe me everywhere you find gringos living in latin america Even way off the tourist trail gringos congregate They have things like garden clubs book clubs and aa clubs yoga groups and running clubs movie night discussion clubs In fact discussion clubs of all kinds and believe me They'd be glad to have a gringo come in and give that kind of spiel Now i'm not saying you need all that insurance coverage here for one thing houses don't burn their steel concrete and glass And if you're in a residential tower or the altiplano you're high up So unless there's an extinction event meteor strike flooding is out of the question and though robberies do happen It's always small petty crime not worth making a claim because it'll barely scratch your deductible In fact, my belief is you only need health insurance and car insurance. That's it

[18:15] But you know gringos have this i gotta get covered for everything mentality In fact i've known some recently arrived Newbie expat gringos who bought cars but won't drive them until they've got insurance coverage And who fret and lose sleep over the fact they've got no homeowners insurance And get this one older gringo lady said to me I love my second floor balcony But i'm afraid to have a party because if someone gets drunk and slips and falls i'll lose everything Yeah, right. There you go thinking like you're back in the states again No, she won't this is latin america No ensues people for that kind of stuff because every house business wrote and sidewalk could be cited for dozens of us Code violations but amongst gringos especially older gringos that insurance coverage anxiety persists

[19:02] So then why not give them what they want and believe me They'll trust a gringo offering plans like that over a latino insurance guy any day because latino insurance brokers Have no idea what gringos really want or need I know that firsthand by visiting a few and seeing what kind of health insurance plans to come up with for gringo That's something we spend a great deal of time talking about at my expat insider seminars. All right back to scott's email He says johnny. I really miss first world usa conveniences Well scott, let me tell you I visited most all south american countries I even lived in columbia for a while and i'll repeat what I said in a couple of shows Maybe a year or so ago if you land in central america It's a much softer landing than if you land in south america What I mean by that is there's a much bigger lag time for practically everything in south america things you want that are imported

[19:52] Are much more expensive. It's much greater distance for containers to travel and except for food The stores that have finished goods have a much thinner selection Like scott said online ordering is 10 years behind the times. That's true for south america But not so for central america And that's a really big deal now You've heard me say that online ordering from amazon ebay and such is smooth quick and dependable And as long as you order things that don't weigh a hell of a lot Pretty reasonable because you pay for shipping by weight and the shipping only takes about four days to a week That includes passing through customs whereas in south america you order online. It's a nightmare That's one of the reasons I prefer to live in central america over south america though scott is right customer service everywhere in latin America really stinks That's why there are so many business opportunities for gringos and expats with a good percentage of gringo businesses arising out of the frustration

[20:45] They've experienced personally when dealing with latino businesses like the guys scott mentioned in his email when scott also mentioned what he calls the gringo Disadvantage well, I agree. There's some of that too though. I've personally found that phenomena pretty much only exists When you're dealing with an individual not a business and they realize you're a gringo Then that gringo pricing thing can kick in but not always doesn't matter if you speak spanish They see you're a gringo They up the price and many gringos will pay that price because it still seems okay to him That's why I always say if you're going to do a bigger substantial deal Bring a native speaker along with you to make the deal or send that person out alone In fact many times i've been out and about And i've decided to buy something and the person with me the latino or latina says let me do it for you You know what that says don't you that all latinos and latinas are aware that gringos get gouged

[21:36] That's why it's always good to have some latino friends on your side When you want to buy or rent something that involves a decent amount of cash In fact, I just had that very discussion with my right hand seminar logistics lady She was talking about taking some newbie expats around lake atitlan in guatemala And they saw some leather and wood artesian stuff They wanted to buy and rita pulled him aside and said don't buy any of that stuff now Let me go back later myself and do the deal So when talking about all this stuff and how gringos occasionally get gouged once you've made the move to get out of dodge And get that plan b going it really pays to have a network to help you with this stuff Though you will find the closer you are to the gringo tours trail The more you're likely to get scammed or gouged why because way off the trail There are so few gringos that the locals are just not thinking in those terms and if you're off the tourist trail and you do

[22:25] Get taken or gouged. It's not just you It's pretty much certain the local latinos are being gouged in the same way by that guy, too Oh and one final thing i've met some very good and some very bad latinos But most of them are somewhere in between now in my case I've lived on the gringo tourist trail almost three years in costa rica and 95 percent of the rest of time Well off the gringo tourist trail and I found out something else when you're living off the gringo tourist trail You sort of know all the gringos that live within let's say a 10 mile radius Why because you stand out you see the same people over and over at the local walmart or costco? And in time you may get to meet and talk with them on occasion or even hang out and in observing This kind of gringo fish out of water thing when you're living way off the tourist trail and there aren't many gringos around

[23:13] I've noticed almost zero instances of gringos ripping off gringos as opposed to living on or near the gringo tourist trail There are gringos ripping off gringos all the time In fact, it almost seems as a percentage of the gringo population in general on the tourist trail There are vastly more dishonest corrupt and generally bad gringos per capita than bad and untrustworthy latinos And i'd say the reason for that is because there are always so many gringos coming in and out of a gringo tourist area With wads of dough ready to spread it around they're on vacation You know people on vacation tend to let their guard down So they're ripe for picking for example a gringle back home in cleveland might be a extreme tight wad But when he gets to costa rica on vacation He'll chip a porter 10 bucks for walking two bags up a flight of stairs

[24:00] And he'll buy a round of drinks for people he just met 10 minutes ago, and it's so easy to spot tourists It's not just the cargo pants and the hawaiian print shirts either. They've got that look And bad boys know they're easy to scalp because there's an unlimited supply of them and once they're scalped They soon fly back home. They rarely stick around long enough to get a lawyer and file charges But for expat gringos off the tourist trail who live there permanently The longer you're down here the more you learn the smarter you get and the harder you are to scam Now speaking of lag time and doing business here in latin america check this out from a brand new latin american business journal article I'll translate. It's in spanish. Here's the headline how to get reliable information from your customers now Remember, this is breaking news from thursday february 25th 2021 in one of latin american's biggest business information journals

[24:52] It says customers will lie in surveys to give you a good impression It says it's best to obtain truthful and accurate information about your customers for you have any bias If you ask them questions through online surveys It states people lie less in internet surveys Lie just a little more in phone surveys and lie the most When being questioned or surveyed one on one person to person in other words people are most truthful online slightly less truthful on the phone And lie a lot when they're questioned in person. They're talking about customer surveys now now. I ask you is that new information Isn't that something we sort of took for granted as soon as the internet popped up What is it like 25 years ago now talk about lag time, huh? And then they cite this book entitled everyone lies what the internet and big data can tell us about ourselves

[25:43] It's a book that came out in 2017, but just now got translated into spanish That's another example of huge lag time We're talking about four years between translating a popular best-selling business book from english into spanish Which should give you a really good idea of what this lag time thing's all about I mean look if some cutting edge information comes out in an english journal or in a book And it doesn't even get translated into spanish for four years That means there's at least a four-year lag time built into the system Hey, just saying but all that, you know, it's very good news for gringos and expats That means we've got an instant four-year head start or you could say we're four years more advanced on the learning curve Than the latino business competition even so and gringos and expats have been talking about this for 50 years

[26:30] They still cannot get the customer service thing down the exceptions being Us franchises that end up in latin america because you know franchises that come from the states are cookie cutter operations Everything's the same at every franchise including the employee handbooks that spell out Exactly how you're supposed to talk to the customer and how you're supposed to react to typical customer service situations But you knew that already, right? So if I was to rate or put a score on customer service in latin america on a let's say a scale of one to seven Yeah, one to seven. I thought i'd mix it up one to ten is so predictable I'd say the us is a five and a half or six in latin america a one That means if you start a business down here in latin america You could wipe the floor with your competitors by improving nothing else, but the customer service

[27:16] Of course since you're a first world gringo You'll want to fix the broken glass and the burnt out light bulbs clean the spider webs and dead kooka ratches off the window seals Make sure the bathroom sink is running water and there's a seat on the toilet It's got a lock on the door a roll of toilet paper a supply of paper You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america If you need some help with your own plan b we can schedule a one-on-one phone or skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in central america Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan b? Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com