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I'm a Black Expat AMA
- Thread starter Wiseborn
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why is casa valeria always booked up months on end?
because it's right on the strip. Most vistors to Sosua don't go past Playa Sosua and four blocks. I know guys who wasn't aware of the other beaches in Sosua.
Cell Phone security Plus lessons:
Get a Privacy screen on your phone. Number one you don't want people seeing your passwords or Pins for your phone, I would use a combonation of Biometics, Pin numbers and Passwords on my phone that way it's harder for a phone thief to change your password especially if a Girl manages to use your biometrics i.e face ID or Fingerprint to get into your phone. If she does that while drugged or under the influence maybe it will prompt for a password or Pin before she can change the Biometrics.
Also if you're texting another chick the chica can't just see you texting her ( don't sleep chicks be watching everything).
I use Mr. Shield privacy screen personally
Get a Privacy screen on your phone. Number one you don't want people seeing your passwords or Pins for your phone, I would use a combonation of Biometics, Pin numbers and Passwords on my phone that way it's harder for a phone thief to change your password especially if a Girl manages to use your biometrics i.e face ID or Fingerprint to get into your phone. If she does that while drugged or under the influence maybe it will prompt for a password or Pin before she can change the Biometrics.
Also if you're texting another chick the chica can't just see you texting her ( don't sleep chicks be watching everything).
I use Mr. Shield privacy screen personally
In light of the Fani Willis situation where she might lose her job as the DA for Fulton County over this Trump shyt. I'll add some more cell phone security Tips that can be used at home and abroad.
The whole reason they she's in trouble is someone basically found a way to track the location of her Boyfriend's cellphone.
Dude probably has his number given out to a lot of people.
But if you don't want to be tracked turn off Wifi and bluetooth put the phone in Airplane mode and put in in a faraday bay like a Mission Darkness bag.
Get a burner phone in the states you can use Mint Mobile sim cards bought with cash
If you don't want your phone to be stolen at the very least turn on Sim Card lock. When you get a Sim Card take a picture of the SIM Card Pin and PUK number.
If the SIM Pin is 0000 that's not a real Pin you put that SIM Pin in at the prompt until they tell you to put the PUK number in. That number is real and with that you can change the SIM card Pin and lock it and that's the easiest way someone can steal your phone and drop a new Pin in it.
If you have an Iphone you better know the recovery ID again the easiest way to steal an Iphone is to request a recovery Key most people don't know their recovery key so anyone can fail the code that you use to unlock the phone then when they ask for the recovery Key ask for that if they didn't already give it to you they'd give it to you when you're locked out of the Phone.
This shyt is hard to explain so if anyone can clean this up feel free.
The whole reason they she's in trouble is someone basically found a way to track the location of her Boyfriend's cellphone.
Dude probably has his number given out to a lot of people.
But if you don't want to be tracked turn off Wifi and bluetooth put the phone in Airplane mode and put in in a faraday bay like a Mission Darkness bag.
Get a burner phone in the states you can use Mint Mobile sim cards bought with cash
If you don't want your phone to be stolen at the very least turn on Sim Card lock. When you get a Sim Card take a picture of the SIM Card Pin and PUK number.
If the SIM Pin is 0000 that's not a real Pin you put that SIM Pin in at the prompt until they tell you to put the PUK number in. That number is real and with that you can change the SIM card Pin and lock it and that's the easiest way someone can steal your phone and drop a new Pin in it.
If you have an Iphone you better know the recovery ID again the easiest way to steal an Iphone is to request a recovery Key most people don't know their recovery key so anyone can fail the code that you use to unlock the phone then when they ask for the recovery Key ask for that if they didn't already give it to you they'd give it to you when you're locked out of the Phone.
This shyt is hard to explain so if anyone can clean this up feel free.
a Lot of Youtube travel trick bums are taking consultations for basic ass information.
If you want to open a bank account in the DR go to Banco Popular and ask for a Qik digital account. You can open it with a passport.
Why would you want to do this?
The DR lives off low key scamming gringos so if you use a foriegn bankcard in a Dominican ATM not only are their fees for using your own money (you can avoid this with a Schwab card) but they will give you their own currency conversion rate.
In Colombia at least they'll ask you in the DR there's no way to aviod this so either take whatever you think you need by sending it to yourself by western union or get a Dominican bank account.
Seriously watch the currency conversion rate against what they give you at the ATM, You hit the ATM several times and the fees and conversion rate can add up
If you want to open a bank account in the DR go to Banco Popular and ask for a Qik digital account. You can open it with a passport.
Why would you want to do this?
The DR lives off low key scamming gringos so if you use a foriegn bankcard in a Dominican ATM not only are their fees for using your own money (you can avoid this with a Schwab card) but they will give you their own currency conversion rate.
In Colombia at least they'll ask you in the DR there's no way to aviod this so either take whatever you think you need by sending it to yourself by western union or get a Dominican bank account.
Seriously watch the currency conversion rate against what they give you at the ATM, You hit the ATM several times and the fees and conversion rate can add up
What's app security pro tips.
Nothing I'm gonna say is gonna prevent even the most rinky dink 3rd world Law enforcement agency access to your phone so break laws lead to broken jaws.
This is to keep nosy bytches Male and Female out of your business.
Pin protect your what's app go to settings and set up a Pin this will hep if you lose the phone and you need to recover your account on another phone.
If you have a Droid I'd set up a different profile just for what's app.
For random people you might want to set up disappearing messages but maybe not because a text and prove or disprove an accusation.
You can also either delete chats or password protect individual chats depends on you what you prefer.
Nothing I'm gonna say is gonna prevent even the most rinky dink 3rd world Law enforcement agency access to your phone so break laws lead to broken jaws.
This is to keep nosy bytches Male and Female out of your business.
Pin protect your what's app go to settings and set up a Pin this will hep if you lose the phone and you need to recover your account on another phone.
If you have a Droid I'd set up a different profile just for what's app.
For random people you might want to set up disappearing messages but maybe not because a text and prove or disprove an accusation.
You can also either delete chats or password protect individual chats depends on you what you prefer.
Wif security addons
Turn off the Wifi scanning and Bluetooth scanning on your phone you could be spoofed
Don't auto save public wifi make sure you have to connect everytime.
make sure that you're connecting to an HTTPS site.
Use a VPN
If. your route everytjing to Tor using Orbot you're good.
If you use a VPN like Proton, Mullivad or Quad 9. Quad 9 also covers an DNS.
Turn off the Wifi scanning and Bluetooth scanning on your phone you could be spoofed
Don't auto save public wifi make sure you have to connect everytime.
make sure that you're connecting to an HTTPS site.
Use a VPN
If. your route everytjing to Tor using Orbot you're good.
If you use a VPN like Proton, Mullivad or Quad 9. Quad 9 also covers an DNS.
I'm very reluctant to talk about finance because I'm not a finance guy I'm just a nikka on the internet but since several people asked I'll expound on what I do/ did.
Put your money in Ladders proportionate to your savings lets say you save 100 bucks a pay period put say 20 bucks in a no fee checking account 20 in a money market account 20 in a high interest earning CD and 20 in a Treasury Money market account.
Me personally I don't fukk with regular savings accounts because they have withdrawal limits and they pay less than money market accounts but on the flipside they have less to no penalities for withdrawals whereas Money market accounts usually do.
Regarding CD ladders since we can't know what the economy will do I buy CD ladders meaning 1 year, 2 years 3 years 4 and 5 year CD's so they mature at different times, Really the main reason to get CD's is to have ready cash that you can't touch for the direst emergecies.
As far as investments I buy ETF's and Mutual funds. I buy ETF's mainly because I can diversify easier with them but if you look at the costs of ownership a standard Mutural Fund might have a upfront free of 5% and maybe a 0.5% maintenance fee wheras an ETF might have a 2% annual fee. So you'd come out cheaper using the Mutual fund long term.
This is not me talking out of my ass This is what Dave Ramsey reccomends.
Any Finance bros feel free to chime in.
The more questions I get the more I'll answer there's no dumb questions.
Put your money in Ladders proportionate to your savings lets say you save 100 bucks a pay period put say 20 bucks in a no fee checking account 20 in a money market account 20 in a high interest earning CD and 20 in a Treasury Money market account.
Me personally I don't fukk with regular savings accounts because they have withdrawal limits and they pay less than money market accounts but on the flipside they have less to no penalities for withdrawals whereas Money market accounts usually do.
Regarding CD ladders since we can't know what the economy will do I buy CD ladders meaning 1 year, 2 years 3 years 4 and 5 year CD's so they mature at different times, Really the main reason to get CD's is to have ready cash that you can't touch for the direst emergecies.
As far as investments I buy ETF's and Mutual funds. I buy ETF's mainly because I can diversify easier with them but if you look at the costs of ownership a standard Mutural Fund might have a upfront free of 5% and maybe a 0.5% maintenance fee wheras an ETF might have a 2% annual fee. So you'd come out cheaper using the Mutual fund long term.
This is not me talking out of my ass This is what Dave Ramsey reccomends.
Any Finance bros feel free to chime in.
The more questions I get the more I'll answer there's no dumb questions.
Investing plus lessons
your emergency fund should be at least a 50/50 split in a large established bank in the country that you plan to live in ( and that's if you own a business and plan to pay taxes) and in an american bank.
The key to live if diverification if you plan to spend singficant time overseas you're diversifiying your living and you should defenitely do that with money.
So although you can and should make your money work for you as hard as you work for it and Online banks like Goldman Sachs through it's Marcus online bank gives you the flexibility of withdrawing money without penalty with a decent Interest rate I'd put my money in a large established US bank ( mainly Money market) with a no fee international ATM card
Ally Bank has a CD that you can add to over the life of the CD and gain even more interest but again totally online so be careful.
your emergency fund should be at least a 50/50 split in a large established bank in the country that you plan to live in ( and that's if you own a business and plan to pay taxes) and in an american bank.
The key to live if diverification if you plan to spend singficant time overseas you're diversifiying your living and you should defenitely do that with money.
So although you can and should make your money work for you as hard as you work for it and Online banks like Goldman Sachs through it's Marcus online bank gives you the flexibility of withdrawing money without penalty with a decent Interest rate I'd put my money in a large established US bank ( mainly Money market) with a no fee international ATM card
Ally Bank has a CD that you can add to over the life of the CD and gain even more interest but again totally online so be careful.
Baggage fees are going up an easy way to avoid this is to mail your bulk items to your destination. If you're traveling domestically even overnighting them is cheaper than checking the bags and way less chance of them getting lost or delayed.
Domestically the Post Office is fine internationally use Fed Ex or DHL. Even if you don't know your address you can pick them up at the Counter of the mailing service.
Domestically the Post Office is fine internationally use Fed Ex or DHL. Even if you don't know your address you can pick them up at the Counter of the mailing service.
I usually walk to my favorite coffee shop for a coffee and a donut everyday I get a little Vitamin D ( No diddy) excercise and sugar and seed oils. ( I hit the gym later)
Today most shyt was closed so dispite being on a health kick as of late I went to McDonalds.
Went I first got here I was kinda still eating standard american bullshyt like Cheetos and hitting up Mickey D's a couple times a week.
I'm a creature of habit so I alway got the same thing. Other than my buddy coming down a couple months ago I haven't stepped foot in Mickey D's for almost a year and when I got to the counter and ordered the Combo the chick said Sprite? I said You remembered. ( I didn't remember her) then one of the waitresses came up ( overseas McD's is a big deal they bring the food to you) and said You're from Washington I said How did you know? She said she saw it on my CC. Obviously my CC doesn't have my address but I did used to carry my US Drivers License in my wallet.
But I started using my passport card (not my actual passport) as ID that doesn't have my addrees ( it does my my city on there) but the bytch peeped my ID randomly and remembered me.
My point is the streets are always Watching ALWAYS. That's not usually a bad thing but remember you're the outlier in the area so no matter what you stick out in anything but the most touistic crowded areas, Your Reputation is everything.
Today most shyt was closed so dispite being on a health kick as of late I went to McDonalds.
Went I first got here I was kinda still eating standard american bullshyt like Cheetos and hitting up Mickey D's a couple times a week.
I'm a creature of habit so I alway got the same thing. Other than my buddy coming down a couple months ago I haven't stepped foot in Mickey D's for almost a year and when I got to the counter and ordered the Combo the chick said Sprite? I said You remembered. ( I didn't remember her) then one of the waitresses came up ( overseas McD's is a big deal they bring the food to you) and said You're from Washington I said How did you know? She said she saw it on my CC. Obviously my CC doesn't have my address but I did used to carry my US Drivers License in my wallet.
But I started using my passport card (not my actual passport) as ID that doesn't have my addrees ( it does my my city on there) but the bytch peeped my ID randomly and remembered me.
My point is the streets are always Watching ALWAYS. That's not usually a bad thing but remember you're the outlier in the area so no matter what you stick out in anything but the most touistic crowded areas, Your Reputation is everything.
Opening a Bank Account in Colombia
Foreign nationals living or conducting business in Colombia may be interested in knowing that they are eligible to open bank accounts there. However, certain requirements must be met, such as providing specific documents and meeting other criteria. Establishing a bank account is essential for effective financial management, and digital banking advancements have simplified the process for international residents. This guide is designed to provide critical information and insights, address all your queries, and guide you through opening a bank account in Colombia.To establish a banking relationship in Colombia, it is necessary to provide the following information:
- Proof of identity: You must present valid identification documents upon request. These documents include a valid passport, a visa that demonstrates legal residency (and, if applicable, work rights), and the “Cédula de Extranjería,” which serves as the national identification card for foreigners entering Colombia.
- Proof of address: Official documents like a lease agreement or a recent utility bill can prove an individual’s current address.
- Proof of income: Some financial institutions may require a minimum deposit, and it may be necessary to specify the origin of your funds if they do not come from a regular paycheck.
Once you have submitted all the necessary documents and completed the application, the financial institution will carefully review your details to determine your eligibility. Depending on the type of bank account you open, you may receive a debit card to access your new account immediately upon approval. Please note that remote account opening is not possible. You must be physically present with all the necessary documents at a bank branch.
Some banks may have a 6-month period where you cannot transfer funds between your overseas account and your Colombian one, so it is advisable to ask beforehand.
Remember that the documentation requirements for opening a bank account can vary significantly depending on the bank, the specific branch, or even the clerk handling your request. For instance, in 2019, I could open an account at the Bancolombia branch in the CC Oviedo shopping center in El Poblado, using my passport and a screenshot of my primary bank account as documentation.
Popular Colombian banks for foreigners
Colombia has one central bank, the Banco de la República, which the state operates. Colombia also has numerous commercial banks and foreign bank branches operating within its borders. Before traveling, it is crucial to research whether your home bank partners with banks abroad to waive fees. Some banks may charge a fee or take a cut of your withdrawal. Always compare exchange rates to avoid losing money.Central retail banks in Colombia include Bancolombia, Banco de Bogotá, Banco Davivienda, and Banco de Occidente. International banks operating in Colombia include Citibank Colombia, Scotiabank Colombia, BBVA Colombia, Banco Popular Colombia, and Banco GNB Sudameris.
Bancolombia is a widely used bank nationwide and has gained significant popularity. Nearly every business holds a Bancolombia account, and many adopt QR code payments that require using the Bancolombia app.
International Money Transfers
Popular options for sending and receiving money in Colombia include Western Union, Moneygram, Exito, Remitly, XE, Wise, WorldRemit, Xoom, and Ria.On April 1, 2024, I sent 1000 EUR via Revolut to my Bancolombia account. I paid an 18 EUR fee and received 4080006 COP, just 82000 Cop, shy of the official exchange rate of 4088990. In total, I lost ca. 38 EUR or 41 USD on the way.