Welcome back!
A month and a half ago I was contacted about taking part in a documentary through this blog. Produced by Current TV, they wanted the viewpoints of young Americans living in Argentina on the recession currently gripping the US, as well as what our Argentine friends thought of the crisis.
Well, Saturday night we all met up in Palermo for a round-table discussion, and it was actually really fun. Our group of Americans ranged from 23 to 34 years old, with professions ranging from TEFL teacher to travel consultant. The only common theme was our expatriate status.
Questions focused mainly on how our experiences here in Buenos Aires could translate into helpful advice for young Americans. My posts on self-sufficiency and thriftiness came to mind pretty quickly, and I ended up sharing some budgeting advice and purchasing tips that I use down here. Since I’m a bit of a personal finance nerd, it was great to hear other viewpoints from people at or around my own age.
Advice from Argentine friends varied, but my personal experience with my TEFL students (some of whom were Accenture economists) was that that this sort of wake-up call would be healthy for the US. Rampant credit card debt, living beyond our means, buy buy buy; these are all going to have to stop. Argentines have been living very frugally ever since the collapse of 2001, so this new crisis is old hat for them. I’ve not seen any sort of self-pity or “woe is me” acts coming from young people here, and my perception from the news that I catch in Argentina is that this is pretty common in the US right now. Hopefully this collective belt-tightening will translate to more responsible habits for my generation (the fresh out of college).
All in all, I really enjoyed taking part in the documentary and was glad I got to hear so many different viewpoints. It sparked a lot of debate and made me examine my own views on money in a new light. The producers who filmed us said the documentary should be out sometime around May, so I’ll be sure to post again when I know the exact date!
