High Risk, High Return

¨High risk, high return. Low risk, low return¨ is what my now investment banker friend once told me when explaining a little bit of what she does with her clients.

In retrospect, what I am doing now, whatever you may call it, was certainly a high risk venture, but I question whether it will have a high return in terms of my personal growth? One hundred and one cliches enter my mind as I try to explain and give logic to this past month and a half, in which I have focused on settling in. But the biggest obstacle has been mental rather than a physical one - adjusting to a completely different reality. Sometimes, I can`t help but think that I should have stayed in New York as I encounter the hurdles of making my way in a new city, and in this case, a new country, culture, and way of being, leaving behind many of my familiar comforts that I pine for every now and then.

I have opened up new possibilities, new projects, and initiated new friendships all with the potential to go somewhere, however, it is up to me to give it that final push. All the while, rising inflation (the 1.5 liter of bottle water that cost me 4 pesos last week is now 4.25) continues to devalue my 2000 pesos salary and threaten my steadily decreasing bank account.

Despite my normal fears, I recognize that I have a lot privilege. I live in a decent neighberhood, with a fixed income, and I can afford to eat. I am never in lack of my basic necessities, but I am realizing that the Latin American reality is not easy. It becomes apaprent when passing by Retiro on your way out of the city, where a hidden impoverished community or villa is nestled behind the bus terminals, or even Corrientes and Dorrego, a bustling avenue where I take the subte (subway) every morning. Poverty is all around: people sleeping in banks, setting up beds outside in the street, or small children selling gum and other knick knacks in subway cars.

Buenos Aires is different to other Latin American countries infamous for their staggering poverty rates because this Southern city also contains a charming aspect seen superficially through its nightlife, many high end restuarants, and businesses, which all seem accessible. However, poverty and economic instability is very much an issue. Even then access is not spreadout as evenly as it might seem to me, an outsider. With my 2000 pesos and change salary, there are not many luxuries that I can technically afford, but they are just that, luxuries. It makes me think twice whenever I go out with friends on the weekend knowing that whatever I splurge on, I will probably pay for it in due time.

After speaking to a friend native to Buenos Aires, we both concluded that this is not the place to come and become financially stable if you are a young person. You will find that many young people choose to live at home with their parents until they have finished their education because it is a financially sound decision. In many ways, this life is not sustainable for this wander-lust kid suffering from what I have now dubbed ¨Study Abroad Syndrome¨ and I wonder whether my plans were somewhat short-sighted. The truth of the matter is, I got loans to pay, and my grace period is up (hehe).

However, as another friend pointed out, this is life and I am living it.