| Recently I led a group of prospective residents on a trip
around Costa Rica. After a week of traveling and attending
a series of informative seminars, most of my clients decided
they would like to live here for at least part of the year.
Some of them even wanted to invest in real estate. It comes
as little surprise that they felt this way. Costa Rica has
more Americans per capita than any other country outside the
United States.
Why do so many people want to live here?
The most obvious reason is the climate. People are tired
of freezing winters, scorching summers and the high utility
bills that go with them. In Costa Rica they can enjoy one
of the best year-round climates in the world (72 degrees average
in the .) We have only two seasons here, dry and rainy, both
with an abundance of sunshine. We rarely need air conditioning
and never need heat. Costa Rica has more winter sunshine than
Hawaii or Florida and fewer people.
Costa Rica is called the Switzerland of the Americas by many
due to its neutral political status and spectacular mountains.
From the huge, curling waves of the Pacific coast, to the
sight of molten rock tumbling down the sides of a volcano,
Costa Rica's natural beauty has something for everyone. This
unique little country offers a real paradise for the nature
lover, fishing enthusiast and water sports fanatic as well
as the retiree.
Many come here for the lifestyle. Costa
Rica Central Valley its the bill for anyone sick of the
hustle and bustle, seeking a more laid-back way of life. One
of the tour participants remarked, Costa Rica reminds me of
the U.S. about 40 years ago when everything was unspoiled,
unhurried and less crowded. It will also appeal to people
of all ages seeking to move to a new and exotic land outside
the States and Canada, as well as the energetic entrepreneur,
the burned-out baby boomer, those sick of long rush-hour commutes
and anyone seeking an alternative way of life.
This beautiful country is so appealing because it has the
warmth and flavor of Mexico, without anti-Americanism and
fear of government expropriations; the physical beauty of
Guatemala without a large military presence; and the sophistication
of Brazil without the abject poverty and with far less crime.
But Isn't It Expensive? Although much
has been written about the high cost of living here, what
you spend depends on your lifestyle. If you must have a luxurious
home, drive a late model car and buy imported goods, you will
spend as much or more than you would in North America. But
if you live more like the locals and watch your spending,
you will spend considerably less.
Many Americans living below the poverty line in the United
States can live in moderate luxury on a modest retirement
or investment income in Costa Rica.
The favorable exchange rate and low rate of inflation let
you stretch your dollars here. The cost of food, utilities
and entertainment are all substantially lower than in the
United States.
Costa Rica's affordable medical care is among the best anywhere.
The quality of health care is comparable to North America
but the prices are one half or less. Considered by many to
be the healthiest country south of Canada, Costa Rica has
a longer life-expectancy than the United States (76.3 for
men, 79.8 for women), rumored to be the third longest in the
world.
In most areas housing costs are less than what you would
be accustomed to paying in the United States. I just purchased
a new three-bedroom home
in San Francisco de Heredia, about five miles from downtown
San Jose, for $85,000. It has a cathedral ceiling,
sits on a 270-square- meter lot and is very comfortable
for three people and a dog. I have a 15-year mortgage
and pay $600 monthly including insurance, with a nine
percent loan from a Costa Rican state bank.
Besides our home, I have two cars and a full-time maid. Household
help makes life easier. (You can hire a full-time maid for
as little as $200 per month or $1 per hour.) My son goes to
one of the best private schools in the country. I eat out
a few times a week and enjoy various types of entertainment.
We spend a week at the beach during Easter and go to the United
States every Christmas. Our monthly expenses are about $2,500.
Costa Rica's inexpensive medical care, affordable housing,
excellent transportation and communication networks, and abundance
of activities with which to stay busy and happy, all contribute
to the country's appeal and place it at the top of the list
of retirement and expatriate havens.
According to a survey of potential foreign retirement areas
in the Robb Report, due to the high quality of life Costa
Rica surpasses all countries, including Mexico, Puerto Rico,
Spain, Portugal, Australia, the Caribbean Islands and Greece.
What Sets Costa Rica Apart from Its Neighbors?
Nicaragua, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala have lower living
costs, but you get what you pay for. The quality of life and
lack of infrastructure in those countries leave a lot to be
desired. Safety is a concern, especially where paramilitary
police have power or where police are corrupt, as in Mexico.
Costa Rica is politically stable and is unique in having no
army. Although theft occurs, violent crime is minimal.
One expatriate said about Costa Rica. Costa Rica has one
of the most pacifist cultures in the world. Think of it: it
has been almost 60 years since Costa Rica outlawed the army.
This is the reason that I always return to Costa Rica its
lack of an army. When I first arrived here in 1978, they used
to boast that they had more teachers than policemen. I don't
know if that is still true but they still put more emphasis
on education and health than any other Central American country,
not to mention the States and many European countries.
So to the person who is wondering about retiring to Costa
Rica because it is more expensive than Panama or Belize, I
would say research more than just economics because other
things in my mind are more important.
A Place to Invest Costa Rica has a myriad
of business opportunities awaiting creative, hard-working
individuals. You can run a global business from here by using
Internet access, fax machines and cell phones. It is also
relatively easy to start a small business on a shoestring.
Tax incentives and a government that encourages investments
and affords investors the same rights as citizens contribute
to a propitious business climate. Many countries either do
not permit non-citizens to own property or place restrictions
on foreign-owned real estate, but this is not the case in
Costa Rica. Anyone may buy real estate with all the legal
rights of citizens. Actually, an investment
in Costa Rica today is much better than an investment
in California real estate was 30 years ago.
What gets people excited about Costa
Rica is that it offers some of the best real estate on the
planet at affordable prices. The price will eventually
go up as the rest of the world catches on. There's only so
much beautiful beachfront and prime real estate left in the
world. When you consider that almost every bit of coastline
in the United States is becoming overcrowded and overpriced,
Costa Rica seems like a bargain.
Passive investors will find CD's, second mortgages or other
investments that pay 25 to 30 percent in colones annually.
These numbers are fantastic when you consider that a million
dollars invested in the United States at a standard four to
five percent annual rate will generate only $45,000 to $50,000
a year.
A burgeoning global economy and the Internet communications
revolution have created unlimited possibilities for doing
business in Central and South America. Furthermore, trade
pacts between Costa Rica, the United States, Mexico and South
America will soon become a reality. These free-trade treaties
promise to link all of the nations in the hemisphere in to
one trading block.
Costa Rica's current prosperity is being fueled by the immigration
of affluent baby boomers from around the world seeking their
own piece of paradise and the same engine that has fueled
the growth in California for the last 30 years, technology.
When Intel decided it needed more capacity, they looked all
over the western hemisphere and chose Costa Rica for the very
same reasons you will.
Word is getting out about Costa Rica. And that's why now
is such a good time to invest.
The Adventure of Starting Over Some move
here to start over and seek adventure in an exotic land. They
are tired of dead-end jobs or the rat race and want new challenges,
a chance to pursue their dreams and achieve greater personal
growth. As a foreigner, you have the challenge of immersing
yourself in a new culture and, if you choose, the rewards
of learning a foreign language.
Newcomers can make friends easily because foreigners gravitate
towards one another. One transplant from Florida told us he
had lived in Florida for 20 years and hardly ever had contact
with his neighbors.
He claims not to be the most sociable person in the world,
nevertheless he has made more than a hundred friends in Costa
Rica. He proudly says, Everywhere I go I bump into people
I know.
Why Some People Choose to Live Overseas?
Most citizens of the United States and Canada feel comfortable
living where they have always resided. Some are lucky enough
to have invested in property and have good retirement programs,
affordable health insurance, stocks, bonds or IRAs to ensure
a good quality of life during their retirement years.
Others may not have been as fortunate. They realize that
they may have not planned well and may be a little short on
money to maintain their present lifestyle. A simple solution
is to try to lower their standard of living and be more frugal
in their own country to compensate for poor financial planning
and/or bad investments. They can downsize to a smaller home,
move to a more affordable but less suitable area, give up
their yearly vacations, fire the gardener and cut back on
other areas of their life to just scrape by. But what if they
could move to another country with the same amount of income
and improve their lifestyle dramatically instead of reducing
it?
Living in the right country outside the United States. can
make all the difference in the world between just subsisting
and maintaining the lifestyle to which you are accustomed.
Costa Rica may offer a viable alternative.
The idea of living overseas is not new. The huge number of
Americans due to retire is staggering. Currently almost 40
percent of the population of the United States is over 50.
By 2020, half the U.S. population will be over 50. Most Americans
ages 41 to 59 say they will move when they retire.
Adjusting and Keeping Busy Adjustment
to a new way of life can take many months. However, an open
mind, a positive attitude and a willingness to seek out new
experiences can make the transition relatively painless.
Costa Rica has come a long way in the last decade. Satellite
and Direct TV, private mail service and the Internet make
it easier to stay in touch with family and friends in the
United States and keep up with what is going on all over the
world. If you don't own a computer, you can go to an Internet
café.
Costa Rica's modern technology has made life easy for foreign
residents. In most areas of the country you can get cash at
a local ATM, manage your investments online and read almost
any major newspaper in the world the day it comes out.
A friend of ours, a 20-year resident of Costa Rica, said,
My days are so filled with exciting activities and interesting
experiences that each day seems like a whole lifetime. I really
feel that I have discovered the fountain of youth.
Single men are attracted to the country because it has the
reputationof having the most beautiful, flirtatious and accessible
women in Latin America. It comes as no surprise that Costa
Rican women are highly sought as companions by foreign men
of all ages. Single men will have no problem finding love,
romance and a second chance in life with a devoted Costa Rican
woman.
You will never be bored here unless you choose to be. Costa
Rica has something for everyone. In The Tico Times,
the weekly Englishlanguage newspaper, you can find hundreds
of interesting activities: movies in English, support groups,
computer and bridge clubs you name it, Costa Rica has
it.
Living in Costa Rica can open the door to a new and exciting
life. Who knows? You may never want to return home.
One Expatriate's Experience Michael Pierpont,
the founder of Sunburst Coffee, fell in love with Costa Rica
a few years ago and knew right away that this was where he
wanted to live. You, too, may find that you want to spend
more than just a few weeks every year in this delightful country.
People ask me all the time why I chose Costa Rica, says Michael.
I like this country for several reasons. First, it is a spectacularly
beautiful place. Along the Pacific coast you will find rocky
outcrops and pounding surf. The beaches look just like those
in California, which is where I am from. But you can buy here
for one-tenth the cost of California. Inland you'll find a
lush jungle Lake Arenal, the Irazú Volcano and coffee
plantations and the most beautiful rain forests in the world.
In the northwest you will find white-sand beaches, many declared
turtle reserves, one of the numerous areas in this country
set aside for wildlife research and preservation.
Second, and important to me, is the cost of living. I can
live well in this country on as little as $1,500 per month.
You can rent a comfortable house in San José, where
I chose to settle, for $500 per month. You can employ a full-time
maid for $185 monthly. You will spend $300 per month on groceries,
$65 per month on electricity. You can see a movie for $3 and
have a nice dinner with drinks for $15.
Third, I was smitten by the people. Costa Ricans are good-natured
and kind, trusting and friendly and extremely beautiful. I
knew I'd be happy living and making friends here.
A few more notes on why I came to Costa Rica: the weather
is great, the Spanish colonial history and architecture is
delightful, the small expatriate community is welcoming and
an extremely interesting bunch. Everyone's got a story. And
best of all the taxes are low and easy to deal with.
Another Resident's View of the Country There are many reasons why people come to Costa Rica, but here are the reasons
I personally hear most frequently:
1) The sweetest people in the world. The ticos welcome
foreigners and, are affectionate, and sunny.
2) One of the world's best climates. Even in the rainy season,
it beats almost anywhere else.
3) Still affordable prices: you can build a simple but pleasant
home here for $35 per square foot.
4) A government that allows you to retire here with a modest
pension.
5) Almost any part of Costa Rica is cheaper than most parts
of the United States and Europe. Exceptions might be Florida,
Texas and other southern states.
6) Medical care is excellent and inexpensive.
7) The people here are generally handsome and well groomed.
The ladies I emphasize lady, please are pretty, slender, appealing.
We do not encourage, however, exploitation although it sometimes
happens.
8) There are micro-climates for all tastes. I personally like
the higher elevations and mountainous areas where it is cooler
and fresher. Others crave beaches, hotter and more humid.
There are literally dozens of climates, and you can pick what
is comfortable for you.
9) This is both a rustic, primitive country, and an upcoming
economy with many amenities, Internet, movies and shopping
malls the best of all worlds.
10) Although there is constant petty pilfering here, it is
also a gunfree country for the most part, and people feel
safer here than in equivalent areas in the United States and
abroad. The worst thing that might happen to you is that someone
takes your T.V. because they think they need it more than
you do.
Actually, Costa Rica is a Lot Like the United States
I've lived in San José for six months and
I've found I can get almost anything here that I could get
in the United States.
I live in a house with all the same services I had in the
United States: electricity, hot water to all my sinks and
showers, flush toilets, cable television with US programming,
high-speed Internet service, etc. The main difference is that
I don't have or need air conditioning or heating and we are
able to leave our windows open year round.
I go shopping at supermarkets, pharmacies, malls, and other
stores very similar to the ones in the United States. They
close earlier, but stock almost all the same stuff.
Más x Menos and AutoMercado are very similar to U.S.
supermarkets, except some of the foods are different and the
cash registers and sales displays are actually more advanced
than the ones I'd seen in the US. I can also buy liquor in
the grocery store which is a nice change from my home state
of Washington.
The pharmacies here are well stocked and you can buy many
more drugs without a prescription than you can in North America;
just tell the pharmacist what is wrong with you, and he or
she will hook you up. Hipermás is bigger than any Wal-Mart
I've ever been in. PriceSmart is very similar to Costco or
Sam's Club. There are Office Depots here.
The malls here are very much like the malls in the United
States, except the VIP theaters in Terra Mall in Cartago are
far superior to any movie theater I've been to in the United
States. Cars and gas are more expensive than in the United
States but are becoming more common as rising middle-class
incomes allow people other than the rich to buy them. There
are new car dealerships, used car dealerships, private party
sales, etc. just like in the United States.
I have yet to find a service that I used in the United States
that isn't available here. Not only are services widely available,
they are much cheaper than in the United States. A general
rule of thumb is services are cheaper and physical things
(especially imports) are more expensive. I said I have been
able to find almost everything here. Here are the few things
that I have not been able to find (yet):
- Christmas coockie cutters
- Bubble tea
- Foundation and powder in my skin tone (very pale)
- The selection of English-language books is not very big
- Occasionally the brand of shampoo I use is sold out in
all the stores at the same time
- The Sci-Fi Channel is not available on cable here, but
all I wanted to watch was Battlestar Galactica and I discovered
that I could buy and download the episodes from iTunes
Other than the above I have had no problem obtaining the
goods and services necessary to lead an American lifestyle,
for significantly less money than it would cost me to live
a similar lifestyle in the US.
Yes, there are some significant differences between the United
States and Costa Rica, but these have to do with culture,
language, politics, economics and climate not with the
availability of material things. So the people who tell you
that you can't life the same sort of lifestyle here as you
can in the United States are either a) lying (and who knows
what their motives are), b) living way out in the country,
or c) very poor.
Courtesy of Jacqueline Passey. Check out her blog! http://www.jacquelinepassey.blogs.com/
Why the Author Chose Costa Rica
About 32 years ago I spent a year as an exchange student
in Puebla, Mexico. It proved to be the best experience I ever
had and the turning point of my life. I truly became enamored
with the Latin culture and decided I really wanted to live
in a Spanish-speaking country.
I was bareley 20 years old and still had to finish my last
year of undergraduate work at UCLA. Nevertheless, I did not
give up on my dream. After graduating, I obtained a teaching
credential so I would have three months of vacation each year
to explore Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
My journey began with Guatemala. Every country I visited
in Central and South America had something to offer. But as
a whole Costa Rica was by far the leader of the pack. Brazil
had Rio and its vibrant culture. Argentina had cosmopolitan
Buenos Aires, Mendoza, the Pampas, Patagonia and Bariloche.
Chile had its Switzerland-like lake region in the south and
Santiago in the center of the country set against the backdrop
of the Andes. Peru had Lake Titicaca, pre-colonial Cuzco and
Machu Picchu with its rich Incan culture. Ecuador had the
Galapagos Islands and colonial Quito. But none of these countries,
including beautiful Mexico to the north, came close to Costa
Rica as a whole. So, after extensive research and travel I
decided the country where I really wanted to live was Costa
Rica.
I began to return to Costa Rica every chance I had. My first
trip was for two weeks. My next visit was for a month. Each
time I found a way to protract my stay. I was living in the
San Francisco Bay Area but foundmyself spending most of my
time thinking about Costa Rica. I really felt more at home
there than in the United States. Consequently, I decided to
follow my heart and move to Costa Rica to pursue my dream.
I did not want to wait until I was 65 years old and retired
to make the move.
All of my friends and relatives said I was crazy to give
up a secure teaching position and move abroad. They just couldn't
understand why I would leave the comforts of the good old
U.S.A to move to a third world country. Some even asked me
if there was a revolution going on in Costa Rica. Obviously
they were confusing Costa Rica with Nicaragua and El Salvador
of the 1980s. Needless to say, I made my move twenty-five
years ago and have never looked back. I love the country,
the culture and the people. My adopted country has been very
good to me and I have found success and happiness here.
¡Pura vida! |
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