Costa Rica may be the solution

In Costa Rica you can reduce your month to month living expenses and live very well.

The main concern in the article in the second paragraph are medical and dental expenses. As a resident in Costa Rica you can get insured through the Caja or public health care system for under $50 per month which covers 100% of preexisting conditions, lab tests, hospitalization and medications. Dental care is also affordable here. Even if you opt for private insurance here the cost is well under $2,000 per year. When you crunch the numbers you can see that by retiring to Costa Rica you can cut down on your medical and dental costs and live with dignity. Also take into account that hired help is more affordable, home taxes are lower and public transportation is a steal.

According to AARP retirement income and the recession are having a deep impact on adults 45 years of age and older. Their survey demonstrates 60% of adults above 45 making $25,000 a year say they’re not confident they’ll have enough for medical and living expenses in retirement. The survey goes on to show that 36% of those making more than $25,000 a year say they are not confident they’ll be able to pay retirement expenses. Forty percent of U.S. adults age 45 and older say they have canceled or postponed needed healthcare or dental treatments in the last six months. Twenty-three percent skipped doses, cut pills in half or did not fill prescriptions, compared with 15 percent of higher-income people. “Each day, millions are choosing between essentials like buying groceries or paying for prescriptions. It’s a devastating choice that no one should have to make,” Jo Ann Jenkins, president of the AARP Foundation says in a statement.

The survey also says:
28 percent stopped contributing to retirement savings in the past six months, while 14 percent prematurely withdrew funds from retirement savings.
48 percent say they have less than $50,000 in retirement savings — 16 percent report no savings at all.
63 percent experienced or observed older worker discrimination.
20 percent report problems paying their medical bills in the last six months.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults age 45 and older was conducted by Closer Look Survey June 9 and June 30. It has a margin of error of 3.35 percentage points.

Costa rica offer more places tolive and a lifestyle

As most people who speak a little Spanish know, Costa Rica means ‘rich coast.” Although not too many riches were found here, Christophere Colombus couldn’t have chosen a better name for the country. The name makes Costa Rica stand out from the rest of the countries in Latin America and serves as a lure for people around the world who want to experience all of the wonders the country has to offer. Many fall in love with the place and decide to live or retire here.

More and more people are choosing the country for retirement, just to relocate or simply to get away from with what is wrong in the U.S. most of the world. Costa Rica has more American residents proportionately than any other country outside of the Untied States. They can’t be wrong!

Let’s look at what the country offers: Located only two hours by air from Florida, Costa Rica has been called the “Little Switzerland of America” because of its unparalleled natural beauty. Year-round spring-like weather; pristine warm-water tropical beaches, friendly people; Latin America’s oldest democracy with NO army, no terrorism (the country has no enemies), a reasonable cost of living; inexpensive world-class medical care; excellent cheap transportation and communication systems; good housing options; opportunities which allow foreigners to start a business on a shoestring; tax savings for U.S. residents (make up to $91,400 a year tax free); plus a government that makes relocating as easy as possible—all combine to make Costa Rica tops on the list of expatriate retirement havens.

Costa Ricans have a fantastic sense of humor and often refer to their own country as “Costa Risa” which means “laughter coast” but really refers to the fact that almost everything here is a joke in the good sense of the word. The message is that it is far better to take things with a good sense of humor and not be bitter about life.

Costa Rican men often call the country “Cosa Rica.” Which literally means “rich thing” but is used to refer to all of the county’s beautiful women.

Costa Rica is not rich in the monetary sense but is in many other ways as I have mentioned above. Don’t get me wrong! The place is not perfect. What country is? Utopia doesn’t exist.

(1) You drive like a tico thinking you are playing a video game.
(2) If you start to address some Spanish-speaking male friends as mae or huevón
(3) If you get angry or upset you say, ¡hijueputa! (SOB)
(4) If you jaywalk without fearing a traffic ticket
(5) If you are a male, you have no fear of being arrested for urinating in public
(6) If you have no fear of bribing someone
(7) If you become less punctual
(8) If gallo pinto is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of breakfast
(9) If you are a man and you start to say piropos to beautiful women
(10) If waiting in long lines seems normal
(11) If you begin to tell a lot of “white lies”
(12) If you go to buy something and you say “Regalame” (Costa Rican way of saying, Give me…”) instead of “dame”
(13) If you become a soccer fan
(14) If you watch telenovelas (soap operas) and the local news in Spanish
(15) If you can give directions like a tico
(16) If the word águila doesn’t mean eagle but a cold bottle of Imperial beer.
(17) If you call Payless Shoes (pie-less)
(18) If you call Texaco (Tex- sock-oh)
(19) If you start to refer to the U.S. as “The Yunited”
(20) If you use the word Gringo when talking with Costa Ricans about other Americans.
(21) If you know that the word chorizo (literally sausage) means bribery or illegal business.
(22) If you use the vos form of most verbs when talking to most Spanish speakers.
(23) If you learn how to vacilar or joke around like most Costa Ricans and enjoy their great sense of humor
(24) If you say Estamos en Costa Rica (We’re in Costa Rica) to talk about the way things are here. This works sort of like c’est la vie or “that’s the way life is here.”
(25) If bars and razor wire on homes seem normal.
(26) If you realize that most male/female relationships here are like Spanish soap operas
(27) If you are a male, you have a mate who is half your age, you realize she is not with you for su linda cara (good looks) but for amor (love) ..amor de la plata (love of money)
(27) If you really know what the term pura vida means and “live it.”
(28) If you are a male and you begin to think like a Costa Rican man where the most important things in your life are beer, women and soccer but not necessarily in that order.
(29) If the tico way of doing things starts to seem normal
(30) If you become vivo or wise to the ways of the Costa Rican world and know how things really work here.
(31) If you know the difference between a “hotel” and a “motel.”
(32) If you refer to Puntarenas “El puerto.”

Courtesy of Inside Costa Rica

Retirees and others should have no qualms about investing in Costa Rica. Here is what the country’s president says about our economy.

Costa Rica’s economy is expected to post solid growth of 4.5% this year and 5% next year as the country continues to invest in infrastructure and open up the telecommunications industry.

“We are efforting this push into Asian markets to increase the rate of growth. We have a very ambitious program,” said Costa Rica’s Presidenta, Laura Chinchilla, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Known for its eco-tourism and coffee production, Costa Rica will boost growth by improving infrastructure such as ports, and by opening and promoting markets such as electricity and telecommunications.

Costa Rica has trade agreements with China, Singapore and the European Union bringing the amount of free trade agreements to 42 and increasing trade to 92% of total exports. It is also starting negotiations with South Korea.

Chinchilla, the first woman president and just four months in government after succeeding Nobel laureate winner Oscar Arias, is set to increase competitiveness by continuing to educate and train its population of more than 4.6 million.

Costa Ricans take pride in the fact that they are the only country in the Americas without an army, and 50 years ago established free education — a competitive advantage difficult to emulate in a short period of time.

With a skilled work force, and political and social stability, Chinchilla’s government hopes to capture us$9 billion in foreign direct investment over the next four years.

In 2009 inflows of FDI reached $1.3 billion of which 57% were from the United States. Most of the inflows go to manufacturing, real estate, services, and tourism.

Economic growth has come from the services sector with 60 percent of gross domestic product, industry with 32% and agriculture with 8%.

“Today, after serious trade policies based on the promotion and diversification of exports and the attraction of foreign direct investment as key elements, Costa Rica exports more than 4,116 products to 135 countries around the world, with a net worth of us$8.675 billion,” Chinchilla said.

“Our total exports have increased over 60 percent in the last decade,” she said. Imports however, reached us$11.4 billion in 2009.

Chinchilla also stressed security and prevention of the high levels of organized crime that other neighboring countries have experienced as one of her key issues in her domestic agenda.

“We are trying to design a regional agenda in terms of security issues,” Chinchilla said. “Our homicide rate is relatively low. We are just trying to prevent what has happened in other regional countries.”

In terms of bond issues, the president of Costa Rica’s promotion agency, Jose Rossi, said it would be favorable for the finance ministry to issue global bonds as global interest rates are low and as Costa Rica’s credit rating was raised to investment grade earlier this month by Moody’s.

The country has us$1.25 billion in outstanding debt, divided into five different global bonds, one of them maturing next year. If and when the country issues, Rossi said part of the money will go to repay the maturity due, projects in infrastructure, education and other debt issues with multilaterals.

Most people think of Costa Rica as a retirement haven for those who want to stretch their pensions and enjoy a high quality of life. However, there is another group of people who are becoming interested in Costa Rica — the wealthy.

I was watching Fox News today and Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and reality TV star, was interviewed at length about Obama’s proposed tax plan that would that would exclude those making over $2,000 yearly. Mr. Trump opposes President Obama’s effort to deny an extension of the Bush era tax cuts for people with income of more than $200,000 a year. “He’s taking away a lot of incentives from a lot of people that produce a lot of taxes,” Trump told Fox News. Trump also stated, “A lot of wealthy people may choose to move outside of the United States because of Obama’s tax policy.”

If the above happens don’t be surprised if a lot wealthy people choose to relocate to Costa Rica. Americans from different walks of life and with different levels of income all fit in here. There is something for everyone regardless of their resources. The wealthy will find the countries tax structure and private corporations very appealing for protecting their assets. There are more Americans living proportionately in Costa Rica than any other country outside of the U.S. They can’t be wrong!