Many years ago I studied as an exchange student in Mexico. I was lucky enough to live with a Mexican family and really fell head over heels in love with the country. After returning to the States I made it a point to visit Mexico every chance I had. In fact, I ended up spending about ten summers exploring the country and taking graduate courses in Spanish. My dream was to move to Mexico.

Many retirees also found Mexico the ideal place. Over the years thousands of Americans chose to make their retirement home south of the border. All of that has changed radically.

There is a virtual civil war between rival drug gangs fighting each other for control of the lucrative drug trade and the Mexican government trying to stop it. The wave of violence has spiraled way out of control. In Tijuana, for example, there are shoot outs in broad daylight with many innocent people being caught in the crossfire. Reporters have been killed by the drug cartels for trying to expose the people behind this crime wave. Kidnappings are also perpetrated by these same criminal elements.

This year more Mexicans were killed as a result of these drug wars than all of the U.S. Soldiers in Iraq during the last six years. This makes Mexico more dangerous than Iraq!!!! I know of a Costa Rican couple that was robbed twice I one day by different taxi drivers while visiting Mexico City.

Retirees are not immune from this widespread violence. Who in their right mind would want to live there?

Costa Rica is a much alternative to Mexico and therefore continues to be the most popular retirement haven south of the border. Panama and Nicaragua are making some headway but will never offer the choices nor quality of live that Costa Rica has. There are more Americans living in Costa Rica proportionately than any other country outside of the U.S. They can’t be wrong!

Costa Rica was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army in 1948.

December 1st marks an historic date in Costa Rica’s history. On this day in 1948 President José Figueres abolished Costa Rica’s army. From that moment on Costa Rica has lived as a peaceful and democratic nation. Besides getting rid of the army this decision had another important effect on the country’s development. The money that was formerly spent on the military is now spent on education and universal health care and has had a tremendous effect on human development for the average Costa Rican.

No other countries can make this claim!

This peaceful tradition continues to live. Costa Rica’s current president, Dr. Oscar Arias Sánchez was the recipient of the Noble Peace prize for being instrumental in bringing peace to the nations of Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Furthermore, there is no threat of terrorism here because Costa Rica has NO enemies. This added stability is one of the primary factors that make our unique country  such a special place in the world and perfect for a peaceful retirement and investment. For these same reasons large multinational corporations like Citi Bank, GE, Walmart, Intel, Proctor Gamble, Firestone, Amazon.com and many others have invested millions of dollars here. I am sure this list will continue to grow as more big players and individuals realize the advantage of investing here.

Finally, this peaceful ambience, excellent investment climate and unparalleled beauty are the reasons Costa Rica has become one top five emerging real estate markets in the world.

This is third or fourth article I have written about Costa Rica’s on-line forums. I usually write in response to something that really angers me like false information. There are a lot of so-called experts out there. This is especially true when it comes to giving advice about investing.

Currently there is a financial crisis in the U.S. which is bound to affect the rest of the world including Costa Rica. However, nobody I repeat nobody has the answers nor can predict exactly what will happen in the future – not even the real experts.  It really irks me when people dole out completely subjective advice about the economy or paint a gloomy picture about investing here.

What these people do is cause panic and investor confidence here. I strongly believe we will be affected the to some extent by what’s going on up north, but we will come out of it stronger than ever.  Costa Rica is one of the magical places on earth. Because of the country’s beauty it will continue to attract Baby Boomers, retirees and savvy investors who are looking for safer and alternative markets to place their money.

Furthermore, as I have stated before “The bigger are, the harder they fall.” Costa Rica is a small country with only a little over 4  million people. Smaller countries are not affected to the same extent larger countries are with bigger economies. We are also more self reliant in that we can live off what we grow here and the people are used to living with a lot less.

In addition, big players like Citibank, Intel, Proctor and Gamble and Hilton Hotels, to name a few,  continue to invest in our country which will help the local economy immensely.

When I read erroneous and subjective crap like the paragraph below from one of the forums, it really sickens me.

With regard to the real estate market and mortgages (of which I am an expert from previous life in USA with 200 employees under me), CR is about 12 months behind USA.  Everything in CR is way overpriced now.  Supply will exceed demand shortly and the market here in CR will crash within 1 year (just my opinion).  Remember buy low, sell high.   Right now things in CR are HIGH.

Lately, a lot of space has been devoted in the  media to the economic melt down in the U.S. People there do have reason to be alarmed. The situation is downright scary.

I don’t know what it is but I really feel removed form the whole thing living in Costa Rica. All of the events seem to be a world away. People say eventually there may be a “trickle down effect” here, but I don’t see it yet. Remember the old  saying “The bigger they are, the harder they fall”? I say the bigger the economy the harder it is hit in an economic crisis. Large economics like  U.S., Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil in this part of the world have traditionally been more adversely affected by economic downturns. It’s like a small business versus a big business. A smaller business can adapt, change and roll with the punches a lot easier than a large corporation with a lot of employees and offices.

Fortunately, Costa Rica only has just over  four million people. Puebla, Mexico alone has that number of people. People are accustomed to living with a lot less here than in the U.S. Furthermore, Costa Rica can grow 90% of everything its fruits, vegetables and grains. So the country is self sufficient to some extent. We also have abundant water for our crops, personal consumption and energy.

Costa Rica is the solution to a lot of what is happening up north in that “smaller is better” in most cases. People from the U.S. can come here to live or retire and simplify their lifestyles without sacrificing their quality of life.

People ask how Costa Rica’s hot real estate market will be affected by the events up north. Noted Costa Rica Economist Gilbert E. Arce  recently stated in La Nación Newspaper. “In the real estate sector the effects will be mixed. On one hand there will be less resources for acquiring property on the local level.  However, on the other hand, investors, especially foreigners, will try to limit the exposure to risk by means of safe real estate investments in Costa Rica.”  Costa Rica Rica’s real estate market may be the solution to its devastated U.S. counterpart.