Costa Rica could be the solution Baby Boomer Retirees seek for their money woes

There are a lot of Baby Boomers and others who have had to put their retirement and life plans on hold because of the current world financial crisis.
Moving to a country like Costa Rica may help Baby Boomer retirees solve their indebtedness and enjoy their Golden years.
In a recent newspaper article it was pointed out that more Americans are reaching their 60s with so much debt they can’t afford to retire. In the past most people used to pay off their debts before reaching the retirement age. Unfortunately wages have barely kept up with rising prices over the past 35 years Americans have pushed debt higher, living beyond their means. Sadly, now many boomers and others are being forced to delay their retirement, cutting living standards or both.
All kinds of debt held by this age group have risen, but the big problem is mortgages. Thirty-nine percent of households with heads aged 60 through 64 had primary mortgages in 2010 and 20% had secondary mortgages, including home-equity lines. And the housing crash has made things worse. A few years ago, homeowners in their 60s with big mortgages could sell their homes for a profit and buy smaller places or rent. But the drop in housing values means that many homeowners have little equity, and some now owe more than their houses are worth. Unfortunately, the amount of indebtedness with respect to the value of their homes has gone up because house prices have fallen faster than mortgages have been reduced.
So many Boomers and seniors have little choice but to keep working. Some people will be faced with having to work into their 70s and beyond. To make matters worse the typical American household nearing retirement with a 401(k) retirement account has less than one-quarter of what it needs in that account to maintain its standard of living in retirement. Instead of boosting their savings as they approach retirement, a period when people usually make their largest retirement contributions, some older people are stopping contributions in order to service debts. Some who had already retired are going back to work because they can’t make the financial numbers add up.
Debt levels of older Americans have been rising for more than two decades. Of households with heads aged 62 through 69 and with mortgages, the median amount of mortgage debt hit $71,000 in 2007, five times the 1987 inflation-adjusted median. Most people make their biggest salaries in their 50s and 60s, which should permit them to make their biggest retirement-savings contributions. But partly because of debt payments, many are missing out on the end-of-career push that is supposed to boost retirement savings to where they need to be.
So what is the solution? How are retirees now or in the immediate future going to be able to maintain or increase their standard of living given the gloomy picture above? The answer for some is to move to a country like Costa Rica to salvage what they have left of their money and lifestyle. It boils down to either riding out the storm, which may take years, or becoming proactive and looking for a place to live where a couple’s Social Security checks and/or pension will go farther, thus enabling them not to have to continue working the rest of their lives. A couple can live in Costa Rica, have a decent lifestyle for a few thousand dollars monthly, enjoy affordable medical care and the other amenities the country has to offer.






