They knew they couldn’t afford to retire in California…
But Today, Deby and Chuck Are Living Their Dream Retirement in Costa Rica
Beach, Mountain, Lake, City and Country Living…
Quality, Low-Cost Quality Healthcare…
For $2,000 a Month or Less, You Can Do the Same
Dear International Living VIP Member,
Back in 2005, Deby Hogue says, she was working at a Montessori school and her husband, Chuck, had been working in construction for 30 years.
As Chuck used to say back then, “I am beat up from the feet up.” It was a natural time in their lives to retire and make some more memories.
The couple had dreamt of retiring to the beach, but they couldn’t see it happening for them in California, where they’re from.
On a surf trip to Costa Rica that year, however, they found what they were looking for in the little town of Nosara.
“We found surf, beautiful beaches, and great restaurants… and the place that would become our retirement home.”
As Deby and Chuck soon realized, while they couldn’t afford to retire at home, they could very well afford to retire in Costa Rica. And in their mid-50s at the time, it would be even earlier than they had hoped.
Nosara had everything they were looking for. A small town on the Pacific Coast, it’s sheltered by green hills to the east. But to the west, its beaches are the main attraction. There are five separate beaches here, in fact, in secluded coves and bays. The largest, Playa Guiones, is three miles long, and has been named by National Geographic as one of the top 20 surfing destinations in the world.
Imagine, retiring to one of the world’s best surf destinations…
These beautiful beaches and the laidback tranquility of little Nosara attract young, lively visitors who come to surf, practice yoga, and enjoy the stunning natural landscape and wildlife.
Everything you might need is here, Deby says, including a great market, a hardware store, a post office, and a small airport from which you can take a 45-minute flight to the capital city of San Jose.
“The town also has a nice community of expats from Europe, the U.S., and Canada.”
Just a seven-minute walk from the beach Deby and Chuck found a lot for sale for just $55,000. Relying on Chuck’s construction skills, they decided to build their own home.
The house has three bedrooms, one of which is accessed by an outside spiral staircase,” says Deby. “We call this “the monkey room” as it’s next to papaya trees that the monkeys love to eat from. We have a large patio where we put our dining table and I have an outside kitchen where I do most of my cooking. We are surrounded by lots of trees and plants… we have to constantly rearrange the plants because they grow so large.”
Chuck and Deby figure they spent $120,000 to build their home. (Try doing that in California… where a home this close to the beach will cost a million dollars or more…)
“We love our life in Nosara… it’s vibrant and healthy,” Deby says. “Chuck surfs and I have started to blog about my cooking and our life here.”
They eat out once or twice a week, mostly because Nosara is a fun place to socialize, she says, everyone knows one another.
“We usually spend between $8 to $12 on a meal. My favorite dish when we eat out is what’s called a casado—a plate of rice, red or black beans, a choice of fish, beef, pork, or chicken, and a colorful salad of lettuce, tomato, carrots, cucumber, hearts of palm, and avocado.”
As residents of Costa Rica, they’re enrolled in Caja, the national healthcare program. They pay $83 per month for that, for the two of them.
And while Deby cautions that Costa Rica is not the most inexpensive place to live, she says their monthly expenses are reasonable.
“We spend about $2,000 per month on food, gas, dinners out, car repairs. It really is a great life in Nosara… one we’re very much enjoying.”
You, Too, Can Have the Retirement
of Your Dreams in Costa Rica
For years now, Costa Rica has been one of the most popular tourist destinations for North Americans. Nearly a quarter of the country is national park land and protected areas. There are plenty of beaches, too, on both Pacific and Caribbean Coasts. And the country’s Central Valley offers a nearly perfect climate… never too hot and never too cold.
Retirees, too, have taken note of all this country has to offer.
Costa Rica ticks almost all the boxes on anyone’s retirement checklist:
- Conveniently close to home—With many direct flights to two international airports (and a third in the works), it’s close to the U.S. and Canada, (less than three hours from Miami).
- Excellent weather—From the temperate Central Valley to the beautiful tropical beaches, there’s a climate for everyone.
- Top-quality healthcare—The World Health Organization praises Costa Rica for its health care system, and has ranked it better than the U.S., despite spending 87 percent less on healthcare per capita.
- The most stable democracy in Latin America—No other country has the peaceful history and democratic stability of Costa Rica (and no army)!
- All the comforts of home—modern shopping malls and world-class hospitals. Reliable high-speed Internet is available just about everywhere.
- Low, low taxes—You’ll pay zero income taxes on foreign-earned income. If you buy a home in Costa Rica, your annual property taxes will be little more than $200-$500 in most cases. And there’s no capital gains tax!
- With one of the world’s lowest poverty indexes and a high standard of living, Costa Rica offers a surprisingly low cost of living.
Sure, some of the things I’ve just mentioned are also true of many Latin American countries. All are more affordable than the U.S. and some are even closer geographically (but not by much). Many have democratically elected governments, although few with as longstanding history as Costa Rica.
But as Deby and Chuck and others have learned, Costa Rica offers advantages most of us aren’t aware of:
- A built-in community of English-speaking locals and expats—it’s said that more than 11,000 U.S. retirees currently live in Costa Rica.
- It’s healthy… with little pollution and lots of clean water and fresh air. (Costa Rica is one of the only countries in the world to reverse deforestation!) A staggering 99% of its energy comes from renewable, money-saving sources.
- Adult literacy is practically 100%. Thanks to the well-educated, well-informed workforce, many international companies have offices, factories, and call centers here—contributing to the strong and stable economy.
- The happiest people in the world live here. Sociologists from the Happy Planet Index have said Costa Ricans “report the highest life satisfaction and have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada).”
It’s no wonder that many foreign retirees are living Pura Vida (the purely good life) in Costa Rica. And you could, too…
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