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An Alternative View on the Economy & Retirement

March 19, 2009

There’s no question, this is a very challenging time. Thousands of people are losing their jobs and by most estimates, it’ll be years before we return to what was. For those in the prime of their working years, there is significant impact and hardship to be endured. But there is another group, those who have worked all their lives and are about to, or have just retired, who face a different problem. With the crash of the markets, their purchasing power has dissolved. Some have to go back to work, others can’t … the jobs aren’t there.

Those dreams of retiring in “paradise” are now too costly. Or are they? 

I’ve always been intrigued by those who have done things differently from the crowd and  then reaped the rewards later. I remember the house in Santorini Greece that I could have bought for $8000 years ago. I ponder the forward thinking friends who bought a beautiful island property in the Bahamas years ago … and now have it to enjoy whenever they like. And of course there are the email newsletters that touted the last region in Italy, the beaches of Brazil, Uruguay and Panama, all as perfect retirement havens where your purchase was also a good investment. 

About a year ago we were invited to do some marketing work for a developer in Costa Rica. When we traveled to the properties and talked to actual owners, we realized this was something special. Here was a place of exceptional beauty, great infrastructure, world-class health care, nice people and fantastic homes.  What really struck us is that this was a place where people could still afford to buy, build and live very well, on far less than in Canada or the US. … even now during this downturn.

My parents had an expression “You can’t see the forest for the trees” and in some ways that’s what I see here. Those in the retirement zone I’m describing, should perhaps look at their retirement options differently. It’s not gloom and doom everywhere and there are places that are not only relatively immune to the crisis, but which will actually provide an excellent investment alongside a great lifestyle.

www.costaricaforlife.com »

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