They were running with a fast crowd, as Ed Fomby describes it.
"We’re not in horrible shape like some are these days, but we’re not
wealthy — not like some of our friends in Texas. They can afford to do anything
they want. Alaskan cruises, shopping sprees, fancy homes and cars…and we enjoyed
doing some of those things, too.
"But we knew that once we retired, we wouldn’t be able to maintain
that kind of lifestyle."
As Ed and his wife, Beaty, both age 67, tell it, they’d done well for
themselves, he as a dentist and she as a physician’s assistant. But as they
started planning for retirement, they wanted to ensure that they’d continue to
do well.
Instead of tapping into their nest egg, they wanted it to continue to
grow…they wanted to use it to fund some travel they were planning…and to have
something left over to leave to their children and grandchildren.
Wouldn’t it be nice, they thought, if they could live in a place
where they could maintain a comfortable standard of living but be able to pay
their daily expenses with their Social Security income.
"Ed started talking about leaving the country," Beaty says, "and
going somewhere where the cost of living was lower."
Her first thought, she says, was that "Dreams don’t ever come true.
Because all my life I’ve wanted to live in another country and speak another
language."
They decided to do some research and exploring, and before long,
Beaty says, she was thinking, "This might happen."
On a trip through Costa Rica, they found themselves at the tiny
Gingerbread Hotel on the shore of Lake Arenal.
"If you’ve ever been to the Gingerbread you know how magical it is,"
Beaty says. "The food is as good as you’ll get in a gourmet restaurant anywhere
in the world. And the setting is something else…with that beautiful lake in
front of you and that beautiful volcano off in the distance…"
"The climate is what got me," says Ed. "I like to go fishing, and
although I do like it to be warm, I don’t like hot. Lake Arenal is just about
perfect…not too hot and never too cold."
During a Saturday brunch at the Gingerbread, Ed and Beaty met some of
the local expats.
"Wonderful people," Beaty say. "We hit it off right away."
They decided to look at property for sale. Near the town of Tilaran
they found a house they loved, but it wasn’t for sale. But the hillside lot just
above it was.
They stood on the lot and looked out at the green rolling hillsides
all around them They gazed past the grazing horses to the silver lake below, the
afternoon sun sparkling on the water, and Volcan Arenal looming majestically in
the distance, its regal peak shrouded in misty clouds.
As Beaty tells it, "I said, let’s just write a check. We can’t live
anywhere else."
Fast forward two years.
Today, Ed and Beaty are just finishing building their new home in
Costa Rica overlooking Lake Arenal.
"We have about $320,000 into the house…lot, construction, furniture,
appliances, and landscaping" says Ed. "And we haven’t skimped or economized a
bit. We’ve chosen the best tile for the floors, granite countertops, top-of-the
line bathroom and lighting fixtures, even massive custom-made doors…"
And, he adds, "We have a million-dollar view. On Lake Travis in
Texas, this would easily be a $750,000 house. Best thing is, now that we have
the house finished, our expenses are so low we can easily live here on our
Social Security income."
"We don’t have a bit of regret," says Beaty. "Sure, we miss our
friends back in Texas, but financially it would have been tough to keep up with
that lifestyle. Here, our neighbors — both gringo and Tico — are so wonderful.
And everything costs so little, we can afford to go everywhere and do just about
anything we want. We definitely have a more active social life than ever before.
And just a remarkably easy and wonderful lifestyle."
Ed and Beaty have a gardener who works for them one day a week ($4.50
an hour), a woman who cleans ($14 a day) and another woman who cooks three huge
meals for them ("So big we divide them in two, so we actually get six meals.")
for $50 a week, groceries included.
"If we want to go out, there are loads of great restaurants," says
Ed. "We have the Gingerbread, of course, and just down the road from us is
another gourmet restaurant where the two of us can have dinner, wine included,
for about $30."
Just the other day, they say, they were sitting on their terrace and
enjoying the view and talking about how fortunate and happy they are to have
found this idyllic place.
"Where we live is just gorgeous," Beaty sighs. "We have a little
creek…we even have a waterfall on our property. Sometimes we can’t believe we
live like this. We’re very happy."
"Dreams Really Do Come True."
I’m Jackie Flynn, publisher of International Living. Ed and
Beaty’s story isn’t unique. In fact, as Ed said, a lot of people are in far
worse shape. More and more baby boomers aren’t sure how they’re going to afford
to retire. And costs — of health care…taxes… food… transportation…
entertainment… everything, it seems — are going up.
And no one wants to accept less out of life…to be forced to lower
their quality of living once they retire.
That’s why I was happy to learn how Ed and Beaty have made their
retirement dreams come true…they’re not sacrificing a thing…in Costa
Rica.
"We fell in love with Lake Arenal and of course we found it through
International Living," Ed says, adding that "we have the most
incredible view of the lake and Arenal Volcano you can imagine."
The overall cost of living is so reasonable, he says, that "we
feel confident we will not run out of money."
It’s not just the cost of living, of course, that makes Costa Rica so
attractive to folks like Ed and Beaty. As they’ve discovered, Costa Rica ticks
almost all the boxes on any retirement checklist:
- Conveniently close to home — With many direct flights to two international airports (with a third soon to open), it’s conveniently close to the U.S. and Canada, (less than three hours from Miami).
- Excellent weather — From the Central Valley and its cool, lush mountain forests to the beautiful unspoiled beaches of both Caribbean and Pacific Oceans, there’s a climate for everyone.
- Top-quality healthcare — The World Health Organization praises Costa Rica for its exceptional government-run health care system, and has ranked it better than the U.S., despite that Costa Rica spends 87 percent less on health care per capita. (More about health care in Costa Rica in just a bit. Importantly, it gets these great health care marks despite providing free care to 86.8 percent of the population!)
- The most stable democracy in Latin America — No other country in Latin America has the peaceful history and democratic stability as Costa Rica (and no army)!
- All the comforts of home — The centrally located capital city of San Jose boasts modern shopping malls and world-class hospitals. And reliable high-speed Internet is available just about everywhere.
- Low, low taxes — you’ll pay zero income taxes on your foreign-earned income…very good news. And if you buy a home in Costa Rica, your annual property taxes will be laughably low…no more than $100-$200 in most cases. And there’s no capital gains tax!
Sure, some of the things I’ve just mentioned are also true of many
Latin American countries. All of them 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 did you know that Costa Rica has one of the lowest poverty indexes in the
world? You’ll be hard pressed to find a higher standard of living than you’ll
find in Costa Rica.
