Cost of Living ‘La Pura Vida’ on Social Security – They Said It Couldn’t Be Done!

Whenever I write about how I am living a nice, middle-class, retirement life here in Costa Rica and paying for it with my Social Security checks, many folks react with supreme doubt.

They are doing the right thing, of course, in questioning whether what I write about Costa Rica retirement is true. It very well may not be true for them – or for you!

I am a male who lives alone in a very nice two-bedroom apartment on the edge of a pretty little city in the mountains. Wives on occasion can be expensive, children even more so. I have neither.

Even men, those with wives and those with girlfriends and even some with neither, are perfectly capable of running up quite a tab living in Costa Rica or anywhere else if they wish. I just happen to be quite a frugal retired guy who doesn’t need too many things cluttering up my life beyond the necessities.

Some things I do need, however. I buy books and CDs – too many of both! I travel about the country. I go to plays and the occasional concert.

I do not buy every electronic gizmo and gadget invented, however. One computer, one television, and one radio/CD player are enough for me.

Most importantly for my budget, I do not own an automobile. Living here, I wouldn’t have one if you thrust it upon me. That’s me. You, of course, could very well be among the auto-addicted. It’s a common malady infecting (if I wanted to be more accurate, I might even say “destroying”) much of mankind (but that’s another column).

So just how am I living so well in Costa Rica on Social Security? I, just as you might be, was quite surprised to find it so. I had not expected to find that my savings had remained untouched ten months after moving here.

Let’s look at my expenses in March, which just happens to have been my most expensive month since moving to Costa Rica. Total amount I spent during March: $1,127.75

Here is a breakdown:

Rent = $250.00

Utilities = $103.23

Electricity = $12.39

Telephone = $58.71 A couple of calls to the States plus oodles of time on-line with my dial-up Internet connection (you pay for Internet time by the minute here).

Dial-up Internet service = $15.00: The standard monthly dial-up fee.

Mail service = $14.30: For the shipment of an order of books from Amazon by my Miami mail forwarding service.

Healthcare = $101.73 including Lipitor (20 mg): $79.92 for 40 tabs + 20 free (one box is free for every two purchased).

Physician: A personal visit to my personal physician: $21.41 (his fee has recently been increased by $3).

I am a heart patient, and five other medications I receive for free as a member of the national health service. I also have a Doctor at the health service who I can visit at no cost, but I prefer to pay for private visits with an English-speaking, Harvard-educated surgeon/general practitioner in whom I have come to have immense confidence.

The national health service is excellent as a backup catastrophic care system. Should an individual have a medical emergency – for example, suffer injury in an automobile accident – the national system will provide care at no cost whatsoever.

Statin drugs in Costa Rica are rationed because the government simply cannot afford to supply them to everyone with high cholesterol. Since I am not overweight and my cholesterol numbers are actually not very high, I do not qualify for free statin drugs. I must pay for them, although at a cost of less than one-quarter what I paid in the States.



Food & Household = $239.78. For one person, this is a large amount, I believe. It does include everything, however, from furniture, to brooms, to laundry soap, to foods I eat at home, to meals I enjoy in restaurants. March was particularly a good month for eating out. (Don’t tell anyone, but I even went to Burger King during one excursion to the capital city – and spent a grand total of $4.04 there!)

Transportation = $415.12. The most expensive month for transportation since I arrived. Why? I bought a round trip airplane ticket to Dallas, where I will visit my family next month. If I had tried a little harder, I could have found a much better airfare than the one I chose. My monthly average transportation cost for the past six months has been $39. I go far and often, and use public buses, lots of taxis, and occasionally a truck and driver to transport larger items I buy.

Clothing = $ 0.00: I read somewhere that you can always spot an expat living in Costa Rica because “the last pair of flip-flops they bought was before the millennium” and “their entire wardrobe is chronologically as old as the day they arrived in Costa Rica but fortunately it matches their flip-flops.”

Entertainment = $13.81: Since I purchased the airplane ticket in March, I felt I needed to cut back somewhere, so this was the place. My only entertainment expense during the month was for a few wonderful maps created by the Costa Rica National Geographic Institute and purchased at Lehmann’s bookstore in San Jose.

No concerts. No books. No football games. No travel. (However, don’t cry for me, Argentina. I’m making up for it THIS month!)

Miscellaneous Expenses = $4.08: I got a haircut ($3.22) and bought 3 newspapers.

They said it couldn’t be done. For ten months now, however, I have done it: spent less than the amount of my monthly Social Security check. You can, too.

Perhaps. There is really only one way to find out… See ya?

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Written by Lair Davis who has written many articles about retiring in Costa Rica. As a consequence, he receives far more email than he cares to answer. He is now a paid consultant, who works with a very limited number of clients. He’s retired, doncha know, and doesn’t want to work! You are welcome to contact him – lairdavis@gmail.com – if you would like to see if he is taking on additional clients. In your inquiry, please let Lair know a little bit about what your retirement plans are at this point.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.