Costa Rica Investing – Do Not Leave Your Brain On The Plane!

Do not leave your brain on the plane when evaluating an offshore investment or a Costa Rica real estate “OPPORTUNITY.”

It appears that one specific type of ‘offshore investment’ known as the ‘High Yield Bank Trading Programs’ are up to their marketing tricks again… The following advertisement appeared in my ‘Inbox’ included in an email newsletter that supposedly has over 200,000 readers!

Offshore Investment “High Yield Bank Trading Programs – 72%+ Per Annum – by Brian XXXX – High Yield Investing is not a new thing, It has been around for many years, but has previously been reserved for the ultra wealthy….In some cases, anything between 6-50% per month.”

Yeah right! Whether it’s ‘onshore’ or ‘offshore investment’, when it sounds too good to be true… It probably is!

Do yourself a big favour and hit that ‘Delete’ button as fast as you can… When you see those kinds of headlines, you may want to question the credibility of the other information that they are feeding you if they are happy to include articles from people who plan to rob you!

There’s another ‘international’ newsletter that emails me at least once a week with some ‘secret’ offshore investment idea and there’s always some compelling headline in big, bold letters like; “How To Make a Million Dollars While Picking Your Nose!”

Actually that’s not fair, their actual headline on their 10th August email to me was “Discover the Amazing Secret That Can Turn $500 Into $68,571.43!

Yeah! Right! Like they do that all day long ….

Don’t forget that in many places ‘offshore’ (including Costa Rica) anybody can call themselves an investment advisor. They may not need to study for securities exams, they may not need any qualifications, experience or licenses and nobody is really watching over them so you have to do your own homework!

Many offshore investment ‘programs’ may claim to be investing in foreign currencies, in S&P futures, in real estate, undervalued stocks, in prime bank notes but the promise is invariably the same: They all offer what appear to be extraordinarily high returns with virtually no risk.

You may be asked to sign a ‘Confidentiality Agreement’ so as not to divulge any proprietary information, which is quite ironic because they rarely give you information that explains exactly where or how your money is to be invested.

You may be told that the investment is open to ‘members only’ which is their way of asking you to keep your mouth shut because what they’re doing is fraudulent.

At one time, there were many ‘programs’ available in Costa Rica but thankfully most of them no longer exist. Sure interest rates are close to record lows and your money market fund is paying you a big fat 3% per year but that does not mean you should throw your common sense out of the window!

Whether it’s in New York, London, Hong Kong or San Jose – any legitimate investment company will expect to be asked lots of questions, and a legitimate investment firm will also be happy to give you the answers to every single one.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1: How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, 2: Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore and 3. ¿Cómo Comprar Bienes Raíces en Costa Rica, Sin Perder Su Camisa?

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.