Costa Rica Investing in Offshore Funds

Below you will find the complete letter written Sr. Federico Carrillo-Zurcher who was until recently the Costa Rican Minister of Finance and the former Chief Executive Officer, Bolsa Nacional de Valores (BNV) – The largest Stock Exchange in Central America, also, former Senior Vice President of Lehman Brothers in New York.

This is the updated version of the letter that appeared in the printed version of the book and appears in the digital version of Scott Olivers’ Costa Rica investment guide book: Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore

“As a Costa Rican who came back to my country of origin after spending ten years of my professional life working with Lehman Brothers in New York City and Mexico, I have learned that the biggest challenge for the development of the Costa Rican securities market is the lack of visionaries, with experience and professional training, willing to come to this small country with the strong conviction of providing the Costa Rica securities market with the appropriate tools for its development.

Scott Oliver is one of these few visionaries. Over the last four years, he has shown me that Costa Rica might become a regional financial center after all, thanks only to the efforts of professionals like him.

Scott’s qualifications are those that any serious investor must require before talking to a person who calls himself a financial advisor. For many years Scott was a Registered Representative in New York in the U.S., having passed all qualifying securities examinations (Series 7, Series 63 and Series 3). He is the President of Consultores Britanicos S.A. in Costa Rica, a foreign affiliate of a registered broker/dealer in the USA, licensed to open securities trading accounts on behalf of clients.

Through this formal structure, typical in developed markets, money invested by Costa Rican investors is held by a New York Stock Exchange member firm (NYSE) and, clients enjoy unlimited protection including US$500K SIPC insurance coverage to protect your assets. If anything were to happen to the brokerage company or the NYSE firm that holds the client assets, you would be assured to get the value of your investments because of this coverage. He also can show his investment clients how to invest in more sophisticated hedge fund type investments.

Scott has been quoted in numerous magazines and his views are highly respected by other specialists in the field. This book includes some of his views regarding investing offshore in various securities but especially offshore mutual funds, ideal investment tools for international investors, as well as an in depth overview of relevant concepts such as investment strategies, diversification, dollar cost averaging, time spans, risk-rewards, benefits of investing in stocks over the long term and other ‘must-know’ concepts for every serious investor.

In short, Scott teaches us that the only way of profiting from securities is to follow a disciplined, professional investment methodology, understanding the real risks and rewards of each type of investment, and accommodating such to the specific objectives and risk aversion preferences of each investor.

I truly appreciate these concepts from a professional, theoretical standpoint as well as from my own personal investment experience with Scott as my international investment advisor. In our year-end portfolio evaluation meeting in January 2004, I was very pleased to see that every single investment fund recommended by Scott that is presently held in our familys’ globally diversified investment account has increased dramatically.

Even after all fees and commissions have been factored into the equation, my single largest fund holding is a US value stock fund which has increased in value by 40%. The smaller companies fund is up by 33%, the health care fund is up 33%, one European fund is up 40% and the other is up 33%. The international fund is up by 22% and emerging markets fund is up by 27%. One conservative fixed income fund is up by 8% and the other guaranteed income fund is up by 17%

Not only have Scott’s investment recommendations performed better than the comparable indices, his attention to detail is impeccable. His personal service and level of client communication has also been excellent, as he has always been reachable at any time day and night. And in general I have been very pleased with our relationship and hope to maintain Scott, both as a financial advisor and as a friend, for years to come.

In the past, Scott and I have shared multiple projects, including trying to establish formal qualification requirements for financial representatives in Costa Rica and drastically increasing the sophistication of Costa Rican investors.

I know his strong will and determination, together with his excellent training and qualifications, will make a big contribution towards our common goal of helping Costa Rica become a first class regional financial center. This book is an invaluable tool towards that end.”

This offshore investment book and the offshore strategies implemented are available to non-US citizens/residents and non-Canadian residents only. Canadians legally resident in Costa Rica and other nationalities may apply.

Please feel free to contact us here

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.