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Does anyone have any suggestions as to a company to move annuities and other retirement $ to from the US. I am looking for a place here in CR.
I very much doubt that there are any financial institutions in Costa Rica that could hold your annuity.
There are plenty of financial institutions in Costa Rica that would be pleased to hold your cash…
How many of them would I recommend?
None of them!
Five years or so ago, I wrote a book called ‘Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore’ which you can see at [ https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/500.cfm ] and as a Wall Street trained international investment advisor for the past 20+ years, I was accustomed to (please note past tense) working with a few of the most knowledgeable US tax experts for international affairs and for the most part, US citizens can not invest offshore any more.
There are few offshore companies that will do business with US citizens (no matter where they reside) unless they have VERY large sums of money.
I can not do investment advisory business with US citizens or US residents and have never given US tax advice and, unfortunately can not recommend anyone here that does.
Why? Out of the nearly 1,000 offshore hedge funds my clients have access to, NONE of them will do business with US citizens? Zero! Not one!
There are a few international newsletters that ‘sell’ the idea that US citizens can invest offshore and achieve ‘financial privacy’ and have access to funds that they don’t have access to in the US but, it’s only true “if” you have A: US$1 million plus to invest and B: Significant monies to structure your affairs with the help of battalions of tax attorneys, CPAs and offshore insurance companies…
And even then, if they think the authorities don’t know they’re moving their money offshore, they’re fooling themselves! And remember that laws change and attorneys and accountants are regularly ‘persuaded’ to ‘share’ information that used to be considered ‘confidential.’
There is a stock exchange here with very limited amount of stocks listed and limited liquidity unfortunately there are no investment advisors or investment funds that I would recommend in Costa Rica. This is NOT a financially sophisticated place.
There were many ‘investment programs’ which we warned about in my investment book.
Very few of those programs now exist (thankfully) but tragically 100% of the client ‘investments’ have been lost. I think that gives you enough information to make an educated decision if you are offered one of those “high-yield” programs – Run away!
My advice to my non-US investment clients is to keep six months worth of cash living expenses inside Costa Rica, the rest is safely invested ‘offshore’ in multi-currency investment accounts in London, Dublin, Hong Kong or Zurich.
Most of them have a serious amount of money invested in Costa Rica real estate which must factored into the equation when you look at your overall global asset allocation plan.
I love Costa Rica and it’s people but it’s still a small Central American country that some people call a Less Developed Country (LDC).
Lastly, whatever investments you look at here, just please make sure you are comparing apples with apples. A ‘AAA’ rated investment rated by a Costa Rican ratings firm, is NOT the same as a Standard & Poors ‘AAA’ rating..
Scott
IF you are looking to invest in a real estate holding in CR that you do not intend to live in, that is possible through a self directed IRA. There are about a dozen custodial entities that can facilitate that. These custodians are not fee based and are therefore disimpassioned with regard to specific investments. You can also partner with yourself on it or someone else or their IRA assuming it is a qualified plan. Most 401-Ks Roths Keoghs and Sepps fill the bill although annuities are a no no as I understand.
I cannot speak as knowledgably as Scott on the rest, however I am led to understand that the Patriot Act has at least contributed to the offshore funds recalcitrance to doing business with US investors. I would also make a tongue in cheek argument over the validity of S&P ratings comparability taking the MBS into play.
Good luck.
I am working with the President of a very large US trust company on a new book about buying Costa Rica real estate in your IRA
Should be ready early in the New Year…
Instead of major investing, how about a simple CD? I checked with a local bank (cooperativa “credit union” style bank) whose (dollar) rate for a 12 month CD was 4.5%. The colone rate was higher but I was only interested in the dollar account rates.
For holding a little living expense money that seems a decent return, since our U.S. bank is offering .7% on a 12 month CD.
CDMy understanding of the recent history of Costa Rican banks over (say) the last ten years or so is that they have been perfectly safe. I think I recall that a private bank here did fail in the mid-1990s but none has since.
That said, while I wouldn’t put all my retirement eggs in a Costa Rican bank, it does seem that a one-year CD here would make perfectly good sense. The bank is very unlikely to fail, and as you note the rates are much, much better. What’s more, the [u]public[/u] banks here enjoy depositor guarantees from the government much like FDIC guarantees in the U.S.
I said in this forum to buy Euros at the National Bank. They sell CD’s. Scott has touched on Everbank.com that has a special deal ubtil Dec 3. It is call a BRIC cd All the solid currencies vs the US dollar and the FDIC will insure any loss.
You can sign up on the Internet. $1500 minimum investment.
If you don’t have a USA address, you can use mine in Wi and I will remail your statements to you in CR. When I come down in Jan ,2010, I am going to bring some american gold eagles with me. .999 gold does not set off the metal detector. You need to go to Panama They are probabley the banking capitol of the world. If you have an account there with a branch in CR. The Euro broke $1.50 yesterday. You can use your IRA to buy anything anywhere in the world.
Stan
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