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I wonder how many people read this forum would really love to move here but wonder if it will really be for them. I would love to get a sense of what is really holding people back from taking the step to health and happiness.
Great question …
I do ask people this in my consulting calls with them and could give you a few of their responses but, would prefer start fresh here…
Come on them folks!
What exactly is holding you back from living the good life in Costa Rica?
The unknown. Most are afraid of it. Boggey men under the bed etc etc. It goes back to the subject of why people come here and leave.
They don’t know themselves so they don’t know their wants.
Information is only as good as the person using it. You put high octane gas into a dragster and it roars.
Put it into a VW bug and you seel little reults.
So the info is good stuff to a point, but what really makes people move is passion. Unfourtunately people use other peoples passion to sell them something that is not a fit. This salesman attitude creates money for the seller but leaves inappropriate byers holding the bag.
Give someone who knows Costa Rica and themselves the right info about a house to rent or property to buy and then you will see results.
It is all about their readiness.
That readiness has a fondation and layer of knowledge built upon it before many pull the trigger.
Other just jump without any exterior foundation at all. Their foundation is knowing their needs – it’s an interior foundation. These types now they can live anywhere they choose because they know themselves enough to choose correctly.
What is holding me back is the fact that I do not speak the language. I have spent time in Costa Rica and will return yearly for a month or two at a time, but I am not willing to give up the ease of living in the States. I am uneasy when in a crowd of people and not understanding the language around me. Yes, it happens here in the States but I can control my exposure to that, in Costa Rica it is anytime I am shopping, dining, or sight seeing. In reading this forum, many bring the same wants from the States wishing to change those around them. I love the Ticos and would not want to change them. The ones I have met have been wonderful and thankfully spoke English. To be fair to them, and because I think all those who come to the States should speak the local language, I will not be moving to Costa Rica full time but enjoying the country as a warm weather get-away from cold, damp, Maryland winters.
2 things – I need to be able to work, and, I’ve never lived away from my hometown and I’m worried about making so many changes at once. Location, language, culture, food = homesick. But I’m working on it. One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to move down there this year!
Interesting, seminolelady. My wife is a native Michigander who lived there all her life ’til she retired. Then we sold out and moved to the beach in North Carolina and then to Costa Rica. Marcia says she could never have made the transition to Costa Rica in one step. She needed to break her traditional Michigan ties first.
I sometimes wonder if those who are not happy with the move to Costa Rica have made too abrupt a change in too short a time. Visits here help you to get to know the place and the people, but breaking one’s traditional ties, losing one’s traditional comforts and familiarities, is another thing altogether.
I am in the middle of a divorce, there is property to split up and my only source of income is my buisness. I have wanted to move since I first saw Costa Rica 5 years ago. So I am daunted by the chalange of living in a oountry that I do not have the ability to generate income in. The language doesn’t stop me but probibly should be more of a concern. I am a jeweler and would like to start a small buisness that employed a few locals to hand make jewelry. Not only for my own income but to involve me in the comunity and teach some locals how to earn a living in a creative and satisfing manner. The chalange of being so far away from what is familiar and far from my two collage age children on a limited budget have slowed but not stopped me from persuing the idea of making a move to Costa Rica someday
A couple of items are holding my wife and I from retiring somewhere warm. First she has until the end of the school year to join me in retirement. That problem is easily solved. The big problem is selling any one of our properties. We’ve downsized, moved into our rental and have been trying to sell the other house and acreage that was to be used for our retirement home. We’ve been to Costa Rica. Loved the people, the country is beautiful. Only one item turned us off about C.R.. The trash along the roads, everywhere we went. We are coming back this fall. We will look at the Pacific side this time. We are probably goning to look at other countries too. Keep all options open. Maybe our house will sell this summer. Anyway we will be back. Pura Vida
The inability to sell the house for what I want to get out of it. I think many people are in the same predicament; trapped by loss of worth and waiting it out. I have no language or cultural barriers. I love the country more than my own. I can work via the internet for 1/3 of what I make and be fine, but the equity is what would fund land purhase and construction costs.
OK … we have a few rental properties here in the states that we are planning to find management for. That should bring me as much or more income than SS (which I cannot collect for 10 years, so if there is truth to living on SS income in CR We will be there!
What is really holding me back is my family obligations. I have an 83 year old Dad who is very healthy (we hope when we move he will want to come with us). I am divorced and very happily remarried. I have 3 daughters and 2 step children…one daughter graduated from college (and still finding herself … with all the talk of CR in our home she is planning to study abroad in CR while getting her Masters in education), one going into college and one going into High School. The step kids are now grown ups…sort of! We are really waiting to get my youngest into college. We have less than 5 years in which to dream and plan. Barb is on board with me, so far nothing is scaring her.
The things attracting us to CR are the low profile government, low taxes, great climate, healthy unprocessed food, friendly natives (we can learn from their stress free lifestyle), great scenery and seemingly affordable housing for such a paradise. Oh did I mention low cost and quality healthcare?
Speaking of paradise, I believe you can find paradise anywhere in the world because it only really exists inside yourself. That said, I think the CR way of life can bring out my paradise! I look forward to the days when I wake up and say “another day in paradise!”. Hope to see you all there one day soon.
Mike
At one point it was only time (time to sell realestate in the U.S., time for retirement to kick in but that was secondary as I know I can move then wait to get full time “retiresta” status.). I operate an internet business that can be run from anywhere in the world so income was not a problem.
I was recently divorced and ready for the “grand adventure”. I had visited friends in Costa Rica and knew I could make a new life there.
I was surprised when I told my children that I was going to “retire in Costa Rica”. They both saw it as a travel opportunity. My parents were not as positive but my mother felt much like my kids. – a chance for cheap travel.
Then life changes, The economy has hurt everyone’s sales and my have slowed ours. But I also fell in love and now live with a lady that does not want to live in Costa Rica full time. How we are going to settle this I do not know. A significant part of the problem is that I was not planning on maintaining two homes.
So now I am 6 years into a 2 year plan with the “plan” in limbo. For most of us “life” often makes these decisions for us. I thought that for once I had a plan and *I* was taking charge of my future. So, we will see. Life changes.
IF you can make this move, DO IT! I hesitated and life made the decision for me. . . Not speaking the language should NOT be a deterrent if you are willing to learn. It will come quickly with full immersion.
Folks that need to earn income in Costa Rica SHOULD think long and hard about it. As mentioned above you just do not “go to work” in Costa Rica. Its illegal. BUT, you can start and manage a business that employs Ticos, sells locally OR exports. It IS LEGAL to manage your own financial affairs and this has been extended to managing a business. Articles in recent years discussed how the Tico wage rate could not compete with the Chinese BUT was close. So manufacturing in CR is a possibility and in my opinion a MUCH BETTER option than sending work to China. You just can’t be the sole worker in your “business” or go to work for someone else.
Costa Rica is still my dream. . . .
There is trash in the streets in every latin american country. I recently went to Spain and Barcelona had a lot of trash compared to Madrid. The southern US has an inordinate amount of trash compared to the Pacific states. I have never been to a developing or underdeveloped country that does not have trash.
Lastly, your posts are being deleted by the webmaster for what I would guess as inappropriate, non-contributory content.NOTHING is holding me back. My husband are working to get all our ducks in order before moving and have a 5 year plan (we’re in our 30’s). We have to get a savings in order to buy a property is the main thing. Then, we want to run a small B & B type place where we can hire locals, meet new people and support ourselves. Of course, we want to be sure and do everything legally as well.
We can’t wait to join you all down there!
Good point David. But maybe the answer is yes. For a country that brags about it’s carbon footprint, they are only looking up. Not straight ahead, because you might step on more than trash, had to navigate more than one pile. I’ve been to Belize and I don’t remember the trash problem there. That being said, it doesn’t keep me from moving to this beautiful country. But it does go into the plus and minus list.
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