Retirement in Costa Rica “I am among the luckiest people in the world.”

I am among the luckiest people in the world.

I am sitting here eating fantastic baby back pork ribs and fresh corn on the cob, drinking a great glass of Chilean Reserva Pinot Noir wine, watching Anthony Bourdain visiting another exotic place in the world on our USA Dish network in HD.

Our house is equal to many exotic 5 Star Hotels of the world and we own it with no debt. We are at 4,000 feet elevation overlooking the San Jose, Costa Rica airport from our office and bedroom on the North AND the Pacific Ocean from our living area/kitchen on the West.

I have been running the numbers in my head and have concluded I have now received all of the money I contributed to US Social Security in my working life.

I am not sure how much my employers contributed over my 45 plus years of employment. I am very grateful for the monthly direct deposit from US Social Security to our Costa Rica bank account. Our current $2,800 per month SS allows this awesome lifestyle including our shared full time gardener.

I try NOT to watch all of the “news” and do not read the “doom and gloom” emails from past friends who appear to be living in a world of fear of what the future holds for them.

We, my wife of over 53 years and I, exclaim Wow! many times each day and evening as we watch the wonderful views which surround our incredible home.

We have experienced many medical challenges in our ten plus years living here. We have utilized the public and private health care providers and are both in better health than when we got here.

I have been treated for cancer of the vocal cords and am over two years cancer free. My wife has had her thyroid removed and is over one year cancer free. We utilized the fantastic private system for these and other problems at very affordable costs.

Our monthly national health care fee is now up to $130. This provides all Doctor, hospital, and prescriptions on an “if available” basis”. Local, private Doctors office visits cost $40 and will make house calls if we desire.

We now have four great dogs to keep us on our toes and loved and we have found that the veterinarians in all parts of Costa Rica are incredibly caring, loving, convenient, and inexpensive which allows us to give first class care to our ever increasing family of pets.

We have our home here which we could sell in case of a catastrophic collapse in the USA. Costa Rica is, and I am totally convinced, will remain a top choice for Retirees from around the world. All of our capital is in the house and we are investing our monthly excess income into building little rent houses for further future income.

I can build a 500 square foot, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, finely finished and furnished rent house with awesome mountain and Pacific Ocean views for $50,000. It will be concrete, steel, and glass construction.

I intend to build another 3 of these over the next 5 years. They will be located in our project that is 8 minutes from our main town of Santiago de Puriscal on all paved and concrete roads.

This project has very dependable ICE electricity, phone, high speed internet, and AyA spring water. This will be easily rented for over $700 per month. This yields about 10% ROI. Of course, the rent will escalate due to inflation which gives us the hedge we may need.

We hope there are no major, negative changes to our Social Security income in our lifetime but the worst case scenario is we check ourselves into a nice Costa Rica old folks home for $500 per month. We are friends with one of the care givers and know we would receive excellent, loving care.

We truly feel compassion for those less fortunate who are living their lives in less desirable climates, with inferior, less accessible, and higher prices medical care, less natural foods, more polluted air, higher traffic congestion, higher costs of living, and probably also worried to death about debt.

We gratefully enjoy each day retired in Costa Rica.

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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.