It’s been a year since I had my FJ shipped to Costa Rica. The initial inspection was done by the export shipping company I used, ShiptoCostaRica. The folks there took care of everything. All I had to do was pick it up. Now the time had come for me to do this myself. I must … Continue reading Riding Dirty
2018 was a year we will never forget. It was a year marred with tragedies, disasters, adventures and triumphs. Tragedies: 2018 started off with the loss of my Dad. (super heroes aren’t supposed to die). It was then followed, seemingly every couple of months with the loss of another loved one. The only thing that … Continue reading Year End Wrap Up
From the first moment we stepped foot in Costa Rica, the locals come up and just start talking to us in their native tongue, Spanish. When we would tell them that we don’t speak the language, “no hablo Español” they looked at us like we were kidding. This happened because we look like the Afro-Caribbean … Continue reading Spanish Lessons
What do an avalanche and compound interest have in common? The answer? They both use the power of momentum to grow. Compound interest is paid on your principle plus on the interest you have already earned. Once interest is added to your account, it starts earning interest itself. For example, let’s say you invest $10,000 … Continue reading Compound Interest
Long before there was “Keeping up with the Kardashians” there was “Keeping up with the Joneses”. When did trying to impress others become so ingrained in us that it replaced the American dream? Let’s look back at its origin. The phrase comes from the 1913 comic strip "Keeping up with the Joneses", created by Arthur … Continue reading The Joneses
"What is my relationship with money?" It seems like an odd question at first. But when you consider that the answer to this odd question will greatly influence your financial future, it definitely deserves your attention. When we talk about having a "relationship" with money, what we're essentially talking about is each individual's feelings and … Continue reading The Right Relationship
The secret is out. Costa Rica was recently named the best place to retire for 2018 by International Living. Now with more people looking at moving to Costa Rica, here are some things you need to be aware of before you come over. The cost of living is not as cheap as you think, especially … Continue reading Cheap Healthy Living
We decided to do a wrap up of our first 30 days in Costa Rica - our expectations and what we have learned. Expectation #1: We expected retirement to be sipping coconut water on the beach with the waves tickling our toes everyday. We didn’t envision being so busy attending multiple social events on a … Continue reading Great Expectations
We are finally settled into our beautiful mountain home. The weather is perfect, 70s during the day and low the 50s at night. This will be the temperture all year round. The best part of mountain living are the views from 5200 feet. From our living room we can see the town of Grecia off … Continue reading Mountain Living
Costa Rica is among the top 5 most expensive Latin American countries to live in and the highest in Central America. The Big Mac Index, published by The Economist, shows an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and provides a test of the extent to which market exchange rates … Continue reading Sticker Shock
Expat Ballers 