Our Story...

Fran and I are two middle-aged Americans who have worked all of our lives. We successfully raised two sons and even managed to save a few bucks along the way. 

But in August 2008, we suddenly awoke to find the world on the brink of an economic collapse.  To make matters worse, within a two-week period, our employers both decided that our services were no longer needed.  Welcome to the world of global unemployment! 

With a bleak financial future staring us down, we made a major decision that is bound to have will have a profound impact on us for the rest of our lives.  We decided to pull the plug on this thing they call "work" - cash out and retire! 

It's funny how an idea keeps getting better as one continues to sip more and more wine!

Here is a look into our past

Due to the ridiculously high cost of health care and the insurance that goes along with it, we found it impossible to plan for an early retirement in the country of our birth!

We needed a strategy that would allow us to stretch our retirement dollar, while at the same time, not feel that we have to take a vow of poverty in order to live a contented life. The single element that needed to be addressed and overcome was our need for HEALTH INSURANCE!

Being retired is great, but without jobs, there is no insurance and that is a recipe for for disaster!

We're too young for to qualify for Social Security and way too young to qualify for Medicare.  The one thing for which we were certain was that we were tired of working.

Being typical Baby Boomers, we want what we want, when we want it!  

We needed a solution that would allow us to retire now and use just a small portion of our savings to tide us over until we qualify to become "wards of the state!"

All of our research kept pointing to developing a strategy that focused on retiring south of the border.  Costa Rica kept popping up as the place to go. 

Everybody we talked to kept saying "you can live like royalty for just pennies on the dollar!" 

Well truth be told, you can live for less, but like everything else, compromises will have to be made.

We were first bitten by the Costa Rican bug while on holiday back in January 2000 .  Since then, fantasy thoughts of "early retirement" continued to fuel our desire to return.  Now with the economy in the crapper, we decided to expedite the execution of our strategy.

If we were going to turn our lives completely upside down, we needed to be informed about the potential risks as well as the rewards.

Our first "due diligence" trip occurred over Labor Day week, September 2008.  On this seven day journey, we utilized the services of Tim Lytel, an American expat who is intimately knowledgeable in Costa Rican life.  Tim also publishes The Real Costa Rica website.

We weren't looking for a glossy sales pitch on how great Costa Rica was but instead sought an honest insightful and opinionated look into the pros and cons of retiring there. 

Click on MAP to see where we use to live.

Our adventure will be told mostly through the use of digital video.  Our objective is to chronicle our adventures and challenges while preplanning and executing our Costa Rican Adventure.

While Fran and I do not purport to be Costa Rican experts, we will endeavor to bring to you our view on Costa Rican life, especially how it impacts our lives. 

In the event statements or opinions expressed have been determined to be downright inaccurate, we want to be able to set the record straight or at least engage in an honest debate!  We encourage anyone reading these pages to contact us at anytime.

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