By Ivo Henfling

Most people don’t realize they need residency to live in another country but your IRA, 401K or RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan - Canadian retirement funds) can be your solution.

There are many ways to apply for residency in Costa Rica but you have to keep one thing in mind: if a Costarican applies for residency in your home country it’s not going to be so easy.

Look at your options many years before you retire in Costa Rica. If you own a traditional or Roth IRA, you can transfer or rollover the funds to a self-directed plan with no penalties. Learn more about this way of investment and getting your residency in Costa Rica in place.

By Ivo Henfling

Quite some years ago, when nobody had a website, all the Costa Rica real estate companies used to advertise in The Tico Times. There were no magazines, no online newspapers and the Tico Times was the only weekly newspaper in English in print. Once a year, they would publish their real estate supplement and there were like 15 real estate companies in the whole country.

One real estate agency paid for ½ a page advertisement and it turned out that the other half was dedicated to an article describing how easy it was to lose your property in Costa Rica to squatters. That agency did not buy any advertising from the paper for a long time.

by Claude Dugas

In another blog, a couple of weeks ago, I told you who I am and how I ended up in Atenas – Costa Rica. Today, I will tell you more about the town of Atenas and what it means to me to live here, a dream that came true, now 12 years ago.

In those days, when driving around Atenas, you could meet about three or four foreigners in a whole day. Today if you stop at any street corner, any time of the day you’re sure to count at least five or six of us just by looking around, all happy and enjoying the beautiful weather and the slow pace of Atenas. In Atenas, you’ll find quite a few outstanding residential communities where mostly expats are living.

By Guestblogger I.J. Zemelman, EA.

Moving overseas mid tax year is not an uncommon venture for most expats.  When you think about it logically, the average taxpayer is not going to plan his/her move around the tax year.  Additionally, opportunities do not normally present themselves in a tax ideal situation.  No matter which day you actually move overseas, your move will undoubtedly have a moderate or huge impact on your US expat taxes. 

As you are probably are aware, moving to an international location may qualify you for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE).  US Citizens moving abroad mid tax year can request an extension for the due date of their US expat taxes so that they meet one of the 2 tests for qualification and are able to exclude a sizable portion of their foreign earned income.

by Ivo Henfling

Many people who are thinking of moving to Costa Rica use the Costa Rica Forums to find information. There are some real nice Costa Rica forums where people try to help each other.

Others have active members who should have never moved to Costa Rica or should just be sent back to where they came from.

They do not deserve to live in a great country like Costa Rica because they are angry people, they are negative about everything and are not there to help others but to complain and be nasty. I guess because they haven’t figured out how to be a happy person or they’re just ignorant.