For us US citizen, the 5 years tax holiday does nothing for us.

But it is interesting through about Windsor Canada.

I am hoping for HK. My reason is China will be replacing US as the world biggest economy in a decade or two. Want to be where the action is. My wife is a China national and she has a lot of her friends in China.

sorry I didn't read the entire thread, but its not clear to me if you have lived in the caribbean for an extended period of time? I would suggest take some time and live in the caribbean for 3-6 months before the final move.

just to share, tired of the cold weather in the NE US. I always wanted to live in California, particularly San Fransico. I thought SF would offer big city life similiar to NYC. Thankfully before our final move, my wife and I rented one of those fully furnished apartment for four months in Japantown section of SF. After couple of months we realized SF was not for us. We both missed our extended family in NE. The weather is weird in SF, even in summer its cold and damp! and the whole timezone thing, three hours behind the east coast was unsettling. So back happily living in New York again....

Counting the days now, Playa Del Carmen....

I was looking to Costa Rica destination and I will go there for 3 months in order to discover the country and to prepare my retirement there ... arrival date is on march 20 in Costa Rica .

For french speaking futures.io (formerly BMT) members , you can look at my blog Echos du Costa Rica ( sorry for you english speaking members to have written it in french for my friends and relatives )

Best regards

Counting the days now, Playa Del Carmen....

Congrats, when do we leave?

Mike

What do you think of the Atenas region of Costa Rica?

Mike

@Big Mike

Somehow this is not the image I had of how you would spend your retirement...

Ox Cart Parade in Atenas

?

Taxation in the British Virgin Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

latency might be a problem if the wireing looks like this...




Having been to parts of Africa and India,no ways in hell am I going to give up my US Passport.



side note

Thanks ThatmanfromTexas,

I had to delay my trip to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks ... now in may 2012
As far as I know , and as you said , there are areas with plent of expat ( american and others) but I will avoid these areas like Tamarindo for the same resaons you have highlited .
I will hunt for housing in the south of Nicoya peninsula ( motezuma , samara .. ) .



Best regards

After years and years searching and testing, I found Anguilla, little island near St-Maarten.
Coming from Europe, taning all day long in front of my screens until 10pm (US close), I wanted a place with a better schedule and better life. Now I trade until 4pm only, with sea view, and 5mn from the beach.
This island has nearly all I expected :
nice people, nice place, nice white sand empty beaches, warm water, good wind for kitesurfing, easy plane connection (St-Maarten), hosital public and private, internet connection (I have 3Mb, 8Mb possible) better ping to US than Europe, good restaurants and good farm vegetables, security, lot of activities, tennis, golf, boat, diving, fishing..., and even a small airport for your jet plane (used by many famous people), good place to invest.
I forgot, no tax for offshore activities. Electricity a bit expensive and some taxes on all imported goods.
Also an international community with very nice people.
Most of all, very peaceful and no stress !
But please, keep it as a secret to preserve this little paradise ;-)

After years and years searching and testing, I found Anguilla, little island near St-Maarten.
Coming from Europe, taning all day long in front of my screens until 10pm (US close), I wanted a place with a better schedule and better life. Now I trade until 4pm only, with sea view, and 5mn from the beach.
This island has nearly all I expected :
nice people, nice place, nice white sand empty beaches, warm water, good wind for kitesurfing, easy plane connection (St-Maarten), hosital public and private, internet connection (I have 3Mb, 8Mb possible) better ping to US than Europe, good restaurants and good farm vegetables, security, lot of activities, tennis, golf, boat, diving, fishing..., and even a small airport for your jet plane (used by many famous people), good place to invest.
I forgot, no tax for offshore activities. Electricity a bit expensive and some taxes on all imported goods.
Also an international community with very nice people.
Most of all, very peaceful and no stress !
But please, keep it as a secret to preserve this little paradise ;-)

Friend of mine said the beaches were a bit nasty for snakes and stuff... I think I will stick with the white sands of the Caribbean..

Number 5 on the list of World's Most Dangerous Airport Approaches

If that video is real that's just crazy!

Guess it's real.

Guess it's real. That's not at all safe. They should close off that
area of the beach. (Nice video.)

hope she is ok.
They been doing that for years. I am subscribed to a few Airline video channels,show them all the time.

F=MA

I've been there. It's real

Mike

I've also read a lot about just how wet the rainy season is, where it can rain for months on end on an almost daily basis.

Hawaii has better climate, but is many times more expensive... @Private Banker and others, how often does it rain in Hawaii? And what does a modern high-end 5,000 sqft home go for (not near a beach)?

Mike

Hawaii vs. Costa Rica: the Cost of Paradise
Posted by Frederic
I’m typing this from the 19th floor of an apartment in Waikiki in Honolulu. My wife and I will be visiting three Hawaiian islands for 12 days each for our honeymoon.

Before that, we spent almost six months in Costa Rica — and I have myself spent most of my winters there for the past 4 years.

I’ve also visited Hawaii on a couple of occasions before, but more importantly Hawaii has been on the radar more than a few times as I was looking for a place to get away from the harsh Canadian winters.

If you’ve thought about moving to a tropical paradise — either part-time or full-time, there’s no doubt that you’ve also considered Costa Rica or Hawaii — or both — for obvious reasons.

Costa Rica is a famous destination for US and Canadian retirees, and Hawaii is the only true “tropical paradise” in the United States.

The two places are worlds apart — but each has something unique to offer for the right person.

Let’s start with Costa Rica.

Costa Rica: Who Is It For?
The kind of person who will go to Costa Rica and be happy living there will be someone who’s a true nature lover.

You don’t go to Costa Rica to enjoy first-world services, amazing cultural events or even a low-cost of living.

You go there because you enjoy spending time in nature, seeing animals, visiting beaches and tropical waterfalls, catching sight of birds, and spend a lot of time outside.

If you’re not currently spending most of your free time hiking and out in nature, then Costa Rica is probably not the right place for you.

Here are the main pro’s on Costa Rica:

1) Nature. Wild nature is unparalleled. A big chunk of the country is protected by national parks, and there’s a lot to explore in such a small country. Finding your own deserted beach or waterfall is relatively easy.

2) Diversity. There’s over 12 distinct micro-climates, and you can go from balmy tropical weather to cooler, spring-like climate just by changing your elevation.

3) People. Costa Rica’s people are affectionately called the Ticos and are very welcoming and friendly. Even if you don’t speak much Spanish, you’ll easily feel at home.

4) Tourism. Costa Rica is not new to tourism, so there’s a relatively big infrastructure for anything tourism-related. Some might see this as a negative, but if you want some fun things to do, you’ll at least have many options. The farmers markets have also grown to support tourism as well so you can be thankful for the abundance of tropicalfruits being sold everywhere.

5) Climate. I do NOT recommend that you move to Costa Rica to any of the coastal areas because the weather there can be very hot and humid and not at all comfortable for the long term. If you plan on living in Costa Rica for an extended period of time, consider living in the central valley where the climate is a constant spring-like temperature year round.

6) Cost of Living. Costa Rica can be cheap but can also be expensive depending on how you live. Some things are definitely cheaper, such as fruits and vegetables, taxis and labor. Other things such as cars, imported items, electronics and gas are definitely more expensive.

7) Political stability. Costa Rica enjoys a certain political stability with its famous “no-army” policy. One thing is for sure, you don’t have to fear a revolution or political unrest in this country.

The cons of Costa Rica:

1) Roads. 10 years ago, the roads in Costa Rica used to be REALLY bad. Since then huge progress has been made and the roads are much better, but don’t expect big American highways.

2) Infrastructure. The rest of the country’s infrastructure is several years behind the rest of the developed world. Cell phone coverage works but forget about reliable internet and 3G coverage. You can get high-speed internet, but it might not always work. Power outages are frequent, but they rarely last more than a few minutes to an hour.

3) Mad Drivers. Costa Rica has one of the highest automobile accident rate in the world. A lot of the deaths are from pedestrians getting hit by cars. The roads are not lit, extremely pedestrian UN-friendly, and the vast majority of drivers are extremely careless and seem like they got their licence in a cereal box! This is the kind of country where to feel safe on the road you get the biggest car you can and drive defensively. Don’t plan on cycling in Costa Rica as it is too dangerous, and only walk in safe areas — not along main roads.

4) Bugs. This is more a problem if you live by the beach. Ants and all types of critters are everywhere and it’s a constant battle to try to keep your food from being eaten away by them. If you live in a cooler climate in Costa Rica, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem.

5) Crime. This has never personally affected me, but you read about it in the newspaper all the time and it seems serious enough to pay attention. There’s a big problem in the country to keep criminals in jail or out of the country. Home invasions are a daily occurrence in the central valley, and the police are not prepared enough to stop it. Most Costa Ricans will tell you that the one problem they wish their government would take care of the most is crime.

6) Inefficiency. This a wide-spread cultural issue I would loosely call ”inefficiency” although it would take pages upon pages to fully describe and explain in details.

The main thing to understand is that in Costa Rican culture, harmony is valued more than honesty. Here’s one example to describe this. You hire someone to fix your internet. You are told it will be done within a day. However, for some reason there is a delay of some kind (it doesn’t matter what it is). Instead of telling you the truth (honesty), the internet guy will either avoid the situation completely by not calling you OR make up some sort of story to preserve the ”harmony” of the situation and not upset you with the details of the delay.

Of course, none of that is truly understood on the conscious level by Costa Ricans because it’s on the cultural level.

Because of that and other reasons getting anything done can be terribly inefficient and trying to find out the truth of what’s ACTUALLY going on, very frustrating.

7) Language. For some people it’s a problem, for others not. Most Costa Ricans don’t speak English but about 10% of the population can speak decent English.

Hawaii
A great way to describe Hawaii would be first-world comfort in a tropical paradise environment. But this comes at a price.

Here are main pro’s of Hawai’i

1- Beautiful & magical scenery — In spite of the Americanization, Hawaii remains a beautiful place that is truly special.

2- Genuinely nice people — Hawaii’s people are very kind and seem to smile easily. They are also relaxed drivers with some good manners on top of that.

3- Infrastructure — It’s the United States, so the infrastructure is 1000% better than a Costa Rica or even Panama. You can get pretty much anything you need and expect it to work. Because the island of Oahu is small and there’s only a few roads into the big city, traffic can get pretty bad.

4- The ocean — If you like any type of water sport, Hawaii is for you. I’m talking about snorkeling, wind-surfing, Kayaking, swimming, etc. Because the ocean is everywhere, there are so many more options than Costa Rica when it comes to enjoying the ocean.

5- The weather — I find Hawaii’s climate perfect. The temperature hovers between 20 and 29 degrees Celsius year round (Between 68 and 85 Fahrenheit), and if you hate rain you can find a spot of the island that will be pretty much rain-free year round.

6- Safety — We find Hawaii very safe compared to Costa Rica. The crime rate is much less and if you leave your stuff on the beach you don’t have to be paranoid about it getting stolen. I think the fact that it’s an island also makes a different. It’s hard to get there, and if you become undesirable, it’s also difficult to hide anywhere.

7- Shopping Possibilities — Because you’re in the United States, you can pretty much find anything you need (if you’re on the island of Oahu). This makes it very easy to run an Internet business from a tropical paradise.

Negatives

1) Cost of Living. Nobody moves to Hawaii to save money. The fact that you’re on an island AND in the US makes things more expensive. However, in my experience it’s NOT as expensive as you’d expect.

Certain islands are more expensive. Maui is notoriously known as the most expensive island, but Kauai and the Big Island are cheaper. Oahu (where the big city Honolulu is located) also has some great housing deals.

Now you have big chains like Costco that have made Hawaii more affordable.

A lot of things are priced similarly as they are in the US, such as restaurants and electronics, but groceries are more expensive.

The islands’ shops are also not full of affordable tropical fruits unless you shop at farmer’s markets, and even there the prices will be similar or more than what you’d pay on the mainland.

Honolulu is not the world’s most expensive city. Several cities such as Los Angeles and Toronto are significantly more expensive than Honolulu, but it’s not as cheap as somewhere like the Midwest.

2) You’re on an Island. Some people can get island fever when they realize they are on a big rock and the road ends where the beach ends. But if you’re tired of the scenery, you can hop on a plane for another island for just $60, or fly back to the mainland for around $250+.

3) You’re in the US — That’s either a positive or a negative depending on who you are.

Maybe you’re American or Canadian or accustomed to American stores and conveniences, in which case you will find yourself right at home with places like Jamba Juice, Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods etc.

Or you’re not American and the idea of mass consumption on a tiny island makes you want to wretch… in that case you may want to check out the outer islands like Kauai and the Big Island if you’d like to keep to yourself and visit small local towns.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to be on the outer islands for a long stay because of all the conveniences available on Oahu.

5) The Homeless — Hawaii seems to have a big problem with homeless people living on the beach and in parks.

This is not technically legal, but the city does not do anything about it. You will often see homeless people sleeping in parks, by the beach or tenting by the side of the road.

The good thing is they don’t often pan handle or cause any trouble, there’s just no avoiding them if you’re heading to Oahu no matter where you are on the island.

6) SPAM — In case you don’t know, Hawaii has a major spam addiction problem (and I’m not talking about the unwanted email kind).

Spam is a horrible-for-you canned pork product, filled with sodium and nitrates. Spam was introduced to the islands during the military occupation of World War II when fresh meat was difficult to get, but for some reason they kept eating it after the war even when they could afford much better options.

In every grocery store in Hawaii, you will find spam in all its forms. You’ll even see spam sandwiches, eggs and spam for breakfast, and my favorite: sushi with spam! (It actually is quite revolting looking)

The word “spam” nowadays means “unsolicited email” and comes from a Monty Python sketch, “in which the customer becomes more and more exasperated by the appearances of “spam” in every menu item”.

There’s no doubt that the health of Hawaiian people would instantly improve ten-fold if spam were to disappear off the face of the earth.

7) The lack of inexpensive coconuts -- Try this: you’re on a tropical island. There are palm trees everywhere. Yet, it’s almost impossible to find a reasonably priced fresh coconut to drink! Some juice bars sell them for an impossible price ($5.95 or higher!), but most restaurants will be happy to just get you canned coconut “juice” from Thailand (filled with sugar). On the other hand, fresh coconuts in Costa Rica are very common and only cost about 50 cents each.

You can buy young coconuts from the health food store, but they are the yellow older variety and will run about $4.95 each in Oahu and $2.95 each in Kauai. At farmers markets we’ve seen them from $4 to $6 each.

You will also see a lot of older brown coconuts being sold, some people even sell them as drinking coconuts in food courts… which is odd since there is little water in them and the meat is hard.

Another option is if you’re lucky to have a friend who can climb a coconut tree… well then that might work for you better. Who doesn’t love a free coconut?

Conclusion
I live in Canada, but for the past 5 years I’ve been spending most of my winters in the south.

Costa Rica has been a great choice for most of those winters, and I’m very happy to have had the experience of spending so many months there.

At this point in my life, Hawaii seems to meet my needs a lot better and I also really enjoy being so close to the ocean all the time while having access to more conveniences.

My wife and I will be traveling the world for another year and then relocating possibly to Vancouver. But when the winter gets cold and rainy on the Northwest, we might just head to Hawaii for a few months instead of Costa Rica.

The best places to retire now - A new generation (1) - CNNMoney

Ecuador got the overseas vote, I know @Gary would approve.

Mike

Ecuador! Ecuador!

@Big Mike - Cuenca or Salinas; what are you waiting for? A visit is a 'no brainer'; even for you.

no hablo español

And it would be an absolute requirement there to be fluent in Spanish.

Mike

Went there this morning and confirmed before I posted...

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Nice comparison:

Hawaii vs. Costa Rica: the Cost of Paradise | Passive Income Doing What You Love



Mike

I've also read a lot about just how wet the rainy season is, where it can rain for months on end on an almost daily basis.

Hawaii has better climate, but is many times more expensive... @Private Banker and others, how often does it rain in Hawaii? And what does a modern high-end 5,000 sqft home go for (not near a beach)?

Mike

Rains everyday? Yuck.

Mike

It's a different type of rain I guess you could say. And typically only up in the mountains. Out on the coastal edges, it's usually amazing.

Thanks Ben. I see @rtrade and @bluemele are from Hawaii too.

Rains everyday? Yuck.

Mike

@Big Mike

Don't like rain... consider the Dutch Antilles

Aruba Weather & Climate

With an average rainfall of less than 20 inches a year, an average daytime temperature of 82° Fahrenheit (27° Celsius), a location completely outside the hurricane belt, and the constant cooling influence of the trade winds, Aruba is one of the most temperate islands in the Caribbean.

The difference between median day and night temperatures, and between summer and winter temperatures, is just 3.6°. The rainfall occurs mainly in short showers during November and December.


Curacao Weather & Climate

Located in the tropics, just 12° north of the Equator -- and outside of the hurricane belt -- Curaçao has a warm, sunny climate year round. The average temperature is about 27° C ( mid 80s F). Refreshing trade winds blow constantly from the east, picking up in the spring months. The rainy season, October to February, is marked by short, occasional showers, usually at night, and continued sunny weather by day. Total annual rainfall averages only 570 mm (22 inches).

Thanks TMFT.

Reading up on Aruba now. In mean time, here is a nice link for real estate:

Home

Mike

@Big Mike

I had business interests in Curacao years ago. Interesting place ... Google campo alegre curacao

Beautiful pic.

I have a lot of places to travel before I settle down and pick a final destination. I'm sure Hawaii is nice, but it is so damn expensive, I'm not @Private Banker rich! I would have to keep working a lot longer to afford Hawaii.

Mike

Beautiful pic.

I have a lot of places to travel before I settle down and pick a final destination. I'm sure Hawaii is nice, but it is so damn expensive, I'm not @Private Banker rich! I would have to keep working a lot longer to afford Hawaii.

Mike

Anyone have anything to say about Panama?

Was looking at it quite a bit the last few days. One negative right off the bat is that Spanish is a virtual requirement.

Time for Rosetta Stone.

Mike

I might be mistaken but isnt knowing Spanish a requirement for living in Texas?

Interesting you shared that as we were looking for warm climate and good trading hours.

Dominican Republic is what we came up with as the safest and easiest. Also the best internet etc.. Just from what I read, no practical experience. Never been there.

best for tax is SaiPan or Grand Cayman according to this article and since this is a hard working guy i am sure he already making sure internet connection is adequate.
william-h-millard-missing-ceo-reappers-after-20-years-wsj: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

hello ,

I have decided to retire in Costa Rica following a first trip there in 1st quarter 2012 and will be locared in Samara , on the pacific ocean side.
My move in Costa Ricais planned in November 2012 .

For french speakers , my blog about Costa rica .. Echos du Costa Rica


Thanks to futures.io (formerly BMT) for this great forum.

Was revisiting this again (as always). Who here lives in Puerto Rico? I'm starting to think I should maybe rule out Costa Rica, and lean more towards Panama. But I also want to consider Puerto Rico, the trouble is the real estate prices.

Mike

Have people there and have visited, love it. Have never seen such friendly people anywhere, it was almost scary. You ask for directions, they offer to take you wherever you're going lol. Prices likely depend on area, but away from the cities, it can be quite inexpensive. Oh, and the scenery, cannot be described or even seen in pictures, just out of this world. Also benefits of being a US Territory, cheap flights, no passport required, US driver's license valid, many similarities.

How much spanish do you need to know to function in society?

Real estate costs?

Number of Americans living there?

I'm still researching this with the help of google, but like to have direct opinions too.

Mike