Expat Community > Costa Rica

PghSteve
Joined 2021
Posts: 8

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3 years ago

Hi, My wife and I are considering a move away from the U.S. to allow for earlier (possibly partial) retirement, and to live a lower stress life and raise our kids to have the happiest, best life possible. We are in the beginning stages of this decision...and Costa Rica is the country that (based largely on International Living's reviews & index) has started off at the top of our list....though it's certainly far from settled.
I am a partial owner of a company and make a pretty good living, but I live under the stress of an economic downturn or something out of my control changing my company/financial situation...which is what started me down this path. I've always wanted to save enough money that I could leave my children financial security (in addition of course to raising them to be productive adults that can take care of themselves), so my saving has been as much for their futures as for my own. I started wondering if I would be able to live a better, happier, longer life elsewhere with what I've accomplished so far in life instead of working another 10-15 years in hopes of securing that financial stability here (if all goes well).
Our general current situation is:
- I am 46, she is 41.
- If we liquidate, we'll have roughly $1.25MM in retirement savings to live off of. We may want to do some work to offset some living expenses...but we're not entirely sure what yet. I may be able to hang on to 30k a year or so of additional income from my current company.
- we have 2 kids, a 7 y/o boy and a 9 y/o girl. Our #1 priority is that we keep them in a SAFE place. We also want them to have a good education (which we may do online, or may do in school). We want them to have a life they love living, loaded with lower stress recreational opportunities. We want them to be outdoorsy. We want them to have lots of friends.
-We live a pretty active, healthy lifestyle (especially my wife and kids).
- In our current life, we enjoy hiking and biking with our dogs, yoga (my wife only), hunting and fishing (myself and my son), kayaking and canoeing, occasional concerts, we love eating out at our tried & true places along with trying new foods and restaurants, We garden and raise chicken & quail. We do a good bit of around-the-farm family ATV'ing.
-We are looking for a rural area with city access, an airport within a couple hours for visits back to family in the US (or visits from them), We'd love to be near the ocean for fishing, boating, surfing (if there are waves), diving, etc. We like small farming/gardening, raising a few animals, etc.
-Access to quality healthcare is important.
We prefer mostly mild temperatures.... 70-80 degrees are wonderful... but we are certainly used to withstanding everything from 0 to 100 coming from our current location.

This is going to sound weird probably... but my biggest hangup on leaving the US is going away from our kids activities. My son is a great little wrestler, and also a beginning football and baseball player, and my daughter lives for gymnastics and is just getting into softball and cross country. It's hard to imagine not spending my weekends watching wrestling tournaments and gymnastics competitions.

That's all I can think of for my extremely long introduction. I know that was a lot...but figure the better picture I can paint the better information others can give. I certainly appreciate any thoughts and insights from knowledgeable people who could help with this scary decision, and I'm anxious to spend some time reading the vast information that's already out there and learning more. Thanks everyone!

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