www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I am 31 now.

How long do you want to live...

To live modestly, I'd say $750,000.
To live comfortably, you'd need at least $1.5 mil.

Think about it, you'd expect to live at least 40 years, right?

My numbers would be a lot lower than Orange's, but the real heart of the matter is what lifestyle you want to live, how frugal you are or aren't. Also if you are savvy at investing your money or not. I retired at 54 with a few hundred thousand and I've been doing ok. But that's me. Some can even live simpler, others would feel like they were in a Turkish prison living like I do.

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

think a combo of annuities, mixed investments (conservative and more risky/rewarding) and a liquid reserve, and 750K seems easy for a very good lifestyle by CR standards..

even half that would be easy for the low rent monger.

but 40 is kinda young to retire unless you're gonna write the great monger novel for posterity or something......and anyway, posterity may get wind of it and get an injunction out on your ass.

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

Senordos posted a handy-dandy annuity calculator on pg. dos of this thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23988
the site also has a retirement calculator http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/re ... ulator.htm

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Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

Also depends on how many more times you get robbed by Costa Rican hookers. Just bustin' your balls. Happens to all of us. As I have said in the past, CR is not your little third world country where things are dirt cheap and you can live the dream life on $750 USD a month.

The question of "how much?" is always subjective as Bilko mentions. I assume your attraction to CR is the availability of unlimited hookers. You are 31, still young. Even at 40, you are still going to want to monger your ass off..till the thrill wears off. My suggestion is that you save like a mad man until you are 40. Then check out the landscape in CR. Maybe you don't even want to be there in 9 years. Unless you are currently independently wealthy now or have a sure fire way to make a living in CR forget it. Yes, I am dumping water on your parade. Just being realistic. Save like hell, then explore your options when you feel you have enough. If you have to ask "how much?," then you probably DON'T have enough.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

If you want to eat at TGI Fridays or breakfast at Denneys then bring double the $$$ cause these places cost double what they cost in the USA.

As well, it usually cost about double to fly From SJO to ATL than from ATL to SJO.

Leather furniture here, double. Bedspreads -double.

Nike and Levi here, Double the $$$

Any Used vehicle such as a Toyota 4runner, About double here used.

Yes , you can get a Rat-hole apartment for $400 or $500 a month but you can get a Rat-hole apartment in almost any area of the USA for the same $400-$500 a month and you probably wont be breathing Sewer gas at random from poorly constructed sewers. So are you willing to drop your standard of living to have available chicas ? Or can you afford to maintain your standard of living here witch usually cost 50 to 100 % more than it does in the USA .

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* These are the "Good Ole Days". Enjoy Them.

* RENT but, "Don't Buy a Home in Costa Rica" until you have lived here for THREE years.

These Brothers give sage advice--listen to them then ponder deeply what you want the next 45 years after retirement (from the guaranteed money-earning years) to be like. Take that $1.5 million figure--currently US Treasuries would throw off about 3% after taxes so--$45K IN TODAY'S DOLLARS. Figure that would erode a minimum of 66-2/3% in 45 years thus $15K + Social Security (if it even exists in 45 years)--Can you afford you live on that? This is a guaranteed but worst-case scenario. Suggest you go to the Hotel Marruecos next time you're in SJO and talk to some of the residents there--ask them what their expectations were and what their lives are like now. Prepare yourself for a severe shock.
Suggestion: Work until you are at least 50 and as was suggested, strap yourself down, avoiding as much as possible the Great American Consumerist Fantasy, and have a grand retirement (but only the working-for-wages part--working for no/nominal wages at something you really enjoy is different--I plan to work in animal shelters, scooping up cat shit and grinning my face off every minute and possibly running an Internet radio station playing, what else?--jazz and MOBO).
Analyze the situation/Make a plan/ be flexible enough to change the plan with changing circumstances/execute the plan--and don't let anyone get in your way. Easy to say--damned tough to do. What's the name of that soap opera? Oh, yes, --"One Life to Live". Dig that.

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

This is a spreadsheet of an estimated returns on a Roth IRA. You can put in 5000 a year into a Roth IRA. There are no taxes on the capitol gains in a Roth. I put in 6%, 20%, 60% a year as the returns. You cannot do portfolio margin in this kind of account. This account is better if you have high returns, like running your own hedge fund. This is looking years into the future at the compounding interest on you investments. Also guessing at what will be an average income in the future. What I did is is form 1967 on I used year by year inflation rates and used that the calculate a future annual average income. I am thinking there might be a little more inflation than normal in the near future but it is just a guess. For the last 150 years an average of around 4 to 5% inflation seems to be a good average. So in 25 years 180 grand a year will be Burger King wages. The compounded interest really adds up. I do know when you start getting into the larger amounts of it starts to become more and more like work to trade a larger account. Execution becomes a whole different chore. The returns will go down with the bigger account size.

Tommy, interesting first post. I agree with the average inflation rate of 5%. I run these hypothetical illustrations on almost a daily basis. It is true that a person can put $5000 a year in to a Roth IRA. However, if they are over 50 they can add another $1000 to that, making the contribution amount $6000. Maybe you can figure that in to your illustration. Also true you can not operate on margin in these type of accounts. Most IRA custodians will, however, allow covered call option writing. This is a powerful strategy for those looking for income.

I am not sure what you are referring to when you mention that as the account size grows it becomes harder to trade. Or that execution becomes more difficult. Can you shed some light on these statements?

Now for an obvious advertisement... . If you legitimately think you have funds to retire and would like to know what kind of guaranteed monthly income you can expect from your available funds, PM me. I can run a custom illustration showing where you stand. Illustrations, free.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

The amounts on 60% returns got large after a while so I am thinking when the account starts to get bigger, a lot bigger than mine, just the physical buying and selling are more than one person can do, I am thinking its a logistical thing, you would need to diversify in a different way, like how would you put 100mil worth of NDX at the money calenders. I don't know. Anyways not a problem that I am anywhere near so it is no worry for me. Right now I am doing about 6% a month, if I can keep this up I will be ok.

Really good counsel from people who are there or nearly there. Someone pointed this out above, some things are really cheap in CR and others are not. You can purchase houses in Arizona, Nevada and Texas much cheaper, with better construction and safer neighborhoods. Unless you have some money forget about buying and maintaining a car.

My observation is that most people live about 10 percent above their means. If you can discipline yourself to live within your means you have done a great deal toward financial freedom.

Forty years of age is very young to retire particularly if you are in good health. If you can figure out a way to augment your income by either returning to the US or by doing things on-line, it would be helpful.

There is the likelihood that if you move to CR you will fall in love and want to get married. If that happens, cut everything you own in half and give it to her; then throw the other half away and that is what you will have left – NOTHING. But that is not all, if you had little Costariclets, you will pay until they turn 18 or 19. If you don't pay you probably will be barred from leaving CR.

I always like what Rod Stewart is reported to have uttered: “Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house.” Sage advice.

Also, if this is your goal make sure you put your eggs in different investment baskets: property, stocks, bonds, gold, insured savings, etc. One of the greatest heart breaks of the Enron debacle was people who had all their eggs in the Enron basket which was little more than a house of cards.

Be very cautious about trying to retire that young. I hate to say it, but with our national debt being so high, we might see a meltdown of the dollar in 5-10 years if we don't get our financial house in order. Trying to plan for 45-50 years of retirement is very risky. Once you get to a certain age you can't un-retire if your financial situation is precarious.

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Providing humanitarian assistance to self employed chicas, one cash grant at a time.

El Viejo is right about the value of American currency. BE cautious.

You have only so many earning capacity years. Build wealth while you can. Diversify – protect yourself and your assets. There is always someone willing and able to steal from you.

A lot of what I said yesterday was not fully amplified; and just like last night I am a wee bit in the bottle and therefore not all that lucid.

It is important to consider that you have both an emotion and a financial life to worry about. Consider finding a position where you can work six months and be off six months; or some variation thereof.

For example, I have met a couple of physicians who work and play, play and work. They are in CR more than I am and I live here.