Tag: Cost of Living

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Retire Here on Less Than $30,000 a year!

One of the regular blogs I read is Christopher Howard’s Live in Costa Rica (he also does the best relocation tour) and his latest blog post quoted International Living Magazine on Costa Rica being one of the best places in the world to retire on less than $30,000 a year. Read his post or go to the online version of International Living and maybe find it there. And bear in mind that it is still true even with Costa Rica having the highest cost of living in Central America, but right now I don’t think you want to retire in any of the other Central American countries! (Panama being a sometimes exception.) I chose to retire in luxury in Costa Rica over sliding into retirement poverty in the U.S.

Description of 5 Locations in Costa Rica that Retirees Love in an International Living article.

Today’s photo is of a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, the most common in my garden and possibly all over Costa Rica or at least in many of the places I have visited. They are aggressive and chase other species of Hummingbirds away from feeders and even “their” garden sometimes. Thus I have mixed feelings about them!   🙂    ¡Pura Vida!

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In the Shadows

My shadow on neighborhood walk.

And I feel like I’m still in the shadows of the U.S. Government and U.S. Big Business! It was very easy to cancel my MediGap Medicare supplemental insurance with Mutual of Omaha. I applaud them for their courtesy, understanding, and simplicity in dropping an unnecessary and unusable insurance plan. 

But the much less expensive or helpful Medicare Rx Plan with Cigna HealthSpring who was not helpful when I was in the states and now that I live in another country and cannot use their plan, they have been less than helpful in what they call “Disenrollment.” Three overseas phone calls since March, promises of sending me a Disenrollment Form, and still I am being charged monthly for a Rx insurance I cannot use. Grrrrrr! After today’s call I wrote a letter I will fax tomorrow that is suppose to do the same thing as the form. (?) Plus they promised again to send me the form to my U.S. address as backup plan 2, and plan 3 (that makes me shudder) is I am going to call the U.S. Medicare office tomorrow. Cigna-HealthSpring will also let the government request disenrollment. I dread another overseas call which costs enough I will need to add more time to my cell phone sim card. And I’m always surprised when a government office actually provides some help. But maybe! The embassy here has, especially with Social Security and voter registration.

Why am I canceling U.S. medical insurance? (Not Medicare) (1) None of it works while living here (not even Medicare),  (2) It is very expensive, and (3) I have private medical insurance here I will continue until my residency is fully processed and I can be on the government medical insurance plan here when I will really save money. The private plan here is less expensive than stateside insurance and similar coverage. Plus medical costs here are so much less expensive that I could come out ahead paying for it with no insurance if nothing big happened! But then, potential catastrophes are why we have insurance in the first place. 🙂  And I’m keeping U.S. Medicare for that reason, just in case I travel to the states and something happens there, I will at least have basic Medicare coverage. And it is more involved to cancel or drop it and I think the hundred something I pay a month for it is worth it for now. Maybe not later. We’ll see.
I also have a sweet deal with my primary care doctor here so that I can come in anytime I need care or just have a question. i.e. I’m going to go by this week or soon and ask for her opinion of the many dentists in town and schedule my first cleaning and checkup. Cheap! Medical tourism is big here, especially for dental work! The cost is a small fraction of the U.S. costs. 
Today my new maid cleaned the house while I went to Alajuela to pick up three internet orders. I prefer to be out of the house when she is cleaning.  I did two little posts on my new Spanish Learning Blog today.  Pura Vida!

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Cost of Living in Costa Rica

Here is what one couple actually spent in July 2014 (they publish it):

Note that Retire for Less was their goal and is the name of their newsletter

From “Hanging Bridges” Costa Rica by Charlie
Click to enlarge
Chris Howard (my tour leader) has long lists of the cost of everything in his book and budgets at these two levels he says people are actually living on. Bottom line is that everything is not cheap, but you can live on your income or what you budget to live on if you don’t live too luxuriously:

Here is an example of a budget for a single person who has no more than $1500:
Rent  …………………………………………………………………………………$200 to $300
Electricity and water  ………………………………………………………….$20
Cable TV  ………………………………………………………………………….$25 Monthly Public Transportation ………………………………………………………….$50
Monthly public health insurance (medicines included)  ……………$50
Food  ………………………………………………………………………………..$200 Entertainment  ……………………………………………………………………$100 -$150
Misc.  ……………………………………………………………………………….$200

How to live like a king or queen on $3000 or $4000
When you read the title of this article you will  probably think that it is impossible to live so cheaply and so well. This  is especially true if you reside in an expensive area of the U.S. like  California. You could probably scrape by on a few thousand dollars a month up north but you certainly wouldn’t be living in luxury. Let’s see why the title of this article is true. A couple who owns a $150,000 home (three  bedrooms and three baths) free  and clear and has a car will probably  have the following monthly expenses in Costa Rica.
 Private medical  insurance ……………………………………………….$200
Dental care  ……………………………………………………….$50 per month
A part time maid  …………………………………………………$100 to  $150
Part time gardener  …………………………………………………………….$30
Beauty parlor  …………………………………………………………………….$75
Food including inexpensive fruits and vegetables from a Farmer’s market and many  imported  American products  …………………………………….$500 per month
Entertainment (movies,  socializing)  ……………………….$200- $300
Dining out a couple of times a week   ……………………………….$300
Private gym  ……………………………………………$50 – $100 per couple
Country Club (after initial fees) …………………………………$100 to $200 per month
Car insurance for a relatively new car   …………………………….$100
Utilities (water and electricity)  ………………………………………..$100
Telephone (using Vonage or  Skype for long distance) ……. $75-$100
High speed Internet  …………………………………………………………..$50
Cable or  satellite TV  …………………………………………………………$50
Car repairs  …………………………………………………………………………$50
Garbage  ……………………………………………………………….$40 per year
Property taxes  on your $150,000 home  …………………….$20 per month
Misc. expenses  …………………………………………………………………$300
Travel to U.S. or other countries  ……………………$3000-$5000 or more per  year

Really your lifestyle determines what you will spend here. You can  choose to spend a lot more money if you are a high roller or yuppie type   or substantially less if you wish to live modestly. I know single people  who live for less than $1000 per month and others who have expensive tastes  who spend what they would in the States. Nevertheless, you can live very well  on the budget above. I should know because I have lived here almost 30 years  and buy and do everything I want for under $4,000 monthly.