Caroline

Using A HELOC For Investment Property

– Posted in: Real Estate

HELOC, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: Using a HELOC for investment property so you can look like a cash buyer even when you’re financingSmoothing out cash flow when you’re a small business with lumpy earningsHaving money to tap for emergencies in lieu of a rainy day bank account earning negative return after inflation Apologies to Elizabeth Barret Browning for swiping a line from her beautiful [...]

The Wealthy Have Multiple Streams Of Income – How Many Do You Need?

– Posted in: Finance
person holding a bunch of bills

We recently signed up for a course on making printables. My main business is career coaching, so I do a lot of writing, keynotes and training – activities which lend themselves to printable quotes and exercises. We had been thinking about adding a product in our business to give it another stream of income. While most of my work was already virtual, I still did a significant amount of live [...]

My Friend’s Mortgage Application Was Denied – Four Alternatives For Moving Ahead

– Posted in: Real Estate
couple looking at a computer screen that says 'loan'

A good friend of mine had a rent-to-own agreement on the house she was living in, but her application for a mortgage was denied so she was unable to meet the purchase deadline. A rent-to-own agreement is what it sounds like – it looks like a typical lease, except at a specified date, the tenant has the right to purchase the property for an already agreed upon price. For my [...]

Three Freedoms That FIRE Brings

– Posted in: FIRE
view of statue of liberty

I was recently speaking at a pan-Asian media conference (supposed to be hosted in Singapore in March but unfortunately moved to a June virtual event due to the pandemic), and listening to the keynote by Maria Ressa. She is the founder and editor of Rappler, but also recently convicted in a Philippine court for cyber libel. Her talk really made me appreciate the freedom of the press that we have [...]

Financial Fairness And Kids

– Posted in: Finance
small child next to a large stone ball

As part of our recent estate planning, our assets will be split 50/50 between our kids. That seems fair, but how equally have we provided support, or will we provide support, during our lifetimes? “…if that scorecard of lifetime gifts isn’t roughly equal at the time of the parents’ death, then there’s a problem. Not a legal problem — a family problem.” So says Jeffrey Condon, co-author of Beyond the [...]

Should Every Investment Portfolio Include Real Estate?

– Posted in: Real Estate
investing newspaper with real estate in a circle

I recently finished a new personal finance book, Beyond The Basics, by Sammy Azzouz, a financial advisor out of Massachusetts, and one of his investment topics “beyond the basics” is real estate. Azzouz’ premise is that for most investors their basics will be three things: career, because that provides your earning potential;savings rate to ensure there are earnings left over to invest;building a risk-managed paper portfolio that you can stick [...]

We were interviewed on a real estate podcast pre-pandemic – what has changed

– Posted in: Real Estate
hand holding up a key to a house

Costa Rica FIRE made a guest appearance on the Real Wealth podcast, which focuses on real estate investing. We were excited to be invited onto the show because we look to Real Wealth as a source for real estate news and ideas and even traveled to their income property showcase in Cleveland last summer. (It was a great example of one of our bleisure trips, where we mix business and [...]

Update On Estate Planning – Adventures In Retitling Our Real Estate And Other Assets

– Posted in: Finance
view of hand writing a list on a piece of paper

A few months ago, Scott and I updated our estate plans to switch from a will to revocable living trust structure, as well as update key documents to reflect that both of our kids are legal adults (i.e., age 18 and over) and that our primary residence is now Florida. We are almost done with all the moving parts, but it will still likely be a couple of months before [...]

Can You Retire On $200,000?

– Posted in: Finance
Fork in the road with 2 signs: Work and Retire

We are not financial advisors so nothing in this post should be construed as specific financial advice. However, with $3 million being the new recommended retirement target, I was intrigued by a reader’s retirement plans. Stephanie, currently a US resident in her early 50’s, wrote to us with questions about Costa Rica, as she is investigating possibly retiring there and on much less than millions of dollars: We own our [...]

Why We Never Keep A Budget – And What We Do Instead To Manage Our Expenses

– Posted in: Finance
calculator and pen on top of budgeting paper

I have never been a fan of budgets. I don’t like budgets because I already am risk averse and hard on myself. Budgeting plays into scarcity thinking -- no, thank you, I can do that so well on my own! It helps that I’m naturally attuned to looking for deals – e.g., waiting for sales, aware of discount policies – so I didn’t need a budget to save money. My [...]

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