Author name: Scott

Costa Rica

Costa Rica Is Champion Of The Earth For 2019

I didn’t make this up. Costa Rica is literally Champion Of The Earth! Champions of the Earth is the UN’s highest environmental honor, and it celebrates outstanding figures from the public and private sectors and from civil society whose actions have had a transformative, positive impact on the environment. Costa Rica was named for 2019 […]

cow in the middle of the road
Costa Rica

Wildlife Sightings During One Week In Tamarindo Costa Rica

Caroline and I just finished up our first week in Costa Rica. We will be here for just about a month in total. Our prior trips have all just been a few days. Normally at that point we’d be heading home, but since we are now empty-nesters, there is no rush, and we are happy […]

Finance

Using Home Equity vs. Parent PLUS Loan to Pay for College

By Nate Matherson, Co-founder of personal finance site LendEDU, and a recent college graduate from the University of Delaware’s Class of 2016. As a student debtor himself, Nate is an expert in all things related to paying for college and student loan debt. Paying for college has become unaffordable for most families, so borrowing has […]

Costa Rica

Costa Rica Is Awesome – May 2019 Roundup

While there are many great places around the world for people to spend their retirement or in an effort to downsize, or become financially independent, Caroline and I have come to love Costa Rica. It is reinforced on a regular basis when I hear about Costa Rica in the news. Here are some of the […]

AirBNB

Discovering New Places With AirBNB

Caroline and I recently had a quick getaway for a family wedding. My cousin who lives in Sanford, North Carolina, was getting married, and the wedding was held there. This was a solo trip for myself and Caroline because our younger daughter was performing in a musical Saturday and Sunday of that same weekend, and […]

close up view of airplane in the sky, from below
Travel

Travel 2019 – Can We Fly to Europe for $99?

I wrote previously about how 2019 is going to be a big travel year for us, after our younger child goes off to college in August. One of our trips is expected to be to Spain, Portugal and France in September and October, and we are starting now to think about an itinerary. Our intent […]

Productivity

Costa Rica FIRE Turns One

It’s a bit hard to believe how quickly the time goes by, but one year ago Caroline and I started our new website, Costa Rica FIRE! It was not our first attempt at a website. We had created one previously, while I was still working my corporate job, and over time we felt the name […]

Wellness

What I Learned During A One Month Radical Nutritional Overhaul

I’ve been on a radical new nutritional plan (OK, a diet) for the last 5 weeks, and wanted to report back on my thoughts and impressive progress! While I started out as a very skinny kid, over the years I’ve slowly gained weight. I’ve never considered myself obese, but definitely a couple dozen pounds heavier […]

Travel

Travel 2019 – Kicking Off A Big Year

2019 will be a major transition year for us. After 23 years of raising two kids, our younger child goes off to college in August. Caroline and I have had the year 2019 circled on our proverbial calendar for a loooong time. We’ve always been interested in travel but never really had the luxury of […]

Costa Rica

Costa Rica Named Full Democracy For 2018 By The Economist

UPDATE: The 2019 report is out, and Costa Rica remains a full democracy! It moved up in the rankings from #20 to #19 (out of 167 countries), and the total score is up to 8.13, from 8.07. Another great honor, on top of recently being named a Champion of the Earth! ====== We enjoy reading […]

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