ser·en·dip·i·ty: noun: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
This week, CostaRicaFIRE got two media mentions, which is one of closest experiences I have had with serendipity in my goals; both of these media outlets were a big part of the inspiration behind our pivot into real estate, the FIRE life, and Costa Rica specifically!
Featured In International Living
First off, the publication International Living, which inspired me to take a serious look at Costa Rica as our FIRE destination, featured us in the cover story for their sister magazine, Incomes Abroad. The story was about how to make extra income from property you own. The full piece is only available to subscribers, but our section is specifically about vacation rentals:
Increase Your Income Yield With Vacation Rentals
Caroline Ceniza-Levine and her husband, Scott, first visited Tamarindo in March 2017, and they were so impressed that by December the same year they had bought two properties for use as vacation rentals. As property investors, this wasn’t a new venture. However, Costa Rica gave them the international diversification missing from their portfolio.
In the article, I share how we picked our properties, how we found the right team to support us in marketing and managing the properties, and why we chose to hire a separate team for each of our properties.
Before being featured by International Living, I had been (and still am) a subscriber. I used to joke that International Living was produced just for me – it covers travel, real estate and retirement!
Seriously though, International Living was what gave me the realization that our FIRE journey was complete, as the magazine covers people who retire abroad on just a social security check.
Before reading International Living, I was fixated on our New York City budget, which is the equivalent of many social security checks, and this made early retirement seem out of reach. But recalculating our assets and existing income streams for requirement abroad (and we were planning lots of travel anyway) it gave me the confidence we could easily swing it now.
This doesn’t mean we have retired abroad. We are still in New York City (spending the New York City budget unfortunately). Our youngest is still in high school, and we’re not uprooting her in the middle of that. However, knowing that retiring abroad is a dependable Plan B gave Scott the courage to leave his corporate job at 46, and while I continue to work, I pick and choose the projects I’m passionate about.
If you haven’t yet checked out International Living, I’m a raving fan so clearly recommend it highly. I do not have an Incomes Abroad subscription, but only because Scott and I already have our own portable income streams.
Interestingly enough, I originally discovered International Living through Incomes Abroad: a career blogger I follow had an article published by Incomes Abroad. I followed her link to some more articles within the Incomes Abroad family, and then thankfully stumbled on International Living, paving the way for our FIRE journey!
Featured In Smashing The Plateau
Our second serendipitous media mention is a guest spot on the Smashing the Plateau business podcast, a show which focuses on how small businesses can scale and create recurring revenue.
The topic of scaling a business and creating recurring revenue is precisely the inspiration behind our big push into real estate starting in 2013. In turn, real estate is one of the main reasons our FIRE journey is secure.
In the podcast, I talk about how the quest for recurring and more passive revenue for my professional services business led me to real estate. I cover the other passive and recurring revenue strategies I tried along the way, and some pros and cons of each. I also share examples of three other business owners that I admire, who all scaled their small businesses in different ways.
Both Opportunities Moved Forward During Our Travel
It was fun to guest on the podcast, and I really enjoyed putting together the Incomes Abroad piece. Interestingly, I did both of these assignments while my husband and I were in Costa Rica earlier this year!
Recording the podcast and writing the guest contribution in between walks on the beach and amassing my ever-growing seashell collection was additional proof to me that I could continue a rich balance of work and life abroad.
======
Our next big milestone is July 2019. We will be empty-nesters and free to travel even more extensively. It will also be our 25th wedding anniversary, so one more reason for a big trip.
Where should we go first?
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
