The end of a year is already an introspective time, and now that Scott and I are officially empty-nesters, we are taking advantage of our slower, freed up schedule to dig even deeper. We are organizing our mementos, decluttering our stored items, updating our estate plan -- various tasks which prompt us to get even more introspective about then and now. Click to pin me! Some of the tasks, like updating our estate plan, are obviously financial in nature. But even going through our stuff has a financial element – would we buy these things now? What could we have [...]

I am lucky to get dozens of free books each year since my consulting work includes writing advice columns, and publicists send me review copies to hopefully feature their clients in my columns. I try to read as many review books as I can, and I also pick up books on my own dime and time. I particularly love business, personal finance and self-improvement books. You won’t see any fiction in my list. I used to read more in the leadership development category but as I have weaned myself off of working with large institutions and focus more on individuals [...]

I recently posted a guest blog on Sisters For Financial Independence. This is personally exciting for me because the site is helmed by Filipina sisters like me (one of whom coincidentally has the same name as my sister!). It’s also professionally exciting to collaborate with fellow FIRE-fighters and see my writing published elsewhere. Finally, the publicity factor – getting your work out in front of a broader audience – is a valuable FIRE tool, in that it helps us grow our business. I haven’t seen publicity covered as a means of achieving FIRE, but you’re missing out if you overlook [...]

In May 2018, just over a year after our first visit to Costa Rica, I compiled a list of my favorite restaurants in Tamarindo. You can see the full roundup here, but in summary, I selected the following (in alphabetical order): Asian FusionBreakfast GrindsCafé NordicoCafé TicoEnea’sLa BaulaLa BodegaLa EsquinaLongboardsNoguisPasta CaseraSurf Shack We are obviously adept at picking the good places to eat, because a year and a half later, all of them are still in business! One of the things that we love so much about Tamarindo is that we will never lack for interesting restaurants to visit, for such [...]

We received this reader question about whether to buy a small condo for a first investment: Hi guys,   Thanks for all the really useful info!  I'm thinking of buying a small condo as an income property.  I am a single mum living in Vancouver, Canada at the moment.   Do you think this would be a good idea.   Any advice would be greatly appreciated!- Gillian We are not financial advisers, real estate agents, or in any other capacity to give specific advice. So I’m not going to tell Gillian what to do. However, this question brings up issues to explore when [...]

Costa Rica real estate represents over 20% of our portfolio. While we are still bullish on the area, we prioritize diversification in our portfolio, including geographic diversification. While we continually view real estate listings in Costa Rica to stay informed about the market, we are looking for a new area to invest in. We have written before about how we picked Costa Rica and why we selected it for our first international investment and not the Philippines. Where to invest in real estate is a question we have heard from several of our readers. For example, Dante asks: I discovered [...]

One of our most frequent reader questions is how we picked our real estate investments, and how we are investing in real estate in today’s market. To start answering this question, I will first focus on what we are NOT doing – i.e., real estate investment options we considered but ruled out. We are not financial advisers, so this isn’t about ruling out these investments for others. This post is simply about how we made decisions for ourselves, in case our thought process can help clarify how you might work through the various options available for yourself. Here are the [...]

Jim Reilly - photo by Happy Rice As much as we love writing our own Costa Rica stories, we are only there part-time, and have only recently spent a full month. To get more diversity and insight, we have been on the hunt for ex-pats to interview. First up is Jim Reilly, a lawyer (and the lawyer on all of our real estate matters) who moved to Tamarindo in 2003: I often work from home (in board shorts), and I eat dinner with my family nearly every night.  I really enjoy those aspects of my life compared to my legal [...]

Three new tax and corporation laws were introduced in Costa Rica in 2019. We weren’t planning on covering these because they are so new that it’s premature to measure the impact on our real estate. And more importantly, we’re not lawyers or accountants so didn’t want even the appearance of giving official advice. But that said, a reader asked a slew of questions about these new laws, so it’s clearly on your minds. Jordan asks: I married a Costa Rican 3 years ago and have long felt there is a lot of potential in the country. We visit 2/3 times [...]