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 interesting things I have seen over the last few weeks: While deforestation is a problem is many places around the world, Costa Rica has doubled its forest cover since the 1980. The Africa Report shares how Costa Rica did it. (from The Africa Report) First [...]

New York City is finally seeing some nice weather, and we can resume our Excursion Fridays, where we visit the many magnificent nature sites the city has to offer. It is surprisingly easy to find nature in NYC but difficult to squeeze in the time when you’re tethered to an office job. Now that Scott has joined me in the virtual consulting world, we have the flexibility to take advantage of the thinner weekday crowds and spectacular weather when we can get it. We did both in our recent trip to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. New [...]

We go a little bit crazy with our road trips. We bought a new car in December 2016 and have already put 88,000 miles on it! Even crazier, I don’t drive, so Scott has driven the entire 88,000 miles all by himself. Last week, we spent six days on a road trip from New York City to Fargo, ND for the Fargo marathon (Scott’s 16th state in his quest to run marathons in all 50 states). Total round trip was 3111 miles! Five of the six days were actually on the road. We spent Wednesday to Friday driving by way [...]

I think of achieving FIRE in stages based on the lifestyle we’d like to live. At a minimum, we have achieved FIRE if we decamp to Costa Rica full-time – that’s why I think of Costa Rica as our FIRE escape plan B. However, we are still working on our ideal FIRE escape, which would include part-time living in a variety of places, including Costa Rica, Jacksonville, and New York City, with time and money to spare for substantial international travel. (Since we married and started a family right out of college, we didn’t travel much before, so there is [...]

Since cutting the cable cord a few years ago, we don’t keep up much with the latest TV shows. However, I remember Million Dollar Listing from before because it was quite the spectacle. Apparently, it’s still going strong with Season 11. One of its stars, Josh Altman, recently released a book, The Altman Close: Million Dollar Negotiating Tactics From America’s Top Selling Real Estate Agent. Altman has a fascinating, Type-A background from playing college football at Syracuse to co-founding a real estate firm with his brother, Matt, that has since sold over $3 billion in real estate. Yes, that’s billion. [...]

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We may receive compensation if you click one of those links and purchase a product. May 1 was decision day for college enrollment (or deposit day, if you’re like me and all about money). As I mentioned in a previous post, our youngest was considering two public colleges and two private colleges. The extra expense of private college (~$25,000 per year, or $100,000 for a four-year degree)* is enough to fund a multi-million-dollar retirement fund for our youngest, given the power of compounding. *The $100,000 difference we would pay is [...]

This reader is thinking of making a real estate investment in Costa Rica but is also considering options closer to home: I LOVE what you guys are doing! I stumbled across your blog a couple weeks back and have been reading various articles that you've published. You two are my heroes!My wife and I are in a similar situation to you (although we met and had kids a bit later than you). We are a family of four with both my wife and myself in our mid 40's. Our oldest is starting high school next year and our youngest will [...]

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 our older daughter was finishing up her yoga certification and couldn't commit to the date. While we thoroughly enjoyed seeing my cousin get married, (she was the flower girl at our wedding, which will be 25 years ago in July!) seeing my extended family, and [...]

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We may receive compensation if you click one of those links and purchase a product. This reader is shopping for a Costa Rica vacation rental that yields a 10% return on investment: Hi, I wonder if you were able to get the 10% net that you were looking for. My husband and I are interested in investing in a rental property for cash flow in Guanacaste but, after running the numbers and some sensitivity analysis for several properties, we only get 7% net max. Getting data from the sellers and [...]