Picture yourself retired with no stress

Have you ever considered retiring abroad?

Before we get started, let me ask you how you are doing with your New Year's Resolutions.

Have you already broken them all, or is there still hope for some of them?

I quit making New Year's Resolutions several years ago. There's nothing wrong with making them, but they didn't work for me. I felt like I was putting undue stress on myself and not seeing any positive benefit from the process.

It always seemed that at the end of the year, the significant accomplishments and changes I had made in my life during the year were not even things I had considered or thought of as possibilities at the beginning of the year.

For example, at the beginning of last year, the idea of selling my motorhome, car, and almost everything else I owned and moving to Costa Rica to live had not even crossed my mind.

I came up with the idea last July when I was preparing to return to the US after living in Costa Rica for six months. Someone asked me why I was leaving, and I couldn't think of a good reason. That's when the seed was planted.

I made the decision to take a few months to get rid of my things and then move to Costa Rica to live full-time.

I'm not currently a resident of Costa Rica. I'm what they call a perpetual tourist

That's what people who live here full-time and are not residents are called. It's perfectly legal. Later, I may decide to jump through the hoops and become a resident, but not now.

You must leave the country every six months if you're not a resident, and you can't even enter Costa Rica unless you have a ticket to show that you'll be leaving within six months.

You can walk across the border into Nicaragua (or Panama), get your passport stamped, and walk back, and you'll be legal for another six months. That's what I do.

I'll probably return to the US this year and visit my brother and son for a few days in June.

It costs about $2,000 and takes about 18 months after you apply to become a resident, but you don't have to make the border run every six months after you apply, even while you're waiting to be approved.

Retiring abroad

If you want to retire abroad, there are pros and cons to living in any country. And, of course, there are a lot of hoops to jump through to make it happen.

Some countries have many more rules, such as requiring you to stay out of the country for several months each year if you're not a legal resident. Costa Rica doesn't require that.

For any country you're thinking about moving to, do your homework, make sure you know all the rules, and then spend some time in the country before you decide to live there full-time.

I think I did that. I've been coming to Costa Rica for three to six months, most years, for the last 16 years.

Bottom line: Moving to another country where the cost of living is less than in the US is becoming more popular. Whether you do it as a digital nomad or as an expat (or both), it's something to consider. It's also an interesting, challenging, and adventurous experience.

One piece of advice: Whichever country you move to, don't buy property there immediately. Live there for at least two years and rent homes in different places. You don't know whether you'll like it and you don't know where in the country you would like to live. I'll give you a hint: It's probably not in the tourist areas you've visited.