{"id":31125,"date":"2019-12-31T09:48:27","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T14:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?p=31125"},"modified":"2020-09-03T11:20:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T15:20:07","slug":"8-reasons-to-retire-to-costa-rica-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/blog\/8-reasons-to-retire-to-costa-rica-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Reasons to Retire to Costa Rica in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

8 Reasons to Retire to Costa Rica in 2020<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Compared to many other countries in Central America, Costa Rica enjoys far more political and economic stability. The country has a moderate growth rate, it\u2019s a democratic country that doesn\u2019t seem likely to change and there are a fair bit of American expats living in the country at the moment. To make it even more convenient, it has a very low exchange rate with low costs of living to allow even those with moderate health to live in relative comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent years Costa Rica has also become the hub of a thriving technology sector, outperforming even local talent. The outsourcing industry in Costa Rica is preferred by local US companies owing to the affordable services, smaller time zone differences and superior performance compared to its counterpart in Asia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For all of these reasons, and some others that I\u2019ll discuss in this blog make Costa Rica the ideal retirement<\/a> location for American expats.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. Cost of Living in Costa Rica<\/b><\/h2>\n

Costa Rica is one of the cheapest countries to live in<\/a> across the world. The exchange rate is $1 to 568.61 CRC, effectively meaning that you will multiply your wealth 600 times. Usually what happens is that this disparity makes things very expensive in a country, but that\u2019s not the case with Costa Rica. According to my resources, people say that a moderate lifestyle costs around $1000 a month, while $1500 can get you a fairly comfortable living.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Proximity to The United States<\/b><\/h2>\n

One of the many reasons people choose to retire to Costa Rica is its proximity to the coastal United States. It\u2019s a four-hour flight from the US to Costa Rica and even though it\u2019s something of a tropical paradise, you can still stay in touch with your friends and family in the US because it\u2019s just so easy to move around.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Investment Opportunities In CRC\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Costa Rica also has an open economy and has a very convenient tax system that makes it ideal for business owners. Leading tech companies like Intel work in Costa Rica because of the fact that the country has some of the most talented tech labour force in the world and the wages paid can significantly reduce cost burdens on the owner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The country also offers interested investors a wide range of investment incentives\u2014 these include full corporate tax exemption for the first eight years of operation. The tax burden is reduced by 50% for the next four years. These incentives apply to sectors like industrial manufacture, processing and businesses in the services sector. There are <\/span>other incentives<\/span><\/a> in forest sustainability and tourism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. The Costa Rican Tax System<\/b><\/h2>\n

Costa Rica follows a territorial tax system that only taxes people for the income generated from commercial activity in Costa Rica. If you\u2019re setting up an offshore corporation in Costa Rica or deriving a pension from someplace outside of CRC, you can have all of it without paying additional taxes on it. Some <\/span>salient features of the tax system<\/span> in Costa Rica are:<\/span><\/p>\n