The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica (12th Edition) [Paperback]

Christopher Howard (Author)

Book Description

Series: New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica | Publication Date: June 2002

The updated and expanded 2002-2003 12th edition of the New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica offers invaluable assistance to anyone looking for a safe, affordable place to live outside the United States. This useful book contains all the ins and outs and dos and dont's and much more indispensible secret insider information about all areas of living in Costa Rica. It guides you step by step and shows how to live on a budget; how to start a business and includes 100s of sure-fire tips for making money; how to stay busy and happy ; where to; live in Costa Rica; how to aquire residency; shortcuts for learning Spanish; how to take advantage of the many tax savings for foreign residents(make up to $80,000 a year tax free), how to find high-interest investments paying 13% or more annually; how to make the break from the rat race and start a new exciting life; and even how and where to find quality peo!ple for companionship. -

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is a unique and useful resource book for potential retirees. The good and bad of living in a foreign country. The author, Christopher Howard writes for Costa Rica Today newspaper, the Costa Rica Outdoors magazine, Inside Costa Rica weekly and the Costa Rican Residents Association's bimonthly magazine, La Voz. Mr. Howard has also worked as a paid consultant for National Geographic. He is the ONLY author of any of the guidebooks about Costa Rica who actually lives there full-time. It is not surprising, therefore, that he is considered the foremost expert on all areas of living, retirement and investment in the country.

From the Author

Over the last fourteen years my guide has helped 1000's of people find success and happiness in beautiful Costa Rica.

My primary goal has been to continuously provide the most accurate information possible to all of my readers. I want them to come experience all of the magic this incredible country has to offer.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: Costa Rica Books; 12th edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881233561
• ISBN-13: 978-1881233565
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christopher Howard has resided in Costa Rica for over 30 years and is Costa Rican citizen. During this time, he has had the opportunity to gather a plethora of information about living, retiring and investing in Costa Rica. It is not surprising that he has first-hand knowledge and insight into all aspects of Costa Rica's culture and its people. Because of his expertise, he is a frequent lecturer at numerous retirement and investment seminars. He has also appeared on the NBC Today Show and CNBC World Business News and was interviewed for Good Morning America.

Mr. Howard has extensive foreign language background, having earned a B.A in Latin American studies and a Masters degree in Spanish from the University of California. The author writes columns titled "Learning the Language" for the Association of Residents of Costa Rica's magazine La Voz, "Short Cuts for Learning Spanish" for the newspapers AM Costa Rica and Inside Costa Rica and the Costa Rica Living News Group.

Christopher has written 14 language and travel guidebooks about Latin America including 16 editions of the perennial bestselling "New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica", "Official Guide to Costa Rica Spanish" and the one-of-a-kind "Guide to Real Estate in Costa Rica."

Due to a multitude of requests from the readers of his guidebooks, Christopher Howard began to offer monthly relocation and retirement tours to Costa Rica starting in 1997. Since then he has personally helped thousands of people move to Costa Rica successfully through his one-of-a-kind licensed tours, seminars and private consultation services. Please see www.liveincostarica.com for more information about his unique tours.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recent Review is Incorrect, March 24, 2003

By 

Greg Smith (Tibas, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica (12th Edition) (Paperback)

[...] I have lived in Costa Rica for five years and continue to use "The New Golden Door" as a constant reference source. [....]
Mr. Howard continually refers to the Central Valley and San Jose because ALL of the major services and infrastructure are found there. [...] I have personally used many of the services listed in the ads and have found them to be excellent. The fact that Mr. Howard has honest advertisers is a real plus. I would have never found out about these services if I hadn't read this book.
[...]I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Howard and asked him about the typos in his book. He said that he was the victim of a bad proofreader.
I wouldn't hesitate recommending Mr. Howard's complete guide to anyone interested in living or investing in Costa Rica.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Return Home, December 15, 2002

By 

Isabel Perez (Desamparados, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica (12th Edition) (Paperback)

I was born in Costa Rica but left the country about 32 years ago for the U.S.when I was a child. Needless to say I became out of touch with life in my own country. I just returned to stay for good. Before returning, however, I read most recent edition of"The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica." After reading this incredible book it was as if I never had left my country. I was more than prepared for what I found here by the loads of information in the book. I have knowledge my relatives here in Costa Rica don't possess about the country. A great book even for the natives!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Factual Handbook, April 6, 2004

By 

D. Sinacola (Whitefish, MT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica (12th Edition) (Paperback)

If you want a book with some great, pretty pictures of life in Costa Rica, I would recommend Insight Guide's "Costa Rica". If you want some real meat from someone who knows the ropes, then "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica" is the book for you.

Yes, there's typos. I should probably take a star off for this. But the value of the information contained in this book more than makes up for afewmissing whitespacecharacters. Although the typos are slightly annoying, I have not found any of them to be critical.

I normally would have a problem with a book that has this many ads strewn throughout it, but in this case the ads, the urls, the email addresses, and the recommended resources Chris has selected are valuable tools which will save you days of time which would normally be wasted trying to find a reliable Costa Rican attorney, a good book on buying real estate in Costa Rica, or which insurance companies you can depend on.

I found the chapter on Red Tape: Dealing with Bureaucracy particularly enlightening and practical. Overall the book has helped me considerably in planning my retirement in Costa Rica.