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I have heard others say that one can live on one’s social security if one lives the Tico lifestyle. What might that mean exactly?
[quote=”jmi82060″]I have heard others say that one can live on one’s social security if one lives the Tico lifestyle. What might that mean exactly?[/quote]
It depends on how much you get for social security.
Ticos–gardeners–make generally 1000 colones an hour. They don’t pay as much as you do for rent.They usually live in the “family” house, which has been there a long time.
The Tico lifestyle means beans and rice reheated in the morning and fresh beans and rice at lunch and dinner.
Ticos come in all classes, poor, merchant or better paid, and rich. Depends which Ticos you are trying to live like.
jmi is correct. But, if your income is $1500 a month, you can live well here. Take a look at some of the posts titled: “Crime” and then read other posts on this site about living in CR. You will find that the area you chose is very important. We love the Lake Arenal area. Lots of expats and housing.
What might this means to us that means eating as Ticos eat, fresh foods, beans, rice, frequenting local restaurants and avoiding American habits, not frequenting American franchise restaurants and using import products from the states. We shop at Mas x Menos and Super Compro. Walmart owns most of the grocery chains here and can be competitive. Super Compro is tico owned as far as I know..If you get an urge for American foods to prepare, Auto Mercado or Price Smart (owned by Costco) has some of the American “soul food”…
We could live on about 1000 a month if we behaved ourselves. walking more, driving less, bicycling..etc. Theaters and public activities are basically less expensive than the states. There is so much to see here. Arenal is one of our favorites. Getting lost is common for us, the road signs are better than when we first came three years ago but they are still sparse.
You should love it here, we do. Just leave a type A personality at the border. Patience is a virtue for us and the Ticos dealing with Americans.The others are correct that, if your Social Security benefit is sufficient, and if you live frugally, you can make it here in Costa Rica. But there’s a hitch . . .
Moving to Costa Rica isn’t cheap. Whether you ship your household goods (strongly recommended) or sell everything and buy new here, there are big dollar expenses to face initially and from time to time.
It’s likely to cost anywhere from $6,000 to maybe $15,000 to ship a container full of your household goods.
Airfare will easily run $500 per person or more (lotsa variability, I know).
You should budget about $2,500, for example, to have a competent Costa Rican attorney specialist shepherd your residency application through Immigration. Otherwise, you’ll be traveling to Panama or Nicaragua every three months and praying that you can get a new tourist visa.
You may need a Costa Rican driver’s license once your residency is granted. That’ll be around $75.
And then there are the things you forgot to bring.
All in all, prepare yourself with a healthy nest egg.
[/quote] You dont have to have residency to get your Costa Rican drivers license, If you have a valid license from somewhere else you can get one here. Ours was valid from Arizona. If you dont have a valid license somewhere you will have to take the test in Spanish…Also you need to get your drivers license during your 90 day cycle while waiting for residency. You have to get a physical and blood test as well. They put your blood type on your drivers license..
Make sure your attorney is recommended by someone. we had an attorney that sat on our residency app for a year and strung us along. The second attorney was great and less expensive than some. It is a rigorous process to get residency but we think it was worth it.[b]barbara ann[/b] you haven’t been keeping up with the news! You cannot now get your drivers license until you get Residency and a [i]cedula[/i]. You can use a valid one from your home country, but then have to leave the country for a short time to ‘re-set’ your drivers license and renew your tourist visa for hopefully another 90 days.
It is also easier to live on $1000 [b]if you own your home[/b] and don’t have to pay rent.All I know is that we got our drivers licenses with our passport and our Arizona drivers license and the physical and blood test and so did one of our Canadian friends with their Canadian license…the one person that could not was the Canadian that let his license expire in Canada. He went back renewed his Canadian license, came to CR, obtained his CR license in the 90 day window with his Canadian passport.
the new laws just went into effect.
most ticos do not have clothes dryers. some don’t even have electric stoves. they cook on a wood-burning stove. they don’t have every kitchen gadget known to man. they live frugally because they have to. but with 5 children you are going to have lots of expenses and that isn’t going to be cheap no matter where you live, or how you live. and then there is the question of residency, paying CAJA for your children, uniforms for school, etc.
If you are the Costa Rican that was asking then you need to talk to someone that was born here. I dont know if the rules will be the same. I am a “Pensionado” I guess I am an immigrant. So my process might be different.
Most [i]Ticos[/i] do not have hot water, anywhere in their home…nor do they have kitchen cabinets, as we know them.
They very often just have a tin roof with no ‘ceiling’ on the inside.
No closets, either.
Laundry facilities are usually outside.
Usually, no window or door screens.
In other words, a [b]very[/b] basic residence… but I have seen many, that are much more rustic.[quote=”barbara ann”]All I know is that we got our drivers licenses with our passport and our Arizona drivers license and the physical and blood test and so did one of our Canadian friends with their Canadian license…the one person that could not was the Canadian that let his license expire in Canada. He went back renewed his Canadian license, came to CR, obtained his CR license in the 90 day window with his Canadian passport.
[/quote]Barbara ann, our experience was the same as yours — in 2005 — but this 2012 when COSEVI is widely reported to be requiring a DIMEX card in order to issue a driver’s license to an expat.
Many living here only on their SS or pension, especially a low pension from years ago, rely on buses and/or taxis. With there being six in your family, most taxis will not accept all of you at once, so this also needs to be taken into consideration.
[quote=”costaricafinca”]Many living here only on their SS or pension, especially a low pension from years ago, rely on buses and/or taxis. With there being six in your family, most taxis will not accept all of you at once, so this also needs to be taken into consideration.
[/quote]Six in the family? I thought this was a couple living on social security.
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