personal finance

Having read all of the guidebooks about living in beautiful Costa Rica, I can state that this guidebook is by far the best of the bunch. It leaves no stone unturned. I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of living abroad. If you life is dull, read this great book.

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.

I`ve been wanting to meet the author, Christopher Howard, ever since I purchased his book last August. Even though compliments are probably getting to be "old hat" to Mr. Howard by now, I feel that his book is the DEFINITIVE work on the subject. I have browsed through many books on Costa Rica, but I DEVOURED this one! Now I`m "chomping at the bit" to visit the country. Also, I`m willing to bet my retirement that Mr. Howard is "The Boss" when it comes to ALL information about Costa Rica. I hope to meet him someday to thank him for writing a book that has CHANGED my life.