Money « A Broad In Costa RicaA Broad In Costa Rica

Pod People

Update: If you are having trouble getting this to play, please read the notes at the bottom of this post. OK, on to the show:

I forced Hal to podcast and here is the result. WAIT. Before you listen, here’s a picture of my voice and his voice:

Even when I’m not shouting, I’m loud and annoying. Nothing like listening to a recording of yourself to make you want to hide from the world.

But do I have the humility to hide? NO. I post it on the www. Keep . . . → Read More About Pod People

Reader Question: Transferring Money, Taxes

I got this email a couple of days ago. Since these are common questions – in fact, we had most of them – I’m answering on the blog.

“I have enjoyed reading your info on the net. We are thinking of buying a small condo and living in Costa Rica in the winter. If we rented the condo out the other months, how do you get your monies back to your country of origin (home)?“

You wire it. Complicated, lots of paperwork, but do-able.

“Is this legal?”

Making money here? Or transferring money to and . . . → Read More About Reader Question: Transferring Money, Taxes

PayPal’s Thuggery

All in the name of security, of course. We used to be big PayPal fans. Not anymore.

Be careful using PayPal (PP) from Costa Rica. After our recent experiences, I’d be careful using PP anywhere. We have had business/personal PP accounts since 2000. We’d bought and sold coins on ebay, some other stuff. Never big money, but the account was very useful.

When we got to Costa Rica, it was a great way to get cash from the states using our debit card, fee only $1.

When my mom moved here, she had a Netbank account. Then Netbank went . . . → Read More About PayPal’s Thuggery

Grabbing 4%

Must be nice to be a government, able to muck around with the money when the mood strikes. Grab a little here, a little there… I would have said "Stealing 4%" but that might sound a little caustic. Slanderous, even.

For instance. Last Thursday – Thanksgiving Day, ironically enough – if I gave someone a dollar, I got 520 colones in return.

Late that same day, without notice, the BCCR (Banco Central de Costa Rica) quietly revalued the colón in an attempt to gloss over Costa Rica’s runaway inflation. When we woke up . . . → Read More About Grabbing 4%

Wrong Question

This morning, I had to admit to Hal that my homesickness has ratcheted up a notch lately. A big notch. So much so that, in my mind, I unconsciously find myself adding "when we go back" to the end of my thoughts. Unconsciously, until this morning when I heard my thoughts loud and clear. It stopped me in my tracks. Why was my mind going there? Why am I so homesick all of a sudden?

Consciously, I don’t want to go back. Our lives are good here. We are comfortable, we know people, we get around, we love the . . . → Read More About Wrong Question

Ethical Dilemma. Sorta.

I went to the ATM last Thursday with my mom. You put your card in, you punch in your code, select ENGLISH or SPANISH, DOLLARS or COLONES (get colones, it’s easier), punch in the amount… wait while the machine whirrs and counts. Then take your cash, receipt and card. Easy.

Only this day, the machine counts and counts and counts and counts, on and on and on. It must have taken 10 minutes. I kept wondering should I stop it? Cancel? Would it debit my account anyway? Would I have to go in and try to convince someone I . . . → Read More About Ethical Dilemma. Sorta.

Reader Questions.. RE Everything!

Miriam wrote me. Man, she’s in moving hell – I remember it like it was yesterday!!!! Now I can look back in wonder: how did we survive???? Here are her questions and how we handled each.

Looking at schools, British School sounds good, but it’s on different calendar. I think we are going with the Lincoln School.The school year here start February 1 and go to December 15. Their big vacation time is around Christmas – very Catholic country! They have about 3 weeks off in July, then back to "finish" their school year.

There are a . . . → Read More About Reader Questions.. RE Everything!

Costa Rica Joins the 20th Century

Big news in the papers today: your Costa Rican debit card will now work in the U.S. And, the rilly rilly big news, is that internet funds transfer between banks is here!!! As of today in Costa Rica, you can transfer your money between banks inside the country.

Actually, it’s been around for awhile, but it didn’t work. NOW it works. (This is SO Developing Nation!)

People don’t write checks here and you do not want to carry wads of cash. You especially don’t want to make a big withdrawal from your account, then walk out the . . . → Read More About Costa Rica Joins the 20th Century

Money and Banking

Many people write to me about living in Costa Rica, asking what it’s like, how to move here. Mostly, they ask about schools and money. Schools are pretty covered on the blog; money has not been. A complicated topic, I’ll tell you what little I’ve learned in the past year.

Just before we moved here, we called a few local experts and asked about banking, how to open an account, buying a corporation, things like that. One guy asked where we were from. When we said, "Florida," he said, "If you are a U.S. citizen, I can’t even talk . . . → Read More About Money and Banking

A Broad In Costa Rica

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