If you are like a large number of other people, it might have crossed your mind, or you might have asked yourself: Is there a better way? Meaning that many people, who are really just getting by these days, after factoring in take home pay after taxes, cost of living, cost of college tuition for children, saving for retirement, cost of medical insurance, housing costs (especially in places such as Boston, San Francisco, New York, etc.) have to possibly make some choices these days that they never thought they would. For example: Do you save for retirement or do you send your kids to college? Do you take a second job to make ends meet, or do you try and make do with your current income and cut back on your lifestyle? Did you think you could retire fairly soon, only to find out your retirement savings decimated by the current stock market? What do you do? What can you do?
Well, one option could be finding a less expensive place to live. In addition to cutting your expenses, without cutting back on your lifestyle, having a higher income from your investments does not hurt either. Where is this magical place? For many, the answer has been the Dominican Republic?
Why the Dominican Republic?
In comparison to many other well-known Caribbean destinations, the Dominican Republic still remains to be a place where real estate is quite affordable, and where a modest monthly income (US$2,000 per month) can go far in terms of spending power. So, for the price of a broom closet sized apartment in the Bahamas, you can have your own home (a real one) in the Dominican Republic. In addition, considering that bank account and income from fixed income investments can offer up to 9% in US Dollars and up to 22% interest in the local currency (the Dominican Peso) and is also 100% locally tax - free, the idea of living off interest from your savings is not such a far fetched idea.
In terms of real estate, there are no restrictions for foreigners as you might find in some other countries (such as Mexico, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and to some extent, even Panama). New homes is residential sections of Santo Domingo (the nation's modern capital, containing close to 4 Million inhabitants) can be found starting at about US$72,000. If you want a very upscale home located inside a gated golf course community right on the beach, you can find that also, perhaps going up to the US$400,000 range. In addition, you can also find 5 acres or so of farmland starting at about US$12,000 and home building lots ranging anywhere from US$14,000 up to US$100,000 for something inside one of those very exclusive upscale beach front golf communities we mentioned earlier as well. So, there is truly something to fit every need and every budget. As some additional examples - a very attractive brand new two-bedroom luxury apartment (with 24 hour door man, private secured parking, etc.) will cost about US$90,000 in the capital, and you can go up to US$150,000 for a super deluxe 4 bedroom luxury penthouse as well.
So, all things considered, you can certainly find a way to purchase a home or apartment at reasonable prices and live off your retirement savings at the same time (from very conservative investments, such as bank CD's and money market funds). It is very attainable, and many people have in fact truly found a better lifestyle - the American Dream - or perhaps we should say the Latin American Dream - outside of the United States.
Making a move outside of the US, or your native country where ever that might be, can be a bit daunting. Where do you start? Who do you talk to? How can you go about getting the correct and best advice the first time around? Usually taking an exploration trip is the first step in such a process and luckily there are some organized tours specifically designed with such a theme in mind. One such tour company is Tropical Pathways, operated by Lyle Burke. Lyle has been operating such tours for over three years to date, to places such as Belize, Honduras and Panama. After a recent fact finding tour to the Dominican Republic, Lyle left so impressed that he started adding the Dominican Republic to his group of country tours. Tour participants get to stay in some very first class all-inclusive beach resorts in the Juan Dolio - Santo Domingo area, Punta Cana - Playa Bavaro and even Samana as well. In addition to touring with a group of like mined people as yourself to view real estate bargains, a one day seminar will be presented to offer advice and information on local banking (English speaking representatives from local banks will be on hand), health insurance and health care (it's a fraction of the cost in the US), residency and second citizenship options, incorporation and related legal advice, plus more.
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