Investment Advice for Readers Who Aren’t Rich…Yet

Friday, Oct. 26, 2007

Learn more about international investing in International Living Postcards...your daily escape

The dollar is at an all-time low. Housing sales in the U.S. are down and layoffs are up. Meanwhile, the prices of daily consumer goods and big-ticket necessities…like health insurance and health care…continue to rise. Many economists and financial experts think the worst is yet to come…and that it may be years, or even decades, before the U.S. economy recovers.

But we can’t--and shouldn’t--put our lives on hold because of all this. Now more than ever we should be thinking about the future…about protecting the assets we’ve worked so hard for and making them stretch further. There are a couple of very easy ways to do this.

One of the personal strategies of my husband and mine was to get out of the dollar economy. Our money is invested in other currencies that are outperforming the dollar right now. We wouldn’t have known how to do this had we not met some very savvy financial experts at an International Living conference a few years ago.

And even though we didn’t realize it at the time, moving out of the U.S. six years ago was one of the smartest things we could have done. Our motivation was fun and adventure--and we found that, tenfold. The fringe benefit is that living here in Mexico doesn’t cost us very much. It’s a windfall that we wouldn’t have enjoyed if we were still in Nebraska.

While our friends in the U.S. have to worry about skyrocketing taxes, higher costs for gasoline, health care, groceries, the kids’ educations, and so on…we’re skating by here in Mexico on about $2,000 a month…including our car and health insurance! And the fringe benefit, of course, is that we never have to pay a heating bill, wear a jacket, or shovel snow.

We recently bought a colonial-style home in Merida for a very reasonable price--about half what the same size house might have cost us in Omaha, where we’re from, and about one-fifth what it might have cost us in higher-priced U.S. markets, near the East or West coasts, for example. If we had spent the same amount in Omaha, we would have ended up with a poorly built 30-year-old rundown and charmless home in an undesirable neighborhood…like the suburbs. And the house wouldn’t have been nearly as big.

Our home in Merida has 10-foot-high ceilings, 18-inch-wide walls, massive wooden doors, and colorful pasta tiles on the floors…different in the office, living room, and all three bedrooms. We’re renovating it, and this is where the true cost savings come to play. Labor costs are so low here that we can afford to have the house restored in ways we could only dream about in the U.S.--with grand stone arches, a large, modern kitchen, a huge master bathroom with a massive river rock shower where orchids will grow, and lots of “water features,” as our architect likes to call them.

Ten workers spending six full days per week on our house cost us about $1,000 per week. (These guys are doing the basic tear-out.) Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other specialists make more, of course. It costs about $65 to haul a dump truck full of rubble from the property. We pay our architect, who functions as the general contractor, an overage of 16%.

So, although we’ll spend some money renovating the house and putting in the oversized swimming pool, the point is that we never could have afforded this type of home in the States…and we wouldn’t have much use for a swimming pool in Nebraska. Just over a year ago, we also bought two beachfront lots about an hour from Merida…both over one-third of an acre…for $32,000 each. That was a no-brainer. Someday soon we hope to build a beach house there--again, low labor and construction costs will allow us to do this.

We’re not rich. We’ve gotten some very good advice over the years from some very smart people…most of whom we met through International Living. We’re deliberate investors--at least we try to be. We only invest in things that make sense for us personally…right now it’s currency products that have helped insulate us from the falling dollar, and real estate that we like and believe is certain to appreciate. Most importantly, the real estate we own is something we can get practical use from. And, of course, we’ve chosen the place we live…Merida, Mexico…for similar reasons. We like it very much, and it costs us very little to live here.

Suzan Haskins

Latin America Insider, International Living

Editor’s Note: As Suzan points out, she didn’t arrive at this enviable position of comfort by accident--she had help. If you have concerns, worries, and goals for your life…a life overseas…then there’s an exclusive meeting taking place in December that you may want to attend. It’s not for everyone. This retreat is designed for somebody who has a certain international presence already--however small--but who would like to take more (and better) advantage of the opportunities available around the world for profit, savings, wealth protection, international living, and more. The meetings will take place in a lavishly restored, 800-year-old castle…and the guest list is limited to just 15 places. To see if this private retreat is right for you, read this invitation from Kathleen Peddicord.

Related articles:

- How to Get HUGE Retiree Benefits in Mexico

- Where in Uruguay Can You Double Your Money?

- Two Years From Today, This Quiet Caribbean Island Will be Packed With Tourists

Suzan Haskins will speak at:

- Global Business Opportunities Workshop, Nov. 12-14, Denver, Colo. (Make money doing what you love)

- Global Wealth and Wisdom Summit, Dec. 1-5, Waterford , Ireland (HIGHLY recommended):

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