No
Snow, No Taxes, No Problem: Living a Better Life in the Caribbean
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About The Author
This information has been prepared and
presented by John
Schroder of Ascot Advisory Services. The firm provides assistance
and
information regarding residency and naturalization in the Dominican
Republic, incorporated companies, legal title transfer services in
regards to real estate, plus other related services. John has
lived in
the Dominican Republic for over seven years and has helped numerous
clients in the Dominican Republic accordingly. |
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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To take advantage and sign up for Lyle's special Dominican Republic
tour package - Please see the contact information below:
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