PERSEVERANCE

“The only difference between a rut and a grave- is the size of the ditch”

We all experience it - Holidays come & go and we may comment on “how time flys by”. Many of us in the United States live our lives by milestones. New Years Day, Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays and maybe many others. We mark the time passing and the memories that these occasions create. Each year older, hopefully wiser, as we along with our children and loved-ones grow, mature and take on new experiences and challenges. These experiences always seem to bring up the inevitable questions - Where am I going? What am I doing in my life? Where will I be in 5, 10, 15 years…? I have always done this. Set goals, achieved many of them, all the while meeting new challenges and new life experiences that may serve to change my goals and send me down a somewhat different path. I have started businesses and succeeded in them. Purchased real estate, exploited the highest and best use for these properties through deriving income by selling, renting or developing. It is no small feat to overcome the daily challenges thrown at you by life, lifestyle & business. The only way to overcome these roadblocks is through perseverance. Perseverance develops confidence and confidence in yourself develops wisdom. We can all use wisdom…

CRUCITA, ECUADOR

In Crucita, Ecuador - a small fishing village, some 25 miles north of Manta - I found a Norte-Americano type subdivision that overlooks this sleepy fishing village and the Pacific. The gated community of Villa Balsmaragua contained, approximately 98 lots and many have been built upon. The American ex-pat developer, James Cheek gave us a tour of the town and Villa Balsmaragua. The lots are quite inexpensive at +/-$17,000 and the beautiful Mediterranean style homes can be built for +/-$45 per square foot. A fantastic setting! This certainly reminds me of some the Pacific coast regions in Mexico that became known as “Gringo Gulch” areas, in the late seventies and Costa Rica in the eighties. However, the great advantage to this part of Ecuador is that the land prices are comparable to those in Mexico and CR in the 70’s and 80’s and you are buying fee-simple real estate, not life-estate/leasehold land, as in the other countries. A retiree Baby Boomer could move to this area, buy a lot, build a house and live well on their average $998.00 per month in social security. Heck, with these prices and the lifestyle offered - you could have money left over to stash in your savings.

Great opportunities abound in E’dor. I will be exploring the potential lifestyle, real estate and business opportunities in upcoming posts. Don’t let the poor economy stifle your growth. Get excited - Get creative…Find new and different areas in the world that will allow you to live on less and enjoy life more.

QUITO, ECUADOR

I recently took a trip to Ecuador. The sole purpose was to investigate the lifestyle and business opportunities in this very unique country. My interest had been piqued by reading the huge amount of information on Ecuador by Gary Scott along with some others. Gary Scott and his wife Merri have lived a very unique and varied life. World travelers, explorers, writers & entrepreneurs. They have lived and worked in Ecuador for many years and written extensively in Gary’s e-zine/ blog and offer themed tours in this country that highlight the real estate and business opportunities for North Americans and Europeans.

Ecuador is a small country, the size of Nevada, with a population of approximately 11 million. The Pacific coast has fantastic unspoiled beaches and myriad real estate opportunities. The highlands (6-10,ooo feet elevation) offer some of the most consistent weather, breathtaking mountain backgrounds and like the coast - great real estate and business opportunities. Many North Americans & Europeans are discovering this great country. They are finding that they can escape the high cost of living in their native countries and live a very fulfilled & much less expensive life in Ecuador. I tend to compare Ecuador now to Costa Rica - twenty years ago. However, I believe that Ecuador has some distinct advantages over CR. No hurricanes or tropical storms, many different micro climates which allow you live in “eternal spring” like environments year round or coastal living without the intense tropical heat and humidity.

I found many things to like about Ecuador. I will be returning in 2009 to investigate this country further. This subject highlights one of the goals of Boomer's Life which is to discover other countries which would allow boomers to live comfortably on their savings and/or social security. I certainly believe this is not only achievable, but I met many in Ecuador that were doing just this. They were living better, healthier & more prosperous lives than they ever could hope to live in their former countries without the government intervention, taxes and bureaucracy.

Food is approximately 1/6 the cost of North America, gasoline is $1.50 per gallon. Did I mention that Ecuador is a “dollarized” economy? Yes, that’s right - they use the U.S. Dollar as their currency. More later…

Baby Boomer's - What do we do with our lives? We get an education (or not), get a career (or not), have a family…you know the drill. All the while, looking ahead, living for later, planning, scheming, hoping and praying that we can come up with a solid strategy to not have to work in a job that we hate, live an “average” life; looking forward to collecting a small pension or even worse, social security. According to recent Social Security Administration data there are some 48,000,000 people currently collecting benefits! 32 million of those are current retirees. The average current monthly benefit is around $996.00. 2007 was the first year that the oldest Baby Boomer's (born 1946) were eligible to sign up for social security benefits. There are only 80 million more to go!

I hope to provide a forum for exploring creative ways to live and prosper under the system that we currently have. Not everyone is a corporate executive, with millions of dollars saved for a luxurious retirement. Most of us are average working people, saving what we can, while working within the current tax and retirement system hoping that time and compounding will work for us - as in the brochures and data furnished by countless “investment advisers”, bankers and brokers.'