We’re not in a recession.
We are in a recession.
The worst is past.
The worst is yet to come.
Things will improve in 2009.
We’re going to hit bottom more than once in the next 12-18 months.

Who should you believe, especially when you have to make decisions about retirement living now?

When it comes to retirement planning, you hope for the best. When it comes to retirement investments, however, you need to do more than that. You need to rely on investments that will come through for you, even when your hopes don’t materialize and your best guesses are wrong.

The returns on retirement investments aren’t very promising right now. If you’re relatively young and you have many years ahead of you, you may not be too worried about this downturn. You may believe that you have time to recoup your losses. You may be right. If you’re within a few months or years of retirement, however, you may not have the luxury of waiting to find out if your investments turn around.

Life in Mexico offers many benefits, especially for retirees. The quality of life here is very high, and the cost of living is decidedly lower. You can build a luxurious home here for much less than you could in the US. The weather here is nicer than it is in most retirement communities in the US. Taxes are lower. The cost of health care is lower. Food, prescription drugs and just about everything else here costs less. This can make a big difference in preserving your retirement savings.

If you have to retire now, you can wait out the economic downturn in the US and realize substantial savings while you’re here. When the economy brightens up, you can sell your luxury home here (likely for a substantial profit) and return to the US with more capital than you started with. I have to warn you though. Many people who come down here to live “part-time” end up staying here year-round!

Take a look at some of the investment opportunities here, especially in Puerto Vallarta real estate. You’ll find very few US investments that even compare. Come talk to us about making this work for you, not just as a living arrangement, but as a stellar investment, too.

Photo Credit: kris E. Michel

A new survey from Bell Investment Advisors and Opinion Research Corp., says that nearly one-third of 60-year-olds with investable assets of $1 million or more doubt that $1 million in retirement investments is sufficient. Another forty percent of people in the same age range are reducing their expenses by cutting their charitable contributions, shifting vacation plans, cutting their retirement savings or delaying retirement. More than half – 54 percent – said that finding higher performing investments will be their primary investing goal for the next five years.

In that case, it’s not surprising that investors are looking at high-performance real estate as a good way to meet their primary investing goals. While real estate values in the US have been stagnant or declining, Puerto Vallarta real estate has been soaring. For investors looking for a high rate of return, purchasing the right Puerto Vallarta property can produce outstanding results.

So what is the best advice for investors who are worried about the value of their assets? Applying a balanced investment strategy to a portfolio can help it weather downturns in one or more sectors. If your portfolio isn’t well balanced, adding some high performing Puerto Vallarta real estate can help you reach your investment goals regardless of the state of the US markets.

Photo Credit: Steve Woods