While the United States may still be the richest nation on Earth, it can’t claim to be as happy as Denmark or Finland. In fact, according to a new analysis of data provided by the Gallup World Poll, the relationship between overall life satisfaction and wealth may not be as straightforward as previously thought.

Looking at data collected across 132 countries, the Gallup Organization based their marks — released this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology — on representative samples of more than 136,000 people in each country. Respondents were asked how they would rate their lives on a scale from zero (worst possible) to 10 (best possible), as well as answering a series of questions on positive or negative emotions.

See Gallup’s top 15 countries, each with a mean score between 7.0 and 7.7, HERE

Poverty Does Not Mean Unhappiness

Inside Costa Rica

Money boosts life satisfaction, but not necessarily positive feelings, study finds. A list of rankings of selected nations on types of prosperity, Costa Rica placed 4th in “positive feelings” while placing 41st in GDP/Capita.

In contrast countries like the United States, Italy and Japan, who ranked 1st, 18th and 14th, respectively in GDP/Capita, ranked 26th, 67th and 44th, respectively, in positive feelings.

An analysis of the findings from a study of 136.000 people in 132 countries suggests there is no single prescription for happiness, which depends on many factors, including local culture and expectations.

The findings from the data, gathered in the first Gallup World Poll, are published in the July issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

“The public always wonders: Does money make you happy?” Ed Diener, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Illinois and a senior scientist with the Gallup Organization, says in a news release. “This study shows that it all depends on how you define happiness, because if you look at life satisfaction, how you evaluate your life as a whole, you see a pretty strong correlation around the world between income and happiness.”

The pollsters asked people questions on a wide range of topics, including whether their basic needs were met, what kinds of conveniences they owned, and whether their psychological needs were met.

Participants were also asked about positive and negative emotions experienced the previous day, whether they felt respected, had family and friends they could count on in an emergency, and how free they felt to choose their daily activities.

Diener says positive feelings are much more associated with factors such as whether they feel respected, have autonomy, and if their jobs are fulfilling.

“Everybody has been looking at just life satisfaction and income,” he says. “And while it is true that getting richer will make you more satisfied with your life, it may not have the big impact we thought on enjoying life.”

Among findings:

* The United States had the highest income but ranked 16th in life satisfaction and 26th on positive feelings.

* Some nations such as Costa Rica and New Zealand are happier than their income levels would suggest. Costa Rica ranks 41st in income but fourth in positive feelings, while New Zealand ranks 22nd in incomes but first in positive feelings.

* Some mid-level countries such as Costa Rica do well and some like South Korea less well “in part because of the quality of social relationships,” Diener says in emailed responses to questions from WebMD.

* Denmark ranks high across categories. The country ranked No. 1 on life satisfaction, seventh on positive feelings, and fifth in income.

* Extremely impoverished countries in Africa generally scored low on various categories, but no nation came in lowest in all types of happiness.

* Self-esteem is more important to happiness in the U.S. than in “traditional” cultures.

Also, factors that influence feelings of well-being vary from country to country, Deiner says, adding that the study “clearly shows” that there is no single prescription for happiness.

Money, he says, no more guarantees happiness than cigarette smoking guarantees cancer, but they increase the chances.

In studies of poor people, researchers find that some are happy, in part because their needs are met.

“We have interviewed happy people in the slums of Calcutta and they can be relatively happy, although dissatisfied with their poverty, because they are rich in family and friends,” he says.

Money makes a bigger difference to happiness among poor people, but it takes a lot more additional money to change the happiness of a person who is well-off, Diener says.

Costa Rica Business Prospects – “Excellent” According To New Deloitte Report

Scott Oliver – May 2010

Oh! No! Scott’s found even more positive news about retirement living and business in Costa Rica?

Deloitte is an audit, tax and advisory firm that has a global network of companies and members in 140 countries and, the title of their new April 2010 report about business in Costa Rica refers to: Excelentes perspectivas para el futuro empresarial or, Excellent prospects for the future of business.

Some of our VIP Members happily living here are now have giving me a tongue-in-cheek hard time saying things like: “Scott, what you write about the cost of living in Costa Rica is too true to be tolerated. Please withdraw this article immediately or we’ll be awash in the unwashed of the Northern Hemisphere looking for a place they can survive and thrive. Can’t we just keep Costa Rica our little secret?”

When Deloitte says Costa Rica’s business prospects are “excellent”, isn’t that great news?

Costa Rica Business Prospects – “Excellent” According To New Deloitte Report

When the President of Intel, Paul Otellini says the education system in Costa Rica is “outstanding”, and speaks of his “…incredible engineering team” in Costa Rica and raves about the: “…caliber and quality of the people who work here”, that’s not just great news for entrepreneurs thinking about setting up new businesses in Costa Rica, having a polite, well educated, multi-lingual society is good for everyone living in Costa Rica, including retired people, right?

Deloitte has previously published their Business Barometer report for Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Panama, this is the first time that they have completed the study on Costa Rica.

Good employment outlook and positive expectations

Here are a few highlights from the new April 2010 Business Barometer report done by Deloitte which involved a total of 110 companies in the country who employ 57,100 people and, have an annual turnover of US$10 million:

1. Most of these companies in Costa Rica aim to maintain or increase their staff levels in the next year. Only seven in 100 of them say they may reduce their staff levels.
2. These employers have no plans for layoffs in 2011, in fact 46.3% of them plan to hire more staff.
3. This increased employment outlook means that 74% of respondents felt that they would be paying their workers more over the next 12 months, no one considering a reduction in pay.
4. For 2010, most respondents (46.7%) said they expect the wages to increase by about 5%. For the same year expected inflation by 49% of respondents, would be between 5% and 7%.
5. This projection is similar to that estimated by the Central Bank, whose inflation target of 5% this year.
6. In line with the recovery in Costa Rica, 43.3% felt that production last year improved and 81.8% of respondents believe their companies will expand over the next twelve months.
7. 66% believe the economy is now in a better position than a year ago, 78% believe that there is now a better investment climate, and the same percentage said that unemployment is lower, compared with a year ago.

Higher production and much better than last year.

Alan Saborio, managing partner of Deloitte said that “…the economic recovery has been faster than we all thought.”

In conclusion, the vast majority of business people in Costa Rica and Deloitte believe that Costa Rica has a promising and very optimistic future.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Real Estate Investment Consultant Jeff Hickcox

This is continued from Retirement Living In Atenas Costa Rica – Free video part I here.

Many clients ask us “If I retire to Costa Rica what is there to do for retirees?” Well, once you’ve gotten settled and exhausted all of the day-tripping to see the many wonders of Costa Rica, which are often repeated when your guests are in town, there are many activities and social gatherings to keep you busy.

In our town of Atenas, you’ll find just about any activity that would interest in your home country. Within a 30-minute drive there are golf courses, tennis courts, modern malls and movie theaters, beaches, volcano tours, hiking, biking, rappelling, world class fishing and so much more.

Also in Atenas, there are a variety of social groups like womens’ clubs, garden clubs, book clubs, poker clubs, and volunteer groups along with classes for painting, dancing, cooking and Spanish to name a few. All of these activities are in addition to the morning coffee shop chat, the weekly farmers market, expat dinner parties, the countless local fiestas, and other local events.

TO WATCH VIDEO AND READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE

Retiring to a foreign country comes with many challenges. First, you must decide what type of lifestyle you desire in retirement.

Lifestyle choices like climate, cost of living, access to services (especially quality health care), quality of life, social opportunities, and distance from loved ones seem to be the most important to the average retiree.

Increasingly, it is becoming more difficult financially to retire in the United States. Although real estate prices have come down in popular retirement areas like Florida and Arizona, the cost of taxes, health insurance, food, and other necessities have skyrocketed making it very difficult for North Americans to retire comfortably in the States.

TO WATCH FREE VIDEO AND READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE

by Kevin Brass

The Costa Rican government is promoting a plan to help developers build projects centered on health care facilities for foreign retirees.

New developments would offer clusters of services, including nursing and research facilities, catering to senior citizens looking for an inexpensive alternative to medical care in their own countries

In the wake the global economic slowdown, health care centers are an opportunity for developers to “change strategy,” Minister for Competitiveness and Regulatory Improvement George Woodbridge told La Prensa.

Retirement communities generate “two to three times” the revenue of traditional tourism and real estate projects, Woodbridge said. A population of 10,000 retirees could produce 40,000 jobs and $340 million in foreign exchange, the government estimates.

Last year, medical tourism attracted 30,000 visitors to Costa Rica, according to government data. That number is expected to increase as health care costs continue to rise. The U.S. is expected to generate 1.3 million medical tourists in 2011, according to a report by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, which ranks Costa Rica in the top 10 destinations for medical tourism.

Until recently, most of the traffic in the past has been young people looking for cosmetic surgery and dental work, not seniors, Deloitte says.

“With health care at the center of attention in the U.S. this concept could certainly gain ground if implemented properly,” Panama developer Sam Taliaferro notes in his Panama Investor Blog. “If Obamacare gets legs one area that you can be sure will be left out in the cold is alternative health care practitioners. I bet they will head south with technology and skills.”

(For the record, the World Health Organization ranks Costa Rica’s health care system at 36th in the world, one spot ahead of the United States.)

Outsourcing has been a trend for quite some time; much of the U.S. tech sector has gone to places like India, where Indians are doing the work.  A trend is developing among American companies:  they are beginning to move their businesses and their workers to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is significantly less expensive than the United States, but it is not the cheapest place for a business and its workers to reside.  However, Costa Rica has benefits that may not directly affect the bottom line of a company’s operating costs, but indirectly prove that it is the best country in the world for business relocation — and more and more businesses are coming to this conclusion.

Costa Rica, unlike many low-cost Third World countries, does not pose a physical threat to company employees: there is no history of kidnappings (think Mexico); no political instability (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Indonesia); and workers are likely to be happy relocating to one of the best climates in the world (unlike Panama).  Furthermore, Costa Rica is no more than a 6-hour flight for most Americans.

A recent job fair in San Jose drew thousands of graduates of INA, the country’s best business institute.  The Expo showcased dozens of new American companies which have just arrived, or will be arriving in early 2010.  These companies range from financial, to the tech sector, science, travel, and more.  English-speaking positions are being sought from the pool of INA graduates to augment the transferred workforce from the United States.  The article below, just published by The Tico Times, is limited in its scope as it does not address the fact that many U.S. workers are arriving in Costa Rica.  Western Union and IBM are prime examples of a balanced workforce.  However, the article is important as it highlights the trend, though it focuses on the rationale of low operating costs and the benefits for Costa Rican workers only.  True, no one typically likes to be told they need to relocate, but Costa Rica offers many more positives than negatives — companies and their employees are beginning to accept this.

Costa Rica Celebrates Jobs Transplanted From U.S.

By Adam Williams Tico Times Staff | awilliams@ticotimes.net

In mid-November, Amway Global, told 93 employees at its operation in Ada, Michigan, in the United States, that their jobs soon would be cut and relocated to Costa Rica. A week later, a Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) plant just outside of Miami, Florida, also in the U.S., announced plans to shut down the installation and move 1,400 jobs to a new facility in Costa Rica. Welcome Work: A Boston Scientific Corp. employee at the company’s second production plant in Costa Rica works on the assembly of medical devices. Ronald Reyes | Tico Times While the creation of new jobs may be good news for the struggling Costa Rican economy, nearly 1,500 U.S. employees have been told their once-solid jobs at these companies will soon disappear. In a message to The Tico Times this week, former Boston Scientific employee David Rodríguez said he was laid off from the Doral plant west of Miami two years ago, after working there for 10 years. “I have friends who still work there; some attend my church,” he said. “From what I have heard, many – especially those who are older and have worked there for over 15 years and were hoping to retire at BSC – are shocked and worried about their futures. The reality is that there will be more than 1,200 people without a job in two years time and BSC will continue on.” A reasonable assumption might be that the decision of Amway Global, a multi-level marketing and direct sales company, an d BSC, which manufactures medical devices, to export jobs was due to tighter funding or diminishing earnings. In fact, both companies are prospering financially. According to Amway spokesman Stephen Duthie, the company reported sales of more than $8.2 billion last year, a 15 percent leap from the previous year. Sales at BSC exceeded $8 billion in 2008. “We are looking to grow our market in Latin America, and creating a hub in Costa Rica will allow us to run it more efficiently,” Duthie said in an interview with The Tico Times. “This was not a decision made under duress.” The Job Relocation Trend BSC is not the first “life sciences” company to leave the Miami area and redistribute jobs to Latin America this year. According to The Miami Herald, Johnson & Johnson health care products and pharmaceuticals announced in January that it would eliminate 159 jobs in Florida’s Miami Lakes operation and transfer them to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. In April, BSN Medical, which makes orthopedic products, announced that it would close its plant in Miramar, Florida, and export most of its jobs to Reynosa, Mexico. The plant laid off 163 workers. The latest layoffs come at a time when the unemployment rate in the U.S. is at 10.2 percent, the highest level in over 26 years. According to the Beacon Council, a public-private organization that focuses on job creation and economic growth in Miami-Dade County, the unemployment rate there in October was 11.8 percent, a 5.2 percent increase compared with the rate in October 2008. Miami is not the only U.S. area suffering from high unemployment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the state of Michigan, the home of Amway Global, has climbed to a whopping 15.1 percent, the highest rate of any U.S. state. Though the 93 jobs snipped at Amway are relatively few in number, laid-off employees must try to find work in the worst job market in many decades. Yet the trend of slashing the number of employees and relocating jobs has shown no sign of slowing as companies continue to employ cost-cutting measures. A statement issued by the Beacon Council after BSC announced its decision to close the Doral plant reads: “We are told that in a restructuring effort to reduce operating costs, Boston Scientific will relocate to an existing and vacant company facility in Costa Rica which will result in lower operating and labor costs for the company. The Beacon Council is disappointed with their decision and, although we have been in communication with the company, there was little we could do to retain the company in Miami-Dade. While Boston Scientific deems this to be a necessary business move needed to adjust to the current economic crisis, without a doubt, their decision will be severely felt in our Miami-Dade community.” Likewise, when the tire company Firestone announced plans to cut jobs in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the U.S., and move them to Turrialba, a small town on Costa Rica’s Caribbean slope, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who spoke at the inauguration, cited the same rationale. “This plant was in Indianapolis in the U.S., and they brought it here because certainly the costs of production are lower in Costa Rica,” Arias said. “But overall it is important for a canton like this, depressed in employment numbers.” One Man’s Loss Is Another’s Gain Arias’s comments highlight the benefit for Costa Rica of the slashed U.S. jobs. The Boston Scientific jobs lost in Miami will be filled by Costa Rican workers at the two plants in the Propark free-trade zone in Coyol, near Alajuela. When the jobs are distributed over the next two years, Boston Scientific will provide work to approximately 4,000 Costa Ricans. “The moving of jobs here to Costa Rica is always great news for our economy,” said Julio Acosta, a senior advisor at Infinitum, an international business consulting firm based in Costa Rica. “It boosts the Costa Rican economy because it provides jobs for local workers and also generates more business for other companies here.” According to Acosta, the cost-cutting schemes are rooted in lower wages paid to Ticos, and this translates directly into profits for the company. “This has been happening here and in countries all over the world,” Acosta said. “Where wages are lower, companies will employ people there to do the labor at less cost. … The trend will continue. And one day, if wages in Costa Rica increase, companies will outsource to a less expensive country. Companies will always look for the cheapest way to maximize profits.”

The 2,074-page healthcare bill certainly contains a lot to digest. One of the new tax provisions calls for a tax on elective plastic surgery. Costa Rica’s medical tourism has been rising as the costs in North America rise. Chrissie Long from The Tico Times presents a very clear and concise view of the benefits Costa Rica can expect in the wake of U.S. taxation.

By Chrissie Long
Tico Times Staff | clong@ticotimes.net

There’s at least one sector celebrating a proposed tax on plastic surgery in the United States, and that’s the people who cater to medical tourism.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of North Americans look offshore for tummy tucks, facelifts and breast enhancements, knowing they can pay a fraction of the costs they would have to fork over in the United States.

Costa Rica, a three-hour flight from the U.S., has absorbed a large percentage of patients and, with the addition of the proposed tax, medical experts expect a greater influx.

The 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic procedures was proposed as part of the 2,074-page health reform bill presented by the U.S. Democratic Party this month. The tax is expected to generate $5.8 billion to help fund the $849 billion health system overhaul.

But plastic surgeons in the United States have launched a campaign to prevent the tax, arguing that its effects would result in discrimination against women, who represent 86 percent of cosmetic surgery patients there.

“This tax is effectively a ‘soccer mom’ tax that will adversely impact mainstream American wives and mothers, who are the majority of plastic surgery patients,” said Dr. Renato Saltz, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). “As doctors, we understand and appreciate the need for health care reform, but taxing physicians and cosmetic surgery procedures to pay for the reform is not realistic or beneficial.”

ASPS noted that only 10 percent of the respondents on a recent survey reported a household income of over $90,000, “which clearly refutes the suggestion that elective surgery taxes are ‘luxury or ‘sin’ taxes affecting a privileged few,” according to a statement released earlier this month.

The bill was given a nod by the Senate on Saturday, Nov. 21 and will is currently awaiting further debate.