Investing Retirement – Worried About Not Having Enough Money To Live Comfortably?

If you are investing for retirement and like many have not invested enough to live comfortably your not alone.

It’s a major worry, with less government support, inflation and soaring health insurance, millions of people will NOT be able to maintain their standard of living when they retire. Here we will show you how you can take action to make sure you do!

If you are investing for retirement it’s a fact that mutual funds and discretionary funds perform poorly and with the economic situation getting worse things look bleak.

Do is their a low risk investment to give good gains? The answer is yes.

Many Americans who saw Costa Rica as just an investment for retirement opportunity, ended up living in Costa Rica as well.

More Americans than ever are investing for retirement in Costa Rica by buying investment property and second homes and their making huge gains. Consider this

Fantastic growth and low risk

An investment property bought in the popular resort of Jaco on the pacific coast for $30,000 just 15 years ago is worth up to 800,000 today and these gains are not un common.

Not only do you have an appreciating asset you will have access to lucrative rental income and somewhere to visit and live in if you wish.

A close stable beautiful country

Costa Rica is just 3 hours from the US and property is up to 70% cheaper and the you can comfortably live on 2,000 a month.

It’s a fact here your social security checks go further.

People get a higher standard of living for a lower cost.

In addition, medical facilities are world class cheap, the pace of life is slower, there is no serious crime and the country is stable and beautiful.

A host of options

You can buy property here that can give you far better growth potential with lower risk than traditional assets such as mutual funds, get valuable rental income and even live in it if you want and slash your living costs instantly

investing for retirement a great option

They got a standard of living way ahead of the one that they had at home and their just three hours away from their loved ones.

If you are looking for an investment or maybe even re locating to Costa Rica eventually, then check out this investing for retirement opportunity and your worries about having enough money to live your “golden years” the way you want maybe over.

FREE Essential Report!

For a free report on retiring in costa Rica and investing in property and discover the potential of investing and retiring in this beautiful country get your free copy with all the facts at http://www.costaricalandlots.com

Investing in China's Real Estate Investing, Part One

China’s growing energy crisis is one reason the price of oil, natural gas and other commodities has sustained at higher levels. The country’s mushrooming middle class, now numbering more than 300 million, was strongly responsible for the red-hot GDP growth in the first half of 2006, which increased its demand for more energy. After a decade of searching for new energy sources around the globe, the world’s second largest energy consumer is now trying to also develop its resources by further opening its doors to foreign companies.

Because China draws about 70 percent of its energy for powering the country’s economy from coal, the Chinese are turning more heavily to unconventional gas, known as coalbed methane (CBM). More than 30,000 coal mines releasing methane gas are responsible for about 40 percent of China’s air pollution. Methane gas explosions cause the deaths of more than 6,000 Chinese coal miners every year. Until recently, the methane was a nuisance byproduct recklessly vented into the atmosphere. By capturing the gas, before mines start producing coal, the world’s largest coal producer hopes to save lives and reduce air pollution while using methane as another energy source.

Integral to China’s 11th five-year plan is the doubling of natural gas use in the energy-mix by 2010. Aggressive Chinese policies and plans hope to boost more gas consumption by the end of the decade. By awarding foreign companies large coalbed methane concessions to explore in Chinese provinces, China hopes to accelerate development of this energy source. After attracting the likes of Chevron and ConocoPhillips, China’s state-owned China United Coalbed Methane Company (CUCBM) began offering production-sharing contracts with lesser known names.

Although much smaller companies – for example, Far East Energy Corporation (OTC BB: FEEC) – each one had connections within China to obtain massive CBM gas concessions – some about one-third the size of Rhode Island. Far East Energy, deceivingly tiny as an energy company (market cap: $136 million), developed its relationship with CUCBM through previous political connections. Chief Executive Michael McElwrath served briefly as Acting Assistant U.S. Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy under President George Bush, Sr. Chief Financial Officer Bruce Huff was formerly President and Chief Operating Officer of Harken Energy, a company with which President Bush, Jr. was involved. A technical advisor, Don Gunther, was formerly Vice Chairman of the Bechtel Group, a company whose alumni populated the Reagan and Bush administrations.

In Far East Energy’s case, the plum award was a 1.3-million-acre concession in China’s coal rich Shanxi and Yunnan provinces. The properties have potential recoverable CBM resource of between 9.2 and 12.5 trillion cubic feet. They are situated near two major national pipelines running to both Beijing and Shanghai. According to the company’s website, when the Shanxi project is fully developed, it could sustain an estimated 3,000 horizontal gas wells. If that’s the case, this might become one of the world’s largest CBM projects.

Chairman John Mihm had been a senior vice president for Phillips Petroleum, prior to the company’s merger with Conoco, and was involved in supplying technical support for the ConocoPhillips Shanxi project before it was farmed out to Far East Energy. If ConocoPhillips participated only on an overriding-royalty basis, then Far East would partner with CUCBM and own 66.5-percent of Shanxi. If ConocoPhillips participates, Far East would retain a 40-percent interest.

Test wells drilled on two of the company’s blocks have so far indicated gas contents ranging between 280 and 650 cubic feet per ton of coal. These initial results compare favorably with two of the most prolific CBM basins in the United States, New Mexico’s San Juan Basin (300 – 700 cu ft/ton) and Alabama’s Black Warrior Basin (250 – 500 cu ft/ton). According to Far East Energy, internal ConocoPhillips documents demonstrated strong promise and said the “coal was well cleated and coal samples have high gas contents.” One key factor in evaluating a CBM play is the thickness of the coal seams. At Shanxi, four coal seams average 9 feet thick with total of 60 feet in coalbed thickness.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. Visit http://www.stockinterview.com to read his archived articles. You can always write to James Finch at jfinch@stockinterview.com

Investing in China's Real Estate Investing, Part Two

Having been a previous director of Far East Energy, Tunaye Sai was able to develop his own connections in China. This led to his negotiating the Guizhou CBM concession in south central China – again another enormous block of 970 square kilometers – which was acquired by Canadian based AsiaCanada Energy. This became a wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Asia China Energy, of which he serves as President and which began publicly trading on the Toronto Venture Exchange, this past January (TSX: PCE).

His concession was the first awarded to a Canadian company by the Chinese who had previously only dealt with U.S. and Australian-based companies. Since then, China has awarded concessions to three additional Canadian companies. Again, the potential gas content of these concessions is staggering. In the case of the Guizhou concession, it could conceivably host a high-case scenario of 11.2 trillion cubic feet of gas. In an interview we conducted with Eric Nuttall, CBM research analyst for Canada’s Sprott Asset Management, he estimated for each trillion cubic feet of gas, a company might anticipate a market capitalization as high as $1 billion. Most CBM companies developing prospects in China, such as Far East Energy and Pacific Asia China Energy, are likely to be somewhat discounted because of country risk.

Not so for Green Dragon Gas, which this past week listed on London’s AIM market (GDG), with a market capitalization of US$525 million. It placed just under six percent of its shares to raise $22 million. Green Dragon holds five production-sharing CBM contracts covering some 1.6 million acres in Fengcheng and Shizhuang provinces. It is estimated their holdings may host 16.6 trillion cubic feet of CBM gas. It appears the European investor is savvier to China’s prospects than those in North America. This was echoed during an interview with Pacific Asia China Energy executive vice president Steve Khan, who told us, “When we visit the London fund managers, they don’t have negative or a lesser view of China. They look at it as a great opportunity and they’re investing more funds there.”

The nuances of investing in natural gas or CBM plays outside of North America may escape some investors. Not many realize that all gas is local. For example, natural gas sold at the wellhead in Australia or the Middle East is a fraction of the cost sold to England or in North America. While companies developing CBM resources in China carry a discount to their North American counterparts, pricing in the Chinese gas market is more stable.

We talked with Resource Opportunities editor and geologist Lawrence Roulston, who told us, “I think the companies which are able to effectively exploit the CBM technology in China are going to be the pioneers in that area.” To date, less than 30 concessions have been awarded to foreign-owned companies by CUCBM. There have been rumors flying that another five to ten may be awarded in the coming year. As is often the case in China, the bureaucracy moves slowly – CUCBM began awarding CBM concessions in 1998 in the form of production-sharing contracts. Treated like winning lottery tickets, on average less than four per year have been handed out. CUCBM keeps between 30 and 40 percent of the production contract, and the development company pays all of the exploratory confirmation costs prior to production.

Again it is about having connections with the right people in China. Roulston explained, “I could walk into the Petroleum Club in Calgary, and meet a half dozen guys and talk to them. I could build on my leads, and probably in a day be talking about a deal. When you go into China, unless you have somebody on your team that can get into the system and deal with the people, because of language issues, cultural issues and just having access to the information and knowing what sort of terms that they might be looking for.” He concluded, “If I was to go over to China and try to do a deal to get access to a coalbed methane property, I wouldn’t have a clue about how to begin.” That’s what separates the companies who’ve begun their CBM projects in China and why they could have outstanding long-term prospects.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. Visit http://www.stockinterview.com to read his archived feature articles. You can always write to James Finch at jfinch@stockinterview.com

Investing In Precious Metals

Despite the fluctuating trade price of precious metals, a lot of investors have seen and probably even experienced the stability and assurance that precious metals have in the commodity market. Through the years, the price of precious metals has been steadily increasing despite the notion that their prices might decrease due to new discoveries in mining and separating them from less expensive metals. Yet the appeal of investing in precious metals has remained constant and intense despite fluctuating prices.

Bullions are the only accepted form for precious metals that can be traded in commodity markets. Many countries mint bullions coins which vary in trade price. Bullion coins are normally issued as legal tender and their face value as local currency is actually far below than their value as bullions. The United States mints a gold bullion coin with a face value of $50.00 but containing one troy ounce of gold and as of 2006 is worth the same price that gold trades in the market. Bullions also come is different purities, some bullions are actually 99.99% pure just as the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf. Australia has one of the largest bullions coins in the world which costs $10,000.00 which is actually a kilogram of 99.99% pure gold. Yet China remains to have the largest bullions that exceed 260 troy ounces or approximately 8 kilograms of gold. These, however, are in very limited quantities of less than 20.

Silver bullions are also gaining popularity among coin collectors and investors alike due to their affordability and market value price. They are valued more than collectibles rather than for their actual bullion value.

Investing in precious metals has been deemed as a hedge against inflation and economic turmoil. They have also demonstrated the ability to retain their value despite the hardest economic difficulties and have proven their worth even in times of deep economic uncertainty.

Precious Metals provides detailed information on Precious Metals, Precious Metals Market, Precious Metals Prices, Investing In Precious Metals and more. Precious Metals is affiliated with Coral Reef.

Real Estate Investing: How To Buy Distressed Real Estate During Pre-Foreclosure

When folks find out that I buy houses from distressed homeowners during the preforeclosure stage, they always ask the same question: "How do you find them?"

My simplest answer is: "At the courthouse."

Distressed properties are always easiest to find when a mortgage lender begins the foreclosure process. (The process is triggered when the borrower fails to make a mortgage payment.) Technically speaking this is the "preforeclosure" stage. The borrower/homeowner has missed one or more payments, the sheriff's sale or public auction is looming on the horizon, and the homeowner realizes he may soon lose his home.

Depending on which state you live in, the lender either records a Notice of Default (NOD) or files a judicial foreclosure lawsuit against the borrower. As soon as the foreclosure is public information, it's relatively easy to find.

So, depending on which property I'm interested in, I either do a search at the county courthouse or I get the information from a legal newspaper that has done the searching for me.

The hardest part is finding a property that has any equity in it. What I'm looking for is a Loan To Value (LTV) of 80% or less. For example, if a property has a market value of $100,000, the homeowner can't owe more than $75,000 -$80,000 on the property.

Why? Because I can't spend more than $75,000 - $80,000 for the property and still make a decent profit. That includes what I pay for the property (principle, interest, taxes, and insurance), my repair costs, and my holding costs. I have been known to pass on a great deal, simply because it was November and I wasn't convinced that the property would sell before summer. I always factor in having to pay the holding costs on a property for at least six months while I remodel or market the house. If the numbers don't work, I walk away.

Sometimes it takes quite a bit of research to find a property that I can make a profit on, but the rewards are worth it.

Now, before you call me a mercenary just because I look for distressed properties to profit on, let me say this: Somebody profits from every foreclosure - and it might as well be you or me.

Some people think it is unethical to benefit from another person's misfortune of losing their home or investment property by buying it from them in the preforeclosure stage. But I disagree. I look at buying preforeclosures as opportunities to help the distressed owners save their credit. When I buy their property, their debt is paid off and they are free to move on with their lives.

Foreclosures and other property distress are caused by divorce, unemployment, death, medical emergency, economic downturn, and any number of personal problems.

Recently, many homeowners bought expensive homes or refinanced to take equity out of their homes when the interest rates dropped. Those that later lost their jobs or had a medical emergency suddenly lost their ability to make mortgage payments. Many of those houses are now coming on the market as foreclosures because their owners haven't been able to sell them.They think of me as their guardian angel when I am able to buy their property prior to the sheriff's sale, save their credit, and pay off their debt.

For the most part, homeowners understand I need to make a profit to stay in business. If they are "upside down" in their house (meaning, they owe more than the property is worth), and there is no equity in the property, then it is very unlikely that they will be able to sell quickly -- to me or anyone else -- and get out from under their debt.

Wonder How Some Investors Make Millions Buying Foreclosures? Krista Goering has created a Free Guide to Buying Foreclosures and reveals Expert Tips for Getting Super Real Estate Deals. Krista Goering is an attorney, real estate investor, and coach who teaches real estate investing strategies online. Over a two year period, she bought and sold more than $4.5 million of real estate using these strategies. Free Guide to Buying Foreclosures: www.foreclosures-now.info Preforeclosure Website: www.foreclosures-now.com/pre1.html Preforeclosure article: mailto:pre1@foreclosures-now.com .

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