Are you investigating retirement locales, looking to explore a new culture, or researching new business opportunities? This book is packed with practical and useful information as you start the next stage of life, with solid documentation on managing investments, real estate, the cost of living, medical care, and safety, whether you are relocating, traveling, or investing in Costa Rica. Six maps help you situate yourself. And as you tour or get settled, this resource offers tips on where to dine as well as guidance in exploring the beautiful coastal areas and activities special to Costa Rica.

In this volume, John Howells attempts to bring clarity to a confusing subject. Gardeners are bewildered with the choice of over 1000 clematis in the "Plantfinder". How can the gardener know the characteristics, growing requirements, attractions, faults and flowering time of so many? Some years ago the author devised a straighforward classification of clematis by dividing them into 12 groups, a system which is now universally followed. The main part of the book considers all 12 groups in order of flowering . Each group has an unmistakable description and unambiguous illustrations. A number of easy to grow clematis in each group are described and illustrated. Understandable but brief descriptions are given for the cultivation of each group. A knowledge of just 12 clematis, one from each group, gives the key to knowing all 1000. With this key the gardener can quickly choose what appeals and what suits the chosen planting area. There is also guidance on how to buy clematis and how to develop a clematis collection. Lists of the best clematis are provided.

Where to Retire offers the best advice not only on where to relocate in the retirement years, but why people should pick up and move just as life is settling down. Retirement guru John Howells provides well-researched and completely revised and updated information on how to find the ideal home base for the retirement years. To help the decision-making process, the author offers a list of items to consider when selecting the ideal community: safety; climate; housing availability; cultural and recreation opportunities in the area; social compatibility; affordability; medical care; distance from relatives and friends; transportation; and jobs and/or volunteer opportunities. Howells gives readers clear snapshots of life in hundreds of the most affordable, comfortable, and stimulating places to retire in the United States, including locations in Florida, California, the Pacific Northwest, the Gulf Coast, the Ozarks, the Appalachians, the Southwest, and the Rockies. This guide tells not how to retire, but where readers can retire happily.