Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,

As the only English-speaking country in Central America, Belize has been attracting expats in the know from the U.K., the United States, and Canada for decades.

But the fact that folks in these parts speak English (albeit with a twist) is only the beginning of the long list of reasons to give this little country a close look. Belize was a colony of the Crown until 1981, and the British left behind more than their language. They established a stable government, an English-based educational system, secure international business structures, and a legal system tied to the highest court in Great Britain.

They also built themselves a banking haven. They looked around at the top banking havens worldwide at the time and cherry-picked the best elements of the banking laws in each case. These elements were incorporated into the banking law for the about-to-become-independent nation to be known as Belize.

The world's top offshore haven is also an adventure-traveler's playground...

The constitution for this new country was based on the Canadian constitution. What does this mean?

That means boring. Boring politics, boring everything. Not much to rock anybody's boat.

As a result, in the nearly three decades since, Belize has managed to remain largely under the radar. Ambergris Caye drew some attention as the setting for TV's "Temptation Island." Otherwise, other than from global divers and sun-seekers, Belize has been really successful at attracting very little attention.

Read more here.