Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,

About 12-and-a-half years ago, I sat where you sit now, dreaming of a new life in a foreign country. At that point, I'd been dreaming for years. My employer at the time gave me, finally, a deadline for making a move when he suggested I relocate from Baltimore, Maryland, to Waterford, Ireland, to open an EU office for the company.

I am thankful for this, for, had I not been handed a rationale and a timeline, I might still be in Baltimore right now.

Very fortunate for me, therefore, that I was offered a why and a when to launch my new life overseas. Frankly, though, the offer came with little in the way of how. Everything I've learned about living, investing, doing business, buying, selling, and owning real estate, managing logistics, and raising children overseas, I've figured out on my own (with the help, yes, of my partner in all these global escapades, my husband Lief Simon...more on this in a minute).

Here's maybe the most valuable thing I've learned thanks to all our adventures over all these years: We did it the hard way.

Starting a new life in a new country is never going to be easy, but it can be easier...certainly easier than it was for us first time around. When I think back to the weeks leading up to our move from the East Coast to the Emerald Isle, the kindest word I can use to describe us is naïve. We were innocently enthusiastic...and woefully under-prepared. Lief and I both had traveled the world from end to end and back again before we set out to set up a new household and a new business in a new country. But spending time in a place as a traveler is nothing like settling in full-time. We had no idea what we were in for.

And we had no one to look to for help or counsel.

Should we rent or buy a new home?...

Should our daughter attend the local pubic school...or a private one?...

Why was the bank and every shop in town closed every day at lunchtime and all day Saturday and Sunday? When were we supposed to run our errands?...

Who should we contact for car insurance?...

What were our options for health insurance?...

How would we find a good pediatrician?...

Why wouldn't the plumber return our phone calls? Or the carpenter...or the plasterer...or the electrician?...

Would it ever stop raining?...

The answer to that last question was no, not really. We figured that out in time...just as we figured out everything else...in time...

Fast forward more than a dozen years, and we have answers for all those preliminary moving-overseas questions, as well as for the literally thousands and thousands of others we've asked ourselves as we've migrated ourselves, our children, and our businesses from Baltimore to Waterford, then to Paris and, most recently, to Panama City.

I'd venture to say that, at this point, Lief and I have had more and more varied experience at this live and invest overseas thing than anyone else you're likely to find anywhere. Between us, we've spent time in more than 65 countries. We've lived in seven (in addition to the United States, Ireland, France, and Panama, Lief has also lived in Argentina, Kazakhstan, and Chad...don't ask). We've started and operated businesses in eight jurisdictions. We've bought real estate in 18 countries and renovated houses in 6. We've educated our children across three continents. Lief speaks Spanish and a little German; I get by in French.

We've opened bank accounts, filed tax returns, hired staff, shipped household belongings, shopped for insurance, seen the insides of hospital emergency rooms, enrolled children in after-school activities, bought furniture, and moved pets from country to country, continent to continent.

We've made money and lost some, too.

More important, we've made many friends and even more memories. We've enjoyed big, full, interesting lives and, as Americans abroad, significant tax and financial pluses, as well.

But I don't need to sell you on the benefits of a life overseas. You're reading this, I presume, because you already believe whole-heartedly in the serious advantages of pursuing opportunities to live, retire, invest, and do business abroad. Speaking from my own experience, I understand that your hurdle isn't recognizing the benefits of chasing these dreams...it's figuring out how to launch the adventure.

Where should you go? When should you leave? What will your new life look like once you get there?

Thinking more practically (as you quickly realize you must do, the more closely you consider these ideas), what should you bring with you? Should you keep your house back home or sell it? Should you bring your car with you? Your pet? Do you need a bank account locally? Should you retain your current accounts? What about your credit cards? Your driver's license? Your brokerage accounts? Your DVD player?

Should you become a legal resident full time or come and go often enough to avoid the residency question altogether? If you invest in a new home in your new country, how should you structure its ownership? What will your tax liabilities be?

These questions are only the start. The more seriously you think about the many and tempting opportunities you could pursue in sunny, safe, stimulating spots around the planet, the more questions you have...

• How will you find a good English-speaking physician in your new home?...

• How will you stay in touch with friends, family, and business concerns elsewhere?...

• How will you watch football on Sunday afternoons?...

• Will you need to learn a new language?...

• Will you enjoy a regular change of seasons? Will you miss it if you don't?...

• What kind of view will you have from your bedroom window each morning?...

• How quickly and how often will you be able to get back home to visit your children?...

Meantime, you have the all-important budget question to address. How much will it cost you to live in the place you're thinking you'd like to move?

But, in fact, that's not the point. The real question is this: How much money to you have? What does your nest egg amount to, on a monthly basis? Is that enough to relocate where you want when you want? If not, what are your options?

Lief and I have spent the past dozen years considering these kinds of questions and discovering answers through real-world experience in more than a dozen countries. We've gotten quite an education, because, for us, this live and invest overseas stuff has developed into both an avocation and a vocation. We've embraced this lifestyle and now would live no other way. At the same time, though, we've made living and investing overseas a business. Our learning curve has been accelerated and ambitious, because, frankly, it had to be. This is not only how we live...this is how we make our living!

Over the years, we've developed a division of labor. Lief handles our financial and administrative affairs, and, frankly, he's gotten pretty darn adept at this. All questions to do with taxes, bank accounts, holding structures, corporations, filing requirements, visa renewals, telecommunications, and on and on go to Lief.

No, Lief doesn't always know the answer, at least not immediately or off the top of his head--though I'm amazed how often Lief does have even particular tax rates, for example, at the ready in his short-term memory. When he doesn't have the data to hand or when a situation arises that he hasn't encountered before, Lief turns to his friends. After more than two decades running around the planet, Lief has developed a far-flung network of experts who stand by, ready to be of service with facts, figures, and advice whenever they can.

In every country where we've done business, made an investment, or held an asset, Lief has established tax, banking, and legal resources that he's kept in touch with. These contacts make for an invaluable rolodex.

My beat? Where we live, how we spend our time, and where the children go to school, that's my beat. Doctors, dentists, and orthodontists...painters, carpenters, and architects...gardeners, shippers, and antique furniture dealers...guitar tutors, piano teachers, and language instructors...caterers, handymen, and airport shuttle services...these are the kinds of contacts you find my rolodex...for every country where we've spent time.

To launch a new life in a new country, you need to:

1. Create a budget, working backward from how much money you have to spend each month...

2. Research residency options and identify the one that makes most sense given your circumstances (some countries, including Panama, for example, offer many choices)...

3. Get good tax advice (if you're an American, you need this not only in the country where you're going, but in the States, as well, where you never lose your obligation to Uncle Sam)...

4. Shop for health insurance...

5. Get your head around the real estate market in the place where you're headed...

6. Figure out what to do with all your stuff...

7. Set up a virtual home office...

8. Show up and move in...

You need to consider each of these objectives within the context of your circumstances, your interests, and your priorities...and, as well, the place where you decide you'd like to relocate.

Ah, right...the place! You can't move too far along this live overseas path until you identify not only the country that calls your name, but also the region, the city, and the neighborhood you'd like to call home.

To choose one country among all the far-flung and tempting options available to you, you must consider, for each choice:

• Cost of living...
• Cost of housing...
• Climate...
• Health care...
• Infrastructure...
• Accessibility to the United States...
• The language...
• Culture, recreation, and entertainment...
• Taxes...
• Special benefits for foreign retirees...
• Education and schools (if you're making the move with children)...
• Safety and security...

Torn between Panama, France, and Malaysia? Considering the Dominican Republic, Belize, and Guatemala? Looking down south to Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile? Maybe you have no idea where you'd like to go. All you know is you've got the itch. This is a big, beautiful world, and you'd like to get to know a little more of it, not as a tourist, but as a resident, a local.

For every country on your Wish List, you've got to consider every one of the 12 issues I name above. Looking at four countries? You can do the math.

You've got to invest the time and the money to get to know each place you're considering well enough to make a judgment call.

For that is what all this comes down to: Judgment.

Ultimately, of course, you're the only one who can make this decision. Where should you invest your time and your money? You've got to answer that question for yourself. But what if you could shortcut the research stage? What if you could make this decision leveraging the judgment of someone who's already done the thinking and the planning? Someone who's already spent time and money in many of the places you're deliberating over?

When Lief and I set out from Baltimore to Waterford a dozen years ago, we didn't know what we didn't know. At first, we didn't even know to ask for help. We didn't understand just how much help we were going to need. By the time we figured that out, we were already in the deep end of the pool.

Why wouldn't the bank open an account for us? Where would we get the letter of referral they were asking for?...

Why couldn't we find office space to rent? Could the market be as thin as it appeared?...

What did "All Mod Cons" mean in the property listings we were reviewing? (Turned out, this was shorthand for "All Modern Conveniences," meaning those houses had central heating...)...

Could this estimate from the plumber be correct? How could it cost more than US$1,000 to install a faucet in a bathtub? (In truth, it didn't. This guy was "chancing his arm," as the Irish say...only we weren't Irish, so we didn't understand this...)...

And so it went...for seven years in Ireland...four in France...and now a year-and-a-half in Panama and counting...

All along the way, our experience has broadened, and our understanding of how things work (and don't work) around the world has deepened. And we continue to learn every day. I know more about these things today than I did six months ago...and I hope to understand the issues and the opportunities better still three months from now.

I've been covering this live and invest overseas beat for a quarter-century. I started out a young editor with a big wanderlust. I traveled, I researched, I reported, and, eventually, I grew to have some small idea of what I was talking about.

Then, finally, I made the leap. I got on a plane in Baltimore, Maryland, with my husband, my 9-year-old daughter, and my laptop, and we all got off in Ireland, ready to see what we might see.

If you're ready now to get serious about your own live overseas plan, here's my offer: Let Lief and me help.

As I explained at the start of this letter, I'm not going to sell you on this service. You know if it's for you or not. We couldn't accommodate a big response to this invitation anyway, so a big sales push isn't called for.

Ten.

That's the limit. That's how many readers Lief and I feel comfortable promising this support. Like every offer we make, this one is in earnest. Our greatest fear, as always, is that we might disappoint a reader. We value your trust and your loyalty. To make sure we don't do anything to cause you to question them, we're severely limiting the scope of this opportunity. We're prepared to accept up to 10 readers as members in this new Live Overseas Personal Consulting Service.

For the 10 readers who take us up on it, we're prepared to make ourselves generally available and to do everything we can, bringing all our extended and extensive resources to bear, to help you realize your live overseas dreams, whatever shape they take.

What's more, we'll help you shape them. We'll walk you through your best options, given your current circumstances, your long-term goals, and your personal priorities. We'll help you filter through all the choices, connect all the dots, and make a short list of countries that might suit you best. Critically, we'll also recommend against those places we're pretty sure won't suit you at all.

Specifically, here's what Lief and I are putting on the table:

First, we'll do our best to get to know you, at least virtually. We're preparing an extensive survey of questions to help us understand your situation and your objectives.

Then we'll arrange an initial meeting with you. This can be in person here in Panama if you'd like to make the trip down to our offices, or it can be by telephone. We'll spend two hours with you one-on-one. Part of this time will be given over to your questions, which Lief and I will address directly. Then we'll make our recommendations and suggestions.

That'll be the beginning of a relationship we're prepared to continue for a year. For those 12 months, we'll make ourselves generally available to you by e-mail. Wake up at 3 a.m. with a new worry? Send us a note. We'll reply within 24 hours. Get a letter from your new banker or tax consultant that you don't understand? Brief us, and, again, we'll be back to you same day or next. Have questions related to a contract for an apartment rental? We'll be happy to help you address them.

In addition, we'll regroup with you, again in person or by phone, each month. During our initial phone consultation, we'll make a plan and create a to-do list. Every month thereafter, for the next 12, we'll return with you to this plan and these lists to chart progress and to address hurdles and challenges as they present themselves.

We'll be your sounding board and your devil's advocate. We'll listen to your worries and offer our advice. We'll tell you what we think and what we recommend, bringing our hundreds of thousands of miles of frequent flyer experience to bear.

We'll push, we'll pull, we'll hold your hand. We'll answer your questions and pose our own.

We'll save you, I'd bet, tens of thousands of dollars in misguided travel and research expense and ill-conceived (and even dangerous) tax and residency advice.

No, we don't know everything about everywhere. We know a lot. But, more important, perhaps, we know a lot of people. It's taken us a dozen years, but we've developed an unparallel network of advisors and experts. What we don't know, they do...where we haven't been, they've traveled. When we send them an e-mail, they reply. They make themselves available to us, and, if you're among the 10 members of this new Live Overseas Personal Consulting Service, they will be, by extension, available to you, as well.

You'll have full access to our contacts, resources, colleagues, and friends all across the globe...plus, as well, access to our ever-growing line of publishing products. Right now, this includes:

• The Overseas Retirement Letter subscription service (a US$76 value)...

• The Panama Letter subscription service (a US$189 value)...

• The Next Step Kit, our guide to residency in the world's top overseas havens (a US$149 value)...

• Top Health Insurance Options For The Retiree Abroad (a US$69 value)...

• Around Asia, a one-of-a-kind guide to spending time in Asia not as a tourist, but as an expat adventurer or a pioneer retiree (a US$59 value)...

• The Panama Bridge Kit, the most current and complete guide to opportunity in the world's premier overseas retirement and offshore haven (a US$151.93 value)...

That's our line-up right now. Our editorial production schedule is ambitious, and you'll have immediate access to every new book, report, and subscription service we introduce during the time of your participation in this unique program.

In addition, you are invited, any time during the year of your membership, to join us, with a guest, as our guest, for any conference on our calendar. Mingling among dozens of fellow would-be adventurers abroad is one of the best ways I know to evolve and develop your thinking about what you'd like to do yourself. Two or three days amidst this like-minded company is an invaluable opportunity to further your plans while making contacts and connections that could pay off down the road in ways you might never imagine.

(Lief and I met at just such an event in Ireland...but that's a story for another time...)

Attendees pay as much as US$1,200 and more to participate in our live and invest overseas conferences. Again, during the year of your Live Overseas Personal Consulting Service membership, you and a friend would attend free. That's a potential savings of as much as US$2,400.

Add to this the value of the Overseas Retirement Letter subscription, the Panama Letter subscription, the Next Step Guide to residency overseas, our Top Health Insurance Options For The Retiree Abroad, our Around Asia guide, and the Panama Bridge Kit, and you're enjoying more than US$3,000 worth of value already.

And none of that is what you're really buying. What you're buying is access to Lief, me, and our extended infrastructure of connections and contacts around the world.

In the past, Lief has made his consulting services available for as much as US$400 an hour. I've never done this before. I just haven't had the time. Which may lead you to wonder: How do Lief and I have time to make this offer now?

We've decided to make the time. Frankly, we enjoy this. We appreciate the chance to get to know readers, to hear their stories, and to help them realize their dreams. Sounds a little corny, I know, but there it is.

More selfishly, we're keen to continue our own education. Helping you to research and prepare for a new life or an investment in, say, Belize or Argentina, France or Portugal, Malaysia or the Philippines will help us to further our understanding of the opportunities in those parts of the world. Being actively and directly engaged in this kind of work will help keep us on our toes. It'll help keep us in the game.

Finally, again speaking perhaps a little selfishly, we've learned the value of new contacts. This is one important reason we so look forward to every live event we host. Going into each conference, we never know who we might meet, what connection we might make, or what we might learn. We look at this new service the same way. Don't misunderstand. It's not that we'll be expecting anything from you! Certainly not. But we'll be looking forward to the chance to get to know 10 of our readers. To what those new relationships might lead, who could say? If nothing else, the way we see it, at a minimum, we're guaranteed 10 new friends.

As I said, Lief's consulting time goes for as much as US$400 an hour. We're promising every member of our Live Overseas Personal Consulting Service two hours of consulting to start, with both Lief and me, plus an hour of one-on-one consulting with the two of us every month to follow for the coming year. Even if you figure a very conservative combined hourly consulting rate of US$600 for Lief and me as a team, that's a total value over the year of your membership of US$7,800...for the guaranteed telephone consulting only.

In addition, remember, we'll be available to you via e-mail without restriction.

That's US$7,800 of telephone consulting time...

Plus US$2,400 for the free conference attendance for you and your guest...

Plus nearly US$700 for access to our line of publishing products (based on the current product list as of this writing)...

For a total value of US$10,900...again, valuing the telephone and in-person consulting time only.

I promised no hard sell, so I'm simply laying this opportunity out as it presents itself. The minimum quantifiable value of your Live Overseas Personal Consulting Service membership is US$10,900.

The real value is impossible to figure.

The cost is US$5,000.

You don't pay the full membership fee up front. The initial payment is US$2,500. The remaining US$2,500 is paid in installments over the following 10 months, US$250 per month.

As I explained at the start, this is a unique invitation, certainly not for everyone. If you're at the stage of your live overseas thinking and planning that you're ready for and recognize the value of this kind of support, however, then Lief and I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Go here now to register as a Live Overseas Personal Consulting Service client. We'll respond immediately with the detailed "Getting Started Survey" I told you about and to schedule our initial consulting session.

We look forward to hearing from you and to the chance to get to know you better.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Peddicord
Publisher, Live and Invest Overseas

P.S. The personal and financial benefits and advantages of a new life in a new country are many and can be extraordinary. You can figure out how to position yourself to enjoy them on your own, in time...or you can get help.

Frankly, this is the best offer of help you're ever likely to receive. If you're ready to make your move, we're ready, too. We'll work with you, one-on-one, over the coming 12 months, to get you from where you are now to wherever you're dreaming you'd like to be. It won't always be easy, but, with our help, it'll be far easier than it ever could be otherwise. And a lot of fun, too.