Back In The USA—Just In Time For The Bottom?

Dec. 29, 2011, Chicago, Illinois: This may be the bottom of many U.S. property markets, meaning it’s a good time for the global property investor to be buying property in the United States.

Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,

I write today from Chicago, Illinois, the U.S. city where I got my start as a global property investor about 19 years ago.

The U.S. real estate market is at a dramatically different point today than when I was living in the Windy City nearly two decades ago. Pundits say that property markets across this country are at the bottoms of their falls. They've been paying closer attention than I have, but I'd agree. Right now seems like the time for an investor to be scouting in this part of the world.

I'll follow that recommendation with another: If you're not a seasoned real estate investor with experience across a number of different markets, don't jump in just because everyone else is. Take time to get your bearings.

Fresh Snow And Sleigh Bells—The Best Of The Season In Stowe

Dec. 28, 2011, Stowe, Vermont: Stowe, Vermont, is one of the most beautiful, delightful places in the world to travel for Christmas.

Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,

There may be an un-nice person in Stowe, Vermont, but we haven't found him or anyone who's heard tell of him. The folks in this part of the world are as genuinely welcoming, gracious, and helpful as any we've met anywhere.

Our families thought we were nuts, but, last Thursday, we left sunny, sultry Panama and traveled north to Stowe, with the kids, in search of a white Christmas. When we arrived, all was green, and temperatures were relatively warm. Then, Friday morning, we awoke to flakes falling and thermometers dropping. All's been frozen and white ever since, just as we'd hoped.

Arriving in Stowe village this time of year is like being dropped inside a Christmas garden. Every house, church, porch, lamppost, streetlight, timber fence, and wooden bridge is dressed with fresh wreaths, white lights, pine garland, red bows, and sleigh bells. It's Norman Rockwell come to life.

Why We Continue To Choose Panama

Dec. 27, 2011, Stowe, Vermont: Four reasons Panama is the best place in the Americas to base and operate an international business.

Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,

When looking around the world in search of a place to base your business, these are the factors to consider:

1. Corporate tax rates
2. Availability of qualified labor
3. Import and export duties
4. Infrastructure (including options for air and/or sea transportation, internal roads, and telecommunications)

Each of these factors will be more or less important depending on the business you want to operate.

Taking a very big-picture perspective, considering all these criteria, Panama comes out on top in Latin America. That's why we chose Panama, four years ago, as the place to base our Internet publishing business, and it's why many, many other businesses, including many very big international operations, are also choosing to settle in this country.

Dec. 26, 2011, Dingle, Ireland: Wren’s Day, or “The Wran,” is an annual Christmas tradition in Ireland that dates back to the 1800s and that, today, is most enthusiastically celebrated in Dingle, County Kerry.

Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,

We followed the wren three miles or more
three miles or more, three miles or more
We followed the wren three miles or more
at six o'clock in the morning

I have a little box under me arm
under me arm, under me arm
I have a little box under me arm
a penny or tuppence'll do it no harm

-- From "The Wren Song," a traditional Irish song

"Dec. 26, officially St. Stephen's Day in Ireland, is traditionally known as 'Wren's Day,' or, more colloquially, 'The Wran,'" writes Ireland Correspondent Lynn Mulvihill.

Children’s Christmas In Casco Viejo

Dec. 25, 2011, Stowe, Vermont: The children of l'Ecole Paul Gauguin in Panama City, Panama, celebrated Christmas with a concert in the 300-year-old Teatro Anita Villalaz in the center of Casco Viejo's Plaza de Francia.

Also This Week: Christmas In Cuenca--Celebrating El Pase del Niño Viajero...Caribbean Christmas...Settling In...Why Costa Rica May Become One Of The Least Attractive Retirement Choices In The World... 

Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,

A few nights before we departed Panama for our holiday visit here in the States, we assembled in Casco Viejo for Jackson's Christmas spectacle.

Our son Jack, 12, attends the French school in Panama City. L'Ecole Paul Gauguin is a small school, with about 200 students in total, many, surprising to me at first, Panamanian. Why would a Panamanian family, living in Panama City, choose to send their children to a French-language, French-curriculum school? I still don't know the answer to that question, but the result, for us, is charming.