Paris v. Panama City...Counting The Costs
Jan. 16, 2009
Panama City, Panama
PLUS:
- How Much To Live In Panama City? How Much Have You Got To Spend?...
AND:
- Top 10 Destinations For Independent Travelers In 2009...
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The bad news is: You aren't likely to find a job on your
own overseas.
But here's the good news: That doesn't mean you can't
create the income you need to live where and how you want.
You could launch a new life in Paradise 90 days from today.
Here's how.
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Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,
When we were preparing to depart Paris for Panama
City last summer, I wrote to say that, according to Lief's
figurings, it appeared that our family was going to spend
more to live in the Panamanian capital than we had been spending to live in
the French one.
"How can that be?" I challenged Lief at the time. "Paris cheaper than Panama
City? I can't believe it."
Here's the truth about this cost of living question: You can spend as much
or as little as you want to spend to live almost anywhere in the world.
A few places are absolutely expensive and won't work right now if budget is
a chief concern--like Dublin, for example, and Monte Carlo.
And, in some places, you'd have to work hard to live a big-budget
lifestyle--in small-town Ecuador, say.
But in most of the world, your lifestyle can expand to fit your allowable
monthly spend.
We're six months into our new life in Panama. Now that we're settled, what's
the story? Has Lief's prediction come true?
Our apartment rent in Panama City is much greater than we expected it would
be. We needed three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a sizable office. I
wanted a new building with a new kitchen and American-standard bathrooms.
For this, we're paying US$3,000 a month. Not cheap by any standard. And, in
fact, you could rent a comfortable (though much smaller) place in a nice
neighborhood in Paris for the same amount (say 2,000 euro monthly).
In Paris, we spent 250 euro a week on groceries. Here in Panama City, we're
spending about US$250 a week on groceries (in other words, nearly 40% less).
You could spend, I don't know, half as much to eat in Panama...maybe less
than that. We admit it: We shop indulgently. We frequent the big U.S.-style
grocery story (Riba Smith). We buy Entenmann's pound cake and Aunt Jemima
syrup for our pancakes. We even splurge on Tropicana orange juice, at US$6 a
jug.
On the other hand, we have found bargains--like Moet's exported champagne
(exported from Argentina...not France...so technically not "champagne" but
still very quaffable), which is sold throughout the city for but US$9 a
bottle. Lief likes Sangria...and buys a local brand for about US$3 a bottle.
Local meats are good and also a bargain--as little as US$3 a pound for
steak, for example.
Other great buys in this town include men's haircuts (Lief had his hair cut
yesterday for US$3), movie tickets (US$3 to see a first-run movie in
English), and film processing (US$4 per roll...compared with 30 euro and
more a roll in Paris!).
You can buy a cell phone for US$5...and it comes with US$5 worth of phone
credit.
Here in Panama, I'm enjoying full-time, six-day-a-week help around the
house. We're paying top dollar: US$300 a month. In Paris, when I splurged on
maid service, it cost me 50 euro an hour.
In neither place have we invested in a car. In Paris, we walked almost
everywhere. When our legs gave out, we could hop on the metro and go from
one end of the city to the other for 1.70 euro.
Here in Panama, eventually we'll need a car. Meantime, we've found a taxi
driver who's available on call for no extra charge.
Taxi rates, meantime, are one of the most hotly discussed topics of
conversation in this town. How much should a taxi ride cost you?
Last year, taxi travel was standardized according to a zone system. Know the
zones and what your ride should cost you before you hop in a cab.
It should cost you US$1.35 (plus 40 cents for each additional passenger) to
travel from one zone to another. As Lief likes to say, though, "the real
cost of a taxi ride is whatever the driver can get away with."
Again, know the zones before you set off for the ride.
In Paris, we spent on average 200 euro a month for electricity and gas (used
for heat in the winter). Here in Panama we're spending $200 a month for
electricity (used for air conditioning year-round).
In Panama, our business Internet and phone package is US$185 a month. This
is for unlimited wireless--that is, any number of users at one time.
Internet and telephone are one of the greatest bargains living in France
(which boasts the world's top infrastructure in many regards). It cost us
but 46 euro per month for wireless Internet and telephone, including free
land line calls anywhere in Europe and to the United States. Living there
and buying a standard-option package from Orange, we had virtually no
long-distance bill.
We've kept the same health insurance here in Panama as we had in France.
It's a BUPA international policy that costs 122 euro a month for coverage
for Lief, Jackson, and me.
OK...what's the bottom line?
Paris Budget:
- Rent: 2,000 euro a month
- Groceries: 1,000 euro a month
- Transportation (metro): 20 euro a month
- Gas and electricity: 200 euro a month
- Internet and phone: 46 euro a month
- Health insurance: 120 euro a month
TOTAL: 3,266 euro a month, plus health insurance
Panama City Budget:
- Rent: US$3,000 a month
- Groceries: US$1,000 a month
- Transportation: US$80 a month
- Electricity: US$200 a month
- Internet and phone: US$185 a month
- Full-time maid: US$300 a month
- Health insurance: 120 euro a month
TOTAL: US$4,765 a month, plus health insurance
In other words, at the current rate of exchange, indeed, our cost of living
in Paris was a bit lower than our current cost of living in Panama City.
Does that mean it costs US$5,000 a month to live in Panama City?
Only if you want to live just the way we're living.
In other words, the answer is no. You could live here comfortably on half as
much or less.
And in the beautiful interior of this country, where we're headed this
weekend, you could live on maybe a quarter as much.
Kathleen Peddicord
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----------
"Note Panama midway through the list," writes a friend from
Paris:
Top 10 Destinations in 2009
The trouble with living someplace with a lot of tourist appeal is that you
forget to allow yourself time to be a tourist now and then.
We're no exception. We count on visitors to motivate us beyond Panama City.
This weekend, with guests in town, for example, we're traveling out to
Veraguas province for two days. We'll check in on infrastructure
progress at Lief's Los Islotes development; otherwise, our agenda is all about the beach...which, in
this still-undiscovered part of this country, is primo.
Take a look.
"I'm a new subscriber to your Overseas Retirement Letter
as of this month, and I'd really like to get the recent issue featuring
Panama. Could you please let me know how I can do this? I'd also
like a list of the places featured over the last year and how I could
receive copies of the ones I'm interested in.
"I love the e-zine and eagerly look forward to reading more from
you people. What a fantastic idea you've come up with!"
-- Carolyn J., United States
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