…v. Nicaragua July 30, 2008 Panama City, Panama PLUS: n  A Romantic Looks At Nicaragua n  How Will You Know If A Place Is Right For You?... n  Botox, Tummy Tucks, Implants, Augmentation…Spruce Yourself Up In Style And Comfort For One-Half The Cost… n  Corporate Cruising Discovers Panama… n  Sugar-sweet Wines…Pay Toilets…Almost Non-alcoholic Soft Drinks…Uncompromising Taxi Drivers…Summer In Russia… n  Remember, Ortega’s Out In 2011… AND: n  To Hell Or To Connacht…Tax-free In Ireland… -- Premier Private Retirement & Resort Community -- Gran Pacifica is Nicaragua’s premier five-star resort community by the sea. There’s a reason more than 200 leading business entrepreneurs, professionals, and retirees from around the world have already purchased here…and this opportunity will be open only a short while longer. 70% financing makes your decision to own even easier. Gran Pacifica ---------- Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader, If you’re considering Panama and Costa Rica…you may also be considering Nicaragua. Years ago, we ran tours that allowed you to get a firsthand impression of all three countries, generally recognized as the top options in this part of the world, at once. You spent four days in each one, comparing and contrasting, sizing up the pluses and the minuses according to your personal situation, as you moved along. While Panama’s appeals have developed and deepened…and Costa Rica has taken itself out of the running, no longer wooing foreign retirees or their investment dollars… Nicaragua has fallen out of favor. In fact, Nicaragua scared everybody away. You see, at the end of 2006, the Nicaraguans went and re-elected Sandinista Danny (Ortega) as their president. On the one hand, ok, good, I thought at the time. We’ll get this out of the way. Ortega’s specter had been hanging over this country ever since he’d failed to win re-election in 1990. What would happen if Ortega were ever put back in office, investors would ask. Is it safe to buy a home in the country, retirees couldn’t help but wonder, when there’s the chance that the Sandinista could retake power? What might the guy do, given the chance to run the country again? When Daniel Ortega, in fact, got the chance to run Nicaragua again, starting in 2007, I thought, well, now, at least, we’ll find out. No more postulating or crystal-balling. Now we’ll know what a re-elected El Presidente Ortega would get up to. Nearly two years later, what’s the story? Well, to get to the point, Ortega has continued to support foreign investment and to protect private property rights. That was investors’ biggest concern. And, to date, Daniel has done nothing to indicate that he has plans to interfere with foreign property ownership. Still, the retirees and the investors, both, are holding their sideline positions. The tourists, on the other hand, continue to come. In fact, Nicaragua’s tourism figures are rising. January through May (peak travel season) this year saw a 13% increase in visitors from the U.S. and Canada and 6.7% growth overall. This country saw more tourists during the first five months of 2008 than it did during the entirety of 2006, the year prior to Ortega’s re-taking office. I say, forget the Sandinistas. When you do…when you put the country’s politics aside…what do you have? I made the point yesterday that the Pacific crashes as dramatically along the shores of Panama as it does along Costa Rica’s coast. Of course, the same is true in Nicaragua. These three countries share a lot of geographic similarities, one reason, I guess, so many people consider them together and try to choose among them. Lief and I have thought about Nicaragua. And if we were at a different point in our lives, we might have chosen it over Panama for this current relocation. Right now, though, for us, infrastructure is everything. Not only roads and bridges. The truth is, we don’t mind potholes, dirt roads, or, even, you-can-barely-make-it-through thoroughfares. What we can’t do without, given our current circumstances, are reliable telecommunications, international banks, and a developed, English-speaking labor pool. Nicaragua has none of those things today. Right now we also need a good international school for Jackson, one that will prepare him for the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Panama beats out Nicaragua on this score, too. What Nicaragua has in spades, on the other hand, in addition to beautiful, diverse countryside and coastlines, is a warm, welcoming population with a lot of heart. Readers ask often, “How will I know if a place is right for me?” You know a place is right for you (or not) when you visit. Often, within days or even hours of landing in a country, you know if it’s a fit. It feels right…or it doesn’t. Nicaragua felt right to me from the start. When I traveled to the country for the first time, 15 years ago, I was won over immediately. In Panama today, you feel the money in play. The investment being made in this country, by both Panamanians and foreign investors, is palpable. In Nicaragua, you sense the underlying strength and resolve of the Nicaraguans. These people have struggled and fought, and they’re ready for things to be better. In Panama, you see the potential being converted to an improving way of life before your eyes. In Nicaragua, you see the potential. I’m a romantic. For me, that counts for a lot. Kathleen Peddicord   Playa Marsella, Nicaragua   P.S. Lief and I are invested in Nicaragua, are happily holding on to our investments during this Everybody’s Afraid Of The Sandinista period, and would, in fact, invest further today if the right opportunity presented itself. Ortega can’t run for re-election again in 2011, when his current term is up. He’ll be out…and this beautiful country will move on. I’ll be happy to be around to witness the further progress along the path of peace and prosperity. Meantime, a developer friend in Nicaragua has gotten in touch to let me know he’d like to extend a special, private offer to Live and Invest Overseas readers. I’m planning a trip next month to confirm the details. Stay tuned. ---------- Turn-key Retirement ---------- Here’s How You Can Afford To Retire In Style. ---------- TODAY: Medical tourism. In addition to adventure-seekers and outdoors-enthusiasts, Costa Rica is now the in destination for travelers with health and medical, especially dental and cosmetic surgery, agendas. Pick up any copy of the country’s English-language newspaper, The Tico Times, and you’ll find a couple of dozen ads, at least, for Costa Rican dentists, cosmetic surgeons, even general surgeons. The appeal is straightforward. The costs for everything from facelifts to dental implants…from botox to hormone therapy to reverse the effects of aging can be one-half and less the cost for comparable procedures in the States, for example. Have your surgery…then recover and recuperate in a beautiful mountain setting… For example: Clinica Rosenstock Lieberman for cosmetic surgery (www.cosmetic.cr.com) ...Costagenics for “age management” (www.costagenicscostarica.com) ...and Prisma Dental for cosmetic and general dentistry (www.prismadental.com)... *** Panama, meantime, is working to attract more corporate travelers…especially those interested in holding company meetings at sea. Corporate cruise tourism in this country has grown dramatically in the past two seasons and is expected to jump by another 33% this year. More than 230 vessels will dock in the country, generating about $30 million in revenues. *** The Irish government may be extending an invitation for you to enjoy an exemption from income tax on your annual earnings up to a maximum of 100,000 euro (that’s almost $158,000 at the current exchange rate). Here’s the catch: You’d have to take up residence (at least part-time) on a craggy, rain-swept island off Ireland’s west coast. This just in from our Ireland Correspondent Lynn Mulvihill: “Údarás Na Gaeltachta, the Irish body responsible for the economic, social, and cultural development of the country’s Gaelic-speaking regions, has submitted a proposal to the Irish government that, if accepted, would mean generous tax incentives for both residents and businesses (new and existing) on the Aran Islands. Under the proposed conditions, you would have to be in official residence on the islands six months of the year to qualify. “But even six months a year might seem like a long time in this part of the world… “The Aran Islands, off the coast of County Galway, were once well-populated by mainland refugees who flocked here, originally, when Cromwell invaded Ireland in the mid 17th century. Cromwell gave the dominantly Catholic population a choice. They could go “to hell or to Connacht.” The province of Connacht, which incorporates the Aran Islands, was, at the time, Ireland’s most remote region with the poorest land for farming. Cromwell holds a special place in Irish history… “Today, the collective population of this archipelago is but 3,000. Those behind the bid for tax haven status hope to inject new life and prosperity into the dwindling community, where the cost of living is 40% higher than on mainland Ireland (where the cost of living is among the highest in the EU).” *** More tips from friend Paul Lewis, traveling this summer through Russia: “Russian banks are picky about changing Western currency into roubles. They often accept only good quality, clean, crisp notes, rejecting any that are old and crumpled. “The private exchange shops are less fussy and give equivalent rates. They are easy to spot because they usually have a big sign saying ‘Exchange’ and often a board quoting the rates they pay. In general, U.S. dollars, euro, and British pounds are the only currencies they deal in. “Big supermarkets are usually confined to the outskirts of big towns. In the city, food shops, known as magazines or productos, are in the basements of big apartment or office blocks and are typically poorly signposted. Keep your eyes open. “Russians have a taste for very sweet wines, both red and white, and most local produce is of the sugar-water variety. Your best bet is wine from South America, which is cheaper than imports from France and Western Europe. But check the label says the wine is ‘Dry’ and not ‘Semi-Sweet’ or, in French, ‘Moelleux.’ Local beer is fine, and the natives, of course, tipple vodka at all hours of the day. “An interesting local soft drink called kvas can be ordered in any eatery or bar. It is made from bread, is almost non-alcoholic, and is an excellent thirst quencher because it is not as sweet as Western soft drinks. “Russian taxi drivers usually refuse to give change, pleading they don’t have any. Always ask the fare before taking a taxi and make sure you have the exact amount. “Toilets are free in restaurants but not in other public places like malls or shopping streets. The bite for using a toilet is 15 or 20 roubles, equal to 75 cents or a dollar. And don't imagine you will get toilet paper or hot water for that sum.” ---------- Important Notice ---------- The cost of a Reforestation Visa, Panama’s best residency option, is scheduled to double Aug. 26. If you’re thinking of settling in the world’s premier tax haven, act now. Contact United Nature Here FROM THE MAILBAG: “Your article last week (“How To Retire Overseas…With Kids”) sums up what my wife and I also have been experiencing. Our boy, Sebastian, now 9, was born in England. When he was 2, we moved to Spain. We took him every morning to a guarderia for a three-hour play day, and he cried and cried and we cried and cried. But it only took three months for him to learn the new language. “Our daughter was born in Barcelona five years ago, and both children have been attending public schools in Spain. We are considering another move now, but it has been impossible to find a decent public school in Mexico or here in Panama, where we’re now traveling. “We may spend another month in Panama, checking out the international schools in Panama City. We may end up living here, but we are also checking into the schools in Costa Rica and Nicaragua (if I can get my wife to buy into that one!). -- Robert C., Spain ---------- Borrow To Buy In Central America ---------- Georgetown Trust lends in Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras, and beyond. Attractive terms. Georgetown Trust Home  ♦  SUBSCRIBE  ♦  White List Us  ♦  Privacy Media  ♦  Search  ♦   Site Map  ♦   Advertise