Wouldn't It Be Easier Just To Stay Home?
Nov. 30, 2008
Baltimore, Maryland
PLUS: 101 Tips For Retiring Abroad...Buy One Get One Free On The Spanish
Costas...
And: What We Conceived In Andrew's Loft Earlier This Week...
LAST CHANCE! Must Reply By Midnight Tonight
Thanksgiving Holiday Invitation Saves You US$200
You can retire in style overseas and live better than you do now...for
as little as US$694 a month.
Live well--including a maid, a gardener, a driver--all on a Social
Security budget...
Enjoy free medical care or health insurance for US$300 a month or
less...
Own your own home in the sun for as little as US$120,000... and wake up
each morning to the sound of the waves on the sand...or the freshness of
clean, mountain air...
Where to Go Overseas in 2009--Best-Values Special
Report Free.
Plus, right now—through Midnight tonight, Nov. 30, only—take advantage
of our special Thanksgiving Holiday Invitation, and I'll
also give you a
voucher worth US$200 off any of the live events we have planned for
2009!
----------
Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,
"Do you ever miss living in the States?"
We get this question all the time. And this Thanksgiving holiday week in
Baltimore, we've remembered that, yes, of course, we do.
When we took off for Ireland more than a decade ago, we left family,
longtime friends, support systems, and everything familiar. We set out for
the great big unknown on the little Emerald Isle. Over the past 10 years
living, working, and sending our kids to school outside our home country,
we've made many new friends, of course, and we've built new networks of
support...but here in Baltimore this week, we've visited with friends from
childhood and work colleagues of more than 25 years. We'll never replace
those relationships, no matter how long we continue our adventures abroad.
We leave shortly for the airport for the trip back to Panama.
"It's a sad day," Jackson remarked a few minutes ago, as he finished
stuffing new toys and candy from his grandmother into his backpack. He
doesn't want to leave...and, to tell you the truth, right now, I wouldn't
mind sticking around a little while longer myself.
The morning we left for Ireland a decade ago, my mother sat on the side
of the bed with my then 9-year-old daughter Kaitlin, the two of them crying,
hugging...Kaitlin didn't want to leave...and her grandmother sure didn't
want to watch her go.
Many things about launching a new life in a new country are
difficult...but these farewells after sweet and treasured visits may be the
most difficult thing of all.
"I don't understand how you do this," my sister remarked the other evening.
"All the packing and moving around. Don't you get tired?"
Yes, we get tired. So...why do we keep it up?
After particularly trying days, when the trials and tribulations of life
in the developing world nearly overwhelm us, Lief will look at me and ask
that question.
"Maybe our families are right," he'll remark. "Maybe we should just go back
to the States. Life can be so much easier there..."
We've learned, though, that those, "Gee, I don't know if I see the point
of this any longer" days pass...and are quickly followed by many more days
of discovery, delight, and adventure.
Living in Panama now, we're enjoying some little luxuries that we
wouldn't be able to afford in the States...like full-time household help and
a driver on call...
And, since we've been living abroad, we've enjoyed a greatly mitigated
annual tax burden, taking advantage of the foreign-earned income
exclusion...and the zero-tax benefits for foreign residents in Panama...
But those aren't the reasons we're in Panama right now...and, certainly,
low cost of living wasn't the reason we spent the past four years in Paris!
You can list out the quantifiable benefits of living in another
country...and, sure, you're happy to be able to take advantage of them. I
appreciate having someone to help me every day around the apartment in
Panama City right now...and Lief couldn't be more delighted with our
advantaged tax position as Americans abroad.
But I'd argue that the real benefits of living abroad...of investing in
a new life in a new place...have less to do with cost of living and tax
breaks...and more to do with the chance to see what you can see...to
discover what there is to be discovered.
Sure, you can launch an adventure abroad based on purely budget
concerns. And there's nothing wrong with that. Moving to
Ecuador or
Nicaragua right now, as we remind you regularly, could be the best
answer right now to how you make sure you don't outlive your retirement nest
egg.
But if you make a move because you want to find a way to live cheaper,
what you're going to find, in addition, is that a reduced cost of living is
only the start.
This living overseas thing comes with a big, unpredictable, completely
unplannable upside. I can't tell you how your life will be enriched when you
begin living it in another country. It will be, but you'll have to find out
why and how for yourself. Right now, you'll have to take my word for it.
I promise you: Every day you don't get up and get started, you're
missing out.
You're missing out on sore shoulders and aching backs from toting
luggage and sitting up for hours at a time in airport lounges and
ridiculously small airport seats... You're missing out on
lost-in-translation confusions, frustrating bureaucracies, and sometimes
maddening local idiosyncrasies (like taxis without door handles in Panama
City and transit workers who go en greve at the drop of a beret in
Paris...)....
So...what's the point?
You'll have to find the answer to that question yourself.
And that, dear reader, itself, is the point.
Kathleen Peddicord
P.S. How do you get started? Here are
101 Tips For Retiring Overseas...
P.P.S. What else this week?
It's like
buy one get one free on the Spanish costas, as property
markets in that part of the world continue to tumble.
P.P.P.S. We've been in Baltimore this week to celebrate Thanksgiving
with my family...but also to meet with our Baltimore-based staff. We spent
all day Wednesday holed up in their loft digs finalizing plans for the
launch of something so big...so exciting...I'm seriously tempted to let
you in on it right now.
But I promised my team I wouldn't let the cat out of the bag until
they're fully prepared to fulfill.
Things are moving so fast around here right now, it's hard to keep up as
we work around the clock to finalize our special report "Launch
Your New Life In Panama." Our editors are putting the finishing
touches on the document as I write...and our marketing team is making sure
we're able to deliver on every single opportunity this important document
introduces and details.
I've been covering this beat for nearly 25 years, and I've been spending
time and doing business in Panama for nearly 15. And I have to say: I'm
wowed by what we've been able to put together. Frankly, I believe
sincerely it's the best thing I've accomplished in my career to date.
OK...I'm getting ahead of myself. For this important opportunity isn't
quite accomplished yet.
Meantime, it's all Panama resources, contacts, experts, colleagues,
correspondents, advisors, and friends on deck.
One more word: Voucher.
I promise...you'll have all the details as soon as my team gives me the
green light. Watch this space.
Home ♦
SUBSCRIBE ♦
Whitelist Us ♦
Privacy
Media
♦
Search ♦ Site
Map ♦
Advertise
|
|
