I write from Chamonix where Lief and I have traveled with our children and granddaughters for Christmas.
Lief and I don’t ski, but our kids do. And our 5-year-old granddaughter will take her first lesson tomorrow morning.
For Lief and me, this annual holiday is an opportunity for reflection.
How did we get where we are… and where are we headed from here?
I wrote my first book on retiring overseas in 1987. I was 24 years old.
I wasn’t retired then and—though I’ve written many titles on retiring overseas since—I’m not now.
I’ve been living outside the States since 1998—at home in Ireland, Paris, and Panama—and I’ve spent time in 80 other countries along the way… but my experiences beyond U.S. borders have been as a business owner and entrepreneur.
At last time has caught up to me. Friends and colleagues are embracing their troisième âge. They write to invite me to join them for travel and adventure. When I decline because my schedule doesn’t allow for it, they shake their heads.
“Isn’t it time you took your own advice,” they want to know, “and finally retired overseas?”
Fair point… but, nah, not yet.
I’m working as many hours as ever, but I don’t mind. I’m in the very fortunate position to be doing what I’d do if I could do anything in places I’d be if I could be anywhere.
As I look ahead to the brand shiny new year just around the corner, I imagine more hard work, which brings me joy, and perpetual travel.
Lief and I will continue to divide our time between our home bases in Panama and Paris with regular sojourns other places we enjoy, from Ireland and Croatia to Colombia and Argentina, as well as many more points on this big, beautiful earth we’ve yet to discover.
We don’t like standing still. Paris, Panama, and beyond works for us.
While you might not describe my lifestyle as “retired,” I’d say it qualifies.
Traditionally, retirement has been about withdrawing from the rest of the world and a formerly busy life. That’s no longer the case.
After decades of working hard, paying taxes, raising kids, and deferring what you wanted to do because you had no choice but to spend your time doing what you had to do, this phase today—no matter at what age you’re able to embrace it—is your chance to be more engaged in the world, in life, and in the pursuit of happiness than ever.
Retirement today is an opportunity to think big and act boldly, a chance to broaden your perspective and your world, to leverage your decades of experience to this point to take control of your future.
Retirement is your chance to add a dose of swagger to your lifestyle.
As you’re a reader of these dispatches, I figure these ideas are on your mind, and I applaud your willingness not to let conventional thinking get in the way as you imagine what your own Third Age might look like.
Based on my experience, both personal and also helping many thousands of others like you embark along this path, I’d argue that looking beyond your borders is the key to ensuring yourself the richest retirement possible.
Whatever nest egg you’ve got—shoestring or luxe—that budget will buy you a more engaging, more satisfying, and more adventure-filled lifestyle many, many places around the world than it’d ever afford you wherever you’re moving from.
Retiring overseas equals retiring up. A Pacific beach home in Panama costs a fraction as much as one on the coast of California and a penthouse in Medellín, Colombia, one of the most fully appointed cities in the world, can cost less than a single-story duplex outside Des Moines.
Retiring overseas, you can opt for better weather. You can access better and cheaper health care. You can live healthier, losing weight without trying. And you can choose the lifestyle that suits you best—city or beach, Old World or New.
Those are big upsides, but they’re only the start. The real benefits of retiring overseas are less quantifiable but more rewarding.
Retired overseas, you’ll become a better you. The transformation will begin immediately. From your first day at home in your chosen Shangri-la, you’ll be reinventing yourself. You’ll have no choice. Everything and everyone will be different. Every day will present discovery.
Your brain will work overtime to connect new dots and create new routines. You will grow more resourceful, more self-assured, and quicker on your feet in real time. Six months after you’ve made your move, you might not recognize yourself.
When I left Baltimore bound for Waterford in 1998, I had no idea where that move would lead. No idea that seven years later I would swap Waterford for Paris… then, four years after that, Paris for Panama City. Had I tried to plan for the long term, I might never have left Maryland.
Looking too far into the future can be overwhelming. Taking the all-important first step requires a leap of faith.
The reward for mustering the courage is enormous. Spending time overseas—full-time, part-time, back and forth, now and then—will enrich your life in ways you can’t predict.
Retiring overseas may not lead where you set your compass initially, but I believe it can get you where you belong.
Whatever you imagine your next chapter to look like, you’re right to consider pursuing it overseas. The experience will be the adventure of your lifetime, leaving you with stories to tell and memories to treasure.
I’d say that’s everything.
Until next time,
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter
