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    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Argentina Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    Learn More About This Event
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    • MORE EVENTS

    Contact Our Events Team

    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
    1 (888) 627 8834
    From Outside North America:
    1 (443) 599 1221
    Working Hours
    Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

    Unlock The World

    • Access Your Library

    Overseas Havens Reports

    • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

    Conference Kits

    • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

    Lahardan Books

    • Titles on living and investing around the world
    • Explore Our Store
    Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

    Services

    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
    Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

  • My Library
Live and Invest Overseas
 Free Panama Guide

LIVE AND INVEST IN PANAMA

view of the skyline in Panama City, Panama,

WORLD’S #1 RETIREMENT HAVEN
IN THE AMERICAS

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Home Countries Panama

Getting Back To Basics In Panama

by Kathleen Peddicord
Oct 25, 2024
in Panama
0 0
casco-viejo-in-panama-city-the-historic-place-of-panama

AdobeStock/cris

Packing up and buying a one-way ticket to another country can be nerve-racking, especially when you’ve decided to start a whole new life someplace where the language, the customs, and the day-to-day is so different from back home.

So allow me to take you back to the basics…

One of my editors—who now relocated across the Pond—spoke about her experience to a group of attendees at our Live And Invest in Panama Conference a few years ago.

“As a new arrival in Panama City, I had a lot to figure out… and I have to admit that, often, I felt overwhelmed…”

So began Sophia Titley when she took the stage to address all those convened in the meeting rooms of the Hotel Central in Casco Viejo. She walked attendees at

the event through all practical aspects of establishing yourself and launching a new life in this country.

“This talk is designed to arm you with everything you need to know to get settled in Panama and to make your transition to life here smoother than mine was!” Sophia explained.

She carried on to walk the group through all aspects of day-to-day living in Panama… including:

Getting Around

Up until this point in your life, you may not have considered sidewalks a luxury. Now that you’re in Panama, you’ll need to adjust that thinking.

If you’re trying to navigate Panama City on foot and are lucky enough to find an actual sidewalk, chances are it will be rocky, overgrown with tree roots, or pitted with potholes that drop down into no-man’s-land.

You need to take care with every step. Do not look up at the pretty high-rise buildings all around you. Keep your eyes focused down on the ground watching for impediments… lest you end up at the bottom of one of those giant potholes.

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Taxis in Panama are cheap compared with North American prices. The average fare is about $3.

If you’re going to use a taxi, be sure you have cash and small notes. Cabbies rarely have change for your $10 bill.

That said, we’d recommend against using taxis in Panama City. Panama City taxi drivers are among the least cool people on the planet. These guys are disagreeable and often untrustworthy.

A better option today is Uber. “As a young single woman in Panama City, this is the service I feel most comfortable using,” pointed out Sophia.

In addition, today you have another option for getting around Panama City—ever improving public transportation.

Your first option for public transportation is the Metrobus. These have been operating on the streets of Panama City since 2012 and are familiar and safe.

You’ll need a Metrocard to ride these buses. They are sold at all metro stops, grocery stores, and the Albrook bus terminal. A bus ride is 25 cents.

Your second public transportation option is the metro. Panama is the first country in Central America to build one, and it opened in 2014. The cost of riding the metro is 35 cents… 24 cents for retirees.

Setting Up Utilities

To set up your utilities, first, you’ll need a permanent address here, meaning you can’t start the process until you’ve rented or bought a place to live.

When you’ve done that, take your passport and address to the utility company. You’ll be asked to fill out a form, and given an appointment for installation

within 10 days. Clear your schedule the day of the appointment, because you won’t know what time the guys will be coming… and, even if you did, they wouldn’t show up at that time anyway.

Paying bills can be far more complicated than you might ever imagine. The utility company might slip your bill into your front gate or leave it in a shrub outside your house. It might then fall on the ground or be carried off by a bird as fodder for his nest…

Regardless, it’s your responsibility to find your bill and to pay it. The one thing the utility companies here are really efficient at is shutting off your service if you’re late paying your bill.

Panama is a beautiful country but like everywhere else in the world, it isn’t perfect. Almost everyone functions with a mañana mentality—don’t expect to get things done in a timely manner.

Just remember you’re setting off on an adventure.

Until next time,

Kathleen Peddicord signature

Kathleen Peddicord

Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'living in panama''moving overseas''panama city'challenges of living abroad
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Top Countries

  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Panama
  • Belize
  • Colombia
  • Cyprus
  • Mexico
  • France
  • Montenegro

Best For:

  • Health Care Abroad
  • Retirement Living
  • Cost Of Living
  • Investing in Real Estate
  • Establishing Residency
  • Gun Ownership
  • English Speakers
  • Safety
BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

How Much Will It Cost
To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

Resources

Global Living

  • Living & Retiring Overseas
  • Raising A Family Abroad
  • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
  • Offshore & Diversification

Making Money

  • International Real Estate
  • Banking
  • Employment
  • Investing
Meet Our Experts

Real Estate

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Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

READ MORE

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Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

EXPLORE

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VALENCIA, SPAIN Sep. 17-19, 2025
Learn More About This Event

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PANAMA CITY, PANAMA Oct. 15-17, 2025
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PRE-REGISTER

Argentina Workshop

VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
Learn More About This Event
PRE-REGISTER
MORE EVENTS

Contact Our Events Team:

Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
1 (888) 627 8834

From Outside North America:
1 (443) 599 1221

Working Hours
Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

Store

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  • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

Conference Kits

  • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

Lahardan Books

  • Titles on living and investing around the world

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