16 Things You Need To Know About Panama Today
Tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m., I’ll welcome the 200 folks joining us for this week’s Live and Invest in Panama Conference at Panama City’s Marriott Hotel.
Our agenda for our three days together is to arm all in attendance with everything they need to pursue whatever living, retiring, investing, and doing business in Panama dreams they imagine.
To set the scene first thing tomorrow morning, I’ll share “16 Things To Know To Make A Success Of Your Panama Adventures”… including:
#1: Panama City is not an option for retirement on the cheap. This was a super-cheap choice for cosmopolitan living 10 years ago but no longer. Panama City offers real-world shopping, dining, and nightlife at real-world prices. You can live in this city on as little as US$1,000 a month, but you’d be living a modest, careful life. A more realistic budget for a comfortable retirement starts at about twice that.
Other spots in Panama, outside the capital, do still qualify as super-cheap retirement options. We’ll introduce attendees at this week’s events to our favorite budget lifestyle destinations in this country, including Santa Fe (for highlands living) and the western Azuero coast (for beach life on the cheap).
#2: Much of this country and especially Panama City is hot and humid year-round. Don’t underestimate the effect if you’re not accustomed to this kind of weather. Our first few months living in Panama City, we were confounded by Panamanian friends who insisted on driving wherever they went, even if only around the block to the corner shop. One reason locals drive everywhere they can, we finally came to understand, is the climate.
You can escape the heat and humidity in the mountains. Living in Boquete, for example, you’d want to invest in a sweater.
#3: The country’s ongoing investment in infrastructure is impressive. Over the past dozen years, Panama has undertaken massive public works projects on a regular basis and followed through reliably in every case. This is unique in the region and maybe the world right now. The downside is life on the ground in Panama City, which is dirty, dusty, and noisy and where traffic jams can be epic. Our Panama economic expert David Stubbs will follow me tomorrow morning, speaking about where the money to fund all this work is coming from and why this country continues to boom.
#4: Panama is a tax haven. This is one place in the world where, depending where and how you earn your money, you can live tax free, even as an American. Our tax experts will walk the group through options and strategies.
#5: Panama is the best place in the world to base an internet business. That’s why we’re here…
More live from the scene mañana…
Kathleen Peddicord
