• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result

Raising A Family In Panama

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Sep 01, 2015
in Lifestyle, Panama
0
Raising A Family In Panama
215
SHARES
3.1k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Why Would A Family Of Six Move To Panama?

After nine weeks of travel—from Panama to New York then Portugal, Paris, Frankfurt, Andorra, southern France, and Ireland—Lief and I are finally, this week, back home in Panama City.

In Waterford, Ireland, our family’s one-time home town, we visited with old friends, including one who’s considering moving, with her family, to Panama.

Lief and I met with our friend and her husband one evening in Waterford’s Munster Pub to answer their questions and to try to help them think through both the big idea and the many little particulars of such a relocation.

Our friend and her husband aren’t a couple of retirees. They’re young and raising a family of four school- and preschool-aged children. They’d need to earn a living, and, for them, international schooling options are a priority.

Would it make sense for them to make the move they’re considering? To reposition their family of six from the Emerald Isle to the Hub of the Americas?

My response to that question when they put it to me straight was an enthusiastic: Yes, indeed.

In part, that response was self-serving. Our friend is also a colleague, a writer who’s been working with us for 15 years. How great for us to have her in the office in Panama City, rather than working for us long distance from her home in Waterford.

My personal agenda aside, my answer stands. Panama is a top retirement haven, as you know. It’s also a top choice for would-be entrepreneurs; I’d name it as the best place in the world to start a business (that’s an important reason why Lief and I, who could be living anywhere in the world, are here).

In addition, though, and much less publicized, Panama is one of the best places in the world to think about embarking on a family adventure of the kind our Waterfordian friends are contemplating.

Why do I say that? That is, why in the world should a family with young children consider the idea of uprooting the brood and re-installing them in Panama of all places?

Let’s start with the kids, because, if you’re thinking about making a move to another country with children, they take priority. What’s important when you’ve got school-aged children? Schools, of course, and Panama has at least a dozen good, international-standard schools, including American, British, French, Montessori, and parochial. These schools are all growing (the French school where our son attends has grown from 75 students total, among all grades, when Jack was first enrolled seven years ago, to more than 500 students today), and new international schools are being opened. The demand is expanding as more and more global businesses set up operations and offices in Panama City. All their executives and international staff need schools for their children.

If you’re coming from the United States, tuition at these schools will seem a bargain (though it has increased significantly in recent years). Unfortunately for our friends from Ireland, private school tuition in Panama City is more expensive than private school tuition in Ireland. In Panama City, you’re looking at monthly private school tuition of US$200 at a minimum to upwards of US$1,000 per child for the highest-end schools, with discounts for each additional child in a family.

What else is important to a family with young children? Recreation and entertainment. In this regard, Panama beats Ireland hands down. Ireland is a beautiful, geographically varied country, with coastline, mountains, lakes, and rivers, all potentially of great interest to a young child. However, the weather in Ireland can make it tough or at least uncomfortable to take advantage of the country’s natural wonders. On our recent visit, friends who live by the beach in Tramore invited us to go swimming with them one afternoon. It was August. The sea off their shore was as warm as it’d ever be, but Lief and I declined the invitation. “You couldn’t drag me into that water,” was my actual response.

When we lived in Waterford, we went to the beach a few times. We dressed in long pants and sweaters and then sat huddled and shivering on our blankets on the sand, watching the Irish diving in and out of the sea.

Panama is also beautiful and geographically varied, but, in stark contrast to Ireland, the sun here shines warm and year-round. Living in Panama, a family with young children could spend every weekend exploring beaches, islands, and rain forest, swimming, fishing, surfing, tubing, zip-lining, and seeing wildlife up close. One of our son’s favorite memories of this country is the first time he saw a crocodile in the Panamanian jungle (he was age 4).

Thinking more practically, the health care available in Panama City is international-standard and affordable. Doctors speak English, and, at the clinic where we take our kids when they need medical care, we’re seen within minutes even without an appointment.

Shopping malls in Panama City and increasingly elsewhere in the country offer everything parents need to keep their children fitted out and comfortable. Here in Panama City, our son has taken guitar, piano, tennis, swimming, martial arts, and riding lessons. He’s had cookie and lemonade stands and washed neighbors’ cars to earn pocket money. He rides his bike and his skateboard on the Cinta Costera, as do all kids living in the city. He goes to the movies and parties with his friends.

He lives a full, busy, typical teenager life.

He also speaks three languages fluently—French in school, Spanish with his friends, and English at home with us.

That’s the kids. What about the parents? That is, how would our friend and her husband earn a living?

Our friend is covered. We’re standing by to welcome her into our little operation as soon as her plane lands on Panamanian soil.

Her husband’s prospects are good, too. He’s a computer programmer. Big market for that kind of expertise and experience in this town.

And, thanks to Panama’s Friendly Nations visa program, our friends would have no trouble establishing residency and obtaining work permits. Depending on how they organize themselves, they could enjoy tax benefits.

Meantime, they’d be learning a new language, along with their children, and the whole bunch of them would be having a grand adventure.

We’re hoping they take the leap.

Kathleen Peddicord

Continue Reading: Does Bankruptcy Affect Residency Options In Panama?

Comments

Tags: cost of living panamafriendly nations visalive panamaraise a family panamaresidency panamaschools panamastart a business panamawork panama
Share86Tweet54
Previous Post

Does Bankruptcy Affect Residency Options In Panama?

Next Post

FBI Background Check Required For Residency Visa Applications Overseas

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

Related Posts

Perfect tropical paradise beach with palm trees and hammock 350x250
How to

Most Frequently Asked (And Not So Crazy) Questions About Retiring Overseas

by Kathleen Peddicord
January 10, 2021
0

The following questions, which we receive every day, are often preceded by, "I feel a little foolish asking, but I'm...

Read more
The colorful urban skyline of Panama City, Panama.

The Current Events In Panama–How The Little Isthmus Shines

January 8, 2021
Keel-billed Toucan, shot in Panama.

The 10 Best Places To Discover Wildlife In Panama

January 7, 2021
Avenida Balboa at Dusk in Panama City, Panama.

The Panama Golden Visa: Residency And A Second Home For The Price Of One

January 6, 2021
Family watching sunrise on beach.

Moving Overseas Will Affect Your Family But It Can Be For The Better

January 5, 2021
Santa Catalina, Veraguas, Panama.

Starting A School In Panama Near Los Islotes

January 3, 2021
Couple Enjoying Beautiful Sunset Walk on the Beach.

9 Critical Issues To Consider Before Deciding To Live Overseas

January 1, 2021
Next Post
background check for residency

FBI Background Check Required For Residency Visa Applications Overseas

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

Get Your Free Panama Report Today!

​​Simply enter your email address below and we'll send you our FREE REPORT - 101 Things You'll Wish Someone Had Told You About Panama.
 

how to retire overseas

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2021

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS?

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately send you a free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE in style overseas. Each day you’ll learn about the best opportunities for international living, retiring overseas, offshore diversification and asset protection, and investing in real estate around the world.

Get Your Free Panama Report Today!
 

​​Learn more about ​​​PANAMA and other countries in our free, daily Overseas Opportunity Letter​​, as well as our ​In Focus: ​Panama ​newsletter​​​​​​. Simply enter your email address below and we’ll send you our FREE REPORT – ​​​101 Things You'll Wish Someone Had Told You About Panama.
 

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.