Retire In Panama

Panama offers incomparable advantages for the potential retiree or foreign resident. This country has great weather, a low cost of living. Additionally, it has a foreign-resident-friendly tax system, and one of the best banking systems in the region. The political situation is stable, and it has a bright economic outlook.

Panama has the world’s best program of discounts and perks for foreign retirees. No wonder Panama’s quickly become a top retirement haven.

You will fall in love with this multifaceted tropical country. Choose to settle in cosmopolitan Panama City, a calm sunny beach like Coronado, or in a cool mountainside town like Boquete. Your options are limitless.

If you rush south during winter, you’ll appreciate the year-round warm climate in Panama.

Panama’s Retirement Benefits

Finding another country with the same level of retirement benefits is difficult. The pensionado visa makes retiring in Panama easy, even if you are well below the typical retirement age. Benefits include discounts and conveniences that range anywhere from 15% to 50%. These discounts include restaurants, medications, transportation, and a whole lot more.

There’s a tax exemption to import your household items when moving to Panama. Other conveniences include special programs at participating businesses and even express lines. Retirees are able to forgo the usual lines at banks and some government institutions.

In Panama, you will never be bored. You can go to the theater, catch a movie, attend a concert, or watch the regular sporting matches. Enjoy all these activities for half-off when you retire in Panama. Your current entertainment budget could be cut in half.

Panama, the hub of the Americas, is attracting people from all over the world. The culture and cuisine mix allows you to taste some of the best meals. Enjoy from Caribbean to Chinese cuisine, and from French to Italian cuisine. What’s more, enjoy dining at restaurants and save on the bill. Restaurants give retirees anywhere from 15% to 25% off.

See the Panama Visa and Residency Information section to read more about the benefits of retiring in Panama.

The Top Reasons To Retire In Panama
Kathleen Peddicord

If you’ve been a Live And Invest Overseas reader for any time, you’ve heard us go on about Panama. We could have chosen to base our Live And Invest Overseas operation anywhere in the world…

Fifteen years ago, we chose Panama. We made that decision based on the decade-plus of experience we’d already had investing and doing business in this country. We know Panama from a foreigner’s point of view like nobody else.

Here in Panama, over the past nearly three decades, we’ve bought pre-construction for investment and centuries-old French-colonial for renovation…

We’ve invested in raw land… both oceanfront and riverside… and commercial rentals…

We’ve started businesses, formed corporations, and opened bank accounts…

We’ve acquired full-time residency through the country’s ground-breaking “Specific Countries” visa program…

We’ve hired staff, shipped household belongings, put our son through school, sourced architects and carpenters, paid local utility bills, researched which health insurance plan makes most sense for our family, bought cars (because finally we’d had enough of dealing with Panama City taxi drivers!), gotten local driver’s licenses, even started a local franchise (a family project)…

What do we think of Panama today? We’re more bullish than ever on the prospects for this little isthmus. Our Live And Invest Overseas HQ is thriving in Panama City… Lief and I consider Los Islotes (from where I write today) our permanent home base…

And we continue to make new investments in this country that has fully rebounded from the pandemic shutdowns.

Why, specifically, do we call Panama the world’s #1 Do Everything Haven?

Here you go…

#1: The cost of living is affordable

Outside Panama City, it remains downright cheap. You could retire near the beach in Chitré, for example, on the country’s Azuero Peninsula, on a budget of US$1,000 per month or even less…

#2: The sun shines year-round.

Panama City can be too hot and sticky for some retirees’ tastes, but, again, look beyond the capital, and you find pockets of near-perfect climates in some regions. If you prefer cool mountain temperatures to steamy sea-level ones, consider Boquete or, less discovered and therefore more affordable, Santa Fe…

#3: The retirees’ path is well-marked

This country has been attracting foreign retirees in growing numbers for more than a decade. It offers many and very user-friendly options for establishing foreign residency if you want to live here full-time, and it is home to established and welcoming communities of expats and retirees.

#4: You can get by without speaking Spanish

I don’t recommend it, but, in Panama City, you don’t have to learn to speak Spanish if you don’t want to.

#5: Health care in Panama is of an international standard

Health care in Panama is of an international standard, and Panama City is home to Hospital Punta Pacífica, the only hospital in Latin America affiliated with and managed by Johns Hopkins Medicine International.

#6: The cost of medical care is a bargain

Like everything, medical costs are higher in Panama City than elsewhere in the country, but, even in the capital, a doctor’s visit costs US$50 or less.

#7: Local Panama health insurance

Local Panama health insurance (which can be good, comprehensive coverage, all you need living in this country) can cost US$100 per month or less…

#8: The infrastructure is of a high standard

This is a place where things generally work—the internet, cable TV, phone service, etc., are all as reliable as anywhere in the States. The roadways and highway systems are being constantly expanded and improved. ATMs are on every corner.

#9: The currency in Panama is the U.S. dollar

The currency in Panama is the U.S. dollar, so U.S. retirees have no currency-exchange risk or confusion to worry about.

#10: Panama City is an international travel hub

Panama City is an international travel hub, very accessible from North America. The flight from Miami, for example, is about two-and-a-half hours.

#11: Panama’s pensionado program of special benefits and discounts for foreign retirees is the current Gold Standard

Retired in this country, you can save as much as 50% on everything from restaurant meals to in-country airfares, from prescription medicines to closing costs on your new beach house.

#12: This is a nature-lover’s paradise

This is a nature-lover’s paradise, boasting some of the world’s best surfing, snorkeling, diving, sportfishing, birding, hiking, and adventure-travel opportunities anywhere on earth.

#13: This is a safe, welcoming place to call home

#14: Retirees you meet in Panama aren’t losing sleep over their futures

They’re embracing them.