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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

      Join our Weekly Newsletter
      Overseas Property Alert

      Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive expert insights on the best international real estate investment opportunities.






        We Value Your Privacy! We will not share your email address with anyone else, period.

        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

        Greece Workshop

        VALENCIA, SPAIN

        Sep. 17-19, 2025

        PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

        Oct. 15-17, 2025

        VIRTUAL

        Nov. 13, 2025

        LEARN MORE
        DISCOUNT
        LEARN MORE
        PRE-REGISTER
        LEARN MORE
        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
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        Home How to

        Your Next-Stage Plan

        by Kathleen Peddicord
        Dec 22, 2024
        in How to, Retirement/Living
        0 0
        Holiday/ Christmas Lights on Building in Hampden, Baltimore Mary

        AdobeStock/Christian Hinkle

        This Sunday before Christmas, I write from Baltimore, Maryland, my home town.

        I’m here with Lief, along with our daughter and her family as well as our son, all just arrived from Paris. It’s our first holiday in the States in more than a decade. We’re reconnecting with family from whom we’ve been far too long away…

        Including my mom.

        Today’s technology allows me to stay in regular touch with her. We text, WhatsApp, and video chat in real time.

        That’s not the same, of course, as sitting down across from each other at the kitchen table.

        When we did that early yesterday morning, before the rest of the house was up, my mom looked down into her coffee mug and spoke up…”I just don’t know what to do now…

        “I mean… what do I do with myself at this stage? Where do I go?”

        It was early one morning during my most recent visit with my family back in Baltimore, before the rest of the house was up. My mom was sitting across the kitchen table from me, looking down into her coffee mug.

        “I’ve been considering options nearby. I’ve looked at retirement homes, but I’m not ready for that yet. I’ve looked at condos, including the ones where your aunt is living. I’ve spoken with real estate agents about townhouses and private communities.

        “I know I need to do something, and I’m ready to make a move. I want to take a next step soon, before the end of this year. But I have no idea what that step should be…”

        My mother and father were happily married for more than 35 years, until my dad died in a car accident 20 years ago. A couple of years later, my mom moved from the house in the country that she and my dad had built together to a smaller place a block away from my sister. The years since, she has occupied herself helping with my sister’s kids, who, when they were younger, visited her nearly every day.

        Now, though, the grandkids (my sister’s three kids and my two) are all grown up. Post-kids, post-husband, post-grandkids, my mom finds herself an ultimate empty nester.

        She’s still relatively young and healthy. She has a comfortable retirement nest egg…

        But she has no direction… no plan.

        She sees no reason to stay in the house where she’s been living now that the grandkids aren’t in the picture day to day. She wants to downsize further, but she can’t figure out where to go or what to do with herself when she gets there. She’s fully preoccupied trying to figure it out.

        Everyone’s situation is different, but I think my mom is representative of the new retirement demographic.

        Retiring somewhere warm, sunny, and affordable sounds great. But today’s retirement generation, younger and healthier than any that has preceded it in history, is looking for more than nice weather and a low cost of living. Those things are as important as they’ve always been, but now they’re only a starting point.

        The Real Point Is Purpose

        During that early morning conversation with my mom recently, I mentioned my plan to start a Student Center in Panama this year, in Veraguas Province, near where Lief and I are developing our Los Islotes community.

        Then I told her about our plan to hire an administrator and then to try to find volunteers to serve as teachers and tutors.

        “We’ll begin by building a two-room schoolhouse,” I told her, “where we’ll provide English-language and computer literacy courses and offer after-school tutoring for any kids in the area who are interested.”

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        My mom looked up from her coffee, and her face brightened.

        “What a wonderful project,” she said. “Something like that would give real purpose to your life…”

        Purpose Could Take Many Forms. It’s Limited Only By Imagination

        I agree. This project is important for me for what it can mean for our local community at Los Islotes… but also for what I believe it will mean for me. Lending a hand in this way to my neighbors in Quebro township will bring me joy.

        How would you like to reinvent your life in retirement? Would you like to pursue a hobby you set aside your entire life until this point?

        Would you like (or maybe you need) to start a business, either laptop-based or bricks-and-mortar, to generate cash flow to supplement your retirement nest egg while also giving you a reason to get out of bed each morning?

        Would you like to volunteer to teach (keep Los Islotes’ Student Center in mind!)? Donate your time to help out in an orphanage or a shelter for single moms?

        Perhaps you’d like to build houses… or plant gardens? Learn to play a musical instrument… to speak a new language… or maybe to scuba dive or practice tai chi?

        The secret to success pursuing any purpose anywhere in the world, I’d suggest, is connecting with others who share your interests and perspective.

        That connection can happen organically. It won’t likely be the driving force behind when and where you choose to reinvent your life overseas… though it could be.

        Imagine your dream lifestyle… and then seize it wherever in the world you find it on offer for a price you can afford.

        Once on the scene, put yourself out there. Make an effort to become part of the community where you’ve chosen to base yourself. Get to know your new neighbors. Each connection will lead who knows where…

        The key thing, as my mom is beginning to see, is to chart a course.

        Take the opportunity this special time of year presents to regroup big picture.

        What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

        And, critically, where do you want to do it?

        We’ll continue to serve up your best options.

        Merry Christmas week.

        Until next time,
        Kathleen Peddicord signature
        Kathleen Peddicord
        Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

        Tags: 'Reasons To Retire Overseas''retirement advice'expat abroadLive abroadliving overseasnew life overseaspurposeretire overseas
        Share84Tweet52
        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
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          • Belize
          • Colombia
          • Cyprus
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          Best For:

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          • Investing in Real Estate
          • Establishing Residency
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          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
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          Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

          Store

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          • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

          Lahardan Books

          • Titles on living and investing around the world

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