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    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

    Greece 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

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Home In Focus: Panama

Living Like A Local In Panama City

Enjoying Retirement Part-Time In Panama

by Live And Invest Overseas
Jul 16, 2024
in In Focus: Panama
0 0
Panoramic view of skyline of Panama City downtown and financial center.

AdobeStock/eskystudio

“I can only stay for about an hour. I have a meeting about establishing a food co-op at 10:30, and, right after, I’m getting a lesson on which bus to take to get to the El Dorado shopping center.”

Bobette Jones lives like a Panamanian. She walks nearly everywhere, and, to get places too far to walk, she hops on a bus. Bobette makes Panama her home seven to eight months a year and spends the rest of the year at her summer home on an island in Lake Huron.

She first came to Panama to learn Spanish before embarking on a two-month-long pilgrimage across Spain from the French border to the Atlantic Ocean. Bobette says she didn’t know a single Spanish word before coming to Panama and was disappointed to find that quite a few Panamanians do not speak English, contrary to what she had been told.

The expat and Panamanian communities embraced Bobette within her first weeks in the country, so she decided to pack up her life in Seattle and spend most of her time in Panama.

Her first address was an apartment in Punta Paitilla, an upscale oceanfront neighborhood in Panama City. In Punta Paitilla, she lived with friends, but, after deciding to make Panama a more permanent home, Bobette was looking for more comfortable accommodation.

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Through a Panamanian doctor friend, Bobette rented an apartment in El Cangrejo. She admits her decision came down to the apartment and not the neighborhood. Now, after calling the neighborhood home for four years, she couldn’t be happier with her choice.

The apartment building Bobette lives in is just off El Cangrejo’s main street, Via Argentina. The building is more than 20 years old and was built at a time when apartments were constructed with ample square footage.

The apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a large maid’s room, which has been converted into an office. The building has an immaculately maintained pool and attentive staff. The building manager lives on-site. For all this space and service, Bobette pays about $1,200 a month in rent.

“I don’t own a car, and, living in El Cangrejo, I don’t need to,” says Bobette. “I walk everywhere. The grocery store, the beauty salon, the movie theater, not to mention I’m within a few minutes’ walk of what I consider to be some of the best restaurants in the country. If I can’t walk somewhere, I take a city bus or the Metro.”

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A retired attorney, Bobette spent the later years of her working life in health research and preventative medicine. Impressed with the interest Panamanians and expats in this country have in alternative medicine, Bobette hopes to become involved in that field in some capacity.

She says her own natural medicine practitioner in Panama City goes beyond what is expected and even gives her advice over the phone for minor complaints. Bobette has experience with conventional medicine in Panama, too.

When she informed her international medical insurance provider that her doctor was recommending cataract surgery, the insurance company approved the procedure within 45 minutes, recognizing that having the surgery performed in Panama would cost them a fraction what it’d cost if Bobette underwent the procedure in the United States. She gives glowing reviews of Panama’s hospitals and doctors.

But, adjusting to life in a foreign country takes getting used to. The challenge for Bobette in Panama is getting used to the lack of customer service. “When I was living in my first apartment in Panama City,” she explained, “my water heater broke, and it took a month before the service technician came to repair it, even though he called every day and promised he was on the way.”

She recounts a handful of other frustrations with the service industry in Panama, but, overall, she is very happy with life in this country.

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“I feel safer walking after dark in Panama than I do in Seattle. My wallet was taken from my purse once, but that was my fault for making it so accessible. Besides that, I’ve had no problems. I also like that it’s so easy to get to Panama, from just about anywhere in North America, and the airfares are usually cheaper than flying across a couple of U.S. states. The tropical weather doesn’t hurt either.”

And with that parting thought, Bobette is off to her meeting to find out how to start a food co-op. She is typical of a growing number of retirees living in Panama. They may have ditched the 9-to-5, but they are not slowing down.

Sincerely,
The Editors of Live And Invest Overseas

Tags: 'best places to retire overseas''Expat Life''Expats In Panama''Retirement Lifestyles'Best Place to Retire Abroad
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Live And Invest Overseas

Live And Invest Overseas

Live and Invest Overseas is the world's savviest source for top opportunities to live better, retire in style, invest for profit, do business, and own real estate overseas. Established in 2008, the Live and Invest Overseas' editors and correspondents have more experience researching and reporting on top opportunities for living well, investing for profit, doing business, and owning real estate around the world than anyone else you'll find.

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HOME

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

Overseas Property Alert 

 

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

VISIT SITE

Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

 

Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

READ MORE

Explore Our Latest Posts

 

Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

EXPLORE

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Live and Invest In Spain Conference

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

Offshore Wealth Summit

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

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

Contact Our Events Team:

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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

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

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