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Home Investing

Panama Is A Land Of Business, Investment, Employment, And…

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 23, 2014
in Investing
0
A skyline view of Panama City with a red sign saying, "Panama. We're Open For Investment."
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More Than Just A Plan B

Around the cantina lunch table this past sunny Saturday afternoon we were Americans, British, Irish, Russians, South Africans, and a Trinidadian. We were in Panama, all of us, in search of opportunity—business, investment, employment, and lifestyle.

“My wife and I have been looking for a Plan B,” the gentleman from South Africa sitting next to me explained. “We considered Australia, where many South Africans are migrating, but it’s not easy to get full-time residency in that country, especially after age 45.

“Then we read about Panama. It sounded like a place offering a lot of opportunity right now, so I decided to come have a look. I have been here for one week, and I am impressed. There is so much to be done here, so much on offer. There are many growing markets in Panama City, especially, in need of many more services, I think.

“I have been able to organize my temporary residency already. I’m going to return home, tell my wife about my experiences and my impressions, and then come back with her so she can apply for her residency, too.

“This started out as a Plan B,” the gentleman continued, “but now I’m thinking it could be much more than that for us…”

“I left Ireland two years ago to study in Madrid,” offered the young lady sitting across the table from us. “I loved living in Madrid, but there were no employment opportunities, not for the locals and especially not for nonlocals.

“Young people in Madrid stay living at home with their parents until they’re into their 30s. They don’t have any choice, really. They take what amount to internships where they’re paid small stipends. They earn 500 euros a month, which is enough for tapas and wine but not much more than that.

“When I finished the program I’d moved to Madrid for, I realized that I would need to make another move to someplace with more professional opportunity. I didn’t want just any job, and I didn’t want to work for a stipend wage. I wanted a career.

“Friends told me about Panama…so here I am. I’ve been able to get residency and a work permit, and I started work this week with a local property developer.”

Down at the end of the table, I overheard a lady from Georgia explaining that she and her husband were in Panama looking for better weather.

“It was 93 degrees in Atlanta when we left,” I heard her say. “For us, the temperatures here in Panama are a relief!”

“I’m a food person,” our new friend at the other end of the table, originally from Trinidad, explained. “Where I’m living now in the States it’s harder and harder for me to find food that hasn’t been modified somehow. I understand that, here in Panama, the cows are grass-fed and the chickens are free-range. Farmers don’t use pesticides or chemicals, and you can buy fresh-picked fruits and vegetables everywhere. That sounds like heaven to me.”

After lunch we continued on, headed west along the Pan-American Highway. Our ultimate destination was the western coast of the Azuero Peninsula. This little group was traveling out to see Lief and my current undertaking at Los Islotes firsthand.

On hand to greet us when we arrived at the Rancho, where our Project Manager Gary had arranged for a typico Panamanian barbeque, were other expats like us also in Panama in search of opportunity. Americans Peg and April retired to Panama last year and are about to begin construction of their new home at the beach on this Azuero coast. A Russian couple was seeing Panama and its Pacific coastline for the first time, trying it on for size for their own retirement…

Our meal was prepared over open fires as we all watched—ribs, chicken, pork…plus rice and beans, of course. The catering was courtesy of a local entrepreneur, Amada. This lady, whose family has lived in this part of Panama for generations, has identified a niche. All these gringos coming out to Los Islotes need to be fed, she figured, and offered up her culinary talents.

This is a land of opportunity and not only for us nonlocals.

Kathleen Peddicord

Tags: 'Los Islotes''residency in panama'Employment In PanamaGetting A Job In Panamaretire to Panamastarting a business in panama
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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.

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