We’ve Got Your Back
When I began covering this retire-overseas beat more than 25 years ago, I was a little ahead of my time. Back then, the suggestion of retiring to a foreign country was typically met with raised eyebrows or confused silence.
Today, more than a quarter-century later, leaving home and hearth, loved ones (especially grandchildren), and everything familiar at this important phase of life no longer qualifies as nuts. More and more would-be retirees are recognizing the sense, the upside, even, in some cases, the necessity of retiring beyond their own borders.
Still, you might call it an outside-the-box strategy.
And, frankly, the more closely you look at your retire-overseas options, the more intimidating the whole notion can seem.
I was reminded just how daunting this idea can be during last week’s Live & Invest in Panama Conference. Many readers who joined us for this event were considering their retire-overseas options for the first time.They were understandably a little uncertain.
One attendee, Brian, came to the conference with a clear agenda: He intends to move to this country full-time. Recognizing that he’d realize that goal quicker, easier, and more cost-effectively if he had a little help on the ground, Brian took us up on our invitation earlier this year to become a Panama Circle member.
As such, Brian attended the conference free. Panama Circle members are invited to join us for every Panama event we sponsor as our guests.
Brian is a successful businessman and an independent sort with an adventuresome outlook. In other words, not the kind of guy who looks for someone to hold his hand through life. Yet, again, Brian recognized early on in his retire-overseas thinking that, if he were going to do this, he’d be wise to engage support.
In the country last week and this, Brian has been in and out of our office, asking directions…enlisting help making plans to travel to Taboga Island, Boquete in the mountains, and Los Islotes on the Azuero coast…consulting maps…borrowing a computer to check his e-mail. He’s become like part of our little Live and Invest Overseas community, and we’ve been enjoying his company.
Brian’s returning home to the States today, but he is making plans already for his next Panama visit next month. Panama Circle Member’s Liaison will be at his disposal between now and then, to help with his return travel arrangements, to make appointments in Panama City related to processing his visa and opening a bank account, to plan further exploration throughout the country… whatever Brian needs. Our Panama City office is his Panama City office; our Personal Assistant is his Personal Assistant; our resources are his resources.
I’ve enjoyed watching Brian make use of the benefits and services of his Panama Circle membership this past week, and the experience has helped me to realize what I’d say is the biggest benefit of all of this association.
As I mentioned, Brian has been coming and going from our office, checking in from the road by cell phone, enlisting our help whenever he has a question. He’s discovering Panama on his own, finding his own way. But he’s not alone. We’ve got his back. Brian can venture off, embracing opportunities to lose his way in this country (literally and figuratively), knowing that we won’t let him go too far wrong and that, whenever he does make a wrong turn, we’re only a phone call away.
Watching Brian work to pull together the pieces of his emerging new life in Panama…and watching my colleague and the others in our Panama City office support him along the way…I’m recognizing anew the value in all this.
Right now, we can offer this level of support in Panama only. But, yes, as readers write to ask regularly, our growth plan calls for developing this service in other key markets, as well. We’re moving as quickly as we can to that end.
Watch this space for further details.
Kathleen Peddicord
P.S. For obvious reasons, we can accommodate only so many Panama Circle members. If membership grew too large too fast, we wouldn’t be able to provide the level of support that we promise to every one who joins the group.
That’s why we offer new member enrollment only twice a year. We’ll be extending an invitation for new members later this month. Again, watch this space for details.
Continue Reading: Driving, Maps, And GPS In Panama
