• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result
Home Countries Panama

Peg Fairbairn And April Hess Retire To Panama’s Veraguas Coast

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 09, 2016
in Panama, Retirement/Living
0
Retire To Panama, Veraguas Coast
214
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

“That’s Life In Panama… You Just Have To Figure It Out”

Overheard in the room at this week’s Live and Invest in Panama Conference…

“Are you learning lots of good, new stuff?”

“I am saturated. It hasn’t been dull, that’s for sure!”

“Ha, indeed. Each speaker brings something new to the table that I feel I need to pay attention to. Are you thinking of moving here?”

“Oh, we are. We’re moving in July. This is our final cram session before our big plunge…”

“I was a schoolteacher for 30 years. For 20 of those years, I taught hormonally stressed adolescents. When I retired in 2008, I was ready for an adventure.”

So began Peg Fairbairn, addressing the group in the room for this week’s Live and Invest in Panama Conference in Panama City.

“The good news was that Peg had a teacher’s pension to retire on. I’d worked my whole life, too, but I had no pension. That meant the two of us would be retiring on the income of a single teacher’s pension,” continued Peg’s partner April Hess.

“Then we went to a neighborhood party,” April continued, “and a friend had just gotten back from Uruguay. He was talking about a waterfront community there for expats.

“I asked him: What’s an expat? I’d never heard the word before.

“The next day, Peg got on the computer and started researching the idea…”

“I found an article by a lady called Kathleen Peddicord,” Peg picked up the story, “and I saw an ad for her book, ’How To Retire Overseas.’

“Twenty minutes later, I was in line in Barnes and Noble buying the book.

“When April came home from work that day, I told her, ’I’ve figured it out. We’re going to retire to another country.’

“I showed her the book and told her it was the answer for us.”

“The trouble,” April continued, “was that we had no idea where to go. We knew we needed someplace cheap because we had only the small, fixed income. And we needed someplace safe. Safety was critical for us. We were two women thinking about making this move on our own. We also wanted good health care and easy access to the States for visits with family.

“We’d been to Costa Rica. In our research, Panama and Uruguay got our attention. We decided Uruguay was too far and Costa Rica was too expensive. So we focused on Panama.”

“April was still working, but I was retired, so I was spending all day every day researching Panama,” Peg explained. “I mean, I was on this!

“Online I stumbled onto two development projects in Pedasí, Panama. I contacted both developers and started conversations. One of them had me convinced after one day that if I didn’t buy right then, right away, the opportunity would be gone.

“So that night when April got home, I said, ’OK, we’re buying this lot. And we need to move quickly. But don’t worry. I got this. We just need to send 20% of the money tomorrow…

“April looked at me as though I’d lost my mind.

“’We’re not buying anything until we’ve seen it first!’ she told me.

“The next day, April went to work, and I was back online. This time I found the Live and Invest Overseas website and a link to a project in another part of Panama called Los Islotes. The developer, Lief Simon, was offering an excursion tour.

“Well, April told me we should go see for ourselves, I thought… and so I signed us up.”

“That night when I walked through the door,” April jumped in, “Peg told me she’d booked us a trip to Panama in two weeks. Fine, I said, but we’re leaving the checkbook at home.”

“That was February 2011,” Peg continued. “We traveled with Lief and a group of six other people out to see the property at Los Islotes. It was jungle. There was no road. We hiked in with machetes in hand. I was like, where’s the beach house? These were very early days. There was nothing there yet. But we loved it. It was amazingly beautiful. We were sold.

“We didn’t have our checkbook, but we did have PayPal. We bought lot 68 on the spot. We were moving to Panama.”

“Then we went back home,” April continued, “and we told our families what we’d done. They all thought we’d lost our minds. The enormity of what we’d set in motion began to settle in.

“We’d both lived in the United States our whole lives, but neither of us had seen more than a handful of states. Now we were leaving.

“So I had a great idea,” April told the group. “We’d take a year to tour our home country before moving to a new one. We bought a fifth-wheel RV and drove from coast to coast, seeing almost every state.”

“Now, neither of us had ever driven anything like this in our lives,” Peg added, flipping her slideshow to a picture of the RV they’d bought. “But the salesman told us we could do it.

“What a trip that was. We had three flat tires and got rammed and then stranded in Massachusetts for six weeks. One morning we woke up and a tire was gone. We still don’t know where it went.

“We didn’t plan it this way, but that trip was great preparation for our move to Panama in every possible way. We learned how to travel, how to keep in touch, how to keep up with mail, how to live in a small space with only bare necessities, and how to rely on ourselves for everything. We learned how to problem-solve on the fly. We had no choice.

“And that’s what life is like here in Panama. You just have to figure it out.

“After that year on the road in the States, we were ready. We began getting all our documents together and facing the practical logistics of a move like this. How would we get ourselves, our stuff, our two dogs, and our two cats to Panama? How much luggage should we plan for? What should we bring with us?”

“We made a deal that we’d each bring four suitcases,” April said. “Peg packed all her knives and kitchen things. I packed high heels and winter clothes.”

“She’s used my stuff way more than I’ve used her stuff,” Peg added.

“Our pets were the biggest problem,” April continued. “Finally, we thought we had everything figured out, but then we found out that the cage for one of the dogs was too big for the plane and that the cats had to go cargo, not in the cabin. Then we found out that, if a plane is too full, they can bump the animals, even at the last minute, no notice. In the end, we hired a pet relocation company and were glad we did.

“Finally, we were all in Panama.”

“We decided to begin our new lives with some language study,” Peg explained. “We found a Spanish immersion program in Pedasí, so that’s where we went first.

“Pedasí is a nice little town on the east coast of Panama’s Azuero Peninsula. We found a cute local house that we rented for US$600/month. This was very basic living. No hot water, no oven, no washing machine, no closets, no TV…

“It was simple and basic, but we loved it. We had a great time.

“After a few months in Pedasí learning Spanish, we were ready to move closer to Los Islotes, where we planned to build our house. We moved first to Santa Fé, which is a beautiful mountain town in Veraguas, then, about a year ago, we moved to Palo Seco, which is where you’ll find us until our house is finished.

“Here’s what our house will look like,” Peg told the group, flipping to a drawing of the façade of the Spanish-colonial-style home she and April are building at Los Islotes.

“We broke ground last year,” Peg said, “and we couldn’t be more excited.

“We never could have predicted that this new life in Panama would be our retirement. Years ago, we never would have imagined this. It’s been a great big incredible adventure, and we’re really only just getting started…”

Kathleen Peddicord
Reporting live from the scene of this week’s Live and Invest in Panama Conference.

Tags: 'Los Islotes'April Hessexpats panamaliving panamaPeg Fairbairnproperty panamaretire panamaVeraguas panama
Share87Tweet53
Previous Post

The 4 Best Coffee Plantation Tours In Boquete, Panama

Next Post

What To Do In Panama City, Panama, With So Many Options?

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.

Related Posts

A view of the colorful buildings in Panama City, Panama during a sunny afternoon
In Focus: Panama

This Apartment In Panama City, Panama Is Your Key To Residency

by Lief Simon
May 12, 2022
0

I've lived in Panama for about 15 years... And I've invested more money here than anywhere else... From farmland and...

Read more
A small house in Cerro Punta, with bright green grass and blue skies

Tierras Altas: The New Expat Haven In Panama

May 10, 2022
3 Popular Seaside Towns In Mexico Within Driving Distance Of The States

3 Popular Seaside Towns In Mexico Within Driving Distance Of The States

May 4, 2022
Panama Is A Land Of Opportunity For Investors, Entrepreneurs, And Job Seekers

Panama Is A Land Of Opportunity For Investors, Entrepreneurs, And Job Seekers

April 29, 2022
A beach with a palm tree in Puerto Armuelles, Panama

Why Living In Puerto Armuelles As Retiree Is A Dream Come True

April 28, 2022
The Best Places To Live Abroad And Launch A New Life

The Best Places To Live Abroad And Launch A New Life

April 27, 2022
The Eiffel tower in Paris from a tiny street

While Away Your Days In Paris

April 26, 2022
Next Post
There are many options going on about What To Do In Panama City.

What To Do In Panama City, Panama, With So Many Options?

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

Get Your Free Panama Report Today!

​​Simply enter your email address below and we'll send you our FREE REPORT - 101 Things You'll Wish Someone Had Told You About Panama.
 

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2022

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

The World’s Best Places To Be In 2022?

Discover Them Here…

WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS?

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately send you a free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE in style overseas. Each day you’ll learn about the best opportunities for international living, retiring overseas, offshore diversification and asset protection, and investing in real estate around the world.

Get Your Free Panama Report Today!
 

​​Learn more about ​​​PANAMA and other countries in our free, daily Overseas Opportunity Letter​​, as well as our ​In Focus: ​Panama ​newsletter​​​​​​. Simply enter your email address below and we’ll send you our FREE REPORT – ​​​101 Things You'll Wish Someone Had Told You About Panama.