• 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

So You Think You Want To Retire Overseas?

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Mar 09, 2009
in Retirement/Living
0
challenges of retiring overseas
209
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

“He’s peering through a different set of lenses,” remarked a friend the other day. “He hasn’t learned to check his expectations at the border.”

My friend was reporting a conversation he’d had with a colleague of his from the States who’d recently made his first trip south of the Rio Grande.

“He complained that the staff at the hotel where I suggested he stay in San Jose didn’t speak English,” my friend continued.

“In fact, the staff at that hotel does speak English. Just not rapid-fire Southern Drawl English. Nor could they, I guess, readily understand that variety of English when it was put to them.

“I take a different view,” my friend went on. “The way I see things, I’m a guest here in this part of the world.”

My friend hails from Holland.

“I’m the outsider. I bend to accommodate. I don’t expect staff in a Costa Rica hotel, for example, to speak Her Majesty’s English. But if I speak slowly and carefully…and I allow them to do the same…we understand each other fine.”

Day by day, I work hard to sell you on the idea of living, retiring, and investing outside your home borders. Because I believe it’s an irresistible idea whose time has come.

Today, allow me to un-sell you a little:

Panama is a Spanish-speaking country in the Tropics. That means the people here speak Spanish, and the weather is hot.

Roatan, Honduras, is an island in the Caribbean. That means its sandy beaches sometimes swarm with insects.

Nicaragua is a Third World country. That means that, sometimes, the electricity goes out…why, nobody can explain and for how long, nobody can predict.

The French invented the word for “bureaucracy.” That means that, to address any administrative requirement in France, you’re going to have to put up with a lot of it.

The developing world doesn’t see ice in your drink as a priority (neither does Europe).

In most of the world (unlike in the United States), renters are favored over landlords, and employers are assumed to be in the wrong if an employee dispute arises.

Latinos are loud. Their parties are loud. They play their music loud. They honk their car horns…loud.

Latin America is a Catholic region. That means the people take off for Catholic feast days.

Ireland, France, etc., are socialist states. That means that the people take every holiday and vacation day they can get.

There are snakes in the jungle…but not, typically, cell towers (your cell phone probably won’t work).

Although it’s the country’s capital and seat of government, there are few street signs in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Costa Ricans are not bothered by this.

There are few street signs in all Ireland. The Irish don’t mind.

There’s no national to-your-door mail delivery service in Panama.

In some parts of the world, banks and other businesses close for lunch.

Most countries have yet to embrace the idea of 24-hour grocery and convenience stores.

Most all non-tourist Paris shuts down for the entire month of August. For those four weeks, good luck finding a plumber who’ll take your call or a notaire who’ll schedule your apartment closing.

Manana doesn’t mean “tomorrow.” If you’re able to pin down what it does mean, exactly, please let us know.

The manana approach to living isn’t restricted to Latin America. Friends in Ireland once explained that the Irish, for example, don’t have a word to express that level of urgency.

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Kathleen Peddicord

Comments

Tags: retire overseas
Share84Tweet52
Previous Post

Where To Retire Now

Next Post

Retire Overseas Case Studies

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

Cascais, Lisbon Area, Portugal
Lifestyle

Finding Our Dream Life Overseas In Cascais, Portugal

by Terry O’Halloran
February 26, 2021
0

About two-and-a-half years ago, my wife and I made the leap. We moved halfway around the world, to Portugal. Maybe...

Read more
Azenhas do Mar, Portugal coastal town.

Portugal: The Best Place To Live Is Also One Of The Safest

February 25, 2021
Riverside in Tavira on a summer morning, Faro District, Algarve, Portugal.

Why Tavira Is The Best Place To Retire In Portugal

February 24, 2021
Cost Of Retirement In Portugal vs. Panama

Cost Of Retirement In Portugal vs. Panama

February 24, 2021
Dordogne, France.

The Challenges Of Living Abroad And How To Overcome Them

February 22, 2021
Beautiful Caribbean sight with turquoise water in Caye Caulker island, Belize.

10 Reasons To Reinvent Your Life In Beautiful Belize

February 17, 2021
View overlooking Corozal township in Belize.

Different Places To Live Well In Northern Belize

February 16, 2021
Next Post
Arenal Volcano Costa Rica

Retire Overseas Case Studies

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

how to retire overseas

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 2021

  • 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.

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.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.