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The Economic Collapse Has Meant A Return To The Real Ireland

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 03, 2014
in Ireland, Retirement/Living
0
Retiring To Ireland comes with the perk of encountering breathtaking castles on a daily basis.
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Money And The Irish

“Money doesn’t suit Irish people…”
–Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan

The American dream of Ireland is all about thatched-roofed cottages, low stone walls, green pastures with white sheep, and pubs with peat fires.

That was the Ireland that received us when we arrived on the scene as transplanted Americans years ago, pre-Celtic Tiger. We invested in an old stone country house to restore, bought a pony for our daughter to learn to ride, cultivated gardens, drank tea, and huddled around the Stanley stove in the kitchen for warmth on rainy evenings.

Then came the boom. From our front-row seats, we watched as it chipped away at the Ireland of our American fantasies. From 1997 to 2007, this little green isle was awash with cash. The Irish had more money than ever in their history and more money than they knew what to do with. They built housing estates and fast-food franchises, bought posh townhouses and fancy cars…

“I bought a two-bedroom house in Dublin for 8 million quid one day,” funny Irishman Tommy Tiernan explains. “Why? Because it was going to cost me 20 million quid the next day.”

As the cash flowed, the scene changed. The average Irishman no longer wanted to tend bar in a pub or run his family home as a B&B. The average Irishman had more ambitious plans and schemes. This was ok, as immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa were arriving on the scene to replace the working Irish. By the time we left Waterford, not a pub or a restaurant in town was staffed by Irish. Poles and Romanians took your order at the Burger King and served your carvery at Reginald’s Tower.

In 2008, suddenly, the money stopped flowing. Ireland hadn’t succeeded in building an economy, simply in shuffling around imported cash. It was a Ponzi scheme predicated on Irish selling real estate to other Irish then borrowing money to buy more real estate to sell to yet other Irish and on and on.

When the money dried up, the immigrants moved on, and the Irish had no choice but to become less ambitious. A year or two after the crash, a friend in the country told me about hundreds of Irish, including attorneys, accountants, and other professionals, lining up for jobs at McDonald’s. Times, again, were tough.

But the Irish didn’t react as some folks might react to tough times. Maybe because the Irish have more experience with tough times than most folks. In fact, since the bottom fell out in 2008, the tougher times have gotten, the happier the Irish seem to have become.

I shared this observation with an Irish friend living here in Panama City the other day, and I was surprised (and relieved) when he wasn’t insulted. He smiled…agreed.

“No question,” he told me. “We Irish aren’t happy unless we’re struggling. Big fancy cars and the high life…those things don’t suit us.”

Ireland made a big play at becoming part of Europe. But it’s not. It’s an enigma on the edge of Europe. When left alone to be Ireland, this green island is one of the most friendly, welcoming, peaceful, and appealing places in the world to live. I speak from experience.

The very good news for you is that, now that the cash has run out and the job-seekers and foreign investors have migrated elsewhere, you have the opportunity again to experience the best of Irish life yourself. Ireland is again Ireland.

“We’re just eight or nine bad decisions away from real freedom,” Tommy Tiernan observes.

Kathleen Peddicord

Continue reading: Garbage And Litter Problem In Panama

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Tags: 'Property In Ireland''Retire To Ireland'Cost Of Living In IrelandIrish CollapseIrish EconomyLiving In Ireland
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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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