Luxury is not the same as jet set.

Living a jet-set life, you’d expect limos and private planes, an entourage and connections that’d get you jumped to the front of every queue.

Luxury is something else.

For me, for a place to qualify as luxury, it must provide access to four- and five-star restaurants with wine lists to match…

It should have boutiques offering internationally recognized brand-name indulgences…

Live theater plus movie cinemas showing first-run and foreign flicks…

An artist community…

Affordable help around the house and a private driver if you want one…

To-your-door delivery services for groceries, restaurants, and anything else that occurs to you…

Specialty food shops and wine stores offering good vintages from around the world…

English-language bookstores…

Spa and salon services…

You get the idea.

In addition, for me, to be considered luxury, a place must offer more than these commercial trappings. It should be historic… which translates to interesting, especially architecturally.

Places developed carefully over time feature parks and squares and plazas… so you can walk and wander while enjoying the passing show.

Finally, for me, a luxury experience requires elements of charm and romance.

Who wouldn’t want a life that could be described that way?

The question is where can you not only find that lifestyle but also afford it?

Hands down, no contest, in my book, the best place in the world to seek out a lifestyle of this description is Paris, France.

Whatever your idea of the high life, you can find it in the City of Light and one of the great things about Paris is that some of the best it has to offer comes free.

The sweetest pleasures of life are here for the taking…

Picnics in the Luxembourg Gardens, long walks along the Seine, afternoons lost among the cobblestones of the Latin Quarter…

These things cost not a sou.

Most museums, including the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, forgo admission fees one day a month, and the Métro will transport you from restaurant and café to museum and nightclub for less than €2.55 and even the chicest Parisians don’t mind using it for transport around their city.

Paris is a never-ending feast of openings, performances, exhibitions, and celebrations, many available for little cost. You can join conversation groups, book clubs, and cooking classes. You can enjoy prix-fixe meals for €20 or less, and you can spend hours in a café, seeing and being seen, for the price of but a single café au lait.

The more practical necessities of life don’t come free in Paris, but they are more affordable than you might imagine. France boasts some of the world’s best infrastructure, and it’s a bargain.

For the past 19 years, my husband and I have been living part of the year in Panama and part of the year in Paris. Before this we were in Paris full-time.

About a month before we decided to begin dividing our time, Lief presented me with a budget showing that our cost of living in Panama City would be more or less on par with what it had been in Paris. I suggested that my husband the accountant double-check his figures.

Upon closer inspection, we found that Lief was correct. His ciphering predicted that our day-to-day cost of living would be the same in Panama as it had been in France.

Our experience over the past decade has proven Lief right. For us, Paris is no more costly than Panama.

How could that be?

After more than 40 years covering this beat, I’m reluctant to speak of budgets. They’re so variable and so personal and can be controlled and manipulated. Plus, the longer you live in a place the better you get at living in that place efficiently.

But here goes…

A car is an unnecessary liability in Paris. We spent four years in Paris when our children were young happily auto-free and since we’ve been back part-time we’ve not once thought of investing in a car. We don’t need one.

The butcher, the baker, the grocer, and the wine shop are all less than 15 minutes’ walk from our apartment, as are the Tuileries Gardens, the Louvre, the Latin Quarter, six movie theaters, and at least a dozen cafés and restaurants. When we want to venture beyond our quartier, we duck into the nearest Métro station or take out our phone to hail a ride courtesy of Uber or G7.

Other practical things in Paris can be cheap, too, including telephone, cable, and Internet. Our service from Orange includes phone, cable, and Internet and allows unlimited free calls anytime to anywhere in North America, the Caribbean, and Europe. The cost is €42.99 per month.

You could get by in Panama City without a car. Uber is cheap. But one of the best things about living in Panama City is escaping it for a weekend at the beach or in the mountains, both as little as two hours away.

You can rent a car every time you want to explore the interior, as Panamanians refer to the entire rest of their country outside Panama City, but eventually I’d say you’ll want to invest in a vehicle of your own. That means monthly insurance, gas, and maintenance expenses, plus parking and maybe a driver. I drove myself around this town our first couple of years living here but that was all I could take. Panamanian drivers terrify me.

Our phone, cable, and Internet package in Panama City costs $90 per month, not including international phone calls, which, again, are free with our package in Paris.

In Paris, we pay for heat six months a year. In Panama City, we pay for air conditioning year-round. Electricity is relatively expensive in Panama.

In Paris, Lief and I spend €200 a week on groceries. In Panama City, it’s $250 a week. You could spend half that or less to eat in Panama. I admit we shop indulgently. We frequent the big U.S.-style grocery store Riba Smith rather than the more local and cheaper Super 99. We buy steaks imported from the States, wine from France, and butter from Ireland because those items are available and we’re willing to pay a premium for them… except when we’re not.

My point is that, based on my experience over the past two-and-a-half decades calling it home, living in Paris isn’t as expensive as you might fear.

Oh… and taxes? They might be another reason you’re tempted to take France off your list. Au contraire, dear reader, again, the reality is that your tax burden in France would be no greater than your tax burden in Panama the tax haven.

How can that be you might again be wondering? It’s thanks to the bee’s knees of tax treaties that exists between the United States and France. I’ve got a guy who can explain it to you in detail.

For me, life in Paris is as good as life gets. If money is no object and you appreciate the Continental lifestyle, you should have this city at the top of your list.

If Paris is your dream and your budget is fixed, still, take a close look before you write off the world’s most beautiful, most romantic, most luxurious place to be.

If you can afford Panama, I’d bet you can afford Paris.

Until next time, 

The post The Price Of Paris Versus Panama City appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

My favorite thing to do anywhere in the world is to take a walk, but Paris takes taking a walk to a next level. 

When our children were young, we had an office in the 8th arrondissement on rue du Chevalier de Saint-George, near Madeleine. Our apartment is in the 7th arrondissement, behind the Musee d’Orsay… 

The walk from one to the other—my daily commute for years—takes you across the river…

Through the Gardens of the Tuileries…

And down rue de Rivoli…

If I were to rate all the walks in all the world, this one would be #1. No other scene anywhere compares with what we humans have managed to create for ourselves across these several blocks in the heart of Paris.

I reacquainted myself with the journey this weekend for the best possible reason… lunch with my daughter and granddaughter beneath the brilliant Paris sun…

Santé!

Until next time,

The post In Photos: A Perfect Day In Paris appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

For me and Belize, it was love at first sight.

From the first morning I arrived in Belize City, nearly 40 years ago, climbed down from the plane onto the runway, threw my backpack over my shoulder, pulled on my sunglasses, and walked across the tarmac in the direction of the country’s one-room international airport, I was smitten.

It was nothing I could put my finger on. Just a feeling. Like falling in love. You know it when it hits.

Belize City could be described as the Calcutta of the Caribbean. That description is not undeserved, but it refers not to Belize but to Belize City and not to the heart and soul of this country but to some parts of the town where, unfortunately, its international airport is located.

Infatuated as I was by the experience of being in Belize, even I, young and naïve as I was, recognized that Belize City wasn’t a place to hang out. This hasn’t changed in the decades since, but it didn’t matter to me then and it isn’t the point now.

What won me over from that first visit was the raw, natural beauty of the place, the simple, sweet charm of life here, and the resilience of the Belizean people. I connected straightaway.

On that first visit, I met a handful of Belize expats with whom I’d developed friendships I treasure. Visit by visit, in the years to follow, they helped me to get to know this country founded by pirates, for pirates, where independence and free thinking are prized above all else.

These are qualities that I, too, value a great deal. Instinctively, putting my feet on the ground in this country for the first time, I knew that Belize and I were made for each other.

Belize is the quirkiest place I know. Belize City’s roadways are built around a system of roundabouts (thanks to her British colonizers), but shops alongside them sell rice, beans, and tortillas ground by hand.

Everyone you meet speaks English (it’s the country’s official language), but this belies the stories of their origins.

The 400,000 people populating Belize today are descendants of migrants from Britain, yes, but also and more so the surrounding Central American countries. You’ve got Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans mixing with current-day generations of the Maya who originally inhabited this land, the pirates who came later, the Mennonite farmers who began arriving on the scene in the 16th century, the British who ruled until 1981, and each other.

Belize is a country of freedom-seekers. The pirates came to ply their pirate trading out of view. The Mennonites came from Germany and the Netherlands so they could be Mennonites without anyone bothering them. The British came so they could bank in private. And the folks from the surrounding countries who’ve sought out Belize in recent decades typically have made their way across this country’s borders in search of safety.

Today, now, a new population of freedom-seekers is finding its way to these shores:

Us.

Belize is a nation of independent thinkers and doers, a country where you make your own way and where, while you’re doing it, no one thwarts your efforts.

Including the Belizean government. This is a poor country. The government doesn’t have enough money to get up to any real trouble. And, if they tried, Belizeans wouldn’t allow it. The focus here is on local-level government—addressing the crime problems in certain neighborhoods of Belize City or trying to dissuade the Guatemalan banditos who occasionally wander into Belize in search of a couple of good horses to steal.

Check Your Worries At The Border

Arriving in Belize, stepping off the plane, and making your way to the one-room arrivals hall of the airport, you have a sense still today, just as I did 40 years ago touching down in Belize for the first time, of leaving the rest of the world behind. Belize and her people operate according to their own rules and mind their own business. The troubles, uncertainties, and worries that seem all-consuming Stateside and elsewhere in the world fade here. You’re faced with a land that remains a frontier, undeveloped and oozing potential.

Belize is one more thing—one of the world’s most user-friendly options for establishing foreign residency. You can just show up.

Where The H#&% Is Belize?

Belize has been attracting expats in the know from the U.K., the United States, and Canada for decades. Still, many would have trouble pinpointing the country on a map and a lot of folks think it’s an island.

It’s not, of course, though it features a handful of Caribbean islands offshore Belize City.

Shops in the airport sell T-shirts that ask, “Where The H#&% Is Belize?” The good news is that the country is close to the United States and accessible.

Belize is easy to get to, and, once you’re here, it’s easy to get around and do whatever you’d like to do. The country is compact and the language is English.

The Many Faces Of Little Belize

Don’t be fooled by its size. You can get from one end of Belize to the other in a half-day by car or a half-hour by plane. The country’s domestic air travel system is its most developed infrastructure.

Despite this, Belize has many faces.

Belize City

First is Belize City—poor, underdeveloped, and, in parts, unsafe. I don’t mind the place. Beneath the gritty surface, I detect a long-faded charm. Or maybe I project one. Either way, I enjoy passing through, but I know that, for many, the best part about traveling to Belize City is leaving Belize City.

Caribbean Coasts

Belize is perhaps best known and best loved for its Caribbean islands, especially Ambergris Caye, the largest and most developed, boasting both long beaches of soft, white sand and an established and growing community of expats and foreign retirees. This is the Caribbean at its best.

Belize’s long mainland coast is marked by two points of particular interest. South of Belize City is Placencia; north is Corozal.

Placencia has grown up in recent years to become the mainland’s best-appointed beach town, catering to tourists and now sporting the trappings that come with them. Corozal boasts easy access to Chetumal, across the bay in Mexico, which can be a big advantage in case of medical emergency. On the other hand, day-to-day, you might feel remote here. Maybe that’s a plus for you… maybe a minus.

The northern coast around Corozal sees about 50 inches of rain a year. The southern coast, Placencia and south, can see three times that much. Maybe that bothers you… maybe it doesn’t.

Cayo

Inland is the Cayo District, a dramatically different region where life revolves around not the sea but the river. For some, river views don’t substitute for ocean vistas; others prefer them.

In other words, each region of Belize has its pluses and its minuses. Island living is always more expensive than life back on the mainland, meaning Ambergris is the most expensive lifestyle choice in the country. Most expensive and also most developed and turn-key.

Cayo offers an opportunity to enjoy a healthy, fulfilling, back-to-basics, and self-sufficient lifestyle, thanks to its abundance of fertile land, water, and sunshine year-round. Cayo is also Belize’s most affordable lifestyle choice.

Infrastructure

The British left great legal, educational, and governmental foundations in Belize but not much in the way of physical infrastructure.

Considerable investment has been made in recent years to improve this country’s roads and bridges. Still, though, to put things into perspective for you, Belize has just a handful of highways.

The most significant artery in the country is the Western Highway, which connects Belize City (the largest city), Belmopan (the capital), and San Ignacio (the largest town in Cayo).

Not only road infrastructure but infrastructure in general is limited in Belize. This is a small country where the infrastructure is most kindly described as “developing.”

No infrastructure, limited services and amenities, and little market demand (meaning limited product supply) could be interpreted as negatives. However, in Belize, particularly in Cayo, these things are a big part of the appeal. Once you get to Cayo, you don’t mind that there’s no infrastructure.

You don’t mind that the culture is more concerned with conservation than consumerism.

You don’t mind… or, if you do, you’re not happy.

If you’re shopping for a lifestyle supported by the diversions and distractions of a big city, Cayo is likely not for you and maybe nowhere else in Belize is either.

I began a love affair with Belize over 30 years ago that has deepened into one of the most important relationships of my life.

I know Belize well, better than anyone else you’re likely to meet. I know the real Belize… and I love her just as she is.

Until next time,

The post Love At First Sight appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

I went to work for Agora Publishing as a copy editor fresh out of school aged 21. Then I spent the next 14 years working my way up that ladder from editor to manager and eventually partner.

With Agora I moved from Baltimore to Waterford, where I launched Agora Ireland. Seven years later, I made my second international move, again with Agora’s help, to Paris.

Four years after that, I decided it was time to see what I could get up to on my own.

At first I thought I’d try being retired. Paris seemed a good place for it.

Six months into my departure from Agora, I’d improved my French with the help of an immersion language course, visited dozens of museums, and explored every corner of the city on foot. I was living a dream life with no responsibilities beyond my young son Jackson. But I was restless.

I’ve never been good at doing nothing, and since my accidental early retirement, that’s what my days had been filled with.

One spring afternoon, after I’d whiled away another morning watching the passersby in a café, I walked to the park across from Jackson’s school and sat on a bench. I looked at my watch. Two p.m. Jackson wouldn’t be out until 4 o’clock. Two more hours to kill.

Never in my life had I had so much leisure time. It felt like the greatest imaginable waste. During my working days, I’d been the first one in the office each morning and the last one to leave at night. After my kids, I worked every evening after putting them to bed. Now whole weeks were passing without measurable yield. I was afraid I might start twitching.

Enough. I’d taken the months since leaving Agora as they’d come but no more.

I required work. And, I realized as the thought formed, I didn’t want another job. It was time to build something of my own. I’d found that I loved the Agora business model. It allowed me to create a scalable income as a writer. I’d do that again, this time for myself.

When Jackson and I returned to our apartment later that afternoon, I walked into Lief’s home office. He’d just launched a new undertaking of his own with the purchase of the finca known as Los Islotes. Lief planned to develop this former cattle ranch on Panama’s Veraguas coast into a private, luxury-standard community and was, when I entered his office that day, hanging up from another conference call with his surveyors.

“I’d like to start my own publishing business,” I announced. “Online.”

Lief had known, I suspect, since the day I’d left Agora that I wouldn’t be able to fritter away my life for long.

“Okay,” he said without looking up from the property map on his desk. “Panama will be a good place for that.”

A major life decision made in the course of a two-minute conversation.

Lief and I had organized relocations from the United States to Ireland then from Waterford to Paris. We knew how to do this.

We notified the tenant of a rental apartment we owned in Panama City that we wouldn’t be renewing her lease. That set our clock. We now had three months to engineer our move, which would take place early April. That would give Jackson a window of time to adjust before starting at his new school.

Next we found a property manager who assured us we’d have no trouble renting out our Paris apartment, which neither of us wanted to sell.

All the pieces fell into place. We packed our bags and repositioned from the City of Light to the Hub of the Americas.

Getting from Paris to Panama was easy. Starting two businesses at the same time was not. We had to compete for everything, including space.

Our rental apartment in Panama City had one bedroom. Jackson slept on the couch. Lief was happy as a one-man show for his start-up phase, but I needed staff. I hired our daughter’s boyfriend, Harry, to be my marketing assistant. It was an unexpected option, but no direct-marketing industry exists in Panama. I wasn’t going to find anyone local who understood the business.

We rented Harry a studio apartment a few blocks away. He’d arrive at our place by 8 o’clock each morning and boot up his laptop alongside mine at the single desk. Lief worked from the dining room table. It was tight quarters but we agreed not to take on unnecessary overheads because money was another thing we had only a limited amount of and needed to share.

Harry built me a website and helped me cobble together a mailing list, then I began writing a free daily e-letter showcasing opportunities for Americans interested in retiring overseas.

It was the same plan I’d followed during my career at Agora. It generated income immediately, and I knew it would work long-term because I’d made it work before, though I couldn’t say exactly when revenues would exceed expenses.

Anyone who has started a business from nothing understands. The first years are lean.

With Harry’s help, we made it through our early years. We moved to a bigger apartment and eventually invested in office space.

We grew from a team of three to 30 hard-working folks in our El Cangrejo headquarters today… plus another two-dozen in Paris, London, and beyond… including, again, I am delighted to be able to say, a team on the ground in Ireland.

My first e-dispatch mailed to fewer than 500.

Today our readership exceeds 500,000 daily.

This year Live And Invest Overseas marked 18 years in business.

It hasn’t been an easy or a straight line to get from where we started to where we are today, but it has been an adventure… and a whole lot of fun.

And, as much as I owe to Lief and Harry for giving me my start, I owe more to you, dear reader.

If not for you reading these dispatches each day, what point me writing them.

Your loyalty, support, and custom these many years have been my greatest reward…

Along with your stories.

Tales of your success are what keep me and the entire far-flung Live And Invest Overseas team doing what we do. Please keep them coming.

Until next time,

The post The Perfect Place For The Adventure Of A Lifetime appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

In my office in Panama City, hanging on the wall opposite my desk in a place I see every time I glance up from my laptop, is a photograph of the entrance to Eva’s Restaurant in San Ignacio, Belize.

I came upon the photo years ago in a café in Boquete, Panama, where I was having breakfast one morning. I looked up from my fried eggs and noticed, across the room, what looked to me to be the front door to a place I’d been frequenting for more than two decades.

I got up, walked over, and confirmed that, indeed, it was Eva’s.

“Is that photograph for sale?” I asked the waitress.

“In fact, it is,” she replied. “All the art on the walls is for sale…”

I discovered Eva’s Restaurant more than 40 years ago during what was not only my first trip to Belize but also my first press trip.

I traveled from Baltimore, Maryland, my home at the time, to Belize City and then onward to Ambergris Caye, Placencia, and, finally, inland, to Belize’s Cayo District, all courtesy of the Belize Tourist Authority.

I spent three days in each region and enjoyed them all, but it was Cayo that got under my skin. Cayo, Belize, I realized, was a top-notch place for disappearing.

One afternoon I broke away from my guide and wandered through the jungle to the river, where I sat down on a giant fallen tree. I listened to the birds and the monkeys, watched the women doing their laundry on the rocks downstream from me, and wondered how long I could get away with hiding out in this glorious spot.

I’ve thought of that afternoon often in the years since. Sitting on that log in the middle of nowhere Cayo, Belize, I felt a sense of freedom as strong as I’ve ever known.

Later that day, my guide took me to San Ignacio, Cayo’s biggest town, to a hole-in-the-wall bar-restaurant-café known as Eva’s.

Eva’s was, even then, a legend among travelers in this part of the world. If you wanted to meet up with fellow expats in Belize, Eva’s was the place. You’d find some sitting at the small wooden tables or hanging out around the bar drinking Belikin beer from the bottle, and, if you were looking for someone in particular who wasn’t around when you stopped by, you could leave a note.

This was pre-Craigslist, pre-internet. If you wanted to communicate with another human being, you had to get out a pencil and a piece of paper and write out your message. Eva’s supported the effort with a giant message board.

Looking for a travel companion, a roommate, a room to rent? Have a truck, a canoe, or a house to sell? Jot down the details and thumbtack the note to the cork board on the wall in Eva’s.

Anyone interested in whatever you were buying, selling, or seeking did likewise. Next time you were in San Ignacio, you could stop by Eva’s to see reply posts, similarly tacked to the cork board. It was a zero-tech, real-world Facebook.

Over the years to follow, I spent many pleasant and memorable afternoons and evenings at Eva’s. It was the kind of place where everyone knew your name within a few minutes of your arrival and you never had to worry about drinking alone.

I don’t get back to Belize’s Cayo District or to Eva’s Restaurant nearly as often as I’d like. When I’m up against a deadline, though, or dreaming of disappearing, just for a little while, that’s where my mind wanders.

If I’m in my office in Panama City, when the urge to disappear takes hold, I look over at my accidental photo and imagine myself walking through those swinging saloon doors, taking a seat at the bar, and ordering a cold Belikin.

Inside Eva’s, all is always well.

Until next time,

The post Finding Freedom In Belize appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

I once saw a woman drive into an open storm drain. Her left front tire got stuck entirely inside.

It was downtown Panama City. Rush hour. Blinding rain.

Storm drains in this city often don’t have covers. In driving rain, you can miss the holes.

That woman’s car wasn’t going anywhere. Water levels in the street were rising, as they can do when it storms in Panama City because drainage systems are often clogged.

Horns blasted. Drivers shouted out open windows.

The woman got out of her car, stood in water above her ankles, laid down her head, and pounded her fists on the hood of her vehicle. I couldn’t hear through the rain, but I figure she was crying.

Our evening commute was delayed two hours.

A couple of years later, on another stormy rush-hour afternoon, I drove beneath the overpass onto Avenida Balboa. Fourteen lanes of traffic converge here from six directions.

The Panamanian drivers around me did what Panamanian drivers do. They attempted to defy the laws of physics while ignoring the rules of any road and all common sense. I was squeezed from every side including by two Diablo Rojos.

Over the decades, 1970s U.S. school buses have made their way down to Panama. Each is privately owned. Each entrepreneur pimps out his ride…

Then makes a business of it. By day these are local buses. By night, mobile party venues. There aren’t many left on the road today, but when we were first living in Panama City, these Red Devils terrorized the streets.

When one of these drivers wants to occupy the space you happen to be occupying… well, there isn’t much for you to do but get out of his way.

As one Diablo Rojo bore down on me from the right and another from the left, my father’s refrain from when he taught me to drive cried out in my head.

“When in doubt,” he’d tell me, “stop!”

I was still. The chaos around me carried on. Somehow nobody ran into me.

I regained my composure, made my way home, and parked my car. I have not driven in Panama City since.

We hired a driver.

Guillermo schooled me on the ways of Panama City’s mean streets.

“You’ve got to drive like a cowboy, Señora Kathleen” he told me one morning after I’d told him he didn’t need to cut continuously back and forth from lane to lane. I wasn’t in that great a hurry I assured him.

“If I don’t drive like this,” Guillermo assured me, “everyone will take advantage of us.”

It was a lesson in Panamanian drivers but also my introduction to juega vivo. Guillermo quit two months later. He moved his young family to Aguadulce. He’d had enough of playing the game of life in Panama City. He wanted to raise his children in the country. I thought he was on to something.

We hired our second driver, Alberto, just before Carnival that year.

“Are you staying in the city next month?” Alberto asked driving me to work one morning.

It would be our first Carnival in Panama. Every previous year since we’d been calling Panama home, we’d taken advantage of the all-hell-breaks-lose-in-this-country holiday to schedule trips outside the country.

“We haven’t decided yet,” I told Alberto.

“If you’re going to travel to the interior,” Alberto advised, “go early. Don’t wait until the weekend before.”

“The traffic will be bad?” I asked.

“You’ve never seen anything like it,” Alberto said.

You mean it could get worse?

I’ve been living in Panama full- and part-time for 20 years.

I named its highlands town Boquete as the world’s best place to live or retire overseas in my 2026 Retire Overseas Index.

I’ve based my business here, and I have invested more in Panama than anywhere else in the world.

I recommend Panama more strongly right now than at any point over the 30 years since I recommended it for the first time.

But some things about Panama I really don’t like. Top of that list is the traffic in Panama City.

Same could be said about anywhere. No place in this big beautiful world of ours is perfect. The key is to find the place that checks your priority boxes.

What’s most important to you?

Make a list. No kidding. Take out a piece of paper and a pencil and write down the three or four things your dream life features.

Then go in search of places that deliver on those scores.

Each one you identify will have downsides. The 80/20 rule comes into play.

The point is don’t compromise on what matters to you… but be flexible otherwise.

For this strategy to work, you need a full and honest assessment of every destination you consider.

Whatever your live-, retire-, invest-, go-overseas agenda, I believe Panama should be on it. For the reasons we discuss all the time.

Meaning you need an honest assessment of what it’s really like to spend time and money in this country.

That’s where my team and I come in.

Join us in Panama City Jan. 20-22 when we’ll be sharing the whole truth about living and investing in Panama based on decades of firsthand experience.

You won’t get this kind of insider honesty anywhere else.

And you need it.

Here are the details.

Until next time,

The post The #1 Thing I Refuse To Do In Panama City appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

In all my 40 years of experience covering the live and retire overseas beat, one country has stood out above all the others.

I named this country the world’s #1 overseas retirement haven for the first time in 2001.

It remains one of the best place in the world to reinvent your life overseas in retirement today… with some caveats.

This country is also…

• A tax haven. As a foreign resident, you can pay zero local tax… and you can operate your business here tax-free, too…

• One of the easiest and most advantaged places in the world to establish residency, thanks to a suite of the world’s best residency options…

• Home to the smartest beach, river, and mountain property buys anywhere on the planet…

• The best place in the world to base your business. I speak from long experience when I tell you that this is an entrepreneur’s playground…

• One place in the world that’s enjoying continued growth and prosperity and that is positioned for a whole lot more of the same over the coming decade…

• A great place to call home… a beach-lover’s delight… and an eco-traveler’s paradise…

• The ultimate escape. Based here, you and your family no longer need to worry about what’s going on in the rest of the world.

Can you guess what country I’m talking about?

Panama!

I’ve been making the case for the Hub of the Americas for more than 20 years, and I’m writing today to tell you that I’m more bullish on the opportunities and upsides on offer in Panama than ever before.

Bottom line, if you are in the market for a place to live, retire, invest, or do business overseas, you’re doing yourself a big disservice if you aren’t looking closely at this little isthmus.

Too much of the world is struggling through troubled and uncertain times right now, but you’d never know it in Panama. This remains a fast-moving, ever-expanding market… a land of opportunity… and an ultimate safe haven.

How can a country so small bring so much to the table?

That’s what my team and I will be sharing at my 2027 Live And Invest In Panama Conference, taking place in Panama City, Jan. 20-22.

Over our decades in Panama, Lief and I have bought pre-construction for investment and centuries-old French-colonial for renovation…

We’ve managed rentals, both tourist and commercial…

We’ve bought land for banking and for development, including on this country’s Veraguas coast where we’re developing a luxury beachfront community at Los Islotes.

We’ve also started businesses, formed corporations, and opened bank accounts…

We’ve established permanent residency…

We’ve hired staff, shipped household belongings, sourced architects and carpenters, paid local bills, researched health insurance options, bought cars (because we finally had enough of dealing with Panama City taxi drivers!), gotten local driver’s licenses, even started a local franchise…

And our experiences in this tropical haven are only the beginning.

We have enormous depth and breadth of experience in Panama… but our perspective is only that—our perspective.

To form a full picture of the opportunities on offer for living, retiring, investing, and doing business in Panama, you should access many perspectives.

Which is exactly why you should come and join us in Panama in January.

There, my top in-country experts, contacts, colleagues, and friends will be unveiling decades of boots-on-the-ground real-world experience as well as every exciting opportunity we’ve uncovered in this booming little isthmus.

These are my trusted personal advisors on every aspect of making a move or an investment in this country… from taxes, banking, trusts, and corporations to health care, residency requirements, investor incentives, business ideas, financing, and insurance. People you can count on to help you accomplish whatever you’re hoping to accomplish in this country safely and efficiently.

They’ll be fully at the disposal of those who join us for this very special event.

And there’s more good news…

To make our 2027 event the biggest and best yet, I’ve asked my team to help me create opportunities for you to discover Panama firsthand.

Specifically, we’ve conceived five fun ways for you to get to know Panama including an invitation to come and explore my personal Panama paradise, Los Islotes (more on that, here) and a five-day, four-night Relocation Discovery Tour of Panama’s top coastal lifestyle options (get the full program here). Plus, property tours, VIP excursions, and of course, the main event: my Live And Invest In Panama Conference.

I can’t wait to welcome you to Panama.

Until next time,

The post A True Land Of Opportunity… appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

I hosted my first Panama conference in 2001.

I’ve hosted events in this country every year since.

After two-and-a-half decades of introducing folks to Panama in person, I think it’s time to take things to the next level.

My network in this country is unparalleled.

From Panama City to the City Beaches… from Boquete to Bocas… from Las Tablas to Venao… from Santiago to Santa Fe… from Mariato to Quebro… and everywhere in between… nobody is more connected on the ground.

As always, all those folks who’ve become trusted colleagues and good friends all across this country—I’m speaking of attorneys, bankers, tax pros, business builders, property agents, insurance agents, property managers, doctors, shippers, developers, Spanish-language teachers, representatives from the Rotary, representatives from the Lions Club, representatives from the Johns Hopkins-affiliated Punta Paitilla Hospital… plus more than one-dozen expats currently living and retired in key locations across this beautiful country…

They will all convene altogether under one roof for all three days of my 2027 Live And Invest In Panama Conference.

All throughout those three days, my team will be at the service of every attendee in the room for this signature event.

The experts and expats in residence will share their expertise, their experience, their wisdom, their recommendations, and, most important, their cautions and caveats…

They’ll tell their tales. The unvarnished truth. That’s what you get at any event I host—the good, the bad, and the what did you just say… that can’t really be the way things are done here, can it?!

If you’re looking at living, retiring, or investing in Panama (as I strongly believe anyone who’d like to live better while also increasing their personal bottom line should be), you want to be in the room with us for these three days…

Because these three days of panel discussions, interactive conversation, and human-to-human Q&A will save you time, money, and missteps.

If you have any Panama-related agenda, these could be three of the best-spent days of your life.

But how much fun is it, let’s be honest, to sit in a conference room learning about Panama… when you could be out and about seeing Panama?

We do everything we can to keep things interesting. Open bar cocktail receptions, traditional Panamanian entertainers, prize drawings… having a good time is definitely part of our objective.

Still, every time you look out the conference hotel window, you’ll be reminded that… well… you’re in a conference hotel…

And just outside that window is… Panama!

So for my 2027 Live And Invest In Panama Conference, taking place Jan. 20-22, I’ve asked my team to help me create opportunities for you to discover Panama firsthand.

The invitation on offer is no longer come on down and find out why you should be spending time and money in Panama.

I’ve extended that invitation for a good long while now… and it was great. But not enough.

Now we’re inviting you to come on down and experience Panama.

This next-level invitation comes in several parts.

Specifically, we’ve conceived five opportunities for you to get to know Panama up close and personal.

Join us for one or two or three pieces of the program… or, better, sign on for the full Monty!

Specifically, here’s what I propose:

Jan. 16 to 18: Discover Panama’s Secret Veraguas Sunset Coast

For this pre-conference tour you’ll travel down the western coast of Panama’s Azuero Peninsula to discover one of this country’s least-known and least-developed regions. The Veraguas Pacific coast is a virgin land where Mother Nature shows off.

Specifically, you’ll explore Los Islotes and its two private beaches. This tour is for anyone who prizes wide-open spaces, privacy, and a chance to create your own reality in the most beautiful natural setting imaginable. Details here.

Jan. 19: Panama City Property Tour—Free For Conference Attendees

Arrive a day early and give yourself a chance to begin exploring Panama before the conference begins.

This private guided tour will introduce you to Panama City’s best beach as well as the current best city and beach property buys in one fun-filled day.

Every Live And Invest In Panama Conference attendee is invited to participate in this program at no additional cost. Please, come, join us as our guest.

Jan. 20 to 22: The Main Event—My 2027 Live and Invest In Panama Conference!

The main event, of course, is the biggest and most important Panama conference available anywhere and two-and-a-half decades in the making. Join me and my entire Panama team in person for three action-packed days. This everything-you-need-to-know-about-Panama event sells out so reserve your place now while the Early Bird Discount is in effect.

Jan. 22 and 23: Elite Attendee Access—Tour Of The Panama Canal, Casco Viejo, And Our Favorite Panama City Neighborhoods

After the final day of the three-day conference concludes, our Elite Attendees will meet in the lobby of the Sortis Hotel before setting off on a guided tour of the Panama Canal (because, well, you’re in Panama… you’ve got to go to see the Canal, right?)…

From there, we’ll move to Panama’s old town, the most romantic spot in Panama’s capital city.

The historic Spanish-, French-, and American-colonial enclave known as Casco Viejo is my favorite part of Panama City.

Let us show it to you as it’s meant to be seen… on foot, with a guide, at sunset.

Casco Viejo is enjoying a renaissance. Many of the centuries-old structures have been lovingly restored and converted to restaurants, bars, art galleries, and shops.

Our group will wander neighborhood to neighborhood, to and through the 17th- and 18th-century squares and the historic churches of this UNESCO-protected site. We’ll finish our private walking tour with a drink and a snack at one of our favorite Casco night spots.

Then, the next morning, our Elite Attendees will gather once more for a full day out and about across Panama City on a private tour of our favorite Panama City neighborhoods to help you decide where in this city might be the best fit for you.

Details on how to join us as an Elite Attendee are here.

Jan. 24 to 28: Five-Day, Four-Night Relocation Discovery Tour Of Panama’s Pacific Riviera

For the first time ever, we will follow our Live And Invest In Panama Conference with a five-day, four-night Relocation Discovery Tour of Panama’s top coastal lifestyle options.

Join a small group of fellow attendees to hit the road post-conference to discover together Panama’s renowned Pacific Riviera.

Both a private driver and a concierge guide will escort you every step of the way for this immersive experience to help you consider, compare, and contrast Panama’s most desirable beach communities and residential lifestyle choices from Punta Caelo, Ensenada, and Casamar to Riomar, Vistamar, Coronado, and Buenaventura.

The tour includes accommodation (three nights in Coronado and one night in Panama City), all ground transportation, and most meals, including Welcome and Farewell dinners… as well as all guided excursions and the full-time support of your concierge tour director.

If you’re considering retirement, a second home, a real estate investment, or a full relocation in Panama, you need to explore your best options for yourself.

This is your chance.

Our first-ever Panama Relocation Discovery Tour can accommodate only 20 attendees. These places will fill very quickly. Details are here.

OK… to regroup… here’s what’s on the table…

It amounts to the best introduction imaginable to the world’s best place to live, retire, and invest overseas.

Join us in Panama to explore it’s hidden Veraguas coast (Jan. 16-18)…

To enjoy a day on a white-sand beach just 10 minutes from downtown Panama City (Jan. 19)… Remember that this private excursion is free for every conference attendee…

To meet, mix, and mingle in person with me, my entire Panama team, current Panama expats, and a whole lot of your fellow Live And Invest Overseas readers at my 2027 Live And Invest In Panama Conference (Jan. 20-22)…

To enjoy a private tour of the Panama Canal, a guided walking tour at sunset of Casco Viejo, and insider access to our favorite neighborhoods across Panama City as an Elite Conference Attendee (Jan. 22-23)…

To explore Panama’s renowned Pacific Riviera with a concierge guide. This first-ever Panama Relocation Discovery Tour is your chance to consider, compare, and contrast Panama’s most desirable Pacific beach residential communities firsthand (Jan. 24-28).

All in, you’re looking at about two weeks in Panama this coming January. I can’t imagine a better way to start your new year…

Or to jumpstart your go-overseas plans.

Can’t manage two weeks away?

No worries. Remember, this invitation is a la carte! Please… come on down to sunny Panama for as much of this adventure as your schedule allows.

If your time is limited, I recommend you join us for my 2027 Live And Invest In Panama Conference as an Elite Attendee. It’s your most efficient option for sizing up all that Panama has to offer you right now.

Plus, it’ll be a really good time. Promise.

I can’t wait to see you then.

Take a look here now for all the details on all that’s on offer!

Until next time,

The post The Best Introduction To The World’s Best Place To Live Overseas appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

If I had to name one thing that could make the difference between making your living, retiring, or investing in Panama dreams come true… and risking a disappointing, maybe even doomed experience, it’d be…

Connections.

As you work on your Panama plan, focus on making the right connections. I’m talking about… 

Connections with experts—professionals with long experience helping others like you do the things you’re considering doing in this country.

Who has the authority, judgment, and experience to help you navigate the local landscape safely, efficiently, and with maximum success?

Identify as many on-the scene, English-speaking experts as you can, including lawyers, tax pros, medical professionals, shipping agents, bankers, real estate agents, developers, etc.

Whatever you’re hoping to do in this country, you’ll need an infrastructure of serious people who understand the challenges that expat retirees and investors face here…

Connections with expats—people just like you who have already made a move or an investment in Panama.

To maximize your chances of success and minimize frustration along the way, you need to connect with both professional local experts and, just as important, expats with boots-on-the-ground knowledge about how best to capitalize on the many opportunities Panama offers. Who knows better how to do what you’re thinking you want to do in Panama than other people like you who’ve already done it?

Connections with like-minded folks—more people like you who share your dreams and ideas but who, again, like you, haven’t yet made the leap. More people than ever are considering moving to Panama, in retirement or even decades before conventional retirement age. These folks can provide great support for you… as you can for them.

While your family and friends might find your live-, retire-, and invest in-Panama inclinations silly or even batty, many thousands of other folks do not. Many thousands of folks are thinking the way you’re thinking and are also seeking a new, better, and more diversified life down here in the Hub of the Americas.

These folks, who have so much in common with you, could be sounding boards for your plans and ideas and maybe even potential travel partners. Some could even become your new neighbors…

Connections with me and my team—You could make a move or an investment in Panama without enlisting our direct help. But why make things harder for yourself than they need to be?

Honestly, retiring, relocating, investing, or starting a new business anywhere, including Panama, comes with complications, challenges, frustrations, and pitfalls. But you have an option that can greatly reduce your risk, and the amount of effort required. This option can make your move or your investment in Panama easier, more efficient, and less costly… not to mention a whole lot more fun.

The best way to take advantage of all the hard-won knowledge and wisdom of me and my team… in effect goof-proofing your move to your dream place in the Panamanian sun… whether that’s in the mountains, at the beach, in the rain forest, or maybe in Panama City… is to join us for the 2027 Live And Invest In Panama Conference.

What Panama adventures would suit you best? Only you can answer that question.

What I can tell you is that no matter who you are… Whether you’re in your 20s or your 80s or anywhere in between… Whether you’re single or married… Whether you have health concerns… Whether you have kids to raise (and find good schools for)… Whether you’re looking to retire or to invest or start a business…

You could improve and enrich your lifestyle dramatically while perhaps reducing your cost of living significantly by reinventing your life in Panama.

Our Live And Invest In Panama Conference is your most efficient chance to compare, consider, and filter all of your best opportunities for living and investing in this dynamic little country.

And the 2027 program is jam-packed with opportunities for you to discover Panama firsthand including an invitation to come discover my own personal paradise on the country’s untamed Veraguas Coast—Los Islotes—and a four-night Relocation Discovery Tour of Panama’s top coastal lifestyle options.

Plus, real estate tours, a sunset jaunt to Casco Viejo, the most romantic spot in the country’s capital city, and of course, a tour of the Panama Canal.

It’s all yours for the taking…

Please, leverage our decades of experience to formulate your plan and make your Panama dreams a reality and join me in January for the 2027 Live And Invest In Panama Conference.

Until next time,

The post The #1 Thing That Turns Dreams To Reality appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

I’m all in on Panama.

I’ve been spending time and money in this country since 1997.

Lief and I have been living here full- and part-time since 2008.

We’ve raised our son here. Based our business here. Made every kind of property investment it’s possible to make from pre-construction condos to commercial buildings and from productive land to land for banking and the legacy undertaking that is Los Islotes on Panama’s gloriously undiscovered Veraguas Pacific coast.

Based on all that experience, what do I say to anyone who asks me what I think of Panama today?

“Get on a plane and come see for yourself,” I suggest.

Because if you aren’t taking a good close look at all that Panama has to offer right now, you’re missing out.

This is true regardless of your agenda.

Whether you’re looking to improve your lifestyle…

To make some money…

Or both…

Panama should be at the top of your list.

Our Live And Invest Overseas business is based in the heart of Panama City. We’re in good company. The Panamanian capital is home to hundreds of international operations, including some of the world’s biggest from Estee Lauder and Nike to Dell, Caterpillar, Nestle, and on and on.

I appreciate the great advantages that Panama offers the globally minded entrepreneur, but, to be honest, I don’t love Panama City.

Panama City is a boom town… crowded, dirty, noisy, and hot.

Our now 27-year-old son, on the other hand, enjoys every chance to return to the town where he grew up. He and his friends from school hit the clubs, the restaurants, the casinos.

Panama City is recognized by his generation and other folks younger than me as Miami South.

My favorite thing about Panama City is driving out of Panama City, across the Bridge Of The Americas, headed west.

Because while Panama City is not my lifestyle cup of tea, life out at Los Islotes, west of the capital and way down at the bottom of the western coast of the Azuero Peninsula, is my definition of paradise. No nightclubs or casinos in these parts. No shopping malls or fast food either. This is a frontier.

Privacy, elbow room, and a chance to create your own reality in the most virgin natural setting imaginable—those are the things that attracted Lief and me to this outpost in the first place and those are the things we most appreciate about this secret coast still.

Panama City is the most developed city in the region and increasingly recognized as a brand-name city on the world stage alongside Miami and Dubai…

Panama’s Veraguas coast is one of the most unspoiled spots on our planet…

In between are just about every other lifestyle option you could be in the market for… from cool, comfortable living among a welcoming community of fellow expats in Panama’s highlands…

To beaches that are weekend-commutable, within a couple of hours drive of Panama City…

Pounding Pacific beaches that attract the world’s best surfers…

And tranquil Caribbean beaches ideal for unplugging and recharging…

This little country is hugely diverse not only when it comes to lifestyle. Panama also offers one of the world’s most diversified investment markets.

Venezuelans, Colombians, Hondurans, El Salvadorans, Argentines, and others from across Latin America… when they have capital to safeguard, they put it in Panama.

Americans and Canadians, too, likewise, prize this safe-haven marketplace… alongside the French, the Dutch, the Irish, the Spanish, Norwegians, Brits…

As well as, increasingly, investors from Dubai and across the Middle East…

Anyone anywhere seeking safe harbor… they’re looking to Panama.

I sat down with longtime friend in Panama Jose Bern for a conversation to launch my new Living And Investing Overseas With Kathleen Peddicord podcast. (Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to hear when it’s released.)

Jose’s father Herman was one of the first people I met in Panama. Herman took me to see the beach just outside Panama City that he was preparing to develop.

Today, nearly three decades later, that Playa Bonita is a Westin-branded stretch of coastline. We hosted our Beachfront Living Event here this past July…

In the decades since we connected with him, Herman’s Empresas Bern has become “The Brand That Built Panama City”… headed up now by Jose.

As Jose put it when we spoke, investors who want to grow their money need to go to a place that’s growing.

After decades of firsthand experience on the ground in this country, I can tell you…

Boy, howdy, yes indeed. Panama’s growing.

If you’re interested in expanding your lifestyle… or your investment portfolio… or, like me, both…

I strongly recommend that you come on down and see this little country for yourself.

I’d love the chance to show you all that Panama has to offer in person.

Until next time, 

The post Seeing Is Believing appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

Mexico is home to more American expats and retirees than any other country—at least 1 mil­lion and as many as 2 million, depending on the survey.

They’re drawn in by beautiful beaches, laidback living, and welcoming locals, and by more practical matters, too. Let’s take a quick look at three of the main ones; health care, residency, and taxes…

Health Care

In Mexico, there’s a difference in the quality of medical care be­tween public and private facilities. As an expat, you’ll likely seek out private care, which is excellent.

The best facilities have first-rate technology, English-speaking doc­tors, and low prices. Private facilities are the best option for expats. They’re similar to what you’re used to in the U.S. or Canada.

Medical tourism is a fast-growing industry, with more Americans choosing to cross the border to seek quality, affordable health care in Mexico every year, and many Mexican doctors are trained in the U.S., Europe, or Canada and speak English fluently.

Costs here are low, typically just one-third the cost you’d pay for comparable care in the United States.

Residency

Mexico offers straightforward paths to residency, although it doesn’t offer a retiree-specific, golden, or digital nomad visa.

You can apply for temporary or permanent residency. To qualify for temporary residency, you’ll need to show that you receive $4,295 per month in income or have a minimum of $71,375 in savings.

Mexico is unique in that it allows you to jump straight to perma­nent residency, which is a more solid residency status. To do this, you’ll need to show that you receive $7,075 per month in income or $284,089 in savings.

Note that the exact qualifying amounts can vary from consulate to consulate.

Our Latin American correspondent Lee Harrison is a permanent resident of Mexico, and he found the process to be simple, straight­forward, and fast.

All it took to get a residency visa was a single consular visit, where he was helped by an English-speaking agent. And even better, they accepted his English-language documents at the consulate with no translations.

He also didn’t need apostille certifications of his income, social security, or banking information… although if a couple applies as a family unit they will require that you apostille your marriage or birth certificate.

Best of all, there’s no lawyer required… although if you do not speak English or Spanish, you’ll need to bring a translator.

The biggest thing that stands out about Mexico is that they allow you to use savings in lieu of income when qualifying for a visa. This is great for people who have savings (like a 401k) but don’t have a formal pension.

Qualification thresholds have become high, at least for now. This is because income requirements are based on multiples of the Mexi­can minimum wage, which has gone up dramatically in recent years. There are plans to correct this calculation, so that thresholds are more reasonable… but no timetable as to when it will happen.

Most of the people we hear from choose to qualify with savings, using an IRA or a 401(k). Then they switch to permanent residency after four years, with no required proof of income.

No minimum stay time is required to maintain your visa. You do not need to live in Mexico to maintain residency, however you do need to be there to renew your residency if you have a residency which expires.

Of course you may not even need residency in Mexico, thanks to their liberal tourist-entry policies. You can get a 180-day stay when you enter the country, which is usually enough for a part-year resident. And if you leave Mexico during your stay, you get another 180 days when you return.

You can import your household effects duty-free as a new resident. The nearest consulate will give you the permit upon request.

Taxes

Mexico has a good tax treaty with their USMCA brothers in the U.S. and Canada, as well as a lax policy for categorizing you as a “tax-res­ident”.

Mexico has the lowest tax burden among all OECD countries (a group of the world’s 35 wealthiest nations).

You are a tax-resident of Mexico if you have established your pri­mary home or center of business there. Unlike most jurisdictions, they do not use time-in-country to determine tax residency.

Non-tax-residents are subject to tax on their Mexican-source in­come only, paying zero, 15%, or 30%, depending on your income. Capital gains for non-tax-residents are taxed at either 25% of the sale, or 30% of the gain (the highest tax bracket), whichever is less.

Tax-residents are subject to tax on their worldwide income, al­though much of your income may be exempt for various reasons. (For example, any income that had tax withheld is considered final, and not declared on a Mexican return.)

Also, Mexico has tax treaties with the U.S. and Canada, designed to prevent double-taxation. Otherwise, tax brackets run from zero to 35%. Capital gains for tax-residents are taxed as ordinary income.

There is no inheritance tax or wealth tax in Mexico.

Until next time,

The post Mexico 101 appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.

Years ago, when we were getting started at Los Islotes, we rented a house in the nearby town of Mata Oscura. This was before we had a house of our own here… before there was any construction on the property.

Gary, who ran the construction crews for us in the beginning, lived in the house, with his wife Karen. Lief and I would stay in their guest room as we came and went. This was our first connection to this coast… and on our doorstep in Mata Oscura was the little Morrillo School.

It was a two-room schoolhouse with a dozen children. They had a tiny budget so we would make a point of bringing books and other learning materials with us to drop off each visit.

We’ve sponsored Christmas parties and graduation fiestas each year since… and last week Dalys, our righthand woman at Los Islotes, approached us to ask if we might be up for helping the Morrillo School with a special project.

“They want to create an area for presentations and festival celebrations,” Dalys explained. “They need cement and other things. And they are wondering if we’d be able to contribute something.”

“Let’s go have a look,” I suggested.

We drove the 20 minutes from Los Islotes to Mata Oscura to meet with the Morrillo School’s teacher. Maestro Moreno met us with a big smile…

Then he showed us the project site. “I’m working with the parents of the children,” he explained, “to create a new space for dances and other activities… plus we can host special events here at holidays”…

“We’re trying to finish our work by Sept. 11… in time for a special party. We work every Sunday from 7:30 a.m.”

Maestro Moreno needs 20 bags of cement and some rebar. We’re organizing for the materials to be delivered by Saturday. Then, early Sunday morning, Lief and I plan to drive over again to lend a hand. I don’t think I’ll be any help, but they might appreciate Lief’s strong back… and I’ll have a chance to know more of our neighbors.

Until next time,

The post A Helping Hand appeared first on Live and Invest Overseas.