Living and Retiring Offshore

... Panamanian Style

My favorite song from Porgy and Bess has always been "Summertime"  .. and the living is easy!

For Panama it is always summertime AND surprisingly summertime is not nearly as boring as many "four season" lovers would suggest. Quite frankly, I don't miss the four seasons. Sandals, shorts and T-shirt suit me fine.

Panama does NOT really have a "rainy season" as many people think except in certain areas of the country. Every 3-4 days it usually rains for an hour or so particularly from June through to mid-December. 2010 was a particularly wet year because of the Niño/Niña change which happens every 6-7 years on average. A full day of cloudy, overcast weather is quite rare. Virtually every day there are 4-6 hours of sunshine and often many more. I actually prefer the so-called "rainy season" which is a bit cooler.

The official Panamanian "summer season" coincides with the North American winter season for marketing purposes (I expect).  

As a Canadian, the weather in Coronado Panama suits me fine with average daytime temperatures in the mid to high 80s (occasional low 90's) and night time lows in the mid to high 70s. 

The average ocean water temperature at our Playa Serena beach in Coronado is 80 F with a variance from 79 to 82. It would be impossible to guess the month of the year by going swimming in the ocean or in our pool for example. This is definitely not true in Canada or in southern Florida  

As I note in my book you can still enjoy a millionaire lifestyle in Panama on about 33% of your retirement budget in North America or Europe.

Almost Everything is Better Than Expected

Yes ... there are some always some disappointments, unpleasant surprises and "warts". There is more apparent poverty than you might expect but it is not quite as bad as you think. For example, our gardener and all four of of my current construction workers say he could live comfortably for a month on their salary for a week once the children leave home. They all own their own houses and have no debts. I very doubt this is true for virtually any "blue collar" workers in North America let alone for gardeners..

Roads are not as good as they are "up north". This is particularly in Coronado because it is private property.

Customer service is often much less than desired but in general the surprises are on the upside. 

When was the last time you could honestly say that? 

I have passed through some serious slums and run down districts in virtually every city in the world including London, Montreal, New York, Paris and Singapore. Panama is not all that different. 

The roads in Panama are rather good in general. Many of the roads in and around New York City are not that great either.

Most of the food in Panama tastes much better than you might have expected. For one reason, it is not shipped thousands of miles before it hits your kitchen table as in most parts of the USA. If you live in Iowa, for example, the "Great American Food Basket", the average food item on your table was shipped 1500 miles.

Panamanians are genuinely much friendlier than expected. Work gets done faster than you might have thought possible at a much much lower cost.

Violent crime is considerably higher than in North America at almost 250 homicides per million but relatively easy to avoid if you stay out of the "red zones" and away from drugs, prostitution and money lending. On occasion, gangs will try their hand in new areas but they are typically locked up in short order. Canada has about 20 homicides per million and the USA is 4-5 times higher than Canada.

There are many fewer serious accidents on the highways than you might expect given the driving style. The large number of $60,000+ luxury SUVs on Panamanian roadways is almost impossible to believe.

The quality of legal services for real estate and incorporation is much better and much less expensive than I expected and I have used a lot of lawyers in my life.

My book explores these differences. It compares the Panama lifestyle with living standards in Canada, the USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, Switzerland, the UK, Thailand and Singapore.

These are places where we have actually lived. 

A Lifestyle Insurance Policy

Everyone should have a "contingency plan" or "lifestyle insurance policy"  for a rainy day but particularly for retirement planning purposes. Hopefully you will never have to use it.

If you can identify a low cost friendly country where you could maintain your standard of living using one third of your "up-north" budget" you have created an excellent cushion for a really bad turn of events ... such as the recent housing and stock market crash. 

For some, such a country could be Mexico, Nicaragua, Croatia, Thailand or perhaps even a small town in Central Florida although it is virtually impossible to reduce your retirement budget by 66% by moving anywhere in the USA and still retain the same lifestyle.

For us it was Panama that worked best and today after five years of living here permanently, Panama is the gift that keeps on giving ....