Sept. 27, 2009
Casco Viejo, Panama
PLUS: True Confessions And Lessons Learned--The Biggest Investment Losers Of My Career...How To Find A Rental In A Foreign Country...Spreadsheets And Romance--The Secret To Successful Global Property Investing...Retire To The New Auld Sod...
AND: Why Marion Is The Woman You Want To Know In Panama...
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Be Our Guest At Next Month's Global Real Estate
Profits Summit
Every Panama Circle Member is invited to attend Lief Simon's
Global Real Estate Profits Summit in Panama City next month as our guest--and to bring a guest free, too. This is but the beginning of the value of membership in this special circle.
And, right now, for a limited time, you can reap all the rewards and enjoy all the benefits of full-fledged Panama Circle membership without paying full price--at least not all at once, up front.
For the first time ever, during this limited-time New Member enrollment period, you can arrange to
pay for your membership in installments stretched over 18 months.
If accepted as a New Member, you are invited to join us for next month's Global Real Estate Profits Summit as our guest. Like every other Panama Circle Member, you're also invited to bring a friend with you free.
This couldn't be easier. And the opportunities in Panama right now couldn't be bigger.
Full details here.
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Dear
Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,
We've been telling you for years that Panama's got it going on. But, frankly, you ain't seen nothing yet.
New pro-business, pro-investor President Ricardo Martinelli has big plans for his little country. We predict that, when Martinelli's through, you won't recognize the place.
The Martinelli Plan calls for a First World Panama, and the new President has worked aggressively every day since taking office in July to progress that agenda. Martinelli's plan is about cleaning house and creating competition, two ideas that aren't always welcome in this part of the world.
But Martinelli doesn't seem to mind ruffling feathers. He's laying off government workers who don't work and increasing the salaries of those who do. He's jailing corrupt government officials and fining developers and others who've refused to play by the rules of Panama's careful and conservative development protocols. Less than three months into his term, already he's traveling abroad to establish business allies and trading partners, all the while pushing hard back home for his ambitious infrastructure improvement plans (which call for two new international airports and a public transportation system for downtown Panama City).
The new-and-improved Panama is a work in quick and aggressive process, thanks to President Martinelli. We're here, in the country, watching the developments day-by-day, and we're having trouble keeping up ourselves.
Bottom line, down here in the Hub of the Americas right now, the future is looking as bright as the noontime sun.
More soon.
Kathleen Peddicord
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Your Dream Retirement: US$1!
Here's the secret to realizing the retirement of your dreams overseas...and here's
your chance to try it out for only US$1.
Start laying the plans for a retirement that so far exceeds your expectations...and even your current lifestyle...that if you hadn't read so many reports from people actually living it today, you wouldn't believe it possible.
Find out how for the cost of a single Greenback. I guarantee it'll be the best dollar you've ever spent. Don't take my word for it.
See for yourself, right here, right now, for the cost of a single sawbuck.
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P.S. What else this week?
- Steven and Julie are in the get-serious phase of their retire overseas planning. They're in Panama right now pulling together the documents they need to qualify for pensionado visa status...considering their insurance options...thinking through what to bring with them from the States...and how to get it all from there to here without investing a small fortune in the freight...considering which bank to approach about opening an account...wondering about the benefits of a Panama corporation...the necessity of a Panama will...how to pay local bills...how to pay ongoing bills elsewhere...
All the while spending four hours every morning in immersion Spanish classes.
Steven and Julia have been researching their retire overseas options for years. Earlier this year, they decided that Panama is the place, and now is the time. They intend to live in Panama "full-time minus or part-time plus," as Steven explains it.
Why Panama? As Steven says, "This country is the most foreigner-friendly I've found in my research, in the way that Costa Rica was 20 years ago. Plus, Panama seems very politically and financially stable."
Steven is also attracted by Panama's pro-investor, pro-business climate. "I don't intend to invest in real estate," Steven explains. "That was a big part of my past lifetimes. But I think I might like to start a business..."
Steven has enjoyed many years of international travel experience and a long and successful business career. He'd be better able than most to engineer a move overseas all by himself.
"I'm someone who does lots of research on my own," he admits. "So why did I join the Panama Circle when I set my sights on Panama? For the on-the-ground support. I realize that no amount of research from a distance can substitute for it. When I read in the description of Panama Circle Member benefits about the support of the Members' Liaison, I was sold. And, so far, the assistance from the group's Liaison Marion has been wonderful. Marion has not once let me down. Without a doubt, she's the woman you want to know in Panama..."
- Our biggest real estate investment loser was an investment in the U.K. pre-construction market. Lief and I bought in to a market we didn't understand well enough based on the recommendation of a guy we believed knew what he was talking about but who, it turned out, had no idea. We didn't do enough independent due diligence, and we didn't visit the site before buying. This was an instance when we bought for investment only. Therefore, when the investment went south (big time), the buy was worthless to us, because this was not a part of the world where we had any interest in spending time. Meantime, the asset lost value, and the rental income didn't cover the nut.
Lesson learned? Don't buy on a tip without carrying out due diligence of your own to back it up.
Lief would report a second big loser...
- The Auld Sod is returning to its old self. The international investors have pulled out, the overseas property agents have closed up shop, and the East Europeans who came to Ireland in search of opportunity are retreating. Beyond the hubbub surrounding this dramatic reversal lies the real Ireland, the enchanted land of green fields, stone castles, and pub-loving folk. This real Ireland is re-emerging, and (here's the real point) it's more affordable than it's been in more than a decade...
