Safe Haven In Troubled Times

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 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.

Before I go further, let’s regroup on some fundamentals.

Big picture, Panama is…

• Home to more than 940 species of birds as well as 220 mammals and 354 reptiles and amphibians… from howler monkeys to caiman, from tiger cats to turtles, from ocelots to crocodiles, and from pelicans and toucans to king crabs and iguanas… plus the Central American tapir, the American crocodile, the scarlet macaw, many species of eagle, humpback whales, dolphins, and hammerhead sharks…
• Blessed with two long coasts and myriad sand-fringed islands, plus some of the best deep-sea fishing, surfing, snorkeling, and scuba diving anywhere. Around its Coiba island lies the largest coral reef on the Pacific side of the Americas…
• A U.S. dollar jurisdiction—that is to say, Panama has been using the U.S. dollar as its currency for 100 years… meaning living and investing here you face no currency exchange risk…
• An established medical tourism destination and home to the Johns Hopkins-affiliated Punta Paitilla Hospital in Panama City…
• Home to both a World Heritage Site (Casco Viejo) and a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site (the province of Darien)…
• Because of its unique geographical position, Panama harbors a greater diversity of wildlife than any other country in Central America. A natural land bridge connecting the two continents, Panama is home to both North and South American species of wildlife. About 29% of the country’s land area is protected in 14 national parks, more than a dozen forest reserves, and 10 wildlife refuges…
• The biggest international banking center in the region…
• Without question, the best place anywhere in the world today to start and operate an international or internet business (that’s why my husband Lief Simon and I moved here from France 15 years ago)…
• One of the few Latin markets where it’s possible for you, as a foreigner, to borrow locally to buy real estate…
• Home to more than two-dozen top-notch international schools…
• One of the world’s true tax havens, a place where you can live and do business tax-free…

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

I invite you to come on down to sunny Panama to find out for yourself.

My Panama-based Live And Invest Overseas team has just finalized plans for our 15th annual Live And Invest In Panama Conference.

This is our longest-running conference and the only event of its kind.

It is also absolutely your best chance to learn everything you need to know to decide if Panama could be the right choice for you.

Based on more than two decades of personal experience living and doing business here, I can tell you with confidence that Panama should be on your radar. I urge you to make time in your schedule to join us in this beautiful, safe, and welcoming Shangri-La Jan. 17–19 so you can discover all that Panama has to offer for yourself.

For this important and timely event, I’ve invited all my top Panama experts, advisors, contacts, colleagues, and friends. The personal introductions Lief and I intend to make over the three days of this conference are alone worth the price of admission. We’ll arm you with every contact and resource you’ll need to pursue whatever Panama plans and dreams you imagine.

My team and I will introduce you to Panama in a way that no one else can. We’ll show you Panama from the inside, based on decades of boots-on-the-ground real-world experience.

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.

That’s our agenda for our upcoming Live And Invest In Panama Conference.

For this special 15th anniversary event, we’re pulling out all the stops.

Lief and I will be joined on stage by the most impressive panel of Panama experts you’ll find anywhere.

Lief and I will be sharing our personal stories, anecdotes, discoveries, recommendations, caveats, and cautions, of course.

But we’ll also be introducing you to the most professional advisors we know on every aspect of making a move or an investment in this country… from taxes, banking, trusts, and corporations to residency requirements, investor incentives, business ideas, financing, and insurance.

These are our trusted personal advisors, people you can count on to help you accomplish whatever you’re hoping to accomplish in this country safely and efficiently. And, they’ll join us not only to address the group, but also to answer your questions one-on-one and to make themselves fully at your disposal.

This special event is taking place just in time.

As so many nearing retirement are wondering and worrying how in the world they’re ever going to be able to afford to stop working and embrace the retirement they’ve long imagined…

And, critically, where in the world they can go for safe haven in the face of world events…

Safe haven for themselves and their money…

Panama can be the answer.

Retirees you meet in Panama aren’t losing sleep over their futures. They’re embracing them.

I urge you to accept this personal invitation to meet me and my team in Panama City in January to learn how you can join them.

Until next time,

Kathleen Peddicord

Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter