Thread: To Retire

Feb 8, 2011

Hello. I am a Canadian thinking of retiring in a central or south american country in the next 5 years, or so. I do not have much money, retirement funds, so I am researching countries with a "decent" quality of life for a modest amount of funds. I/we, my wife and I, are not used to an opulent lifestyle, rather we are used to living paycheck to paycheck. We realize that when it is time to retire our government pension will make it difficult to keep what we have, or improve our quality of life. We have grown children and do not want to make it difficult to keep in touch/visit. We are concerned about what and where important amenities are available; food, healthcare, etc.

Panama has come up numerous times as a good place to retire. We are not "big city" people, and prefer smaller locations. However we do not want to live so for out of the way you would be without water, power, etc. Of late I have been reading much information, on line, about Panama that it is becoming more and more "saturated" with North Americans. As a result many Panamanians are resenting foreigners now.

Maybe a Canadian/American living in Panama could put the record straight for me, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rocket55

I think it would be a very nice idea to come to Panama on vacation and visit part of the "interior" of the country. This forum has many ideas for that adventure. You can also make some friends on this site that are already living in Panama that would be glad to answer questions. In my opinion, Panama is good for someone who wants simple living and year round warm weather. It is economical to live here only if you live like the locals.

well rocket, you may be misinformed about Panamanians not liking us. Anyone else on this forum seen that. The only one I noticed was the cab driver when we wouldn't pay the tourista fare. Everyone else has been polite or gone out of their way to make us welcome. Come and enjoy.

Oh, Panama is far from being saturated with foreigners. Panamanians are very nice folks in my experience so you shouldn't have any major problems at all.