I'm thinking of retiring in Panama City, Panama...how is the quality of life for expatriots?

Question

I'm thinking of retiring in Panama City, Panama...how is the quality of life for expatriots?

Answer 1

In all honesty and speaking strictly of Panama City, Panama.  Can you afford to cash out a house?  Houses, apartments, and condo are now pretty much selling for the same thing back in the US as they are now here in the city.  Two years ago we could have bought the 2000 sq ft condo we just moved from for about $189,000 maybe a little less.  Today I saw it advertised for $340,000 in the La Prensa.   Second, crime is on the rise...however it is still a heck of a lot better than back in the states.  It is usually Colombian on Colombian or gang on gang or a crime of opportunity.  The quality of life is good here once you cashed out your place to live the rest is very reasonable.  Out of pocket Health Care is affordable for small things, but health care is hard to get if you are over 65 and if you don’t have insurance and need emergency surgery or some other life saving treatment then you will need to secure the bill with a credit card.  It is not like the states where they are bound by law to save your life first and foremost then worry about the bill later.   I’ve know of people how have had to lay and wait until their relatives came up with enough credit card to insure a large enough line of credit for treatment to precede.  A good live in maid is now costing 250 a month a two years ago they were around 130 to 150.  Panama is a great place to get your feet wet living aboard.  The US built the roads; you can take your hair dyer out of the suitcase and plug it straight in the wall.  You can drink water out of the faucet.  We have a great intra-structure over all.  The roads are over crowded and very noisy.  I call PC a big, little city.  It’s only around nine square miles in size, but everything is built up towards the sky and not out to the edges, so there is a lot of living going on in these nine square miles.

Here’s a link that has some more info http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 2

i been living here for a long time.

on the answer sheet, you have some long answers.

study them., they are extreamly correct.

..what a way to answer this...

thats the best i can give you.

hope it helps.

Answer 3

I highly recommend it.You'll love it and I guarantee you'll have no regrets.The country areas(Chiriqui,Cocle,Bocas del Toro,etc.) are okay,but I prefer the city.

Answer 4

Panama is quite a nice country, quite peaceful.Panana has beautiful beaches and places to relax, it's near enough to both Nroth and South America. I think it's a nice choice for expats.

Answer 5

Costa Rica is a much better choice.

Condo lease $300 per month...

Answer 6

It is  cheap than USA .Quality of life is very good here. You can live for at least 30% less than what you're spending in the USA (Kansas, Ohio) and 40 % (NY; Chicago, Florida ,LA)

Panama has good Hospitals, good roads, you can get most of the same stuff you can get in the USA., electronics are cheaper here than Any place , cars are 5% more than USA, the gas are the same.

Panama City is a City, Sky scraper whit 104 floorare biulding now. Living in Panama City won't be any different than USA .If you're looking to a more sedate lifestyle, you can find very good place like Boquete in Chiriqui mountains, the beaches are about 1Hour  from the city, whit all the facilities.

The wheater is nice whitout tornados, hurracains. The temperature in City is 27°C to 30°C in mountains are 10°C to 18°C  Humedity is about 87%

Answer 7

costa rica is great...but no place on earth will ever compare to living in panama...

Answer 8

I am planning the same thing..Kind of..But I will STRONGLY recommend to retired away from the city.  Panama city is greate for busniess, but living trhere is becomming a problem.  THe city istself is growing and traffic is hectic...They are building more and more skycrapers and they are not realizing that for each one of those apartment there are two cars.  My mother lived in the city for over 30 years and she has decided to move to Chitre where they are building nice neighborhood, many of the houses of these neighborhoods are bought by foreigner.  I will suggest for you to look into SAntiago, Cocle and Bocas, and maybe Chiriqui..YOu can always travel to Panama city to sepend some time but Living style in the city itself, I strongly do not Recommend.

Answer 9

Someone's been watching CBS News.

Answer 10

My husband and I retired 1 yr ago in Costa Rica ...my Husband loves fishing he is able to do all that since we purchase on the pacific side and we just finish building our home and we are loving it ...have you had a chance to visit costa Rica ?

Answer 11

If you have your heart set on moving to Panama... then look a bit further than Panama City... there are some really nice places, including the out islands, that are great to live in... but Panama City isn't one of them...

Answer 12

Quality of life for expats is very good here.  Depending on your budget you can live for at least 30% less than what you're spending in the US.

Panama has good healthcare, good roads, you can get most of the same stuff you can get in the US, electronics are cheaper here than in Costa Rica, cars are cheaper here than in Costa Rica, safety overall is better than in most places of the region.

Now Panama City is a City.  Don't make any mistakes about it, if you are trying to get away from your normal big city life in the US, then probably living in Panama City won't be any different.  You'll see the same amount of traffic, same hectic lifestyle. I mean it's a city, not a big town in comparison to other cities in Central America.

If you're looking to a more sedate lifestyle, I recommend you look around the beaches, or some other places outside Panama City's perimeter.  Boquete is another nice place to live in a mountain community, but then again that's if you're looking for something like that.

Good luck.

Answer 13

I have seen more retired people in Costarica

Answer 14

I'm Panamanian and I'm living here.

I'm just going to tell you that you should visit Boquete or places far from Panama City because Panama City is now a big city...

Answer 15

You know overall, any country in Latin America will give you a good quality of life.

Now, when I say quality of life I don't mean jobs because jobs don't give you a quality of life. America has better job opportunities but the quality of life isnt that good-no offense here but the true is that there isn't much time to spend with family and friends or just to enjoy yourself.

So you need a litle of both to be happy. You need a good job and a good quality of life. The problem in Latin America is the lack of jobs, so as you see, nothing is perfect.

For me, quality of life is having free time to go spend in a beach, have time with friends and family and people in my community. Go enjoy myself, not be in a hurry all the time.... u know what i mean.

I would say if you go to any country in LatinAmerica you will have lots of fun. People like foreigners overall and your dollar purchase power will double or triple.

If you have 401k or social security then it will be good.

A good idea is to buy property in the US and maybe rent it and live off the rent plus your other investments.

Look for places like Argentina or Chile or Peru, you will love Brasil  I can tell you that right now, nothing like Brasil but is more expensive.

good luck and be careful always.

I would purchase property in an upscale area in Latin America first, so your money is well invested.

see ya