"The year before she retired, my main goal was to find a place where we could live the best life during our retirement. I did a lot of research on various countries, andPanama kept coming to the top of the list. We were eager to escape the snow, so my first priority was eternal summer. We also wanted to stay close to the US to make traveling back easy. The fact that Panama uses the US dollar only added to its appeal."
"Before making the move, we took a few exploratory trips to Panama. Our first trip was a weeklong in October 2017. After my wife retired, we came back in February 2018 for a nine-week trip, touring different areas to see if it felt like the right fit. During that trip, the weather was beautiful. When we went home to Michigan and saw the snow on our driveway, my wife turned and said to me, "We're moving, right?" And I said, "Yeah, we are.""
Greg and his wife Jen left Michigan and moved to Panama in June 2018 after both retired, buying a two-bedroom condo for $210,000. They sought eternal summer and proximity to the U.S., and valued that Panama uses the U.S. dollar. They researched countries, visited Panama twice on exploratory trips in October 2017 and February 2018, and were attracted by the Pensionado visa that provides discounts on utilities, medication, and transportation. They sold their house, pared belongings to five suitcases, and settled into a community of artists in Panama that inspired Greg's interest in writing.
Read at Business Insider
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