C.V.

Aging Single #9: Retiring Abroad

SOLO | Retiring Abroad

 

We continue the Solo series on aging, retiring, and dying Solo with a look at expat living as a remarkable opportunity for singles. Kathleen Peddicord, a leading expert on living, investing, and retiring abroad, joins Peter McGraw to discuss the unique opportunities for singles to pursue a global lifestyle. With over 30 years of experience and having traveled to more than 75 countries, Kathleen shares insights about retiring abroad. The conversation explores financial considerations, social connections, and overcoming challenges to create a thriving life abroad—one uniquely suited for singles seeking adventure and personal growth.

Listen to Episode #233 here

 

Aging Single #9: Retiring Abroad

Welcome back. Here we are, continuing our series on aging, retiring, and dying solo. I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m doing this one largely out of self-interest but based upon the SOLO community, which you can sign up for at PeterMcGraw.org./SOLO, there’s a lot of members of the SOLO community also interested in this topic. The topic is retiring abroad or at least in my case, semi-retiring abroad, which I’m sure we’ll talk about.

My guest is a leading expert on living, retiring, and investing overseas. With many years of experience, she has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate globally, and founded Live and Invest Overseas, a resource for expat life. She’s also the author of How to Retire Overseas, as well as her latest book, At Home Abroad-Retire Big on Little. Both offer practical advice for reinventing your life outside the United States or your country more generally. Please welcome Kathleen Peddicord.

SOLO | Retiring Abroad
How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad

Peter, how are you? I’m very happy to be here and have the chance to speak about all this.

Where are you joining me from?

I am in the United States, which is unlikely for me. I live between Paris and Panama City, Panama. We’re here in the States for Thanksgiving 2024, visiting my husband’s mother. I’m in Woodstock, Illinois.

You’re back in the US for a little bit. I assume that you’re in Paris in the summer and Panama in the winter. Please tell me that’s true.

It’s not that organized. It’s much more according to a lot of variables. We don’t have any set schedule, which I do enjoy. One of the things I appreciate most about our lifestyle is how flexible and unstrategized it is. We are able to move around as opportunities present themselves. It’s nice to be in that position. We’ve raised two children and we’re empty nesters. When we had our children at home, our travel lives and where we were based were tied directly to their school calendars but we’re able to move around very freely.

You’re saying “we” so you’re part of a couple. As you know, we’re going to focus a little bit more on singles. My guess is that much of your advice will remain the same, although there may be some unique considerations for the solo. I like to say that singles have optionality. They often have a little bit more flexibility. Most singles don’t have children or they may be empty nesters like you. They don’t have to worry about someone else’s schedule or desires, which is a good thing. They also don’t have the hedge of that other person, should they get sick, should there be an accident, or should there be a financial constraint or stress. I’d like to build all of these considerations into this conversation.

As you’re describing, going overseas is a big step for anyone but if you go with a partner, a spouse, or even a business partner, frankly, you have someone to rely on for all the reasons you described but also for a reason that may be unexpected, which is when you have a bad day and you feel very alone. Loneliness is a big factor here because in most cases, you’re moving to a country where the culture is different no matter where you go.

SOLO | Retiring Abroad
At Home Abroad-Retire Big on Little

Most of the time, the language will be different, which creates a real hurdle in connecting, making friends, and putting a support infrastructure in place. If you’ve left all of your support infrastructure behind and have come and arrived in this new place entirely on your own with all the trials and tribulations of day-to-day life in a new country and there will be challenges, you’re left on your own to face them. You’re going to come home at night alone. You want to work as quickly as you can to make some connections. The challenging part of this will be more challenging than it needs to be.

Well said. I want to point the audience to a series that I’ve done on making remarkable friends. One of the themes of this show is that just because someone is solo doesn’t mean they’re alone. Oftentimes, they don’t have a ready-made companion sleeping in the same bed with them so they have to work on a connection with the community, whether that be through religious organizations, donating their time, or their work but then through family, friends, and family of choice. When you’re starting over in a sense, in a new place, whether it be a new city or country, that can pose challenges. How do you find like-minded people? How do you develop friendships in the constraints of a new culture? I appreciate you saying that.

The main point is it won’t happen by accident. As you’re suggesting, you’ll have to work at it. I recommend that you think through a strategy for how you’re going to make connections before you arrive. You can even begin to make connections before you arrive. Thanks to the internet. It’s all of these places that we talk about and recommend and that you’d find if you did any research on your own.

In all these places, there are existing communities, including many virtual communities. It’s very easy to connect that way. The good news is you’ll find that these communities are very welcoming of newcomers and understanding of your situation because they were in that situation themselves. In some cases, a few months ago, and in some cases, years and years ago. You’ll find lots of people who can commiserate with you and help you over the hurdles because they’ve dealt with them all themselves.

Choosing Your Destination

Where should we start?

I always like to start with the fun part, which is where. Where do you want to go? I’ve mentioned already that there’s a lot of work involved with this. I’ll say from the start that moving to another country, retiring overseas, or moving at any age is not for everyone. I recommend it. It has amazing advantages and upsides beyond the practical to do with lower cost of living and better weather. There are lots of practical advantages but the big advantage is it’s a great big do-over.

You’re reinventing your life. Your life becomes full of discovery with unexpected and new challenges. You’re embracing life and living life to the fullest every day. Everything is new, different, and challenging in ways you’ve never faced before. I love all that. I thrive on that. Some people are intimidated by that and that’s okay. You need to know yourself.

You will have to work at this. The whole thing comes with challenges and work but before you get to that part, let yourself enjoy the fun part, which is if you could live anywhere, where would you most like to live? I like to help people focus and frame that this is work too but this is fun work. With the work of thinking about where you’d like to go, frame it this way.

If you could have any view from your bedroom window every morning when you wake up, what would you most like it to be? Do you want to see a Caribbean beach, crashing Pacific surf, a waterfall, wildflowers on a hillside, or a cobblestone cafe in an old-world city? What is your dream view from your window? Work backward from there to create a life in that kind of place.

That’s such a fun image to have. Living in Panama City and Paris, you don’t have to choose the same view all year long.

This idea is so customizable. You don’t have to move overseas full-time. You can go part-time, which can be 2 or 3 months a year. Leave your hometown in the States or Canada in winter when you want to escape the cold weather. Lots of people do that. You can go overseas part-time. You can come and go from different countries the way that I do or you can go full-time full stop and embrace a new life.

That’s not necessarily the end of your story. I’ve referred to it as retiring overseas in series. What I do is move around among a few home bases that I’ve created over the past few decades like Paris, Panama, Medellín, Colombia, and a few other places where I enjoy spending time. The view from the window every morning and everything else about life in that place couldn’t be more different. More than anything, I embrace contrast. I know loads of people who retired to Mexico, which is an easy first step because Mexico in many ways is going to feel very familiar to Americans. Spanish is easier to learn than Portuguese.

You can do okay and feel comfortable connecting to a lot of expats. There are big expat communities in very appealing parts of Mexico. Once you get your feet under you, you think, “This was fun and cool but I might be up for the next challenge. What would life be like in Medellín, Colombia?” It’s another place I like in Latin America. I know a number of people who do this. They’ve gone from one place to another. I have a very good friend who retired at the age of 49. He’s lived in seven different countries across Latin America. He calls Mazatlán Mexico home. He’s retired overseas in series. There are so many ways to come at this.

I love this idea of starting with the possibilities and recognizing that they’re rather vast. It’s something as simple as for an American or a Canadian, it’s Mexico. There’s probably some equivalent of that for my European and Australian audience to bounce around and try places out. My thing is I want to be semi-retired and semi-nomadic. I’ll keep Denver as a home base of some sort probably for some portion of 2024. This is all eventually but I’m doing this episode out of self-interest and personal planning. I’m considering Colombia myself but Bogotá, not Medellín, as well as other places in South America. I’ll try not to use you for free consulting in this call.

No worries. I’m happy to try to help.

There’s the money issue. It is a possibility that someone would move to a place that has a higher cost of living but generally, the appeal is a lower cost of living. Stretch your dollar or Euro further. There’s this notion of weather and lifestyle. You might live in a particular place because of your job but once you’re free of that work, you might want to live in a place. For example, you love Argentinian tango so let’s move to Buenos Aires.

This is something that I find highly appealing. It’s the personal growth associated with it. Learning a new language will be very good for me and most people. It’s a new challenge as well as the challenge of a new culture and opportunities that come from culture. Frankly, if you’re an American, you might be a little bit tired of American politics and the inflation rate. You might be a little bit bored with having mastered American living.

All of that is completely true. All of those are great reasons to think about making this move. I get this question a lot. When I’m in Paris, Panama, or somewhere else, how much do they care about the US election? I’ve gotten this all year. How much do they care about the result of the US election? The answer is almost not at all. You don’t hear about it. Especially, this idea of escaping America, I don’t see this as running away or cutting the United States out of your life.

I’m an American and I always will be. I’m also Irish. I have a second passport that I got as a result of living in Ireland for seven years. I’m very glad I did that. It’s an EU passport. It has opened up a lot of opportunities. It’s how we’re able to live full-time in France and come and go very easily. It’s how my children were able to go to school in France. That created a lot of opportunities.

I’ll never be anything but an American. I’m very proud of that. I bring a lot of unique American perspectives to a conversation when I’m talking to a French person, a Panamanian, an Argentinian, or anyone anywhere in the world. I’m hoping to learn from them. I like to share what I have based on my experience. I grew up in the United States. I left when I was 35 years old. I’m from Baltimore, Maryland and I’m always going to be a Baltimorean, for better or for worse.

This idea of going overseas, approaching it as a way to flee is not the most productive way to approach it. A better way to think about it is you’re not running from something but you’re diving into an opportunity for something new. It doesn’t have to be either/or. You’re not cutting the United States out of your lifestyle or plan necessarily.

It’s okay to run from something but it’s more important to run to something. That’s important with regard to this conversation. You ought to be excited about the place you’re going, the people that you’re going to be meeting, and the new lifestyle.

If you arrive in a new place with that perspective, your chances of having a great experience are much improved. Whereas if you arrive because you’re running away from something, you’ll process your whole new scene differently. If you come at it like, “Look how they do things here. This is so exciting and fun. How can I be part of this? How can I connect and contribute,” you’re setting yourself up for a much richer experience.

Identifying Your Opportunities

Let’s talk about some of these fun places and opportunities and some of the excitement. How people should go about considering this? You already offered one, which is, “What do you want the view from your window to look like?”

“If you could go anywhere, where would you go?” That’s intimidating. There are too many options. What we’re always trying to do is to offer a short list to help people filter and curate the options. At the top of the list would be in Europe, which makes so much sense. The dollar is very strong. Europe is more affordable in general. Americans and a lot of people may fear but the chances you can afford Europe are probably greater than you think they are, especially if you are shopping with US dollars. The dollar is very strong.

In Europe, I would focus on Spain and Portugal. It’s as good as it gets from a lifestyle experience in Europe. They have an old-world lifestyle. They’re two very affordable destinations. Spain, especially, can be super cheap. In Spain, we are focusing the audience’s attention on Valencia. In Portugal, we talk about the Algarve. It checks everything that could be on your list, including lots of sunshine and great beaches. Northern Europe comes in the summer to Portugal’s Algarve and that coast.

The two standards in Europe are probably France and Italy, which also make a lot of sense and have a lot to recommend themselves. In the Americas, it’s Panama, which I know pretty well. At this point, my husband and I could be based anywhere. We have based our business and ourselves primarily in Panama. There are a lot of reasons for that. One is the cost of living and top-notch healthcare. It has a Johns Hopkins-affiliated hospital. Medical care is on par with what you’d find in the United States but at a fraction of the cost.

This stuff starts to sound like cliché marketing speak but it’s true. The United States is the most expensive place in the world to seek medical care. Anywhere else you go, it’s going to be cheaper not only in medical care but health insurance. There are lots of places in the world where it’s not only cheaper because it will be cheaper everywhere, but also as good or better than the standard of care you’d get in the United States. Panama is one of those in the Americas.

You’ve mentioned Bogotá. We focus on Medellín because of the climate and setting in the valley all around. It’s a charming setting. It’s such a pretty green city. Medellín is full of parks and gardens. It’s very picturesque. Go for Belize if you’re looking for the Caribbean. For some people, the Caribbean is it. That’s all they want to talk about. That has a following. In the context of a Caribbean lifestyle, I would put Belize’s Ambergris Caye at the top. It offers everything that you want in a Caribbean lifestyle but it’s going to be more affordable than most Caribbean places you would think of.

I assume that this list also works for other people in Europe, Australia, and Canada.

For sure. Most of our readers are American but we do have readers from all around the world. We’re asked all the time, “How much of your information is for Americans only?” The answer is the tax information. We write in detail about an American’s obligations, which, unfortunately, are complicated and complex. An American living or investing overseas has the most complicated tax situation of anyone in the world. The good news is if you’re a non-American, you can ignore all of our tax information. That is a good thing because it’s a big pain in the neck to stay compliant, in some ways, as an American abroad. If you’re not an American, ignore our tax information but everything else is relevant.

This is a short list and it’s missing Asia. I’m curious why that’s the case.

We do treat that as a third conversation. Europe is a focus. Historically, this conversation was focused on South America and mostly Central America because it’s right there for Americans. It’s so accessible. It offers what an American retiree wants like lots of sunshine and a low cost of living. The conversation expanded farther into Latin America. We began talking about Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, and Uruguay. In the past years, Europe has become honestly more sought after than the Americas in many ways by Americans. A lot of that has to do with the strength of the dollar, which has made Americans realize that Europe is more affordable than they may have feared.

As a third conversation, there’s Asia. It’s far away. This idea that we talked about being flexible, accessible, and coming and going is harder in Asia. You’re not coming home from Asia for a weekend for your grandchild’s birthday, for example. You go to Asia and you’re there. It’s a bigger commitment in that sense. The culture shock is greater. It’s more exotic. For some people, that’s a plus. Some people want as big a change as possible. That’s part of why they’re doing this. Fair enough, Asia for sure offers that.

For a lot of people, Asia is yet the next step of exoticness that is too much for them, especially when it comes to language. Language is going to be a bigger hurdle than America or Europe. All of that aside, Asia offers amazing beaches. It has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. There’s a lot of sunshine in various parts and a super low cost of living. Probably the cheapest places to retire to a certain standard are to be found in Asia.

In Asia, we would highlight Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In the Philippines, they speak English. That’s one reason we keep that on the list. The Philippines is one place where an American front with a veteran or someone in the military can access healthcare for free using military health benefits. That can be a big plus for a retiree. The fact that they speak English and you may be eligible for free healthcare put the Philippines at the top of the list. It’s also super affordable.

Cool Weather And Big Cities

One follow-up before we move on. The places you’re mentioning generally are warmer, especially that retiring people are thinking of warmer climates rather than cooler. They can be rather beachy so to speak. It’s something that people like. What if you’re a freak like me and you like cool weather and big cities, besides Bogotá, which is cool?

I don’t like to ever be negative but I’m not a huge fan of Bogotá. We could debate this and you may love it. That’s fair enough. All that matters is that it works for you. I don’t like it because of the pollution. There’s a litter problem and that’s a pet peeve of mine. Garbage is a problem across Latin America, especially Central America. Colombia is not in Central America. In Panama, that’s a problem for me. I have a big problem with the garbage situation in a lot of Latin America. I do in Bogotá. For me, it’s mostly the pollution and altitude. I prefer Medellín but we could debate that.

I get that.

It’s only what matters to you. What draws you to Bogotá? Why is that at the top of your list?

I like the mountains, high altitude, and cool weather.

Have you been to Medellín as well?

I have.

Why do you prefer Bogotá over Medellín? I’m curious.

I prefer cool weather.

Medellín is not hot but it’s not cool.

I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. I’ve already made some friends in Bogotá. It feels more like a city that I like. It’s one of those things.

That is exactly the way to choose a place. We can talk through all of the factors to consider like the cost of living, cost of real estate, weather, healthcare, options for residency if you want to live there full-time, infrastructure, and all of those things you can put into a spreadsheet. You should do that research and spreadsheet out your options. You go to the place and throw the spreadsheet out the window. “I like it here or I don’t. This place connects to me or it doesn’t.” As soon as you start to make connections, then that takes over and it should. You feel emotionally and personally attached. That’s the deciding factor. “I like it here better,” and that’s the fair answer.

Doing A Trial Period

Medellín, Bogotá, Belize, Panama, Spain, Portugal, Thailand, Philippines, or whatever it may be. It sounds like a trying-out period is going to be important in addition to your spreadsheet. I assume that there are some things on the spreadsheet that are probably make or break depending on someone’s budget and healthcare needs. Suppose a place checks those boxes to mix my metaphors. One of the things I’m very curious about is how long you need to try out a place to get a sense. It seems like a month is not long enough.

A month is not usually long enough. I’d say 3 months should be long enough or 6 months if you can do it but not everyone has the luxury of that much time.

The idea is that at the end of three months, you want to keep going, which is probably a good suggestion. At the end of six months, you probably know or don’t know.

You need long enough to dig beneath the surface of a place to penetrate beyond the tourist level. That’s the main thing. The quicker that you can connect beyond the tourist level, the better. In some places, that’s harder to do than others. The best way is to get help from other expats who are already living there. They can show you the places to shop, for example. What do you like to do with your time? Find places where you can connect with the actual locals in the place and then the local expats. Connect with them whatever your hobbies or interests are, whether it’s church, music, or what have you that is outside the tourist experience.

Paris is a great example of this. People would probably say Paris is expensive. Paris isn’t a cheap destination but Paris isn’t necessarily expensive. If you navigate Paris as a tourist, go to Champs-Élysées and spend €20 for a Diet Coke. That’s not what you’re going to do if you’re living in Paris. You’re not going to go to Champs-Élysées for lunch every day.

You need to drill down into the specific area, the actual neighborhood, and even down to street by street. In a place like Paris, for sure the experience of living there is different certainly neighborhood by neighborhood and even street by street in every way, including to do with cost. I tell this story, which might be a little dull but it makes a point.

Our apartment is in Paris in the 7th arrondissement. We can go in one direction a couple of blocks and buy a roasted chicken from a butcher. It’s €30 for the roasted chicken. We can go in the other direction and that’s in a more touristy direction. We’re walking those streets. You’re going to pass tourists. In the summer, there are going to be throngs of them. Any time of the year, there will be a few tourists around in that neighborhood. Go the other way from our apartment. It’s still the same neighborhood but the other end of it. You’ll never see a tourist there and you can buy that same roasted chicken for €7.50.

Is Paris expensive? It depends on so many things and that’s true of anywhere where you live. It’s true in Panama City as well, where you can shop at the local markets where the Panamanians would shop. A good Panamanian salary in Panama City would be $1,000 a month. That person earning $1,000 a month isn’t shopping in what’s called the big gringo-friendly or expat-friendly grocery stores called Riba Smith, where you can buy Aunt Jemima, a pancake mix, Duncan Hines, a cake mix, steaks from Argentina, wine from France, and cheeses. You could buy anything that you might imagine but it’s all imported so it’s very expensive. If you want to pay for it, it’s there and you can buy it.

The typical Panamanian earning $1,000 a month isn’t shopping at Riba Smith. You find out where they’re shopping and shop there. You can’t buy cheese flown in from France but you can buy lots of fresh produce like fresh fruits and vegetables grown locally. The cost is going to be a fraction. Your grocery bill will be a fraction of what it would be at Riba Smith.

One of the things that I would add to this is whether it be 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, or more timeframe that you’re going to ought to live like you’re going to live in that place. You could very easily spend three months and live as a tourist so to speak. You don’t want to do that. You want to figure out where you are going to live. How often are you going to eat out? How often are you going to make food? What are your hobbies going to be like in terms of replicating what day-to-day life is rather than a prolonged vacation?

It’s easy to live like a tourist, honestly, for a month or so. It’s hard to keep that up for three months. For most people, your budget is flat out and it wouldn’t support living at that tourist level for six months or more. The longer you stay in a place, you’re forced to find more affordable options, which will lead you to a more local experience.

That sounds like a feature, not a bug. You’ve presented these different models. You can imagine pulling the trigger and being like, “I’m going to live year-round in this place,” versus some mix. One might be rigid. I spend X months in Denver and X months in this place. I can imagine almost 2 or 3 places cycling through them, depending on the time of year, opportunities, or even more flexible ones, which sounds like you have. Depending on your needs, you might be in Paris in the winter.

That seems hard to anticipate. I wouldn’t say my audience is provincial in any way. They tend to be pretty global citizens. They travel and so on. My guess is that they have a home base that they’re in twelve months a year. That alone is a big change. You add moving out of the country of residence. How do you think about that idea of, “I’m going to live somewhere for 12 months and somewhere for 3 to 6 months and then move around?”

I’m bad at this because I didn’t plan my life at all. This was never a plan. I left the United States to open an office for a publishing company that I was working for. I went to move to Ireland to open an office. I was opening an EU base for them in Waterford, Ireland. I wasn’t moving to Ireland forever or maybe I was. I honestly didn’t think about it that way. I was moving to Ireland to see where that would lead.

After seven years in Ireland, we moved to Paris because our daughter wanted to go to school in Paris, which sounds a little crazy that the whole family would move to Paris but we did. I was able to open a second EU office for the company in Paris. I continued running the office in Waterford, opened this office in Paris, and worked out of it.

After four years, I left that company. I was at a big crossroads. At this point, I had to ask myself what I wanted to do. What I mostly wanted to do was to keep working. I wanted to be in business. I like being in business and building businesses. I had enough experience to know that if my agenda was to build a business, I didn’t want to stay in France. They’re not at all business-friendly. Entrepreneurs suffer in France. Paris is the best place in the world to live but maybe one of the worst places in the world to be a business owner.

We knew Panama was the opposite. Panama was welcoming and incentivizing foreign investment and entrepreneurs. That was what took us to Panama. I didn’t go to Panama thinking, “I’m going to live in Panama for the rest of my life or not.” I just thought, “I’m going to Panama and we’ll see where this goes.” Honestly, I didn’t think about it this way that we’d be in Panama as long as we were. We were there full-time for almost fifteen years. It’s these past few years where our son is out of school so we’re more flexible.

We come and go from Panama because that’s where the business is based. We’re not reinventing all of that infrastructure. We are married to Panama indefinitely. As long as we’re running the business, we’re in Panama. To fit Paris back in, we weren’t able to come and go from Paris as much as I wanted when we were full-time in Panama building the business. That became all-consuming for a time. For how long will we be in this pattern of part of the year in Panama, part of the year in Paris, and then trips here and there because we like to travel in general? I don’t know.

My answer is a cop-out nonanswer. I recommend letting it evolve organically step by step. Don’t set out with a hard and fast path laid out over the very long term. What you’re going to find is that nothing is going to work out as you imagine or expect it will. There are going to be challenges you never imagined and there are going to be things you appreciate and love that you had no way to know to expect. Every one of those will lead you to make more choices.

Every day you’ll be making more choices. “I’m going to do more of this and less of this. I’m going to go here or look there.” If you keep yourself open to that, your path is not going to be what you imagined it was going to be. I almost guarantee it. What will it be is you probably couldn’t predict that. To me, that’s the real fun of it. Are you going to end up where you set your compass? Probably not, but you’re going to end up somewhere very cool. You’re going to have an amazing experience getting there.

I like this idea of having a loose grip. You don’t know until you do this. You may have traveled and be very comfortable moving in and out of cultures. I used the word global citizen before, which I fancy myself as. I feel like I can show up in another country and make my way pretty quickly, get along, be safe, have fun, and so on. It helps to be spending dollars in that endeavor and not carrying around a partner and two kids with me so you can keep your costs a little bit lower in a variety of ways. Although those hotel costs aren’t any better. You aim yourself and then pay attention.

Let each day lead you. Honestly, the truth is you’ll have no choice. Once you set off on this path, you’ll have no choice. What you encounter every day will force you to make decisions that you can’t predict. Each decision will adjust your course and that’s for the best.

Who Should Do This

This may surprise but here’s a question before I want to get into some of the challenges here because a lot of the opportunities are self-evident. Why shouldn’t you do this? Who shouldn’t be doing this?

It’s someone who can’t let go of their expectations about how life should be lived and how things should be done. This is another maybe not so interesting story but it makes the point. This is based on experience. This was a true story from a guy I knew a long time ago He came to retire to Panama. He had been in the construction industry in the United States. In North Carolina, he ran a construction crew and had a big successful business.

I was in Panama City and ran into him one day on the street. He said, “Kathleen, you have to come with me. I want you to come over here. I want to show you something.” We crossed the street and there was road work going on. A construction crew was doing road work. There were six guys standing around with tools breaking up the street. He said, “Why would they do that?” He then named a machine. “Don’t they know if they had such and such that this work would be done in an hour? I’ve seen them out here for the third day digging this hole. Why are they doing it?”

He was so stressed and worked up coming out of his skin. I said, “I don’t know. There could be so many answers or reasons to that question. 1) Probably they don’t have that piece of machinery. 2) If they had that piece of machinery, it would put all these guys out of work.” There are lots of things we don’t understand about what’s going on here but they’re doing their work. It’s creating traffic problems and delaying infrastructure improvement. Fair enough, all those arguments are valid.

I’ve spent a lot of time in my career in the developing world. It’s not that I don’t see the things that don’t make sense to someone coming from the developed world. The United States is a very sophisticated, competitive, and efficient marketplace. We pride ourselves on doing things efficiently. What these six guys were doing on the road that day for the third day was not efficient. Fair enough, nobody could argue that.

Is it on us to point that out to them? I don’t see it that way but if it’s going to bother you to the point where you’re so distracted that you’re returning to the site day after day to see if they’re still working there, I don’t think this is probably for you because you’re not going to be having fun. That’s not fun. Leave your expectations at the border. I knew someone else who moved to Panama and ended up moving back home, which was Chicago. One of his main comments was the hamburgers in Panama were so small than the hamburgers in Chicago. “I’m sure the hamburgers were smaller and they didn’t taste the same but did you try the local Panamanian food?”

If that’s going to be your frame of reference, pointing out everything different in a negative way like the food’s different, the way they do road work is different, everything they do will be different. You need to be able to not judge it like, “There’s a better way to do that.” Be open to it. If you are completely sure and right that the way they’re doing it is a nutty numbskull way to do that, you need to walk away. Do not let it stress you. Do not try to argue with them or show them how they’re wrong. Those people probably shouldn’t do this.

You shouldn’t be changing a culture. You have to change yourself. I get it. You’re getting older. I’m on the lookout for the grumpy old man syndrome where you need to have everything go correctly within your routine. Going to another place is going to disrupt that routine. You may not be able to live or eat the same way. This is the nice thing. It’s not like there’s only one option. I visited Lisbon. I went with my soul sister, Julie, and a bunch of other people. The visit was lovely. I walked away from that trip thinking, “I do not want to live in Portugal.” It was okay. My joke was, “Don’t go to dinner hungry.”

Is it because they eat so late?

The time between when you sit down and when your food arrives could be an hour and a half.

It’s worst in Spain.

For lots of people, that’s not a problem but for me, that would be a problem.

That’s the thing. Be honest with yourself. What’s a deal breaker for you? There’s nothing wrong with that. My husband is the same way. We have good friends in Portugal and they know that we can’t eat dinner with them. When we’re in Portugal, we can’t ever go out to dinner with our Portuguese friends because dinner to them is at 11:00 at night. As you say, they might go to dinner at 9:00 but by the time you have your drink, sit, and order, you’re eating dinner at 11:00. That’s too late for me but my husband’s ready to kill someone by then because he’s starving.

Sometimes for some nights, I’m closer to waking up than I am to eating at 11:00 at night.

You need to be honest with yourself about what’s important to you and what do you not want to live with. The point is to make your life better.

We have these two styles of making decisions. We have our Spock or spreadsheets. This is the best place based on the numbers. We have what I call Homer. It’s our feeling self that doesn’t overthink things.

That aspect has to rule. Your gut instinct and instinctive response to a place have to rule the day.

Fears And Misconceptions

Let’s talk through some of the tactical and practical aspects here. What are some fears or misconceptions that people have about living abroad, especially when you live in a place like America where people are like, “It’s the best place in the world?” People have this view that I believe doesn’t always match up. American cities are fine. New York City is an incredible city. I live in Denver, which is a lovely place. It’s a happy, healthy place but it’s not Melbourne.

I’ve gone to other countries and cities that have big green parks, great public transportation, and wonderful cafes. They’re intellectually and culturally vibrant. What are some of the misconceptions that people have, especially if you already live in Europe, the United States, or some of these places that are generally appealing and safe places to live with lots of opportunities?

For me, the ideas that people have generally tend to be practical. For example, Americans do think that healthcare is better in the United States than anywhere else, and that’s not true. They become defensive when you try to point out that the healthcare in these twenty places, according to the World Health Organization, is much superior to the healthcare in the United States. That comes as a shock to a lot of Americans.

What about safety? One of the things that I have enjoyed about South America is it’s not filled with foreigners or Americans. Part of the reason is that people think South America is unsafe.

That’s a great point. You’re right. Americans think that the rest of the country is less safe. Having lived outside the country full-time and not having lived in the United States for many years, I would say that the United States is less safe than much of the rest of the world at this point. That’s a broad sweeping statement that you can immediately disprove.

For example, where I am right here in Woodstock, Illinois is pretty safe. I’m not worried. I’m from Baltimore though. Baltimore is a ridiculously unsafe place. Having spent all this time in so much of the rest of the world, I have greater fear in many parts of the United States. I’m more apt to be looking over my shoulder or making sure I’m aware of my surroundings. With all those tips that you give, travelers think, “Hold your bag close to you. Be aware of your surroundings and who might be behind you in the subway or on the street.”

I think about those things more in the United States than outside the United States at this point. Maybe that’s a prejudice, too. I don’t know. I’ve been outside the United States so long that I worry that maybe I’ve crossed over but I do think that Americans think that the rest of the world is less safe than the United States. That’s not true as a blanket statement. There are parts of the world that are unsafe, including places we talk about. In any city in the world, there are streets and neighborhoods where you shouldn’t go alone. As alone as a woman in the middle of the night would be foolish. That’s true of any city in the United States as well.

This is an audience question. “When moving abroad, should one consider the political and social climate of the country?”

I think not. If you’re an investor, then you want to understand the economic climate and political climate as it might affect the economy because you’re putting your money at risk. If you’re simply retiring to a country or even moving there at a younger age, I ignore politics. I’m aware of the president in Panama, the elections taking place, and things like that but I am relieved to not have to care about the politics of the place.

I can’t vote in these countries. They’re not my country. I have no skin in that game as I see it. I’m there as their guest and making the most of the experience with what all these places have to offer. I don’t worry about the political situation unless it would become so extreme. For example, the political situation in Venezuela. I was a fan of Venezuela. I’ve spent time there. It’s a very interesting country with a beautiful coastline and interesting culture and history.

Politically, the country has struggled for many years. Venezuela would not be a place that I’d recommend thinking about moving. It is an extremely dangerous and challenging situation. It’s not a place where the average retiree would want to live. That is an extreme situation. For the most part, you can happily not have to worry about the political scene locally.

You had mentioned investing. Depending on the country, they have different rules for immigrants like gaining a visa and even getting citizenship eventually. In some of these places, you can speed that along by purchasing property.

Also, making some other investments.

My guess is part of your question is you need to try it on first before you do anything like buying something. What’s your general strategy with regard to thinking about buying an apartment, a villa, or something like that either as a home base and/or as a way to be able to live there with regard to immigration policy?

I recommend renting first. We’ve talked about the importance of a trial period. I do think that’s important. During that trial period, you want to rent. I would say you want to rent, not stay in a hotel. We talked about that. Find an apartment to rent, a house, or what have you in the neighborhood where you think you might like to live so you can try the whole experience on for size. After you’ve done that for 6 months or 1 year and you’re confident like, “I am happy here. This is a place I’m ready to commit to,” then you can begin looking at buying a place to live.

If you’re buying simply as a place to live, I say seriously think about renting long-term. There’s no reason to buy a home unless you’re buying for investment. You could also have it for personal use but from a lifestyle perspective, renting leaves you so much more flexible and mobile. You can change your mind. Even if you’re certain that this place is for you, a year later, you might find someplace that you like to try on for size and might suit you better. If you’ve already invested in a property purchase, then you’ve got to sell that property.

Buying and selling comes at a cost. In the rest of the world, that cost is greater. In some cases, much greater than in the United States. The round-trip costs of buying and selling real estate in the rest of the world are bigger than in the United States. Don’t buy a piece of property lightly unless you’re buying it for investment. That’s a different conversation. You’re going to do your sums and math. Factor in the carrying costs and the costs of exiting. Make sure that you’re in a position to get the return that you are hoping or expecting. If you’re buying for personal use, then it’s an entirely different conversation. I do think you’re better off renting.

One thing for the American audience that I want to remind them is most of the world doesn’t own their homes. Renting is a much more common thing. Owning is part of the American dream. It’s built into the cultural fabric. It’s supported by the government of the United States.

Another thing to factor into that is you’re not likely to qualify for financing unlike in the United States, where it’s very easy to qualify to borrow for a mortgage. That’s not an option for most people in most of the world. In Panama, there are some ways to qualify for local financing but it’s not easy. In Europe, you’ll have to invest in a life insurance policy, which puts an age restriction on being able to purchase. For the typical retiree, that makes it even more challenging.

You’ll only be able to borrow if you’re able to borrow at all. You’ll only be able to borrow for however long. You’ll be able to go to a life insurance policy and that might mean you can only get a ten-year loan at the most anyway if you can get a loan at all. The whole financing aspect is another thing not to take for granted. You’d have to do a lot of research into the place where you’re looking to buy to see what your realistic options would be for borrowing locally.

Why mess with all of that? At that stage of life, I don’t see any reason to, except Americans take it for granted that you own your home. It’s an important part of the American experience. You work up the property ladder but in the rest of the world, that’s not necessarily the case. As an American retiring overseas, you can free yourself from that and all the carrying costs. You don’t have home repairs, maintenance, property taxes, and all of that. You come and go as a renter.

Financial Considerations

I want to talk about some financial considerations here. This is a good time because we’re talking about housing. There’s an interesting puzzle with this and I’m seeing this through my lens. Apologies to the audience who might not be viewing this in the same way. I still feel like I want to have a home base in America. I have a wide and deep circle of friends. I still enjoy the lifestyle enough but I’m considering 1 or 2 other places there.

The carrying cost of, let’s say, keeping an apartment in Colorado and Denver, which are expensive cities because of rampant nimbyism among other things, is difficult. I’m thinking about this idea of having a home base versus being nomadic in a sense. Bear with me. The ideal scenario for me, I don’t know if it exists at this moment. What I would love is I have a parking spot and a storage unit in a building in Denver that rents furnished apartments for the long term, 1 to 5 months. I keep my stuff there. I know I’m going to be coming from September to November. I’m letting myself dream here at the moment.

That’s the way to start.

I love September to November in Colorado. It’s perfect. I call them up and say, “I want this one bedroom for these 3 or 4 months.” I show up and move my stuff up from my storage unit. I have my car, see my friends, travel around, and do my thing. The weather changes. I’m like, “Let’s go to South America or Australia,” wherever the place may be. I pack a couple of bags, put everything down in the storage unit, and take off. I’m gone for a couple of months with my bags, so to speak. Rinse and repeat, depending on how it all goes.

The opposite would be you have an apartment in South America or from your list, Panama, Medellín, Belize, Spain, Portugal, or Thailand that’s your home base. Maybe you’re like, “I don’t need a home base. I move my world to these 2, 3, or 4 locations, depending on need, weather, and desire.” What do you think about all of this and the solutions around them?

All of those versions are possible. We live a version of it but we have two home bases. We have a home base in Panama City and a home base in Paris. We come and go between them and then to other points beyond them. When we’re in Paris, we’ll plan trips to Portugal or Turkey. In the summer, we spent time in Turkey or Ireland, where we had loads of friends from when we lived there. When we’re in Panama City, we’ll travel to Colombia and Argentina, which we like a lot, and to the States to visit family.

We have these two bases, one on either side of the Atlantic, which are completely different lifestyles. Our life in Panama City couldn’t be more different from our life day-to-day in Paris. The excursions we take and the travel we do from those bases are very different, which is a version of what you’re describing. You could do it without the base in either place that we own. We own an apartment in Panama City and an apartment in Paris. You could rent.

As you’re thinking about it, that sounds complicated and sounds like a big ask to ask for that lifestyle that you laid out but it’s not. Take it step by step and you could be living that life next year. It wouldn’t be hard to engineer the life that you described. Honestly, one thing that will come down to is dealing with all your stuff. I don’t know your situation at all but I’ll admit that I have a lot of stuff.

When I moved from Baltimore, that was a big challenge. I had a house full of antiques. What do you do with all that stuff? I had a daughter at the time and children have lots of stuff. That makes moving harder. As a single person, if you are able to walk away from your stuff, downsize to whatever is important to you, put it in storage somewhere, and then travel around the world with a suitcase and a laptop bag. I know loads of people doing that. It’s easier to do than it might seem.

The way to do it is step by step. If you own a piece of property like an apartment or a house, do you want to keep it or not? Is it full of stuff? Do you have a garage, an attic, and a basement full of stuff as I did in Baltimore? If so, what are you going to do with all that stuff? That’s the starting point question. Once you go step by step through dealing with the stuff, house, car, furniture, and all the stuff in your garage like your lawnmower or what have you, it’s very freeing and liberating.

You see, “This is easy. I’m going to show up where I want to be.” It can be as simple as simply arranging a rental. It gets a little bit more complicated if you want to be able to stay indefinitely and then you need residency status. That’s where applying for a residency program and qualifying and receiving a residency visa come into play. Most countries that you would think about offer options for residency. Panama has more than fifteen residency visa options, for example.

Chances are you’ll find one that you qualify for in the place where you want to be and then you go through that process. It’s a bureaucratic process. I don’t like administration and paperwork but you have to go through it. It’s a cost. There is an expense there. You can avoid all that if you come and go within the window allowed for a tourist. Most places allow a tourist to stay for 3 to 6 months. Depending on what version of this you’re imagining, you can live a very interesting, rich life coming and going, and not have to deal with the residency hassle at all.

I’ll give a personal anecdote. I met a guy on a plane to Mexico City who’s an American and married to a Brazilian. They live in the neighborhood that I like the most called La Condesa, this very lovely neighborhood. It’s one of the nicest neighborhoods I’ve ever been to in terms of lifestyle, greenery, walkability, cafes, nice people, and so on.

He said to me, “You can live here indefinitely as a tourist.” You come for 6 months and have to leave for 1 day, which he naturally does anyway because he wants to travel to other places. He goes back to the United States or he goes to Brazil with her and so on. You come back in and get a fresh clock for six more months. A lot of people think of the strict immigration policies of the United States, European countries, or Australia. They don’t recognize that you have a lot of flexibility.

In some countries, it used to be more common but the truth is a lot of the world pays more attention. It used to be easier to do what we call the border run in Panama. People would do what you’re describing and go across the border to Costa Rica for a day and come back. Panama then pays attention. It depends on the country but for sure, there are lots of ways around it and you can have lots of flexibility.

One of the things that is limiting if you’re solo is you have typically one income and one savings account that a couple may not have to deal with as much. Let’s talk about finances a bit here. An audience asks about Social Security and the health benefits of working overseas. Another one asks about exchange rates and planning for that. I would add any tax considerations. If you’re retired, you’re very likely drawing down your 401(k). You might be living on a pension perhaps if you’re fortunate.

As an American, you can receive your Social Security no matter where you are in the world. That is a big question we are asked all the time. “If I do this, will I lose my Social Security benefits?” The answer is no, not at all. They’re not at risk. You can have even your Social Security monthly check directly deposited into your bank account in another country. If you go to the Social Security Administration website, they list the countries and it’s a lot of countries. It would include all the countries we’re talking about. You can organize to have your monthly amount directly deposited into your bank account in that country every month. It couldn’t be more transparent or easier.

Currency risk. Yes, you need to plan for that. If you’re moving to a country where the currency is different from your base country, you want to make sure that your budget has give. If you’re an American thinking of moving to Europe, the dollar is very strong. Say you’re going to move to Portugal. To use easy numbers, say you have a budget of $3,000 a month.

Don’t set up a lifestyle or a life in Portugal that’s going to cost $3,000 a month at the current exchange rate because, in six months, you could already not be able to afford where you are depending on how the dollar-euro rate moves. Leave some give. Don’t budget right up to the line at the current rate of exchange on the day you move. Set aside a fund. Every month, contribute to a fund to create for yourself an emergency fund in case of a sudden rate of exchange against you.

You need an exchange rate emergency fund so to speak.

Would the Euro ever move that far or fast? I don’t know but it does happen. For example, the Uruguayan peso has moved over time very quickly sometimes against the US dollar. You don’t want to be caught one month to the next with enough of a move that you can’t afford to pay your bills.

If I’m hearing you correctly, you want two emergency funds. You want some liquidity with regard to your Euro or dollar and the currency of the places that you live in so that you don’t have to make a painful exchange or that you can make a profitable exchange. You have optionality with those two pools of money.

This will be contrary to everything I’ve said to this point in a way but one way to hedge against this is to buy a home of your own. Housing is going to be typically the biggest part of your budget. Once you’re sure of a place, this would be a reason to go ahead and buy a home rather than to continue renting. If the exchange rate moves 20% against you or something, that can make a big difference.

For example, if you were certain you wanted to live in Spain and you found a charming little house in Valencia and you bought it at the current very favorable exchange rate if you’re a dollar holder, then that takes your housing cost off the table out of your budget for good and locks in that exchange rate for you. That’s what you paid for your housing for the rest of your retirement or however long you stay in Valencia. It is a way to remove that because once you take housing out of your budget, you have a lot more flexibility.

That also sounds like you have to know that you want to be in Valencia for five-plus years and you’re taking some money probably out of another.

You’re going to have to tap into some savings or something.

In terms of health benefits, I do agree with you that the American health system is overrated and that people have a false sense of how good it is. There’s something called Medical Tourism that people engage in regularly. Let’s say I retire early from my job. I have my health benefits through my employer. You hit 65 and move into Medicare oftentimes. What are the implications for that in another country? Are you able to use some of those benefits? Are you paying out of pocket?

That’s another question we get all the time. “What about Medicare?” Medicare benefits will not cover you outside the states with some small exceptions. In the Philippines, for example, where your military health benefits could cover you. Medicare and US health insurance are not going to cover you outside the United States. Here are two questions. Do you want health insurance? If so, what kind? You can choose a local policy.

In each country, there would be local insurance you could look into. You can buy an international policy that could cover you in the whole world, anywhere, including the United States or the whole world, excluding the United States. International policies come that way because excluding the United States makes them much cheaper because the United States is so expensive for care. You have to choose a local policy or an international policy, including or excluding the United States.

Whichever way you go with health insurance outside the United States, it’s going to be much cheaper than your US health insurance. It can be a couple of hundred dollars a month. You can also get what’s called a travel policy. It’s not meant to be long-term healthcare but depending on how nomadic your plan is, if you’re going to be moving around, coming and going, a travel policy can give you all the coverage you would need or want. It’s going to be unbelievably cheap, $100 a month or something. It can be very good coverage.

You have to look at the details of where would it cover you and under what circumstances. Pre-existing conditions come into play for all insurance anywhere in the world. You have to look at all those things. You want to speak to someone expert in this. It’s a big choice of what health insurance to go with. If you’re leaving the United States, you don’t want just US health insurance anymore, even if you’re coming and going. You want some version of an international policy that may include the United States. You don’t want just full-time US health insurance because it’s so expensive and you’re not going to be in a position to use it all the time anyway.

We recommend that you keep basic Medicare coverage. I’m not a Medicare expert and there are many different parts at this point. Some come automatically covered and then some you pay additional for. You want to talk to someone who knows about this. We know people who are very experts in this and can walk you through your options but you want to keep some medicare coverage, including maybe some that you pay a small amount for as a backup emergency care.

Say you decide to move to Chile. You live in Chile for the next ten years and you have a wonderful adventure in Chile. Ten years from now, you find out that you have cancer. You need very expensive long-term care. You’ve kept up your Medicare. You could then move back to the United States. If you haven’t kept up your Medicare, then enrolling and being accepted will be a process and it won’t be a foregone conclusion.

It’s a good backup to keep in case of that kind of calamitous situation in the future. If you need emergent care, you need to seek it in the place where you are. If you’re in a car accident and break both legs, you need to go locally for care. In the case of something like cancer or something else horrible that isn’t emergent but that is going to be long-term, you could choose to then move back to the United States and reconnect with your Medicare coverage.

That’s useful. It’s funny how exciting these possibilities are. It’s a big world. I want to do everything. One of the ways to do everything is to live in another place, learn another language, interact with another culture, and embrace the possibilities of the new types of people you get to meet. There’s also apprehension. A different culture is going to present challenges and opportunities. There’s a lot of uncertainty about money, healthcare, making friends, and so on.

It’s almost like a lean startup approach. You pivot as needed. You’re looking for product market fit so you’re looking for a person country fit so to speak. It may take some time to figure out the places, the amount of time, when to go, and how to do it. A certain amount of planning is going to pay off but you also have to pay attention to your gut and how a place feels. One of the things that I always joke about is these people are very successful. They sell their business and then they want to retire on a beach somewhere. After two weeks, they’re starting a business. They’re buying a bar and so on.

It’s hard to lay on a beach forever.

One Step At A Time

Whether it be they’re looking back on our conversation, is there something that you want to emphasize or looking forward, is there something we haven’t talked about that you think will be important for the audience, especially a single reader who’s contemplating retirement or a semi-retirement abroad?

It’s what you laid out. Take it one step at a time. This isn’t a one-way trip. It’s not all or nothing as we’ve been discussing. There are so many versions of this. Whatever version of it you imagine, I would say is possible. Don’t imagine that you’re going to pull the trigger or flip a switch and have that lifestyle in a month or even a year. It is a process. Take it step by step and be willing to make adjustments on the fly. Don’t be so committed to your plan that you miss opportunities that might suit you better and make you happier.

The final comment I would make is don’t let the fact that you’re moving on your own hold you back at all. I know loads of people who have done this on their own. Especially to single women, you might have some concerns about safety, for example. I understand that. You want to prioritize that. You want to move to a place where above all else, once you show up there, you feel comfortable. You don’t have any sense of nervousness or concern for your personal safety.

That should be a priority. It might go without saying but the only way to know that is to show up in the place. That is what it comes down to as we’re discussing it. All of this needs to be researched. You can begin connecting with people already living in the place you’re targeting tomorrow or today if you want it very easily. You’re going to take it all step by step and put your plan together but then you’ve got to get on a plane and when you do, pay attention to your gut.

If you’re a single woman especially, don’t be afraid to say, “Nope. I’m not comfortable here. This doesn’t suit me.” Try something else. I know a woman who came to me at one point and had that experience. I won’t say the place because I don’t want to create a negative connotation for it in anyone else’s mind. This woman didn’t feel comfortable there. I said, “That’s fair enough.” She was a British. She said, “I’m moving back to the UK and I feel like a failure. I’ve failed.”

“You haven’t failed at all. You’ve crossed one place off the list. You’ve had an adventure and a great experience. You’ve got stories to tell. Move on to the next place that catches your attention.” This may not work out the first time and the first place you go may not be the place you end up. That’s okay. In no way mean that you failed. It means you’ve taken a chance and had an experience. What’s next?

Episode Wrap-up

For people who want more information, there are your books, How to Retire Overseas and At Home Abroad-Retire Big on Little. You also offer consulting services and so on for people who want to dive more deeply into this.

We publish a bunch of eLetters. The main one is called The Overseas Opportunity Letter. It’s free. It comes from me. I write this six days a week from wherever I am in the world, talking about all these topics that we’ve been talking about here and all different destinations around the world. That’s a great starting point because it’s free. Dip a toe in the idea and take it one step at a time. You don’t have to dive into the deep end of the pool right away. Beginning to read our eLetters and other publications is a great first step.

A great next step along this path would be to come to one of our conferences. We hold ten or so conferences a year in different countries that we’re targeting. In 2025, we’ll have events in Panama, Belize, Colombia, Portugal, and Spain. These are a chance to put your boots on the ground as we’re saying. You’ve got to get on a plane at some point, show up in the place, and have an instinctive reaction. These conferences give you a chance to do that with support and a lot of like-minded companies around. You’ll find yourself in a room of 100 to 200 other people like you in your exact situation, considering their options, interested in this place, and wanting to share their story and hear your story.

One thing we haven’t talked about is when you start talking about these ideas to your family and friends wherever you’re living at home, some of them are going to tell you you’re crazy. They’re going to talk about what a stupid ridiculous idea. “Why would you leave the United States? This is the best place in the world to live. It’s not safe anywhere else,” and all these other things we’ve talked about. “Why would you do this?”

You’ll have to fight some of that for sure unfortunately but then you come to one of these conferences and the room is full of people who are so excited about these ideas. There’s not a naysayer in the crowd. There’s all this like-minded support. These events are valuable for that because you make connections with people. In so many cases, I’ve been holding conferences for many years in different parts of the world. Where I met my husband was at a conference I ran in Ireland.

He was thinking about moving to Ireland and I was leading a tour at a conference. I’ve known other people who’ve met romantic partners, roommates, travel partners, business partners, investment partners, and loads of friends. You’re on the same path, which is not a path that everyone is on. As we discussed, it’s not a path for everyone. When you find a whole bunch of other people who share these interests and who are excited about these options and opportunities, you need that support. You’ll appreciate it when you’re making your move.

That’s a great idea. If you were to add one other thing to this list, it sounds like the most important thing you can do is to find your passport, check its expiration date, and buy a plane ticket.

First, do some research. Unless you are in the very fortunate position of having the time and the money to go off and have one adventure after another, I would highly endorse that. If time and the budget for either of those are restricted in any way, do some research first. You’re going to need to make some trips. Don’t just go to one place and say, “Yes, this is where I’m moving,” or, “No, I’m not,” and then that’s the end of it.

It’s a process. Each step gets easier. That’s another thing to keep in mind. The first steps are the hardest but then after you’re into this, it’s easier every day. You build self-confidence. You become resilient, resourceful, and self-sufficient. You build all kinds of great skills and self-confidence. A year from your starting point, you might not recognize yourself in a very good way.

Wonderfully said. Kathleen, I appreciate your time, perspective, and positivity. I hope people reach out to you as needed should they be as excited as I am. Thank you.

Thank you, Peter. It’s been great to talk to you. I hope you’ll keep in touch. Let me know what you end up doing if you move to Bogotá or what shape your plan takes. I’ll be interested to hear.

I will happily share that. Cheers.

Thank you.

 

Important Links

 

About Kathleen Peddicord

SOLO | Retiring AbroadKathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world’s foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland… then to Paris, France… next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.