Off to investigate Panama, eventually

[Amelie]

lol Rep. of Panama and Costa Rica was making as much sense to me, no wonder you had no power cuts lmao

[wrj]

Synthia,
Just out of curiosity i've be looking at nicaragua? how would my standard of living be for a 42 y/o single male with about $70,000 and thats US dollars looking to rent or buy a 2 bedroom house and also be able to live with a minimum of work? and still survive and pay bills and enjoy Nicaragua
just curious

[synthia]

I'm in Granada now, and prices here have risen dramatically. From what I have seen, you could buy a house on the outskirts of town for maybe $40,000, which wouldn't leave you much to live on for the rest of your life. I've seen a small one-bedroom house in the center for rent for $300-400 per month.

I don't know what you would do for work. Most expats I have met have started businesses, and many don't succeed. As for wages, I know that there is an English school that has just raised its pay to $3 per hour.

You would have to be able to adjust to things like frequent blackouts and water shortages. A while ago they had rolling blackouts that would leave you without electricity for eight hours a day.

To me, $70,000 just doesn't sound like enough. You are a long way from being able to collect any kind of pension. Inflation and the falling US dollar could really hurt you.

However, you are young, and could afford to try it for a while. I don't think buying is wise in a foreign country until you have lived there for a minimum of one year. You also need to check into property laws and al of that to make sure it is possible to get clear title.

If you can get away from whatever work you do, a good idea would be to come down for several months and scout around.

[steve cross]

I'm new to this site, not even sure how to " post " questions yet. In any event I'm 55 years young and am thinking of retirement in ten years ( never hurts to start looking early! ). I;ve been to different web sites about retirement in a warm climate ( I'm Canadian ) and Panama City seems to be at the top or near the top of " best places ". Which sites are most useful to answer all my questions?