Panama Forum

robertmee
Joined 2015
Posts: 8

8 years ago

Retirement Qualifications

8 years ago

Hello all. I'm a new member (American), but have been cursorily looking at retirement destinations for a couple of years now. We have made trips to Dominican and Belize and for different reasons, have marked them off the list. Panama, specifically the Coronado area, is next up.

I have tons of questions, but I don't want to seem lazy and not do my own research, so I'll save those for now. My biggest question is the retirement qualifications.

A little about ourselves. We are a family, aged 49 (H), 43(W) and 10 (S). My goal has always been to retire between 50 and 55. I own my own business which consists of just me as an Engineering consultant. I travel all over NA and sometimes Europe but otherwise operate out of my home, so even moving to Panama I can continue to operate my business. My yearly income is approximately, 200K. I would probably continue my business for the first year or two while in Panama if that's possible, but don't know if I would need to reincorporate in Panama, or could I keep it as an officeless US based business? After the business is ended, we would live on personal assets until such time, Social Security kicks in. At this time, we have accumulated about 2.0 Million in easily convertible assets. About 600K of that would be in IRAs that wouldn't be available until 60 (10 years). The other 1.4M would be available cash to purchase a home and invest such that we could live off the interest and some of the principle.

I've read about needing to guarantee the Panamanian government 1K of income + $250 per dependent, and that's where my question comes in. For the first years while I continue to operate my business, I would certainly qualify. After that, we could live on 40K a year with 4% interest without touching the principle (allowing 400K for housing and car purchase). Once SS kicked in, that would be an additional 1.5K a month. So, is a self owned business + a self managed portfolio sufficient, or does it have to be a government or private pension that is used for qualification?

Thanks in advance, and look forward to seeing the Country. We're making a last trip to Belize in two weeks, but plan on a May 2016 exploratory to Panama :)

PS....I would be interested in anyone that made the choice of Panama over Belize and why too. Our reasons are more developed (Panama City), better Healthcare, and an outstanding retirement program (if we can qualify). The only downfall is only our son speaks some spanish, but we look forward to learning.

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