Every day we are assaulted by news of another shooting in the United States – kids, cops and innocents gunned down for no reason. Our leaders in government are creating chaos at home and around the world. Europe is experiencing a migrant crisis that’s tearing the continent apart. People are nervous enough to be building survival bunkers in preparation for “Trumpocalypse”.
The world has turned into a crazy place and the bad news is, it will get worse.
When do you think that it is time to start planning and set up a foot across the border, and I do not mean Mexico. International Living for all their arrogance could not have timed the news at a worse moment in saying Mexico is the number 1 place to retire. You want to move somewhere that the population has a history of pulling together in the tough times, and they don’t hate foreigners. In any locale, the standard of living may decrease, but, if your basic needs can be met and the people are historically self-reliant, the quality of life could remain high.
While Panama was ranked by IL as number 2, there is no doubt in my mind that we have the best little country and one that is as close as a 3-hour flight from Miami. Panamanians have gone through the bad times of Noriega and emerged as a prosperous country whose capital many compare with Singapore in the making.
It is absolutely time to be setting up second residences in places you’d enjoy going for an extended vacation while the global economy works through the coming liquidation of decades of stupid government economic policies. It’s going to get really, really ugly, and if you don’t prepare now, you’re going to get hurt.
Most people have health insurance, life insurance, fire insurance, and car insurance. They hope they never have to use these things, but they still have them.
International diversification is “freedom insurance.” A must-have in these crazy times.
America has been changing… in the wrong direction. There’s too much fear. Too much force. Too many taxes. Too much regulation. Too much debt. It’s become as homogenized as an endless field of genetically engineered Monsanto corn, and is becoming just as unpalatable. Paradoxically, it’s simultaneously subdividing into different cultural units. The system itself has become unstable.
Many people think that the election of Trump heralds a rebirth of traditional American values. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. It’s actually just the “last hurrah” of Western culture in the US. The country has been transformed since 1960, and by 2050 it will be a different place entirely. The election of 2016 exposed the fact that people in Red counties and Blue counties have totally different values. They’re not going to merge into Purple. They despise each other on a visceral level. It’s the kind of divide that precedes a civil war, as hard as that may be to feature. For the indefinite future, you might as well put the Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” on continuous loop, instead of the regular audio, when you’re watching the news on TV.
So when do you make a move?
The temptation will always be to hold off; to delay pulling the trigger. That’s the emotions coming into play and it’s the greatest danger. If you always make your move earlier, you’ll not only be more assured of success, you’ll also arrive before the crowd, which means that the transition will be easier than it will be for the throngs that may arrive just months or even weeks after you.
In addition to that, living at least part of the year abroad has many, many advantages. Your standard of living should be much higher. Your sense of personal freedom greater. Your social opportunities much broader. And even your health improved. I like eating fresh food, with basically zero temptation of processed fast food.
The Internet makes business as easy as it is back in the States but I prefer watching good ole’ Miami on my widescreen, rather than out my front window…
Come visit us and see Why Panama!
Tom you have really reached deep for this article. You play on peoples fears no differently than the fear mongers. When the economy melts you seemed to overlook that Panama is US based. I have lived here ten years. Whats the inflation rate? Very dissapointing tack.