Hal Bundrick writes at The Street of the financial attraction of living in Panama.
There can be benefits to sporting a touch of gray hair. You’re carded less frequently on alcohol purchases – and you can earn “senior discounts.” Of course, there are just so many buffets that good health can withstand. But retirees of any age, regardless of the color of their hair, can earn discounts on just about everything related to day-to-day living in one free-time haven: Panama.
“Panama’s pensionado program of special benefits and discounts for foreign retirees is the current gold standard,” writes Kathleen Peddicord of LiveandInvestOverseas.com, in a country profile. “Retired in this country, you can save as much as 50% on everything from restaurant meals to in-country airfares, from prescription medicines to closing costs on your new beach house.”
Living in Panama City for the urban lifestyle and modern conveniences — with the beach an easy drive away — can be accomplished for about $2,500 per month, according to Peddicord. If you’ve had enough of city life, escape to the hillsides and trim about $1,000 off that monthly budget.
The Pensionado program will kick in these retirement living savings, as well:
This article is somewhere between a stretch and an outright lie, concerning the discounts.
Mention should be made of all the ways that merchants, restaurants , doctors avoid granting the mandated discount by making some lame statement
like “the discount has been included”. In my experience, it is more difficult to get the full clean and legal discount than it used to be.
Pensionado program is great if you are traveling around, eating in restaurants, and doing things that tourists do. I get the benefits once in a while but mostly it does not affect my bottom line. Come because of the beauty and freedoms of the country. Learn what the 1950s were like in the states but with cell phones. That is Panama.