Lake Bled is on my list.
Posted on 08/26/2019 12:43:21 PM PDT by plain talk
Mary Taft lives with her two daughters, seven cats and two dogs in a mansion in Panama — and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
But the former teacher and school administrator didn’t always know that a Panamanian retirement was in store for her. Indeed, as she consulted with her two adult daughters about where to move, dozens of spots were on the table. “We had this blue-sky conversation — where can we all go and live together?” the 63-year-old former Springfield, Mass., resident recalls. “Canada was out because it was too cold. We wanted the tropics because we were sick of winter. We ruled out Asia because it was too far and [because of] the language barrier. Australia was too expensive.”
The Spanish speaker had been to Latin America numerous times, and her older daughter, a musician, worked a lot in Brazil, so they began looking around there. They ruled out Belize because of a “lack of infrastructure,” and Costa Rica because of its cost and “poor track record with health care,” according to Taft. But Boquete, Panama — a lush, mild-weather town in the Panamanian highlands that’s popular with expats — checked nearly all their boxes.
“The U.S. has gotten so out of control — the social fabric is shattering,” she says. “It is an act of insanity to continue to stay in the U.S.,” she adds, noting that in Panama crime is low, you see guns less frequently, and life can be more affordable.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
I looked it up because the names weren’t familiar to me. Yeah, I see another murder in wonderful Central America. I bring up George Rose because he was actually tortured to death in the Dominican Republic - a crime which wasn’t even investigated much less prosecuted.
But, hey! No guns and all that beachfront property and cheap help!
Where does a “teacher” get the funds to purchase 3/4 of a mill in homes
Mass. Had a girlfriend, her step dad was a beat cop in Boston, at 50 he had a condo in Boston, a house near the ocean, two boats and jet skis and a condo in Florida with another boat.
The country the attracts me is Slovenia. It is one of those countries that comes up in the articles as the best places to retire. If you get outside of the main city/capital it is inexpensive. Yet, it is sandwiched in between Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary. However, it is much cheaper. It is also part of the EU. So you can travel freely between other EU countries.
I looked up the price for a ski area on the Slovenia/Italy border in the Julian Alps. $29/day. Roughly 1/4 of the price here in the US.
Plus Melania Trump is from there. So, all the woman most look like models.
Lake Bled is on my list.
Hey Mary,FOAD! YOU and your ilk are the reason that America is being turned into a sh*thole and why you are leaving where you sh*t the nest.
The teachers around here have a steady income which is more than you can say for a whole lot of working people here in rural Oklahoma. That is about all you can say for them though save for some kind of retirement and health care.
The administrators on the other hand are cutting a fat hog compared to most people in the area. A couple who are both administrators can get in to the next rung of six figures. They retire much better and sooner than just about anyone else around. Oklahoma has never gone to consolidated screwl districts so each little rural public screwl has its very own little fiefdom with the full gamut of jobs besides teachers. I think they do have an area dietician (why I can’t imagine, how much can possibly change?) and librarian some places.
However, check out the parking lot in big city schools in Texas where we moved from. You’ll find a few BMWs and more. A cousin by marriage was business manager of a school system south of Houston. They lived on food supplied by the food service contractor and bragged about it. He also was into six figures like two or three decades ago. He has assumed room temperature now so he did not live very long to enjoy his retirement. Too bad. On the coasts it gets much better.
The other ploy in areas along the Arkansas state line is to work in Oklahoma, retire early, go to Arkansas and work to collect a second pension after I think 10 years.
Then there is my Mom who went back to school when she was 46 to get a secondary education certificate. She taught for 25 years until she was 71. She taught them all from K to 8 and sometimes three grades at a time. Whatever the children needed. A whole lot of what she made went for shoes, glasses, coats and clothes because she grew up dirt poor and always stood up for the underdog. Dad supported and helped her every step of the way even as she continued to teach after he retired. She is 91 now and doesn’t know much about what is going on around her and requires nearly constant care but she remembers she was a teacher and remembers many of her children and comes alive when we talk about that. Children in need of learning, love and compassion and encouragement were her life.
I have a friend who’s brother was murdered in Panama. Not exactly the most friendly place on earth.
“She’s blinding, I’m flying
Right behind the rear-view mirror now
Got the feeling, power steering
Pistons popping, ain’t no stopping now”
Just like the Progressive Northeast .... take your huge retirement and head the hell out of the Communist heartland for places South and West.
F@ggot molests boy and boy's uncle and father beat F@ggot to death?
Maybe it would have happened anyways without the F@ggot diddling a young boy, but I think George Rose greatly increased his chances of dying by molesting the young boy.
And why do so many English turn out to be F@ggots?
Saw a movie about corrupt Boston cops. Several movies in fact. This guy sounds like he is living way above his means, or way above what his means ought to be.
Don’t come to Texas. Gracious
I had to laugh at that one. I'm in my 50s and I work in NYC. Have never once seen gunfire or even guns other than strapped to the belts of law enforcement officers and in the waistbands of good citizens who have an open carry permit.
Good luck in Panama though. I suspect at one point some gun carrying thugs will come to visit - and they won't have the best of intentions.
I live in California. And unlike her, who is hitting retirement -- I just hit my 30s. I've already spent two years abroad in my 20s (for the same reasons she mentions) and plan to move overseas permanently. If it's God's will.
I agree with her that "the social fabric is shattering" --but I made his observation LONG before Trump stepped into office. (Mass shootings among children were happening before Trump!) If anything, Trump's ascent to office is the beginning of trying to restore what's been broken. MAGA.
From my view: LEFTISTS in this county have had the largest hand in contributing to America's shattered social fabric -- and the brokenness is all the more jarring when thinking about things like starting a family, etc...
There are problems aplenty (political/economic, you name it) in the other countries I've lived in, but culturally speaking, there are general lifestyle attributes/artistic values that suit me more, and also: a collective sense of history and shared generational commitments holding the pieces of society together...
So it's just a personal thing from my end. Merely moving to another state won't cut it for me.
Here in Wisconsin teachers can retire early, begin collecting their pension, and then go back to teaching, retiring later to collect a second pension plus their huge SS payments - quadruple dipping plus, and they have lifetime ‘Cadillac’ healthcare.
Some teachers start at $40K.
Gorgeous. If you still are a US citizen though be sure to send in your absentee ballot for Trump come 2020! :)
I have never been to Slovenia but have had nothing but good experiences with Slovenes in my travels. But be careful with their Moonshine should you be offered some. It is potent!
You're close to reciting the chief reason I moved to Boquete this summer. No way could I live independently on my income in the U.S. Here, I can subsist on $1600/mo and will try not to dip into my second pension until I turn 65.
Main reasons I am in Boquete:
* - the Panamanian Bolivar is equivalent to the U.S. dollar. No worries about converting funny money.
* - I can live in a furnished all-bills-paid apartment for $600 month that includes, gas, electricity, cable and wi-fi.
* - Every morning starts in the 60-degree F range. So far, it has only made it above 80 once or twice.
* - while biting insects are still present, there are far fewer than on the hot, muggy coast.
* - there are enough gringos for conversation while you learn to speak Spanish. I attend an English-speaking fundamentalist Bible church that is active in outreach ministries both to Spanish speakers and native Indian tribes, some so bore that they literally live on dirt floors with tin roofs. The public schools welcome you instead of threatening to sue you.
* - yes, everyone has bars on their windows but they are so ever-present that burglaries aren't that common. I feel safer walking around Boquete than I do most U.S. cities.
* - there's the cultural adventure of learning a new way of life with less processed foods and a more relaxed pace.
I'll be the first to say it's not for everyone and honestly I don't want a lot of people coming down here and complaining that it "isn't like America". It's not like America but I don't want it to be like America. I'm just a guest here.
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