This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Greg Kitzmiller, a 64-year-old American retiree living in Panama. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I was born and raised in Michigan, where I met my wife, Jen, and where we built our life together.
In 2016, I retired from my job as a manufacturing supervisor. My wife retired from her law career over a year later.
The year before she retired, my main goal was to find a place where we could live the best life during our retirement. I did a lot of research on various countries, and Panama kept coming to the top of the list.
We were eager to escape the snow, so my first priority was eternal summer. We also wanted to stay close to the US to make traveling back easy. The fact that Panama uses the US dollar only added to its appeal.
We hadn’t spent our whole lives planning to retire abroad, but after watching HGTV shows, we both thought that this was something we could do.
Panama also offers a special Pensionado visa for retirees, which comes with incentives such as discounts on utility bills, medication, and even transportation.
Before making the move, we took a few exploratory trips to Panama. Our first trip was a weeklong in October 2017. After my wife retired, we came back in February 2018 for a nine-week trip, touring different areas to see if it felt like the right fit.
During that trip, the weather was beautiful. When we went home to Michigan and saw the snow on our driveway, my wife turned and said to me, “We’re moving, right?” And I said, “Yeah, we are.”
We sold our house quickly. We held a few garage sales, donated what we didn’t need, and fit our lives into five suitcases. In June 2018, we officially moved to Panama.
Our kids were OK with the decision.
We have two daughters in Texas and one in Alabama. We’re no further from them now than we were in Michigan. Moreover, the world has gotten so small. We can get on a video call with the kids and the grandkids anytime.
With the help of a real-estate agent, we bought our two-bedroom condo for $210,000 in Coronado, which is about an hour and a half from Panama City by car.
Our condo is in a country club community, where the golf course wraps around our building, and we have 180-degree views of the ocean and the mountains.
Even though I’ve joined several Facebook groups, it’s the people we met at church that make up the core of our social circle.
Moving to Panama sparked an unexpected passion for writing.
When we started talking about moving here, one of Jen’s friends at work said, “Well, you should write a blog.”
It wasn’t that easy, since I’m not very tech-savvy, but I did it. I still maintain the blog and publish a newsletter. And, right after we got here, I connected with a writer’s group.
Being a part of that group led me to do a lot of things in my retirement that I never thought I would do.
I published my first book in 2020 about our experience of retiring in Panama. Since then, I’ve started writing in different ways, including a detective fiction series — I’m working on the fourth installment.
Writing wasn’t something I expected to do in my retirement, but there’s a strong community of artists, authors, and musicians here. When you surround yourself with other people who are talented in those ways, it fosters your own talent.
My retirement has been very fulfilling.
Our health is better, too. It helps that there is always an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables around.
If I had it to do over, I would’ve learned Spanish when I was young. When you’re in your 60s, it’s hard to learn a new language. I almost always understand what’s being said, but don’t verbalize very well, unlike my wife, who is fluent.
Every day’s a little different. We have a few social groups, including one where we play dominoes every week. We rotate between houses, someone makes lunch, and we spend the afternoon playing.
Initially, we figured we’d come for 10 years and then evaluate if we wanted to stay. It’s only been eight years, but we’ve already decided that this is where we want to be.
We’re not planning to move back to the US. There’s honestly not much we miss.
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