I first met Justin and Cody from The FI Show at a FinCon conference a couple of years ago. These might be two of the nicest guys I’ve ever meet. I believe that they were just starting their podcast at the time and they had asked me to be a guest at some point. I was game to do it but our paths didn’t really cross much for a while after that. Well, a few months ago, Justin and I […]
The FI Show Podcast Appearance – Geoarbitrage Read More »
Once upon a time, a pretty awesome family was living in Boquete, Panama. They were getting ready to start their second Christmas story in this beautiful country. And then the Ministry of Health announced another scheduled lockdown over the next two holiday weeks. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. That pretty awesome family struggled with the mandate, let it spoil their holiday spirit, and became total Grinches for the rest of the year. The End. Oh, and
A Christmas Story in Panama… Back in Lockdown! Read More »
In the personal finance community, you tend to hear overwhelming voices shouting about how the cost of a gym membership makes it such a waste of money. It’s not hard to see why. Most folks in the community are trying to optimize their spending and cut out the costs they don’t need. Larger expenses like giant houses, fancy cars, and eating out excessively are a few of the big ones that we all know can make it a lot harder
Overthinking the Cost of a Gym Membership Read More »
Life is funny sometimes. We made plans for the future, retired early, sold everything we had, and then moved to Boquete, Panama in 2019. What are the chances a once-in-century pandemic hits shortly thereafter and throws everything out of whack? The odds can’t be very high I would guess. I’ll tell you what – it’s been one helluva ride so far. The first six months were pretty awesome. We got settled in, had the opportunity to be on House Hunters
Making Plans for the Future – Stay or Go? Read More »
I’m so glad to be back in Boquete, Panama again. We really thought that we weren’t going to be able to get back here so that’s a wonderful wish that came true for us. You know I love the temperate weather here in the mountains (hard to beat daily 75 degrees temps!). However, we had a rough week here due to the effects of Hurricane Eta. Although Panama doesn’t directly get hurricanes because it sits outside of the hurricane belt,
5 Things I Wish We Were Doing Again in Panama Read More »
When we decided to make moving to Boquete, Panama a reality a few years ago, I didn’t know too much about the intricacies here. I knew it would be a lot different but you just don’t know what you don’t know. Now that we’ve been here since the middle of 2019, I can tell you that we’ve learned a lot. There are still oddities that make us raise an eyebrow, but we have a much better hold on things nowadays.
Moving to Boquete or Visiting? The Ultimate List of Tips!! Read More »
When we left Boquete, Panama on a humanitarian flight at the beginning of summer, there were some borderline draconian measures in place here. The reaction to the pandemic here was to shut everything down to the extreme. Everyone was literally on a full-time lockdown. Women were only allowed out for two-hour periods on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays based on the last digit of your cédula or passport. The same went for men but they could only do Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and
Boquete, Panama – What’s It Like Today? Read More »
We made it! Our trip to Panama went well and we’re back at our condo in Boquete safe and sound and enjoying the beautiful weather again. It was only a couple of months ago that we thought we’d be unable to get back to Panama at all. But in an unexpected turn of events, Panama announced they were going to reopen Tocumen International Airport to tourists starting October 12, 2020. Although I wasn’t confident this would actually happen, we booked
Our Trip to Panama – What to Expect As Borders Reopen Read More »
Yeah… ugh. What a mess things are. As you read this, we should be just hours away from flying back to Panama. The key to making this happen… finding a place to get an antigen test done. Oh, and we needed to take the test within 48 hours of our scheduled arrival time in Panama. And somehow we had to have the negative results in hand in that small window of time. That can still be a real hurdle and
Getting an Antigen Test to Travel to Panama… Ugh! Read More »
And just like that, everything changed in an instant. That glimmer of hope is now sparkling so… we booked a flight to Panama! Booked a flight??? What the heck are you talking about, Jim?! Just last week you talked about what it’s looking like to move back to the U.S. for the long-term. 100% true. And it was looking like it would be inevitable that we’d be putting that plan into motion over the next month or so. I ended
Well… We Booked a Flight Back to Panama! Read More »
