"Sweet Freedom"

The Living is Easy in Affordable, Thriving Panama

"We could have retired comfortably in the U.S.
but we live three to four times better down here."

Discover Panama Expedition
April 30-May 7, 2011

This tour immediately follows The Sovereign Society's
Total Wealth Symposium at the Riu Hotel in Panama City.
Call us for details +800-926-6575.

Dear Reader,

Sam and Brenda didn't expect to end up overseas … it's just that when they went looking for the "right" place to retire … they couldn't find anywhere Stateside where they could live so well for so little.

To be honest, their nest egg would have served them comfortably at home. But in Panama they were able to super-charge their savings and trade up to genuine luxury – and a jet-set lifestyle. They gained the freedom to live as they please, go where they want, invest as they like …

They have a waterfront view in a new high-end building overlooking the ocean. In North or South Carolina, someplace comparable would go for well over $1 million Sam estimates. But he and Brenda spent less than $250,000 for their luxury abode.

And from their new home, they can take regular trips to sandy, palm-lined beaches … escape to the jungle to go bird watching … head up to the highlands to trek among exotic orchids … and still have plenty of funds leftover for eating out, going to the theater, taking dream vacations.

In the States, you'd have to be truly affluent to live this kind of life. But in Panama, Sam and Brenda are enjoying it on a middle-class budget.

As Sam told Kiplinger's Personal Finance, "We could have retired comfortably in the U.S. but we live three to four times better down here."

Another American settled in Panama echoes this same sentiment from the flower-filled highland town she now calls home …

"Back in Tucson, Arizona, where I'm from, my monthly Social Security check might cover the cost of my utilities. Here in Boquete, my income from Social Security is enough to buy me a very comfortable new life."

In Panama You Have the Freedom to Live as You Choose

Panama offers not just good-value living, but a real variety of climates and attractions in one enticing country – big city, mountain highlands, white sand beach. And all of it at a fraction of what you'd pay for something comparable back home.

You could rent a two-bedroom place in Panama City in a nice building with a doorman and a pool – for $1,500 a month. Or you could spend $200 a month for a little house near the beach in Las Tablas …

In Panama, you have options. And you have the freedom to live not just where you want, but the way you want.

Panama's "laissez-faire stance on private property rights and entrepreneurship" as the New York Times puts it, means it's an easy place to invest and to start a business, too. In the States, you hear people complain about the ways government is encroaching on their liberties (and their wallets) – but in Panama it's wide-open for you to live well on a modest income and do, well, as you please.

You're guaranteed social freedom, individual freedom, freedom of religion … in fact, Freedom House, an independent organization that issues an annual "Freedom in the World" report, gives Panama extremely high marks, rating it one of the freest nations in Latin America when it comes to political rights and civil liberties.

And because here your dollars stretch so far, it means you're free to live life comfortably … free from the worries about how you'll pay for this or that … free from the concern about outliving your nest egg … free to enjoy the retirement you always dreamed of.

In Panama you can find the "sweet freedom" of a life you control … and enjoy …

Panama's Time Has Come …

The timing is right. Panama's economy is on an upward trajectory. And with the U.S. in trouble, more and more retirees are going to be looking beyond their home borders to places where they can stretch their dollars overseas. Panama will be at the top of their list.

This country offers, as U.S. News and World Report says, " … user-friendly options for foreign residency. Resident retirees receive a long list of benefits including discounts on everything from prescription medicines and in-country air travel to closing costs on the purchase of real estate."

Right now, Panama is on the cusp of a boom. And it's still early enough for you to stake a good-value claim … and position yourself well for profit. I'd like to show you how. We're headed back in April to show a small group of thoughtful investors the best beachfront, city, and highland regions.

We'll show you the best values and introduce you to the contacts you need on the ground so you can claim a foothold quickly and easily. Panama makes sense today for all sorts of reasons, among them:

• Panama's dollar-based economy is thriving. Panama's economy is currently growing at over 5% per year, and is expected to grow even faster in the next few years. [note: it grew 5.1% in 2010 according to the CIA factbook – and the canal expansion project could as much as double GDP at completion in 2014]
• This country is the most sophisticated – and stable – banking haven in the Americas. A hub for banks from around the world, these institutions tend to be stronger, better capitalized, and more liquid than many U.S. banks, which means your wealth can be safe here.
• It boasts some of the best-value beachfront in the region on both its Caribbean and Pacific Coasts. (Along the Pacific coast, for instance, instead of paying $1 million or more for a beach house, you can find one today – three bedrooms, three baths with a pool (swim-up bar included) – for just $240,000.)
• You'll find exclusive tropical island properties with breathtaking beaches in a no-hurricane zone … for well less than you'd pay elsewhere nearby. (A stone's throw from the "playground of the wealthy" – and just as pretty – you can own your own island escape for as little as $15/square foot.)
• The nation's highlands offer spring-like weather year-round and gorgeous lots and homes … where you can live like royalty on a secretary's budget.
• The quality of healthcare is exceptional (many physicians are U.S.-trained) … and costs a small fraction of what it would at home. Panama City is home to the only Johns-Hopkins associated facility in the region.
• Plus Panama's retiree benefits are some of the best in the world. They include easy residency rules and discounts on everything from in-country travel to duty-free import of your household goods.

Those are just some of the reasons why we're headed to Panama for a very special insider's introduction to this country. I hope you'll join us …

This Trip Offers the Ideal Mix of Business and Pleasure

You can expect the perfect mix of business and pleasure. We'll introduce you to the best opportunities on offer for retirement living and real estate investment … and to our reliable, well-informed contacts on the ground. That way you're sure to understand the smartest, most-efficient way to take advantage of opportunities that interest you.

I guarantee you'll be impressed because we'll see a huge variety of offerings … from exclusive Pacific-coast beachfront … to island escapes … to mountain retreats … to sandy oceanfront along the mainland coasts, including early-in opportunities on the turquoise Caribbean …

We'll show you places that make smart sense purely as investment plays. And we'll take you to spots where the investment is sound, certainly … but where, in addition, the lifestyle, views, and good-value living may well lure you to return for a few months or weeks a year … maybe even full-time …

On this trip, we'll help you discover this country for yourself … in a way you never could on your own.

Panama is Beautiful … Bountiful … and Booming

You'll be wowed by what a beautiful – and bountiful – country Panama is. As Lonely Planet puts it, " … you'll find it hard to shake the inescapable feeling that you're in on a secret the rest of the traveling world has yet to discover."

From its lush interior, where coffee grows on hills that rise to cloud forests, rivers rush, and flowers bloom with abandon … to its talcum-white, palm-lined beaches where you can luxuriate and relax at the water's edge … you'll be pleasantly surprised.

They don't refer to this country as "the Next Costa Rica" for nothing. It's an eco-traveler's paradise. On our last tour there, we saw sloths, parrots, toucans, monkeys, and more …

It's also a study in contrasts. Panama boasts extraordinary biodiversity (including more than 930 species of birds – more than just about any other place on the planet). And it's culturally diverse and interesting, too. (The Kuna Indians, for instance, maintain their very traditional way of life, farming coconuts and fishing from dugout canoes.)

Yet Panama City is a vibrant, modern commercial and banking hub. It's a city of sky-scrapers. A genuinely First-World metropolis that really works. In fact, it works so well that businesses are flocking there – among them Dell, Hewlett Packard, General Electric, Proctor & Gamble, Caterpillar and the United Nations – all of whom have decided to make Panama their regional headquarters.

I'll tell you more about all of that in a minute.

But first, let me introduce our on-the-ground guide for this expedition as well as some of the specific things we'll see and do …

Our Guide on the Ground
is Experienced and Well-Connected

We're working hand-in-hand with real estate consultant Gail Geerling of Success in Central America. Gail, who has lived in the region for a decade now, was formerly International Living's Nicaragua Office Director and managed the upscale Rancho Santana development on Nicaragua's Pacific Coast. Gail specializes in teaching foreigners how to navigate the social, cultural, and business challenges they face when they come to Central America.

She knows this market in Panama inside and out, and so with her as your guide, you're guaranteed to see the best properties on offer, get all your questions answered, learn the ins and outs of the buying process, and meet the most reliable people on the ground.

During this program we'll introduce you to opportunities like …

• Panama City apartment and condo deals. With so much new enterprise and so many retirees headed to Panama, the city is booming. But there's still an over-supply of apartments right now. That can work to your advantage. With the right contacts and the right negotiation (and we'll help you with both) you can land a fabulous place at a discount off the list price. For instance, before a recent Panama expedition, we found out about a deal in the financial district – an apartment a little over 900 square feet had an asking price of just $122,500 – way under what similar units were listed for, and the buyer saved thousands! And you know what? For this expedition, I know of several similar properties...
• We'll see the best of historic Casco Viejo as well -- Panama City's UNESCO World Heritage neighborhood. This is where the French Embassy sits and is home to some stunning properties. We took recent expedition members to see a property with a grand wood-banistered staircase, four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, and maid's quarters. Though it was listed at $425,000, the owner offered it to our participants for $395,000 – that's 7% off the top before negotiations. Just wait till you see what we have in store for you this time!

• One of the Best Places in the World for Retirees

  “Panama is one of the best places in the world for retirees today, combining a low cost of living, near-perfect weather and one of the world's best discount programs for retirees, with up to 50% off everything from public transport to movies, mortgage rates, doctor's visits, electricity, restaurants and airfares.”

  – International Living

  The Pearl Islands – postcard-perfect with fine white, palm-lined beaches – are Panama's emerging hot spot. The island of Contadora is where the upper-class Panamanian elite go on retreat. It's the Hamptons of Panama. But what most folks don't know is, just next door on an island five minutes away, you can get a swath of land for one-third the price. The beach and scenery are just as glorious! You'll meet a developer who's foing some interesting things here, and find out how you can have your own Pacific island escape. It looks just like the Caribbean, but there's never a hurricane, and it costs much less than you'd pay most anywhere in the Caribbean.
• Highland retreats where the air is spring-like year-round, exotic birds nest in the trees, the pace is quiet, and the crowds have yet to settle in. While the community of Boquete is a well-established retreat for retirees … it remains a good value and a comfortable, inviting place to live. There's community theater there, among the many activities for expats. So it's an easy place to spend some months a year or even settle full-time.
• Oceanfront on the mainland where you could have an apartment with a view an hour's drive on good roads from Panama City. In and around Coronado, you're not only close to the water, but near great golfing, restaurants, a fully equipped medical clinic, a new shopping mall, and an equestrian center, too. On a recent Panama expedition, you could have bought a lovely home with three bedrooms, a pool, and landscaped garden for well under the asking price of $240,000. Another property we spotted had two bedrooms, a pool, and a mother-in-law cottage. The owner was a motivated seller, and had already dropped the asking price from $325,000 to $285,000! Don't worry – there are plenty more deals here, and I can't wait to show them to you.
• Pre-construction Caribbean deals you won't believe! We'll head to the Caribbean and see pre-construction deals for one-third less than most mainland offerings, including Caribbean hillside lots with views of the barrier islands and access to fresh water – recently as low as $80,000, but they're going up!
• The crystal-clear turquoise waters along the Caribbean coast less than two hours from Panama City at Portobello, always look inviting. Rich with pirate history, this stretch of land is full of protected harbors where projects are under way today. We'll show you how to get in early – and position yourself for excellent appreciation gains.

Plus that's not all … we'll also introduce you to OTHER ways you can invest, profit, and protect your wealth in Panama. Among them …

• An easy way you can now convert dollars to metals in Panama and gain the security of "tangible" rather than "paper" investments. You'll hear from a European-based metals company that's now offering physical metal storage (under the highest security). No complicated currency conversions required.
• And you'll hear from the director of a Latin American Opportunities Fund, which gives you a way to invest in not just Panama – but other fast-emerging economies in the region as well. This is a way you can diversify your portfolio into these markets and – at the same time – take advantage of tax credits on your gains. We'll show you how.

Expect First-Class Pampering … from
Beachfront Hideaways to Big City Excitement

In Panama City we'll be based at the sophisticated Intercontinental Miramar Hotel, an elegant property in the heart of the financial center. Here you're waterfront right at the marina, in the thick of things.

There we'll host a seminar to give you the lay of the land and a comfortable sense for the investment climate in Panama.

We'll spend a day exploring the city, including the old quarter, Casco Viejo, which the New York Times recently predicted will be "a kind of South Beach-style hotbed of cafes, hotels and nightclubs." (It's not too late to ride this wave … we'll show you how.)

We'll take a look at the striking Frank Gehry-designed Museum of Biodiversity, which is, in fact, not yet open to the public. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is affiliated here. The museum is visible from ships passing through the canal … and it's quickly becoming Panama's equivalent to the Sydney Opera House – an enduring symbol of the city. The museum is situated on the Amador Causeway, which is a weekend hotspot, with restaurants, bars, and a wonderful walk way where folks come to stroll, ride bikes, skateboard, and simply sit to watch the ships head through the canal.

Of course, you couldn't come to Panama and not see the canal. So we'll be sure to swing by the Miraflores Locks and museum one afternoon, where we're sure to catch ships passing through …

Up-Close-and-Personal with
Sea Turtles, Parrots, and Monkeys

We'll head to the Caribbean Coast during this expedition as well … a bastion of white sand and lush foliage in a turquoise sea. And here we'll see Portobello, a place rich with pirate history and an historic UNESCO World Heritage site. We'll continue on to La Guaira, where we'll be among the first to tour an early-in opportunity and discover why this portion of the country is likely to hold its value better than some others and introduce you to some excellent-value property plays here, too.

We'll have a chance to explore a lovely, good-value mountain community as well. In Boquete the weather is spring-like year-round and the fertile soil sprouts mounds of blossoms. There's a well-established expat population here, and that makes it an easy, comfortable place to settle.

A resort area near Coronado is on our itinerary, too. This region is close to Panama City and a popular – and pretty – beach retreat where your dollars really stretch.

Of course, we've set up this program so you'll see real estate all along the way. But we'll only show you the opportunities that make the most sense. And if you decide one day you'd prefer to sit back and relax, that's fine, too. As I said before, you can expect a good balance between business and pleasure … and a truly pampered trip.

Please do be warned, though: We WILL do some walking on this expedition. So bring a comfortable pair of shoes!

I can guarantee you an exciting journey. Because there's an energy – a sense of possibility – about Panama that's contagious. Here's why …

The end of the American Century …
and the Beginning of Panama's

In 2010, Panama's economy grew no less than 5.1%. In times gone by, that might not have been a particularly impressive figure. But these days, that 5.1% speaks volumes about the health of Panama's economy. (By comparison, the U.S. had only 2.8% growth in 2010!)

Investment is pouring into Panama – from the States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. And that diversity is good. Because it means that even though the country uses the U.S. dollar as its currency (which is convenient for investors) it is not dependent on the U.S. for its prosperity.

As a recent report by Reuters puts it, "A generation after Panama shed a tradition of military rule, canny fiscal management and good stewardship of its emblematic canal have made the tiny country a model of success for today's frontier markets.

"An investor darling that has grown rapidly over the last decade and even managed to dodge recession during the recent global downturn, Panama's government debt has received a coveted investment grade rating by Fitch and S&P."

Construction is driving the boom in Panama City, where cranes dominate the skyline today – reminiscent of Berlin when the wall came down. There are more than 400 projects either already underway or in the works. Expansion of the Panama Canal – a project that will double its capacity – is further bolstering the economic growth.

Plus this country is home to the second-largest free trade zone in the world – the biggest in the Americas. Every month, new businesses are flocking to Panama.

Panama is modernizing at a crazy clip. A new coastal road has slashed congestion in the city. A massive Panama Bay Cleanup program is underway. And now the president – a business-minded "get-things-done" guy – has announced a subway system is to go in.

As Jessica Ramesch, International Living's Panama editor reported recently, "When I have lunch in the historic district, I notice everyone has a BlackBerry. The city skyline, one of Panama's best-known features, is more Hong Kong-esque than ever. And the cultural offerings are staggering … from flamenco to opera to theater."

Excellent Banking Services

More than 130 banks operate here. And with an account in Panama, you open the door to investments in top-performing foreign stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and currencies not available in the U.S.

Here you can create trusts, corporations, foundations, holding companies – completely legally, largely tax-free, and affordably, too.

The World's Best Incentive Program
for Foreign Retirees

If you come to Panama as a retiree, you can take advantage of this country's Pensioner Visa program, which makes it easy to live well on a budget.

That's because it allows you to take 50% off entertainment anywhere in the country, 30% off bus, boat, and train fares, 25% off airline tickets, 15% off hospital bills, 20% off doctor's visits, 25% off your electricity bill, 50% off closing costs for home loans … and more …

You can bring your household goods in duty-free. And you won't pay tax on the car you import or buy locally, either.

Affordable, First World Healthcare
for a Fraction of What it Costs Back Home

And Panama is affordable, too. It's not the cheapest place in Latin America. But then again, what you're paying for is the good infrastructure. The connectedness. The First World offerings. That said, it's hardly as expensive as life is up north.

Here you can see a first run movie for less than $3 … or eat a good lunch out for $5. You can live comfortably (including a maid to help out a day or two a week) for less than $1,500 a month. Increase your monthly budget to $2,500 or $3,000, and you can live extremely well.

Excellent-quality medical care here typically costs about half what you'd pay up north. (The Punta Pacifica Hospital in Panama City is associated with Johns Hopkins and lots of doctors here were trained in the States.)

Need a new hip? In the U.S. it costs $20,000. In Panama? $12,000. Cataract Surgery? $5,000-$6,000 up north … $2,500 in Panama.

You can buy private health insurance for much less than it costs in the States. And the prices for prescription drugs are lower, too, since manufacturers price them for the market. Not only that, but many drugs that require a prescription in the States you can buy over-the-counter in Panama.

The Most Efficient, Enjoyable,
Cost-Effective Way to Discover Panama
as You Never Could on Your Own

Whether you're interested in diversifying and sheltering your nest egg outside the U.S. markets … looking for a welcoming, good-value place you can spend a few weeks or months a year … or maybe even trolling for a full-time escape outside the States or Canada …

This program is the most efficient, enjoyable way to make it happen.

Plus I can guarantee you a relaxing, satisfying escape as well. A real vacation of the sort you'll be talking about for years. You can expect insider access, VIP treatment, luxurious comforts, and good company, too. That's what we're known for. And our past attendees join us again and again for exactly those reasons.

You'll meet extremely high-caliber, qualified experts in their fields – developers, bankers, property managers, attorneys specializing in residency and in offshore structures, and so on. We'll introduce you to local expatriates, too, so you have a chance to talk with people who have already done what you're considering.

Given the current economic crisis and political situation at home, I suspect our limited number of seats will fill up even more quickly than I'd expected.

This isn't any sort of cattle-car trip. We won't be herding people around. We have room for just a small group.

So if you'd like me to reserve a place for you (and perhaps a companion as well) … simply shoot me a quick email at info@opptravel.com and I'll get right back to you.

Or pick up the phone and call us here toll-free at 1-800-926-6575 ext. 105 or direct at 1-561-243-6276 ext. 105.

We look forward to discovering this vibrant, opportunity-rich nation with you. I do hope you'll join us.

Warmly,

Barbara Perriello
Director, Opportunity Travel

P.S. We have various discounts available for our past tour-goers and for VIP members of Agora’s publications. Naturally, this being a value-seekers’ expedition, we’ll arrange the very best deal available for you.

P.P.S. Read on below for a day-by-day itinerary and reservation details …