Panama Investor Blog

Panama's allure unending: Mountains, jungles, low costs

Altough this article is really about Costa Rica,everything stated could be said for Panama and more. It shows the compition for this market is fierce and will continue to grow.

Costa Rica's allure unending: Mountains, jungles, low costs

By John Bordsen

Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

What's it like to live in a far-off place most of us see only on a vacation? Foreign Correspondence is an interview with someone who lives in a spot you may want to visit.

Bobby and Shelley Workman moved from Charlotte, N.C., to Matapalo, Costa Rica, last summer. Bobby, 34, sells real estate there; Shelley, 37, leads yoga classes on the beach. We spoke with Bobby on a recent weekday morning.

Panama Corporations-real asset protection!

Bob Bauman of the Sovereign Society clearly explains the advantages of the Panama Corporation. This is copied from the A-Letter sent out each day by Bob.

Dear A-Letter Reader:

If you're engaged in a business or profession that can be carried out in a foreign nation, business privacy may be another reason to go offshore.

Unlike US and many other nations' business laws and reporting requirements, selected offshore tax havens offer almost complete business anonymity. This greater privacy can work in your favor if you are a consultant, trader, or in export-import management. A good example of a business anonymity haven is offered by Panama. There you can form an international business corporation (IBC) at a cost of about $1000, with annual maintenance costs even lower. More importantly for privacy, the IBC can be formed by "nominee" directors who hold the organizing meeting and turn over control to you. There is no requirement that the true beneficial owners be listed in pub

Bewildered boomers?

This article points out research that breaks down the boomers into five categories. Arrivers, strivers, worriers, bewildered and Peter Pans. Understanding these distinct differences in attitude can help us understand how to reach them.

NMI Identifies Five Boomer Consumer Segments: Ideal for Marketing/Advertising Initiatives

(PRLEAP.COM)
Harleysville, Pa. (March 2006) – Baby Boomers represent a diverse and economically powerful group of consumers. Marketers and advertisers need to understand the drivers of Boomer attitudes and behaviors in order to successfully reach and talk to this influential group. In fact, a majority of Boomers prefer ads that show people their own age and which capture a sense of their generation.

Where Will They Retire?

This is a National Public Radio program about cities and states in the U.S. who are actively courting the boomers to come and retire in their local. You can go here to listen.

January 11, 2006 · Retirees and their incomes can be a boon for local economies. That's why cities across the nation are courting them. What do they offer? And where will you retire?

Ken Dychtwald, gerontologist; CEO of Age Wave (A think tank that studies aging trends); author The Power Years:  A User's Guide to the Rest of Your Life

 

Tom Mullins, president and CEO of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce

 

Gina Razete, land developer and builder; has created two gay and lesbian retirement communities

Big-Name Developers Turn to obscure locales

More international press (Wall Street Journal) on retirees looking for a less costly lifestyle outside the U.S. This one about the Caribbean and Antigua where I just spent a vacation.

Excerpt:
The development boom is part of a broader movement of Americans buying homes overseas in pursuit of a better climate, a cheaper cost of living, tax breaks or other incentives another country may offer. Some are simply looking for lower-cost waterfront housing without having to compromise certain standards.

Bargain Hunting in Paradise

Interesting article from Barons about the growing number of people looking to live outside the U.S. in retirement. Thanks to Ahmad Djudzman for the tip.

Excerpt:

Now Panama looks like the next big thing in the retirement market. The country offers women aged 55 or older and men aged 60 or older 50% off tickets for movies, concerts and sporting events, 30% off bus, train and ship fares, 25% off restaurant bills and 25% off utility bills.

Retirees, grab your Panama hats.

Annual survey ranks the nation's top 20 master-planned communities

More great marketing information about the size of this growing market.

" What makes master-planned communities so attractive, Smith said, is the amenities that come with them. "


Maura J. Halpern                        
The Arizona Republic                  
Mar. 18, 2006 12:00 AM

Five Valley master-planned communities are among the country's bestsellers, according to a list compiled by a national real estate advisory firm, a list heavy with warm-weather locations.

Four of these developments are located in the West Valley: a housing hot spot with large tracts of developable land, which may guarantee it a continued presence in the top-seller listing.

Robert Charles Lesser & Co. LLC released its annual survey that ranks the nation's top 20 master-planned communities based on total new homes sold in 2005. All of the Phoenix-area developments on the list were also ranked in the top 20 in 2004.

They Won't Grow Up!

Here are more statistics about the baby boomers that I find very informative. Understanding the market will help us all in being successful with sales of our projects.

For this generation there's life after 18-49 and even after 25-54

By Kevin Downey -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/20/2006

In this story: Biggest demo ever The Loyalty Factor

 

Baby boomers aren't quietly shuffling off into old age. The oldest of them—the ones born in 1946—turn 60 this year, but boomers are putting a new spin on growing older.

“They are essentially creating a new stage of life, which we call 'middle-escence,'” says Ken Dychtwald, head of San Francisco-based consulting firm Age Wave, who's conducting a series of research studies on the baby-boom generation for TV Land. “It's a time of power, financial strength, enormous social, political and marketplace influence. And when you take a look at the marketplace in pretty much every single category, from DVDs, pharmaceuticals, financial services, footwear, to sportswear, 40- to 59-year-olds rise up as the most powerful consumer group in the country.”

Panama to build tallest building in Latin America

Well, China has it wrong in this story from China View. They claim the new Bahia Palacio is the largest tower when in fact the new Ice Tower with over 100 stories is the tallest. That's OK. We will soon have two of the tallest buildings in Latin America.

Panama to build tallest tower in Latin America                                                                    

                                                                  

www.chinaview.cn  2006-03-18 11:21:07

PANAMA CITY, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Panama plans to build a 97-storey, 350-meter high tower which would outdo Mexico City's Torre Mayor, currently the tallest in Latin America, the tower's developers said on Friday.

Sandinistas turned developers?

This is a fascinating story, and one I witnessed first hand back in the late 70's when I was in Nicaragua and recently when I returned to see for myself the developing going on there. Can a leopard really change its spots? Can communists gorillas be converted to capitalism through developing for American retirees?
Several well known companies are aggressively promoting Nicaragua as a great investment and retirement location but, I know developers who are leaving Nicaragua and coming to Panama as they fear the coming election and what it might bring if Ortega is elected. Thanks to Raymond Conlon for the tip on this!

The Return of the Sandinistas

Former guerrillas are trying to foment a tourism boom in Nicaragua, but it's not Costa Rica yet

By DANIEL KURTZ-PHELAN
SPECIAL TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 11, 2006; Page P7

SAN JUAN DEL SUR, Nicaragua -- In the 1980s, Daniel Ortega headed a government of former leftist guerillas, and one of his cabinet ministers pummeled the right wing with such vigor that an opponent took to calling him "Attila the Hun." Now, the two men are talking up the benefits of tourism and real-estate development.