- Retired bartender George Stumpp lives comfortably in Panama after moving from New Mexico.
- Stumpp rents out two properties as Airbnbs, supplementing his income in a country with good health care.
- He said Panama has a robust infrastructure, a lower cost of living and many of the same stores as the United States.
George Stumpp, 65, worked for decades as a bartender and bar supervisor on Long Island and New Mexico. Realizing his retirement savings could go further in another country, he moved to Panama.
In 2006, he and his wife bought property on the outskirts of Panama City for $37,000 in cash, moving back and forth until he retired. After 15 years of coming and going, he settled there permanently in 2021, renting two casitas in Airbnb to supplement his income. He is enjoying retirement in a country with a lower cost of living and high-quality health care, and he said he has enjoyed adapting to Panamanian culture.
“One of the reasons I chose Panama over other Central American countries is that we have better infrastructure than anywhere else,” Stumpp told Business Insider. “It’s a prosperous country, and a lot of that is based on the revenue they get from the Panama Canal.”
George Stumpp said it took him time and effort to become familiar with Panamanian culture. George Stump
As the cost of living continues to rise, driven by high housing costs and continued high grocery bills, many American retirees are considering retiring abroad. Some recent retirees have already told BI that they live much more comfortably in countries like Colombia, Thailand and Saint Martin.
Leave the United States
Stumpp grew up in the Hamptons of Long Island and eventually worked as a bartender for 15 years. He worked in rock ‘n’ roll clubs in the 1970s, then found work in more upscale bars and restaurants.
As Long Island became more expensive, he decided to move to Sante Fe, where he had a cousin at the time. In 1993, he moved to Santa Fe with his then-girlfriend and two children.
He got a job at a luxury hotel downtown, working his way up to bar supervisor. For years, he managed the bar, from creating schedules to ordering stock. As his children grew older, he began vacationing in Central America, Costa Rica, Belize and Panama.
His parents had retired to a lakeside cabin in Ontario, Canada, so he knew he wanted to retire abroad. In the mid-2000s, he began considering buying property in Belize, a predominantly English-speaking country, although he and his wife ended up leaving it after noticing it wasn’t as peaceful as they made it out to be. wished.
After reading more about Panama and seeing more and more Americans settling there, they set out on a long journey looking for potential properties. He noticed he could get cheaper prices by calling the number listed on the hand-painted signs outside homes instead of going through real estate websites, which would charge non-locals.
Buy a house in Panama
He settled on a nearly half-acre property for $37,000 in 2006, located three minutes from the beach, giving his Sante Fe home to his daughter-in-law. The property had an old house that was falling apart, and he and his wife built a smaller house at the back of the property with one bedroom, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a porch. They divided the old house in two to make rental accommodation. He owns his property, without a mortgage, and his annual property tax is less than $100.
George Stumpp purchased nearly half an acre of land for $37,000. George Stump
“We literally took it apart – it was wired with extension cords and it was in sad shape,” Stumpp said. “We took it apart, put it back together, and turned it into two cute little Airbnb rentals. I don’t make a million dollars, but it’s extra income.”
After traveling back and forth between Panama and the United States for work for several years, he finally decided to retire and put his Santa Fe home on the market in 2021, noticing that the value of his home had increased by more than $100,000 from the previous year. He sold his convertible and bought an SUV, traveled the United States for four months visiting friends and visiting national parks, then returned to Panama with his dog.
Moving permanently to Panama
He said that over the past two decades, Panama’s infrastructure has become much more robust than that of many other Central American countries. He said the city has good health care, a thriving financial scene and many big-box retailers and large chains.
Within 15 minutes of his home, he said there are four grocery stores, a Home Depot-type retailer and many restaurant chains similar to those in the United States.
George Stumpp lives a short drive from the beach. George Stump
“Anything I can buy in the United States, I can buy here. You can pay a little more for some things, but then again, there are always alternatives,” Stumpp said. “I can buy Kellogg’s cornflakes and pay a lot of money, or I can buy local cornflakes for a lot less.”
Because he’s over 60, he gets discounts on his utilities, doctor’s visits, public transportation, flights and even movie theaters.
He’s seen many large condominium complexes built along the beach that sell for around $300,000 with monthly maintenance fees between $150 and $250. In his area, which has fewer tourists and expats, house prices are much lower, although, he says, homes can sometimes sit on the market for years without a buyer.
Its electricity costs are around $50 per month, while Wi-Fi is $40 per month. His water bill is a tiny $5 a month and he rarely uses air conditioning, which keeps costs down. However, he estimates that his grocery bills are comparable to what he spent in the United States, even if eating out costs him slightly less.
“As more North Americans lower prices, the prices of some things like services have increased,” Stumpp said. “When I first came here, a hand car wash was $2, but now it’s $10.”
He loves the climate and living by the water, and he has enjoyed integrating into Panamanian culture over the past few years. Still, he said he has noticed that many Americans moving to Panama are not adjusting to the culture, noting that some have left recently citing cultural differences. He said Americans should understand that they are guests in Panama and respect their neighbors, even if that means having to listen to loud music during a party.
“If you come here to retire, it’s not going to be like home and you’re going to have to be flexible,” Stumpp said. “There are other elders here, and those are the ones who can adapt to life here, but there are those who can’t.”
Have you recently left the United States for a new country? Have you recently moved to a new state? Contact this journalist at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.
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