What’s it cost? That’s the question on nearly everyone’s mind when they think about retiring overseas.
Even if you’ve got a big budget, you still want to know the sorts of expenses you might run into in a new place.
Naturally, your expenses and mine will never line up perfectly. You might be happy in a smaller, less expensive house. Or maybe you like to eat out five nights a week. But after tracking our expenses for eight months here in Las Tablas, I can give you a realistic picture of what we’re spending.
Housing
This is always a big chunk of the expenses. We’re renting a fully furnished and equipped three-bedroom, two-bath home in a subdivision on the edge of town. When I arrived, the only thing I had to purchase was towels.
Along the way, we’ve spent some money on the house. Our biggest expense was a washing machine.
We’ve also bought some pots and pans, dishware and glasses because what was here was pretty basic. We fenced in the back yard to keep our dogs from wandering off. We bought materials to make window screens. These were all optional expenditures but they’ve made our lives here easier.
Food
This is actually our biggest expense category. Food is one area where there’s a huge amount of variation, depending on what you like to eat and how often you eat out.
We enjoy a varied diet with lots of fruits and vegetables. We eat out a couple times a week, and we purchase a few higher-cost imported items. My husband likes imported beer, for example, and I have a weakness for chocolate.
Our food budget also includes the food for our three small dogs. There’s not much selection in prepared dog foods here, so we’ve been mostly making our own.
Utilities
Our electric bill is very reasonable, exceeding $40 only once since we moved in. We run air conditioning only in the master bedroom. The other two bedrooms have ceiling fans, and we have several stand fans we’ve purchased for other spots. We don’t watch much TV but the computer’s on most of the time.
The landlord pays for the water, so it’s not included in the figures below, but it runs about $7/month.
Cable and internet are the biggest expense. The package we have gives us basic cable and high-speed internet for $56 monthly.
Phone service runs about $30/month. That includes $17 for our Vonage VOIP service so we can talk with friends and family in the US and prepaid cell phones that we pay by the minute for calls and text messages.
Transportation
Until last month we relied on cabs, buses and our own two feet to get around. We haven’t had the car long enough to have good numbers on what it costs to run it, but I’ll give you those in future updates. I did average in the cost of renting a car for a week while we looked for a car to buy.
Locally, taxis generally cost $1.25 around town, the bus to Chitre is $1.50 and buses to various local barrios are dirt cheap.
Postage and Shipping
We have an account at a nearby Mailboxes, Etc. store. We receive a small amount of mail forwarded from the US each month, as well shipping for a few online orders. It’s not a practical solution for shipping heavy items.
Medical
This is a small category for us. No doctor visits as of yet. My husband has a couple of inexpensive prescriptions he gets from the VA back in the US, and I buy some vitamins and supplements.
Clothing
This is another zero category for us as we haven’t really needed to replace any of the clothing we brought from the US.
What this Budget Doesn’t Include
This budget doesn’t include medical insurance, entertainment expenses or travel to and from the United States. Everyone’s expenditures are so different for these items I didn’t feel it was worthwhile to include them. It’s strictly a snapshot of what we’re spending for daily life here in Panama.
Without further explanation, here’s the breakdown.
| Item | Monthly Cost |
| Rent | $400 |
| Food | $700 |
| Utilities | $103 |
| Household Goods | $136 |
| Transportation | $90 |
| Medical | $12.50 |
| Postage and Shipping | $46.00 |
| Miscellaneous | $46.00 |
| TOTAL | $1533.50 |
Yes, You Can Live for Less — or a Lot More
This budget is a little bit higher than we had hoped when we came here. If we wanted to lower it, we could.
If we looked, we could find a less expensive rental, and we could also spend less each month on rent if we were willing to buy our own furniture. We could cut back on eating out and on some of our more extravagant grocery store purchases.
But for two people and three dogs living quite comfortably, it’s pretty good.
If you're one of the 80% of readers who will have to earn a living overseas, this book's for you!
I’ll be coming that way in April on a scouting mission … perhaps we could get together for dinner and you can give me some advice on where to look for rentals, areas to stay away from etc?
Send me an email and we’ll try to work something out
Hi, thanks for posting the real cost of living in this town, will be going on a scouting mission within the next couple of months, maybe we could have dinner and you could advise us on some good rentals? We would very much appreciate your advice. Thanks again, please contact me.
Jill Parisi
Hi Jill,
Would certainly love to meet you when you’re in the area if our schedules mesh. Send me an email! As to rentals, it’s a very disorganized rental market. . . pretty much all word of mouth.
Hi there,
Im so happy to find your website,the fact that you aren’t selling anything ie property,tours etc makes it feel like you are giving an honest account of your life as an expat.
I noticed on one of your You tube videos that you were talking about food and your health issues and I was wondering about local farmers markets and health food markets in your area?
By the way you look like you have slimmed down in the more recent video!
Linda
Hi Linda,
Thanks for the kind words
Nope, no property tours here, although I do plan to occasionally write about interesting new property developments in my area 
Getting fresh vegetables and fruit from local growers here is very easy. There are plenty of roadside stands, and even in downtown Las Tablas there are fresh vegetable stands. Health food markets?? Well, the Rey store in Chitre has one small shelf area devoted to “health” foods. For them it means artificial sweeteners and whole wheat flour. . . not exactly what you’re used to in the US. There are some supplements I can get here, others I order in from the US.
Hello, I am so glad I found this site.
I live in the Dom.Rep.right now. I am German, but lived almost 20 years in South Florida.
Because the Dom.Rep. is pretty expensive I am looking for another country where I can live only from my pension from Germany which is 1250 dollar a month.
I am a single woman, do you think I could live on this amount in Las Tablas pretty good?
Renting an apartment, groceries, cab rides 1 to 3 times a month eating out, maybe saving a small amount?
Thanks for your time
Elvira
This is very helpful information. We are several years away from retiring but Panama is high on the list. We will plan to make vctn visits to the spots we are looking into. I wonder what the costs wiell be in 5-10yrs.
Glad you’re finding it helpful. I have no idea what costs will be down the road, but I can pretty much guarantee they’ll be higher than they are today.
We are flying to Panama City on April 24-27 and then we will rent a car to see more of Panama. After doing some reading and looking at the map of Panama, I am hoping you can direct us to a central location so we can have a home base and do day trips. I’m thinking the Azuero district may be the area but if you have a better area to see more beach and mountain areas for retirement please suggest them to us. Also, are there any hotels you could recommend in the Azuero district?
Thank you.
Mary
Hi Mary,
If you want something that’s really central, look at Penonome or Santiago. But if you’re only here for 3 days you won’t have time to see much. If you’re in Penonome or Santiago you can easily visit Coronado, El Valle and some of the areas closer to Panama City; the Azuero Peninsula, including Chitre, Las Tablas and Pedasi; and Chiriqui Province including David and Boquete. Keep in mind that roads here are probably not like the roads you’re used to, so if you think you can drive 100 miles in 1-1/2 hours you’ll be sorely disappointed.
If you do decide to stay in Las Tablas, I always recommend Hotel Don Jesus. They have a website.
Good luck!
Hello,
Is there car rental in Las Tablas, also how many expat retirement developments have sprung up so for for those choosing to expat. in around 7 years to that area? How can a person find details of these before taking a factfinding trip to the area?
Can a person get by but should learn Spanish.
Does Las Tablas/Pedasi have a lot of most needed conveiniences for everyday living without tripping to Chitre’ all the time.
Looking into just such a factfinding, area touring vacation to that area soon; perhaps one of the Tripadvisor recommended B+B places or hotels.
Thanks for this Forum!
Mike
S. Oregon USA
No, there’s no car rental in Las Tablas – closest is in Chitre. Expat retirement developments? In Las Tablas? None.
You’ll need some Spanish. Forget everything you’ve read on other websites about English being common. That may be true in Panama City or Boquete, but definitely not true on the Azuero.
In terms of everyday items — groceries, etc., you can find what you need in Las Tablas if you eat what the locals eat. If you want foodstuffs from the US you’ll have to go to Chitre from time to time.
Is it pretty mach always Greenery in that area?
Thanks,
What I mean to add previously; is there pretty much continuous greenery on the Azuero?
And, are there reasonable expat housing developments (overly pricey to stretch ones income on?) opp’s in Pedasi, Chitre, or even just abundant rentals in your…..Las Tablas?
Las Tablas appears very nice indeed.
Thanks for elaborating!
Mike, it’s very green during the rainy season. During the dry season it gets less green, and this last one was particularly dry so everything got quite brown. The amazing thing is, just a few drops of rain and it greens right up again.
There are no “expat” housing developments in Las Tablas, although there is at least one on the drawing boards. There are some in Chitre, and of course Pedasi has quite a few in various stages of completion and occupancy. The developments designed for expats are much pricier than the ones marketed to local people.
I’ve finally gotten time (in the USA) to read all you’re topics here,
Now that you’re in country and can look back, do you think it might be recommended that an expat first land themselves in say larger……….David; where there might be more to initially accommodate and steer from?
I’m not being critical of YOUR journey, just thinking of a starting place that might be initially more facilitative of MY journey to the Panamanian interior as an expat.
I sincerely admire what you’ve accomplished; pretty inspiring!
I too, hope to escape this constant turmoil here in the US for the a much less stressful, keeping up with it all, Panama!
I hope this post makes sense.
Mike
Mike
Sorry, a bit off the Azuero but…..have you been around and what do you think of Santiago; as a place to land an steer from?