- Janet Sussman moved to Panama from the United States after a series of personal tragedies.
- She found the cost of living in Panama to be much lower and the community to be more supportive.
- Her new life involves house sitting and enjoying a simpler, healthier lifestyle.
Janet Sussman was headed for her dream home – a cabin in the woods in upstate New York – but after a series of mishaps she decided to move far from the US to the shores of Panama.
In 2006, six months after her husband suffered a severe stroke and her son died in a construction accident, Sussman scrambled to go back to school, take on multiple jobs and move to give her husband peace and quiet for the rest of his life. After years of stress, she decided to move to Panama in 2012.
The cost of living is much cheaper, the people are more polite, less overworked, and the rural nature is just what she wanted. After working as a teacher for a few years, she is now a full-time house sitter, earning money and traveling around the country.
“Tragedy is a part of life, and it’s necessary,” Sussman says. “Without it, we wouldn’t appreciate the good things. I think that’s why I have such a childlike awe for travel.”
Moving to Panama
Sussman grew up in Philadelphia, but she and her husband wanted to move before their children were grown. Settling in Tarpon Springs, Florida, Sussman took jobs in the catering departments of several hotels, eventually rising to become regional catering director for five hotels.
She founded a nonprofit that runs a catering company that trains at-risk youth to obtain food safety certification licenses.
But as her organization grew, her husband suffered a severe stroke, and six months later, in 2006, her oldest son died in a construction accident after he had intended to help the Sussmans build a log cabin on their five acres in upstate New York, their “dream home” for retirement.
Around this time, she applied for a teaching job in Florida but was turned down. She worked three jobs, went to school, traveled two hours each weekend to visit her husband, and struggled to make the mortgage payments.
Her husband built a prefab house on the land, deciding he wanted to spend the rest of his life on the land where they could build their dream home. He passed away in 2010. The 2008 recession wasn’t particularly kind to their wallets, either.
“Events were driving me crazy, but I still had to keep living. My other two children had already found partners,” Sussman said. “I didn’t know who I was in this new role, and I didn’t know what to do.”
In 2009, she decided to visit Panama for the first time and booked a $79 round-trip Spirit Airlines ticket. She felt like she had lived there in a past life and immediately wanted to move there. After a few more years of stress and overwork, she moved to Panama in 2012, knowing that she would have to keep working.
To stay afloat, she started a shuttle service between the airport and hotels in Panama. She bought a van in the United States and shipped it to Panama with spare parts that were not available there.
She split her time between the two countries for several years, but she found she was neither happy nor earning enough to sustain herself in America.
She got a job as a teacher at an international school in Panama, thinking it would be a temporary one-year job, but ended up staying for more than four years. She then started a language school, but as she neared retirement age she didn’t want to work so much, so she sold the school.
Still needing an income, she became a house sitter for expatriates, traveling the country full-time while getting paid, a job she still does today, she sold her apartment and stayed in Airbnbs between visits home.
Getting used to Panama
Sussman remembers his “aha moment” after moving to Panama. He was walking around Panama City with some locals when he was taken to one of the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods. He was invited into a tiny two-room house, where 10 people lived. They were given whatever food they could eat. Some of them couldn’t even afford bus fare the next day, but they were willing to sacrifice any stability to be with them.
“What I learned from that incident is that there are happy, generous people who have nothing by American standards, and they share what they have,” Sussman said. “That’s what I needed at the time. I felt sorry for myself, because I felt like I had lost a lot, but it was nothing compared to the people who live every day in buildings that would be abandoned in America.”
She said when she first moved there she always saw small acts of kindness, and it was these people that helped her stay so long.
She said prices are becoming increasingly expensive in expat areas of Panama City, especially in the tourist-heavy beach areas. Many people are unwilling to learn Spanish, which has led some communities to feel isolated from the rest of the city. Learning Spanish has allowed her to be more immersed in the local culture, more respectful of her neighbors and understand certain gestures and traditions.
“It’s our job to adapt, not for them to adapt to us,” Sussman said.
Cost of Living in Panama
For an 18th-floor apartment in Panama City with 24-hour security, she paid about $850 a month. Meanwhile, her daughter, who lives in Clearwater, Florida, was thrilled to find an apartment with few amenities for $1,400 a month. She paid $40 a month for electricity, while her daughter paid about $350 in Florida during the summer. She added that Airbnbs were cheaper in Panama and she stayed in one in a beach town for $455 a month.
Most of her daily expenses are much cheaper than in the United States, but because she travels a lot, her expenses are more volatile than they used to be. She often buys fresh produce from roadside stands, which helps her keep her expenses down by buying fewer imported goods. She said she eats a much healthier diet in Panama than she does in the United States.
She bought five pineapples for $1 a few weeks ago, but says fruit that falls from the trees is often given away for free, and that the same order from a chain like McDonald’s that she would get in Florida would cost about half as much in Panama.
“A lot of people say Panama is getting expensive, but in my opinion, if you want name brand shampoo and everything else, you should pay for it,” Sussman said. “But why move? If you’re going to complain, why stay here?”
Her health insurance is $71.50 a month with a $10 copay, but it was $31.50 a month with a $3 copay until she turned 65. She paid $26 for foot surgery during the pandemic. Her car insurance on her 2017 Chevrolet Spark is $179 a year, but her phone bill is just $14 a month.
In Panama, women who turn 55 and men who turn 60 receive 25% off restaurants, 30% off transportation, 15-20% off medical expenses, and up to $10,000 in import tax exemptions on household goods. These programs have helped Sussman save money for everyday expenses and for long-term travel.
Some costs are a little higher in Panama, such as gasoline, but overall, she said she has found peace in the country.
“You never know what tomorrow holds, so enjoy today,” Sussman said. “If you’re trying to get somewhere with a purpose, you might travel a lot, but when you get there, you just take a breath and think, this is it.”
Have you recently left the US and moved to a new country? Contact this reporter. nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.
