Personal Finance

I just got laid off and I have $3 million in the bank - which international city should I move to?

Joel South

Published: February 23, 2025 8:19 am

Americans often seem to have a curious relationship with geography. There’s even an old joke to the effect that we only learn geography when we have to locate a country that we’re in a war with! I was reminded of this whilst perusing Reddit recently, and coming upon a request for suggestions for an international move.

Our inquirer today (let’s call him “Roberto”) lives in San Francisco currently, speaks English, French, and some Spanish, and holds US and EU passports. Roberto expects to soon be laid off from his tech job, and wants to relocate to a nearby, low-cost foreign city where he can hang out while waiting for a new job to appear. Roberto asked Reddit contributors to suggest to him a Spanish or French-speaking city, “reasonably safe and remote work friendly,” and located no more than a 10-hour flight away from San Francisco (so that he can easily fly back from time to time to do interviews for a new job).

Want to guess the Redditors’ top choice for Roberto’s relocation?

Well, the majority think he should move to Southern Spain, which is at least 15 hours away from San Francisco, and usually requires one or two transfers to get there. And their second favorite recommendation was Marseille, France, a 13-hour trip.

Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong. Not all the Redditors were this clueless about geography. At least three cities that are closer, and that Roberto is willing to consider, also garnered some votes: Puerto Escondido, Mexico (10 hours away on a good day, including a layover); Panama City, Panama (7 hours flight time); and Guadalajara, Mexico (less than five hours).

And nothing against Mexico, but I have to say that when I saw “Panama City” on that list, it immediately rang a bell.

Move to beautiful Panama City!

A few years back, you see, I had the opportunity to review a new book by Kathleen Peddicord, the former editor of International Living magazine, titled How to Retire Overseas. Over decades covering the international living beat for the magazine and a series of newspapers and journals, Peddicord has lived in some six dozen countries, but would you care to guess where she ended up incorporating her business, resided for nine years straight, and still lives part time?

You guessed it. Panama City, Panama. So if anyone’s qualified to opine on the attractiveness of relocating to Panama for a few years, while waiting for the tech job market to perk up back in San Francisco, she’s the one. And what does Peddicord have to say about living in Panama City?

She’s in favor of it. And I think she’d encourage Roberto to take a hard look at moving there.

Roberto says he currently spends between $6,000 and $8,000 a month on rent and living expenses in San Francisco, but would prefer to cut his spending to $3,000 or less, to conserve cash while out of work. (Roberto expects to have about $3.3 million in savings by the time he moves. So a $3,000-a-month cost of living should enable him to survive unemployment for roughly 92 years before needs to get really concerned about finding a new job).

Lucky for him, Peddicord estimates the cost of living in Panama City at $2,820 per month, which is right in his target range.

What it costs to live in Panama City, Panama

What other factors might make Panama City an attractive place for Roberto to establish a low-cost base of operations, while he job-hunts back home? Panama City has evolved into “an international hub for business and banking,” confides Peddicord, with infrastructure to match. The region’s biggest airport, Tocumen International, is located just 30 minutes from downtown, and Panama even has its own airline, Copa Airlines. Wireless internet service is said to be cheap at as little as $30 a month. Even occasional power and water outages, she says, are offset by the fact that most apartment buildings maintain backup generators and separate water supplies, just in case.

“Panama boasts the best standard of medical care in … Central America,” says Peddicord, “with two world class hospitals” right in the city, and private health insurance not just available, but “much less expensive than insurance in the United States,” as little as $80 a month.

Even the climate, another concern for Roberto, sounds attractive, with year-round temperatures rarely exceeding 90, nor falling below 70, about 20 degrees warmer than San Francisco.

No one wants to lose a job. But if you’re going to be  an unemployed millionaire, and need a place to crash for a few years, I suspect there are a lot worse choices than Panama City.