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Patty Blue Hayes moved to Panama from California to economize as she approached retirement.
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Nonetheless, she’s struggled to seek out distant roles after shedding her predominant supply of revenue final yr.
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She mentioned facet hustles like Airbnb, YouTube, and self-publishing have helped her pay the payments.
Patty Blue Hayes, 60, moved to Panama from California to economize as she approached retirement age, however unemployment is thwarting her plans.
Hayes moved from San Luis Obispo, California to El Valle de Anton, Panama, a city in central Panama, in 2019. Hayes thought Spanish — the nation’s official language — could be pretty simple to study and selected the nation as a result of it used the US greenback and was “way more reasonably priced” than California. An evaluation beforehand shared with BI by the private finance website GOBankingRates ranked California third in an inventory of the most costly states to retire.
Hayes additionally hoped that dwelling in Panama would make her cash go additional throughout her retirement years.
“I used to be 55 and knew that my revenue wasn’t going to be adequate as I acquired older and ultimately retired,” Hayes informed Enterprise Insider.
Hayes is among the many People who’ve moved overseas in the hunt for decrease prices of dwelling as they strategy or enter retirement. As of December 2023, about 650,000 People age 65 or older had been receiving Social Safety advantages overseas, in line with essentially the most lately obtainable information from the Social Safety Administration. In 2003, that quantity was roughly 352,000.
When Hayes moved to Panama, she was an unbiased contractor who supplied communication and management teaching for an expert coaching firm. However close to the tip of 2022, she mentioned her consumer listing began to dwindle as her employer scaled again her program and prioritized different types of teaching. In 2023, after the corporate was acquired, she mentioned her program was successfully discontinued. Hayes, who has a bachelor’s diploma in communications, mentioned she’s been making use of for jobs associated to writing teaching, buyer or consumer success, college admissions, and tutoring however hasn’t had a lot luck.
“It actually will get so discouraging after I spend a lot time on functions and nothing comes of it,” she mentioned, including, “In search of work has been demoralizing.”
Hayes can also be among the many individuals who’ve struggled to seek out work over the previous yr as some firms have scaled again hiring.
She mentioned her solely revenue has come from a visitor home she rents in Panama by means of Airbnb, her YouTube channel the place she shares content material about her life overseas, some self-published e book gross sales through Amazon, and referral charges tied to leads she gave an actual property dealer.