Learn before you leap
Clear, practical education on cost of living, healthcare, visas, and housing, so you're asking the right questions from the start.
Not Just Travel. A New Chapter Abroad.
Thinking about living abroad but not sure it's realistic? We help retirees and veterans find out for real, through homestays and expat-led scouting trips, before anyone commits to anything. Starting with Panama.
No cost, no pressure. A 15-minute conversation about whether this is right for you.
Support for the whole journey, not just the trip
Most people exploring life abroad are piecing it together from YouTube videos, forum posts, and a vacation that told them very little about actually living somewhere. We do it differently.
Stay like a local
Our vetted homestay network puts you inside a real neighborhood with a local host, not in a hotel looking at it from outside.
Scout before you commit
Expat-led scouting trips let you test daily life in a destination while you still have every option open.
Support after you decide
When you're ready, we coordinate housing, healthcare, visas, and settling in through trusted local professionals.
Built for people asking a serious question
Retirees, 55 to 75
You've watched costs climb and wondered whether your retirement income would go further somewhere else. You're not looking for a vacation. You want to know whether you could actually build a life there, and what it would really take.
Veterans
You want an honest picture of what's possible abroad on a fixed income, including how healthcare and benefits factor in. We help you get specific answers instead of general encouragement.
If you're excited and a little nervous at the same time, you're exactly who we built this for.
We'd rather you decide well than decide fast
Homestays, not hotels. You stay in a real home in a real neighborhood with a host who lives there, because a hotel shows you a place from the outside.
Education before action. You should understand the tradeoffs before anyone asks you to make a decision.
Scouting before commitment. Test the destination in real life while every option is still open to you.
Ambassadors who tell you the truth. Experienced expats and trusted locals who give you the honest version, including the parts that are hard.
Healthcare taken seriously. For most people over 55, this is the question that decides everything. We treat it that way.
“Don't move abroad based on YouTube videos and vacation memories. Go find out for yourself first.”
How it works
Four steps, at whatever pace makes sense for you.
- 1
Explore
Start with a free 15-minute call and our free Panama guide. Get oriented before spending anything.
- 2
Plan
A deeper readiness consultation covering your budget, healthcare needs, timeline, and whether the destination genuinely fits.
- 3
Scout
Visit for real. Stay in a homestay, meet expats and local providers, walk the neighborhoods, see the daily costs yourself.
- 4
Move
If it's right, we help coordinate the move: housing, documentation, healthcare connections, and settling into the community.
Plenty of people stop after step two or three, and that's a good outcome. Finding out a place isn't right for you is worth far more than discovering it after you've sold the house.
Featured Destination
Panama
Panama draws retirees for practical reasons: it uses the U.S. dollar, it's a short flight from much of the U.S., it has a well-established expat community, and private healthcare in Panama City is genuinely good. It also isn't right for everyone, and we'll tell you that plainly.
- Currency
- U.S. dollar
- Flight from Miami
- About 3 hours
- Language
- Spanish, with English common in expat areas
- Climate
- Tropical, cooler in the highlands
Our full Panama guide is in progress. In the meantime, start with the free starter guide or book a call.
GoldenAway Academy
Start with the free Panama guide
Our starter guide walks through what retirees should actually know before planning a move to Panama: cost of living, healthcare, visa basics, popular areas, renting versus buying, and the mistakes we see people make most often.
We'll send the guide right away, plus occasional practical notes about life abroad. Unsubscribe anytime.
Local Support
You won't be figuring it out alone
GoldenAway Ambassadors are experienced expats and trusted local residents who help you understand what life is really like where you're headed. They handle neighborhood orientation, introductions, practical tips, and the check-ins that make the first few months easier. They're mentors and connectors, not licensed professionals, and we're clear about that line.
Learn about our ambassadors
Why we built GoldenAway
We're Ariel and Ace Edgerton. We've spent our careers in international education and homestay programs, placing people in homes and communities far from where they started, and helping them actually settle in.
That work taught us something that shapes everything here: the difference between a trip that goes well and a move that goes well is almost never the destination. It's whether someone had honest information, a real look at daily life, and people on the ground who told them the truth.
Most of what's available to retirees considering life abroad is either a sales pitch from someone with property to sell, or a forum thread from a stranger. We wanted to build the thing we'd want our own parents to have.
Between us that's fifteen-plus years in international education, a background in international real estate and financial planning, real time on the ground in Panama, and four languages — English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Portuguese.
GoldenAway is a guide, educator, and coordinator. We work with licensed local professionals for legal, medical, and real estate matters, and we don't guarantee outcomes.
Start with a conversation
Fifteen minutes, no cost, no pressure. Tell us what you're considering and we'll give you an honest read on whether it's realistic and what it would take.