Best usages and practices in Panama

If you see something in a store that you use a lot, buy as much as you can. It may not be there tomorrow, and may not come back for months, if ever.
Go shopping with a Panamanian friend. They know where to find things and how to get the best value for your money.
Plan for things to take longer and be more complicated. You may have to visit multiple stores to find something, or multiple offices to get something done. You can be pleasantly surprised when things go quickly.

My advise for Panama:

Do not buy expensive properties, they are impossible to sell, you will only lose your money

Do not hire local companies to do the work, they will rip you off, use cheap materials, steal your money and delay the work

Don't buy unfinished projects or constructions because they might never get finished
Inspect and control all the work you do and hire only people from other countries

Do not do any business with Panamanians - work only with foreigners

Do not pay the prices they usually tell you because they are trying to rip you off

Protect your house, your car your family  because there are a lot of criminals even in areas where you don't expect them

Lawyers will rip you off and give you bad advice, they don't even know the law, its better to consult more lawyers if money is involved

Do not trust any of the locals as they will mostly lie to you and try to rip you off

Plan to lose a lot of money especially when you do business here, because of permits, change in laws, etc... if your lawyer does a mistake you will pay the fault

You will pay a lot of money for bad service or no service at all, you will always end up paying

If you need help there is none, people just try to rip you off and telling you lies

If you have an issue with something instead of helping they will give you more problems, delay and steal your money

People are not responsible, all is your fault, if they are destroying your car or property they will likely not pay for it, its better avoid working with the locals in the first place

You need to do everything yourself in Panama to avoid problems and money loss and save time.

Hi guys and thank you for your advices ...

... Tecnorado ... waw i plan to come in Panama and buy the flight tickets soon you make me scary lol
Do you have "positive" advices about Panama ?

Actually when you come here with a lot of money or only as a tourist it may be nice. But even if as a tourist i personally would not go to panama.
If you have ever been to any Asian or African countries there is this kind of atmosphere its different from Europe more relaxing interesting culture etc...
Panama lacks this atmosphere completely, no culture, no nice food to try, the whole country is based on how to rip strangers off, its just a big shopping center, people are running from one shop to another, traffic, noise, heat, slowness. No natural or relaxing atmosphere at all. The whole place is fake and artificial. 

The only positive side i can say so far is the beach, because in other 3rd world countries the beaches are full of trash or full of people. In panama you can sometimes walk the whole beach without seeing anyone.

Oh right, we use to live in Thailand for a year island are diferents from BKK but you totaly right atmosphere is relaxing, people are honest around the capital etc
And around Panama city (Boquete,David ect) the life is better ? Business to do, relaxing atmosphere less expensive stuffs ?

The more far you get from the capital city the more increases the quality of life. In the villages and outside in the streets the vegetables and fruits are more cheap then in the cities. People are also sometimes more nice but still all they want is your money.
Sometimes you can also find cheaper labor, but the problem is once they see a stranger they start increasing prices which is normal in other poor countries as well but in panama they like to increase like 3-5 times more of the normal price which is just not fair.
Also i would not recommend panama for business, unless luxury shops, restaurants, real estate and maybe tourism. Everything else is lost money. And you need to be in a good location too. I recently see a lot of business collapsing so you should be careful. You can easily invest $200 000 dollar in panama and not make a single cent profit.

Ok thank you very much for your answer who help us a lot, we keep going to take infos, thinking about CR, Mexico or Coumbia ... Don't know yet.

Anyway thank you ! and i wish you good luck for your business

We live in David and are extremely happy. The locals treat us wonderfully and we rarely get "gringo priced". Of course it helps to speak the language and know what things are supposed to cost. We also rent and are retired, no business ventures. Your experience will be your own and may or may not be anything like the experience of someone else so do your own homework and make your own decisions.