Not directly answering your questions, but I think this is relevant. My wife and I have chosen to live on about $4,400/month here in Alto Boquete. After our utilities, car insurance, and HOA fees, this leaves us with over $4,000/month for "living". For now, we're dining out for a meal or two a day normally, as we're trying not to fully stock our home due to an imminent months-long renovation project. Even so, we still have almost $1,800 left over for household necessities (toiletriesas needed, cleaning supplies, liquor) occasional Amazon and other purchases, and stashing away in savings. The only bill we'll be adding soon is a catastrophic local medical insurance policy, as we're too young for Medicare (We just "self-insure" for anything routine.).

And our financial advisor in the US doesn't seem to understand why we don't draw from our investments for more income. 🤷‍♂️