Retirees and near retirees...

[disneychrista]

I have no plans to move after retirement. I will continue he to make changes to my current home to make it more “old age” friendly.

 

[China Expat]

We are leaving Los Angles and heading to Sonoma, wine country. One more year.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

With the cost of living and Secure Act RMD age changes, my ideas on ideal retirement age keep shifting. My husband, on the other hand, is still pretty set on a specific age. Either way, while we're much closer than we once were, we're still both over a decade away (at least). That being said, we've started to discuss retirement locations as well as approaches used by our parents that have helped form some of our current opinions.

We don't want a 55+ golf community like his dad, we don't want to stay put in this area like his mom, we don't want to go to the northeast where I grew up, and while my parents are in Florida...they got there over 30 years ago due to career moves and gradually moved south as my dad's industry changed- before retirement. My dad loves saltwater fishing and they are avid cruisers (as well as Disney fans), so Florida fits them well. While FL has some pretty spots and offers a lot of things to do and see, it's very much a place we like to visit but not reside. We'd like to go to a different state (currently in Texas) and we'd like something that suits our travel preferences (mountains and national parks), but we want to see where our kids wind up...assuming they will still want to be around us. Denver, Phoenix, and Seattle areas have all been in the discussion mix.

 

[disney4us2002]

We chose to move south because of the political climate that most of you commented you didn't want. To each their own. I could NOT wait to get out of Maryland. Our grown sons are scattered so we decided it would be best to find a place we love that they might enjoy visiting. We settled on the Outer Banks. NC is not as conservative as I would have liked but it was a compromise and much better than Maryland where basically 4-5 counties & Balto City run the state.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Yeah - snow is great the first day or two - but as it gets old quick.

I had family come from Australia and they had not seen snow since they were kids - and that was less than an inch.
So we got a few feet while there were here and for a day or two it was a treat - then they were sick of it.

Most important thing is parking - make sure you have enough parking. In the city, and even the suburbs people fight over parking - it can be very stressful to go out and not be sure you have a spot when you get home.

That's the point. When you have to go to work daily, have to pick up the kids from sports or band or other extra curricular activities daily, and have to go out and about daily, it gets old. But when you're retired and you don't have to go out all the time, you don't have to worry about parking and all that other stuff that makes the snow get old. All you have to worry about is

 

[robinb]

We chose to move south because of the political climate that most of you commented you didn't want. To each their own. I could NOT wait to get out of Maryland. Our grown sons are scattered so we decided it would be best to find a place we love that they might enjoy visiting. We settled on the Outer Banks. NC is not as conservative as I would have liked but it was a compromise and much better than Maryland where basically 4-5 counties & Balto City run the state.

I think it’s important to live around like-minded people if certain things are important to you. Politics, religion, activity level, etc. While I do have friends that differ from me on those aspects, I would personally find it difficult if the collective mind set of a place was so different and the entire pool of possible new friends didn’t match me in some way. It would be like living in a golf community and I don’t golf. I would miss out on so many opportunities to connect and socialize because I’m so different.

TLDR; You do you.

 

[tony67]

That's the point. When you have to go to work daily, have to pick up the kids from sports or band or other extra curricular activities daily, and have to go out and about daily, it gets old. But when you're retired and you don't have to go out all the time, you don't have to worry about parking and all that other stuff that makes the snow get old. All you have to worry about is

First I hope you do enjoy it and enjoy your retirement and it all goes well.

Having lived it - I hate it and would leave tomorrow I just need to find a place that works for us.

The one thing is until you live it you just don't know.
Florida sounds great - but until you live there for a summer you just don't know if its for you.
People move there and don't even know about the love bugs. They are the things of nightmares.
The first time I went to Disney we went to Nasa and the bugs were beyond anything I could ever imagine.
Using the wipers to clean off bugs like rain - just wow.

The blizzard a few years back was like 9 feet of snow total - you could not see around corners.
Again you have to live it.
You cant just stay in - by law you must clear the path in front of your house or you get a fine.
You have to go out and buy groceries eventually - so you need to clear your car off.
You can pay people for this - but its not so easy to do.

The retired teacher across the road cant find anyone - her last person quit a year or two ago and she cant find a replacement.
Neighbors, myself included, help her out and she always insists on compensating them fairly - money is not an issue - its finding people to do it. When I was a kid we walked around and did it for pocket money - its just not a thing anymore.

Even when you do that - the town comes along and blocks your driveway again and again when they plow.

I have not had to go into an office to work for years - even before the pandemic - still just going to the shop you can loose your spot. Ill just say in general parking rage is far worse than road rage so be sure to plan on parking spots.

One other thing about parking (I know I am obsessed with it) overnight street parking from November to March is usually Illegal in most towns. Never forgot the day I got a parking ticket in the same spot I parked in for well over 20 years. Didn't even know they had passed the ordinance. This was on a small one way street that rarely has a police presence and it was not even going to snow. I was able to get an exception and a sticker after the town came and investigated and I had to prove I had nowhere to park.
I still got tickets and had to deal with it at a town meeting every time.

Planning a flight somewhere is even risky - there is always the chance of getting snowed in - Ive had it happen more than once. Yeah can happen with hurricanes in Florida as well - I know. Thing is we can get hurricanes as well. Its rare but happens.

Even had a tornado in the last year or so that did some damage - nothing like you see elsewhere thankfully.
I remember years ago making fun of my mother calling us to say there might be a tornado and I was like no I think Godzilla is coming. If she was alive today she would be telling me I told you so.

Who knows the way things are going maybe Godzilla is next.

 

[tony67]

I think it’s important to live around like-minded people if certain things are important to you. Politics, religion, activity level, etc. While I do have friends that differ from me on those aspects, I would personally find it difficult if the collective mind set of a place was so different and the entire pool of possible new friends didn’t match me in some way. It would be like living in a golf community and I don’t golf. I would miss out on so many opportunities to connect and socialize because I’m so different.

TLDR; You do you.

I do agree - and there are like minded folks everywhere - you just have to find them - not always that easy as people try to hide it to not be ostracized.

Had a neighbor who just assumed for several reason that I was not on the same page as them. After five years we ran into each other in a pub and come to find out we agree on most things and now hang out every once and a while.

That said - some of my best friends have a totally different view and we have great discussions and lots more common ground then people would think. Just different perspectives on the same issue in many cases.

Unfortunately it does seem people don't even want that anymore - if you don't agree with them on everything you are the worst thing ever. Its very sad.

IMO the real issue is the 10 or 20 percent of extremists on both sides and they way they are portrayed in the media.

 

[barkley]

We are leaving Los Angles and heading to Sonoma, wine country. One more year.

nice change! funny thing is that it seems every week or so i read on facebook about someone i grew up with in that neck of the woods gearing up to retire and leave wine country. are you doing sonoma as in the city itself or one of the outlying communties in the county?

 

[disneyseniors]

Retired a few years now and still in the home we raised our kids - mostly because 95% of our family and extended family lives within 75 minutes of us. So the problem we have is if we decide to move far away, we'll be moving away from 95% of our family! And that's not what we want. Our current home isn't as important as being within reach of the family, and them within reach of us. At some point, we'll probably want something smaller with less lawn maintenance and snow removal requirements - but not yet!

This is us exactly, We have all of our kids/grandkids living close by and we all love it that way. We live in a very cold climate and I always say I wish we lived back down South. But the family means the most to us too, and we stay here to be with them If we want to get away from the cold, we go South or out West on vacations during the coldest time of year, and that works for us.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. Our cost of living is one of the highest in Canada. We pay 15% tax on pretty much everything, plus our federal government slapped us with a carbon tax between 14%-17%. Housing costs are through the roof, so even if we sold and tripled the price of what we paid for our home, we'd have to buy back in at the same rates for something not as good!

I am 46 and can retire on Dec 1, 2028 (the date is implanted in my brain). DH can retire at 55 so 1.5 years after me. We won't be ready financially while that young. Lots of good years left to earn a bunch of money to travel and save.

We'd love to move to somewhere warm like Florida, but I just can't see it happening. It will likely be a snowbird-type of lifestyle, which I am okay with too.

 

[tvguy]

Yeah - I just bought our two "retirement cars" but I doubt they will last as long as my 2005 Explorer - that I am still using - its only got 120k but issues. It is also expensive to insure and the tax is high on it. The new explorers are junk IMO.

.

LOL. The second car we retired was a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer. That's a Ford Explorer with Mercury name plates on it. My wife and I worked at TV stations that used Explorers and we routinely ran them 300,000 miles. As for the new Explorers, they are all the police around here use anymore and they run those at least 200,000 miles and those are hard miles. Far cry from when I flirted with a career in Law Enforcement and police departments retired cars at 70,000 miles and HOPED they still ran that long.
The other car we retired was a 1987 Suburban. Had it 31 years.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We nearly bought in Ocala Stone Creek last year (love the ambiance) just north of The Villages but changed our minds after five weeks in FL. The amount of traffic seems to have doubled in just a few years with an influx of people. Too busy for us.

Instead, we moved 25 miles north from southern/coastal NH to the lakes region and built a new home moving in less than two months ago. We spent a bit more but got much more house, a gorgeous mountain location surrounded by lakes, mountains and year round activities. The many 2-12+ million dollar lake/view homes in town offset the property taxes LOL. Utilities, taxes, homeowners and auto insurance are crazy low. We have plenty of room for our son and daughter in law and her family now. We cancelled our two trips this year due to our new build, but will be at WDW again for a trip or two next year.

Yes, we have snow but can deal with it and otherwise are living the dream. Happy planning!

 

[tony67]

NH to the lakes region

I do love it up there - spent many a summer there.
Weirs beach, Funspot (I still go up there once a year), the Common Man, the Tamarack good times.

A short drive north and there are some good things for younger children.
Used to enjoy Santa's Village at Christmas - but been a while - not sure if its as good as it was.
Same for Storyland.
Six Gun City was pretty good too - but that must be gone.

Still all that snow.

 

[maui22]

That's the point. When you have to go to work daily, have to pick up the kids from sports or band or other extra curricular activities daily, and have to go out and about daily, it gets old. But when you're retired and you don't have to go out all the time, you don't have to worry about parking and all that other stuff that makes the snow get old. All you have to worry about is

Love that movie.

 

[Skippy918]

My parents live in a 55+ large retirement community. They love it. They are always doing some activity or outing with their neighborhood groups. There’s several swimming pools in their hood too. The community arranges local field trips and long vacations. We’ll probably consider moving to that neighborhood once the kids are out of the house.

 

[goofyernmost]

Not the reason I moved here to North Carolina, but I was also looking to escape the cold. My youngest and her family, followed shortly after by my oldest and her family move here for job opportunities. I followed shortly after and have never regretted it. We have seasons in fact we are only a couple of days past prime foliage season here, but we have had very mild winters over the last 12 years that I have lived here but they can get into the 20's for a few days here in the Raleigh area. but it does stay in the 20's, 30's and 40's from mid-December to the end of March. Today it was 76 degrees here. I don't know where you currently live, but I moved from Vermont. In Raleigh it is a 2.5 hour drive to the smoky mtns. to the west and a 2.5 hour drive to the Atlantic ocean to the east.

I love the bigger cities (than I was used too) the things to do, the choices you have for restaurants. I was used to rural living (even in the urban areas) and I love the activity, the numbers and diversity of the people. All have been friendly and welcoming especially when I first moved here. It gets warm in the summer, but no worse then the summers I remember in Vermont, the warm just lasts a little longer. But virtually every place has central air conditioning. If I were to add the total amount of show fall here in the last 12 years, I don't think it would amount to 7 inches total. The year before I moved here the day after Christmas had a 10 inch snowfall and everything stopped except me. I was visiting my daughters for Christmas and I had millions of dollars worth of super highways all to myself. So, it can happen just not often and even that was melted away within 2 days.

The funny thing is that until my Daughters moved here, NC wasn't on my radar at all. Now I can't imagine living anyplace else. I even purchased a cemetery plot because I have no intention of leaving.

 

[jimmymc]

I'll answer for my parents. They've been in New Jersey for a long time and have family in North Carolina. They wanted a medium sized town with airport access and enjoy the beach, so they went with a golf community south of Wilmington.

 

[NYCgrrl]

DW & I should have <15 years to retirement. So not close, but getting there. Starting to think about WHERE to retire. I know I'm looking for someplace not subject to snow/ice (although the way things are going, that might be the entire US in 15 years.

So, what "sold" you on where you've retired/going to retire? Did you move? Did you stay? I know there are a LOT of factors, money, family, etc, but was there something for you that "sold" you on your location?

I bought land in Panama with an eye toward building for retirement. The pandemic stopped the house building and I ultimately decided to sell the lot mostly due to climate change. Went in on a development in Montenegro with a contractor friend again with an idea towards retirement (lovely winter weather locale) but he died and I lost interest. All of which leaves me at home and nothing wrong with that.

 

[ncc1701]

We are both retired and haven't moved . I can see us downsizing to something in area ( Philadelphia suburbs). DH retired just as Covid started and due to my Mom's health thinking of moving wasn't an option. My Mom died a few months ago but leaving the area isn't something we want . Both of us grew and have lived in the area our whole lives ( except for DH's college years). We are more likely to follow DH's Parents' example of spending January to mid-March in a more mild weather location.