The Chicago Boom (Manhattan: construction, quality of life, living in)

[eureka1]

Agree it' s not the usual thing but my idea of retirement includes spending the first few years after I quit working doing a careful investigation of places where I may want to settle permanently. Why, in Chicago that might take me a year, or two or three..

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

There's actually a growing trend of folks retiring in major urban areas. Easy access to entertainment, restaurants, art, medical facilities (which is certainly not a big deal to new retirees, but can matter down the road), etc. You don't need to drive. In addition, major airports make big cities generally easy to get to and from.

I can certainly see a retired person of some means getting a spot in the Gold Coast or South Loop. (and maybe a spot in Florida or Arizona or someplace for the really cold months...)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan

There's actually a growing trend of folks retiring in major urban areas. Easy access to entertainment, restaurants, art, medical facilities (which is certainly not a big deal to new retirees, but can matter down the road), etc. You don't need to drive. In addition, major airports make big cities generally easy to get to and from.

I can certainly see a retired person of some means getting a spot in the Gold Coast or South Loop. (and maybe a spot in Florida or Arizona or someplace for the really cold months...)

I don't think it's the urban aspect that puzzles people; that's easy enough to understand (quick access to all the nightlife you now have time for and can afford; don't have to worry about quality of schools with no kids, don't want to put up with or are just getting too old for the yardwork and upkeep of a suburban home, etc.). I think what has people puzzled is the idea of retiring to a place where you have to spend 4 to 5 months out of the year indoors. Chicago seems like the kind of place where retirees buy a small "second condo" for extended visits rather than as a primary base of operations.

[Lookout Kid]

I don't know where this idea comes from that you have to retire in warm weather... I know many elderly people who had no desire to do so. And most of the warm weather cities in the U.S. don't hold a candle to New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, or San Francisco. I guess San Francisco is ALMOST a warm weather city (or at least lukewarm), but it's just too expensive to move to late in life. I want to stay around my family!

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Drover

I think what has people puzzled is the idea of retiring to a place where you have to spend 4 to 5 months out of the year indoors.

I dont see how its any different when people in the south hermetically seal themselves into an air conditioned house for the entire summer. Personally, I find extreme heat much less tolerable than cold.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I want to stay around my family!

There was an article in the Trib not too long ago about retirees who relocated to AZ or FL, but are now returning to the midwest where they grew up. Main reason? Loneliness and being away from family (besides the fact, when you get sick whos there to care for you when you're halfway across the country?). Weather aint everything in life, and I think people here put way too much emphasis on it.

[downtown1]

I think your statement has some weight. Check this out

Best Places to Retire 2007 - Money Magazine

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I don't know where this idea comes from that you have to retire in warm weather... I know many elderly people who had no desire to do so. And most of the warm weather cities in the U.S. don't hold a candle to New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, or San Francisco. I guess San Francisco is ALMOST a warm weather city (or at least lukewarm), but it's just too expensive to move to late in life. I want to stay around my family!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by via chicago

I dont see how its any different when people in the south hermetically seal themselves into an air conditioned house for the entire summer. Personally, I find extreme heat much less tolerable than cold.

You'll change your mind as you get older and your circulation is less rigorous. Old people didn't flock to Florida for nothing.

[Lookout Kid]

Sorry Drover, I don't think so. Almost all of my family retires in the midwest, and they seem quite happy. One wealthier family member retired to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which has almost become a retirement community--and is certainly not a bastion of warm weather! None of the rest of us have the means to do so, but I would love to if I could.

[aragx6]

I figure the same people who like warm weather as young folks will be the same ones who like it when they're older. A lot of people stay in cold places when they are young for opportunities, spouses and kids but when they retire it's warm weather all the way. Other people naturally like this climate- at every stage of their life. It's so subjective, and people's tolerance levels vary so much.

My dad was stationed in Alaska when he was in the army and as a kid I'm not sure I ever saw him wear anything thicker than a sweater outside. He told me it was so cold there that you could pour piping hot coffee out of a cup and by the time it hit the ground it would be frozen. More than once out in the middle of nowhere where he was stationed it got down under 70 below - not including wind chill! After that I'm not sure anything you experience in the midwest can seem that bad.