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what's a good state or city to make your money last for retirement? I am guessing no income tax state? or low tax state? any suggestion on which state/city? thanks
I am going cRaZy trying to figure out where to move in 3-4 years when I will take early retirement from teaching (I will be 55 then). Help / ideas greatly appreciated!
I guess it is reasonable to expect I should relocate in the USA, but I would also consider living outside the USA (although the dollar tanking against the euro does not help).
The fudge factor in all this is my mother who is 80 and recently diagnosed with Alzheimers disease; she was moved into assisted living last October, and currently lives in southern MN (I am 5 hrs away in northern MN).
I am so sick of living here in northern Duluth MN USA, it is lousy with snow and cold Nov-April, that is 50% of the year. I have also spent my entire life in the midwest (Iowa, Minnesota), so I believe I would like to move and live near or on the ocean--although I know cost will be a factor in that (I do not need to have beachfront, but to be close to the beach would be nice, even close driving distance). I also want to live south of Minnesota lattitude, I am so sick of snow and cold. I should have about $1.2M in savings plus another $2500/month in teacher retirement; I am frugal and live in a small simple house, I do not need much, I am single and I would be comfortable renting a small home or apt. My enjoyment comes from reading philosophy at a coffee shop, walking, photography, art/painting.
Any help, thoughts, ideas welcome in helping me brainstorm where I might move to in 3-4 years. ~Randall
Let your activities be your guide. Where do you like to walk - downtown streets, trails/walking paths, the mall, beach, etc.? Do you like to look at art or do you want to take art classes or both? You can read philosophy in your living room/coffee shop but do you want to discuss it with a group? What do you like to photograph?
You know, if you like nature photography, for example, you probably wouldn't want to live in a big city (too hard to get out of on a regular/spur of the moment basis). If you like photographing city landscapes, you'd probably want to be in or live near a big one. You might want to see if potential locations have a camera club (like my town) nearby. If you like to walk on paved sidewalks, you might rule out rural towns. If you like to walk in the mall, a town without one should be ruled out. If you like walking on trails, make sure the town has them. If you want to take painting classes look for a town with an art center and/or with a retiree program that has art classes unless you don't mind sitting in on a college class with 18/19 year olds. If you want to look at paintings, a place with art shops and an art museum nearby might be a good choice. If you want to discuss philosophy, look for a philosophy book group or look for a retiree program that offers philosophy classes.
You won't be happy in retirement if you have to compromise on the activities that make you happy so research on the things that make you happy and then rank them on other factors like weather and affordability, for example. After you have your list, you might want to read the town newspapers, on regular basis, or subscribe. Look at the people in photos, read about the town events - do they look and sound like your kind of people? You know, if you go to festivals in jeans and sneakers are they all dressed like they just came from the country club (and vice versa)?
You should rule out as many places that are obviously the wrong fit for you before you visit. When you visit, check out the things things that you do regularly and that you enjoy doing fairly regularly and skip the tourist stuff. The town should have what you like (think stores, supermarkets, restaurants) in the quality, variety and quantity that would make you happy.
San Francisco seems like a perfect fit for you but the bay area is extremley expensive. It's hard to combine your love of intellectual pursuits and warm weather because no offense but places like Miami and Los Angeles tend to attract materialistic people who could care less about reading philosophy or photography.
Some cities I'd suggest are Austin, Princeton NJ, San Antonio, or maybe Athens, GA. I know they are a hodge podge of cities but all unique and have a few of the qualties you mentioned in your post.
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~Randall
