Are You Living in Your Ideal Location? (relocate, states, coverage)
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hee/hee, not enough coffee yet...THEIR husbands, lol. No desire to move to CA for a variety of reasons. We left in 1993 and a lot has changed.
We didn't escape until 2009 - our careers demanded our presence there - but we're both natives and you're absolutely right, a lot really has changed. No desire to move back for us either even though that's where the bulk of our children and grandchildren live.
Anyone contemplating a move into FL needs to be aware of the insurance challenges there for homes. No income tax but stiff property taxes and then again the insurance.
Anyone contemplating a move into FL needs to be aware of the insurance challenges there for homes. No income tax but stiff property taxes and then again the insurance.
True, and the recent flood insurance changes/requirements. I've been reading up lately, and I don't think it is within our financial reach.
36 degrees will be our high today, and we got a dusting of snow last night. Tomorrow will be sunny and 45. When the sun shines and it's above 32 it always seems nice. I'm from the SF bay area, and will never go back. California is great, but too many people. Here people still hold a door open, and we have a great American culture still. My AC runs less than 10 days a year, and insects are dead by October. I have no desire for a hot climate at all.
Depends on the definition of ideal. If "ideal" means it has all the truly important items on my wish list, as well as the highest number of secondary items, then yes we just moved to the ideal city for us. And now that we've moved here, our intention is to stay.
For a couple of years I actively investigated potential retirement destinations/locations, if I chose to leave Chicago when I retire. There are so many places I know would make me happy. But for about the past 6 months my thinking has changed about retirement living. With any luck, I'll be able to retire at 66 ... in less than 2 years.
Chicago is my 'home town' so I know and understand it like the back of my hand. Though most of my relatives live in Canada or elsewhere in the USA, two of those I'm closest to live here in the Chicago area. I have family-like friends here, as well. And as I age I think of health care professionals/institutions which have served me fantastically and I live in a place where there may be more high-quality professionals/institutions than in any comparable size community. The access to quality care, easily ... has, understandably, moved its way up the list of important considerations for retirement. The four seasons of climate/weather are attractive to me, still, and if I tire of being here in the Winter months I can always rent a place in a warmer/dryer climate several months yearly. So when I think of places which I might like to retire to ... staying put in Chicago rises to the top of the list of possibilities.
But I'm an adventurous soul. I do a fair amount of international travel for pleasure. And I'd like to explore some more after I retire. I've thought about keeping a smaller apartment here in Chicago, maybe subletting it for a year at a time while I travel/live in a foreign country for a year ... every other year or so. I've also actively investigated purchasing a motorhome or travel trailer with which I could travel across the USA, Canada and Mexico ... staying put, say, one Winter in Florida, another in California or Arizona, one in Mexico and then, maybe, summers with a month stay in each place before moving on. When my health deteriorates or I tire of the moving about ... I would sell the MH or TT. I could spend 6 months on the road, 6 months at home. Whatever.
But I still continue to investigate brick and mortar retirement housing in Florida and Arizona as possibilities. I've always been like this ... developing a "Plan A", "Plan B," etc.
I've turned these things over and over in my mind. Some friends say I give too much thought to things, and that I just ought to toss the dart at a map on the wall and head for whichever name the dart strikes. Doing that works for some people. But not for me. I know, though, that I could make any situation work-out ... as long as a minimal number of things on my "must" list are met.
Prior to retirement, I don't think I ever thought about an ideal place to retire. We simply wanted to return to our native state of Texas but certainly not to the increasingly crowded eastern side of the State where I grew up. My wife and I wanted a place that we felt was not likely to change much until we moved on. In order to do that, we knew the place had to be one that most Americans, and even most Texans, thought little of. Luckily my wife and I both had very fond memories of youthful times on the seldom-discussed, tornado-ridden, windy and dusty, sparsely populated and wide horizon-ed Texas South High Plains.
Our small South Plains farm is payed off, the cost of living here is some of the lowest in the country and the few people that are out here are very friendly. Perhaps we did find an ideal retirement location, at least for us. Then again, both my wife and I believe an old song we used to sing at our church as teenagers many years ago. It went: "This world is not my own; I'm just a passing through."
For a couple of years I actively investigated potential retirement destinations/locations, if I chose to leave Chicago when I retire. There are so many places I know would make me happy. But for about the past 6 months my thinking has changed about retirement living. With any luck, I'll be able to retire at 66 ... in less than 2 years.
Chicago is my 'home town' so I know and understand it like the back of my hand. Though most of my relatives live in Canada or elsewhere in the USA, two of those I'm closest to live here in the Chicago area. I have family-like friends here, as well. And as I age I think of health care professionals/institutions which have served me fantastically and I live in a place where there may be more high-quality professionals/institutions than in any comparable size community. The access to quality care, easily ... has, understandably, moved its way up the list of important considerations for retirement. The four seasons of climate/weather are attractive to me, still, and if I tire of being here in the Winter months I can always rent a place in a warmer/dryer climate several months yearly. So when I think of places which I might like to retire to ... staying put in Chicago rises to the top of the list of possibilities.
But I'm an adventurous soul. I do a fair amount of international travel for pleasure. And I'd like to explore some more after I retire. I've thought about keeping a smaller apartment here in Chicago, maybe subletting it for a year at a time while I travel/live in a foreign country for a year ... every other year or so. I've also actively investigated purchasing a motorhome or travel trailer with which I could travel across the USA, Canada and Mexico ... staying put, say, one Winter in Florida, another in California or Arizona, one in Mexico and then, maybe, summers with a month stay in each place before moving on. When my health deteriorates or I tire of the moving about ... I would sell the MH or TT. I could spend 6 months on the road, 6 months at home. Whatever.
But I still continue to investigate brick and mortar retirement housing in Florida and Arizona as possibilities. I've always been like this ... developing a "Plan A", "Plan B," etc.
I've turned these things over and over in my mind. Some friends say I give too much thought to things, and that I just ought to toss the dart at a map on the wall and head for whichever name the dart strikes. Doing that works for some people. But not for me. I know, though, that I could make any situation work-out ... as long as a minimal number of things on my "must" list are met.
Ha! I get accused of "thinking too much" or "overthinking". It's what I do. I've made some poor decisions along the way, and those have been the result of acting too fast and NOT thinking things through. A relocation after retirement was the biggie. So, I sit down, mull things over. I mull until I'm ready to act. Then, I talk it over with my dog and get his opinion. He has things together really well. He has free healthcare, plenty of free food, warm place in the winter, cool in the summer, annual physical which is free, wears no clothing, has free 'pee-mail'. The works. I figure if the dog is bright enough to have it all, his opinion is worth listening to. I recommend it.
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