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Georgia doesn't tax SS and if you are under 65 will not tax up to 35,000 from pensions,401 etc. once you turn 65 they won't tax up to 65,000 of that type of income.
Wow this is an interesting thought instead of the typical Florida retirement. Isn't hellishly hot in summer better than hellishly hot year round in Florida?
All this tax change happened in 2010 to help attract more retirees away from Florida. You couldn't pay me to live in Florida.
We live in n.C. now but when we lived in Atlanta for 30 years we had a second home/income property at St. Simons. We loved it there. Not honky tonk like some coastal communities. It surely gets hot and sticky but when the beach right there it is pleasant. Our home was right on the beach just steps away from the ocean. It was expensive but brought us in lots of money when we weren't using it and was terrific for family vacations.
If we were to move again I think we'd try St. Simons again.
Just 75 miles (1 hr 15 minutes) north of Marietta, Georgia which is a good subberb of Atlanta. Good doctors and hospitals yet Blue Ridge is very much in the mountains.
Low crime rate and a small town with tons of things to do even rafting and white water rafting. No, it isn't the Colorado River but it's a lot of fun.
Lots and lots to see!
Real estate is reasonable, tax rates are very low and there appears to be something for everyone.
Wife and I have rented a cabin in the area and it's a great get a way area.
Listed for $96,000 you could afford a second home for next to nothing. And yes, just the wife and I it would fit us very well.
At night I can sit on the porch and watch stars for hours with the night sounds in the background. What I would like to do is get a condo near the grandchildren and have a place like this to get away and hide once in a while.
If you want to spend a little more you can get a lot for under $200k. Very reasonable and easy to get to.
Real estate is reasonable, tax rates are very low and there appears to be something for everyone.
Wife and I have rented a cabin in the area and it's a great get a way area.
Listed for $96,000 you could afford a second home for next to nothing. And yes, just the wife and I it would fit us very well.
At night I can sit on the porch and watch stars for hours with the night sounds in the background. What I would like to do is get a condo near the grandchildren and have a place like this to get away and hide once in a while.
This idea sounds splendid. Fall/winter in Georgia and summer in....?
This idea sounds splendid. Fall/winter in Georgia and summer in....?
Northern Ohio.
It would be 10 years ago this coming December 23rd when I decided I had enough of the cold and was going to move south.
The move cost me a lot in terms of money but I figure today it saved my life.
I was self employed with an excellent income, excellent for Ohio at the time, with six employees so it wasn't as easy a decision as quitting a job and moving.
On December 23rd I had a project meeting 150 miles away in Ashtabula that sits on Lake Erie. Left home at 4:00 AM halfway there it started to snow.
To you that never lived around a Great Lake do you know what it is like to go 40 straight days without seeing a ray of sunshine? Depression!
Left Ashtabula for home around 2:00 in the afternoon and I-90 between Ashtabula and Cleveland was a mess. Over an inch of black ice on the road, 15 degrees outside with a 30 mph wind coming off Lake Erie. Cars were in the ditch every couple hundred yards, on the radio the Highway Patrol was talking about closing the Interstate at at 5 mph I was losing control in my F150 pickup. I stopped a few times and when I was at a dead stop the truck would slip sideways towards the ditch and I was stopped!
It took me 5 hours to cover 30 miles.
I have always been a family man and here I was wondering if I would get home in time for Christmas eve.
I had it, I had enough.
I called my wife, told her we were moving and I was going to get out of that snow belt if it bankrupted me. I could go off on a tangent her and tell you how much I hate snow, ice and cold in a million words. I will die a happy man if I live the rest of my life never seeing another snowflake.
My wife has always been supportive so we put the house on the market (thank God it was before the crash and sold in one day) so we rented as I closed the business. Took seven months to do that and while it didn't bankrupt me it cost me a lot of money. I figure it cost me between $190 and $210k and to me that was a lot of money but I didn't care. I was leaving, I was never going to be in the cold again.
So we moved to far south Georgia just north of the Florida line. I can be in Florida in 20 minutes.
Purchased a much smaller house, less than half the size we had in Ohio, and while the neighborhood isn't as "nice" we got good people as neighbors.
Pay wise I took a 30% cut but living here is a lot less expensive than where we were in Ohio. Here our property tax is $100/month (that is not a typo) while in Ohio I was paying $500. The library was nicer in Ohio but I was paying $400/month for it too.
So now I have been here for over 9 years and not once have I regretted my decision to move. It wasn't until I got established her that I learned just how unhappy I was up there.
Money does not buy happiness.
If you offered me a job in Ohio paying a million a year I would turn you down and I ain't kidding. I would rather live in a trailer park in Georgia than a mansion in Ohio over the winter. And no, I don't live in a trailer park.
Just thinking about cold, ice and snow makes me feel like I want to cry. I am convinced there is nobody, as in nobody, on CD that hates snow and ice more than I do. Now if I told you how I really felt about cold, ice and snow the mods would ban me.
So I will stay here. Blue Ridge I would love but it's 300 miles north of where I am and it snows/gets cold in winter. Been there, done that.
What I would like to do is purchase a small condo in Ohio to be closer to the kids and grand children. Just a small two bedroom/two bath unit in a safe and clean complex without drama. Leave Georgia and go to Ohio about May 10th then turn around and come on just before Halloween.
Make a mad dash for Christmas spending three or four days before heading south again for the rest of the winter.
Where we are it's about a 13 hour drive but if we moved to Blue Ridge it would be an 8 hour drive. That 5 hours is a lot. Darn the snow!
But moving south saved my life. I honestly believe that if I hadn't I wouldn't be with you all now.
Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
2,308 posts, read 4,123,568 times
Reputation: 5025
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlightAttendant
We recently spent some time in coastal GA (St Simon's, Brunswick, St Mary's area). We loved the place and we got kind of excited about the prospect of spending at least part of the year there after retirement. That is still some years off, but we are looking for an area that is both beautiful and affordable, but that has lots of opportunity for year round outdoor fun.
Do any of you have experience living there during the off season (non tourist-y) months? How is the weather in winter, do hurricaines cause problems there, is it an area that has access to some decent medical centers, etc? We would appreciate some insight from people who have experience here.
.......I spent several months (Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb & Mar & part of April) during the winter season of 2008/2009 on St. Simons Island, & Jekyll Island. Being recently widowed in 2005 after 51 yrs of marriage, I decided to try that part of the southern U.S. in lieu of going back to AZ, as I had done the two previous winter seasons. I rented a privately owned home on both island locations and had a fantastic winter season...........Montana winters can get a little depressing, AZ is fine but "I'm not a lover of "desert-type geography". I found Saint Simons Island to be "right-up-my alley" and I really enjoyed the "vacation-rental" which was about 7 blocks from the "Village". What also impressed me, was the "friendly", "helpful" attitude of the "locals". The first week I was there on Saint Simons, I met a local gentleman who noticed that I had my Brittany (Quail-hunting Dog) with me in his travel crate in the SUV. Since one of my intentions was to do a fair amount of Quail Hunting during my stay in the area and possibly try and also do some hunting in north Florida, I asked him if he could possibly "steer-me-in-the-right-direction".
It turned out he was on the Board-of-Directors of a local "Sportsman, Hunting & Shooting Club" located approx 40 miles N/W of Saint Simons. I asked about possibly getting a 6 month Membership. His response was totally unexpected:...QUOTE:.. "Oh don't worry about that, I'll have my secretary issue you a Complementary (6) month All Inclusive Senior Membership ........at no charge"......(includes: Quail Hunting; Trap Shooting; Skeet Shooting and admittance to their Dining Facilities, Lounge and Bar!)
To sum up my feelings about the prople and the area in general,........."If I were 25 years younger, I would move in a "heart-beat".
...(SIDE BAR NOTE), as related to your career:
For 35 of my 40 years I flew Commercial, Private and Bush Planes to various Cities (home offices) and field job site locations (Mines & Mills producing: Gold, Silver, Copper, Uraninum, Cobalt & Coal). My very first Commercial Flight was out of 'old Midway in Chgo, in the spring of 1955 on a Capital Airlines, 42 seat Vickers Vicount 4 engine TurboProp to Toronto, then on to Timmins via Air Canada, then on to the job site in a Norseman single engine Bush Plane.
Loved my job....met some great air line people during the course of my many, many flights.
Wow this is an interesting thought instead of the typical Florida retirement. Isn't hellishly hot in summer better than hellishly hot year round in Florida?
Having spent a lot of time in both states growing up, I would have to say no, it really isn't. Georgia gets more hot days because there is less ocean effect and more calm days. Sarasota FL has only hit 100 degrees once since they started keeping records. When I lived in Atlanta GA one summer (around 1980, I think, give or take a couple of years) we had 42 straight days of 100 or more during a single summer. In FL, you can draw a line from about Cocoa Beach to Tampa and below that the average high in the coldest months is above 70; above it they do have some semblance of seasons. But I don't consider the 70s "hellishly hot" so I don't know where you really find that year around. Anyway, I would rate the summers as being more brutal in GA if you don't like heat. But if you want a little bit of winter and a lot of fall color, GA has that and FL really doesn't.
This is a very interesting thread. I wasn't going to read it at first but then thought "why not?"
Currently living in the Syracuse, NY area I have been fixated on moving to NC, the Winston-Salem area in particular. Just got back from a week in W-S checking out apartments, etc. My lease here is out Aug. 31 this year. So starting to feel the squeeze.
Reading comments regarding Blue Ridge has spurred me into checking it out. I'm on a fixed retirement income and looking to save anywhere I can, but I still want nice and won't settle for less.
So thanks to all who wrote about GA and the areas you have visited and know about.
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......(includes: Quail Hunting; Trap Shooting; Skeet Shooting and admittance to their Dining Facilities, Lounge and Bar!)
