A Pretty place to live in retirement (beach, weather, moving)
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Watching a TV show the other day it hit me. I've been putting some of my priorities in the wrong order. I put a high priority on things like low taxes, crime, cost of living, and weather, just like lots of you. But it hit me the other day that I really need someplace with pretty scenery that I really like. So priorities changed.
How about you all. How much is pretty scenery, like mountains or green forests. Everyone on TV seems to want a ocean view from their living room, but that's pretty expensive and definitely out of my price range. Plus, I don't really care for the beach all that much.
Anyone else decide to ignore "common sense" factors and just go for what "I want?"
I'm with you but it also needs to meet other criteria. For example, if a place is gorgeous pretty but riddled with crime, are you still going to be happy there wondering when your house will be broken into?
Pretty is certainly high on the list though.
I'm with you too in that I plan to retire on Maui and the cost of living is high there. My biggest concern isn't tax or cost of living it's the fact that moving there will be like the culmination of so much work I've done to get back into life when it seemed, years ago, that I might not make it.
We all have our personal priorities on what makes a place desirable. For us, it's the beach. We moved to a low COL area just miles from the beach. We walk on the beach several times a week. I need a place that stays green all year. I hated winters in the north when everything was bare and gray for months. We can tolerate heat much more than the cold. Thankfully we are very compatible on our needs!!
Watching a TV show the other day it hit me. I've been putting some of my priorities in the wrong order. I put a high priority on things like low taxes, crime, cost of living, and weather, just like lots of you. But it hit me the other day that I really need someplace with pretty scenery that I really like. So priorities changed.
How about you all. How much is pretty scenery, like mountains or green forests. Everyone on TV seems to want a ocean view from their living room, but that's pretty expensive and definitely out of my price range. Plus, I don't really care for the beach all that much.
Anyone else decide to ignore "common sense" factors and just go for what "I want?"
I definitely put a higher priority on cost of living, livability, close to family is nice. I've lived in "very picturesque and scenic" places before and quite frankly, after a week, they are just like any other place for the most part.
Of course, if all thing are completely equal, take the scenic place. I'm fine just using my 30k I've saved by retiring where I do and traveling much more and spending the colder weather, well, wherever I want!
I'm with you too in that I plan to retire on Maui and the cost of living is high there. My biggest concern isn't tax or cost of living it's the fact that moving there will be like the culmination of so much work I've done to get back into life when it seemed, years ago, that I might not make it.
It's a dream come true.
It's great that we all have different likes! I'd get so sick of Maui after about a week of island fever that I'd go crazy!!!
After five years I still find peace and contentment living in a modest home with an immodestly lovely view of Lake Michigan. The scenery was the priority. But I couldn't know until moving here whether looking at the lake would continue to be my heart's ease day after day, year after year. Could have been, a couple years in, I'd wake up one day and say, where are the symphony concerts, the Thai restaurants, the 24 hour fitness centers? It didn't happen, but heck, might still happen in another ten years. If you think beautiful surroundings are necessary for you, go for it. If it becomes no longer a priority several years later, perhaps you could try to keep your options open to make another change.
For me, it has to be somewhere with four distinct seasons and lots of trees. I really miss the wonderful colors of trees in autumn, laying in a hammock during the summer in the shade, the look of the first snow of the winter on the ground and I loved driving to work in the spring and seeing the dogwoods looking like they were clouds floating in the woods along side the road. And I do not want flat land; it's got to have some roll to it. If I could afford to be on a small lake, that would be icing in the cake.
Something similar to the Central NY farm area where I spent the first years of my life, minus those cold long winters. I think it was about 3 or 4 years ago my one aunt who still lives there said they had over 130 inches of snow total for the winter. No way would I want to deal with 11 feet of snow, no matter how pretty it looks when it first comes down.
I've lived in "very picturesque and scenic" places before and quite frankly, after a week, they are just like any other place for the most part..............I'd get so sick of Maui after about a week of island fever that I'd go crazy!!!
wow, Burkmere. There are things in life that are more important than money. Some of us have a deep connection to our environment. For me it's my love of the whales, the turtles, the fish and coral reef. I feel very blessed to have been given a second chance in life. Maybe you missed that in my post, but I can tell you for sure that I'll be happy there.
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