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Two other books are not quite up to the first 3 in my opinion, but still worthwhile:
- "Retirement Places Rated" - David Savageau
- "Cities Ranked & Rated" - Bert Sperling
I personally really appreciate "Cities Ranked & Rated." It allows you to compare various cities on an item by item basis, i.e., cost of housing or living. It puts every city on an equal footing, as far as information goes.
I personally really appreciate "Cities Ranked & Rated." It allows you to compare various cities on an item by item basis, i.e., cost of housing or living. It puts every city on an equal footing, as far as information goes.
Yes, but what the data doesn't say is whether you'll like it there. All of the "cheap and weather" data isn't going to zero in on the location that will make you happy. That's the information relocating people seem to be hungry for and the magazines and books fail to address for a large segment of the retiring public.
How many times have you seen posts on City Data with people asking if they will fit in? Or how many times have you seen posts or know of people who were miserable after they moved because while their new house was affordable and they had a nice view they couldn't find things they wanted in the stores, they couldn't find the kind of restaurants they like, people who lived near them didn't share their interests so they were bored or unhappy, etc.?
Let's say you liked hunting and fishing, going to football games, riding your ATV. Your wife likes scrapbooking, fishing, singing in the church choir. You both enjoy going to "all you can eat" buffets, going to the movies, your two longtime family dogs and volunteering at the annual town fair. You help with the set-up. Your wife mans a booth. You're a fireman. Your wife is a nurse.
So, you are getting ready to retire and move because now that you both will no longer be tied to your jobs and your kids are grown and out of the house, you can move. You move to a highly touted retirement location that is also affordable, pretty and has nice weather and when you get there find that there is a big lake but there are no fishing clubs in town and fishing is restricted to a particular area of the lake, there are large wooded areas but hunting is looked down upon, the church has no choir, there are just as many rules and regulations pertaining to your dogs as there are to hunting and fishing and ATVs. There's a craft store but it has limited supplies of the items your wife needs for scrapbooking and there are no scrapbooking groups in town that she could join. There's an annual town fair but it is controlled by a business or an upper crusty group of people who hire people to do the set-up and booth work, your services not wanted/needed. There are a slew of restaurants but no buffets and the nearest bowling alley is 4 towns away. BUT, your house is affordable, the weather is nice, the cost of living is decent and it made some publication's or website's Top 10 List. Do you think you will be happy?
I'm just suggesting that if you want to be happy in retirement relocation, you need to put as much effort into researching your favorite activities and things you like to have, as you do into researching cheap, pretty and weather. The books and magazines are there for you on cost, beauty and weather but unless you are from the upper crust of society they're not going to give you much help with the things that will make you happy and most people, when they visit before moving, don't look into those things, either.
The best publication for finding out things about your potential new town is the local newspaper (online or subscribe) followed by the online yellow pages (what's in the town, how many of what's in the town and where you can call to ask specific questions).
The local newspaper will tell you a lot about the people in the town (do they sound like your kind of people from what they like to do/look like your kind of people in how they dress), local events/activities scheduled and reported on (are they the things you like to do, what clubs and organizations are in the town), town meetings (rules, regulations, issues of concern, town planning), the nature of the crime in the town not evident in the statistics. Read the local paper daily (or weekly if it's published weekly) before you make your decision if the town is right for you.
Yes, but what the data doesn't say is whether you'll like it there. All of the "cheap and weather" data isn't going to zero in on the location that will make you happy. That's the information relocating people seem to be hungry for and the magazines and books fail to address for a large segment of the retiring public.
The local newspaper will tell you a lot about the people in the town (do they sound like your kind of people from what they like to do/look like your kind of people in how they dress), local events/activities scheduled and reported on (are they the things you like to do, what clubs and organizations are in the town), town meetings (rules, regulations, issues of concern, town planning), the nature of the crime in the town not evident in the statistics. Read the local paper daily (or weekly if it's published weekly) before you make your decision if the town is right for you.
LauraC,
I agree with most of what you said. However, I don't think even the newspaper will give us the total picture. I've ordered the newspaper for 2 different cities for 2 different moves. I still didn't have the whole picture.
We need to go to our selected location and rent for a month or so and really see how the day-to-day life is. And that's difficult and expensive. But it's probably worth it. We had been to Atlanta many times to visit our daughter here and thought we'd really like it, especially being near the grandchildren. Well, we moved here 4-1/2 yrs. ago and we don't like it at all and so made a bad decision. A lot of relocating is subjective, as you said. It's really hard to make new good friends in a new location--and that's very important to most people. There is no way to quantify how easy or hard that will be in a new location. It's a roll of the dice, sadly. I don't really know what the answer is. Maybe if you move to a place where you already have friends who can give you the lowdown and greet you warmly when you arrive, then it would work out.
LauraC,
I agree with most of what you said. However, I don't think even the newspaper will give us the total picture. I've ordered the newspaper for 2 different cities for 2 different moves. I still didn't have the whole picture.
We need to go to our selected location and rent for a month or so and really see how the day-to-day life is. And that's difficult and expensive. But it's probably worth it. We had been to Atlanta many times to visit our daughter here and thought we'd really like it, especially being near the grandchildren. Well, we moved here 4-1/2 yrs. ago and we don't like it at all and so made a bad decision. A lot of relocating is subjective, as you said. It's really hard to make new good friends in a new location--and that's very important to most people. There is no way to quantify how easy or hard that will be in a new location. It's a roll of the dice, sadly. I don't really know what the answer is. Maybe if you move to a place where you already have friends who can give you the lowdown and greet you warmly when you arrive, then it would work out.
I have to say that big city newspapers are not the ones I had in mind. I was thinking smaller. My local newspapers (we have a daily and a weekly) put the national news on the back pages.
For example, yesterday's daily paper had stories (not just one or two sentence mentions) on the following: county office moves, teen battle of the bands, Spring planting, the county budget, a college alumni gathering, a fireman chili supper, an astronomy club meeting, a fabulous 50s party, a free spring concert, a fishing tournament, local crime, a toy run benefit, county college students and Habitat for Humanity spring breaks, Fire Safety Day with younger kids, Saturday's Earth Day events/speakers/schedule, a library book sale, local team sports, a middle school play, a photography show, the last community band indoor concert of the season, the Art Center's upcoming classes and the new books at the library. Photos go with most of the event or feature stories so you can see if the people who participate are people like you and your family. If the event is in the future, there is a contact telephone number with the story. Our regular columnists deal with town/county history, religion and even one of the police officers has a column. We very frequently have news stories on student/teacher/school accomplishments/awards/honors. One of the papers has a weekly segment that deals with events/happenings/issues that would interest outdoorsmen. My town has about 27,500 people living here and straddles two counties. The daily paper (5 days per week) is about 16 pages plus there's an additional supplement on different days of the week.
You would probably agree that if you read a local newspaper like this, in a few months you would have a good handle on the town and the people, their issues, accomplishments, activities and plans and could probably figure out if you would be happy living there.
Lakewooder..I'm in Texas too and don't plan to leave so I have a place..just need to find my dreamstead now
Been looking at smaller rural communities 20K pop or so and want to garden and raise some animals and have an ag exemption for low taxes. For what I want to do my books are in the area of grass farming, organic farming, maybe do farmer markets so books on that as well.
None of those "retirement" books can help me in this area as I don't want to retire to a golf course community near the beach in Florida and be close to the theater
I'd rather be sitting on the back porch in the evenings listening to the birds and livestock !
When I retired, a friend who retired the year before me gave me a book titled Younger Next Year by Craig Crowley and Henry Lodge. This book emphasizes that a decline into aches, pains and disease can be forestalled, ameliorated or perhaps even completely averted with regular exercise, a somewhat healthy diet and social engagement. It does so without being preachy or making it sound boring or difficult. Rather, the authors employ a great sense of humor, a lot of common sense and best of all - they make a program of exercise seem possible even if you haven't gotten off your bum in 30 years.
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Retirement Relocation Choices
