Cheapest states for Early retirement (move, friendly, communities, relative)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Someone brought up TN and specific areas.

I'm a native of TN and mostly lifelong residence aside from about four years in the Midwest and roughly a year total in MA on business.

While most of TN is obviously cheaper than most coastal areas and major cities, the best areas of the state in Nashville, Williamson County, Farragut outside of Knoxville, are not exactly inexpensive. Property taxes run about 1% of the current valuation annually in the cities as a back of the napkin guess.

...

Sure, the housing is cheap. It's a bad place to live.

Greeneville is extremely rural and not very open to outsiders, ....

And remind us how old you are?.... And continually complaining rather than LEAVING TN....

Basing my observations on at least 25 stays with retirees in NE TN during the past 20 yrs and continually in touch with them and volunteering in community events.

Of course OP and anyone relocating will need to pursue their own research based on their criteria (which was listed by OP). Of the few No income Tax states, very few meet their climate and housing cost expectation.

My TX prop taxes are pretty high but I can mitigate through leasing part of Properties. There is no way to rent my WA $48/ day property taxes can be met with renting out the whole joint. There are creative ways to steer around the property tax burdens in each state, as there is in TN as well.

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by TMSRetired

In CA you have a lot of amenities paid for by your taxes.

Move to a "cheap" state and there may be things you took for granted that are now non existent.
There's a lot more to it than just monetary. What are you willing to forego for less taxes and lower cost of living ?

Things like mass transportation, cultural venues, public services, etc. should be taken into account.

My guess is at least 25% of the population in my area are retirees from the Bay Area or Sacramento

My brother in law retired to AZ and is appalled by the lack of services and poor medical care in that state

[Over the hill gang]

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/10-...ive-in-the-us/


We live in Harlingen and love it.

[Bamaman1]

I too am a Tennessee expat living in North Alabama because of the fabulous Tennessee River in my front yard. I've lived in Memphis, Nashville and Atlanta while traveling every inch of The South.

North Alabama is a really nice place, and real estate is extremely inexpensive here. My lake house is valued at $386K, and the property taxes are $1,100 a year. My main house in Huntsville has no property taxes because my wife is disabled. Cannot beat that. Defined pensions and social security income is not taxed here. With 450K people, Huntsville is about as thriving as there is, and the population is highly educated--rocket scientists and engineers.

I grew up in Nashville, and real estate there and the surrounding counties has skyrocketed. It's a happening place, however. I especially like East Tennessee with the mountains and lakes, and the people there are great. Johnson City/Jonesborough is nice, but so is Morristown. There are a number of nice cities and lake communtiiesjust outside of Knoxville too. Many people are moving to Cookeville, TN, 85 miles east of Nashville.

We keep a RV in North Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The place has a great atmosphere, and it's just 1 hr. from the edge of Atlanta. It's a very livable region and I especially like the Young Harris, GA and Hiawassee where the mountains meet Lake Chatuge. Lake Burton is another great place if you need a 15,000 sq. ft. second home. There are many golf course communities in NE GA/NW South Carolina that are absolutely incredible. Georgia's kind to retirees tax wise.

Someone touched on the sleeper of retirement communities--Auburn/Opelika, Alabama. It too is a great retirement home with Auburn University to add enough culture to your life. Lake Martin is a premier lake, and it's just north of there. The interstate takes you to Atlanta within 2 hrs., and it's a straight shot south to the Gulf Coast too. There again, you've got Alabama's ridiculously low property taxes there.

South Carolina and North Carolina are not so favorable on property taxes and state income taxes. South Carolina eats boaters' pocketbooks on ad valorem taxes. But Beaufort, SC is an especially great city for a retiree. Many might bypass there and live in Savannah, GA area for lower taxes.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

And remind us how old you are?.... And continually complaining rather than LEAVING TN....

Basing my observations on at least 25 stays with retirees in NE TN during the past 20 yrs and continually in touch with them and volunteering in community events.

Of course OP and anyone relocating will need to pursue their own research based on their criteria (which was listed by OP). Of the few No income Tax states, very few meet their climate and housing cost expectation.

My TX prop taxes are pretty high but I can mitigate through leasing part of Properties. There is no way to rent my WA $48/ day property taxes can be met with renting out the whole joint. There are creative ways to steer around the property tax burdens in each state, as there is in TN as well.

First off, back here in Appalachia, we don't care how you do things out West, in Texas, up in Yankeedom, in the Deep South, etc. This is a special area.

I've lived in TN, MA, VA, SC, IN, IA. I am not a novice to moving or tax issues. I'm a long-term east TN resident with decades of "boots on the ground" local knowledge. You are basing these judgments on your observations and discussions that you heard from other people.

What amount of time have you spent here? Have you ever lived here? Know anything first-hand from your own observations? I've been here for decades and know this part of Appalachia like the back of my hand. I grew up here, live here, invested in property here, know the culture, am part of that culture, etc. I really think it's quite amusing that you'd question my knowledge and expertise of east TN. I have nearly a decade of posting history. I quietly compile a lot of the local data that gets forwarded to C-D and similar sites.

I see a lot of anecdotes and platitudes, but no real local knowledge and certainly zero local expertise.

By recommending Greeneville, it is obvious that you are lacking local knowledge. It would be great for a farmer who doesn't care to deal with the locals, but that won't go well, because this isn't a big ag area, and you need to sell to local/regional suppliers. If you can't cultivate those relationships, you are screwed. Greeneville is very isolated, very pretty, and you damn sure ain't going to fit in if you're not from the area.

I rarely respond to something like this, but I found this insulting. If you have experience in this community, personally, I'd like details.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by bpollen

It's either higher property taxes or state income tax + higher sales taxes. Property taxes are preferable because they are fully tax deductible up to about $10k for 2019, or thereabouts. Check whether sales taxes where you live will include taxing in any way groceries and medication. Those are necessities over which people have little control; you do NOT want those things taxes. If you hear of an area with low property taxes, high sales taxes, and the taxing of necessities, esp if there is also a state income tax, that is an area set up to favor the wealthy. Unless you are wealthy, you don't want to live there. (The wealthy pay politicians to keep property taxes low, since it's hard to fenagle that. They can play around with income tax deductions & exemptions and sales taxes, but property tax on their multiple assets is hard to get around.)

Texas is a huge state with a below-national-avg cost of living. Dallas comes to mind. You said there is hail threat there. Dallas has low homeowner's insurance. That reflects the low impact (you should pardon the pun) of hail in Dallas. I'm in south La. right now; we have hail here, too. But we also have major rainstorms, hurricans, and tornados. HO ins. is DOUBLE what it is in Dallas. So is auto ins.

Dallas does have snow and/or ice once or twice a year, so it's minimal. But it does have a bit of a winter season, which is nice. And that kills off bugs. The worst thing about Dallas is the summer, which is prone to droughts and extreme dry heat. But it's very clean, very economical for a big city, diverse economy. But there are other cities in the huge state to check out. That's where I'd go. There are prettier states, but there's always something about them. Higher cost of living, natural disaster zones, state income tax that doesn't exempt social security and such, high cost insurance, high crime, whatever.

Well, no, it's not. Texas takes a smaller bite per capita than the usual suspects, CA and NY. The tax bite for different states is, well, different. Some states, mostly western ones, support themselves largely on taxes on mineral extraction.

I'm not saying the low tax states are a better deal for everyone, but I'm saying the "they get you one way or another" theory is bunk.

[Vic Romano]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

First off, back here in Appalachia, we don't care how you do things out West, in Texas, up in Yankeedom, in the Deep South, etc. This is a special area.

I've lived in TN, MA, VA, SC, IN, IA. I am not a novice to moving or tax issues. I'm a long-term east TN resident with decades of "boots on the ground" local knowledge. You are basing these judgments on your observations and discussions that you heard from other people.

What amount of time have you spent here? Have you ever lived here? Know anything first-hand from your own observations? I've been here for decades and know this part of Appalachia like the back of my hand. I grew up here, live here, invested in property here, know the culture, am part of that culture, etc. I really think it's quite amusing that you'd question my knowledge and expertise of east TN. I have nearly a decade of posting history. I quietly compile a lot of the local data that gets forwarded to C-D and similar sites.

I see a lot of anecdotes and platitudes, but no real local knowledge and certainly zero local expertise.

By recommending Greeneville, it is obvious that you are lacking local knowledge. It would be great for a farmer who doesn't care to deal with the locals, but that won't go well, because this isn't a big ag area, and you need to sell to local/regional suppliers. If you can't cultivate those relationships, you are screwed. Greeneville is very isolated, very pretty, and you damn sure ain't going to fit in if you're not from the area.

I rarely respond to something like this, but I found this insulting. If you have experience in this community, personally, I'd like details.

Don't forget to retire early and retire often! Or something like that...

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

First off, back here in Appalachia, we don't care how you do things ....If you have experience in this community, personally, I'd like details.

as mentioned... I can and do contact and stay with actual retirees from Pleasant Hill to Hampton. Greeneville retirees have lived there over 50 yrs and their experience is far different than a disgruntled local millennial.

Have frequent contact with actual retirees in Harriman, Dandridge, Elizabethton, Unicoi, JC and yes even Kingsport Their perspective as actual retirees is far different than yours (understandably).

Of course we (C-D) have retiree posters from Oakridge, Knoxville, and Mountian City.
They have reported their desires / benefits / experiences of retiring to NE TN.

Works for many.

Plenty of other C-D retiree posters like and find accommodating retirement destinations within the other (2) Tennessees

[C24L]

Originally Posted by Over the hill gang

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/10-...ive-in-the-us/


We live in Harlingen and love it.

the climate is not mild in Harlingen....its as hot as fire in the summer time.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by bpollen

...If you hear of an area with low property taxes, high sales taxes, and the taxing of necessities, esp if there is also a state income tax, that is an area set up to favor the wealthy. Unless you are wealthy, you don't want to live there. ...

Someone who's seriously considering early-retirement is quite possibly "wealthy", at least in the sense of a few $M in taxable accounts (per person), generating at least around $100K/year in dividends, even if the withdrawals from said accounts are zero. Why this mix? Because there are caps on annual contributions to tax-favored investments. A person who's amassed enough to be comfortable, by 40 or 45 or even 50, probably has done so, by saving high-5-figures (or more?) annually... and most of that isn't going to the 401K or the Roth IRA.

In other words, "wealthy" is relative, and it doesn't take all that much accumulated-money to appear to be wealthy for tax-purposes.

Originally Posted by Mr5150

My brother in law retired to AZ and is appalled by the lack of services and poor medical care in that state

An early retiree is presumably less concerned about that, on account of (presumably) good health, various personal hobbies and reliance on one's own wherewithal, instead of public amenities.

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

I'm not saying the low tax states are a better deal for everyone, but I'm saying the "they get you one way or another" theory is bunk.

Exactly. The cumulative tax-burden varies enormously from state to state, especially if one is "wealthy".

Originally Posted by PilgrimsProgress

If you go to the theater, symphony and museums regularly then you might miss it. Most people don't go that often so could make it a part of their vacation or weekend away in other places.

For some of us, the objective is less about regularly going to such venues ourselves, than about cultivating a local social-circle composed of persons who do go to such venues. In other words, the idea isn't necessarily to pay the tax (literally or figuratively) that supports various services or amenities, than it is, to pay the "tax" to enjoy membership in a certain kind of society.