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In a few years, I will be retiring and are thinking about the best places to retire.
Many people want to move to BOOM TOWNS in the Sunbelt. The media hypes these places as exciting for both workers and the retired. These BOOM TOWNS have rapid population growth. The population has doubled in the last 10-20 years.
Examples include these metros: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, and Fort Meyers.
As a retired person in your 60s and 70s what is so good about living in a large metro area with a huge population increase? Doesn't this mean sprawl, environmental damage, crime, heavy traffic, and stress? These type of places may be exciting for a young person looking for greater shopping, restaurant and job choices but how does the massive growth help a retired person?
On the other hand a retired person would not be happy in a dying town with no growth either. As an older person, what type of setting is the best balance for you?
Last edited by Plain Tired; 08-13-2020 at 01:48 PM..
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Age 50 - age 80... in or near desirable environment and access and climate Booming small college town for me...
More to do,
Stable economy (need a college town with other jobs too, as colleges are now of questionable economic stability)
Diversified populace
Options of venues
Participate in community planning for sustainable growth.
Volunteer with businesses to grow with the community.
College age 'Life / energy' evident in community.
Active retirees (Travel, community, businesses, recreation, entertainment)
and...
Potential equity and rental growth (RE valuations) for when I must sell and leave (age80 +) or in the event of a medical emergency.
Age 90+ I will be less concerned about this and hope I have a ride to the Dr, tho that will likely have to be outside of USA.
No, just no. I specifically looked for a town that wasn't booming. Booming will very likely mean increasing property taxes, increasing crime, increasing traffic, too many people. These are all the things I want to get away from.
That also doesn't mean I looked for a town that was in decay either. I think I found a happy medium where the population is stable, has some decent restaurants, and so on.
I believe in the go-go, slow-go, no-go retirement. If you plan on living in the boom town for all three phases, I'd reconsider. When I'm in the no-go, I hope to be in a slower town - hopefully with adequate health care. But during the go-go, it's nice to be near all the stuff a busy city has to offer (museums, concerts, sports, etc).
I'm in the go-go now and have been for a decade and I'm kind of tiring of the congestion, crime, etc that comes with a busier place. I'm getting ready for a slower paced area where I might want to just hang out in a town and relax and not do all the stuff I've been doing for the last ten years.
I live in the area of one of those boom towns, but live in a gated community that is about 20 miles away from the heart of a city. I feel somewhat protected by the walls, gates of my community, but I do have to get out and go shopping for groceries and health care/dental care - so I'll have to deal with the traffic, rude people etc that comes w/ the larger cities.
I'll likely be moving away to a slower place in 5-10 yrs.
Last edited by TakingItEasy; 08-13-2020 at 02:51 PM..
I believe in the go-go, slow-go, no-go retirement. If you plan on living in the boom town for all three phases, I'd reconsider. When I'm in the no-go, I hope to be in a slower town - hopefully with adequate health care. But during the go-go, it's nice to be near all the stuff a busy city has to offer (museums, concerts, sports, etc).
I'm in the go-go now and have been for a decade and I'm kind of tiring of the congestion, crime, etc that comes with a busier place. I'm getting ready for a slower paced area where I might want to just hang out in a town and relax and not do all the stuff I've been doing for the last ten years.
I hear what you're saying. I've been in the go-go for 50 years. That's plenty long enough. I want slow-go now. That doesn't mean I can never attend a concert or museum or a sporting event on the chance I will want to at some point. The slow-go has those too but on a smaller scale, just not with a large growing population, high crime and lots of traffic. A large city is just an hour away if I really want to get crazy for a day.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davebarnes
I would have agreed 100% until Covid-19.
A lot of small colleges are going to go out of business.
And, right now, no one knows which ones.
I will stick with a growing city with a very good climate.
Denver.
"Stable economy (need a college town with other jobs too, as colleges are now of questionable economic stability)"
30 yrs living in CO and 30+ visiting, but once / yr to Denver is plenty for me.
I'd probably consider Carbondale or Gunnison if I had to move back.
Can't deal with the choking air, traffic, and looks of the front range (Tho I do keep investment Props in EP for 'ole-times-sake' / deductible trips). My primary town in CO went from 8k to 30k population before I left, now 80k. But my hometown was population (5) and has stayed about the same, except for a zillion new neighbors (probably 300 within 5 miles)
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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OP, We did.
Moved from intersection of suburbia-rural (4 miles to any store) to urban, probably medium to high density (blocks to stores).
We love it. We used to bus to Seattle once-a-week to visit DS and shopping. Me sometimes more to do some exploring, lectures, museums, small theater, clam chowder crawl. Locally, b-CV, local playhouse, high school theater-music. We're able to do walk-abouts to restaurants, stores, parks, movie and amateur theater, blackberry and huckleberry picking. Apartment buildings 150+ units are sprouting everywhere. Lightrail in 3-4 years, 6 blocks. Doctor's 7 blocks, emergency clinic 3 blocks.
What I need is one of my chainsaws or a wonderbar to breakdown a desk someone left by the dumpster.
Last edited by leastprime; 08-13-2020 at 04:16 PM..
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