I Want to Get Off at Willoughby (retirees, gifted, movies)
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Finding a small quiet, quaint town to get out of the rat race isn't about living rural in most cases at least. Towns like Mayberry and Willoughby were not represented as being rural. Mayberry was small urban with sidewalks, courthouse, street lights, stores and a downtown. In my case, my town with a population of about 8,800 has a decent 100 room hospital and I recently had double hernia surgery there. I have no complaints.
There is also a service provided by the county which will pick up and return home those seniors who need care in a larger hospital about 60 miles away. That hospital is a large University hospital and the best in the state. There is no charge for the transportation.
Of course small towns have limits on what they can provide and each town will be different. It comes down to what a person's priorities are.
My small town is like that also.
We have a decent hospital that also does surgery. Good doctors in the area. They will transport you to the "big city" for things they cannot handle.
And yes we also transport vans for seniors. And a small route that takes people around the small towns here.
People must be okay with this cuz more and more are moving out here. It is crazy.
I probably talked about this before but I have a friend who doesn't get even Social Security. She ran her business under the table, apparently not declaring the income. I'll never forget the stricken look on her face when she realized she would never be able to retire.
TexasRoadkill's Social Security benefits would sound pretty good to her.
and maybe she has other assets, pensions, but wants to be able to just have to use her SS to pay for her living expenses. The rest would be a bonus.
I think it is unpopular places that nobody wants to live,that is under the radar
I would say rural upstate NY. Everyone seems to forget about NY state.
I've spent a lot of the last five years in rural Ontario in a small town with groceries and a little hospital about a 25 mile drive away. Of course, Canada does not want retirees to move here, so I will not be able to stay permanently. When my time here is done, I will likely still visit, but I have definitely begun to consider New York State as a home base when I give up NJ for good. I get a NY state pension, so it will not be subject to state tax.
Twice on my way back to Jersey, my GPS took me through a small NYS town surrounded by farms that I plan to check out when the time comes. I like winter and do not like the heat, so going "upstate" may be as close to Canada as I can get.
I am so close to retirement, and I have worked full time for the past 42 years. I find myself dreaming of retiring to a simpler place, not unlike Gart Williams in the Twilight Zone episode "Stop at Willoughby"
While I may not dream of Willoughby, Ohio, I dream of finding a quaint old-fashioned small town stuck in time where a person can live comfortably on social security alone. My searches have steered me toward northwest Arkansas or the Appalachian region of Tennessee, due to cost of living, taxes, number of small olf fashioned towns and an abundance of affordable older homes (pre-1950s)
I probably talked about this before but I have a friend who doesn't get even Social Security. She ran her business under the table, apparently not declaring the income. I'll never forget the stricken look on her face when she realized she would never be able to retire.
TexasRoadkill's Social Security benefits would sound pretty good to her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clemencia53
and maybe she has other assets, pensions, but wants to be able to just have to use her SS to pay for her living expenses. The rest would be a bonus.
she said she doesn't get Social Security - that she never paid into the system - and had her own business 'under the table' where she didn't pay into the Social Security system nor declare her income....
I'd like to add that the "rat race" for me was not just about work. It was about dealing with constant traffic just to go across town.
A-Men!
Quote:
Originally Posted by marino760
It was about not feeling safe anymore at home or walking anywhere. It was about hearing endless sirens of emergency vehicles all throughout the day and many hours of the night. It was about homeless people constantly loitering in front of grocery stores and gas stations begging for money.
The where to live when I retire question is beat to death, but in fact it is, at best 4th or 5th on the list of retirement issues. Also bear in mind, that for most of us, as we age we spend more and more of our waking hours inside our home, and the community traits aren't all that important. I've moved 5 times since I retired, and looking back, it was mostly a waste of time, energy, and money.
The where to live when I retire question is beat to death, but in fact it is, at best 4th or 5th on the list of retirement issues. Also bear in mind, that for most of us, as we age we spend more and more of our waking hours inside our home, and the community traits aren't all that important. I've moved 5 times since I retired, and looking back, it was mostly a waste of time, energy, and money.
very interesting, insightful observation!
I would just add to "as we age we spend more and more of our waking hours inside our home" - being in one's yard, sitting on one's porches or one's balcony.
(and for dog walkers, walking short distances in one's neighborhood)
The where to live when I retire question is beat to death, but in fact it is, at best 4th or 5th on the list of retirement issues. Also bear in mind, that for most of us, as we age we spend more and more of our waking hours inside our home, and the community traits aren't all that important. I've moved 5 times since I retired, and looking back, it was mostly a waste of time, energy, and money.
I've just completed my 4th move in the 12 years that I've been retired, and I couldn't disagree more. Each locale has been fairly different from the others and I've thoroughly enjoyed every place I've lived so far while retired. (Of course, I'm still fairly young in the universe of retirees.)
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