Semi retire to JC? Help! (Knoxville, Johnson City: ski resorts, home, buy)

[AF Sgt]

I have around 8 years before I will get out of the Air Force and I really like NE TN. I have three kids and the school quality is important to me. We won't need jobs that make big bucks, but we will need jobs wherever we wind up.

I love the fact that their are multiple lakes in the area as I love fishing. My wife likes the cold more than I do, but NE TN is a compromise to me...not a ton of snow, but there are multiple ski resorts within an hour to an hour and a half.

Anyway, advice or comments is appreciated...I am also looking into Elizabethton, Greeneville and maybe the Knoxville areas.

After moving my family all around the world and constantly being gone I need a good place to raise a family!

[AF Sgt]

No love.

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by AF Sgt

No love.

No, your post is just very broad and difficult to answer without a much better idea of what kind of advice you are looking for.
Not to mention if you have eight years to look around before moving, any advice you do get about schools, jobs, etc may not hold true that far in the future.
Do you have specific questions or concerns that maybe someone can answer for you? Maybe things like what kind of work you would be looking for?
You can use the search function and browse through some of the older threads about weather, schools, some of the different towns in the area. Maybe get a little information that way, and then come back with anything you still have questions on?

[rccrain]

I think Johnson City would work for you.

[AF Sgt]

Essentially we are looking for a bit more of a country area...but good schools for the kids. My wife and I were stationed at Hurlburt Field, FL, but fell in love in Nasvhille. When one of the hurricanes were coming through FL, we were allowed to evac up to 500 miles from the area and have our expenses covered. Well, a bunch of us decided to go to Nashville and check it out.... We were there for about a week before being recalled, LOVED it...a side note, Nashville had more bums than I have ever experienced in my life and that is saying something as I am originally from Baltimore.

Both my wife and I are constantly deployed, I have been gone from home for 2 out of the past 3 years and I doubt that will change any time soon, my wife is currently in the middle east finishing out a year tour. Anyway, why do I bring all that up? We want a place where we can raise our kids and slow down a bit.

My wife is originally from upstate New York, I love the mountains and scenery, I hate the massive amounts of snow (I do like SOME snow) and their taxes are ridiculous. I have absolutely no intentions of moving back to MD after retiring from the Air Force...we are planning a visit to your neck of the woods sometime in the near future. Tri Cities, Knoxville and suburban Nashville are all on the list to move too once we are done with the Air Force thing.

So for two military vets with 20 years experience in Intel backgrounds (I highly doubt that there is a booming economy for that type of expertise in that area)...I'm fine with that. I have a BS in Criminal Justice and will be getting a Masters in Human Resource Mgmt. What jobs are available out there for us? Could we make it in the JC area? We will have military pensions to help us along. I still have no idea what kinds of jobs we would want to work, I guess as long as we can make 25k each take home in an office kind of environment we would be happy with that.

DubbleT, you are absolutely right, alot can change in 8 years, I guess I was more or less putting a feeler out there trying to get some information. However, the outdoorsy/country appeal stuff doesn't change and that is such a huge draw for us.

The lakes, the mountains, the smaller cities, the slower pace of life in the Tri Cities are all advantages over a massive sprawling cities such as Nashville or Charlotte.....although we do love us some Nashville!

Rambling again.....sorry.

[Bones]

DubbleT hit the nail on the head....8 years out is too far to make any kind of predictions.....

Good luck with a $15 an hour office job also....JMHO.

Why do you feel with 2 pensions that you will still need to make another $60,00 on top of that....

[AF Sgt]

Originally Posted by Bones

DubbleT hit the nail on the head....8 years out is too far to make any kind of predictions.....

Good luck with a $15 an hour office job also....JMHO.

Why do you feel with 2 pensions that you will still need to make another $60,00 on top of that....

Huh, I didn't think 25k a year for an office job was outlandish...guess I am wrong on that one.

Three kids to raise, we will only be in our early 40s by the time we get there.

Outside of the med jobs, does the VA offer anything as far as jobs in the area?

[Bones]

Originally Posted by AF Sgt

Huh, I didn't think 25k a year for an office job was outlandish...guess I am wrong on that one.

Three kids to raise, we will only be in our early 40s by the time we get there.

Outside of the med jobs, does the VA offer anything as far as jobs in the area?

" I guess as long as we can make 25k each take home in an office kind of environment" .....that would be close to a salary of $15 per hour before taxe, etc..

Salaries for the most part are lower in TN in general. However our cost of living is also lower.....

Tony1790....will drop in and can be a great source of info as he lives in the tri-cities area, retired military and can shed some more insight for ya....

I live more towards the mid state and know what's going on in my area....

Thanks to you and your wife for your service....

I'll send you a DM....

[Nearing Retirement]

Like your wife, I too grew up in upstate NY, specifically the Fingers Lake region near Keuka lake. I am a Navy veteran and have lived in several states throughout my professional career, including CA, IN, IL, and VA. Like you, I absolutely love upstate NY (mountains and lakes) but not the long winters. I lived in Blacksburg, VA where I worked as a research scientist for VT. My wife and daughters really loved that area. That area of VA is similar to upstate NY but with milder weather. During the past two summers, my wife and I have visited the Douglas and Cherokee lakes area of TN and the Asheville, NC area looking for a potential retirement place. We are very interested in the the Tri-Cities area and feel it's the place where we will retire. Planning to visit again this spring/summer.

I suggest you take a look at the Blacksburg, VA area. The university has a significant corporate research center with large government contracts. There may be opportunities there for you and the salaries are decent. We docked our boat on Claytor lake. My wife worked as a nurse in Radford, VA a nearby city with another university. The area is similar to the Tri-Cities area in my opinion. Again, thank you both for your service.

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by Bones

DubbleT hit the nail on the head....8 years out is too far to make any kind of predictions.....

Good luck with a $15 an hour office job also....JMHO.

Why do you feel with 2 pensions that you will still need to make another $60,00 on top of that....

Tony1790....will drop in and can be a great source of info as he lives in the tri-cities area, retired military and can shed some more insight for ya....k

There just isn't anything specific to to add to this post other than what's already been said and that is just stating the obvious........

8 years is a long time, really long time and yet putting some thought into retirement this early is a good thing as planning is very important. I did lots of planning and had a plan, I just didn't do what I planned to do as life got in the way .

In 8 years will you -

- still be married to each other?
- still be in the military?
- still be alive and uninjured, (I realize that the AF doesn't have the same risk of injury/death as the Army, but things happen even to AF people.)
- have not bought a home in your last duty station and decide to stay put.
- actually retire? It's a 20yr or nothing game right now, but congress is talking about changing the retirement system, or perhaps you'll do 30 years and retire in 18 yrs (not a bad idea).

My general advice:

- Pick someplace to retire to that has a good network of support (commissary, base exchange, etc)for military retiree's, JC doesn't have that. There is the VA hospital, but just because you are a veteran doesn't mean that you get to use the veteran's hospital, you need to be service connected or poor (in general) to access care there. 20 years military doesn't count. But you are better off with Tricare anyway.

- Pick someplace that is affordable and with low taxes (property & income tax). TN fits that bill fairly well, be careful on the property tax front, if you buy in the city, you'll pay city & county taxes.

- Either have enough money to pay cash for a place when you retire or if you are sure where you will live, buy a place before you retire and have a big chunk paid down by the time you retire.

- Go where the jobs are, when you retire, you will have recent, marketable skills that you can parlay into a good paying job somewhere in this great big wonderful country of ours. I'd recommend striking while that iron is hot, as your experience ages (along with you specifically), it will be harder to find a good job. Jobs are not great here, they are not great in alot of places, but I'd go where the jobs are and the rest will sort themselves out (home, schools, etc). You guys will still be young, not the time to take crappy jobs.....$10-$12 hr is decent money here, that with your retirement is close to $100k, while that's good now, 8 yrs from now......who knows.

Good luck to ya, this is a big country and you have lots of time left to plan on retirement, East TN will definitely work for ya, but so will lots of other places and honestly, 8 years is a long time to wonder about things.

Tony in TN
E7, USCG, retired