CA retiree wanting help retirement in PA (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: health insurance, house)

[susangibbs]

My husband and I are teachers in CA. We are near retirement and bought years ago an old home in a small(4000 people ) rural town in PA. WE bought it to house my husband's elderly mom. She passed away recently and we are considering our possible retirement there. CA is expensive to live and we worry that our pensions will not be that good and that our home is not worth that much anymore. Suggestions, thoughts on this plan?

[PAhippo]

since you've already got a place to live here, you could move and see if you like it. The cost of living won't be the only thing that's different!

[teachbeach]

Do you have heirs? Just a heads up that the inheritance/death tax in PA is 30%. Where is the house and is it near the resources you'll need in retirement? Chances are your pensions and social security will make for a comfortable lifestyle in PA.

[scrantonscrambler]

Rural Pa, huh? How is your health ? You have to think about your health, medical care and where you will get it as you get older. It never occurred to me when i was retiring, I never had a sick day in 37 yrs of work running a bulldozer.

I worked in NJ and retired to rural NE PA at age 55 in perfect health. Bought a blueberry orchard and stayed there 3 yrs , liked it just fine, then came down with prostate cancer and needed a Urologist, had to wait 3 months for an appointment in the big town of Scranton.Many specialists were leaving the state due to malpractice insurance costs at that time (2004), dont know if that has changed by now. I had the best health insurance plan going and couldnt be seen by a specialist within 40 miles of our home.

On the bright side, at least PA wont state tax your pension.

But that medical situation ruined PA for me, we visited TN, called a Urologist and was seen the next day. Went back to PA. sold the house and moved to TN permanently.

My old neighbor in rural Wayne County,PA is undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer, just hit her all of a sudden. She has to go to Philly for radiation treatment, a major hassle of a trip, no real easy way to get there, especially with the bad winter they just went thru.

Dont want to rain on your parade, just giving some food for thought.

I have a very small pension, less than 2k/mo, not eligible for SS and never will be. Both in PA and TN we make it easily on this amount although inflation is starting to concern us. House is paid for and we arent "spenders". Still have the same TV i bought in 1984 and have never used a cell phone.

Considering you already own the PA home give it a try....just dont get sick if you live in the sticks. Good luck

[Craziaskowboi]

Yo' pension won't be taxed in Pennsylvania.

[LibraGirl123]

Originally Posted by teachbeach

Do you have heirs? Just a heads up that the inheritance/death tax in PA is 30%.

Just curious...where are you getting this figure of 30%? The info below is from the website of the PA Dept. of Revenue:

The rates for Pennsylvania inheritance tax are as follows:

• 0 percent on transfers to a surviving spouse or to a parent from a child aged 21 or younger;
• 4.5 percent on transfers to direct descendants and lineal heirs;
• 12 percent on transfers to siblings; and
• 15 percent on transfers to other heirs, except charitable organizations, exempt institutions and government entities exempt from tax.

Inheritance Tax

[teachbeach]

Sorry~it is 15%, plus the hassle of someone coming in from outside the state and having to work with county seat on settling your estate.

Good point (in the above post) about medical care and being able to be seen by specialist in reasonable period of time. If you are close enough to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Hershey or York/Lancaster you would have more options for specialist health care needs.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by teachbeach

If you are close enough to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Hershey or York/Lancaster you would have more options for specialist health care needs.

Add Sayre and Danville to that list.

[PeeAye Native]

If you want to look at an interesting statistic, (I don't have a link handy, but it has been the case for well over 30 years now), research the dollars per senior-citizen-aged person that PA spends on this demographic vs. other states. You'll find that it is fairly high.

When this topic comes up, people are quick to point out that PA follows FL in having the largest population of seniors. The above is one reason why. And you wouldn't be the first person or couple to move here to retire. The norm however seems to: Born, raised and educated here, move out of state because of a job, then move back in retirement years.

The exact location where your purchased home is may matter some in this, because the monies spent on senior services are administered mostly at the county level, so what services may vary by county.