How far ahead do you plan for where you'll retire? (55, moving)

[midwestmom]

I've seen a lot of post where people move when they retire. I have a disabled adult child and a lot of my working years I worked less than full time (no retirement plans) because of family responsibilities.

I'm looking at buying a home in the next year and I wonder how much I should consider places that are "better" for retirees. Have less than 15 yrs till retirement to try to improve things. I'm finding places that have good programs for my child aren't necessarily the cheapest places for retirees. And the "best places", insurance costs, etc could change in that amt of time.

Chances are good I'll be working till I'm not able - so would you go for the place you like now at 50 something or take retirement living into account?

[Boompa]

As soon as you figure out how much income you will have when you retire.

[Curmudgeon]

I planned for 12 years beginning with remarrying and the US Supreme Court ruling CA's source tax unconstitutional. Two years ago I retired at age 62 and my wife had retired at 55. Last year we moved to where we wanted to be, bought a house and have never looked back. It took a lot of financial planning and income figuring but was well worth the effort.

[flyonpa]

i plan to retire in 2021, and im thinking bout places now,.

[DubbleT]

I'm about 15 years out from retirement.
After months and months of heavy duty researching I up and moved to the area of the country I planned to retire to. I wanted to become very familiar with all the ins and outs of the area, and to know if this place is a good fit for my retirement dreams.
I'm glad I did it now, it's giving me the opportunity to find out that while some things are almost perfect there are other things that I miss and would like to have better access to. I may "tweak" my decision and move to another nearby town later on down the road, but I'll be doing it as a local move and not a long distance one, so it should be easier to do.

[texdav]

IMO;you need to look at palce s early ;so that you can do some pretty realistis planing later to really experience the plce othetr han say a shoet vaction period.

[Boompa]

Look at the events of the past ten years, the housing bubble, the economic collapse, how can you possibly know what will be in 10 years. It's OK to think about it but serious planning?

[marmac]

I started seious planning /research about 10 years before retirement.

After much research, I had to eliminate many places that looked/sounded good at first.

The last 5 years was spent actually visiting those places and evaluating them.

Retired now........places narrowed to 2 areas........gotta wait for the son to buy the farm now.

[Cali BassMan]

Have 5 years to go until retirement, started to think about moving a few years back..Quikly settled on 2 states and after visiting both several times this spring decided on one and the general area of the state. Having Family near by was the trump card for us...Now we plan to continue visiting over the next 5 years in different seasons to be sure.....

[jrkliny]

With 15 years to go, I would focus in my career and finances. Fifteen years is a long time and your plans and circumstances can change considerably before then.