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This topic has come up in several conversations lately: Moving to a brand new place in older years to follow a dream, which may not be in the most practical setting for old age. Moving from the city to the country, or "out of town" so to speak, is a lifelong dream for a lot of retirees.
Main considerations - in loosely populated areas:
1- Transportation when you can no longer drive
2- The current price of gas, and climbing higher - and all that traveling between, and to, towns
3- Need for home self-defense
4- Ability to make friends and have social activities
5- Probable need to make one final move to another place before the nursing home or end of life
This topic has come up in several conversations lately: Moving to a brand new place in older years to follow a dream, which may not be in the most practical setting for old age. Moving from the city to the country, or "out of town" so to speak, is a lifelong dream for a lot of retirees.
Main considerations - in loosely populated areas:
1- Transportation when you can no longer drive
2- The current price of gas, and climbing higher - and all that traveling between, and to, towns
3- Need for home self-defense
4- Ability to make friends and have social activities
5- Probable need to make one final move to another place before the nursing home or end of life
Your experience and insights?
Piece o' cake, thus far. Moved from a city of almost half a million in one state to a village of 136 (which is our address but actually nine miles away) in another state 2,000 miles south-east. Have to drive about 20 miles to get anywhere (shopping, doctor, you name it). "Bundle" shopping and other needs to save on gas. Home defense not a problem. Little, if any, need (none so far in going-on three years) and well-prepared anyway (former combat soldier and cop). Friends and social contacts/activities easy - almost built-in with great neighbors.
May one day have to move back to "civilization" if health and mobility decline but them's the breaks and we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it. Not goin' ta let the thought ruin my day. Life's too short to agonize over the what ifs and if-comes.
This topic has come up in several conversations lately: Moving to a brand new place in older years to follow a dream, which may not be in the most practical setting for old age. Moving from the city to the country, or "out of town" so to speak, is a lifelong dream for a lot of retirees.
Main considerations - in loosely populated areas:
1- Transportation when you can no longer drive
2- The current price of gas, and climbing higher - and all that traveling between, and to, towns
3- Need for home self-defense
4- Ability to make friends and have social activities
5- Probable need to make one final move to another place before the nursing home or end of life
Your experience and insights?
Each of us will have different or not exactly the same criteria. I'm in S. Florida this week checking-out potential 55+ communities for retirement I expect to be living in about 3 years. Here are some comments regarding ones you've listed for yourself:
1. I gave-up my car about 15 years ago and have been using public transportation in Chicago ever since. I rent cars for special occassions, though. The three retirement communities I've been looking at this week each provide shuttle service to shopping and cultural event purposes and there is also a pretty good public bus system available additionally. I'd like to retire without having to purchase a car so the community transit features are a priority for me.
2. Certainly the price of gas is important when you're on a fixed retirement income. No more important, probably, than for working people who, actually, are on fixed budgets as well. But we can't reasonably accurate what world events will impact the price of gasoline and worrying about it too much gains us nothing, but stress. Though I hope not to have to get a vehicle when I retire I recognize that higher gas costs could result in increased HOA assessments (community transport), and increased or eliminated public bus service.
3. By usiing "home self defense" I'm assuming you mean home security systems, home safety. Not personally, self defending yourself at home. The needs for home security are no different in retirement than they are when we're working full-time. The communities I'm looking at are each fenced and gated with security staff manning the gates supplemented by roaving security patrols and neighborhood watch network. Important? Yes. That's why I want to select a community which reasonably provides for this safety.
4. One of the things about 55+ communities is the opportunities to socially interact with a wide variety of people. There's a menu of choices. We pick and choose our level of participation. You don't have to travel far from your home to enjoy the company of others.
5. I've made the assumption that if I leave Chicago to live elsewhere full or part time that at some later point in life I'll almost certainly want to return to Chicago if my health worsens and/or for end-of-life. So one of the many things I ask myself is, "Why move in the first place?" Also, "Can I afford to maintain two places at the same time?"
It's always good to ask ourselves these and other questions. Too many people fail to do this and, as a result, encounter problems/challenges they likely could have resolved and better planned for beforehand.
NEG - We're city rats, so the country is not for us. That said, I hope you don't over-think it and just follow your dreams. When most of us were younger, we didn't stress over such things. We just did them and life unfolded in ways we never imagined - some good, some not so good. If you are currently in reasonable health, are willing to reach out to meet that first friend, and can afford it, then do it. None of us know what tomorrow holds. It would be a shame to miss an adventure because of "What if?"
I am always interested in why people necessarily want to be near a big medical center for end of life. And why they make that a big part of the decision of where to live. Maybe I have come to my decision because I am so underinsured, but I decided to live where I wanted to live. Someday when something happens and I don't make it to the hospital, I don't make it. I would rather be where I feel most at home enjoying my life until the time comes(and it will come for all of us, wherever we are)and then gone than in a big institution being poked and prodded and then gone.
I am an RN by profession and I don't like hospitals for death, particularly someone elderly. I do live in a town of 50k with a fairly good medical community, but I also go camping in much more scluded areas, I live by myself and spend time at home by myself for days at a time with no one knowing where I am....something could happen but does it matter? I have friends who won't go and do things they enjoy(camping for instance, or visiting some rural place) because something might happen and I wouldn't be near a hospital. JMO and YMMV
When it comes to our future old age retirement, it's all about the chioces we all make in order to maintain our quality of life we all want and that will be different for each and every one of us, but the original poster did bring up the main considerations to think about in making our decisions:
Main considerations:
1- Transportation when you can no longer drive
2- The current price of gas, and climbing higher - and all that traveling between, and to, towns
3- Need for home self-defense
4- Ability to make friends and have social activities
5- Probable need to make one final move to another place before the nursing
home or end of life.
My wife and I are both Fil/Ams and moved to the Philippines, our roots in 1998 and we've been here ever since and will probably be our permanent retirement home! All the main considerations above has been covered and doesn't present any problems for us in our old age retirement in the future!
We have an adequate source of income and it has it's advantages living in a country with a low cost of living, but with the modern western lifstyle that's availble to us where we bought and paid for our home outright without having a mortgage to worry about and we live in a safe, clean and quiet gated subdivision with 24/7 security. Everything is centrally located, shopping and adequate medical facilities just a stone throw away and our military Tricare Standard medical health insurance covers us here in the Philippines!
We also have inexpensive hired live-out domestic helpers! When the time comes for our old age lifestyle, we can hire an affordable live-in nurse and or home caregiver for our home care assisted living when we can no longer fend for ourselves in the future and a personal family driver to get us around whenever or wherever we need to go!
So, we're pretty much set for our future old age retirement, but for now we will continue to enjoy our regualr retirement here in the Philippines and see other neighboring countries for short vacations whenever we like, since we are still healthy and can get around on our own! I'm now 63 and my wife is only 48. Life is truly grand when a plan comes together!
Initially, my wife was hesitant to move because she'd be leaving all of her friends behind. The problem with that is her friends don't think the same way. Many are planning to move or have moved. So now, she's more open to moving in order to be closer to the kids. Of course, that opens other problems in that they could eventually move throughout the country.
That said, if we do move, we'll likely be in a more isolated location near the coast.
1- Transportation when you can no longer drive
This may be a problem and may necessitate another move, but senior transportation will be a consideration for any location we consider.
2- The current price of gas, and climbing higher - and all that traveling between, and to, towns
Again, this will be taken into consideration, but we'll also combine activities so there are fewer trips out.
3- Need for home self-defense
While my wife abhors weapons of any type, I'll likely have something around because when seconds and minutes count, the police are likely to be hours away.
4- Ability to make friends and have social activities
This is the reason why my wife didn't want to move. We'll likely stay where we are for a year or two after my wife retires (I retire first), before we consider moving. We should have a good idea in that time how we adjust socially. With that knowledge, we'll likely change our location, being closer or further from a city/town.
5- Probable need to make one final move to another place before the nursing home or end of life
For the locations we are considering, it likely will mean one final move. It mainly depends on medical needs, which means moving closer to a big city. It will all depend on if the nearest town has the correct specialist.
NEG - We're city rats, so the country is not for us. That said, I hope you don't over-think it and just follow your dreams. When most of us were younger, we didn't stress over such things. We just did them and life unfolded in ways we never imagined - some good, some not so good. If you are currently in reasonable health, are willing to reach out to meet that first friend, and can afford it, then do it. None of us know what tomorrow holds. It would be a shame to miss an adventure because of "What if?"
Well I hear what you're saying, and the OP was not necessarily for me, as I'm not likely to live rural. I would, however, like to live in another area within 5 years for COL, and these considerations have taken priority over all others. There is the dream, and there is the reality. When young, you can follow your dreams without a lot of risk. Not to mention the fact that when the boomers were young, everything was cheap - housing, utilities, taxes, car gas, food - and America had jobs everywhere (not that we retirees need or want one). In fact, without the Internet to explore possibilities to move, many of us just up and went based on hearsay - to Cali, Oregon, NM, all the golden places, sometimes with hardly a dime to our name. Not at all the case at this age, when one wrong move can have serious consequences financially and otherwise. So yes, I believe most of us have to weigh and plan carefully.
[/indent]5- Probable need to make one final move to another place before the nursing home or end of life
For the locations we are considering, it likely will mean one final move. It mainly depends on medical needs, which means moving closer to a big city. It will all depend on if the nearest town has the correct specialist.
With one of my conversations with friends, this is the point that got debated the most. Why bother to move at retirement if there's probably a good chance another move will be necessary, before the old age home? Why not choose the "correct" or "best/better" place now - why the need for an interim move, esp since the years are flying by so fast? Seems like yesterday it was 2001, 2002, and that was 10 years ago! Where did that decade go? So, with time flying, do we make the next move without the idea of never moving again (until the "home")?
With one of my conversations with friends, this is the point that got debated the most. Why bother to move at retirement if there's probably a good chance another move will be necessary, before the old age home? Why not choose the "correct" or "best/better" place now - why the need for an interim move, esp since the years are flying by so fast? Seems like yesterday it was 2001, 2002, and that was 10 years ago! Where did that decade go? So, with time flying, do we make the next move without the idea of never moving again (until the "home")?
Mainly because the dream location is not likely the location of necessity. Why would you stay in a location because you might need the medical facilities 20-30 years down the road, especially if it's a location you want to get away from (i.e., a big city)? Why would you live with things you don't like, just because it was the "correct" place to meet your future needs?
I'd rather live in a place I enjoyed for 20 years and then move to a place of necessity versus living the rest of my life in the place of necessity, dreaming about the next trip away from it.
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