All Over the Map with Retirement Location (beach, weather, move)
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That describes me to a T. Fortunately, we are young enough, and my job is portable enough that we can try out a couple of locations before settling on "the one" and fully retiring. My problem is that no place is 100% perfect, but that doesn't stop me from looking for perfection. Sometimes I am afraid I will spend the rest of my life wandering!
While I've planned for a move in retirement, it's just as likely that we'll stay where we are. A lot will depend on if our kids end up being centrally located versus being spread out all over the country. In any case, we have one who will likely remain here the rest of his life.
As to areas under consideration, we've always assumed we'd be in the PNW area. The actual area in the PNW has varied greatly. Our latest area is the Oregon coast. We're re-thinking that because of taxes, so we've expanded the area to SW Washington too. I think the wetness might become a problem, but my wife wants to be near the ocean and probably won't think about it until after she's settled there.
One thing I've recently thought about, is that this won't be our final home. I'm thinking it might become necessary to move closer to major medical facilities. If that's the case, we'll probably end up in a condo in a big city, something neither of us wants.
We've been looking at beach communities in several different states, so in that way we're all over the place. On the other hand, the towns we like are really similar. Anastasia Island, FL and Lewes, DE are really similar in a lot of ways, even if they're far apart geographically. The towns we've been looking at also seem to share the same challenges--and each one seems to have a unique problem, as well. We will eventually have to decide which unique problem we are willing to live with.
yup, that's me...I am completely as a standstill as far as deciding anything...not even close. Last year at this time I had a list of maybe top 10 places I would really consider, and now I don't feel right about any of them. I get excited one week because I think I've settled on someplace and then change my mind. The more research I do, the harder it becomes, but I guess that's better than making a huge, costly mistake. It is kind of scary though because I really only have about 1-1/2 years left to come to a decision.
One of the biggest things is that in alot of ways I still see myself as younger and able to handle alot of things that I'm not sure I really could handle anymore. I guess that is why I am waffling much so I need to really do alot of soul searching when contemplating a place to live, to make sure it fits me at this new and unknown stage of my life. And it takes alot of being real honest and realistic with myself.
One of the toughest decisions is whether I could really handle hot, humid summers vs. cold winters. It seems most places in our country boil down to those 2 choices (and sometimes both of them). When I first start this "project" quite a few years ago, I didn't think weather would be as big a factor as it seems to have become...that's something I really need to work out. Especially when living someplace 5-10-15-20 years out.
Thank goodness for CD Forums and all the people here that really help in this journey.
This fits us to a "T". We go back and forth. We go visit somewhere and decide in a day (or sometimes less) that it looked good on the internet but not for us.
Our latest thing is we had a medical emergency and it really brought home how nice it is to have family near by. We really don't want to stay here but it's "scary" to leave an area where you spent over 50 years and where you have a support network.
This fits us to a "T". We go back and forth. We go visit somewhere and decide in a day (or sometimes less) that it looked good on the internet but not for us.
Our latest thing is we had a medical emergency and it really brought home how nice it is to have family near by. We really don't want to stay here but it's "scary" to leave an area where you spent over 50 years and where you have a support network.
That pretty much describes me the last few years. I've finally pretty much come down to one place, and I don't have to do much research, since we've lived close to that area previously. Face it, its normal. YOu get an Idea location 1 is pretty good. Then you learn something you didn't know, or think of some factor you hadn't considered before, and then it doesn't look so good any more. So you start looking again, or reconsider other places you rejected previously. Good luck. Just don't beat yourself up. You're normal.
I vote for a wall map, a blindfold and a dart. Those would seem to work as well as worrying the issue to death.
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Fortunately, we are young enough, and my job is portable enough that we can try out a couple of locations before settling on "the one" and fully retiring. My problem is that no place is 100% perfect, but that doesn't stop me from looking for perfection. Sometimes I am afraid I will spend the rest of my life wandering!
Confused or just plain undecided?
