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But that can't happen until my cats die, possibly ten years from now, as I just (laboriously) explained.
Can you take short trips while having someone pet sit your cats or just come in and out to feed them?
You seem to shoot down or throw up roadblocks to everything anyone suggests, so I'm not really sure what you are looking for. None of us can guarantee that if you move to place x you will like it or not.
Also, unless I missed it, you haven't really laid out what the most important things to you about what your retirement would look like. In other words, if we knew what you were most concerned about or what you were looking to find, we might be able to offer better advice.
And, truthfully, some of this will boil down to how flexible/adaptable you are.
There are things I definitely don't like about the place I moved to, but I am willing to overlook them and live with them in order to achieve things that are higher priority to me. Frankly, I have never lived anywhere where everything was perfect.
I was mostly asking for others' experiences rather than advice because...always accused of "throwing up roadblocks" when, in fact, I simply have good reasons why the obvious solutions won't work in my case or else there wouldn't be a problem. And I don't expect any place to be "perfect," but thank you!
Last edited by otterhere; 07-29-2016 at 03:49 PM..
I was mostly asking for others' experiences rather than advice because...always accused of "throwing up roadblocks" when, in fact, I simply have good reasons why the obvious solutions won't work in my case or else there wouldn't be a problem. And I don't expect any place to be "perfect," but thank you!
I hated the beach yesterday, but today love it.
So peaceful out there. We were just napping under the canopy, wind and waves soothing us to sleep.
It's hot now. So back inside and will go out later. Have some wine tonight out on the chaise lounges with the waves and moon in the background.
That just makes the other inconveniences fade away.
They will be back tomorrow, ( family members lol - only some), but worth it.
But that can't happen until my cats die, possibly ten years from now, as I just (laboriously) explained.
What can't happen? I'm confused. You mentioned your cats can't travel but they would only have to travel once, when you moved. As far as them being sick, why would that stop you from renting? I am a life long renter and I have had cats that have at times gotten sick. The elderly cats had permanent illnesses that had to be dealt with until they died. That hasn't made any difference in my having them in an apartment. Sure sometimes they made a mess but I cleaned it up.
Can't you get someone to take care of your cats while you scout out various potential relocation places? I used to have friends who did that for me and I for them. Only one time when I had an elderly cat old needed looking after with some serious medication did I have a vet tech come in and look after him as many times as he needed his meds. The alternative was to board him at the vet's but I didn't want to do that.
Often vet techs will do that who are either retired or work at vet clinics were you take your pets. Most of the time though, I trusted my cat owning friends to take just as good care of my cats no matter what condition they were in and they did.
I know that some people believe only those who own homes should have pets but that's a fallacy. If a landlord allows them, and all of mine have, renters can too.
Sometimes intuition or circumstances change our goals. I was seriously looking at Missouri but decided to think about it & visit more places.
IF I had made the decision to move it would have been so much harder when my son died unexpectedly. But, since I stayed in place I had family & neighborly support.
Yes,it was a horrible setback, but I now see my desires/needs changing. Maybe it made me realize how fragile life is.
I was thinking of going south, and I still may, but now I'm even looking at Maine. I think the weather would be comparable to Minnesota so I would be prepared for winter. It's the fish; lobster & sea fish, the thought of being close to the sea & living by people like me, where casual is the main attire. If I lived close by the sea I would be at peace.
meo92953, I thought your family had offered to build a pole barn for you near where you are now in Minnesota.
Did I miss the change in plans for this pole barn not being likely to happen?
Previous to that you were saying you would be visiting Tennessee last spring to check it out as a place to live.
To clarify: I plan to make a major change (relocation) and major purchase (retirement property), so I definitely feel the pressure to "get it right." If you'll be aging in place with your usual home, location, family, friends, hobbies, etc., the only difference is that you don't go to work any more. Not much can go wrong there? If you're bored, add more hobbies or another job. Many, however, have a "retirement dream" they pursue that is a major life shift, and I sometimes wonder if it turns out as they planned.
If not, why not, and how could that have gone better?
"Not much can go wrong there?" Plenty. Even if you are "aging in place." Health issues for starters. You don't have a lot of control over the diseases of aging, other than smoking which is not a disease of aging. But in spite of keeping physically active, there are the realities of aging, slowing down, new aches and pains, and the possibility of disease increases with age (cancer, arthritis, etc). Arthritis can really impact quality of life.
Financial issues can also arise unexpectedly. Long term care or assisted living may come sooner than planned. If you are invested in the stock market there are challenges and possible melt-downs at inopportune times, etc. Anyone in the market in 2008 understands what a major downturn can mean, and if you are older when that happens, there is little time to recover financially.
Pensions are all at risk around the country. Even if you have a "guaranteed" pension (public or private), nothing is guaranteed any more. I've been reading about various cities around the country that are billions behind in their expected pension investment gains from the treasuries, given the near zero interest rate environment since 2008. Many cities don't know how they will make good on promised pension payments down the road without a federal govt bailout or by raising taxes or by cutting pension payments.
A family member may experience an unexpected financial disaster and look to you for help.
Lots can "go wrong", even if you think you have your retirement ducks lined up and "age in place" with friends, family, hobbies, your usual home, etc.
Sometimes intuition or circumstances change our goals. I was seriously looking at Missouri but decided to think about it & visit more places.
IF I had made the decision to move it would have been so much harder when my son died unexpectedly. But, since I stayed in place I had family & neighborly support.
Yes,it was a horrible setback, but I now see my desires/needs changing. Maybe it made me realize how fragile life is.
I was thinking of going south, and I still may, but now I'm even looking at Maine. I think the weather would be comparable to Minnesota so I would be prepared for winter. It's the fish; lobster & sea fish, the thought of being close to the sea & living by people like me, where casual is the main attire. If I lived close by the sea I would be at peace.
So sometimes life happens & things change.
I lived in Maine for a couple of years in retirement and moved back to Michigan. I was ok with winter, in general, but the horrendous winter of 2014-15 did me in, and I have lived in northern states all of my life. The southern coast of Maine (Portland) that winter had 109" of snow, and quite honestly, I had never seen anything like it, one huge snow storm after another, with no breaks. While the following winter (2015-16) was much milder, the reality is that a "bad" winter can come along any year.
The Maine coast is beautiful, but expensive, with housing, gas, food, medical, dental, all higher than the midwest. The only thing I saved $$ on was car insurance, which didn't offset all the other higher expenses. The people I met were "nice" to a point, but I was "from away" and an outsider, regardless of how much I had in common with people I met. I met a lot of friendly people, but the transplants were much more open to new relationships compared to the "Mainers." I enjoyed my two years there, but ended up missing my close friends and family and moved back to Michigan. It was a fun adventure in many ways and moving out of my comfort zone was good for me to do. It clarified more of what I want out of my retirement, and it forced me to downsize when I moved. All good. I may head south at some point down the road, and am exploring those options.
Been retired for 11 years and still trying to get it right and that's the fun of it! Life changes, we change, families change. Retired young in 2005 and moved to coastal Florida. In 2011, we moved back to MA and began snowbirding to FL. This year we tired of rentals with mold and bad beds so we bought a 2nd home in FL. Now we're thinking of doing a 6 mo/6 mo thing so maybe we don't need such a large home here in MA and we're thinking of buying smaller and looking about 90 miles north of where we are now. Shaking things up works for us. I absolutely hate the term final home'. To me, that will be an urn.
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