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Old 08-06-2017, 08:32 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,331 posts, read 61,161,924 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Burkmere View Post
Although there are advantages to retiring to a place that has a significant number of like-minded retirees.
As a retiree, living in the oldest state [oldest median age as a result of having such a high percentage of retirees that have migrated here] I am not sure if I would have moved here if I had to pay income taxes.
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Old 08-07-2017, 12:02 AM
 
Location: Lahaina, Hi.
6,386 posts, read 4,795,783 times
Reputation: 11316
Quote:
Originally Posted by JustMike77 View Post
I never understand all the threads about "Where should I move when I retire"?. Does this mean that they have been living in a place they hate for all these years and now they are finally free to move where they want ? I understand wanting to be closer to your kids who have moved away, but other than that, why didn't you move sooner ? At 65 I occasionally ponder the concept of retirement, but I plan to stay right where I am. My friends are here, my doctor is here, I know all the local merchants by their first name, I know where everything is and I have a home that I enjoy. Moving to a place where I don't know a soul and perhaps have never been, simply based on a "Best places to retire" article seems so silly to me. "Grow where you are planted" works for me.
I was a teacher in Bakersfield, Ca. I couldn't even move to another school district in the same town without taking a huge financial hit (much less to another city or state).

Seasonal allergies gave way to year-round allergies with age and I was miserable much of the time. I always planned to move to Hawaii when I retired. That happened in June 2014 and I moved to Maui within two months. I stayed just long enough to sell my house, ship my car, and say goodbye to friends and family.
I love it here and would not move back! The cost of housing here is lower than the Central Coast in Ca. Groceries are slightly higher but not a deal-breaker.
A bonus for me is that teachers are in short supply and I can (and do) sub much of the year. Kids here are awesome and I start back in 2 days.
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Old 08-07-2017, 12:49 AM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
9,455 posts, read 12,508,411 times
Reputation: 16451
Quote:
Originally Posted by JustMike77 View Post
I never understand all the threads about "Where should I move when I retire"?. Does this mean that they have been living in a place they hate for all these years and now they are finally free to move where they want ? I understand wanting to be closer to your kids who have moved away, but other than that, why didn't you move sooner ? At 65 I occasionally ponder the concept of retirement, but I plan to stay right where I am. My friends are here, my doctor is here, I know all the local merchants by their first name, I know where everything is and I have a home that I enjoy. Moving to a place where I don't know a soul and perhaps have never been, simply based on a "Best places to retire" article seems so silly to me. "Grow where you are planted" works for me.
This, this this!
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Old 08-07-2017, 01:05 AM
 
8,238 posts, read 6,558,508 times
Reputation: 23140
Quote:
Originally Posted by JustMike77 View Post

I never understand all the threads about "Where should I move when I retire"?. Does this mean that they have been living in a place they hate for all these years and now they are finally free to move where they want ? I understand wanting to be closer to your kids who have moved away, but other than that, why didn't you move sooner ? At 65 I occasionally ponder the concept of retirement, but I plan to stay right where I am. My friends are here, my doctor is here, I know all the local merchants by their first name, I know where everything is and I have a home that I enjoy. Moving to a place where I don't know a soul and perhaps have never been, simply based on a "Best places to retire" article seems so silly to me. "Grow where you are planted" works for me.
Often what keeps people in a certain city or area during their working years is having a good job that pays well.

A greater number of younger people and middle-aged people are now moving around these days to various jobs in different geographic areas more than their parents and grandparents did.

Not sure why you use the word 'hate'. That's extreme and not accurate. Just because people want to try a different geographic area and a different city/town upon retirement does not mean that they 'hated' or even disliked where they spent their working years. They are just up for trying something new - some want different weather, some want mountains or the ocean or nature, some want a different city.

It's not always easy to find a good well-paying job in the place where you'd like to retire, and they became established in places according to where their job or jobs were found.

Last edited by matisse12; 08-07-2017 at 01:14 AM..
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Old 08-07-2017, 12:20 PM
 
7 posts, read 4,126 times
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I did a little very basic research on "places" in the USA.

There are approx 3,000 incorporated places with pop over 10,00 persons and another 16,000 with a pop under 10,000 people.

Assuming one completely writes off 90% of these places for one reason or another, one is left with 1,900 places. Write off another 90% as you approach perfection and one winds up with 190 places. It seems reasonable the typical person looking for an ideal situation might find as many as 190 places in the USA which would really be appealing. My proposed tool would help you winnow the 19,000 down to 190. Although even 190 is tough to manage, it seems a lot less intimidating that 19,000.

I grant most folks could do the first 90% cut on their own but when you get to the last 10% a tool might be helpful. This, of course, completely ignores other countries which might appeal to some.

With regard to the question why would one not have moved to one's paradise when one was younger. In my case my family moved all over the world (my job) and, early on, had visions of retiring overseas. As I aged, this option became less attractive. We landed in our current situation more or less by default as a result of my working career. There was never enough time or, frankly, motivation to seek out the perfect place. The perfect place was where I had a reasonably secure job which would allow me to get the kids through college, live reasonably well and accrue a decent retirement from a financial perspective.

All of the above have been accomplished. Now I have time to consider the 20 or 30 years remaining and I have become an armchair place finder. My situation is pretty good but I think maybe I have one more adventure in me. So, if I had the "place finder" tool, I could find a few Nirvanas and kick some tires.
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Old 08-07-2017, 12:29 PM
 
11,558 posts, read 12,023,335 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dothetwist View Post
There used to be a site called, Find Your Spot. It was great for finding possible places to live based on a myriad of questions about what you desire, want, need. I don't know of any site as good as that one was. It gave me a lot of 'leads' based on places it suggested based on my responses.
That site may have been effective in the early stages; however, when I selected areas with no humidity and no snow the results were areas with high humidity and/or with mega snowfalls. Perhaps that's why it's gone by the wayside, there could have been too many glitches in their software.

As far as finding the 'perfect' place for me; realistically my first choice can't be strictly mild winters and low humidity, otherwise I'd be moving to San Diego or Santa Barbara, CA.

My criteria is based on housing I can afford; Medicare health plans that are affordable (and that's based on zip code); and which necessary medical resources are nearby for my particular needs.

Therefore my list is created by my research, not lists provided by a media-outlet source since they have no idea what will work for me.

Last edited by katie45; 08-07-2017 at 12:38 PM..
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Old 08-07-2017, 12:30 PM
 
Location: moved
13,609 posts, read 9,647,657 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike cunningham View Post
...
Assuming one completely writes off 90% of these places for one reason or another, one is left with 1,900 places. Write off another 90% as you approach perfection and one winds up with 190 places. It seems reasonable the typical person looking for an ideal situation might find as many as 190 places in the USA which would really be appealing. My proposed tool would help you winnow the 19,000 down to 190. ...
That's an intriguing approach, but a caveat to consider, is that the major consideration is the region/geographic locale, and the specific place is secondary. For example, the Los Angeles basin is huge and variegated - from say Irvine in the south, the Oxnard in the northeast, to Riverside in the east. The difference between Santa Monica and El Monte are enormous, in terms of neighborhood feel. But the basics - taxes, weather, traffic, access to cultural amenities - isn't all that different. So, it's not all that crucial to converge upon one specific place. What is crucial is to pick (or to reject) LA in general. A detailed placefinder would be overkill.
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Old 08-07-2017, 12:39 PM
 
7 posts, read 4,126 times
Reputation: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by matisse12 View Post
Often what keeps people in a certain city or area during their working years is having a good job that pays well.

A greater number of younger people and middle-aged people are now moving around these days to various jobs in different geographic areas more than their parents and grandparents did.

Not sure why you use the word 'hate'. That's extreme and not accurate. Just because people want to try a different geographic area and a different city/town upon retirement does not mean that they 'hated' or even disliked where they spent their working years. They are just up for trying something new - some want different weather, some want mountains or the ocean or nature, some want a different city.

It's not always easy to find a good well-paying job in the place where you'd like to retire, and they became established in places according to where their job or jobs were found.
I agree with you and the OP to whom you were responding. The OP has his or her perfect place which is very cool and I totally agree with the concept of remaining where planted.

Having said that, I do not hate where I live, I simply think I may be able to find a place which I can enjoy more. At the very least I can enjoy the process of looking for a place I would enjoy more. I freely admit this is probably a function of my footloose career during which my family and I moved a lot so it was tough to put down roots.

An interesting aside - I was just reading in the WSJ that the mobility of the US population has declined significantly in recent years. Partly driven by the reluctance of businesses to lay off employees who would be difficult to replace in the current low employment environment. This is one of several reasons there is an imbalance in home sellers vs buyers. I suppose an increasing number of baby boomer retirees are also contributing to the trend.
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Old 08-07-2017, 01:11 PM
 
7 posts, read 4,126 times
Reputation: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by ohio_peasant View Post
That's an intriguing approach, but a caveat to consider, is that the major consideration is the region/geographic locale, and the specific place is secondary. For example, the Los Angeles basin is huge and variegated - from say Irvine in the south, the Oxnard in the northeast, to Riverside in the east. The difference between Santa Monica and El Monte are enormous, in terms of neighborhood feel. But the basics - taxes, weather, traffic, access to cultural amenities - isn't all that different. So, it's not all that crucial to converge upon one specific place. What is crucial is to pick (or to reject) LA in general. A detailed placefinder would be overkill.
I am not so sure I agree with you - full disclosure, I am an LA area native dislocated to the Bay Area. I think there is enough variation in LA places to warrant a drill down, but I do agree the "best places" tool would need to address "areas" in some fashion. This would probably get rid of the first 90% of places right off the bat. However, and this is the important however, there might be some surprises.

The challenge is unpacking the intricacies of locale: taxes, weather, medical care, politics, environmental quality, allergies...ALLERGIES! I would never have thought of that if a previous poster hadn't mentioned it and I had terrible allergies in New Mexico during the late summer. And the list goes on and on. Which is my basic point, there seem to be too many factors to adequately address them on a self help basis.

I assert the necessary data is now being collected via any number of mechanisms. If someone could find a way to consolidate it into a meaningful and living database they would have a goldmine and not just for people trying to find a best place to live.

By the way, this is something a dearly miss about working. The collaboration involved in creating something...or not creating it after a long whiteboard session
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