Anyone have a quandry over retirement

[brightdoglover]

If someone had a modest trailer for winter living in Florida, that isn't hurricane season. I assume it's empty during hurricane season. You could carry whatever insurance is available or worthwhile, and have a cheap place in Florida for the winter. There are many little parks with small trailers that are quite liveable versus buying a habitation (house or condo) for part-time.

[LibraGirl123]

Originally Posted by megonow

If I were you I'd do a trial run. Go South for 6 months but don't sell your place back home.

See if it's all it's cracked up to be and then decide what to do.

That's a REALLY good idea. One of the women I work with was being pressured by her husband to move down to Florida because they're both retired (although they occasionally work part-time). She didn't want to leave friends and family at home, so they decided to take a trip that lasted a couple of weeks. They came to a compromise...they'd keep their house up here, and rent something in Florida for January and February. Basically, her husband just wanted to escape the Northeastern winters.

[JudiPatooti]

There are soooooo many variables in what works for each individual couple, and probably in what works for each individual, period. So, I can only speak for my own experience......My DH retired 6 years ago and rather than make any decision about our lives right after his retirement I devised a "Five Year Plan" to stay put up North where we, our family, friends, and "home" had been for our entire lives up until that point in time. And, we owned a modest condo in FL that we wintered in and our kids and grands could visit. It was an ideal lifestyle for us. Due to the rapid price increases in FL homes we deviated from my plan and sold the Northern home along with the FL condo and bought a full-time residence in FL instead before the five years were up. That was in 2005.

I could kick myself for not following what had been my original and very wise "Five Year Plan"! Being a "hands on" part of my family, enjoying our young grandchildren and our kids, being a part of the social life I had with my lifelong friends up North, and the medical services I was comfortable with are all things I desperately miss. I have friends here in FL and we socialize often, but I always find that I feel as though I'm going through the motions in my life down here. I really feel like a fish out of water, a man (woman ) without a country, whatever--this place is never going to be HOME for me.

My DH is happy as a clam sitting at his computer down here with the windows open all day, however. I, on the other hand have begun renting a tiny apartment up North where I used to live and spend 4-6 summer months there. He visits for 2-3 months. It works, but it's not ideal. For us, without a doubt, snowbirding with the main residence being where we originally were planted up North was the best of all worlds.

For what it's worth, both my DH and I have observed that it's much more often that the women are not happy living away from "home" on a full-time basis, but the men are just fine and dandy doing that. So, to the OP I say do try some of the wonderful suggestions on this thread that advise "testing" out arrangements first and if you find one that may involve some compromise but that you're actually pretty happy with stick to it! Best of luck to you!!