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OT - Retirement Question

GoUconn7961

GoUconn7961

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I know this is a weird question but I'll ask it anyway. I'm a few years away from retirement but I constantly get asked where I want to move when I retire. I have no idea. Is it bad to stay in CT? I don't like the heat, but I also don't love the cost of living or taxes in CT. If I did move I'd go north. Any suggestions?? I'm alone so I'd need a place I could make friends.
 
Ever live in the west?? St George, Utah is a place I've always liked - its in the desert, hot but dry - lots of retirees in the area - great jumping off point for hiking, rafting, photography etc.
 
pinotbear said:
just moved to northern New Mexico last year - although quite warm and dry, due to elevation, you do have 4 seasons. And, the scenery is just stunning, and the microbrew scene is excellent.
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I'm headed to that area in a few weeks.........love to hike and do photography there........ :D:D:D I got lost in the Bisti Badlands last year.......what a crazy, and wonderful, place it is.
 
When we retired we knew we could not stay in CT. Taxes and other fees were too much. The cold was finally getting to me. My wife has always been cold. We started looking in 2013. First consideration was income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. Then climate followed by housing prices/ cost of living and recreational areas.

Put our house on the market in 2014. Started looking - Carolinas, Tennessee, Arizona (had a time share there) and Florida. Many plane trips to a whole lot of 55+ communities. Paired our list down. Decided on central Florida (Disney World for the grand kids). Took a few trips down to visit several communities and surrounding areas. List down 2 five.

House finally sold on July 1, 2016 - 23 months and 7 price drops. No housing market recovery were we lived - northern Fairfield county. Furniture and stuff in storage, moved in the with our sons and families. They were glad to have us! Arranged to see houses/ communities with our Florida realtor. Saw 5 communities and 21 houses in 2 days. Made our decision, put in the bid and had a deal within 24 hours.

Now I'm not a hot weather fan but Florida has been a delight! Not as humid in the summer as people say. But look at it this way - up north in the winter you go from heated house to heated car to heated building. In Florida in the summer you go from AC house to AC car to AC building. Our community has over 225 clubs to join, 2 golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball courts, 2 amenities centers (3rd one being built), 12 pools around the community and a village center. We also have 3 restaurants on the property plus a good size ballroom. At least two concerts per month in the ballroom. And its not The Villages! Couldn't pay me to live there!

Plenty of new friends for all. No regrets at all on our part.
 
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Scud49 said:
Ever live in the west?? St George, Utah is a place I've always liked - its in the desert, hot but dry - lots of retirees in the area - great jumping off point for hiking, rafting, photography etc.
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I expect my brother will be chiming in if he sees this thread..he and his wife retired to St. George a few years ago and love it there.
 
You might want to check out Northern Nevada if you don't want the heat. There are many small cities and towns, or you could live in the Reno area, but that is a little on the high side costs wise. Nevada also has NO State income tax, so you don't get Burned like you do in other states.
 
We moved to the beautiful and historic city of Savannah, Ga when I retired. Great weather, great golf, different culture. After three years we missed being around people we understood( in more ways than one), and moved back to the northeast and New England. I think it's hard to move to somewhere that is so very different than what you may have experienced for much of your life. But that was, perhaps, just our experience in moving where we did. That said, not happy about 12"(or more) of stuff coming tomorrow, especially after being on the links here in Western Mass. today.
 
Quito, Ecuador...oldest city in the Americas...breathtakingly gorgeous scenery. Almost perfect climate...70's daytime, 50's at night, all year because it's on the Equator. Ecuador is rated one of the 10 best retirement destination countries in the world. I had a client who lived in Quito for several years and he raved about it. The cost of living is dirt cheap. You can live like a king or queen on very little money. Only drawback is the elevation...it's over 9,000 feet high in the Andes. Not for anybody with respiratory issues.
 
Obviously, Tucson would not be for you - the heat. But NJ was too expensive and too cold, and Tucson was the place we fell in love with.

Two considerations to remember -

1 - WBB (college sports in general, really) - if you are a big fan. Yes, you can follow UConn on TV, but it is nice to have a decent college program in the area. We have U of A, while WBB isn't there yet, it is "real" college sports. And yes, we have 2 retired UConn fans that are faithful WBB attendees.

2 - Medical facilities - depending, obviously on your health and health expectations. But my wife has an illness and we wanted the access to university medicine. As an unexpected bonus, as her health has deteriorated, she has gotten into the liver transplant program at the Mayo Clinic a couple hours up the road in Phoenix.
 
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Go to Montana and become RockyMTBlue2's neighbor. Look how you would spend your winters out there. :D

But on the subject of whether to leave CT or not, you did say you're alone. Only you know what your situation is, do you have a retirement IRA, get a pension, Social Security...or other income? If you can't make ends meet then your decision is made for you.
 
So, if someone did want the warmth, do any of our Floridian Huskies have anything to say about Jacksonville vs Tampa? My husband and I are starting to look. We’d continue working so we’re interested in job prospects, etc, as well as the social aspects.
 
My wife and I are having this conversation now. Most likely 3+ seasons in either northern Wisconsin (think forests and lakes) or Minnesota, part of winter either traveling or at least in warmer climes. Personally, I like the southwest - particularly areas in New Mexico - but I don't think I could take it year round.
 
Greenville South Carolina. Beautiful with plenty to do. Great Restaurants, Off Broadway road shows. In the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. Moderate temps all year. One of the top 10 cities in America. #yeahthatgreenville
 
When I retired from the Marine Corps in 91, I settled on a property my father purchased during the Great Depression in 1930 located in Northeastern New Mexico. I turned this into a working property producing hay (don't laugh), and cattle for wholesale and retail sale. Because my son, grandson, and his wife live in the San Antonio area of Texas, I purchased a home there as well to visit on a regular basis. I also take advantage of the VA in San Antonio which is affiliated with the University of Texas Medical School and Center.

I would encourage folks to "Retire" but also keep themselves active by finding something enjoyable and productive to do to make life more interesting what ever that may be. For me, it is my ranch which now produces 1000 acres of hay (most of which goes out of state to horse ranches in Florida), 500 head of cattle and leases for natural gas.

Most important, I love the outdoors. I have herds of elk and mule deer in the winter and wild horses all year round. That's where some of my hay goes. And, I love the adventure of visiting my land enjoying its grandeur and majesty.
 
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We moved from Arizona, which is a fine place to which you can retire, to Florida, primarily because I really wanted to be near the ocean. So we live in a coastal community in a region that is called the Treasure Coast, consisting of Vero Beach (where we soon will be living), Fort Pierce (where we live now), Port St. Lucie and Stuart. We chose this area because it was on the East Coast -- which we decided we wanted -- and it was not overly built up, retaining at least a few vestiges of Old Florida. We were not going to move near Orlando. The traffic is miserable and unless you are living a planned community, it just doesn't strike us as an attractive place to be. (And it's not the presence of the theme parks that turns us off. We're Disney season passholders).

Also, I am not a fan of much of coastal Florida because of the relentless line of high-rise condos that line many of the beaches. We had friends who were first-time visitors to a beach on the north central east coast. It got to be noon and they noticed everyone leaving, and asked why. Turns out the sun goes behind the high-rises, and the beach is left in mostly shade. Sorry, that is not my idea of fun. Nor is it my idea of proper zoning, but that's another discussion

So we live in a 55+ community in a smaller town that has a fabulous farmer's market right on the waterfront. There's a state park where I've seen manatees, dolphins, pelicans catching fish, tortoises and a variety of other wildlife, some human, and the beach is crowded maybe 10 days a year. We're moving to Vero, which is a larger town with better shopping, because we've decided that 55+ park living is not for us. That's another discussion, and if you want to know the pros and cons of it, PM me and I'll tell you both.

Where we live, because buildings are lower and there are fewer big ones, the shade problem is nonexistent. Medical care is suspect here, because hospitals are small, but we can get to Orlando or West Palm Beach if we need more sophisticated stuff. We also noticed that while properties are considerably cheaper here than in AZ, the cost of food is not, and the quality of fruits and vegetables is lower. My theory is that because there are only two major supermarket chains here (as opposed to four where we lived in AZ), they can pretty much do what they want, price-wise. This may not be a consideration for someone moving from CT.
 
When I'm retired. I want to live under a rock. :)
But seriously, I'm working to get a TC, throw it on the back of my pickup.
I'll be traveling from camp site to camp site during the Winter.
For the Summer time I really don't know yet.
But, I heard there's a place in AZ that's is very high in elevation that is doable to live not to hot. I'll be interested to check it out. I can't think of a name right now.
 
Hongster said:
When I'm retired. I want to live under a rock. :)
But seriously, I'm working to get a TC, throw it on the back of my pickup.
I'll be traveling from camp site to camp site during the Winter.
For the Summer time I really don't know yet.
But, I heard there's a place in AZ that's is very high in elevation that is doable to live not to hot. I'll be interested to check it out. I can't think of a name right now.
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Flagstaff
 
UConnNick said:
Quito, Ecuador...oldest city in the Americas...breathtakingly gorgeous scenery. Almost perfect climate...70's daytime, 50's at night, all year because it's on the Equator. Ecuador is rated one of the 10 best retirement destination countries in the world. I had a client who lived in Quito for several years and he raved about it. The cost of living is dirt cheap. You can live like a king or queen on very little money. Only drawback is the elevation...it's over 9,000 feet high in the Andes. Not for anybody with respiratory issues.
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My son was down there last year for a few months, studying abroad. He said there is a decent amount of American ex-pats down there. And he loved the area.
 
People always worry about taxes and cost of living and ..., but I think the first question to ask is 'do you like where you live now and do you have good friends and a good support group around you.' The grass is not always greener, and the cost of living isn't usually that important unless you're talking trying to live in SF or NYC. It is a lot easier keeping friends than building new relationships, especially with no work environment to help promote them.

And in a lot of cases you end up paying the same in the end - I lived in FL with zero income tax but got nailed in property taxes sales taxes and insurance premiums, so unless I was making a lot of money each year it was probably the same as living in CT and paying the income tax.

As far as the NE, if cost of living is your thing, NH with no sales tax nor income tax is the first choice if you like winter weather.
 
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HuskyNan said:
So, if someone did want the warmth, do any of our Floridian Huskies have anything to say about Jacksonville vs Tampa? My husband and I are starting to look. We’d continue working so we’re interested in job prospects, etc, as well as the social aspects.
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Nan - we live about 1.5 hours from Tampa/ St. Pete/ Clearwater and about 2+ from Jacksonville. Been to both. We prefer the Tampa area. First, weather is warmer year round than Jacksonville. Tampa is also on the Gulf coast and not the East coast. Warmer waters year round. Since its Florida, hurricanes are a major concern. Tampa does not have as many hurricanes as the east coast - from lifetime Floridians. We've only experienced two - Matthew and Irma. If you are a sports fan, Tampa has it all over Jacksonville. Tampa Bay Bucs for the NFL, Tampa Bay Rays for baseball, Tampa Lighting for hockey and of course USF for college sports. There is a very rich baseball history and traditions in Tampa. Tampa has a lot of "tourist" attractions and we hear the night life/ restaurants is excellent. When in Tampa, you have to visit Ybor City - built on the cigar industry and populated by Cubans, Spanish and Italians immigrants during its formative years. Obviously, if you are a golfer there is no shortage of public and private golf courses.

Housing depends on the neighborhoods you look in and whether you like a regular neighborhood or a 55+ neighborhood/ community. I would definitely recommend have a local realtor. We did and it was well worth it! Can't speak to job prospects as we have created our own within our community and local area. Enjoy the search!
 
GoUconn7961 said:
I know this is a weird question but I'll ask it anyway. I'm a few years away from retirement but I constantly get asked where I want to move when I retire. I have no idea. Is it bad to stay in CT? I don't like the heat, but I also don't love the cost of living or taxes in CT. If I did move I'd go north. Any suggestions?? I'm alone so I'd need a place I could make friends.
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Would suggest first focusing on how much you value friendships and how you would make new friends. Will help decide if you need to move to a community style neighborhood. Too many retirees move to resort style areas and find they are in 2nd home communities where folks leave much of year. Colorado Springs is an option no one has mentioned with great all year round temperatures. I would be there but wife wants beach. Amelia Island, FL, Wilmington, NC, and Hilton Head/Bluffton, SC are all east coast areas worth a look. Generally good weather and summers a good excuse to go to Maine or NH for a few weeks.
 
veryolddog said:
When I retired from the Marine Corps in 91, I settled on a property my father purchased during the Great Depression in 1930 located in Northeastern New Mexico. I turned this into a working property producing hay (don't laugh), and cattle for wholesale and retail sale. Because my son, grandson, and his wife live in the San Antonio area of Texas, I purchased a home there as well to visit on a regular basis. I also take advantage of the VA in San Antonio which is affiliated with the University of Texas Medical School and Center.

I would encourage folks to "Retire" but also keep themselves active by finding something enjoyable and productive to do to make life more interesting what ever that may be. For me, it is my ranch which now produces 1000 acres of hay (most of which goes out of state to horse ranches in Florida), 500 head of cattle and leases for natural gas.

Most important, I love the outdoors. I have herds of elk and mule deer in the winter and wild horses all year round. That's where some of my hay goes. And, I love the adventure of visiting my land enjoying its grandeur and majesty.
Expand ...

As Dr. Phil might say, "You've made some really good life decisions."

dr phil.jpg

Taking care of mind, body and spirit. Got all your bases covered--that is the way to do it.
 
Last year when I wrote a larger check to CT than the Feds for income tax, I said to the wife, "I'm going to FL, you coming?" It's a decision I have not regretted. Bought a new home in a Venice planned community and loving it. I work at a golf course three days a week (18-20 hrs) to keep busy and free golf. Life could not be better. I do miss the grandkids but facetime takes care of that somewhat.
Look into taxes and health care when thinking of moving. I had to change Medicare supplement but it does cover me in CT when visiting (still Aetna and same rate). Property taxes are much lower, driver lic and car reg are cheap here. But food is a bit higher. Water & sewer and power are cheaper. Good Luck.
 
UcMiami said:
People always worry about taxes and cost of living and ..., but I think the first question to ask is 'do you like where you live now and do you have good friends and a good support group around you.' The grass is not always greener, and the cost of living isn't usually that important unless you're talking trying to live in SF or NYC. It is a lot easier keeping friends than building new relationships, especially with no work environment to help promote them.

And in a lot of cases you end up paying the same in the end - I lived in FL with zero income tax but got nailed in property taxes sales taxes and insurance premiums, so unless I was making a lot of money each year it was probably the same as living in CT and paying the income tax.

As far as the NE, if cost of living is your thing, NH with no sales tax nor income tax is the first choice if you like winter weather.
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I've thought a lot about this too. My house has been paid off for years and it's a two family that generates income for me - plus I own my mother's condo so when she passes I'll have that too. I am 56, alone and still working a full-time job so I was just throwing things out for ideas and wow everyone came up with great ones! I've been to most of the places mentioned. I am looking at New Hampshire, Maine, and upstate NY near Watkins Glen. I'd actually like to move near an animal/farm sanctuary where I could volunteer every day.
 
I have been retired a few years and it looks like I am sticking in CT. Family isnt the issue as it is spread out. But I have a paid-off house I like and some very good friends here. I like the QOL here even if the costs are higher. Just comfortable here, have supports and interests (horse!).
Some former coworkers urge me to join them in a retirement community in Florida. But then they post about their shuffleboard tourneys and other activities that do not interest me at all. And I guess I would rather deal with the cold here than more heat and humidity down south (though I wont go North for more cold/snow!)
 
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