Retire next year at 45?

[Golden sunsets]

Stuck; You mentioned Portland Me in your original post. Let me be the first to suggest that you further your investigation of the Portland suburbs as a possible relocation spot. DH and I relocated to the area in 1991 with our then 5 and 7 year olds. We relocated from a NJ suburb where the competitiveness factor was unbearable. All kids went to sleep away camp for the entire summer by the age of 8. DH commuted into Manhattan daily. His commute was 3.5 hours on a good day and there weren't that many good days. The play date and kid birthday party schedule required an electronic calendar. One day DH got home and informed me that he thought he was going to die in the Lincoln Tunnel. Fast forward 4 months and we were in a beautiful oceanfront community one town north of Portland. You would be the Jones in this town although it is affluent. A $900,000 home would most likely buy you an ocean view. The school system is ranked #242 on the U.S. NWR ranking. The next town north is ranked #238. There are three country clubs in our community and two ice arenas. The City of Portland is vibrant with a renowned "restaurant scene" with numerous James Beard award winners. Casco Bay is beautiful with many gorgeous islands, beaches, biking trails and green spaces. The arts scene is very lively. The mountains of New Hampshire and western Maine are only 1.5 hours away. Weekend hiking with our children was one of our favorite family activities. The local schools organize after school skiing on Wednesdays at a mountain only 45 minutes away. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods await those who don't want to be deprived of eclectic groceries. Boston is a reasonable 1.5 hour drive or two hour Amtrack train ride. I noticed that you have emphasized education so I would point out that the quality is superior here with AP/IB programs that will ensure your child's exposure to excellence. Our children were extremely well prepared for college and were accepted Early to their first choice schools(one an Ivy). The State College system is not good but Bowdoin, Bates and Colby are all within 30-45 minutes. This area should be on your short list.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup I think your worries about California is somewhat unfounded. All the cities you've listed are crazy expensive. There much nicer area and great school district. Much more laid back than La Jolla, Pacific Palisades, Laguna, Marin county. If you have relatives in California, it makes a lot more sense to move here. Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

You can be La Jolla "adjacent" for 900k or less. I know because I am. Carmel Valley is an excellent school district. University City has some of the better schools in San Diego Unified. It's a large district - so the neighborhood cluster is important since there's a wide performance gap within the district. Poway district is great, Scripps Ranch (also within San Diego unified), etc... all good schools. La Jolla itself has good schools - but again is part of the larger San Diego Unified district. Or, as I mentioned before, you can live anywhere in the San Diego Unified district and apply to have your kids attend the top rated San Diego High School International Studies magnet. (Which is what I'm doing, despite being in one of the better neighborhood clusters)

I have a great lifestyle in my La Jolla adjacent location - I take the dog for a daily walk on the La Jolla beaches - literally a 7 minute drive - but being on the east side of Mt. Soledad - much less morning fog/cloud cover. Some of my regulars I talk to on the beach are La Jolla locals who have the country club lifestyle (La Jolla Beach and Tennis club) if that's something you really want - but I choose to use public parks for those activities.

[2015maybetheyear]

You have many options and choices which is a blessing but makes choosing more difficult. As I wrote earlier I am in a similar situation facing similar decisions.

Some of the things I am thinking through as I try to choose include, in no particular order: weather, schools, cost of living/taxes, more urban vs more rural (and all that entails including healthcare, transportation, entertainment, access to outdoors, privacy, etc), proximity to family, etc. Often times for many cost of living and proximity to career are the key components but it sounds like OP and perhaps many of us on this board are able to consider a wider range of locations.

It would be helpful to hear from others (especially those with young children) what are the things they have prioritized and how they are thinking through or thought through the decision to relocate.

[StuckinCT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden sunsets Stuck; You mentioned Portland Me in your original post. Let me be the first to suggest that you further your investigation of the Portland suburbs as a possible relocation spot. DH and I relocated to the area in 1991 with our then 5 and 7 year olds. We relocated from a NJ suburb where the competitiveness factor was unbearable. All kids went to sleep away camp for the entire summer by the age of 8. DH commuted into Manhattan daily. His commute was 3.5 hours on a good day and there weren't that many good days. The play date and kid birthday party schedule required an electronic calendar. One day DH got home and informed me that he thought he was going to die in the Lincoln Tunnel. Fast forward 4 months and we were in a beautiful oceanfront community one town north of Portland. You would be the Jones in this town although it is affluent. A $900,000 home would most likely buy you an ocean view. The school system is ranked #242 on the U.S. NWR ranking. The next town north is ranked #238. There are three country clubs in our community and two ice arenas. The City of Portland is vibrant with a renowned "restaurant scene" with numerous James Beard award winners. Casco Bay is beautiful with many gorgeous islands, beaches, biking trails and green spaces. The arts scene is very lively. The mountains of New Hampshire and western Maine are only 1.5 hours away. Weekend hiking with our children was one of our favorite family activities. The local schools organize after school skiing on Wednesdays at a mountain only 45 minutes away. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods await those who don't want to be deprived of eclectic groceries. Boston is a reasonable 1.5 hour drive or two hour Amtrack train ride. I noticed that you have emphasized education so I would point out that the quality is superior here with AP/IB programs that will ensure your child's exposure to excellence. Our children were extremely well prepared for college and were accepted Early to their first choice schools(one an Ivy). The State College system is not good but Bowdoin, Bates and Colby are all within 30-45 minutes. This area should be on your short list.

Golden, many thanks for posting this information as my wife and I have considered Falmouth area for all of the reasons you listed above. I think the only downside to Portland ME area is the weather, it takes a looooong time for it to warm up that way. I am New Englander at heart and the good part is that the summers are beautiful up there unlike many areas that swelter. Some beautiful homes and the waterfront potential is extremely enticing. Great info thanks again.

[StuckinCT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup I think your worries about California is somewhat unfounded. All the cities you've listed are crazy expensive. There much nicer area and great school district. Much more laid back than La Jolla, Pacific Palisades, Laguna, Marin county. If you have relatives in California, it makes a lot more sense to move here. Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

I have to say, it is amazing the feedback I am getting on Cali, my wife and I started with that idea but we chickened out, maybe we should reconsider.

[StuckinCT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2015maybetheyear You have many options and choices which is a blessing but makes choosing more difficult. As I wrote earlier I am in a similar situation facing similar decisions. Some of the things I am thinking through as I try to choose include, in no particular order: weather, schools, cost of living/taxes, more urban vs more rural (and all that entails including healthcare, transportation, entertainment, access to outdoors, privacy, etc), proximity to family, etc. Often times for many cost of living and proximity to career are the key components but it sounds like OP and perhaps many of us on this board are able to consider a wider range of locations. It would be helpful to hear from others (especially those with young children) what are the things they have prioritized and how they are thinking through or thought through the decision to relocate.

maybeth, great points. The one point I have not emphasized enough is my wife's family who are in Eugene Oregon. The idea behind Portland area and Colorado is that you are only a car ride or short plane ride away. We also thought about Cali but the fear of top ticking the real estate market scared me away. We liked Ventura area, Westlake Village seemed the best fit. I have not looked into Northern California enough. Vermont and Maine are sort of the comfort zone choices, not far, familiar etc but I also would miss the seasons in a warm climate. I lived in Florida and it wore on me after three years. I like Oregon weather with less rain and gloom, but their summers are unreal. Colorado also has great weather, seasons but sun and a few mild days. Fort Collins has excellent swimming programs too. This is helping, appreciate it.

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by StuckinCT I have not looked into Northern California enough. Vermont and Maine are sort of the comfort zone choices, not far, familiar etc but I also would miss the seasons in a warm climate.

If you miss snow, in many places in Coastal California you can drive to the ski resorts in the mountains for a weekend or a day trip, well at least when there isn't a drought.

Here is a pleasant weather chart with one person's view of pleasant weather, if you want sunshine and mild temperatures year round:

kelly norton: The Pleasant Places to Live

[Travelwanted]

Can you clarify what parts of Cali you recommend, Rodi and the others?
We are in a similar situation.

Thanks!

[Fedup]

I like Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, but there are other new homes near by for South California, south of Laguna. For Northern California. Pleasanton, Danville, San Ramon. These are areas that I have researched before, nice decent not too pricey. But I'm sure it depends on the house size and yard, you could find house less than $ 1.7 million, most likely around $1.3 million for a nice, I last checked on redfin about 3000sqft+.
I don't know the San Diego area but I don't think they are as expensive as South Orange County and the Bay Area.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[rodi]

I have familiarity with San Diego county. My personal preference is for coastal or semi coastal - (less than 10 miles inland) for weather reasons.

If schools are your primary concern - look at Poway Unified schools - parts of Rancho Penasquitos are in PUSD, despite being in the city of San Diego - and are further west of Poway proper. I live in University City - a neighborhood just east of La Jolla. You won't find newer houses though. Our house was built in the 60's. Carmel Valley - just north of here, west of Rancho PQ, and east of Del Mar has excellent schools and newer housing stock. Carlsbad has good schools and lots of newer houses east of I-5, and older houses in "Old Carsbad" west of I-5. Encinitas has a lot of variety and good schools.

If you are willing to go the magnet or "choice" route for schools you can get a (relatively) huge bang for your buck in Clairemont... Older houses - but people are tearing them down and building larger McMansions to take advantage of canyon and Ocean views. Clairemont schools kind of suck, though. San Diego unified offers the option to apply to other school clusters - and it's a lottery. I have friends here in UC with their kids in the La Jolla cluster. As mentioned, we have our boys at the international baccalaureate magnet schools. It's a money vs hassle trade off. It is definitely more work for me getting my kids to/from a school 10 miles away vs 1 mile away.

[2015maybetheyear]

I would agree with the CA recommendations for Bay Area, OC, and SD. There are plenty of nice communities where one can get a nice family home in a neighborhood with good schools for about $1m or so. La Jolla, Pacific Palisades, Laguna Beach are just about some of the most expensive towns in CA, the US, and in the world, short of prime neighborhoods in major global cities such as NYC, London, etc. Those communities also generally have a lot of the types of current or retired finance, CEO, real estate developers, inherited wealth that seem to relish keeping up with the Joneses and have the net worths to play that game.

I've been interested in San Diego as the area seems more laid back and less focused on career/money than LA, Bay Area, and the OC. Don't get me wrong, there are still more than enough 1%'ers and the like but on a relative basis compared to the other geographies I think there are relatively more people who sacrificed career/money trade-offs for family and quality of life. Still somewhat of a rat race compared to perhaps a small town but much less of a rat race than other big cities in CA. Yet San Diego still has plenty of highly educated people with fairly decent sized biotech private/public and tech/comm sectors.

So my theory is that SD cost of living is somewhat lower (albeit still expensive compared to most of the rest of the US) than LA, Bay Area especially and quality life is arguably better (depending on what you are looking for--if you are looking for the latest hot restaurants then you are better off in LA or Bay Area--if you are looking for family activities, especially outdoors, then I think SD might be better). With your net worth I think you will be the Joneses in SD as a few have put it but even in areas like Danville, etc in the Bay Area you may be doing well but still feeling like it's a fairly big pond. Public schools are also definitely better in SD than LA (where many go private) and a few are probably about as good as the best in the Bay Area--especially given your price point you can buy in the neighborhoods with the best schools in SD whereas some of the neighborhoods with great schools in the Bay Area (such as Palo Alto) would be unaffordable.

[hnzw_rui]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi If schools are your primary concern - look at Poway Unified schools - parts of Rancho Penasquitos are in PUSD, despite being in the city of San Diego - and are further west of Poway proper. I live in University City - a neighborhood just east of La Jolla. You won't find newer houses though. Our house was built in the 60's. Carmel Valley - just north of here, west of Rancho PQ, and east of Del Mar has excellent schools and newer housing stock.

+1 if considering CA. I have grandparents who live in Rancho Penasquitos and it's a very nice area and the pace is pretty laid back compared to LA.

[OrcasIslandBound]

My sister lives in Danville. They have a nice house worth, I don't really know, maybe 1.5mil. She made the decision to send her kids to private school. Both her boys went to college and one has a PhD in physics and is now doing a postdoc at Stanford, the younger one is doing a PhD at Rice University.

I stand by my earlier statement, I would send any kids to private school today. Even the best of the public schools just aren't what they used to be.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

[Golden sunsets]

Quote:

Originally Posted by StuckinCT Golden, many thanks for posting this information as my wife and I have considered Falmouth area for all of the reasons you listed above. I think the only downside to Portland ME area is the weather, it takes a looooong time for it to warm up that way. I am New Englander at heart and the good part is that the summers are beautiful up there unlike many areas that swelter. Some beautiful homes and the waterfront potential is extremely enticing. Great info thanks again.

Yep; It sure is nice here in Falmouth. Re the weather, I honestly don't think it is much colder than in CT. The winters are perhaps a couple of weeks longer but the summer weather is so beautiful that it makes up for it. We have lived in the Los Angeles area as well as NJ and one of the joys of the Portland area is the lack of traffic congestion and air pollution.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup I like Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, but there are other new homes near by for South California, south of Laguna. For Northern California. Pleasanton, Danville, San Ramon. These are areas that I have researched before, nice decent not too pricey. But I'm sure it depends on the house size and yard, you could find house less than $ 1.7 million, most likely around $1.3 million for a nice, I last checked on redfin about 3000sqft+. I don't know the San Diego area but I don't think they are as expensive as South Orange County and the Bay Area. ....

Only $1.3 million for 3,000 sf... I'm surprised that people are not beating the doors down to move there.

[ElizabethT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrcasIslandBound My sister lives in Danville. They have a nice house worth, I don't really know, maybe 1.5mil. She made the decision to send her kids to private school. Both her boys went to college and one has a PhD in physics and is now doing a postdoc at Stanford, the younger one is doing a PhD at Rice University. I stand by my earlier statement, I would send any kids to private school today. Even the best of the public schools just aren't what they used to be. Sent from my Nexus 4 using Early Retirement Forum

This was not our experience. We selected our California city carefully, based primarily on its public school ranking, and its method of determining who has access to Honors and AP courses. These courses allow motivated students to find each other and engage in a very demanding learning environment that leaves them well prepared for college. I can point to former classmate after classmate of my children that went to top tier universities, then on to highly paying professions as a result. My own children as well. Both qualified for, and attended top tier universities based on their public school performance, moved on to graduate degrees, and now have well paying careers.

[TallTim]

We've lived in CA since '05 -- NorCal first and now SoCal since '08 -- all for work, pre FIRE. We expect to stay where we are until DD (class of 16) and DS (class of 17) finish high school and then we will likely move from our current place, but will almost certainly stay in CA.

In terms of cities around the Bay Area, I agree w the other comments that the East Bay areas are a good mix of (relative) affordability and close enough to take advantage of the benefits of Oakland and SF, particularly Pleasanton, Danville and also Concord, Walnut Creek and Lafayette. For a litte more $ you can also find great houses and the few good close-in public schools in Piedmont-Montclair. We looked for a house in Piedmont in 05, but couldn't find anything to buy and were in a mega-corp relocation program and didn't have a lot of time to be choosy. We ended up in Pleasanton b/c of commute time and schools and were happy with the choice.

As far as SoCal goes, we live in one of the so-called beach cities (Manhattan Beach) west of LA proper, and our schools are very good - but housing is very pricey. We chose it when we moved south based on work proximity (vs horrible LA traffic) and good public schools. Both DW and I went public schools and we wanted to send our kids to public school for lots of reasons.

In terms of SoCal cities, I agree with the comments about the mentioned places south of OC and north of SD, but would also add consideration for places like Playa Del Rey, Palos Verdes and even El Segundo in the LA area. Further north, you might like San Luis Obispo and the towns adjacent to Big Sur; the further north that way you go, the more isolated, but more house for your money.

[daylatedollarshort]

I think with K-12 and colleges, and having to move near a good feeder school for a good college you have to consider what is your own personal definition of a good college. Some possible criteria may include:

The ones with the best:
Luxury brand marketing departments
Highest salaries post college
Lowest cost
Best lowest tuition cost per starting salary ratio
Best offering of STEM majors
School where your kids can be the smartest kid in the class or a face in the crowd
Have homework all weekend in K-12
Best local weather and scenery
Have a shot at big law or Supreme court justice
Highest rates of depression from the intense pressure
Learn to be the most altruistic or the most materialistic
Get a job post college and be financially self supporting
Get the best internships
Acquire the most useful skill sets
Is in a city that makes snobby city lists
Can get the best GPA
Most diversity

Based on their data analysis Google doesn't even care about college degrees any longer, let alone school choice:
Why Google doesn't care about college degrees, in 5 quotes | VentureBeat | Education | by Gregory Ferenstein

With our own kids we did will on some of the factors above, and made some mistakes by having our kids attend schools where the general focus didn't always align with our own family values. What really helped for college was focusing on the payscale salary by college, salary by major and net tuition cost reports and factors like diversity. Now there is also the college scorecard:

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/

[Texan1636]

I loved this post and the responses. As the OP knows (he commented on my revived thread in this forum in the last week or so), I am in a similar net worth situation, but I'm slightly older and we are empty-nesters. Interestingly, we raised our child in a highly affluent neighborhood in our city, and our child attended a prestigious private school from pre-K through 12th grade. I'm sure the peer pressure was not exactly the same as certain communities in CT, but there certainly were classmates whose families had private jets and there were a good deal of "new money-type" behaviors. I guess we were very fortunate that our child seems well-grounded and doesn't feel entitled. Our child understood that I had a very high income; we lived well but certainly not over the top by the standards of where we lived and where our child went to school - we emphasized saving and having enough to retire at a relatively young age. You just never know, I suppose. You do your best, but with kids I think there is a big element of "nature" as well as "nurture" in terms of what they will be like as adults.

[StuckinCT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort I think with K-12 and colleges, and having to move near a good feeder school for a good college you have to consider what is your own personal definition of a good college. Some possible criteria may include: The ones with the best: Luxury brand marketing departments Highest salaries post college Lowest cost Best lowest tuition cost per starting salary ratio Best offering of STEM majors School where your kids can be the smartest kid in the class or a face in the crowd Have homework all weekend in K-12 Best local weather and scenery Have a shot at big law or Supreme court justice Highest rates of depression from the intense pressure Learn to be the most altruistic or the most materialistic Get a job post college and be financially self supporting Get the best internships Acquire the most useful skill sets Is in a city that makes snobby city lists Can get the best GPA Most diversity Based on their data analysis Google doesn't even care about college degrees any longer, let alone school choice: Why Google doesn't care about college degrees, in 5 quotes | VentureBeat | Education | by Gregory Ferenstein With our own kids we did will on some of the factors above, and made some mistakes by having our kids attend schools where the general focus didn't always align with our own family values. What really helped for college was focusing on the payscale salary by college, salary by major and net tuition cost reports and factors like diversity. Now there is also the college scorecard: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/

This is a good question. Although many of our friends have Ivy League degrees, my wife is a UConn grad and I graduated from Farfield U, which is a good regional college. My feeling is unless you get into one of the top liberal arts colleges such as Middlebury, Williams or an Ivy, I think saving the money at a good state school for postgrad is probably the way to go. California and New York probably have the widest selection of state schools, which was one of the main reasons I started looking at Cali. I think I should revisit it.