Tim in Santa Cruz, Ca Almost ready to retire.

[tfloto]

My wife and I are planning on retiring at the end of 2016. We can't afford to retire here (way too expensive) so I am looking at Charleston S.C. among other places. We need to be near the ocean. Also not liking cold winters. We've lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Nice, but cold winters.
Any suggestions on where else are welcome and appreciated.
Cheers,
Tim

 

[mpeirce]

Charleston is a nice city but the summers are quite hot and humid - quite different from Santa Cruz.

Spend some time there in the summer before you decide anything.

 

[Urchina]

Hi, Tim. You might also take a look up the Coast -- near Bandon, OR. Warmer area than its latitude might suggest, and fine for folks who are FIRE (not a lot of economic opportunity up there).

 

[tfloto]

So my retirement income will be somewhat limited. I'm estimating $4500/month living and health. And $1500 month travel, entertainment and dining. I wont have a mortgage payment but will have taxes and insurance.
Our kids are scattered so we'll need to be near a good airport. Also at some point we'll need to worry about health care, so medical facilities are a consideration.

 

[Souschef]

Tim,
Come down south to Ventura County. It is the best kept secret on the Central Coast We are an hour drive from Burbank Airport, hour and a half from LAX, 45 minutes to Santa Barbara.
We live in a nice senior park, and rent and utilities is about $800 a month

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Pensacola Florida is lovely, inexpensive, on the coast and has excellent medical care. It is, however, hotter (and more humid) than blazes in the summertime. You wouldn't have to worry about cold winters though- they golf year round.

 

[VFK57]

Welcome to the Forum. Santa Cruz is very beautiful city but surely expensive to live in. Yet you cannot find a better than California climate. Florida is also warm but much more humid. Have you considered small central Valley towns like Patterson? Housing prices there still did not recover from 2008 crises and cost of living is lower than SF Bay Area.

 

[pb4uski]

Have you tried Find Your Spot?

 

[jw72]

Find Your Spot requires way to much information for me. Why do they need my email? spam? No thanks

 

[latexman]

Everyone needs a legitimate, "burner" e-mail account for such purposes.

 

[brucethebroker]

DW and I live in Indiana, and have a vacation home in SW FL. People in FL complain about how hot and humid it is in late summer, but summers in Indiana are no picnic either. We are considering moving to FL and selling up north. Having researched the topic, it is cheaper to rent in the far north, or mountains (to avoid the heat) in the summer, than to spend winters in FL.

In addition to not having a state income tax, the property taxes are reasonable in FL (and can be capped for residents), and we have very inexpensive electric bills in SWFL. The food and gasoline is about 10% more expensive. Homes are still reasonable, but are increasing again. Traffic is horrible in the winter, but you learn to drive at the "down" times. We like it.

 

[ttvjef]

Hello Tim,
I certainly like your first destination. Charleston is a lovely, historic, active area. Lots to see and do. Maybe a bit pricey though. We are looking into that area. One location Mt. Pleasant is growing to be the in place these days as far as I can tell. I share your concerns about expense in that I live in a South Jersey town and our expenses, especially taxes are quit high,so we will be planning our escape from the winter and costs, over the next few years. SC, FL, NC are the destination options so far. We plan to spend a few weeks road tripping to various locations to get a feel to see if it right for us. Best of luck finding your happy place

 

[EastWest Gal]

The requirement of being near the ocean in the east is limiting and does put you in the path of coastal flooding and hurricanes.

Consider slightly inland. I moved from Silicon Valley to central PA 17 years ago and I love it here. Harrisburg has a decent airport and we're 2 hrs from 3 hub airports and 3 hrs from NYC. Dulles has nonstop flights to the west coast. We have water everywhere, many creeks have kayakers in the summer.

Cost of living is low and there are many 55 and over developments if you don't want to deal with yard care.

It can get cold in the winter, but not like Wisconsin!


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[braumeister]

Find Your Spot requires way to much information for me. Why do they need my email? spam? No thanks

Whenever I use one of those informational sites that requires an email, my first try is to use a phony one, like jack@sprat.com. Nine times out of ten, it's accepted and I'm allowed on to the results page.