Has anyone considered retiring to the town you grew up in?

[Pbkmaine]

This must be the first time that sentence has ever been written.

"Is this Heaven?" "No, it's Iowa."

 

[ivinsfan]

I didn't mean to offend you or anyone else. It was just my experience and in the small town in southern Minnesota where I grew up, heavy drinking was IMO very prominent, and started very young. You can disagree if your experience was different but it does not make my experience wrong or change the advice I would give to OP. YMMV.

No worries, I'm not offended, just had a completely different experience in this state and think both sides should be considered. Didn't say you were wrong either, yet I wonder if the whole town really was full of heavy drinkers.

You can find non drinkers and heavy drinkers in just about every town in this county I would imagine.

 

[photoguy]

I recently visited my home town, which is Scarborough, (a suburb of Toronto) and I thought to myself when did it become a dump? It seemed so much better when I was growing up.

I asked my friends about this and basically they told me it was always a dump and never really changed.

 

[old woman]

No worries, I'm not offended, just had a completely different experience in this state and think both sides should be considered. Didn't say you were wrong either, yet I wonder if the whole town really was full of heavy drinkers.

You can find non drinkers and heavy drinkers in just about every town in this county I would imagine.

I worked in Anchorage in a mental hospital and some small rural villages were snowed in all winter. They would fly in enough booze to last the winter then have nothing else to do until spring and couldn't go anywhere. If someone was alcoholic they had almost no chance of not drinking in the winter. The same people showed up in the spring for rehab every year, sobered up but couldn't handle winter snowed in with booze. Anchorage wasn't like that even in the coldest winter because you could live the way you wanted and social events weren't all with drinking. I didn't drink at all and didn't go where people did, I don't think it is weather as much as isolation with drinkers.

 

[2035]

My hometown is San Francisco, so only if I win the lottery.


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[Dawg52]

Other than a 2 year job stint in another town, I never really left. I found a good job here so I took it. Wasn't looking to move back, but the job just fell into my lap. I have sometimes thought about what life would have been like moving to another area of the country. I guess we all day dream about living elsewhere.

If I were the OP and tired of living in DC, I would explore all my options. Moving back home might be a decent move to make, but I would keep all options on the table. Take your time.

 

[Turn_the_Page]

Thought about it, yes. Done it, heck no. Too many extended family members there that I do not enjoy being around. Plus, they're like bloodhounds if they get any whiff of $$. No thank you. Left in 1979 and haven't been back much at all since both parents passed. You can't go back, in my opinion.

As others have stated, if the PRESENT town works for your needs, then consider it.

Iowa, LOL. Spent nine LONG years there, OK for the natives not for transplants.

 

[Backdraft57]

My DW and I are in the city we grew up in. We can't wait to leave. We both have said we don't want to die here. We moved away for 10 years but had to move back for work, promotions and politics. To many bad memories in our current town where we grew up so the house is going up for sale next spring. You probably have some fond memories that account for the pull back to home? Rent there a while before making the move. We are looking around the US now and will rent a place for a while before we make the big jump.


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[ExFlyBoy5]

This brings up an interesting point. My Dad has mentioned that most of the folks he grew up with that stayed in their hometown didn't amount to a hill of beans but those that left did much better for themselves. He also mentioned that with all the HS reunions they had (the last one was 50 years, I think), a larger percentage of the "stayed home" crowd had died than those that had moved away.

In my own life, just about *everyone* I know who didn't leave haven't been very successful in life; in spite of living in a metropolitan area of 5 million people. But those that *did* move away have done quite well for themselves.

 

[MRG]

This brings up an interesting point. My Dad has mentioned that most of the folks he grew up with that stayed in their hometown didn't amount to a hill of beans but those that left did much better for themselves. He also mentioned that with all the HS reunions they had (the last one was 50 years, I think), a larger percentage of the "stayed home" crowd had died than those that had moved away.

In my own life, just about *everyone* I know who didn't leave haven't been very successful in life; in spite of living in a metropolitan area of 5 million people. But those that *did* move away have done quite well for themselves.

That was very true for my parents too. Of course where they were from wasn't a good place for opportunities. The health conditions there were pretty awful too. The town reaked of burning coal from the mine fires. No place I'd like to live.

 

[Pbkmaine]

For me, it's become more people than place. I still have close friends from high school and college, but they have scattered to the four winds. One of the reasons we moved to this location in Florida is that we have close friends here. They linked us into their friend network. So we moved to a strange place but are not surrounded by strangers.

 

[athena53]

This brings up an interesting point. My Dad has mentioned that most of the folks he grew up with that stayed in their hometown didn't amount to a hill of beans but those that left did much better for themselves. He also mentioned that with all the HS reunions they had (the last one was 50 years, I think), a larger percentage of the "stayed home" crowd had died than those that had moved away.

That IS interesting. The area where I was raised depended heavily on the steel industry and other manufacturing (Hoover and Goodyear were in the vicinity, for example). Those jobs are gone. I would certainly never have been able to launch a career as an actuary there.

I was surprised at the number of locals who didn't show up at my reunions. There's a good core group that gets together periodically and they do all of the planning, but I've been to a couple of gatherings so far where people I knew were in the area didn't show up, but those of us scattered around the country did. I think that's partly a function about how you feel about where you are in life.

 

[GreatLaker]

I am a couple of years younger than the OP and plan to move to my home town when I retire next year. I moved to Toronto to go to university from a city in Ontario that's about 50% bigger than Saint Cloud. There are times I have loved it, and other times not so much. I never saw the career opportunities in my profession if I had moved back while working.

What I really miss and am looking forward to is the easy to access outdoor activities that are so hard to do in a city of 2.5 million. I have some relatives back there, and over the past 5 or so years have visited regularly and cultivated friends, with whom I often discuss retirement activities. I am sure I will miss the activities and culture of living downtown in a big city. But I have reasons to move, and a plan for what to do when I get there.

My parents, on the other hand, talked about moving to my Dad's home town in a resort area of Ontario when they retired. They never did, I think because for them, why uproot themselves from friends, relatives, church, a beautiful home and other activities for a romantic dream. Horses for courses.

I would not move on a whim, or just because of dissatisfaction with your current life, without good evaluation of why you want to move, and more importantly what you will do when you get there.

 

[gcgang]

I grew up in Flint, Michigan. Now I live on Maui. Next question.

 

[Forced to Retire]

When I return to my old home town (Saint Cloud MN), and look around and talk to the people, and observe the scene, I feel comfortable. The social culture feels good. The look of the place seems comfortable and familiar. People interact with each other in a typical Minnesota way.

25 years + in the Washington DC area and I still feel like an outsider. It does not feel like the America I grew up in. It's harsh and foreign. You can return home again- I hope.

 

[ziggy29]

No, I grew up in Silicon Valley where a starter home is $700,000 in a mediocre neighborhood. I may return to the west coast within a few hours' drive of family, friends and old haunts we left behind there, but not right in the midst of it all. It's too crowded and traffic-addled to move back as a retiree even if it were cheaper.

 

[ivinsfan]

When I return to my old home town (Saint Cloud MN), and look around and talk to the people, and observe the scene, I feel comfortable. The social culture feels good. The look of the place seems comfortable and familiar. People interact with each other in a typical Minnesota way.

25 years + in the Washington DC area and I still feel like an outsider. It does not feel like the America I grew up in. It's harsh and foreign. You can return home again- I hope.

In this case you should have no qualms about leaving the area when you are no longer tied down by a lease. Be sure this isn't just an dream about escaping an unpleasant situation before you spend money relocating. Since you are keeping your credit clean by fulfilling your lease you can buy a home in a small town close to St Cloud for a great price that will help you lower your yearly expenses.

 

[Persn]

When I return to my old home town (Saint Cloud MN), and look around and talk to the people, and observe the scene, I feel comfortable. The social culture feels good. The look of the place seems comfortable and familiar. People interact with each other in a typical Minnesota way.

25 years + in the Washington DC area and I still feel like an outsider. It does not feel like the America I grew up in. It's harsh and foreign. You can return home again- I hope.

In that case you should definitely give it a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[Just_Steve]

I spent 3 weeks in St Cloud w*rk related a few years ago, some of the nicest and down to earth folks I have ever met in my life.
Funny story about that trip, some of the people were not to happy because they were still golfing at the end of November instead of ice fishing, warm winter.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

Funny story about that trip, some of the people were not to happy because they were still golfing at the end of November instead of ice fishing, warm winter.

Funny, my Dad spent some time there on business, and he said the same. Folks had lots of expensive snow-machines and cross-country ski gear that they were mad they couldn't use because they had such a mild winter.

 

[Dash man]

Nothing worth going back to Southern California for. Too many less crowded and less expensive places to live where people prefer to stay out of other people's business.


Enjoying life!

 

[ccourt9283]

Not no, but H_ll no!

 

[Souschef]

I grew up on 198 st and Valentine Ave, where did you?

I grew up near Parkchester -near Bruckner Blvd and White Plains Road

 

[Just_Steve]

I grew up near Parkchester -near Bruckner Blvd and White Plains Road

Cool, last place I lived in Da Bronx was Tremont a few blocks west of the Bruckner. Worked on Zerega Ave for a few years.

 

[FIREd]

We will be moving back soon to the city where my wife grew up (southeastern US). We both like the area and have a good social network there. But my wife feels like there is a stigma associated with "going home" - as in it is a sign that one has failed in life.

I have so such qualm. Would I move back to my own hometown? Absolutely. It is located in a beautiful part of the world (the Alps) and my family has lived there for generations. It will always be my one true home, the one place where I belong no questions asked. I own a condo and spend several weeks per year in my hometown and I never tire of it. We might even make it our primary residence in the future.