Poll for Retirees: What's Most Important to a Successful Retirement?

[MichaelB]

Three choices are not enough. I also took health, family and money, and I agree that family and friends are kind of interchangeable.

[Khan]

Nothing is more important than money.

[GregLee]

I thought of choosing money, money, and money, because you know what they say about money buying happiness. But I wound up choosing money, health, and location, since those are the things I have.

[kumquat]

I chose:

1) Money: If you can't afford to do what you want, what is ER for?
2) Friends: This may or may not include family. You need people to do things with.
3) Activities: ER is about doing what you want. You need something you want to do, otherwise why not work?

I skipped:
- Family: Family are either friends or they aren't.
- Health: I've always been relatively healthy. If I had had health problems in the past, I might worry more about them in the future.
- Location: That's why God invented airplanes.
- Spiritual Life: Not sure what this means, so not included.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumquat I skipped - Location: That's why God invented airplanes.

I remember that after an airliner crashed, someone wrote that if God intended for people to fly, he would have given us wings.

[Meadbh]

I think location is important. But it's related to money. Quite often, the nicest places are the most expensive places in which to live. The nice places also have the best range of activities. If people care about location, either they have to move to the places they like, or visit them periodically. And that takes money.

It would appear that most retirees who answered do not rate location highly. I didn't vote, but I would have given it a medium high ranking, below health, money and friends.

[Moemg]

I take location for granted but after a short visit up north I realize that Florida does have many problems but weather is not one of them . It is so nice to see the sun shining and not deal with the gloom of winter .

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg I take location for granted but after a short visit up north I realize that Florida does have many problems but weather is not one of them . It is so nice to see the sun shining and not deal with the gloom of winter .

Gloom? WHAT gloom?

I'll be watching the weather very closely to compare East Nowhere (where I live now) to Further East Somewhere (possible relocation to NH or MA) in terms of sunshine/clouds and snowfall rates.
Call me crazy for remaining up north, but the Great Lakes (Ontario in my case) are a huge factor in the weather I have dealt with for 30 years. I drive east to Albany NY and it is a whole different ball game.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg ... I realize that Florida does have many problems but weather is not one of them.

You mean they got rid of the heat, humidity, hurricanes and bugs and mold that come with hot, humid weather?

To each their own, I'll take 4 seasons.

-ERD50

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 To each their own, I'll take 4 seasons. -ERD50

We have four seasons .
Fall - late October -mid December
Winter - late December - March
Spring - March -early April
Summer - mid April -October

The only difference is winter involves jeans & sweaters not boots & jackets and snowblowers.

[Midpack]

At the other extreme, what's the joke about inland Maine weather, '11 months of winter and 1 month of damn poor sledding...'

[veremchuka]

to each his own. i have been to flordia 3 times - 1975, 1988 and 2001 in west palm beach area and orlando. i hate flordia and wouldn't live there unless i grew tired of 4 seasons and especially winter which i like a lot more than summer. i hate heat, i detest humidity, 94 with a dew point of 45 is easier to tolerate than 83 when the dp is just 60 and forget higher. the water in flordia tastes and smells like sulfur. it was nice to see flowers and fruit trees blooming in november and the beaches were nice but that's about all i can remember from 3 trips that was not unpleasant! it's as flat as a board, the highest elevation is 28' above sea level! all the trees are tropical, maybe not up north but not where i was there were no oaks and maples just jungle shrubs.

i love winter and october is a great month as things cool down and we have nice foliage. november is great and until late february i'm thrilled. march is very depressing as winter is over and all i have to look forwards to is heat, humidity, bugs, noisy motorcycles to me summer just sucks and spring is no picnic either. but that's me and i realize a lot of people hate the cold and short days and snow, all the things i like.

[ScottFromUtah]

I voted Money, Health, and Activities, but I could/should have checked all of your choices. I love retirement because I don't have to worry about money, so that I could spend almost 24-7 with DW (and quality time with kids and grandkids), so that I could pursue my hobbies (running, triathlon, travel, photography, etc.), and so that I could do volunteer service. I LOVE retirement!

[SteveR]

I voted for Money, Health and Activities.

Money helps fund the other two.

Health is vital to activities. If you aren't blessed with a good body and good health then you have to rely on money to help create good health.

The activities I enjoy tend to require money to do at the level I want to do them. RVing, travel, scuba diving, photography, starting a business, etc.

There are simpler activities that require less money but my health prevents them to one degree or another so for me Money is number uno on my list.

[DeborahB]

I'm back after a 3-month (or so) hiatus... so much for retirement not being stressful!

I chose money, health and friends (in my mind, that includes family). I've had health problems so it's always on my mind, and one of the reasons I didn't post for a while.

Money made it possible for me to retire at 62 - and that's mostly money I earned and invested wisely if not conservatively. Location counts a lot - but I can't afford to move to either coast at this point. So I decided to go with what made sense to me now.

[ls99]

A good sense of humor.