Retire in Minnesota

[rodi]

I could see myself spending 181 days a year there, maybe a bit more. There is no place better to be than SW FL in the winter. Tomorrow here it will not even be above 0.

I can't agree with that statement. There are so many places I'd rather be than SW FL in the winter... including right where I am.

But I'm biased having grown up in near perfect temps of San Diego.

My 12 yo complained over Christmas break (it was cold - in the 30's overnight) that it was out of the temperature band allowed in San Diego. True San Diego natives (like himself and me) only tolerate 70-75 degrees... year round. For the record - it's 49 outside at 8:10am - but due to hit 80 today.

 

[BrianB]

A friend's mother made a decent living running a used / consignment clothing store in Duluth. She sold a lot of sweaters and jackets to summer visitors who didn't realize how much cooler it was by the lake.

Sadly, she's gone now...

 

[bizlady]

http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2015/01/23-signs-you-live-in-the-twin-cities.html


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[frank]

if you think fairbanks is a stretch, check the weather forecast here and there. I did and it is 11 degrees higher and no wind in fairbanks. here it is 0 degrees with a -25 wind chill.

 

[oldtrig]

My wife is originally from the UP of Michigan. She has been with me for 45 years in the deep south. She told me there would be no way she would ever live in that deep freeze again. She hated the cold winters and below freezing temps. No way up north for us. I was on two islands while in the military for 30 months. I love island weather and if I could afford it that is where I would move. Life is just much better when the weather is nice almost all year round. oldtrig

 

[wrigley]

To me, long hot summers (especially the humid kind!) are much worse than long cold winters. The first city they mention is Duluth. It sits on Lake Superior, so summers are quite comfortable. And if you don't like the cold weather, they have a skywalk connecting most buildings downtown. And it's hard to think of another place where you have such easy access to so many awesome outdoor activities while still having all of the comforts of a decent-sized metropolitan area.

I lived in Chicago for 18 years and now have been in Florida for the past 21 years. I'll take 100 degrees everyday over a winter of snow and sub zero temps any day!

Mike

 

[harley]

Agreed, I think they just figure they'll make points and sell some magazines to people in that area, so rotate around every year?

A few years back, one of the big magazines featured a town near us as one of the top places to live (forget which ranking, but way up there). Hey, the town's nice enough and all, but I never in a million years would I think of bragging to anyone and say something like 'you should come live in that town, it's great!'. And it really doesn't have a real 'downtown' area with any 'feeling/connection/vibe' to it, everything is spread out - pretty typical suburban sprawl type. There are some other nearby towns that are much better in that regard, they have an old style downtown area with a quaint 'look', vibrant higher-end shops and restaurants - much more appealing IMO. So I do think it is pretty random.

-ERD50

I know that when I was living in the DC area a lot of articles ranked various suburbs as "greatest small towns" and other headings. These weren't really towns, although they may have been incorporated as such. They were basically neighborhoods in the vast sprawl of Metro DC. It's just a matter of how they portray them in the article.

 

[Del Q]

Next year I'll be a full time resident of Ely, MN. It's not for everybody, but for some of us it is. I've also met a lot of ER folks there. Everyone should try visiting there at least twice - once in the summer and once in the winter. I'm a life long Minnesotan and the only time of year that gets long for me is late February and early March. It's not winter and it's not spring - that's when I'd fly someplace warm for a couple weeks.

 

[RE2Boys]

I lived in Chicago for 18 years and now have been in Florida for the past 21 years. I'll take 100 degrees everyday over a winter of snow and sub zero temps any day!

Mike

To each his own, but I can put on extra clothes to be comfortable, can't take off enough to be comfortable in 100 degree weather, sometimes with matching humidity.

Spent 22 years in Alabama but now in snowbelt of NW PA. But I admit we seldom get the extreme cold that the midwest gets. Was in Iowa over New Years week and that was extreme with windchill about -30 or so!
As I sit here wandering when I'll need to deal with the driveway again, just finished with the snowblower. But it's a balmy 20 degrees., 32 forecast for Sunday. Currently we are #1 for snowfall of all metro areas with population over 100K.

 

[aaronc879]

To me heat is uncomfortable but cold is painful.

Hey, that's my line. That's the exact thing I say every time this topic comes up.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Fargo, ND - MN just made the top of the best performing small cities list from the Milken Institute, though they go more by economic factors than weather:

2014 Best-Performing Cities » small-cities

 

[Hamlet]

Yeah, I'll probably never move away from MN, as my wife's family is all here. However, I'm pretty sure that once we are retired, we will get out of town for January and February.

My mother just retired (she's in Wisconsin, pretty much the same weather) and that is her plan. She's rented a place in AZ this year.

That seems like a good plan. Minnesota is a great state to live if you pull the worst two months of winter out of it.

Lived in MN all my life and with all of our family & friends here I can't see us leaving.

That said, I'd love to plan on at least renting someplace warmer for the month of January in the not too distant future. Retirement is planned for 2017.

 

[harley]

That seems like a good plan. Minnesota is a great state to live if you pull the worst two months of winter out of it.

Yep, the other 8 months of winter aren't as bad.

 

[pb4uski]

Having visited Minnesota many times (mostly Minneapolis/St. Paul) and liking it there, there is no way I would retire to there. I'm from Vermont and January in Minneapolis is downright cold and miserable. The skyway makes it somewhat tolerable.

That said, Florida summers are miserable as well.

My plan is to snowbird between Vermont and Florida (or Arizona). Leaving for Florida in about a week and planning to leave sooner next year.

 

[frank]

I live in iowa and would not move anywhere else. that said it would be nice to figure a way to spend a couple months after the first of the year somewhere warmer.

 

[jfn111]

Yeah, I'll probably never move away from MN, as my wife's family is all here. However, I'm pretty sure that once we are retired, we will get out of town for January and February.

My mother just retired (she's in Wisconsin, pretty much the same weather) and that is her plan. She's rented a place in AZ this year.

That seems like a good plan. Minnesota is a great state to live if you pull the worst two months of winter out of it.

This was our plan too. We were going to rent in AZ for the Month of Feb. but then my daughter decided to have our first Grandchild.
Now I can't get my wife to leave.

 

[mtheulen]

Lived in Minnesota as a high school kid. That's why I now live in AZ!

X2! Lived in Iowa for 40 years, moved to az 15 years ago. nuff said