[Hyperborea]

Location: Toronto, Canada - right downtown

Length of Stay: many years in multiple blocks of time

Cost of Housing: ~1200 sq ft condo - CDN$200K and up (and up up up)

Weather: all 4 seasons - winter can be cold and August can be hot and humid
You can avoid much of the weather issues by choosing the condo carefully. *Much of the downtown core is connected together with large underground pedestrian tunnels with shops called PATH. *These can connect you to the subway and from there to most areas of the city.

Healthcare: Good to excellent and FREE to citizens and legal permanent residents.

Recreation: *Massive quantities of cultural activities ranging from the ballet to professional theatre to jazz clubs to punk clubs to a large art gallery. *You name it and you can find it. *The large ethnic diversity leads to a large variety of cultural activities and food. *Three large universities (Toronto, York and Ryerson) and a number of community colleges lead to a diverse number of groups for any activity you can think of as well as the ability to study just about anything.

The city is very diverse - ethnically, socially, culturally, etc. *Don't even bother trying to live there if you can't handle people who aren't straight, buttoned down, church going, WASPs - you're head will explode within a week.

You are also within easy reach of the outdoors and camping/fishing opportunities too. *You can boat on the lake including canoeing/kayaking if you desire. *There are many parks within and on the edge of the city.

Safety: Toronto is safer and cleaner than any US city.

Transportation: *It is quite possible to go without owning a car in a city with good public transportation such as Toronto. *You can use public transportation for the bulk of your travel, use a taxi occasionaly (large loads, late nights at the clubs, etc.), and rent a car a couple of times a year for trips outside the city. *If you leave the city by car more frequently then owning an inexpensive car just for such trips "might" make financial sense - I think you'd have to be renting a car more than one weekend a month for it to make sense.

Taxes: It should be possible for a retiree couple to live quite well and pay very little in income taxes if they have properly set up their portfolio. *Split income equally between the partners (taxes are by person and not by couple) and capital gains taxes are very low (only half of the gains count as income).

Observations: A great public transportation system may allow one to stay active within one's community as one ages. *If one retires to the suburbs or the country they may very well become a shut-in as they age: living on an intellectual diet of soap operas and game shows.