Where would your Ideal Retirement Location Be?

[W2R]

I love Springfield, and hope it remains a great place to live. I am always surprised to find that it hasn't been "discovered" by retirees and overwhelmed with new residents. I suppose we may still end up there some day if the crime around here inspires us to leave New Orleans.

Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Huntsville, Alabama were the other two towns on our "short list", but when we visited all three we felt we could be happiest in Springfield.

 

[brucethebroker]

Nothing to add, except that we winter down south and have found snowbirding to be the best of both worlds-hard to beat the housing costs and taxes of Midwest and winters south are not too expensive if your tastes are modest.

BUT I DO LOVE READING about all the great ideas presented here so far on other locations at home and abroad. Well done all...........

 

[kcowan]

Southern Spain north of Malaga is very friendly and inexpensive (eg. Antiquara). More expensive than The Algarve but the weather is more temperate.

 

[RockLife]

Caribbean for Us

I have scoured the internet and Equador, Colombia, Portugal, Spain and others do fit the bill.

I was curious if anyone here has experience of this big life decision that they could share, and in addition anyone who is thinking like we are?

We are 63 and 58 respectively and are pretty set in our ways. The idea is daunting just to think about. Year Round Weather is a Big Deal too.

Note: This is NOT a Healthcare thread, please refrain from commenting about it directly, other than if you cannot renew your current level of care in the years to come and what the alternatives (for you) are.

Hi, we have recently moved from Colorado USA to Florida, because 30 years of CO winters were simply enough. We haven't worn anything but shorts and t-shirts in a month, while our friends in CO are wearing long sleeves, fleece, etc. in late June (we know because we Facetime them). We are very happy with our decision!

But it doesn't stop there. Vieques island off Puerto Rico is in the plan for later this year, and then other Caribbean destinations as well, such as Grenada, Bocas del Toro Panama, Utila Honduras, etc. These aren't vacation destinations, but longer term stops to see where we want to live forever.

Our health insurance cost will drop from $1100/mo to $350/mo by leaving mainland U.S. so that's a motivating factor. Also we figure that we will be able to leave cheaply by entertaining ourselves and staying active with inexpensive water sports like fishing, spear-fishing, swimming, surfing, etc. We are 56 and 52 so we have quite some time before we can hit up Uncle Sam for SS benefits and Medicare.

Ecuador is a fallback plan for financial disturbances because the COL is so low. If our funds are dropping too dramatically, we may end up there.

RockLife

 

[bmcgonig]

You would think there would be gotchas like those, but I haven't found any. It's easy to get a visa if you can show enough money to support yourself, although it does take a while because the Portuguese bureaucracy is very, very slow. Portugal has a favorable tax program for new residents called "non-habitual resident" status. Local folks don't seem to have any problem at all with us foreigners. One person said to us, "we love foreigners -- if it wasn't for foreigners we would be a part of Spain". I suspect one of the reasons Portugal is not more popular is that people don't know much about it.

Can you tell us what town you decided on? And what is the weather like in the winter?

Thanks!

 

[Scuba]

Hi, we have recently moved from Colorado USA to Florida, because 30 years of CO winters were simply enough. We haven't worn anything but shorts and t-shirts in a month, while our friends in CO are wearing long sleeves, fleece, etc. in late June (we know because we Facetime them). We are very happy with our decision!



But it doesn't stop there. Vieques island off Puerto Rico is in the plan for later this year, and then other Caribbean destinations as well, such as Grenada, Bocas del Toro Panama, Utila Honduras, etc. These aren't vacation destinations, but longer term stops to see where we want to live forever.



Our health insurance cost will drop from $1100/mo to $350/mo by leaving mainland U.S. so that's a motivating factor. Also we figure that we will be able to leave cheaply by entertaining ourselves and staying active with inexpensive water sports like fishing, spear-fishing, swimming, surfing, etc. We are 56 and 52 so we have quite some time before we can hit up Uncle Sam for SS benefits and Medicare.



Ecuador is a fallback plan for financial disturbances because the COL is so low. If our funds are dropping too dramatically, we may end up there.



RockLife

Check out the US Virgin Islands. We just spent 3 months on St. Thomas and fell in love with the lifestyle here. We had visited all of the USVI's and many other Caribbean islands on vacation while we were working, but it's really different and even better to live like a local. So relaxing, fun, and carefree. Now we are thinking about renting out our CA property and coming back for a year or two. Don't want to sell CA property unless we're really sure we never want to come back. Plus we could make money renting it out as we could rent a much cheaper place in St. Thomas vs what our rental income would be.

 

[1-31-18]

Check out the US Virgin Islands. We just spent 3 months on St. Thomas and fell in love with the lifestyle here. We had visited all of the USVI's and many other Caribbean islands on vacation while we were working, but it's really different and even better to live like a local. So relaxing, fun, and carefree. Now we are thinking about renting out our CA property and coming back for a year or two. Don't want to sell CA property unless we're really sure we never want to come back. Plus we could make money renting it out as we could rent a much cheaper place in St. Thomas vs what our rental income would be.

+1. Happy where I am, and Plan B is probably Nashville or Asheville (with DC or RDU as back-up choices), but I would move to St. Thomas right now if I could figure out how to work part-time in my field there. Everything about the USVI suits me just fine, definitely including the climate: Florida lost its allure for me, because of the harsh summers there, after I experienced the USVI.