Getting Ready!

[Kelor]

Good afternoon all.

I am 50, and my lovely Mrs. is 58. We are looking at retirement March 1, or thereabouts. One major issue that might delay our decision is my mom is in poor health, and I won't start traveling around until she is gone. God willing, it will be a bit longer!!

Our overall goal is to spend the summers in Minnesota, and winters somewhere else. Currently, we travelled to areas of Florida and Arizona for consideration. Florida seems off the list as our criteria include hiking, and lower population density. To get to truly warm climates in Florida, we have found you need to get down to Ft Myers to be assured nice winter temperatures. The traffic might be too high on the negative list to compensate.

In Arizona, we have looked at Sedona, Payson, and Tucson. We would like to avoid the hustle and bustle of Phoenix/Scottsdale, but it's not completely out of the question. If we could find something similar to Tucson in the warm southern part of Texas, that would be ideal (we will likely declare a state other than Minnesota as residence for tax purposes as some point).

Activities include:
I'm an avid golfer, and will likely join a course for the winter months.
We hike and bike.
We have a cabin.
5 kids/3 grandkids all in Minnesota currently.

Concerns include:
Finding more daily activities that we can do together.
Being separated in the winter from the kids/grandkids.
Health insurance (of course).
Spousal disagreement on downsizing I want a turnkey townhome. She's not ready.
None of my friends have the same retirement timeline as mine.

That's about it for now!

 

[REWahoo]

I've always wanted to run a "before and after" survey to see if those who had this pre-retirement concern found the real problem after retirement was just the opposite.

Concerns include:
Finding more daily activities that we can do together.

"I married you for better or for worse, but not for lunch."

 

[Dtail]

Welcome to our forum.
You should check into ACA rates and see if you can qualify for tax subsidies.
We love Florida, but are not hikers. Yes we have some highs in Jan in the 50's.
Pull the cord if you can. You will not regret it.

 

[Ronstar]

Congrats on your upcoming retirement! Don’t be to concerned about finding more activities to do together. The activities will come. It just takes a some together in retirement to develop new pastimes. And it is ok to just sit around and almost do nothing for a week or so.

 

[ivinsfan]

As a fellow MN resident declaring a state other then MN as your residence is very problematic.

More info needed. Are you ready to buy a home in another state? Be advised almost every warm weather state has a higher property tax rates on second homes. If you like hiking and golfing and an abundance of low cost rental homes and condos check out the St George Utah area. There is no doubt in my mind the SGU gives you the biggest bang for your buck as far as housing, golfing, hiking for the winter. Trade-off.. a little cooler weather but still fine for hiking, doing the National Parks and of course golfing. Smaller town, yet still has all the amenities one could ask for. A huge network of biking/walking trails ring the entire town.


At 50 you have 15 years of needing health insurance until Medicare...wondering how you budgeted for that.

 

[Kelor]

That's a fantastic area! One thing absolutely on my wifes list is a warm climate. I know that limits us to AZ, Southern FL, and Southern TX if we want to stay in the continental U.S..

The changing of residences will not occur for some time (At least a couple of years). I realize I don't want to even own a residence in Minnesota at that time. It does help that our cabin is in Wisconsin.

Though we have budgeted for insurance, we are still going over every possible option on this one. I sure wish there were still such a thing as major medical.

 

[ivinsfan]

That's a fantastic area! One thing absolutely on my wifes list is a warm climate. I know that limits us to AZ, Southern FL, and Southern TX if we want to stay in the continental U.S..

The changing of residences will not occur for some time (At least a couple of years). I realize I don't want to even own a residence in Minnesota at that time. It does help that our cabin is in Wisconsin.

Though we have budgeted for insurance, we are still going over every possible option on this one. I sure wish there were still such a thing as major medical.

So you mentioned Sedona which isn't much different temp wise then SGU....Mesquite NV is another possibility ….it's a golf Mecca.

I found AZ way too crowded and not very appealing in the scenic outdoor area when compared to SGU...

 

[HI Bill]

Congrats! Sounds like you'll have to make some new friends and find some new hobbies. First world troubles!