Best Places to Retire study

[Orchidflower]

I hopes this helps someone out there. It did me...especially the section on Best Places to Retire.
Your Move: Make it Count. - The Top 5 Lists

Then go to: epodunk.com. This will give you the area of the State the city is in, the demographics on age of residents, singles vs. marrieds, housing, educational level of residents and so forth.

Between this Best Places to Retire and finding the city on epodunk.com, you can get a pretty halfway decent idea of the demographics and if the city you are looking up is really for you. Personally, I found this Best Places to Retire pretty helpful, so am passing it on to the board. Hopefully, it assists someone else in their search for Mecca.

Orchidflower

 

[tightasadrum]

Orchidflower,

I've never quite "gotten it" about the fairly common practice of moving to some unknown, far away place to retire. Most people can count on one hand those they can really call friends. I would neve want to loss those connections even with the options of making new ones. I'd like to know the attraction.

 

[happy2bretired]

After reviewing those "places" from my state....very very strange. I'm not moving there. I would be bored stiff.

 

[Getting short]

I've only heard of one of the "cities" in my state, and I travel quite a bit for w**k!

 

[W2R]

I've never quite "gotten it" about the fairly common practice of moving to some unknown, far away place to retire.

I'm not so sure that is really as common as it may seem. The U.S. Census Bureau did a study on state to state migration: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-10.pdf According to this study the percentage of people moving to another state in a five year period was actually less for the age 65+ population (18.8%) than for the ages 5-64 population (19.6%). The percentage from age 55-64 was 21.4% so that does reflect a slight increase but perhaps nothing to knock your socks off.

Most people can count on one hand those they can really call friends. I would neve want to loss those connections even with the options of making new ones. I'd like to know the attraction.

Different people with different life experiences have different motivations, but here are some thoughts that I had. I think that many people these days, especially those at higher income levels, spend their working lives moving where ever the job takes them in order to make a bigger income and to have a brighter future. As for friends, some people with long hours and frequent moves don't develop close friendships outside of work. When they are finally retired, the possibility of actually having a choice about where to live is intriguing. Many factors such as cost of living, crime, climate, and/or the pace of life in another location may come into play.

 

[Jake46]

Unusual list. I spent 20 years in Oklahoma, 35 in Texas and live in Colorado. Never heard of any of the towns listed in those three states.

 

[Moemg]

View from my deck in Sarasota,fl.

 

[Orchidflower]

Totally agree: I never heard of any of those towns either; but, when I took the trouble to look them up (just a few as I did not have that much time), many were close to major cities like Dallas, Chicago, Portland, but had a huge proportion of retirees there (like 35% or more). Now, I would find that attractive, personally, as a boomer looking to relocate.
As for the attraction of moving, I think Want2retire said it SO WELL that I do not need to repeat it. She "gets" it totally.
Worked all the time with crazy hours, and how many friends do you really think you can accumulate? The unfortunate side effect of working so much is that you do lose friends along the way. Sad, but true.
As for old friends you have a special connection with, that's why God invented cell phones. Just had an old friend from Houston call me from San Francisco today, and yesterday another old friend called me from Michigan. My old friends are moving around, too. We just reach out and touch someone as the Bell ad says. And email, of course.
I doubt as if I am unique in this.

 

[haha]

As for old friends you have a special connection with, that's why God invented cell phones. Just had an old friend from Houston call me from San Francisco today, and yesterday another old friend called me from Michigan. My old friends are moving around, too. We just reach out and touch someone as the Bell ad says. And email, of course.
I doubt as if I am unique in this.

This works until you really need a hug; or are in the hospital, or home sick and need some help. Or just want some pals to hang out with; to breath the same air so to speak.

Ha

 

[W2R]

This works until you really need a hug; or are in the hospital, or home sick and need some help. Or just want some pals to hang out with; to breath the same air so to speak.

True, but it seems to me that a lot of people these days are working ridiculously long hours and don't seem to have a huge base of close, long time friends outside of work. Sometimes life is like that.

 

[Orchidflower]

I totally get your point about how hard it can be when you need a hug or are in the hospital etc. etc. etc., but...uh...has nobody ever thought of keeping the old friends and making some new ones where you move to?
If I stayed in the same place and never made any new friends, what would I ever do when the old ones start dying one by one...and then I am really left alone (assuming I outlive them)?
I've already seen all my grandparents, a parent, all my aunts and uncles die. One reason you keep making new contacts is to refill your close contact basket (or whatever you want to call it), isn't it?

 

[youbet]

True, but it seems to me that a lot of people these days are working ridiculously long hours and don't seem to have a huge base of close, long time friends outside of work. Sometimes life is like that.

It doesn't take a huge base of close, long time friends. Even a short list makes a difference for me. But I do agree that in today's world, it isn't easy to maintain/nuture friendships over long periods of time.

 

[W2R]

It doesn't take a huge base of close, long time friends. Even a short list makes a difference for me. But I do agree that in today's world, it isn't easy to maintain/nuture friendships over long periods of time.

Well, if you just have one or two, what do you do when THEY retire elsewhere?

Frank and I are going to retire in the same location, but it really doesn't have to be here.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

View from my deck in Sarasota,fl.

Nice photo. I was just down there last week giving a lecture. Looks like the view from near the Selby Gardens.

I like Sarasota a lot. Lively but peaceful, great waterfront.

 

[W2R]

I absolutely adore Sarasota. My family used to go down to Longboat Key frequently when I was younger, back in the 1950's and 1960's. The whole area was, and probably still is, just beautiful.

It's not for me, though, at this time in my life. I really, really need to live away from hurricanes for a while.

 

[Moemg]

I enjoy the area but I would never move here now. The cost of living is too high plus there is a certain snobbery that drives me crazy .I was just playing with my camera & resizing images so the picture was just a test to see if I could do it .
About friends ,It's scarey when you are first living alone & not knowing who to call if you need help but little by little you make new friends .

 

[youbet]

Well, if you just have one or two, what do you do when THEY retire elsewhere?


Not really sure. Never had a list that short........ Although, during my career peak, when I was putting in lots of hours and traveling, I admit to being guilty of "friend-neglect" and the list was looking a little tattered! Now, one of the things I enjoy most about RE is having time to spend with friends......

What would I do if everyone packed up and moved away? That's unlikely and hard to hypothesize, but I'd just have to deal with it in some way I guess.

Leaving close, long-time friends/relatives in this area would be a negative, but not a total stopper, to relocating.

 

[Orchidflower]

Youbet: What does your dots and dashes say at the bottom of your posts? Just curious if you do not mind revealing.

 

[dessert]

Youbet: What does your dots and dashes say at the bottom of your posts? Just curious if you do not mind revealing.

Orchidflower, I'll cover for Youbet until he returns.
It's morse code for ........FIRE

 

[Dog]

Hmmmm....would require having a sizable portfolio to retire in the towns/cities mentioned for Washington state.

 

[Spanky]

That's _ . _ . / _ _ _ / _ _ _ / . _ . . (COOL)

 

[Gotadimple]

Hmmmm....would require having a sizable portfolio to retire in the towns/cities mentioned for Washington state.

Well, not as large a portfolio as one would need to retire in Medina, Hunts Point, or Broadmoor.

Relatively speaking, of course.

-- Rita

 

[GoodSense]

The only city in my state that I've heard of is actually quite close to the central city, except that it only has a population of 400 or so.

I suspect this is a list of "Best Tiny Towns for Retirement."

 

[Spanky]

4 of the top 5 cities in Minnesota are located over 130 miles from the metropolitan area (Minneapolis /St .Paul). Three of them are within 20 miles apart (from each other) in the lake resort area. I guess if you like fishing and quietness, these small towns are fine.

 

[Orchidflower]

I think alot of these studies consider anything within a 2 hour driving range from a major metropolitan area CLOSE. Not. Maybe they think that retirees just love to spend all their time in the car.
Checked out Washington State spots...cough, cough...can we say pricey?
A few of the places seemed like good suggestions, tho.
And they didn't lie about these small cities/villages being retiree hotspots. If you look at the percentage of retirees in these cities, most of them are retiree spots with over a third of the population being...retirees.