Forget about the best place to retire

[Focus]

This article makes it obvious how silly all those "best places to retire" lists are. I think of them as retirement porn and mere fantasy.

The New York Times: The ‘Best’ Places to Move in Retirement? They’re All Over the Map

Only 6/10 of 1% of those over 55 moved across a state line.

And those who do move generally are not following the more creative, and sometimes chilly, recommendations found in many surveys. The top five destinations between 2010 and 2015 were all in the Sunbelt: Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, followed by Texas, North Carolina and Georgia.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Everybody is moving out of NYC , it sure isnt on any lists. 45,000 people here make 1 million a YEAR or more. Study showed only half of them really lived here full time.

 

[evilanne]

Why does everyone want to move south? We have way too many people here already! It is hot & humid

 

[brucethebroker]

IMHO, part of the problem with such lists is the variety of "wants" in the people interested in moving to have a "better" retirement. Does better mean less expensive? If so, find areas with low costs of living or home prices. Does better mean nicer weather? If so, leave the North and upper Midwest for FL, AZ, CA, HI. Does better mean more outside activity? If so, perhaps Denver, CA, FL or whichever area fits your activity better. How about lower crime? More family friendly? No state income taxes? More jobs available for seniors. More culture. To quote from the King and I, "Etc, etc, etc.

 

[marko]

IMO there is no 'best' place to retire. There's more serious variables in making that decision than whether to take SS at 62!
As always on this forum "It depends"

 

[Scuba]

Interesting. I always wondered how many people actually choose to move to these places, particularly the smaller towns in cold climates. Sounds like not too many. We live in So CA. A lot of our friends talked about moving out of CA when they retire due to high COL, taxes, & the politics, but none of our friends have done it. The weather and relationships seem to trump COL.

 

[braumeister]

Pick any random city, small or large, and it will have residents who moved there to retire. They all had their reasons, and those reasons will be as random as the cities you picked.

There will be others who moved away from there when they retired, and they had their reasons too!

 

[Bamaman]

In many cases, people live societies are sub-par, house prices are too high, state income taxes and property taxes are out of sight and state and local politics are ridiculous.

But still, home is home--no how lousy a place it is.

I still feel getting out of one's comfort zone is very good for the retiree. And that includes moving to where the total retirement experience includes improved standard of living--for far less cost of living.

 

[Nemo2]

But still, home is home--no how lousy a place it is.

"Home is where you hang your head." - Groucho Marx

 

[Carpediem]

I suspect there might be more moving around in the future due to healthcare coverage and costs (before age 65). We certainly would consider it and we already live in one of those warm weather locales.

 

[Gumby]

I like where I live now and don't plan to move somewhere else.

 

[Koolau]

<SNIP>

Only 6/10 of 1% of those over 55 moved across a state line.

I thought this sounded a little "off." The rest of the sentence is "in 2015." IOW in any given year, only about .6% of those age 55 move across a state line to relocate in retirement. A more "useful" statistic might be how many folks move across state lines in retirement. I've heard 10% or more but can't recall where I got that nor if it is correct. Another issue about the .6% statistic (at age 55): Considering that over half of w*rking folks are still w*rking at 55, that statistic makes some sense. I'd bet that goes up as folks get to more "traditional" retirement ages (60 to 65?).

The whole "best places" concept is interesting and fun, but one must drill down in the details to see how any given source comes up with the "place". Back in the day (maybe 20 or even 25 years ago) one of the "biggies" (maybe MONEY mag?) put out a book which had all the data they used, broken down by half a dozen or so categories. So things like crime stats, weather, housing costs, etc. etc., were carefully listed with a "ranking" for each of the "places" rated. Thus a person could design his/her own protocol to see if a given place would meet their needs. I found it interesting and useful. Don't know if such statistics are currently "gathered" so neatly in a book or web site. No need for it anymore now that we've made our decision. YMMV

 

[ivinsfan]

In the future this might be 2 completely different lists based on age. Retire post 65 on Medicare or retire at a much early age and need affordable health care..I can see HI becoming a huge factor if some of the control returns to each state.

 

[Ready]

I find that most of these articles focus on best places to retire on a budget, as opposed to the best places to retire if money were no object. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'd be curious to see an article on best places to retire regardless of what it cost, and see what they come up with.

 

[gerntz]

It's often where the grandkids are.

 

[brett]

There are lots of good places to retire. Everyone has their own set of preferences and priorities. Many of the articles are carefully crafted and you may notice that some just happen to mention retirement homes/condos for sale.

We have been travelling extensively for four years. Always keeping an eye open for a six month vacation home/condo to buy. Spent several months driving in the US. Also spent winters in SE Asia and Central America. Have not found a place other than where we live/buy that we want to retire to.

We spent time with long time (25yrs in the hospitality business) expat residents in Boquete, Panama. They continue to be surprised at the high percentage of folks who move there to retire and subsequently sell up a year or two later in order to return home.

 

[Out of Steam]

Why does everyone want to move south? We have way too many people here already! It is hot & humid

I'm not far from the limits of my ability to manage summer heat in the DC area.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Simple for us, some place with nice weather and affordable healthcare. Still looking.

 

[kcowan]

I fit in the not moved category, having lived in Vancouver since 1995. But since retiring, we have moved up our snowbird time from 3 weeks to 7 months. 2 weeks out of state to visit the GCs, 4 weeks in Europe, and 5.5 months in Mexico.

To paraphrase Groucho (thanks Nemo): We hang our sun hats in Mexico, and we hang our heads in Vancouver.

 

[W2R]

We don't have much keeping us here, and as many here know, before retirement we planned to leave the state. We wanted to go somewhere with no serious hurricane effects, lower crime, and lower COL. For the first time we would be completely free! No job, we could go anywhere we wanted to go. Wow. Anyway, after retirement we got as far as selecting a destination and putting our houses on the market.

Ultimately we decided to stay, for now. Warts and all, New Orleans is home (even for me, by now). We have hurricanes, and the crime here is even worse than hurricanes. But we know the area and feel comfortable here. We love the food and the people here most of all, plus the art, architecture, music, history, culture, language, attitudes, weather, and so much more. Which, of course, makes it that much harder when hurricanes or crime devastate or cripple the city but somehow New Orleans is still here.

Change is hard at any age, and I think that for us change has become more difficult the older we get.

 

[RobbieB]

If you are happy where you are why move?

 

[Fedup]

I fit in the not moved category, having lived in Vancouver since 1995. But since retiring, we have moved up our snowbird time from 3 weeks to 7 months. 2 weeks out of state to visit the GCs, 4 weeks in Europe, and 5.5 months in Mexico.

To paraphrase Groucho (thanks Nemo): We hang our sun hats in Mexico, and we hang our heads in Vancouver.

I once read that squatters moved into an empty London house, owners were gone for a year so I will never do that. At least when I'm on vacation, my sister comes by and check and my kids come back to get the mail once it's delivered.

 

[braumeister]

Even though there are at least half a dozen places in the US where I would rather live, there is no possibility of that happening because DW has lived here all her life and would never consider moving.

I'm perfectly OK with that because it's actually a good place to live. Low COL and all the amenities of a good sized city nearby. We have the luxury of being able to travel anywhere at any time, so I can get my travel fix and I know there is a good home base to return to afterward.

The only downside is that our travel budget is pretty big.

 

[Fedup]

If you are happy where you are why move?

Exactly this is my thinking, unless you need money. Also if you live anywhere long enough, you kind of know the area well. I don't get lost in my area because I know the basic main streets of each city.

 

[googily]

I'm not far from the limits of my ability to manage summer heat in the DC area.

I am not kidding that one of my most fervent desires about RE is the notion of not having to go outside in work clothes five days a week during DC summers. Haaaaaaaate it.