Grew up in and raised our family in St. Louis. When our 2 kids spread their wings and moved (1 to the Bay Area, 1 to Chicago), we relocated to Kauai.
For us it was a lifestyle choice. In St. Louis, aside from a few weeks of beautiful weather each year, it was usually too hot/humid or too cold to enjoy being outside. We wanted an active outdoor life in retirement, and when our kids cut the cord we saw an opportunity to pursue the dream (while our knees and hips still worked!).
It was a several year process of planning while we were both still employed. Having vacationed there many times, we started by purchasing a condo on the North Shore of Kauai. Vacations started getting longer, testing the waters and really thinking about "could we live here?". We vacation-rented our place when we weren't there, to help offset the cost of our experiment.
When my company went through a restructuring and offered a generous early retirement package the year I turned 55, I jumped on it. My husband was (and is still) a self-employed consultant, and could maintain work with his primary client regardless of where we lived. Our original plan was to move right away, but family obligations kept us from moving for another couple of years. We took the plunge when I was 57, sold the place in St. Louis, and moved to our island home.
After almost 4 years, we are extremely happy with our decision. Some learnings/observations that may be of interest as you consider a move:
- We found that condo living wasn't right for us after a couple of years. It was fantastic for our "entry", though. It allowed us to buy in when the housing market was more reasonable and be able to come and go (before our move) without the responsibilities of a SFH. We made great friends in the community, had access to a pool, and at first really enjoyed the low maintenance lifestyle. When it became clear that we were happily in this for the long haul, we sold the condo and bought our own home. Turns out we like the little projects of making the place our own and relish the outdoor space and lack of HOA restrictions.
- Yes, we do miss family and friends on the mainland. We made sure to budget carefully for frequent trips to visit. Until COVID this was working out well for us! A bonus for us is that my brother and his family live in Oahu, so we get to see them far more often now. Visits with our kids, whether here or in their home cities, are wonderful family-focused vacations. Before we moved, we were a "stop" when the kids came to town, but they spent a lot of their time with others. We relish the visits we have together now, as we all live in diverse places that offer terrific experiences that enhance our family time. Some friends had a very difficult time with our decision to move, and as a matter of course some relationships have faded. However we are still close to many of our old friends. We are looking forward to returning to unimpeded travel soon to reconnect in person more often.
- We considered trying to keep the house in St. Louis and the condo in Kauai and split our time. We decided to go all in with our move, as we didn't want the continued hassle of vacation renting our condo (VRBO changes made it more onerous each year) and couldn't afford to keep both places without the rental income. It has been the best decision for us. We have been able to immerse ourselves in the community, make wonderful new friends, participate in sporting clubs and rewarding volunteer groups, and enjoy the year-round activities that drew us here. And we have found that you get what you give in relation to the local community. That's fodder for a whole separate post, but we have not had any significant issues.
Good luck to you as you consider your options. Hope this long-winded post helps with one person's perspective!
