New Life at 55 - what, where, who, etc....

[CaliKid]

Looks like I'll retire and we might move to a different state when I am 55. We know a few people there. Planning to move to family neighborhood rather than a 55+ as we want the kids to be able to stay for the summer during college without a hassle. Might move to a country club neighborhood though that's still up in the air. Right now just scouting the area. Actually for those that know the area we are planning to move to Summerlin in the Vegas suburbs - no state income tax, dry and lots to do. I plan to join a service club like Rotary or Kiwanis or similar and probably find some other service/volunteer work to do. My wife will probably volunteer at a local school or library. We'll probably travel, globally, during the hot months. Curious of others who have moved for retirement and how they have done. Things that went well, things that didn't go well, what would you do different in your next life, etc....

[Dtail]

Moved to Florida when decided to retire and there was no work of note for me in the NE.
I would have not really done anything differently as of now. We rented first, then decided we loved the specific community and bought a house 2 blocks away.

[Teacher Terry]

I would definitely escape the summer. I prefer Reno to Vegas.

[rk911]

we both went at 55. wife was on disability until retirement age but was able to "work" as a school crossing guard. i did that after retirement as well. something to do. i also volunteered at the county historical museum working the front desk and most anything else they needed. that ran about 3-yrs till the local park district took it over and cashiered all of the volunteers. and we both were local judges of election for many years. wife still does nursing home voting but i've had enough fun with that and dropped it in 2015. wife and i have been vacationing via our motorhomes since 1986 and are doing more of that now...roughly 5-6 mos a year. we both "retired" from our xing guard "jobs" last year, her after nearly 20-yrs, me after 13.

[cathy63]

We have some close friends who've lived in Summerlin South for years and are raising a family there, and some other friends who moved there after their kids graduated from high school and headed off to college. It's great during the early spring and late fall when you can be outdoors all the time. I'm sure you know about the summers, but I was surprised at how much I dislike the winters there. It's cold! It gets down to freezing at night and a lot of days have highs in the upper 40s or low 50s. It also seems like the wind blows incessantly and just scours everything. I'd encourage you to spend some time there in December/January/February before making a final decision to move.

For our friends, their college-aged kids do not go to their parents' house in Vegas during the summer. They don't know anyone else there and the heat is so awful that they prefer to stay away. One stays at school and has a job there and the other comes back to their hometown, stays with friends, and works here. They tend to go to Vegas for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Break instead.

Also, the hottest months in Vegas are high season almost everywhere else in the northern hemisphere, so if you're planning to travel then you'll deal with higher prices and more crowds.

[joeea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliKid Looks like I'll retire and we might move to a different state when I am 55. We know a few people there. Planning to move to family neighborhood rather than a 55+ as we want the kids to be able to stay for the summer during college without a hassle.

We live in a 55+. There would be no problem with the kids staying for the summer, as long as we are also living there.

Check the bylaws and covenants of a potential 55+ community if that is your concern.

Quote:

Curious of others who have moved for retirement and how they have done. Things that went well, things that didn't go well, what would you do different in your next life, etc....

We moved from our primary residence to our second home on the beach last month. (We had already owned the second home for more than 7 years.)

So far, it's been great. The only negative has been a very wet and cold Spring so far.

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliKid ... Curious of others who have moved for retirement and how they have done. Things that went well, things that didn't go well, what would you do different in your next life, etc....

I retired while stationed in Italy. The Navy offered to transport all our stuff anywhere in the world. We selected to migrate to Maine, the state with the oldest average age, and the highest percentage of retirees.

We bought 150 acres of forest land with a quarter-mile of river frontage. I built a large house, planted an apple orchard, a small field of blueberries, etc.

Now enough time has gone by that my apple orchard is producing fruit. Every October we invite friends over to help pick apples and press cider. We make enough hard cider, that now mid-May we still have plenty hard cider left over.

I have been active with the American Legion, the VFW, Masonic Lodge, Shrine, and Grange. It took us a while to feel out which organization was best suited to ourselves.

I serve on a couple boards [Cooperative Extension service, etc].

[kimcdougc]

DH retired at 57 in 2015. I retired or quit at 50. We sold our house and are currently renting our daughters 800 square foot house until we "find" our retirement home. We have been looking for 4 years and finally decided we are fine renting the small house we are from her for now. We travel a lot and the house is a completely remodeled 1927 Craftsman home. It has a basement for all of our "stuff" from the large home we owned before we sold.

So far it works, DD loves that we are renting her small house as we treat it like we own it. The deal is we pay the mortgage for as long as we want to live here. Where else can you live and rent and the rent never goes us unless the mortgage does. We can walk to town, doctors, restaurants etc. So hard to decide where you want to live the next 20 to 30 years of life. Until then....we keep on moving forward living life.

[brett]

-selling our home and downsizing went extremely well.

-traveling for seven months post early retirement went extremely well

-renting for four years went well, and was very financially advantageous

-changing our eating habits, cutting out fast/processed foods,loosing weight went extremely well and has paid health dividends over the past eight years

-doing two elongated travel trips per year plus short ones in between has gone very well

-our budgeting process could not have been better. We overestimated our spending, including travel, and our investments performed better than we anticipated.

-buying a lock and leave home after renting has gone very well.

So far it has been wonderful. Phase two in a few more years may be switching to more cruises, less independent travel. We may also look at either renting or subsequently buying a winter property on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

I think this early retirement/retirement gig comes down to what you make of it. I rather think the trick is to be flexible and be part of the why not crowd instead of thinking about all the reasons that you cannot or should not do something or go somewhere. We had people ask us why on earth would we sell up, store of goods, and travel for seven months. Well really, why not if this is what we want to do.

We have has some health challenges in between. They did not really slow us down very much. We think the thing is to keep moving forward with our lives and not dwell on any health issues that we can either overcome or adapt to. There is no looking back in the rear view mirror for us. Besides, it is a rather pointless exercise. IF you embrace retirement and take advantage of the opportunities it will work out well. Not so much if you sit at home and counting your pennies or complaining about this or that.